Here are some of our favorite photos from the trip (each photo is a thumbnail linked to a higher quality picture.):
51) Văn Miếu – Quốc Tử Giám (Temple Of Literature), Hanoi, Vietnam, February 16, 2025 - The past four days were spent in the chaos of Hanoi, a huge city of 8.5 million people. Now it was finally time to leave the urban landscape behind and venture out into the countryside. The day started with waking up very early - reluctantly awake by 5:30am. We did some luggage rearrangements because we would be leaving most of our clothes in the hotel storage room and just bringing a small bag of essentials on our overnight trip into the mountains. Then we headed down to grab breakfast so we could be back to the room by 7:30 to bring our bags to the lobby and check out. The bus trip into the highlands would take 3 1/2 hours so before we committed to sitting that long our tour guide selected a sightseeing stop in Hanoi we could do on the way out of town. The Temple of Literature was built by the Lý Dynasty just after the year 1000 AD as an Imperial University. It functioned as the center of the civil service educational system in Vietnam for the next 700 years until the seat of government was moved to Hue. Because of the blending of Confucian philosophy, Buddhist religion, traditional folk beliefs and a history of ancestor worship this facility was a mixture of school, temple and administrative center. Today it has taken on the dual roles of temple and museum.
52) Văn Miếu – Quốc Tử Giám (Temple Of Literature), Hanoi, Vietnam, February 16, 2025 - Today, despite being a weekend, some local secondary schools had bused their students in to take school photos in front of the main temple buildings. Also, a local English Language school of middle school students had brought their kids so they could practice their English with tourists. Throw in a misty, drizzly morning and it was an interesting place to visit.
53) Văn Miếu – Quốc Tử Giám (Temple Of Literature), Hanoi, Vietnam, February 16, 2025 - The site is a popular temple where students and their families come to leave offerings - either to request help from their ancestors for the future or to give thanks for the past.
54) Văn Miếu – Quốc Tử Giám (Temple Of Literature), Hanoi, Vietnam, February 16, 2025 - We spent about 45 minutes learning about the Chinese Civil Exam process and seeing the various temples before loading back up on the bus for the long drive due west.
55) Đà Bắc District, Hoa Binh, Vietnam, February 16, 2025 - We drove out of busy Hanoi and headed west towards the mountains. At the halfway point we stopped for a coffee and bathroom break and then continued on. Immediately the landscape changed to pointy tower-like mountains covered in jungle and shrouded in mist. The road started to angle sharply upwards and we began to quickly go up in altitude.
56) Xóm Sưng Homestay, Đà Bắc District, Xóm Sưng, Vietnam, February 16, 2025 - As we entered the Ðà Băc District the roads narrowed to a single lane, paving gave way to dirt, the architecture changed from narrow/tall houses to wide/single story houses. The vegetation became much thicker and villages were separated by empty sections of forest. Around the villages, rice paddies cascaded down hillside. In the hill’s crevices creeks rushed down eroding the vegetation off the hillsides. Just before lunchtime we arrived in Súng Village, a small collection of families of the Dao Tien ethnic minority. We did a homestay in a family’s communal long house (there is a wall separating a dormitory style guest sleeping area from the family’s personal living area).
57) Xóm Sưng Homestay, Đà Bắc District, Xóm Sưng, Vietnam, February 16, 2025 - The family cooked us a traditional lunch and then afterwards a guide from the village brought us on a three hour guided trek up into the hills to see a sacred cave and to learn about the farming and foraging that has traditionally sustained the community. The homes of the village were made from local trees, using the trunks for beams and boards, then using the foliage for thatched roofs. The roads in the village were either compacted dirt or paved with stones. The yards were a mix of jungle and small garden plots.
58) Đà Bắc District, Xóm Sưng, Vietnam, February 16, 2025 - The hillsides arond the village are steep so after hiking just a few minutes we were looking down onto the homes cascading down the hillside below us. As we hiked the guide pointed out various wild plants like cinnamon and ginger that are cultivated by the villagers.
59) Đà Bắc District, Xóm Sưng, Vietnam, February 16, 2025 - Some sections of jungle surrounding the village have been cleared and are used to grow rice or cassava. The white stalks in this photo are cassava plants that are being harvested. Once the harvest is complete, the cassave tree is cut down and a new seedling is planted in its place.
