Category Archives: Biking Tours

A symbol of Vietnam’s past and present: Ho Chi Minh City Hall (also known as the People’s Committee Building), is a magnificent example of French colonial architecture in the city © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

The War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) evokes profound shame of the horrors inflicted in our name during the Vietnam War.

The museum is housed in what used to be the US military’s intelligence headquarters during the Vietnam War and was originally known as the “Museum of Chinese and American War Crimes”.

*Visiting the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City is a humbling and profound experience © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Now one of the most visited museums in Vietnam, the War Remnants Museum attracts 500,000 visitors every year, of whom two-thirds are foreigners. That is apparent during our visit, as well.

Exhibits relate the history of American involvement in the Second Indochina War, which began when France returned to re-colonialize Vietnam in 1946. I still do not understand how or why the US took over France’s fight (the US started direct involvement in 1950), but the displays discuss America’s anti-Communist obsession with the Domino Theory (that Indochina would come under control of Communist China and/or Russia). But I also learn something new: a display quotes Lyndon B. Johnson saying that America needs access to Vietnam’s “tin and tungsten” (echoing Trump’s insistence on the necessity of taking Greenland’s rare earth metals).

*Display of war correspondents killed covering Vietnam War, at War Remnants Museum, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

The exhibits are detailed, emotional and intense – the most stirring being the photos by photojournalists for magazines and newspapers including Life Magazine. Most affecting is a kind of shrine dozens of journalists and photographers who were killed on the field of battle in their effort to bring news of what was happening there to the world.

The photos are presented in an extraordinary way: showing the photo, then providing notes about the background, the context of the image, and the photographer. Among them is the famous Pulitzer-prize winning photo of “Napalm Girl,” a naked child whose clothes have been burned off her body by napalm, which had profound impact on influencing public opinion (this was the first war that came into family’s living rooms each night). The photos then and now are chilling, but today, they properly evoke shame and wonder why there has never been accountability for war crimes.

The iconic image of a Vietnamese child, Kim Phuc, running down a road after a napalm attack is known as the “Napalm Girl” was taken by Associated Press photographer Nick Ut on June 8, 1972, and is widely considered one of the most powerful and enduring images of the Vietnam War. The photograph depicts Kim Phuc, then 9 years old, running naked after ripping off her burning clothes, on display at the War Remnants Museum where it continues to evoke horror © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

A moving display addresses American war crimes (dumping Agent Orange, napalm and phosphorous, bombing villages). This includes great detail – even the stone well – of the war crimes committed and later admitted to by Bob Kerrey, a Navy Seal who became a U.S. Senator (not to be confused with John Kerry who gave Senate testimony in 1971 decrying the war). There is a display that shows the impact, even generations later, of these chemical weapons on the Vietnamese, and even progeny of American soldiers. (Along Vietnam’s modern highways, we have visited stunning craft enters – subsidized for-profit enterprises – that employ disabled who embroider, paint, carve.)

Another exhibit pays homage to the peace movements that were underway.

What I don’t see in the museum is any mention of Nixon sabotaging LBJ’s peace deal in 1968 to win election. (At the LBJ Library in Austin, you can hear LBJ’s phone call to Senator Dirkson saying Nixon’s back-channel promises to South Vietnam President Nguyen Van Thieu of a better deal when he became president, was treasonous, but Johnson couldn’t publicize it because it would have revealed US spying). Think of it: the Vietnam War could have ended in 1968, the most deadly year of the entire war. Fighting between 1968 and 1975 when the war finally ended (the 50^th anniversary commemorated throughout Vietnam this year) meant 40,000 more American soldiers were killed (a total of 58,000 Americans died in Vietnam and countless thousands injured); for the Vietnamese, it meant 1.5 million more deaths (3 million Vietnamese died, of whom 2 million were civilians, plus 2 million injured and 300,000 listed as missing).

*An exhibit at the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City focuses on the anti-war movements that were underway © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

I ask our Discovery Bicycle Tours guide Phong, whose father fought for the North Vietnamese on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, if he knew about the possible peace deal, and he said no, but our local Saigon guide, Li, whose father fought for the South, was aware (I guess informed by an American veteran or tourist he guided). The most despicable realization about the Vietnam tragedy is that it was all political, having little or nothing to do with the claimed “national security.”

It doesn’t feel like propaganda because what we see rings true to what I remember, only here the evidence is concentrated in one place, a damning indictment. (See: On 50th Anniversary of Fall of Saigon, the Lessons from Vietnam Unlearned).

