Halong Bay to Hanoi

• Posted by: Geo Kearley
• Comments: 1

We were in Halong Bay yesterday during a standard wet season down pour. Essentially, we arrived there during a rain storm and the bay was blanketed in cloud, but as we left the harbor the sky started to clear and the limestone islands started to reveal themselves little by little until we had a full view of the place by noon. The islands are a seemingly infinite maze of limestone cliffs rising straight out of the water as great white spires, stained black by the weather. The bases of several of the islands have been lapped through by waves and have holes large enough for fishing pirogues to pass through. Every island is topped by greenery, and several of them had sea eagles circling them.

We cruised past several islands and tiny fishing boats containing families wearing conical rice-paddies hats. Some boats were made of wood, but others were woven rattan coated in tar and framed in wood. We were amazed at the fragility of the vessels these people use to eke out a living from the sea.

The water was filled with jelly fish – our guide explained that the small ones were much more dangerous than the large ones. I was glad we decided not to swim, as the jelly fish were difficult to see, but they were everywhere.

We were up early this morning to join the pilgrimage of locals and tourists filing past the mortal remains of Ho Chi Minh. For a leader who requested to be cremated, and who lived in a simple wooden stilt house rather than the presidential Palace in order to feel closer to the people during his life, it seems he would be horrified by the pomp and circumstance surrounding him now. Regardless, it was a worthwhile experience to file past him in his embalmed state. He looks much better than his Chinese counterpart, Chairman Mao in Beijing (he looks like his ears have been glued back on a few times). Uncle Ho looks at peace in his refrigerated, tastefully lit state of repose. Mao looks like he may rise as a zombie and haunt his people – not too far from reality.

After filing past Uncle Ho, walked past the Presidential Palace (you can’t go in unless you’re a guest of the state…)to the simple stilted house where he chose to live beside a carp pond. Apparently he used to summon the carp by clapping his hands from the balcony of his house, and they respond just like Pavlov’s carps today – they swim towards the sound of clapping hands. The stilted house is a very simple affair of two rooms – an office with a table, chair, some books and a bust of Lenin, and a bedroom with a bed and end table. The combat helmet beside the phone on his desk reminds you Vietnam was still at war with the U.S. when Uncle Ho died.

The Ho Chi Minh museum on the property is a chronicle of propaganda posters and newspaper clippings, speeches, and photos of the President with the common people partaking in their daily lives. Of course the information in the museum is an incredibly positively biased view of the late President – it practically deifies him – but it does make it easy to understand why he was such a successful leader. He spent a lot of time meeting with the average person, and preaching public education, health care, respect for workers, human rights and world peace. Whatever else you can say about him, you can’t deny he was a savvy politician.

We’re currently just kicking around in this beautiful city of enormous trees, pagodas, motos, and tiny women carrying impossible loads of fruit and goods in woven baskets balanced on wooden yolks across their shoulders. The heat is oppressive, but we’ve found reminents of French civilization here that are helping us maintain our sanity in the heat – namely air conditioned bakeries where it’s possible to get a great coffee and croissant.
As usual, we miss our friends, families and doggies…

Noel & George

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Date posted :	Jul 26, 2005
Last modified :	Dec 22, 2007
Categories :	Southeast Asia, Vietnam
Tags :	Halong Bay, Vietnam