The bridge in Da Nang…..

Yes, it has been awhile since we posted. Still have more to share about Vietnam, but this “real job” thing seems to have gotten in the way, as well as jet lag.
Once we made it through the Hai Van Pass, we decided to make a trip to the ancient city of Hoi An, a short taxi ride from the city of Da Nang. Talk about a great decision! Only regret was there was not more time (although with the sheer number of silk shops and tailors, this was probably a good thing). First of all, a little background info about Hoi An. The city os an ancient SouthEast Asian trading port, along the South China Sea. From the 7th-10th centuries it was important in the spice trade and had international influences including Chinese, Japanese, and Dutch influences. Also, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We arrived in town and just decided to spend the first part of the afternoon walking around. The streets were lined with many shops offering gifts, silks, dresses, and art as well as cafe’s. We thought “this is cute” until we turned a corner and stumbled upon the river, and discovered why people rave about this city. Think: Venice meets Vietnam. We decided to hop in a flat river boat and see the city from the river:

We then had an amazing meal at this delicious outdoor cafe along the river, complete with its own lantern-lit pergola.

After dinner, we discovered that at night, the children sell candles to float down the river. I am sure that this is for the tourists, but the effect was stunning! Hoi An: definitely a must!

Since we left Hue, we have pretty much been on the road. And let me just say, what a road to be on! So as to not overwhelm all of you following this (thanks moms), we will break up the journey into tasty bite-size morsels.

On leaving Hue to head to Da Nang, we decided to to the longer, more scenic route known as the Hai Van Pass. This is also referred to as the Ocean Cloud Pass that transverses the Annamite Mtn Range as it hugs the South China Sea. The BBC’s Jeremy Clarkson also referred to this as “-one of the best coast roads in the world.” (Thank you Wikipedia). It separates North and South Vietnam, and historically has been a strategic road. The road itself climbs high into the mountains with views overlooking the sea. You go around numerous, very sharp, twists and turns to get what is a most spectacular view. What is NOT written is the first hand account from the Vets of traveling this road at night during the war as it was the only supply route.

Roads that would make James Bond envious:

We could see bunkers from the First Indochina War (the French Vietnam 1940’s-50’s) dotting the terrain:

Luckily, there was a “rest stop” with a scenic overlook. We were able to stretch our legs, take pictures, and get some ice cream (mung bean and tarro flavored, of course). A few vendors occupied this prime spot on the top of the Hai Van pass, and showed us their marble & jade figurines as well as their South China Sea pearl collection. We were told the pearls were not only real (as demonstrated by holding a flame to them), but the same ones as worn by Michelle Obama.

Of course we have not really mentioned a huge part of this trip, and that is the Vets. This is a period of time that our parents lived through, but we are not as familiar with. We have heard the history of the politics and how unpopular the war was, but it has always remained something for the history books.
Getting to know this group of guys and their wives has been a great experience.
At first, it was very hard to imagine that these guys were part of a war. They really all reminded us of a favorite uncle perhaps. Through the trip, they would mention areas that they had served in, stories from their time in the war, which made the entire trip much more memorable to hear what Vietnam was to them.
At the beginning of the trip, they each told us when they served and what branch they were in. Later in the trip, as we got to hear their stories, we understood a little more. They were only 18-22 y/o, an age when many of us were concerned about what to wear to a football game. And they were living what Apocalypse Now was based on. We are talking tours in the Mekong Delta, supply routes through the Hai Van Pass (more on that later), helicopter pilots… and now doing humanitarian missions. These guys are serious bad a** s!
We had a ceremony for them at the end of the trip, and here are a few pictures:

It’s really hard to believe that the clinical part of the trip has come to an end. This may be a good thing considering Kit thinks she may have Dengue Fever, or heat exhaustion and a stomach not meant for Vietnamese food. Last night, we took our translators out to dinner. We went to a place called Tai Pho (which is not Thai food), and had a family style meal of spring rolls with pork and banh quioe (kway, and totally spelled incorrectly), which is a crepe with bean sprouts, pork, shrimp and lettuce. They picked the restaurant and told us this is a place they come to as a group. The food was yummy and we were stuffed by the time we walked out. However, out translators did insist that they take us out for dessert that consisted of layers of sweet bean, +/- corn, +/- banana all served with ice and coconut milk. Sounds crazy, but actually really sweet and delicious, like a parfait. The whole evening was a lot of fun and it was wonderful to spend time outside of clinic with everyone we have been working with, go to their favorite restaurants and share their favorite meals.