I visited this museum five years ago, when I was similarly overcome. But now that I have seen countryside and people, I see these photos differently, more in context. The faces in the photos were real people who you see in the faces of the people today.

And what has been most revelatory during our time here in Vietnam, is that Americans are well received, welcomed. As our guide Phong has said, “We are a Buddhist country. We do not look to the past; we look to the future.”

This is what travel is about: see for yourself, engage with people, and bring those revelations, insights, lessons and first-hand experiences home.

We actually weren’t supposed to visit the War Remnants Museum. Our Day 10 Discovery Bicycle Tours itinerary would have us visit the Reunification Palace – the former Presidential Palace, renamed to commemorate the April 30, 1975 victory of President Ho Chi Minh’s forces. But by the time we finish lunch (after having flown from Hoi An), there is not enough time to visit the Palace, so instead, we visit the War Remnants Museum. But this is such an important museum that should not be missed, I would have visited on my own on my last day.

Leaving the museum, our sightseeing continues.

The first thing you notice about Ho Chi Minh City is the traffic. If we thought the traffic in Hanoi was intense, the traffic in Ho Chi Minh City is multiples of that – it is an act of courage (almost an adventure or sport) just to cross the street.

*Traffic in Ho Chi Minh City is actually an attraction © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*Just trying to cross the street in Ho Chi Minh City is an adventure © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

You just cannot fathom the amount of traffic, with scooters zipping by every which way (there are buses and cars, too, but not nearly as many), and somehow they manage this complex choreography. But to the extent there are traffic signals, they are extremely sophisticated, with seconds counting down and turning arrows. Trouble is, they mainly control motorized traffic and there aren’t enough of them. Pedestrians have to just assert themselves. (Mercifully, Discovery Bicycle Tours has no plan for us to bike within Saigon; we will be taken out to the countryside.)

*We make a game of finding four and five people on a motor scooter © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

The traffic is actually an attraction. Looking through the window from the safe perch of our bus, we enjoy trying to spot families of three, four, even five on a motor bike, or some interesting thing that is being transported like 12-foot long piping or wide/high stacks, and looking for creative expressions of individuality in helmets. There are even bike helmets for the cellphones but rarely for children, our local guide, Li, tells us (and he isn’t just joking).

*Taking amusement in our amusement, flashing the V sign © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

People on their scooters, smile, wave and flash V signs to us when they notice us watching with fascination and admiration.

Also interesting is the equivalent of an Uber service via motor scooter.

Our local guide, Li, tells us the city’s first subway opened just 2 months earlier – another sign of Vietnam’s peace and prosperity (I make a plan to see it). It extends 25 km east of city and there are plans to build a second line to go 25 km to the west. There is also some thought to a bullet train to replace the “express train” to Hanoi that takes 32 hours.

Another indication of the economic development of Vietnam is that they are building a new international airport 40 km away – the present one will used for the military.

There is lots of Western influence here – Ho Chi Minh City is Vietnam’s largest city and its commercial capital, and had been under French and Western control for more than a century. It seems very much an international city.

The Central Post Office, built between 1886-1891 with Gothic, Renaissance and French influences, is one of the main landmarks and attractions in Ho Chi Minh City © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

We next visit the famous Ho Chi Minh City Central Post Office, unchanged since it was built in the French style in the 1880s. I had bought some really decorative cards in the night market in Hue and delight in sending them off with special stamps and post mark, racing to complete the task as the rest of the group waits. (I have a tradition of mailing cards home from where I travel.)

*We get to experience Saigon’s famous street food at Ho Thi Ky Flowers and Foods Street © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

For dinner, we get to experience Saigon’s famous street food – we are taken by bus to Ho Thi Ky Flowers and Foods Street, a popular district for street food, and Li leads us from one stall to another. We sit at the child-sized plastic tables and chairs and sample all these delights.

The food is marvelous – in fact, we’ve enjoyed excellent meals at all the restaurants we have visited but this experience adds extra zest of the ambiance. We get to try some unusual, local foods, too.

Li dares us to try the “stinky Vietnamese fruit,” Durian, a spiky, custard-like fruit known for its pungent, almost overpowering odor (a fruit equivalent to Limburger cheese), yet considered a delicacy in Southeast Asia and stuffed snails. (It’s horrible.)

*It’s like a big block party at Ho Thi Ky Flowers and Foods Street © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

It’s like a giant block party as we make our way through the narrow streets.

When we return to the Majestic Hotel, several of us go up to its gorgeous rooftop bar with stunning views of the river and the street activity.

