Vietnam–Day 1

We had to report to the airport pretty early on Saturday. Group travel is all about being courteous…which includes being on time. There were eleven of us making this journey. It was quite a diverse group, with one of our travelers coming from the US just for the trip!

The flight to Hanoi is just over an hour and a half. I’ve said before it is one of the great attractions of HK…we are so close to so many great places. Places I probably never would have visited if it were not for this opportunity.

We land and are met by our Tour Guide for the week. His name is Thong (pronounced Tong). He was born in Vietnam but speaks with a suspiciously British accent. He told us he perfected his English speaking skills by listening to the BBC. THAT explains it.

Our first day in Hanoi is rainy. We had a very full day planned.

These are just a couple pics snapped from the bus. I learned pretty quickly this was a waste of time and battery. You do get the gist of what a grey day it was.

Our first stop was the Temple of Literature (also known as the Temple of Confucius). It was the first University and at one time was the capital of Vietnam (about 1000 hours ago). It has been restored several times.

The picture just above this shows a layout of what the University was like when students studies here. The phoenix and the turtle are very important and are considered lucky. Students would study, and if they passed their exams, they got their names engraved on wood plaques.

After a rainy stop here, we stopped and had lunch at Cha Ca La Vong. This place has one dish. “Cha Ca fish dish” It is almost like a “hot pot'” dish where the fish is cooked right there. Greens are added with spices YUM.

My first meal here and it ROCKED!

After lunch we went to the Vietnam Museum of History. I did not take any pictures on the inside…but here is the outside:

It is a typical museum…from the stone age on. It never ceases to amaze me that wherever I am, the first “weapons” you see in museums are arrowheads!

Next we took a rickshaw ride! I got in the second rickshaw, but my guy took off first! SOOOO…as we moved through the streets and had to turn or go through an intersection, I was the one taking it for the team!

As crazy as it was, this is a terrific way to see the city! When we would come back to Hanoi later in the week, I recognized so many places just from this half an hour ride

You can buy anything on the streets. The colors were great. The city SO busy! I loved it.

We checked into a “day use” hotel for a couple of hours to shower and freshen up. We walked the city a little bit more before going to Bobby Chinn’s for dinner (YUM)! It is a quirky place:

This is the 10 stages of Drunkenness a la Bobby Chinn.

The entrance of the restaurant

Just two of the dishes.

After dinner, we were leaving for the overnight train to Lao Cai, Bac Ha and Sapa,…but WAIT

We found the wine store! A collective decision was made to buy a case of wine “for the road!” (To be consumed at the resort @ Sapa!)

I already knew that this was my type of crowd….but THIS stop…SEALED IT!

PANDA DAY!

Tourists who travel to Chengdu really go for one thing…PANDA BEARS.

Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding www.panda.org.cn/english (if you want to take a peak..but NOT yet…)

This day dawned rainy and cool. Yech. However, little did we realize that it was a perfect day to go to the Panda Base b/c Panda’s love cool weather.

Through Susan’s contacts we hired a car for the day. We knew the base was some distance away and this way we were guaranteed of getting there for our lecture and tour on time, and we could move on to our next destination (which we found out later was REALLY some distance away).

Our drive was 45 minutes through the city traffic. (See day 1). I sat in the way back of the van again…I did not see any carnage from the driving and scooters, but Diane did see one scooter down (I guess it has to happen!)

We got to the base @ 8:45…perfect timing and called in to tell the young lady that was giving us a lecture about the base we had arrived. We walked through the base to a conference room.

This of course represents the moms and babies!

Also on the way in is a “representation” of the bears in the wild. NO, these guys are NOT real…first…there is no barrier so it would represent a flight risk and ..second…bears don’t wear clothes!