The last of clinic was both a very (medically) interesting and rewarding day. One of our colleagues saw a patient with leprosy, and we had a large group of Down’s syndrome patients. My last patient of the day was a young boy with Down’s syndrome who was not feeding well or growing as well as his peers. Tuyen (my translator) managed to distract him while playing music for him on my IPhone and showing him pictures. Talk about a team effort, but worth it. He seemed to like Van Morrison the best, and I was able to look at his heart with the ultrasound machine I have been lugging about. He appeared to have a complete AV canal defect (heart malformation) and we were able to refer him to the hospital for surgical repair.

We as a group then had a special celebration with all of our translators, and honestly, we cannot say enough about what a treat it was to work with them. We each worked with one specific translator the entire time, and we hands down had the best two translators. They were quick to pick up on all the medical terminology and were even recognizing our patterns of questions and diagnoses, when we would want a blood sugar checks, etc. We would talk about music, movies and what they typically did on weekends. Tuyen really liked the Dave Matthews Band that I introduced to her. Kit and Huong were listening to a lot of Beiber and Backstreet Boys. We are especially excited for them as they both won scholarships to study in the US this year and found out where they are going. Tuyen is going to Minnesota and Huong to South Dakota. So, if any of our friends have any XXS winter coats you no longer use, I am sure these girls will need them!

All in all, the people we have worked with on this trip have been a great group – from our translators to the Vets who have returned to a country they were at war with, and everyone else.

So, we have been out in villages, we have eaten local food with families, and even had massages. But it was not until the night on the boat that we had the true Vietnamese nightlife experience. Yes, I am talking about karaoke. Now, The Le had mentioned earlier in the week about karaoke, but I had not really paid attention to the importance of this. Looking back, there have been quite a few karaoke bars in each city – Funny Karaoke, VIP Karaoke, Karaoke Club 86 to name a few. The captain announced after dinner that it was time for the evening’s entertainment – karaoke all night long. He and his crew started off karaoke with an American song and then a Vietnamese song, then the Aussie couple took over followed by the French Canadians with a Backstreet Boys song. The captain then came to us four to really get the party going, and enthusiastically kept us up at the mike and sang along with us to Neil Diamond, Bon Jovi, Garth Brooks, Backstreet Boys (Kit), and Britney Spears. Don’t worry though – neither of us are quitting our day job, and since Leann has this recorded, neither one of us can ever run for public office. It was all topped off by a rather uncoordinated but enthusiastic version of “Time Warp” from Rocky Horror picture show.
You may be thinking that this was just our boat, with a captain who happens to love karaoke, but No! I escaped went to the upper deck sometime between Backstreet Boys and another traditional Vietnamese song. The bay was lit up by s small city of boats….and I could hear karaoke from several other ships. Our editor friend from Edinburgh mentioned the next day her friend had warned her about the entertainment. And even as I write this, we have passed by 32 karaoke bars.
They say, “When in Rome, do as Romans do”, but when in Vietnam, one must sing karaoke!

We started off with lunch, which happened to be a 7-course meal of fruit, vegetables, and fish. We were fed constantly and well – the food was amazing & fresh. We then took the boat to our first stop: a big cave to “hike” through. Now, in New Zealand, easy beach walk translated to 9-hour arduous mountain trek. Here “hike” meant a long stroll through a cave with 900 of your closest friends. Although stalagmites and stalactites are cool, it is not something recommended for those with claustrophobia. We then cruised over to a floating fishing village and took kayaks through the fishing village. This part of the day was way too short, or maybe it was the stopping every 2 minutes for another photo, but whichever way, wish we spent more time kayaking. This part was only complicated when Leann and Thao Linh never returned. 30 minutes after everyone had returned, they finally paddled up. Glad we were not going to have to explain a disappearance at sea to the rest of the team!

