Hue, the old imperial city

Hue was the imperial city of Vietnam from 1802 until 1945. During that time it was home to 13 different emperors all from the Nguyen dynasty. When the last emperor abdicated in 1945, power shifted to Hanoi and Saigon. And Hue became a small provincial city again.



Hue is located on the Perfume River (which gets its name from some well-smelling plants that grow around its source in Laos). The city has nice open green spaces along both embankments, which make a nice contrast to the usually densely populated city centers in Asia. A welcome relief on our visit as the temperature and especially the humity were almost too much to bear.



The first thing we did was therefore a boat trip up the Perfume River to the Pagoda of the Heavenly Lady and its surrounding sanctuary.



A nice place outside the city, though just climbing the 20 or so stairs up from the river meant that our shirts were sweated all the way through. I don't think I have ever experienced such a level of humidity before.

Though that was probably still a few degrees cooler than what one of the sanctuary's most famous inhabitant must have felt like in 1963. Because back then one of the older monks had driven from the monastry to Saigon and immolated himself on a busy traffic crossing to get attention for the plight of Buddhists in Vietnam back then. The resulting photo made it all the way around the world:



In the direct aftermath of his action, some other buddhist monks reacted rather pragmatically - and saved his his car, which ultimately made it back to the monastry where it is on display today:



Slightly more uplifting is the other main attraction of the sanctuary - a big happy buddha:



This depiction of buddha is meant to symbolize good luck and wealth (and something that we must have already seen a thousand times in all sorts of materials while travelling around Asia). Or as Fiona - rather disrespectfully - calls it "daddy's belly"...


i

Back in Hue we visited the city's main attraction - the Imperial City, which was where the emperors and their families and servants lived. The inner area of this massive complex is called the "Forbidden City" which is where just the emperors and their families lived. Not just the name, but also the whole area design with its forecourts, temples, halls etc. is rather reminiscient of the Forbidden City in Beijing.

Unfortuntaly, during the Vietnam War (or better, during the "American War" as it is called here in Vietnam) the Communist troops put up their military camp right in the middle of the Forbidden City, which therefore attracted heavy US bombardment and got pretty much all destroyed. So where the key palaces once stood, things look rather more barren these days:



We were quickly brought back to today's reality by visiting the local central market afterwards - ... count yourself lucky that this blog does not capture smells:



The following morning we visited one of the numerous emperor tombs which are outside Hue. The one we saw was Khai Dinh's tomb, who was the second last emperor (and ruled between 1916 and 1925). His son built a massive, rather over-the-top mausoleum cum temple to commemorate his father.







The whole building has Chinese, Indian, Japanese and French design elements thrown together - all on a rather too grand scale. The emperor and his son had undertaken various trips abroad, e.g. to Europe, and based on that "inspiration" they wanted to build their piece of immortality on a scale that also foreign dignitaries would be impressed by.

In order to build it, special taxes amongst the population were raised. Another factor as to why common people weren't all that upset when the royal family finally abdicated in 1945 (and emmigrated to France).

We continued our journey further South through Vietnam...

The night train from Hanoi to Hue

After having spent nights on this trip in hotel rooms of different standards, on planes, on a boat and in a motorhome, we thought we'd also try the sleeper train experience.






At Hanoi main station things were as busy as expected. Lots of people everywhere, including quite a few who had spotted us and volunteered their services to get us to the right train (against a tip, of course). Fortunately, we already had our bags with one porter and so when we politely declined their advances they all left us in peace.



Our cabin was, well, compact:



But relatively clean and, most importantly, with air-conditioning.



The kids slept very well, whereas Sabine and I didn't really. But, hey, it's all part of the experience. Including the big cockroach in the aisle outside our cabin which greeted me this morning...

13 hours later we arrived in Hue in the center of Vietnam (NB: "Ga" means train station in Vietnamese; probably influenced from the French word "Gare"):



Ready for the next city (...and for the next night in a proper hotel bed again).

Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam

Yesterday we spent the day sightseeing in Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam.





The key challenge was basically not to be run over by all the motorbikes that create a sea of permanent (honking and engine) noise. It's a bit like an anthill where you wonder how they all get past each other and don't run into each other. Especially considering that one hand of the person riding the motorbike is bound to be on a mobile phone while navigating the traffic. Also there seems to be no limit in terms of how many passengers and/or how much stuff they carry.



We spent quite a bit of time in the Ho Chi Minh district of Hanoi. The main attraction is the man himself. Or rather what's left of him (NB: He died in 1969).



In his mausoleum we saw his mortal remains presented in a glass casket. The body looks like an extra from Madame Tussauds. The awe-inspiring building, the long wait in line, the intimidating guards etc. etc. - it's all rather reminiscient of the Lenin Mausoleum in Moscow and the Mao one in Beijing. Perhaps there was a "3 for 1"offer going on in terms of mausoleum constructions back then...



There was also the house where Ho Chi Minh lived on display. He was portrayed as a very humble man of the people. No sure how this all sits with the big deal they make about him now (after his death), but I'd rather not got drawn into a discussion with our very "committed" guide on this point.



