Tour of Duty (North Vietnam)

So on the occasion of the Khmer New Year Holiday, when Khmer people flock back to the villages and foreigners flee the country to squeeze in an extra holiday, I hopped over to Vietnam to see Mum and Dad.

After the complicated international babysitting mission that allowed Mark and Tara to come over to the bodge, we (Mum+Dad+me) had decided that Vietnam was the best venue for catching up in Asia. Although I had been there before with Simon in 2002, my photocopied lonely planet told me there were things that I had missed the first time. Plus Mum and Dad paid for everything and we stayed in some nice places which always helps : )

My old boss from AusAID, Kerry, was posted to Hanoi with AusAID so he kindly agreed to put us up with his family at his very luxury apartment which was great of him. It was a really good location and walking distance to almost everything. Unfortunately he and his daughter left the next morning to climb a mountain but his wife Lynne really took care of us.

First of all we visited some requisite museums. Unfortunately due to my incompetence I had scheduled all the museums on the Monday and low and behold Vietnamese museums close on Mondays! The mausoleum of Uncle Ho was closed so we didn’t see his mummified body but we did get to see his museum, house and car collection (apparently he was quite a collector).

The highlight of the North had to be Halong Bay which is just beautiful. Mr. Smooth (our tour guide) tried in vain to break the ice between the mostly grumpy aid workers by karaoke on the bus which I don’t think many were really into. We did an overnight cruise and the food, scenery, cabins were great. Part of it involved exploring some cool caves as well. (although there was a lot of boat traffic heading to see it).

He was really enthusiastic about us going to this rather suspicious artificial beach so we all opted to march up to the sightseeing tower instead. The exception was of course dad who insisted on doing both, up the tower and swimming in the manky water : )

Back in Hanoi, we visited some more interesting sights like the Temple of Literature [the last photo is people's university degrees way back when),, One Pillar Pagoda (which was rather disapointing but I guess the name should have given it away),, Hoan Kiem Lake and the Army Museum (which was a little embarrasing because this guide attached himself to us and we were all a little blasé because we thought he would ask for money at the end, when we found out later he was a student doing his practical tourism experience- we must have seen like real pricks).

Hanoi was actually quite a cool up and coming city. I found this photo of the railway line in amongst people's houses a little amusing. Even the doors open onto it!

Being time poor we then headed off to board a flight to central Vietnam, the ancient capital of Hue.

And before I go here is the quirky photo of my Mum dressed all in black Burkha style outside of the Opera House!

Stay Tuned for the next update! Will Matt murder his parents or will they murder him?