Out into Vietnam country

With typhoons a-blowin' the main reason for our trip to Hanoi, namely a much anticipated junk boat trip in Ha Long Bay, was cancelled. We were very disappointed to miss this opportunity as almost everyone we know who has been to Vietnam has called the bay the highlight of their trip. (The 'Bia Hoi' shops were a close second.) However, this was our first major travel disruption since arriving in Penang, and it could have been much worse (like actually being out on a junk boat when the typhoon hit and sinking to the depths of the bay or encountering yet another significant civil disturbance).

So instead of the bay, we toured the countryside around Hanoi and explored the Cuc Phuong National Park.

As we saw more of the country, Vietnam became a land of vivid contrasts...multi-national technology companies have set up huge sites while rural people toil in vast rice paddies wearing traditional pointed reed hats. Sophisticated urbanites who zip along the streets of Hanoi on imported Vespas are far removed from country villagers who hand-cut and crush limestone to make gypsum or fine gravel.

On a bike tour through an area described to us as 'an inland Ha Long Bay' (which it really wasn't), we also came to know a much slower pace of life than the busy city. Here, we could take time to admire the biggest Katydid and Walking Stick insects we'd ever seen, or stand at the base of a 1000-year-old tree and feel small and insignificant,

or take in the green leafy solitude of a 500-year-old temple in what used to be the capital of the Vietnamese kingdom.

We also had the opportunity to visit the primate sanctuary in Cuc Phuong Park. Beautiful monkeys, langurs and gibbons have been rescued and rehabilitated and returned to the wilds of the park. Our guide, a Muong whose tribe had been removed from their home in the park in the late 1980s, shared with us his love for the animals and enthusiasm for the bounty of the forest. The man had an eye for soursop and infectious humor that kept us in good spirits for the whole of our rainy grey day at the park.