We then returned to the boat and were able to swim in aqua blue water before sunset drinks, dinner, and entertainment. The night is worthy of a whole blog post on its own.

Sunday morning, we awoke to Vietnamese coffee and breakfast overlooking the bay – a 5 course breakfast in one of the most beautiful spots on earth, not too bad for a quick weekend trip. We then went to a pearl farm, a dedicated UNESCO heritage site, which was truly beautiful and interesting. All this was followed by a lesson in making spring rolls. Then a 10-course lunch. We keep trying to convince ourselves that the food is healthy (which is easy to do when you’re not sure what it is).

Leaving the bay was fairly uneventful, although not a one of us was looking forward to the trip ahead. Lemme explain: 3.5-hour bumpy ride to Hanoi in tour van + 45 minute hot cab ride to Hanoi airport + 1 hour plane ride to Da Nang + 2-3 hour rollercoaster trip through mountains to Hue. What do the kids say these days? YOLO?
The trip back was complicated when we boarded the plane. A tour group of excited Vietnamese mamma-sahns (older ladies) nearly trampled me, Margaret , to death in a rush to get a seat. It became evident that this was in fact their first plane ride when they all pulled down the trays immediately to set their purses on. The one sitting next to me then grabs me and pulls me in for a picture, complete with peace signs. BTW, they were all wearing matching hats.

So, we are not actually on a culinary tour of SE Asia. Nor are we being paid to scout out fabulous movie locations (although if someone wants to pay us to do that, just let us know). Not yet training to be on The Amazing Race. Average day here: (still pretty awesome) while we work on uploading the 864 photos from the weekend.

Oh where to even begin! The weekend trip began at 01:00 (yes that is 1 am for you non-military folk) with our driver taking us to Da Nang in our Magical Mystery Tour vans so we could fly out at 06:00. The idea was to sleep in the van. Ha-ha, that was a joke! Apparently we had forgotten that the road from Hue to Da Nang is through a mountain pass and lots of little villages. There was no sleeping at all. We arrive to the Da Nang airport at 03:00. Now, you may be asking why did we leave at 01:00 for a 2-hour trip? We had to be through the tunnel near Da Nang by 03:00 as it shuts down for an hour then. So we arrive to the Da Nang airport at 03:00 and were told by a guard that the airport was closed, and he pointed to the next resting/sleeping location – benches outside the airport. We put our bags under our heads to enjoy sleeping underneath all the stars, or as The Le (accent over e) put it “the 10,000 star hotel”.
We moved inside at 04:00 to rest in a few chairs, and sometime between 04:00 and 04:40, approximately 600 people flooded the airport (ok maybe not that many). The scene though was as if Justin Beiber walked into an all-girls high school convention (Kit’s been listening to a lot of Beiber recently). We somehow made it through the ticket counter, security and to the shuttle to take us 20 yards to the plane.

After arriving in Hanoi, we caught a taxi for the 45-minute trip to the tourism office where we were to meet up with the tour group. Realized quickly that the reason this is a 45 minute drive is that the average speed is 15 mph. This is largely due to the fact that there are NO traffic rules! Somehow we did make it to the tour office by 8:30, and even had time to grab a pork sausage Bun from the street vendor:

We made several stops in the tour van to pick up different people. Our fellow travelers were diverse and appeared to be a fun group – an Aussie couple, and French Canadian couple in medical school, and book editor from Scotland to name a few. After a 3.5-hour bus trip from Hanoi, sustaining several C-spine compression fractures, we arrived at Halong Bay.
Can I just say “Whoa”?! I was honestly expecting a little known, preserved nature area (a la Milford & Doubtful Sound), instead we had arrived at an Indochina Disneyland. Our guide even had a flag for us to follow him. I kid you not.
Once we followed the blue and yellow flag through the mass of people, we took a small junk (boat) to our real boat. Our boat was very nice with a top deck, dining area and rooms complete with private bathrooms. After having been to many different countries with many different interpretations of this, one truly begins to appreciate the importance of an en suite restroom.

We have just arrived back at home (the Imperial Hotel in Hue) from a whirlwind trip to Halong Bay. Unfortunately, we have not yet had time to mentally process the sheer awesomeness of the trip, much less upload photos! We will work on having this updated for you tomorrow!