Hanoi ... and the end

Our last stop on the main travel itinerary was Hanoi, in northern Vietnam. [We have a 3 day stopover in Seoul, Korea to avoid what would have been a 13-hour layover, but in our minds, we are already be on our way home.] Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam, but its much smaller than Saigon and of a completely different character. Hanoi lacks the large boulevards leftover from the French colonial period that dominate Saigon's downtown. Instead, Hanoi's hectic traffic is crowded into small streets and lanes, particularly in the historic Old Quarter, and as a result I often feel like the city is pressing in on me and crowding my space. Hanoi has hectic traffic like many other Asian cities, but here there are no rules of the road. (It makes Bangkok traffic look absolutely law-abiding and orderly) . Traffic at intersections simultaneously moves in all directions and it's a wonder that anyone ever manages to get across. Motorcycles are parked on the narrow sidewalks (only on the street once the sidewalk is full) and most cafes and street kitchens also spill onto the sidewalk so there's no room for pedestrians, who are forced to walk in the street and brave the onslaught of vehicles. I'm constantly fearing that someone is going to drive into me from behind; thankfully, it hasn't happened, although Adam's arms have gotten clipped a few times from motorbikes going by. I prefer to walk into the direction of traffic, but even that's not straightforward, since people regularly drive the wrong way down one-way streets and/or drive on the wrong side of the road! The Vietnamese believe heavily in fate, and walking anywhere in this city is an exercise in trusting the universe that you won't be killed. A few nights ago, a man on a motorbike drove straight-toward me; I expected that he would swerve around me at the last moment as usual, however, he kept coming straight on until I smacked my hands down on his bike and swore like a trucker at him.  Yesterday, Adam and I were crossing a street that actually had stoplights and a signal for pedestrians. We were crossing on "the little green man" when a city bus came barreling around a corner and drove right through the crosswalk. We managed to get out of the way in time, but shockingly (to me), the bus didn't even slow down, not one little bit.  If we survive the rest of the day in Hanoi without getting hit, I'll put it down as a small miracle.

A typical intersection in Hanoi's Old Quarter (above)

A relatively quiet sidewalk in the Old Quarter (below)

The lack of space on the streets of Hanoi is also felt in shops, restaurants and even hotels. Many Asian cultures have a different sense of privacy and space than Canadians, and northern Vietnamese people take this to an extreme; there seems to absolutely no concept of personal space or privacy. For example, in many of the shops in central Hanoi, the sales personnel have followed me around peering over my should at whatever I'm trying to look at, adding a running commentary as we move around the store. It's overwhelming. And at our hotel, while I was reading my email on one of the computers available for guests in lobby, the weekend manager came and sat down beside me, and began to read my email with me. She even commented on the content of one of the messages! Then she noticed my iPod sitting beside the keyboard and picked it up and started touching buttons. To her, she wasn't doing anything rude or wrong, but to me it felt incredible invasive and was terribly annoying. There's certainly a profound cultural difference that I've noticed over the past few weeks in Vietnam.

Then there's the noise. Given Hanoi's crazy traffic, drivers use their horn as both a defensive and offensive weapon in the war on the streets. All day long the honks of motorbikes, scooters, small cars, large trucks and buses resonate through my brain. Our hotel is in a relatively quiet part of the Old Quarter ("quiet" being a very relative concept in Hanoi) and so there is some relief late at night, but the honking starts up again terribly early in the morning, usually well before 7am. After awhile you start to tune it out and relegate the honking to background noise, but it's still there battering my subconscious and eroding my patience. If that wasn't enough, tourists can't walk anywhere in Hanoi without being hassled by someone for something. We don't usually get a block from our hotel before xe om (motorbike taxi) and cyclo drivers are asking us if we want a ride somewhere. Actually, if all they did was ask us if we want a ride, that would be tolerable, but they use any means possible to get our attention, which entails shouting, clapping, whistling, or whatever else they can think of to make noise and get us to look at them. Of course, we've learned not to respond to any of this, but (a) it's hard - Canadians seem to be inately trained to look for the source of and reason for the racket; and (b) it's irritating, even if we don't turn our head, and it increases that omnipresent cacaphony of sound. Then there's the guys wanting yout to buy one of their photocopied books that they carry around in cardboard boxes, the multitude of fruit ladies that want you to hold their basket for a photo, and other random folks with something (probably illegal) to sell.

