Fastest Week Ever...
The best way to ensure your week goes fast is to look forward to it for a month or more and then enjoy every day of it. You'll soon wonder where in the world it went. Truth. We looked forward to Kevin's week with us (a birthday gift from his awesome wife) for so long that it had no choice but to whip past faster than a speeding bullet, as the saying goes. Shoot. pun intended.
Monday.
Our first day of the week was spent at Lang Van Phuc, Silk City, where Kevin had the chance to see an old village/area of Hanoi that was developed for the production of silk and silk products. This village has an old temple and many, many silk shops and silk looms. We spent a good part of the day looking through the shops to find some traditional Vietnamese long dresses/shirts (Ao Dai [Ow Zie]) for Kevin to take home. This was the first of many excursions into Ao Dai shops over the coming week; there are some amazingly pretty Ao Dai in Vietnam. Some previous blogs have shown the young girls doing photo shoots in their Ao Dais, and we discovered that this place was no different as a venue for beautiful photography. We think that the nearness of Tet, or Lunar New Year, has a lot to do with the number of young women who are desirous of getting that perfect shot.
This is the front gate into the village.
A typical silk loom. The pattern is read on the long panel of cards strung together at the top left of the structure. This tells the machine what pattern to create.
Our lunch was Bun Cha, one of our favorites.
This stork standing on the turtle is everywhere in Vietnam. These are 2 of the sacred animals of the country. This and the following picture are found in the shrine.
This was a larger factor with a dozen looms in it.
Bad luck again; they canceled the train sometime before it came and told us 5 minutes after it was supposed to get there. But we still had fun.
This was our day for Ha Long Bay. We had to be at the pick-up spot at 7:10 am. It's a 3 hour drive (approx.) to Ha Long Bay, but we were first to be picked up so we could all sit together. Good thinking, Allen! By the time the last person was picked up and we left Hanoi, it was 8:30 am; an extra hour on the bus was worth sitting together.
We drove past rice fields in various stages of planting, mostly a lot of water and mud.
And then we got to our ship!
They gave us a seafood lunch as we cruised out to the area in the bay where our activities would take place.
Sigh. I had to keep telling Kevin not to play with his food.
There's just something about tentacles...
The first activity involved... steps. I wonder if I had given you a chance, if you would have guessed?
But the reward was worth it.
And then Kevin got to swim in the ocean! And Allen and I got to wade.
The next activity was a kayak for Allen and Kevin...
And a bamboo boat for me.
The kayaks and boats go through a cave in the rock and come out into a lagoon on the other side where the monkeys like to play.
Here's a view of the very narrow/short cave where the boats go in.
This is a picture of the next activity--Surprise Cave, which is 1/2 way up the cliffside.
It is reached by--you guessed it--stairs.
And another great view at the entrance to the cave.
It's really pretty amazing how many caves are in Vietnam.
This one was huge. There are so many tours going through all at the same time that you have a hard time hearing which tour guide is yours. But it's still very impressive.
The walk inside the cave loops around; it goes in one entrance and comes out at this exit, with a different view.
And then we slowly rode home as the sun sank lower into the sky. It was beautiful.
Wednesday.
Chua Thay is a pagoda in a village just outside of the Hanoi zone, so young missionaries can't go there, but senior missionaries can, and we had visited once before and thought Kevin would really enjoy it. We were right. This is a beautiful setting for an old pagoda built at the base of the mountain, and with other pagodas built up the steps(!!) into the mountain, and caves, as well. It was quite a find for Allen to discover, and today we discovered even more.
This group of adorable children was taking pictures near the lake and said we could take some pictures of them, then they asked if we would join them. After some hard arm-twisting, we immediately joined them and, also immediately, chaotic distraction occurred and little kids looked everywhere but at the camera. haha
This is a water-puppet theater out in the lake. So picturesque...
The year of the horse...
Behind this curtain of tree roots is a cave used as a shrine.
And here we are inside the shrine, looking out.
We finally found the path leading to a cave that Allen had heard about that he had tried to find last time we were here. He had researched this a lot this time and felt confident of success. Still, we wouldn't have found it if we hadn't asked some other people at the pagoda.
Down the stairs. hahahaha
We found a guide--or rather, a guide found us--and for 200,000 VND he took us down into the cave.
This cave has a sad history. Back in the year 932 BC, 3200 soldiers escaped into the cave but were trapped and sealed inside. Later, their bones were found and put into this crypt. You can still see some of them. (My numbers may be off.)
It's a very big cave. It continues on much further than where we stopped. Allen read that it has 9 levels, and someone said it would take us 3 hours to go through the whole thing.
No, thank you.
Once out, we headed toward another pagoda Allen saw on the map, but there were no clearly marked trails. We ended up bushwhacking and following red arrows. But we did it!
We found this old pagoda hidden among the trees and rocks, which led to...
More buildings...
More staircases down into caves that held shrines...
That went down more staircases.
And ended up outside high up the hillside...
So many paths and staircases and buildings; so many built right against the cliffs. It really was fascinating.
And more tunnels that went down. This one led down and grew very small and narrow, and entered another room in a different building.
It was so interesting to see where they were built into or against the cliffs.
