Trip to Haiphong

Saturday morning I went to Haiphong to visit my friend, Patty. What a treat ... to see my friend and to see a new part of Vietnam. Patty and I both commented that it is very difficult to understand so much about this country ... not the least of which is the relationship between the north and south. I can’t say I am any more informed now than I was before I went to the north, but I certainly did enjoy my time. Before I went, several of my colleagues had said how rough Haiphong was and how unfriendly people in the north were, but I didn’t see any part of that. It is a huge port city and I expected to see a place that was somewhat seedy, but it wasn’t so much. There were parts that seemed rough around the edges ... and I think I went into a massage parlour that offered various types of massages with possibly many options regarding service, but then I know that exists here in Ho Chi Minh City as well. As well as in London, Ontario. Below is a picture of a building near the port.So, it was great to see where Patty lives and her school and the neighbourhood she lives in. I stayed at the hotel where she and most of the teachers at Apollo live. She has to work long hours and while she was able to meet me at the airport, she had to go to work and teach until 7:30 or so ... on a Saturday!! After I walked her to her school, in order to see where to meet her later on, I wandered around the area and followed lots of little streets/alleys and went into little markets or chos. People all seemed very friendly and all the little children wanted to say, “Hello!” and then go running off giggling. Very cute. I was struck by how clean and well-swept these little streets and alleys were, as that is not really the case with many similar districts here in HCMC. It was on my way home that I wandered into the Thai massage parlour ... jajajaja .... so I spent a couple of hours reading instead (#*.*#) until it was time to meet up at the Hong Kong restaurant. Again, we wandered around and so many people know Patty and the children all seem to love her ... as well they should. The next morning we went to the English mass at a church on Lac Tray and I got to meet Father Phong ... dare I say, the famous Father Phong, who works at this church and another one in Nam Phap, which is a district near Patty’s school. He seems like a lovely man and there were students, Filipino parishioners and some Vietnamese parishioners as well. The responses and the hymns were so unfamiliar to me that I hardly knew what to do, but I am so glad we went. As we were leaving, we saw Father Phong on the back of someone’s motorbike ... probably whisking off to say another mass. Patty has been volunteering at the Nam Phap church teaching English and I think she is quite famous for this. Father Phong’s doing. Father Phong has arranged for several people to volunteer and some of the classes have as many as 100 participants. I can’t imagine! He suggested that I consider moving to Haiphong ... After church we went to Cat Ba island, which is in the general district of Haiphong, but is actually quite a ways away. It is a large island in Halong Bay. We took a bus boat bus combo and it probably took us an hour and a half to get there. It was a fast boat. We arrived in Cat Ba Town in the late afternoon and settled into a clean and very cheap hotel right overlooking the harbour. It is not prime season and so there were not a lot of tourists, but the ones we saw were mostly foreigners. We had dinner in a nearby restaurant, which was fine until it came to tea and coffee time. It was very hard to make ourselves understood for some reason. We strolled along the harbour and tried for another drink, but it was not exactly right either ... so sad! We had a lovely view of the sun going down and while my photos don’t do it justice, it was very silvery and shiny. It was so pleasant to be near the water and to hear the sound of the waves and to be in a quiet place. Although Haiphong seems sooo much quieter than HCMC, it was still great to be in a more serene location.
In the morning we wandered around and up and down to see a couple of the beaches. The beaches are white sand and are backed by limestone mountains/hills that are typical of the karsts that are seen throughout the bay. The water was a perfect temperature and nice and clean.. alas, I wasn’t wearing my suit. It was so nice to sit on the beach and just veg for a while, however.
We took the slow boat back to Haiphong. We stayed out on the deck mostly and looked at the boats and islands and the green water. Very nice! We pulled into one port on the way and I had a regular conversation ... I was sitting on a post and felt a tap on my shoulder. The man who needed to throw the rope was asking me to move. I said “xin loi” ... excuse me ... and he said “khong sau” ... no problem. That was the only time my Vietnamese was understood, however!
Patty showed me around other parts of the city when we arrived in Haiphong and the next day we explored two beautiful old pagodas. I enjoyed it all. Mostly, though, it was wonderful to be with my dear friend and to chat about this and that ... kids, friends, books, food, religion, politics, Qatar, and Anthony, New Mexico, where she spent a year since we last saw each other. I couldn’t believe how long it had been since we saw each other last ... I can hardly wait to see her again. In fact, Patty is the one who told me about the job at RMIT, so is totally responsible for my being here. I was lucky to have the time to take two days off, as my stream is in down week mode right now. Lots to do to get organized from last cycle and to gear up for the next. Hope my first foray out of HCMC is the first of many more lovely and pleasurable jaunts! If you want to see more pics, please go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/raven_chick.