60) Hoang Lan Cave, Đà Bắc District, Xóm Sưng, Vietnam, February 16, 2025 - The destination for the hike was the Hoang Lan Cave. A small stream flowed into the cave, bats flew overhead and a trail wound down into the bottom of the cave. The guide pointed out various features inside the cave and shared the local folk tales ascribed to them.
61) Đà Bắc District, Xóm Sưng, Vietnam, February 16, 2025 - Just outside the cave was a local farmer working a section of the hilside with his water buffalo. (Apparently, he regularly hangs out near the cave when tourists are in the area because other travel videos and write-ups of this area that I found online also mention him.)
62) Đà Bắc District, Xóm Sưng, Vietnam, February 16, 2025 - We eventually met back up with a road and took that all the way back down to the village.
63) Đà Bắc District, Xóm Sưng, Vietnam, February 16, 2025 - The cave was neat but the highlight of the hike, at least for us, was taking in the stunning panoramas of the mountain landscape.
64) Textile Market, Đà Bắc District, Xóm Sưng, Vietnam, February 16, 2025 - Back in the village we visited three different homes to see the local crafts made by the villagers. The first was a building that made high quality paper from the pulp of local trees. The second was a clothing shop where the traditional outfits of the Dao Tien were made using embroidered and dyed natural fabric. Finally, we visited the home of a lady who cultivates indigo and uses it to dye hand-spun and hand-woven "batik" fabric.
65) Textile Market, Đà Bắc District, Xóm Sưng, Vietnam, February 16, 2025 - At some of the women’s request Jonna and two others from our group tried traditional outfits. Then Jonna was able to negotiate with one of the village ladies to buy some raw cotton cloth dyed dark indigo blue.
66) Xóm Sưng Homestay, Đà Bắc District, Xóm Sưng, Vietnam, February 16, 2025 - When we returned to the homestay we rested for a bit then gathered for a big dinner which was followed by an hour long presentation by some of the villagers doing their traditional dances - some for celebrations like New Years or the naming of a child and some for special activities like praying for a strong crop or starting the harvesting of the rice.
67) Xóm Sưng Homestay, Đà Bắc District, Xóm Sưng, Vietnam, February 16, 2025 - It was very sweet and we were asked to join in at the end to learn the Tet (New Year’s) celebration dance. This involved ringing a bell with your right hand in time with a gong while dancing to a different beat pounded out on a drum. While managing these two different rhythms you had to perform a dance motion that involved a half turn to the right, then a half turn to the left and then a complete rotation back to the right. Oh, and while you are ringing that bell in your right hand your left hand is waving a wooden wand and you are also hearing the singing of an accompanying song by the dance master. Needless to say, we all made a mess of it but it was a terrific lesson in just how difficult a simple looking folk dance really is. Great fun with lots of smiles all around.
68) Red Dao Herbal Bath, Đà Bắc District, Xóm Sưng, Vietnam, February 16, 2025 - After the dancing most of us headed to bed but Jonna and one other tour member opted for an herbal soak provided by one of the neighboring houses. They had five big wooden vats that could be filled with hot water and then a collection of locally foraged herbs were added to create a medicinal soak. Or, as I called it, Jonna soup. She enjoyed it, not least of all, because it finally warmed her up after a day in a damp, chilly climate. When we turned the lights out in the guest house and crawled under our mosquito nets for the night we were quite happy with our trip up into the hills of Vietnam.
69) Đà Bắc District, Xóm Sưng, Vietnam, February 17, 2025 - I normally start the daily write-up with waking up in the morning. However, waking up presupposes you went to sleep and I never really managed that. Doing a homestay is one of the highlights of the Intrepid Travel tours and we both love doing them but in this case the beds in the guest dormitory appeared to have been chiseled out of granite. Seriously, putting all my weight on just one hand did not dent the surface. I was truly miserable all night. Add in that two people on the group were snoring all night and that a rain storm rolled through which made a lovely but noisy pitter-patter on the palm frond roofing. Cold, noisy and uncomfortable means I never really slept. So at 6am I finally gave up, packed up my stuff and went out for breakfast. Jonna, in contrast, had the best night’s sleep she’d had thusfar on this trip. That herbal bath must have contained a tranquilizer for her to have slept on that rock of a bed! The host family provided us with a breakfast of fried eggs, crepes with honey and tiny wild bananas. Then we loaded our overnight bags onto the bus and sent it on ahead while we took off into the misty morning for a cross-country trek.
