August 28th, 2019
There is an amazing waterfall that borders China in northern Vietnam. I have seen many pictures of Ban Gioc Waterfall and thought we should include this in our trip. We have talked to so many backpackers along the way either going or coming from a place you have been or going. It’s is great because you are always exchanging current, up-to-date travel information. I was so surprised to realize that I had not met one person who has been to Ban Gioc Waterfall. Now I know it is because it is way far out there. From Hanoi it requires a 10-hour long bus ride to Cao Bang and then a two-hour motorbike ride one way from Cao Bang. It is a ton of travel time for one sight, but I have been so blown away from the beauty of north Vietnam I thought it would be worth it. I feel very grateful we have the time on our trip to take such a long detour that most others simply don’t have.
Because it is such a long bus ride to Cao Bang we decided to take the overnight sleeper bus, so we don’t waste a day traveling. This saves the cost of a hotel room and gives us an extra day in Hanoi to explore. Even though this is our second time in Hanoi we have not seen much of the city since it has only been a transfer spot for us.
We checked out of our hostel and had until 6pm to explore until we got on the overnight bus. We went to another war museum that was much different than the one we visited in Saigon. This was the Vietnam Military History Museum. It actually had very little on the Vietnam war with the USA. It had history on lots of Vietnam’s battles and wars that date back to B.C. There were many battles between different dynasties and honestly, I had a hard time keeping track or knowing what each dynasty was about. There was a lot about the French and Japanese fighting as well. Outside of the museum there were quite a few planes from the Soviet Union as well as tanks and planes from the US that were captured by the North during the Vietnam War. We learned more about Ho Chi Minh and I thought it was funny he is referred to by the Vietnamese people as “Uncle Ho”.
The city of Hanoi has all kinds of things to do and look at. I have to say, with the exception of Singapore the large southeast Asian cities we have been to thus far have not been my favorite. It is absolutely because they are so difficult and chaotic just to walk around. I generally think big cities are fun and enjoy what they have to offer. In southeast Asia it is different (at least for me). I was totally happy spending a week in Buenos Aries, Santiago, New York, London, Sydney etc. After a day or two in a large city in southeast Asia, I am ready to get out into the countryside and into small villages. The problem I have is there are no sidewalks designated for walking. If there is a sidewalk, every inch is taken up by vendors, parked motorbikes, motorbikes driving to avoid some of the street traffic, tables and chairs for eating, storefronts that do their business on the sidewalk etc. If it is a fabrication shop, they are doing the actual fabricating/welding on the sidewalk in front of their store and so on. Pedestrians have no choice but to walk in the crazy, chaotic streets (see Brendan’s post from yesterday).
It is also strange that it appears a bike rider has to be a local to actually be able to park a motorbike in the city. There can be 8,000 bikes pulled up and parked on the sidewalk, but if we want to stop and park, people run at us shaking their finger saying, “no motorbike parking here!”. Really? Because I just watched five other people pull up, park and walk away. Brendan was getting pretty frustrated at one point when everywhere he tried to park next to other bikes, they wouldn’t let him. We finally had to buy a fake North Face jacket from a vendor to let us park for a bit (we needed some rain jackets anyway it was just kind of a funny situation).
I dread every time I have to cross the street in the city because you just have to “go”. There is NEVER a break in traffic regardless if there is a traffic light or cross walk signal. The best advice we were given was to just start walking, don’t make eye contact and commit to your line and let everyone swerve around you. You can’t get scared and try to jump out of the way or else you’ll get run over from another guy coming at you from a different direction who didn’t expect you to change your route. You really just have to blindly go and hope everyone else is paying attention enough to swerve around you. Even the car horns in New York don’t compare to the constant stream of horns here, and at least in New York there are sidewalks for actual walking. I’m sure you could get used to all of this if you stayed a while, but it hasn’t been something to stick around long enough to adjust. Especially here in Vietnam where the countryside is so spectacular. After today in Hanoi, I was ready for the bus to take us to a small town. Don’t get me wrong, the cities here are definitely a good cultural experience which I am happy to have. It is just not where I would want to spend the majority of my time.
Once it was time for our bus, we loaded up and were off to Cao Bang. I really like the overnight sleeper buses! Even though I don’t think they were made for tall Westerners, I still find it really cozy to be able to watch the lights of the city go by from the window by the BED. Anytime I can have a bed to lay down in for an activity, I’m pretty happy. I don’t think Brendan shares my same enthusiasm about the beds on the buses as he really doesn’t fit and ended up laying on the floor of the aisle in order to try and sleep and stretch out.
Boy I wouldn’t last 5 minutes in the street crossing by walking blindly in front of oncoming motorized masses! I’m sure you remember how it scared me to death when you walked against the “crosswalk man” in NYC! Good thing you didn’t take your Mom on this trip, I’d probably have a heart attack due to stress! It’s probably not common to see blind people there functioning as they do in other cities.