Apart from some pagodas, a few temples, the old town, the French quarter and the central lake we saw the infamous Hoa Lo Prison which was nicknamed "Hanoi Hilton" during the Vietnam War, where amongst others also John McCain "checked in" after he was shot down during the war. The prison is a museum these days.



One of the highlights for the kids was that we attended a Water Puppet Show in the afternoon:



It was a bit like a Punch & Judy Show meets Japanese Kabuki Theater. The kids loved it (and it was a welcome break from the crazy traffic, too).



To round things off we then did the touristy thing and went on a cyclo ride through the old town, where you are basically sitting comfortably and get pedalled through the streets. Again, miracleously we all got through the traffic unharmed. Fiona, who shared the ride with me, even took the chance to get a quick sleep in while on the cycloe ride - which is something that in this kind of traffic is probably rather unique...



After a busy day we headed off to the Hanoi Central Train station where we saw some familiar faces* on the posters in the station restaurant, advertising a German beer.



With such pleasant company around us, we proved that advertising really does work (and ordered some of this beer) together with our dinner before we boarded our overnight sleeper train to Hue.


(* In case you haven't recognised these good-looking gentlemen, they are the German National football team.)

Halong Bay - Good things come to those who wait

Our first excursion here in Vietnam went from Hanoi to Halong Bay. We were meant to go for 3 days / 2 nights. However, when we got to Halong Bay on Saturday we spent the entire day basically practising our patience. Reason being there had been a tropical storm in the area and the local tourism ministery (who has to give the ultimate permission for boats to depart the harbour) didn't want any negative press. Therefore they decided to play it safe and grounded all boats on that day ... with an announcement that finally came at 5.00 pm.

So all we got to see on day 1 of Halong Bay were some islands in the mist in the distance. Morale was rather low at this stage amongst the assembled "united nations" of tourists...

We were then given the option to go back to Hanoi (which is about a 4 hour drive "Vietnamese style" in a cramped mini bus) or take a chance and stay overnight in a hotel in Halong Bay and hope for better weather the next day.

We decided to do the latter and checked into a hotel in Halong Bay - because the prospect of another gruelling 4 hour drive that evening just didn't sound that appealing at all.

The next morning the view out of the hotel window was like this - ...oh no!!! Basically rain, rain and more rain:

Especially, as this Sunday was a special day: Lucy's 9th birthday! We decided to just ignore the weather and have a big Birthday breakfast instead. When we finally got going around mid-day the rain had stopped and we got the good news that the boats were able to go out.

What followed in the next 24 hours was definitely one of the highlights of our trip so far: The boat cruise through Halong Bay, which is an archipelago of approx. 3,000 islands. Imagine a tropical rainforest where all mountains are shaped like sureloaf mountain in Rio de Janeiro and then a mega flood happens, which means that just the mountain tops are visible - well, that's pretty much what Halong Bay looks like. Amazing!!!

We visited a cave, stopped at a floating market, went swimming, watched monkeys climb the cliffs and undertook a kayak trip through a water cave underneath one of those mountains. Plus had great Vietnamese meals onboard and a good night sleep on our boat.

It was really a great day to remember (...and not just for the birthday girl). (NB: More photos are on the German language blog entry for today.)

Today on Sunday we got back to Halong Bay at noon and then "enjoyed" our mini bus trip back to Hanoi. Well, the traffic in Vietnam in itself is worth a story for another day...

After a detour because of a bus accident that happened just in front of our bus and the obligatory stop at a Vietnamese souvenir mega-store we finally managed to get back to Hanoi. Exhausted, but full of wondeful memories from Halong Bay...

Orchids, Hillary Clinton and Vietnamese Immigation PingPong

The last morning in Singapore we visited the Botanical Garden, a real oasis of clam and green - right in the city. Plus a great place for breakfast, too.



The main attraction was the National Orchid Garden, with hundreds of orchids on display. It was beautiful. And really humid, too. We literally just closed the taxi door on our way back to the hotel when a tropical downpour cooled things down.

After a 3 hour flight we arrived in Hanoi, the capital of the Social Republic of Vietnam (or Vietnam as we shall refer to it from here on). The very first thing we saw as the plane touched down and we were still on the landing strip, slowing down, was the US Airforce 1 (or rather 2) presidential plane ready for take-off. The explanation: The US foreign secretary Hillary Clinton just finished a 2 day visit to Vietnam and was leaving the country as we arrived. In fact, the next plane that used the airport runway after we had cleared it was hers. So how about that for a claim to fame: We made the US foreign secretary wait!!!



Inside the airport terminal we were participating in a game that could at best be described as 'Vietnamese Immigration pingpong'. To get our visa upon arrival sorted we needed to see a total of seven (!) customs people. Anyways, when we finally cleared that hurdle, the only 4 pieces of baggage that were still circling around on the baggage carrousel were ours...



An hours drive from the airport into Hanoi City let to the first impression that Vietnam ain't Singapore. Whereas Singapore was busy and efficient, our first impression of Vietnam was that it seemed busy and chaotic.