70) Đà Bắc District, Xóm Sưng, Vietnam, February 17, 2025 - The hike was pretty easy. We started out on a paved road with a climb up the ridge above the village. Along the way, our guide pointed out various plants including wild cinnamon (which we sampled) and an extremely poisonous plant (which we didn't.)
71) Đà Bắc District, Xóm Sưng, Vietnam, February 17, 2025 - After maybe a half mile on the paved road we turned off onto a dirt logging road that dropped steeply down into the river valley of the Da River.
72) Đà Bắc District, Xóm Sưng, Vietnam, February 17, 2025 - The muddy dirt road provided the best scenery of the hike showing off the lush green ridges capped by low, misty clouds. Near the end of the road we branched off onto a rough single track trail that dropped us down to the bank of the Da River (Black River).
73) Sông Đà (Da River), Đà Bắc District, Xóm Sưng, Vietnam, February 17, 2025 - There we boarded a big metal boat. The boat did a slow cruise around a bend in the river and then went into a side channel where there was a small village called Xóm Đá Bia.
74) Sông Đà (Da River), Đà Bắc District, Xóm Sưng, Vietnam, February 17, 2025 - We passed a few small floating fish farms in the river near Xóm Đá Bia.
75) Sông Đà (Da River), Đà Bắc District, Xóm Đá Bia, Vietnam, February 17, 2025 - The village we stayed at last night, Súng Village, was made up of Dao Tien families. But this village, just a handful of kilometers away, was made up of Muong families so the woman who met us was wearing a completely different traditional dress. We stopped in Xóm Đá Bia for about an hour so we could have lunch. The tables were covered with about a dozen different small dishes and everything I tasted was delicious. The most unusual was deep fried chunks of pineapple. My favorite was the combo of white steamed rice with stir fried pumpkin. A few other highlights on the table were steamed shredded cabbage, stir fried bok choy, egg omelet - plus Jonna got both pork and chicken.
76) Hoa Bình Lake, Sông Đà (Da River), Đà Bắc District, Điêng, Vietnam, February 17, 2025 - After lunch we got back on the boat and continued down the Black River to where to entered the Hoa Binh Lake, a large man-made reservoir created when the dam was put on the Da River to power a hydroelectric plant. The lake is referred to as the "Ha Long Bay in the Mountains" because it has the same pointy, jungle covered mountains sticking up out of the lake and surrounding landscape. Because of the rainy/misty weather we had low hanging clouds hiding the very top of the mountains and which added to the spectacular view as we cruised along the lake. On the far side of the lake the boat docked and we met back up with our bus.
77) Hoàn Kiếm District, Hanoi, Vietnam, February 17, 2025 - It had been kind of chilly out on the water so we were pretty excited to get on a warm bus. We had a 2 1/2 hour ride back to Hanoi and we got to watch the traffic get crazier and crazier as we got back into the big city. We arrived back at the same hotel at 4pm at which time Jonna and I jumped into "to do" task mode. We checked into our room and immediately took a hot shower to both warm up and scrub off the sweat from two days hiking in the humid jungle. Next we threw all our dirty laundry into a plastic bag and took off to revisit the laundry we had used a few days ago. We dropped off our dirty clothes and with the plan to pick them back up on Wednesday. Next we headed to the Hoán Kiém tourist area so we could find a pharmacy where the pharmacist spoke English to pick up a something we wanted to have before leaving the big city. Right next door was an outdoor store gear store proudly displaying "name brand" gear. This is a classic example of local clothing labelled with fake brand labels. Jonna wanted to buy another layer to deal with the chillier than expected weather here in the north so she bought a fuzzy "Patagonia" jacket and a pair of "Lulu Lemon" tights. I decided to join in so I bought a "Patagonia" sweatshirt. After some haggling we got all this for around $35 and at that price I am sure the shop owner made a heafty profit. We could probably have knocked $10 off that price if we’d found a shop outside the Hoàn Kiém Lake tourist area but Jonna just wanted to be warm so we paid the tourist premium and went on checking things off our todo list. A block away was the Central Post Office so we went there to drop off some post cards. That just left dinner on the list. After a week of Vietnamese food we decided to do something different so we found an Indian restaurant that had good reviews. It had southern Indian dishes so we ordered dosas which were excellent. By the time we finished our food my lack of sleep was kicking in so we beelined it back to the hotel so I could crash out.