So what is there to like about Hanoi? Lots. For me, the chaos is synonymous with energy. It's hard not to feel alive in a city like this where everything is buzzing. Hanoi is also full of "sights" for tourists including historic temples, museums, beautiful Hoan Kiem lake, and the heart of historic Hanoi, the Old Quarter. In the 13th century Hanoi's 36 craft guilds established themselves in this part of the city, each one taking over a different street, which was then named according to the wares or merchanise that was sold there. Accordingly, the Old Quarter was originally called '36 Streets'. Today, the streets retain their historic names although some areas have been taken over by tourism and are overrun by guesthouses, travel agencies, and uninspiring souvenir shops. But most of the Old Quarter remains 'authentic' and local; it's a great place to wander, maybe get lost a bit, and watch life go by. Hanoi also has some excellent shopping, other than the uninspiring souvenir shops and glut of shops selling fake luxury goods. There are excellent high-end silks, jewellry, lacquerware and art, if you have the money to spend.

A section of the Old Quarter where traditional laterns are sold (above)

But my favourite thing about Hanoi, without a doubt, is the food. Adam and I have been seriously investigating the local food everywhere we've travelled, and Hanoi is a goldmine. There are plenty of fancy restaurants and mid-priced cafes that cater to upcale businessmen, expats and tourists, but the real gem is the street food. This isn't street food sold out of little mobile carts or street stalls, but full-on kitchens set in hole-in-the-wall spaces, although they still only focus on one or two dishes and often lack any kind of name beyond the street number and type of food they sell. Some are famous Hanoi institutions that have room to seat one hundred for a busy lunch rush in the cavernous space behind the "kitchen", while others are tiny places with just three tables and a few plastic stools. So far, all that we have tried are lip-smacking good and of course, cheap. 

Our first stop after arriving back in Hanoi from Cat Ba island on Saturday was the bun bo nam bo outlet at 67 Hang Dieu for lunch. (It has a name, but I don't know it, and it's not important.) Adam and I have been on concerted hunt for good bun (pronouced 'boon') since we had some bun bo at a Vietnamese restaurant in Vientiane, Laos. It doesn't sound like the obvious place for amazing Vietnamese food, but it was some of the best bun bo I've ever had, and it blew the socks off any bun that I've had in Toronto in the last few years. It reminded me how good bun can be and why I loved Vietnamese food so much during my last visit over eight years ago. Anyways, back to Bun Bo Nam Bo ... it's a street-kitchen that's a Hanoi institution, busy at all hours of the morning, day and night. You step into a long tube of a room where stainless steel tables go back as far as you can see. They only serve the one dish, but it's a doozy: a bowl of thin rice noodles (bun) with sauteed sliced beef, bean sprouts and onions, fresh lettuce, herbs, then topped with green papaya and carrot slices, deep-fried shallots, and finished with a generous ladle of rich beef broth. You mix everything up in the bowl, add some hot chili sauce and/or soy if desired and voila, a very filling bit of heaven for a mere 30,000 dong (about $2.50 Cdn). We've eaten there at least once a day since.

For dinner, we started at a very small outlet at 71 Hang Bo than serves up banh cuon nong, which is a bit like a dumpling or a cross between noodles and a spring roll. At this place, an old Vietnmese woman spreads a thin layer of rice flour batter on a steamer (which looks like a big pot with a cloth lid), and once the resulting rice pancake is sufficiently solid, lifts it off the steamer with a bamboo stick with one swift motion and immediately rolls it with a minced pork and mushroom filling.  The rice noodle roll is snipped with scissors and then topped with deep fried shallots. The banh cuon are served with a warm broth made from fish sauce for dipping, and hot chillis, lime, and fresh herbs (cilantro, basil, etc.) are added to taste. It's a yummy snack, good for sharing, and oh, did we mention cheap?  Only 10,000 dong (less than a buck) per plate, although most people indulge in more than one plate per person.  We saw one family polish off plate after plate after plate. We've been back more than once, and yes, we order more than one plate each. We've also tried another banh cuon outlet at 14 Hang Ga street that was profiled in Bon Appetit magazing a few years ago; it was tasty too but a bit more expensive.