*The view from the rooftop bar at the Majestic Hotel, Ho Chi Minh City© Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*The Majestic is an elegant French-style hotel which first opened in 1925 and in 2007 became the first Vietnamese-managed hotel to earn five-star status © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

The Majestic is an elegant five-star, French-style hotel which first opened in 1925, built by the richest Chinese businessman in Saigon at the time, Bui Hon Hoa. Over the past century, it has been expanded and renovated and in 2007 became the first Vietnamese-managed hotel to earn five-star status. It has a stunning outdoor pool, a gorgeous restaurant where we enjoy breakfast, a beautiful lobby lounge.

*Ho Chi Minh stands in front of City Hall © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*Street entertainers perform on the promenade © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

I head out to (carefully) cross the street to a long park which lets you promenade up to the City Hall, a stunning building from the Colonial French era, enjoying the activity of families out and about enjoying the evening and some street entertainers.

Biking, Cruising in the Mekong Delta

The Mekong Delta is Vietnam’s bread basket. *Agricultural productivity has turned Vietnam from deprivation to becoming one of the biggest rice exporters in the world*. © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Our last full day in Vietnam is spent biking but mercifully, not in the city. Instead, we are bused 2 ½ hours to the Mekong Delta countryside. Our 20-mile bike route takes us through villages, rice paddies, orchards.

*Biking country roads through small villages in the Mekong Delta © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

We stop into a place that collects coconuts for distribution and we get to drink the coconut juice, while our rest stop affords a few of us to hang out in hammocks.

*Our Discovery Bicycle Tours group samples coconut juice © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*Hanging out in hammocks at our rest stop © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

We come to Mr. Kiet’s Ancient House, a faithfully restored upper-class 1838 home with intricately carved wooden archways and doors and antique furnishings, many with luminescent inlaid nacre. Recognized by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage site, the home is still occupied by Mr. Kiet’s widow who operates a small restaurant in the orchard garden, where we have a most delightful lunch.

*Mr. Kiet’s Ancient House is a faithfully restored upper-class 1838 home recognized by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage site © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*Our Discovery Bicycle Tours group enjoys lunch at Mr. Kiet’s Ancient House © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Finishing our bike ride, we board a boat for a short cruise along the Mekong River, stop into a factory that makes candy from rice (like popcorn!), and have another ride in a traditional boat.

*A factory that makes rice into products like candy © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*Watching how rice is popped at a factory that makes rice into products like candy © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*The scene along the Mekong River © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*Our Discovery Bicycle Tours group is rowed in traditional boats © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

I frankly would have preferred this last day be spent biking and visiting the Cu Chi Tunnels, which would add to understanding the Vietnam War. I had visited five years ago when I was last in Saigon (on a Global Scavenger Hunt), and found it extremely moving and frankly a unique experience.

*The Củ Chi Tunnels was the Viet Cong’s base for the Tet Offensive in 1968*.© Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The Củ Chi Tunnels was the Viet Cong’s base for the Tet Offensive in 1968. The site has 120 km of underground tunnels with trapdoors, living areas, storage facilities, armory, hospitals, and command centers, and were used going back to 1948 against the French, and later against the Americans.

At the Củ Chi Tunnels you get to go into the tunnels. Here, *a girl gets to feel what it is like to hide underground*. *© Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

You actually climb into the tunnels (there are different length routes you can take, especially if you are claustrophobic) and guides re-create how the Viet Cong lived there. In the visitor center, you can archival film of battles and bombings in the place where it happened. (See: HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM: TRADITIONS SURVIVE IN MODERN CITY, AS DOES RECKONING WITH PAST)

(Some of our group have a late-enough flight the next day that they have organized a private tour. I would recommend you extend your stay to have this experience if it is not included in the itinerary. You can arrange one of the many sightseeing trips available through the Majestic Hotel’s concierge).

A Day to Leisurely Explore

Discovery Bicycle Tours has arranged a late check out at the Majestic Hotel to accommodate our late-afternoon and early evening flights.

*The lovely pool at the Majestic Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

I luxuriate with a leisurely breakfast in the Majestic’s lovely rooftop restaurant, go for a swim in the hotel’s gorgeous pool, then go out to explore. (Had we not already visited the War Remnants Museum, this is when I would have.)

I head out to walk to the famous historic Ben Thanh Market, considered a “must-see.”

*The famous historic Ben Thanh Market in Ho Chi Minh City* *© Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Ho Chi Minh City just opened its first subway, so when I come upon a station, I go down to explore–I find it unadorned, totally functional.

