Journey to Peace Village

It's been awfully hot this summer so I decided to escape the heat of Hanoi, if only for a day. I organized a short trip to Tam Dao Hill Station, an old French resort about 30 miles out of the city. It was adventure getting out there. The guidebook said the bus left from a station not far from my house. It was wrong and my friends had to pile on a packed bus to head out to the other bus station near my house. At first we couldn't find the bus, but finally we headed out.

Shortly out of town we had to transfer buses. Then it was on to a small town and a cab to get to the actually mountain town of Tam Dao.

It was worth the trouble. The waterfall was refreshing and the mountain afforded beautiful views. The fresh air was rejuvenating. We strolled through the town and visited an old church--partially destroyed in the war years and slowly decaying. It's being restored, a project that only started 20 days ago.

I hated to go home and the journey back was even more of an adventure. The bus broke down and we had to wait. I had a beer and by the time we were done, the buses were less crowded and we ended up making it to Me Linh "hypermarket" a sparsely packed mega mart near the Hanoi airport. A nice meal among the stores hawking Korean lounge chairs and then home....