We had a lovely 45 minute talk on the history of the base and life of the Pandas. Did you know Giant Pandas have no natural enemies? I didn’t! At the base they let the Panda's breed naturally…but just in case…they also use artificial insemination. Also…Pandas are thought to be very lazy…however, the bamboo the Pandas eat has very little nutritional value, so after they eat, they preserve their energy…thus the “lazy” reputation. SO, they are actually very smart! Also…Pandas live VERY high up, and dislike heat tremendously. Since Chengdu can get very hot, coming to the base in the summer can lead to few Bears since they are kept inside…SO…our cool wet day was really a blessing…The bears would be out and maybe even active!

After the talk we had another tour guide to walk us personally through the base…this proved VERY helpful later in the day.

The habitats are broken up by the ages. The first Panda we saw was a male. He was very snoozy…so we did not stay with him long.

We went from enclosure to enclosure seeing cuter and cuter sights.

Same bear…close up and further away so I could get Diane and Susan in the picture!

It was pretty crowded (though I am sure not nearly as bad as it could have been) so jockeying for position was a real necessity. This guy kept moving so being on the fringe of the crowd I just kept moving with him. It was great to get some clear shots.

Off we went to see some even younger bears!

This guy just loved hanging in his tree…he never moved. The other two reminded me of true siblings! The one on the bottom wanted to be in the space where the other one was. It was amusing to watch the positioning and climbing!

Can you count the bears in this pic??

We were standing in line to see the nursery when our guide went ahead to see the line for holding the pandas…she ran back to say “come quickly” There was a bear out, but they would be putting her away soon, and we would have to wait a long time. This was a larger bear, so no “holding” was allowed (you will see why)

We had to put on booties and gloves. The caretakers snap pics with your personal camera while you are with the bear..but we all did “back up” pics (thankfully)

This was our bear:

She is holding bamboo dipped in honey. Hey would YOU sit patiently with strangers patting your head without some sort of bribe??

First up was Susan!

It is a little like posing w/Santa!

Then Diane!

Then it was my turn:

She was bored…time to end the photo session.

We were like Pandarazzi taking pictures!!

Their fur is very coarse…which it would have to be to protect them from cold and wet. Luckily they are slow moving so you don’t have the issues of her head twisting…she pretty much always gave us a good shot (until the end…)

OK…THAT was too cool for words! It did take a pretty significant donation to do this…but hey…the money goes to a good cause AND…You get to be w/in 6 inches of a Panda!! Completely worth it to me!

Then…back in line to the nursery: Where AWWWWWWW too cute for words!

This little person was born August 26!

The babies get lots of attention. They do get to be with their moms…but they are closely monitored for health. After a few months this type of interaction can not happen. The Base had TWELVE babies born this year! Very successful year! There is also almost no deaths amongst those born here.

These Pandas are not released to the wild…yet. They will be sent to zoos and research facilities throughout the world. China is very protective of their Bears.

We had a little bit more to see…

There are RED Pandas! They look a lot like raccoons to me (I am stalked by raccoons) These guys have VERY fun tails…like bristle brushes!

These little people live in the same area of the world as the Giant Pandas. I think they would have been fun to hold too!

Really quick..take a look at the amount of rice you get when you order lunch! Again lunch was very nice and of excellent quality for a “zoo”

We did make one more stop after the Base…but that can wait for another day!

Met MAO?

 

Remember…in China it is just “food”…but one meal we were looking for something other than “food”, SO, we went down the road to Fly High Pizza.

Here is the placemat:

Um…I think they use “Mexican Fiesta” and they don’t know what it means.

We had passable pizza…no great…but not bad!

After we ate we walked down to Tianfu Square. Along the way we passed high end stores…as high end as you will see anywhere in the world:

The night was perfect for walking after pizza.  Not too many people were out.

We made it to the Square.

Mao is a center piece of this area:

Mao does a lot of waving…He is kind of everywhere.

There are lights,  flowers (poinsettia's anyone?) a nightly water show and plenty of people watching opportunities

Susan, Diane and Cindy enjoying the square.

I have a video of the  water show…I am having a bit of technical difficulties getting it posted here…but I will work it out and get it done! Stay tuned