But let's see what the next days / weeks bring. After a night here in Hanoi we will leave early tomorrow for Halong Bay. I suspect, it will be a bit tricky with Internet access when we are outside of the big cities, so please bear with us...

Night Safari in Singapore

After an otherwise rather relaxing day today we went onto the night safari in the Singapore Zoo tonight (and thought we'd do a quick update about it straight away while our 24 hrs internet access is still valid).



The night safari here at Singapore Zoo was the first of its kind in the world (...and quite a clever Marketing idea on how to extend the zoo opening hours, to be honest).

And so it was us and (what felt like) pretty much half of Asia tonight battling it out for the best seats / views.

First up was a 30 minute show about "creatures in the night" in an amphitheater.



The highlight was when it was revealed that all through the show there had been a rather big alive snake hidden under some of the audience seats (see photo above) - fortunately not close to where we sat. Apart from this we were reminded (approx. 20 times) not to take any photos with flash photography, which kind of explains the quality of the photos that go with this blog entry.



The main attraction of the night safari is a tram that takes you through the zoo on an approx. 45 minutes drive. You don't see any fences, most of the separation from the animals is achieved through water or other obstacles. So you do really get quite close to the animals. Through a rather whispered live commentary they do manage to add quite a lot of suspense (...ah, and did I mention, no flash photography allowed.) We got to see elephants, lions, tigers, rhinos, hippos, buffalos, tapirs and all sorts of deer.

Here is a little quiz: Can you match the following three photos to these 3 animals: elephant, lion and rhino?! (And trust me, these are the best photos, you wouldn't want to see the others we took or rather thought we took...)







Well done on the quiz!!!

Anyways, 3 hours and 150 Singapore Dollars later we are all safely back in the hotel and the kids are already asleep. No doubt, dreaming about "giant snakes hidden under seats"...

Singapore - a fine city

Monday literally "flew by" (as we spent about 10 hours on planes from Cairns to Singapore, with a stop-over in Brisbane).

The last 48 hours in Singapore have been rather busy with sightseeing and seeing friends, so that we only now get a chance to update the blog. Also it's currently raining, so a perfect chance to take some time out and to update you on the progress we've made since leaving Australia.

First impressions from Singapore have been very positive overall. Here is the view from our hotel room (we are right on Orchard Road, which is the big shopping road here):



A bit of trivia right upfront: The state of Singpore and myself share the same age: We are both 45 years old - ...how about that for some useless information. The big national day parade here is coming up soon...



Since I last visited this place over 10 years ago, it seemed the city has expanded in all directions. And quite literally: There has been an enormous amount of land which was reclaimed from the sea, which has resulted in entire new areas of the city being created on it. Coupled that with the artistic license that seems to have been given to the architects, you end up with some amazing new buildings. Here are some images about MODERN Singapore:

MODERN Singapore

In contrast, there are still the old quarters, like Little India, Chinatown, the Arab quarter etc., which they are keen to preserve (and if only as tourist attractions). Anyways, these areas are testament to how multi-ethnic Singpore's population is. There are basically four main groups of people living here (Malay, Chinese, Indian and "others" - including all the Western expats). And it's that mixture that makes things here very colourful and rich. Here are some images about the CULTURE of Singapore:

CULTURE Singapore

The other factor that needs to probably be mentioned is the strict government control that lead to the old joke about Singapore being a "fine city":



For example, Singpore has the highest number of death penalty cases per capita. And it's well-documented what happens to people who smuggle drugs or drop their chewing gum on the pavement. But what is lesser known is the safety and low crime rate that people benefit from, e.g you can leave your mobile phones etc. on the table to reserve a space in public foodcourts before you then get your food. Or 10 year olds can take public transportation on their own without a worry for their parents.

The other two aspects worth mentioning are food and shopping. Singaporeans seem to enjoy a special love affair with food - and resulting from it, there is a wide choice of different food types available here. Even Lucy has started to take some risks and finally has ordered something else than "fried chicken tenders"...



The shopping malls here are legendary - especially around Orchard Street you literally fall from one shopping mall into the next. And we are talking here about dozens and dozens of the most modern shopping malls, on multiple levels - underground and above ground. Almost too much if you ask me. Here are some things that caught our eye in the SHOPPING heaven that is called Singapore:

SHOPPING Singapore

How does one make sense of all this?! How do you describe the phenomenon of this city / state?! Well, the best descriptions I have heard so far are that Singapore is like a "Californian resort town run by Mormons" and/or that Singapore is like "Disneyland with the death penalty".

Well, anyways ... we like it. Given that we are only here for 4 days, we got one of those multi-day hop-on bus tickets to take us around the city. Plus we did a river cruise, too.



Most informative, however, was meeting up with some of the "locals" here, including my old colleague Jonathan who we met for lunch (including a tour of the Ogilvy office in Singapore). Plus we got together with my old friends from New York days, Saleem and Dinaz, for a "Singapore Sling" drink when the kids were asleep.

After all the sightseeing and meeting up with friends, we still hope to see (if the rain ever stops) the Botanical Gardens and / or the famous Singapore Zoo - before we then leave tomorrow afternoon for Vietnam.