For the main course, we decided to try some bun rieu noodle soup at a shop with no name at 34 Cau Go. We love pho, and eat a fair bit of pho bo (sometimes even more than one bowl a day ...) but there are more varieties of noodle soup in Vietnam, including bun rieu. It's nothing like bun bo or bun cha (more on that later) which are both dry noodle dishes, but is made of the same round bun rice noodles rather than the flat rice noodles that are used to make pho. This soup is slightly sour, tomato based, and the stock is made with minced crabs, although you will be hard-pressed to find any chunks of crab in your soup. Ours had large chunks of pork sausage. Tasty and cheap, but given our limited time, I'll stick to pho for soup and eating my bun dry. 

On Sunday we decided to go on a hunt for banh ran: deep-fried, crispy sticky rice balls stuffed with either a savoury filling of minced meat and mushrooms (banh ran man) or a sweet filling of mung bean paste (banh ran ngot) that is better than it sounds. The shop we went to, which again appeared nameless, at 52 Ly Quoc Su, also had fabulous crab spring rolls (nem cua be) and banh goi, which look like samosas and are filled with the same minced meat and mushroom mixture. It was such a super cheap and tasty snack that we actually went back the same day for more banh ran man and nem cua be, although afterwards I felt like I'd had just a few too many of these heart-stoppingly greasy morsels.

Monday was another street-food adventure. We went to the Temple of Literature in the morning (see, we do actually go visit some real "sights" and not just eat ...) and then stopped at nearby KOTO, a not-for-profit restaurant that trains street kids. It's much like the restaurants run by the Friends NGO in Laos and Cambodia, but run by a different organization. It was a feel-good place for a Vietnamese iced-coffee (heavy on the sugar and condensed milk) and french toast for Adam. Immediately after that we embarked on a mission to seek out some of Hanoi's famed bun cha. This dish, which is native to Hanoi and only second in fame to pho, is similar to bun bo nam bo, which originates in the south. It features small slices of crispy, grilled pork which are served in a fish-sauce based broth topped with green papaya and carrot slices. The bun noodles and herbs arrive separately on different plates. Chillis and/or garlic are added to the broth to taste, and then to eat, one takes a bit of noodle, dips it into the broth, and scoops up some pork and some herbs with it. The method is flexible and we've observed some different approaches to getting everything mixed up and into the mouth. We tried our first bun cha at the eponymous named kitchen at 1 Pho Hue, and also sampled some of their amazing nem cua be, which were irresistable as they were being deep-fried right in front of us (I could literally feel the heat from the pot of oil on my legs).  I think that we may return here later today for one of our last meals in South-East Asia, it was that good.

One serving of bun cha and a plate of nem cua be (above)

The bun cha and nem cua be shop at 1 Pho Hue (below)

Although by noon on Monday Adam had already eaten 3 meals and we'd each had 2 cups of coffee, we stopped for che on the way back to the hotel. At least I had che, and Adam opted for the safety of another iced Vietnamese coffee. Che is the Vietnamese word for any traditional thick, sweet dessert-like soup, pudding or drink. It's a bit of a catch-all, as there is a myriad variety of che, served either hot or cold. It's usually prepared with beans or glutinous rice and served with sweet milk or a sugary-water concoction. To a Western palate, it seems strange, even weirder than bubble tea; but I had to try it. Trying to decipher the menu, not in English, was impossible so I relied on my limited knowledge of Vietnamese words for fruits and ordered a che sen dua - che with lotus seed and coconut. What arrived was a glass full of lotus seeds, coconut shavings, and shaved ice, all floating in a sugary-coconuty-liquid. The lotus seeds were the size and texture of chickpeas and were savory, yet the liquid was unambiguously sweet. It was a very odd combination. Adam tried it, made a terrible face, and went back to the safety of his iced coffee. But the che wasn't so bad, so I finished it, and at the bottom I realized that it had kind of grown on me. It's probably an acquired taste.

