T A B L E_T A L K Offer your tips to a Table Talker who plans to spend Easter in Paris with his son   How-to, why-not and what-for -- find it all at barnesandnoble.com Search by:  Keyword Title Author     R E C E N T L Y Clash of the camels! By Laurie Udesky On Turkey's Aegean coast, wrestling beasts relieve winter's monotony (03/09/99) The wizard of Oise By David Downie Vincent van Gogh still draws painters and pilgrims to the Parisian suburb of Auvers-sur-Oise (03/07/99) Siberian wasteland By Jeffrey Tayler An overland journey exposes a traveler to the hazards of radiation, desolation and snowstorms (03/05/99) The mystic-barber of Selçuk By Gary Mex Glazner How a tonsorial teen in Turkey helped me understand the revelations of Rumi (03/04/99) Special delivery By Lindsy Van Gelder Hand delivering a postcard from the Galapagos to Italy starts a string of delightful surprises. (03/03/99) Browse the Wanderlust Feature archives Wanderlust's Official Travel Book Partner		THE NEW NORTH VIETNAM | PAGE 1, 2, 3 - - - - - - - - - - No story about Hanoi would be complete without mention of the traffic. It is total chaos. Our host in the city was an old friend of mine, a good-humored population education advisor named Don Chauls. Don has lived in Vietnam for three years. During his three years in-country, Don has compiled a long list of "Rules for Driving and Walking in Hanoi." Here are three of them: All vehicles shall drive on the right side of the road at all times -- unless the driver prefers to drive on the left side of the road. Any vehicle that breaks down should stop immediately to be repaired. If it breaks down on the edge of the street, it should first be moved to the middle of the street. Anyone may drive any type of vehicle, as long as he or she can almost reach the pedals. The best way to get around Hanoi, we found, is by moto, or motorcycle-taxi. In search of an authentic local teahouse -- we'd read about one called the Co Ngu, on the north shore of West Lake -- Diane and I hailed two motos and climbed aboard. Our drivers twisted their throttles, and we began a wild ride that took us up side streets, down alleys and along back roads where the day-to-day life of Hanoi was in full swing. We navigated districts selling only bird cages, and whole blocks where crazy displays of suspension springs decorated storefronts like surreal spiral sculptures. There were rows of silk flower stores, cane furniture weavers, watchsmiths, whiskey sellers and dentists. We skirted the dirty-diaper aroma of the durian markets and continued through a spectrum of scents: clouds of incense, a fish market, vats of kerosene. When we were finally dropped off, near the ancient Tran Quoc Temple on West Lake's east shore, we felt like the hero in H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine": It seemed that centuries had passed before our eyes. A half hour's search brought us at last to a doorway with the words "Cat Walk" over the lintel. Above the neon, the name Co Ngu appeared in dark letters. We climbed three flights of funky wooden stairs, arriving at a terrace overlooking the lake. A bird cage hung from the rafters, along with some paper lanterns advertising Tiger Beer. The view was superb. Just beyond West Lake we could see White Silk Lake, where the Skyhawk piloted by Maj. John Sidney McCain -- later the U.S. senator from Arizona -- was shot down in 1967. McCain was a POW for more than five years. The plaque commemorating his capture contains the only statue of an American remaining in Vietnam, unless you count Mickey Mouse. There was something oddly disconcerting about sitting at that cafe, looking out over the lakes and skyline of Hanoi. Thirty years ago, the idea of visiting this country was the most terrifying thought I could harbor. Now here I was at a North Vietnamese tea house, drinking rice liquor and dispensing American dollars in a city that my government had tried to annihilate. Often, in Vietnam, the shame of American folly is almost too painful to bear. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - On the five-hour boat trip to Cat Ba Island, we saw a speedboat pass by in the distance. It bounced along the surface of Halong Bay like a flying fish, sending up showers of spray. The two-dozen travelers aboard the Cat Ba ferry watched it from the prow. "Typical tourists," an Aussie backpacker smirked. "What sort of person," I remarked, "takes a speedboat through scenery like this?" "Wave to them," an Italian suggested. We did. But we couldn't see their reactions; the hydrofoil's windows were tinted. "Magical" and "immense" are words typically used to describe Halong Bay, a vast preserve of scattered karst islets lying on the Gulf of Tonkin, 125 miles northeast of Hanoi. A great place, our guidebook chortled, "for swimming, caving and diving, not to mention enjoying fresh seafood." That would be in the summer. In January the sky was pewter gray, and a thin drizzle soaked through our parkas. Even so, the islands were lovely, like a scene out of an Asian fairy tale. Most tourists take day cruises among the beautiful and mysterious islets, which tower above Halong's waters like a pirate's wet dream. Some boats allow passengers to visit the most scenic caves and explore the prettier islands, which often conceal green lakes or lush jungles within their cores. But Diane and I, intrepid travelers that we were, signed on for two nights on Cat Ba, the largest of the islands. The package tour included all connections, two nights' accommodation, meals and a hike through Cat Ba National Park. With luck the weather would clear -- and I'd get in a night of serious stargazing. Imagine our surprise when we turned into the harbor and beheld the lights of Cat Ba Town. A wall of cement blockhouse hotels towered above the promenade, clearly inspired by Soviet gulag architecture. Celine Dion blared from karaoke bars and the coital thump of a dredging machine echoed off the hills. Rain or no rain, there would be no stars; a pall of fluorescence washed out the sky. We settled into our room, a hot-pink cubicle with a spectacular view of the dredging machine. Though dinner was included, Diane and I broke from the group. We wandered the waterfront in search of local color. Since it was offseason, most of the eateries were empty. We found one with an imaginative menu and ordered marinated fish, pumpkin curry and french fries. The proprietor took our order, set two raw potatoes on the kitchen counter and fled. An hour later, we sent a search party out to look for him. He'd caught a fish, but had found no pumpkins. We fried the potatoes ourselves, and washed them down with a bottle of Dox whiskey: the world's best sleeping pill. The following morning we set off on a group hike through the national park. It had rained during the night. The trail up to the viewpoint in the national park was a slippery slope, lined with razor-sharp stones that tore the rubber off our sneakers. We clung to wet branches and vines for support, sweating in our rain jackets. For the length of the hike we were followed by two local women clutching covered buckets. They never left our sides, pausing when we paused and waiting when we tarried. "They're probably carrying first-aid supplies," Diane half-joked. At the last moment they hurried ahead, reaching the summit before us. As we struggled onto the peak, anticipating a view over the cloud-shrouded archipelago, they thrust the contents of the buckets squarely into our faces. "Hello? You drink Coke? Yes? You drink Coca-Cola? Hello? Cheap price. Hello?" During the bus ride back to town, Diane and I stared through the fogged windows. We were wet, cold and covered with scrapes and mud. Best of all, we had another 30 hours on the island. Diane turned to me. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" "I think I am." Riding the speedboat away from Cat Ba Island, we saw an outbound ferry pass by in the near distance. Several dozen backpackers stood huddled on the prow, watching us with droll amusement. They waved at us; we had a pretty good idea what they were saying. We waved back, but they couldn't see us; the speedboat's windows were tinted. N E X T+P A G E | Visiting Ho Chi Minh   _________________________________ For more information: _________________________________