78) Lan Ha Bay, Cát Bà Island, Vietnam, February 18, 2025 - We usually do our best to find off-the-beaten-track things to experience when we travel but today we followed the well worn path trod by nearly everyone who visits northern Vietnam - a day trip out to Ha Long Bay. More about that in a moment. I got a good night’s sleep which helped me recovery from the sleepless night up in the mountains. Our tour group was leaving the hotel at 7:30 so we were up by 6 in order to have breakfast, check out and leave our luggage for storage while we were away on another overnight trip. Before we left Hanoi we had one stop to make enroute. Intrepid Travel, as a business, makes an effort to support local charities and NGOs to try to offset their impact of being travelers around the world. In Vietnam Intrepid supports an NGO called Blue Dragon. Blue Dragon’s mission is to support Vietnam’s exploited children and to try to end human trafficking within Vietnam. We spent an hour at their headquarters in Hanoi learning about their mission, hearing some of their success stories and talking to two members of their communications team about their programs. Note: The shutdown of USAID has immediately cost them about 10% of their budget and they are still determining how that will impact their plans for 2025. It was a very interesting stop hearing about all the challenges kids face in Vietnam and a "feel good" story to learn about how Blue Dragon is trying to help. After our visit we jumped back on the bus for a two hour drive to the port of Lach Huyen. There we hopped a short ferry over to Cat Ba island. Once on Cat Ba we drove to a tourist port where we boarded a boat for a three hour cruise through the islands of Lan Ha Bay - this is part of a bigger Bay which goes by the more famous name of Ha Long Bay.
79) Lan Ha Bay, Cát Bà Island, Vietnam, February 18, 2025 - If you have ever seen a set of photos or a travel TV show or a tourism poster about Vietnam the you know the place. Thousands of limestone karst mountains covered in thick jungle vegetation all sticking up out of the bright green water of the Bay. The extra salty water is apparently great for plankton and that is a major factor in how green the water is - and is also why so many fishermen live and work here. In addition to cruising through the islands to enjoy the stunning scenery we also had lunch on the boat. This was another amazing spread of a dozen different dishes including streamed rice, fish, oysters, tofu, cabbage, potatoes, omelet, fresh fruit and more. Plenty of options for everyone regardless of diet or food restrictions. At the halfway point of the cruise we pulled up at a anchored boat that was surrounded by a big floating dock. Piled high on the dock were open top sea kayaks. We had brought a guide with us from Cat Ba island so we all climbed into kayaks and spent an hour paddling around the area. There was a hidden lagoon that was only accessible via a short tunnel. Inside there was a floating farm where clams and oysters were raised. Our guide told us about the farms and how the government is now restricting the farms so that it doesn’t negatively impact tourism on the Bay. We then paddled back out of the hidden lagoon and around to another area where there were a bunch of ship wrecks. Again, our guide described how there used to be a floating village in this area and there were special concrete boats used to hold fresh water. When the government evicted the fishermen the water boats were brought here and sunk. Our last stop was to a houseboat inhabited by one of the few families who still live in this area in order to operate the farms we saw. We floated nearby while our guide described their lifestyle and how families like this deal with the typhoons that sweep through each Fall. Finally, we paddled around a small island and then returned to the docks. It was overcast and a little chilly but I have never failed to enjoy a sea kayaking outing and this was no exception.
