Vietnam Vacation

How to holiday when you 'live on holiday'

It was all Nancy’s fault. We were hanging out in my pool and she and another friend were over - the other friend Jana had just arrived back in Bali from Vietnam, and Nancy said: “Oh I haven’t been there - I’d love to go one day”.

So as the words of any child come to mind I am just going to say - “she started it!”.

I of course chimed in and said: “Oh me too!”

Exactly one week later were were in Hanoi checking into the Silk Hotel and Travel Centre, in the Old Town.

So what’s a girl to do when you ‘live’ on permanent holiday? Well that’s perhaps a bit of an exaggeration – I do live part of my life in Bali, but I work while I’m there and sometimes that’s a long stretch of long days. Like April for example saw me do a marathon stretch of 22 days straight. I should not complain however. That means starting often at 7 or 8, and finishing for a couple of hours mid afternoon for some lunch, a swim, maybe a yoga or QiJong class before another 2-3 of hours at the computer.

Part of this is due to time zones I’m working with due to clients being all over the world lately, and partly also due to enjoying that kind of work-day layout. But after such a very busy start to the year, and finding that April really was a full on marathon, I didn’t hesitate to agree to a side trip for a week to Vietnam when my friend Nancy suggested it just a few days ago.

I love spontaneity – when I’m ready for it. And this time it seemed all the stars aligned, and off we flew to Hanoi direct from Denpassar. A pleasant five hour fight, and met by a waiting car at the airport and by dinner time Nancy and I were enjoying a meal that surpassed all expectations in the heart of the old city.

I should explain that Nancy is a little north of 70, looks at least 15 years younger and is vibrant, joyful, and a lot of fun to travel with. She’s also one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met and I love hanging out with her and hearing her stories. I should also mention at this point that her desire to visit Vietnam was based on a lifetime of memories she’d been gathering since the early 1970s when she started her activist years fighting against the Vietnam war. I’ll probably write a book about her one day – but suffice to say – coming to THIS place with THIS incredible woman has been a bonus.

Here's why.

Our first day in Hanoi we intended to visit museums and dive further into the history of the war, before and since that era here. Unfortunately the museums are all closed on Mondays – but I’m getting a little ahead of myself.

Over breakfast, where we were staying at the beautiful Silk Hanoi Central (Highly recommended) boutique hotel, the manager came up to us and introduced himself as Jay. This lovely customer service gesture turned into a long conversation between Jay and Nancy when she mentioned her activism in the USA against the war. He in turn thanked her and explained his viewpoint of having grown up post-war years but being critically aware (as he put it) that if it were not for people like Nancy, they would not be having any kind of conversation, ever. And he thanked her.

Both in tears almost, it was heartwarming for her to realise suddenly just how much this trip really meant to her after all these years.

On towards the museums, and the heat drove us to find a rickshaw. A bicycle pushing a cart for two people to squeeze onto, with a plush red cushion, ridden/pushed by in our case, an elderly man named Ngok who showed us his three brown teeth through a very wide smile and more wrinkles on his face than an elephant. But he wanted to drive us and smiled, enthusiastically, even photo bombing our short video with excited chatter and a hearty thumbs up.

We arrived at the museum to discover it was closed, but met a charming young soldier who looked about 12. However he was confidently wearing his uniform and sporting a firearm and batton, and happily helped us navigate our next options as we puzzled over our map. He agreed to photos, negotiated with Ngok for a much better price (having told us we’d been charged far too much already) and we were soon on our way to the ‘Metropole’ famous for hosting dignitaries and celebrities during the war. It was in fact the ONLY hotel at that time, in the north. Nancy wanted to go there and find out about the Bomb Shelter tours they offer on Fridays and Saturdays.

It turned out she had to be staying there to qualify for the tour, so she booked a night for just before we leave and the conversation with the lovely concierge somehow followed the same one with Jay that morning. More tears. And now I’m also included in the tour on Saturday evening.

We finished up there and dined in very fine style at the restaurant across the road from the Metropole where we sampled salmon and pate, ice Vietnamese coffees and divine salads. While there we watched someone parking a gold plated blinged up Rolls Royce and waited eagerly to see who might be inside. Alas, only the chauffeur, but wow, talk about dressed to thrill. He looked like something from out of a Bond movie, calm, confident, and Ultra Smoooooth Man!!

By early afternoon we were on our way to the famous Hai lo Prison.