We have eaten at a few proper 'restaurants' in Hanoi, but not many. Generally, most of them seem horribly overpriced when there is such great, cheap food available in such abundance. We went to Highway 4 on Sunday night, a long way south of the Old Quarter in central Hanoi, which well-priced and popular among locals. The food was good, especially the salads and tapas, but the highlight of the night was the house-brand of rice liquors. Highway 4 is famous for their rice liquor and at less than $1 a glass I couldn't resist trying one of the 4-shooter tasting sets. Only one of the 4 varieties was decidedly undrinkable; I nursed the other 3 over dinner.  We also returned to Quan An Ngon, a popular eatery that has a location in Saigon where we had a fabulous lunch, for an encore yesterday. We had fresh, zesty salads (nom lac and gio bo bop thau), pho cuon (a beef filled fresh spring roll), and shockingly good bbq beef with chili, lime and salt. Since my first attept at ordering che at a street shop didn't go so well, I gave it another try here, since almost everyone was trying the stuff. I had che su'o'ng sa hot lu'u, which is black jellies, water chesnuts, tapioca pearls and some unidentified red beans all topped with shaved ice and plenty of coconut milk. It was a big improvement on the lotus seed che, and I assume that if you were a bubble tea lover, it wouldn't be that strange at all.  I also undulged in a bowl of roasted banana with tapioca pearls and coconut milk for desert, which was very tasty even to my palate. 

 

Today is our last day in Hanoi, and in South-East Asia. Later tonight we board a plane that will whisk us away to Seoul and then back to Canada where we will have to reintegrate with reality. It's hard to believe. When we left, we knew that our time to travel was finite and we understood that it would come to an end at some point, but it still never ceases to amaze me how quickly time passes. At the beginning of the trip,  7 months of travel seemed like an ocean of time, and now in retrospect, it seems like a mere drop. That's not to say that it's not time to come home -- it is. Adam and I are both tired and we miss the people, pets and things we left behind. We're craving a good BBQ, a solid cut of steak, a big bottle of red wine. We've had an incredible journey; shared amazing experiences and had a few crazy [mis]adventures. And I doubt this is our last sojourn abroad. But, it's always nice to return to Canada, because there's no place like home.

See you soon,

Robin (& Adam)

Climbing on Cat Ba Island (Ha Long Bay)

We are now back in Hanoi after 10 days of climbing on Cat Ba Island, which is in the south part of the famous Ha Long Bay area. Ha Long Bay is known for the thousands of limestone karsts jutting hundreds of feet out of the water. Most people who visit this area take a single or multiple day cruise through the bay doing little else other than sitting on the boat watching the islands go by. But climbers see this area in a bit of a different light. A couple of years ago, a climbing video was released which featured Deep Water Soloing (DWS) in Ha Long Bay. DWS is fast becoming a very popular aspect of climbing due to the lack of ropes or crash pads! Since the video, Ha Long Bay (and Cat Ba Island) have become a destination for climbers looking to try out DWS. The only thing necessary, obviously, is deep water. Most of the established routes tend to finish anywhere between 15-20 metres in height and the only way to get off the wall is to jump. Therefore, the tide must be quite high in order to avoid smacking the ground under the water.

Prior to our departure, I was quite excited about the DWS as we had a great time doing it while climbing on Tonsai (in Thailand). But we were informed by the local climbing shop that the tides in Ha Long Bay during the spring season are generally lower than the summer and that DWS may not be possible. But there has been quite a bit of route development on Cat Ba Island over the past couple of years and that was enough to solidify our travel plans.

Limestone karsts visible from one of our beach climbing areas

Getting to Cat Ba Island is a travel experience within itself. From central Hanoi, it requires a taxi to the Luong Yen bus station, a bus to Haiphong, a transfer to the ferry, a ferry to Cat Ba, and then another bus to Cat Ba town. Luckily, it is a single company that runs this service and the transfers were seamless and the whole trip only took 4.5 hours (which for Vietnam is quite impressive). Upon our arrival in town, we immediately went to the only climbing outfit on the island, Slo Pony Adventures. This is a true climbing shop run by a couple of Americans, Eric (Pony) and Slo, who have done all of the work developing the crags and working with the local interests to ensure access. Eric was injured recently (not from climbing) while back in the US so we didn't see too much of him; Slo was our primary contact during our entire stint on the island. A HUGE thanks to Slo Pony as they helped us find a great place to stay (Bay View Hotel), get a motorbike for the entire visit, and pointed out all of the great climbs in each of the crags. They've even printed a guide book for all the bolted and established DWS routes. Anyone going to Cat Ba for climbing or just to check it out should seek these guys out as they will help you organize whatever you require and will make sure you don't get ripped off.