80) Lan Ha Bay, Cát Bà Island, Vietnam, February 18, 2025 - Once we were all back onboard our boat left this area and moved to a more open area about 1/2 mile away. Here it was tied up to a big bouy and we were given about 30 minutes to swim if we wanted. About half of our group went for a chilly dip but Jonna and I opted to skip the swimming. Just the amount of floating plastic trash we had seen when we were kayaking was enough to turn me against getting in the water but then knowing that the nearby cities, the houseboats and the floating villages all dump sewage into the water sealed my decision. I am sure the Bay has enough water movement to dilute and flush out the worst of it but once the image was in my mind I just lost all interest in getting in the water... after the swimming stop we had one final sight to see.
81) Cai Beo Fishing Village, Lan Ha Bay, Cát Bà Island, Vietnam, February 18, 2025 - Just a little ways away was a floating villages that is still operating. About 60 family units have floating houses each one built on top of floating net cages that are used to raise seafood. Some raise fish, others oysters, others clams and probably even more that we couldn’t make out from our boat as we cruised past. These houses also have fishing boats that can be used to catch wild fish, smaller powered boats used to go to/from the harbor on Cat Ba and even smaller row boats used by the kids to go to school. Some of the houses were decorated with flowers, some topped with solar panels, a few had dogs hanging out on the front porch. As we floated past we could hear karaoke machines blasting from a couple and the guide said some of the houses function as temples, bars and other social spaces. Quite interesting.
82) Cat Ba Eco Lodge, Cát Bà Island, Vietnam, February 18, 2025 - Back at the harbor we left the boat and re-boarded our bus and drove inland on the island to a small national park/reserve where we found our hotel for the night at the Cat Ba Eco-Lodge. We got our room, showered and rested until dinner. We had ordered dinner online and it was delivered to tables outside with crickets buzzing in the forest all around. After dinner the host started a fire in a firepit and we all sat around sharing stories. A fine way to end the day!
83) Trung Tâm Múa Rối Nước Bông Sen (Lotus Water Puppet Theater), Hanoi, Vietnam, February 19, 2025 - Most of today was spent in transit so there wasn’t much to report. We got up early in order to get breakfast at the Eco-Lodge and to check out. Then it was in the bus for the multi-hour drive back to Hanoi. We took a different route back which took us on smaller roads and through more towns, as opposed to the freeway we took most of the way to Cat Ba yesterday. This gave us a chance to see even more of the Red River Delta rice paddies. After a couple of hours of driving we stopped at a large shopping area for lunch. The shopping area was selling crafts made by disabled people, as well as selling snacks and food with the profits going to support the skills training program. After lunch we were back on the bus for another hour of driving to get to Hanoi. The tour group was heading to the Ho Chi Minh Complex but since Jonna and I had already seen that area we had the bus drop us off at the hotel we’d been staying at. This allowed me to go pick up the laundry we’d dropped off two days ago. While I did that Jonna went to get another massage at the same place she’d gone to last week. After I got back to the hotel with the laundry I got my bag repacked, showered and then listened to a podcast until Jonna got back. While she was repacking the tour group arrived. We all recollected and reorganized our bags and then checked out of the "day room" that had been rented so everyone could shower and store our bags. We loaded up all our luggage onto the bus and then headed out for the one last bit of sightseeing Jonna and I would get to do today. That was an evening visit to the Lotus Water Puppet Theater. Water puppets are a unique traditional art form in Vietnam and it is based on folk puppetry done in the rice paddies. Puppets are built on bamboo poles which are controlled from under the surface of the water by puppeteers who are hip-deep in the water but behind a screen. The theater put on a one hour show composed of a variety of folk stories all performed to live music played by a group of six folk musicians. It was interesting but I found the music more riveting than the puppets.
84) Laman Express Overnight Train, Hanoi, Vietnam, February 19, 2025 - After the puppet show about half our group decided to go grab dinner at a place called the Hanoi Cafe. This turned out to be an excellent choice as the building was beautiful, the food was delicious and we got treated to a short demonstration on how the egg coffee, a Hanoi specialty, is made. After dinner we got back on the bus for a very quick ride to the Central Hanoi Train Station. There our group re-assembled and we all boarded an over-night train heading south. We spent the night click-and-clacking our way out of Hanoi on a 13 hour journey to Hue.
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