I had hoped to visit the synagogue that I had visited five years ago, but am unable to find it (it apparently is now a Chabad; there are three other synagogues in Vietnam: in Hanoi, Hoi An and Sapa).

Instead, I stop in to the Rehahn Gallery. It is very different from the Precious Museum & Gallery in his hometown of Hoi An but another chance to admire these spectacular photographs. There is a marvelous video which describes a bit of his process. It is just a couple of blocks from the Majestic Hotel, and close to the Opera and the Post Office.

Get the required visa at Vietnam’s website (evisa.gov.vn), where the fee is $25 (if you use a visa service it costs something like $197), but give yourself enough time to get the confirmation.

It is recommended you purchase travel insurance – especially for the medical and evacuation coverage. You can check a site like travelinsurance.com to get recommendations.

To see more about the Vietnam Adventure Cultural Bike Tour Experience visit: https://discoverybicycletours.com/12-day-vietnam-adventure-cultural-bike-tour-experience/.

Discovery Bicycle Tours – which has joined Austin Adventures, a Montana-based North America National Parks small group tour company under the umbrella ownership of Active Adventures, a New Zealand-based small group adventure travel company – is adding 10 new tours for 2026 to its collection of 58 tours across 15 countries (repeat guests discount of 5%). Among the new tours: Vermont Rail Trails Bike Tour; Prince Edward Island Bike Tour; Amsterdam to Bruges Bike & Barge; and San Juan Islands & Olympic National Park Bike Tour

Discovery Bicycle Tours, 2520 W. Woodstock Rd., Woodstock, VT 05091, 800-257-2226, 802- 457-3553, info@discoverybicycletours.com, www.discoverybicycletours.com

DISCOVERY BICYCLE TOURS VIETNAM TRIP: HO CHI MINH MAUSOLEUM BRINGS NEW CLARITY TO A CLOUDY PAST

DISCOVERY BICYCLE TOURS’ VIETNAM: A BOAT RIDE THROUGH CAVES, BIKE RIDE TO TEMPLES IN NINH BINH

CRUISING BAI TU LONG BAY ON THE DRAGON LEGEND

DISCOVERY BICYCLE TOURS’ VIETNAM: HUE’S CITADEL, “CITY OF GHOSTS” & THE CHALLENGE OF BIKING THE HAI VAN PASS

DISCOVERY BICYCLE TOURS’ VIETNAM: HOI AN’S DAZZLING LIGHTS, TRANQUIL COUNTRYSIDE

A RENDEZVOUS WITH PROGRESS OF THE PRESENT, HORRORS OF THE PAST IN HO CHI MINH CITY

__________________

© 2025 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com and travelwritersmagazine.com/TravelFeaturesSyndicate/. Blogging at goingplacesnearandfar.wordpress.com and moralcompasstravel.info. Visit instagram.com/going_places_far_and_near and instagram.com/bigbackpacktraveler/ Send comments or questions to FamTravLtr@aol.com. Bluesky: @newsphotosfeatures.bsky.social X: @TravelFeatures Threads: @news_and_photo_features ‘Like’ us at facebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures

Biking Tours, Cultural travel, Historic Places, Museums and Exhibits, Responsible Travel, Sustainable Travel

Discovery Bicycle Tours’ Vietnam: Hoi An’s Dazzling Lights, Tranquil Countryside

October 29, 2025 krubin723

*The dazzling night scene in Hoi An takes my breath away © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

When I think of Hoi An, Vietnam, I think of “dazzling” and I think of Venice. That first glimpse in the night as we walk over the Hội An bridge into Old Town and suddenly see the colored lights and lanterns popping out of the darkness, the silhouette of the sampan boats rowing on the river evoking Venetian gondoliers, the reflections on the dappled surface of the water, takes my breath away. Add to this the crush of people crossing the bridge, reminiscent of the Ponte di Rialto (but with the added hubbub of motorbikes winding their way through the crowd). And then there is the Japanese Covered Bridge that reminds you of Venice’s Bridge of Sighs.

*Hoi An, one of the most prosperous international trading ports in Southeast Asia in the 17^th and 18^th centuries, still manifests cultural diversity* *© Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

In the 17th and 18^th centuries, Hoi An was one of the most prosperous international trading ports in Southeast Asia – the center of commerce for merchant vessels from Japan, China, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands and India – cultures that left their mark in architecture, customs, art and festivals. Preserved intact and considered a living museum, the Old Town was recognized as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site in 1999, and in 2023, was listed as one of the UNESCO creative cities for handicraft and folk arts – which we enjoy discovering in the many shops and market stalls.