We had climbed up one side of the mountain, across the top (not a terribly high mountain), and down the other side to the last pagodas we found. Here, we walked out the front door, onto the road, around the base of the mountain, and back to Chua Thay a different way.
A different pagoda had this koi pond.
Boy, did we ever get lucky! Apparently, a German tourist group must have paid for a private showing of this water-puppet show! We got back just as it was beginning, and our tickets into the pagoda paid for the show! We had wanted to see a water-puppet show, as they are a very good example of Vietnamese culture, and rather hard to get into near Hoan Kiem Lake, so this was perfect. It was a bit small, and may not have been telling the entire story, but you couldn't ask for a better setting than an "antique" water-puppet theater to watch a show from!
Our plans changed in the evening, so we were able to go with the Elders to eat dinner with our sweet Hoa and Dat's family, and let Kevin experience an authentic Vietnamese home-cooked dinner. It was so nice to be with them, and so very kind of them. They have moved into their new home, and it's beautiful.
They served Bun Nem; so good...
With fruit for dessert.
Thursday
Our next major excursion was today: Ninh Binh, sometimes called Ha Long Bay on land because the mountains which the river winds around are similar to those in Ha Long Bay. It's a beautiful place.
On the way, the tour bus stops at a store where disabled people weave silk into beautiful works of art. If we had any wall space at home, we would be very tempted to get some of it.
And now the bike riding adventure! Practically no brakes, and squeaking will serve as a horn...
On our way to the next adventure at Dancing Cave (Hang Mua) where we would hike the dragon mountain, we saw water buffalo grazing among the cemetery stones.
Here we go! I think this one is supposed to be 500 steps, but they get very steep and irregular.
This pagoda on a cliff was beautiful.
This is the dragon up on top of Dragon Mountain.
Then it was on to the 3rd activity...Bamboo boats!
We went through some of the shortest, smallest caves I've ever been through on a river!
It reminded me of Disneyland... Pirates of the Caribbean!
This is one of the movie sets for King Kong Skull Island.
The next cave...
These were so fun.
One of these caves almost clocked me! My traveling companions yelled at me just in time.
Friday
Today's adventure took us to Bat Trang, Pottery Village, where Kevin had the chance (and took it!) to spend more money. My, but I have fun helping spend money that isn't mine! We love Bat Trang; the pottery is just beautiful.
Even when we're on our adventures, I'm still working as the Mission Health Advisor. Today was no exception. A missionary got a last-minute doctor's appointment and I needed to make sure the insurance coverage was received by the clinic.
This is a large market inside an open block. I don'ty know how else to describe it. We walked into an alley and suddenly we were inside a market/mall.
We wanted to make sure to take Kevin to Hang Ma Street, where decorations change according to the holiday. Tet transforms the street to red and gold, with other colored accents.
Lots of orchids all over the city.
Again--the year of the horse.
Who can pass up Tentacle-on-a-Stick?
Saturday
The last day with Kevin was suddenly here. We spent the morning trying to figure out how to keep 4 vases, a teapot, a serving set, and a SpiderHam from breaking in the bowels of an airplane for 20 hours. And then we went to the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long to show Kevin one last impressive site of Hanoi.
This citadel was built in 1010 a.d., but was mostly demolished by the French when they were in power in Vietnam in the 1800s. Today it was decorated for Tet and had a very festive atmosphere.
Sticks of incense...
Happy New Year
Steep stairs...
This is a depiction of a water puppet show.
Kevin's final meal in Vietnam--Doner Kebab again, because they're delicious!
We were so happy to share Vietnam with Kevin! Once again I'll say that we'd like a time/space portal so we could have all our kids just step through and come visit, and so that we could buy lots of memories to send home.
After we took Kevin to the airport, we rode back to our church building, where a Vietnamese tradition was taking place: Chung Cake, or Banh Chung. This is the cake made for Tet, and is a famous tradition. A lot of the preparation had taken place the night before, and that morning the cakes had been put together and tied up in banana leaves to steam all day. This evening, the cakes were all in a big pot of water and would steam all night over a big fire in the courtyard of the church. They are made of rice, beans, and marinated meat. After they were in the pot, then the fire was used for a low-key BBQ for branch members and friends.
Sunday
It was a rainy day--a good thing the fire wasn't needed any longer!
A potluck was prepared with banh chung to share, and plenty of the cakes to give away to branch members who needed some extra love.
Here are the wrapped chung cakes.
The cakes are carefully unwrapped from their banana leaves, then cut with the strings that tied them up.
Here they are in the inside--sticky rice on the outside which is colored green from the banana leaves that have held it in, then yellow bean curd, and marinated pork in the center. It is the food that means "Tet".
And here are the packages ready to bag up and distribute. Usually 2 to each family: one for them and one for them to give away.
Here is a family who is very special to us: Dat, who is taking the lessons from the missionaries, his 9-year old son Khang who loves to play the piano, their daughter Vy who is 2, and Hoa, who learned to conduct music and who is learning to play the piano and loves it.
Here is another special friend, Anh Lam, brother Lam.
Our week was filled with fun, joy, and love.
We hope yours was, too.
And we hope the next weeks will be joyful for all of us.
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