Typhoon damage

As you know (if you've been reading my blog), Vietnam got hit with Typhoon Son-Tinh at the same time my friends in Ontario were getting hit with a mega-storm of their own, courtesy of Hurricane Sandy.

At the present time there are 10 people reported dead, and an estimated hundred million dollars of damages, as a result of the typhoon that swept across northern Vietnam on Sunday night.   If you're looking at a map, the hardest hit area was the northern coast of the Gulf of Tonkin - and then Ha Long Bay (where I've just returned from) is a little bay off of the Gulf of Tonkin.

On Sunday night I was travelling by train from Hue to Hanoi, and despite the fact that central Vietnam was the original expected location where the typhoon was going to come ashore, at the last minute it headed a bit further north.  So for me on the train, all that I was really aware of was A LOT of rain, and perhaps the ride was a bit rockier than usual (but I don't have anything to compare it to so I really don't know).  It definitely was a rocky ride however --- and being on the top bunk I was very glad there was a guard rail as I was thrown into it a couple of times during the night!

On Monday and Tuesday mornings we were back travelling by bus again, and particularly on Tuesday morning when we were travelling towards Ha Long Bay, the damage caused by the typhoon was very evident.

As I've said before, I know that photos taken through the bus window aren't the best, but this is just a little example of what I could see along the way.

I've really been quite fortunate in terms of weather the whole time I've been travelling.  Even with this typhoon, which did create some grey days and a bit of rain for a couple of days before and certainly during, there hasn't been anything that meant a change to the itinerary.  And when you consider that there were no cruises on Ha Long Bay for Saturday, Sunday or Monday nights, and then we went out on Tuesday and actually had a bit of sunshine at times ... all I can say is "how lucky I am".

Cuc Phuong National Park

After arriving in Hanoi after the overnight train trip, all we did was store our luggage at a hotel and we were back on the road again, on the way to Cuc Phuong National Park which is about 150 kms south of Hanoi.

On the way to the Park we made a stop at Hoa Lu which was actually the capital of Vietnam under the Dinh (968-80) and Le (980-1009) dynasties.  The site was a suitable choice for a capital city due to its proximity to China and also its location within the mountain range located there.
(As I'm sure you're getting used to - these pictures were again taken out the bus window while travelling, but they do give you a bit of an indication of what the mountains in the area are like.)

The ancient citadel of Hoa Lu, built in the 10th century, once covered an area of about 3 square kms but sadly has been largely destroyed.

This very unique individual was near the entrance gate of the citadel.

Cuc Phuong National Park is one of Vietnam's most important nature preserves.  Ho Chi Minh personally took time off from the war in 1963 to dedicate the area as a national park - Vietnam's first.

Cuc Phuong National Park is home to the Endangered Primate Rescue Centre.  This highly successful centre has around 150 primates in rescue and breeding programs.  There are currently about 15 different species and subspecies of Gibbons and Langurs on site, and whenever possible the centre tries to release the monkeys back into their native environments.

After visiting the rescue centre about half the group decided to go on an 8 km trek to see an enormous, 1000 year old tree.

Accommodation was pretty basic tonight, but it did have power (some of the time) and mosquito nets (all of the time), and I more than survived.

Last day in Hue

WOW - the last three days have been incredibly interesting, with many fabulous experiences!  Good thing I didn't bother to take my iPad as there definitely wasn't WiFi anywhere I've been.  I'm in Hanoi now though and I'll get my blog caught up over the next few days.

So let's start with my last day in Hue - during which I visited the Imperial Citadel.  Unfortunately it was heavily bombed during the war but restoration has started and even the parts that are still in ruin are quite magnificent.

Construction of the moated Citadel began in 1804 by Emporer Gia Long and within the entire complex there are actually three separate areas; the outer area where commoners were allowed, a second interior section where invited guests were allowed, and then the centre interior section - an area known as the holy-of-the-holy, actually called the Forbidden Purple City - where only the royal family was allowed.  The entire complex is 10 square kms so there's no way I was able to see it all, but what I did see was awfully wonderful.  As you can see from the photos, parts of it have been fully restored, there are some buildings and areas where reconstruction has just started, and still large areas that show the devastation of war and natural disasters.

This afternoon was when the epic train adventure began - an overnight train trip from Hue to Hanoi.  The unfortunately part is that is was dark for nearly the entire trip as we got on the train at 5:00 pm and we were supposed to arrive in Hanoi at 5:00 am.  We were a little delayed on our arrival though as tonight is when the typhoon hit.  Unbelievable rain, and it was probably a slightly more rocky ride than usual, but despite the nasty weather we were only about an hour and a half delayed getting into Hanoi.

There was however a beautiful sunset while we were waiting for the train.

And this is the sleeper cabin I shared with three others.  My bed was top-left.

More around Hue

As those of you in parts of the northern hemisphere prepare for some potentially nasty weather - Vietnam is expecting a typhoon to make land tomorrow giving us some pretty heavy rain as well!  So today was a rather grey, overcast and drizzly day, but I don't think it deterred from the sight seeing at all.

Today was spent doing more exploring in and around Hue --- this time on motorbike!

The first stop today was at a covered bridge built in 1776.  You can see that there are seven sections to the bridge and the middle section actually has an altar/shrine dedicated to Ms. Tran Thi Dao who was the wife of a high-ranking mandarin at the time and who paid for the bridge's construction.

Next I met this wonderful lady - 76 years old - who is a retired rice farmer.  Wanting something to do with her time she now spends her days in a very local 'rice' museum, telling her stories from when she was farming.  I learned all about the whole process of rice; from planting, irrigating and harvesting, then separating the rice and the husk, to finally grinding it into rice powder.  And what's pretty amazing to think about is that many of the tools and techniques she demonstrated are still used in exactly the same way today.  She is quite the interesting museum curator let me tell you!

This amazing looking building actually isn't important to Hue at all, in fact it's a privately owned family temple, and we just happened to pass by it along the roadside.

Our next stop however was at what is still today an important pagoda to the people of Hue.  It was built in the mid-18th century and today still serves as a monastery and monk training centre.

Off to the side of this monastery is one of the few remaining cemeteries where the eunuchs from the courts of the Nguyen dynasty were buried.

This is an old tiger coliseum.  Obviously not in use any longer, but it was used up to 1904 and was the home of many fights between tigers and elephants whenever the emperor demanded.

Our 'craftperson' stop for today was at a local home where they make incense and cone hats.  As I'm sure you've seen from my photos, Vietnamese people all over the country really do wear the cone hats and apparently the ones made in Hue are renown for their quality and intricacy.

A lookout spot was next on the agenda, with a great view of the Perfume River (and you can see what I mean when I said it was a rather grey day)

from around the bunkers that still remain from during the war.

Now as I said at the start of this post, today's 'adventures' took place via motorbikes, and here's the proof that I was really out on one (third from the right).  Also a few photos that I took as we were riding along.

It's a good thing these cows knew enough, and were quick enough, to get out of my way.

And just so you know, I'm not going to be able to do another blog post for a few days.  Tonight is my last night in Hue and tomorrow night I'm going to be overnighting on the train travelling up to Hanoi.  The night after that I'm going to be in Cuc Phuong National Park and the night after that on a junk in Halong Bay.  The only one of those three locations where there might be even a remote chance of internet access might be in the National Park - and I won't have the iPad with me as we're travelling with just our day-packs for those two days.   So it will be Wednesday morning (your time) at the earliest before I'm back on a computer ... and I'll do my best to get caught up in the days following.