Experiencing Vietnam’s Rural Life by Bike

Today’s ride – 20 miles through Hoi An’s countryside – on Day 8 of Discovery Bicycle Tours’ 12-day Vietnam cultural tour, proves my favorite – especially compared to yesterday’s challenging seven-mile ride up to the Hai Van Pass and six miles down the other side. Today’s ride is not just relaxing but really interesting, manifesting the best feature of a bike tour: bringing you into daily life. We ride through villages which represent the “five pillars” of Vietnamese daily life – a carpentry village, fishing village, vegetable village, pottery village.

After breakfast, we pedal right from the five-star European-styled Royal Hotel Hoi An to the hamlet of Thanh Ha, a modest village specializing in making small pottery objects and utensils. We learn that the clay is collected from rice paddies. Several of us get to try the traditional method, and as we leave, we are presented with a gift of a clay animal-shaped whistle.

*We get to try the traditional pottery technique in the Pottery Village © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*Biking in the tranquil countryside outside of Hoi An © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

We continue cycling through the countryside to a small village located on the banks of the Tra Que Lagoon, 2 miles northeast of the Old Town. We meet local residents and enjoy a demonstration of making rice paper, ban xeo and the tam huu local spring roll. We get to try to make it ourselves, as we are treated to tea and rice cake. Every part of the rice plant is used, including the husk which is fuel.

*A demonstration in making rice paper © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

After lunch, we bike to Cam Thanh water coconut village to learn about the daily life of families who fish on the local river, and are paddled around in a “unique” (novel) Vietnamese round bamboo basket boat, coming close to a fishing boat to see how the fisherman tosses out an enormous net.

*Visiting a fishing village © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*A fun ride in a “bubble” boat © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Back in Hoi An after our bike ride, we have the afternoon free and time to explore the delights of Hoi An.

I go off to find The Precious Heritage Museum and Art Gallery, set in a 19^th century French house in Old Town.

*Rehahn’s photographs, costumes and artifacts from his decade-long ethnography project on view in his Precious Heritage Museum and Art Gallery in Hoi An © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

This is so much more than the gallery of world-renowned photographer, Rehahn – it is an ethnography exhibit of his decade long project to photograph all 54 ethnic groups of Vietnam. Magnificent portraits are displayed along with that village’s traditional dress and other artifacts (several of these also decorate the hotel). Magnificent portraits are displayed along with that village’s traditional dress and other artifacts. I love his notes telling the story behind the photograph of the people and the experience. You can also watch outstanding videos. The photos are published in his book, “Vietnam.”

The five rooms spanning 500 sq meters contain hundreds of portraits, 60 costumes and tribal songs. You are immersed in his striking portraits, stories, and heirlooms that equal the best exhibitions in the finest museums in the world and stand as a celebration of heritage and a call for conservation. (Free admission, open daily 8 am-8 pm, 26 Phan Boi Chau – Hoi An 84 94 982 06 98, https://www.Rehahnphotographer.com/)

*A line of rickshaws come through the Old Town market © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

To get there (a 20 minute walk, or about a mile from the Royal Hotel Hoi An), I walk along the river, through the markets, first geared to tourists, then local markets. But I see why the city bans buses and trucks to enter the city after 4 pm, because as I walk, literally 100 stalls are being moved into position, like a long train, as the night market takes over the street. A long line of rickshaws transporting tourists flow down, and pedestrians take over whatever space is left.

*Enjoying dinner at one of Vy’s restaurants in Hoi An © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Our group meets for dinner at the Morning Glory Restaurant, which I learn has basically re-invented Vietnamese cuisine after decades of deprivation:

“We had lost a whole generation of chefs and recipes. When you’re living on the most basic rations, taste is not your priority – you just need something to fill your belly and give you energy,” Ms. Vy, founder and owner of The Taste Vietnam Group writes.

“Nowadays, having been a chef for some 40 years, I can look back at our history and understand why Vietnamese cuisine doesn’t yet occupy the position it deserves on the world stage. And this is why I, and many of my colleagues, have tasked ourselves with exposing our amazing gastronomy to the world. We hope to highlight its techniques, the philosophy at its roots, and its historical origins, while at the same time promoting its health and nutritional benefits. We have dedicated our careers to this for our community and our nation.”