The primary route climbing is at Butterfly Valley, which has a collection of 25+ routes which are graded from 4 to 8a+. This variety of grades ensures that there is some climbing for the beginner all the way to the super strong! The limestone is pretty solid and offers a vast array of holds including giant tufas, stalagtites, huge huecos and razor-edged crimps! During our ten day stay on the island, we climbed at Butterfly Valley for six of those days. The land owners offer a fantastic lunch each day of fresh ingredients from the market (required to order before heading to the crag in the morning) and there's so much food that it takes some serious effort to get back on the wall afterwards! There's a gazeebo to eat in as well as hammocks for a quick post lunch nap if necessary. Not having to go find lunch each day is a huge bonus and allowed us to maximize our time climbing.

There were some great routes in the 6a range such as "Mother Butterfly" (6a), "Rome to Hanoi Express" (6a), and "Argentina" (6a+), which both of us enjoyed! Most of the routes were at least 18 metres long and provided for some awesome exposure. Right next to "Mother Butterfly" is a 7c+ called "Flight of the Bumblebee", which has a super easy start but then kicks into some harder climbing at the mid-section and then the last couple of bolts are a full on boulder problem with terrible underclings, haneous pinches and a dyno to the finishing hold! I worked this route a bunch and fell on the dyno quite a few times before finally sticking it and ticking this one off.

An area in the centre of Butterfly Valley has a collection of amazing routes which I spent some working. "I Enjoy Myself" (6b) follows a perfect line straight up to a pretty hard mantle crux; a good warm-up before tackling the more challenging routes. I worked an awesome route called "Prayer of the Mantis" (7b) just to the right of "I Enjoy Myself". The key feature on this route is a perfect arete that required some slapping and serious body tension! The bottom also has some serious ground fall potential so Robin was kind enough to pre-clip the first two draws on the way down from "I Enjoy Myself" (that's true love)! I sent this after a day and then was able to move onto one of the nicest lines in the area. "Hippie Banana Tree Killer" (7b+) is a route which has just about every type of climbing involved. A balancy boulder problem at the start leading into crazy, acrobatic roof followed by some huge deadpoints after the roof and then some sustained pocket climbing to the anchors. After placing the draws and working out the sequences, I tried this route a bunch of times and only once came close to the redpoint. I was a bit disappointed not to send, but it'll be there for next time!!! Below are some pics of Butterfly Valley.

Robin on "Mother Butterfly"

Adam on "Prayer of the Mantis"

Adam resting before the crux on "Flight of the Bumblebee"

Adrian (SloPony employee) setting up for the dyno on "Flight of the Bumblebee"

(which he stuck...)

Slo workin' his new project...

On one of our rest days, we decided to rent an extra bike and take a tour around the island. There's a great loop with a couple of side roads out to different points on the island. Driving around the island allowed us to see more of the beautiful mountainous terrain and we quickly realized the untapped climbing potential of the rest of the island, beyond Butterfly Valley. At Gian Luan harbour on the northern end of Cat Ba, the views of the karsts out in the bay were pretty good. There's little development here but that is changing rapidly. I imagine that in a couple more years, this point will be a major entry point of tourists coming to Cat Ba from Ha Long Bay.

Robin posing on our island tour

On our last full day on Cat Ba, we took a boat out to Lan Ha Bay to do some climbing at Tiger Beach on one of the karst islands. The boat wound its way through inlets and around islands until we reached our destination and then we took a kayak to shore. The routes were fine but it was clear that we were some of the first climbers of the season on this particular rock; I'm pretty sure the next climbers there will appreciate the cleaning job we did. But it was the scenery that was the highlight of this excursion. There was a slight fog due to the intermittent rain and it gave the islands an atmospheric, prehistoric feel, like we were right out of Jurasic Park! I was waiting for some pteradactyl to come swooping out of the sky!

While it was unfortunate that we did not get to do any DWS on this trip, we still had a great time! With a bit more sun, Cat Ba would have been perfect but we can't have everything! It is a place I would love to go and visit again. By that time, the guys from Slo Pony will probably have more routes bolted and more DWS established. So that's it from the climbing side of our trip. I'm pretty sure the next time I touch rock will be back in North America (Red River Gorge Easter Trip???). But who knows...there may be a quick hit to some boulders in Seoul???

See everyone soon back in Canada!!!
Adam