These remarks crystallize for me what our Discovery Bicycle Tours guides – Phong, Vinh and Li – have related to us in their personal stories. I was reminded of Phong, standing by a rice paddy, speaking of his holiday gift wish when he was a boy not be hungry, and how so much has changed for his people over the last 40 years.

*Vy’s Morning Glory Restaurant in Hoi An. A placard notes how Vietnamese cuisine had to be reinvented after decades of deprivation © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Indeed, the meal we enjoy at Morning Glory is excellent, imaginative, exquisitely presented as we are entertained by two guitarists.

The restaurant is very clever, offering an entire store, Vy’s Market, filled with household and culinary items (“Herbal Wine for Joints”), as well as a cooking school.

(The next evening, when dinner is on our own, we happen into another of Vy’s restaurants on the other side of the river in the Old Town, with a fantastic saxophonist to entertain, stunning ambiance and delightful menu.)

After dinner, we stroll around on our own – we head toward the Old Town across the Hoi An bridge, and that’s when we come across the most spectacular sight: the colorful lanterns on sampan boats.

We enjoy looking into the shops and then come upon another scenic highlight of Hoi An: the Japanese Covered Bridge.

*The Japanese Covered Bridge, Hoi An, Vietnam © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

The Japanese Covered Bridge was built in the early 17^th century by the Japanese who lived in Hoi An town, to cross the stream to do business with the local people in the residential area. The two entrances are guarded by Monkey Gods at one end and a pair of Dog gods at the other. In later centuries, the Chinese and Vietnamese continued to restore the bridge, and built a small temple dedicated to the God Bac de Tran Vo (Emperor of the North).This religious architectural complex has a distinctive pantiled (yin-yang) T-shaped roof, which is related to the misfortune and happiness of the local people, so they often call it Chua Cau (bridge and temple). Chua Cau is also a symbol of the cultural exchange between the Japanese, Chinese and Vietnamese people in Hoi An. It is thought to have supernatural power and is still a place of worship. Inside, we see the small temple and historic photos of the bridge.

The temple within *the Japanese Covered Bridge, Hoi An, Vietnam © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Bike Ride to My Son Sanctuary

The morning of Day 9, we transfer to Vinh Dien where we cycle 15 miles to the My Son Sanctuary. At this World Heritage Site, see the remains of the remarkable brick towers.

*Biking in the Hoi An countryside © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Visiting My Son Sanctuary is fascinating on multiple levels – it introduces us to a part of Vietnam’s heritage that few would have known – My Son Sanctuary was the spiritual capital of the Cham Kingdom, which dominated Southeast Asia for nearly a thousand years, and is one of the few sites from this era left standing. During the Vietnam (American) War; this area was a stronghold for VietCong fighters and was bombed in 1968 during the Tet Offensive – to the extent that a letter was sent to President Nixon, pleading with him to stop bombing this precious place. Apparently, the bombing was stopped.

*My Son Sanctuary © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

We learn that the sanctuary had to be excavated, but the process was impeded by landmines. “In 2000, with the help of the United States, they took out the landmines.” Also, there are snakes (so don’t walk on the grass)

Another interesting thing: they don’t really know how these temples were constructed.

The monuments are considered masterpieces of brick construction of the period, both in terms of the technology of their construction and because of their intricate carved-brick decorations, “unique and without equal in Southeast Asia,” according to UNESCO notes.

The tower temples were constructed over ten centuries in what was the heart of the ancestral homeland of the ruling Dua Clan which unified the Cham clans and established the kingdom of Champapura (Sanskrit for City of the Cham people) in 192 CE. During the 4th to 13th centuries CE this distinctive culture, on the coast of contemporary Vietnam, owed its spiritual origins to the Hinduism of the Indian sub-continent.

We get back to Hoi An with the whole afternoon and evening to ourselves.

The Precious Heritage Museum and Art Gallery is so fascinating that I return with Calista Phillips (our Discovery Bike Tours guide) and Pam and we are so fortunate that Rehahn, the photographer himself!, is at the gallery, signing his newest book.

*We get to meet renowned photographer Rehahn in his Precious Heritage Museum and Art Gallery in Hoi An © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Now we can focus on the markets – when you walk from the Royal Hotel along the riverbank, you see all the tourist-oriented shops and stalls, but walk a bit further and there you have the local markets, and just a bit further than that, is the Gallery.

We stop at a woman who is carving bamboo into the most amazing heads.

*One of the craftspeople in the Hoi An market. Hoi An is listed as one of the UNESCO creative cities for handicraft and folk arts © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

The further away from the river front and the further back from the center, the streets empty out, and we just enjoy the atmosphere as we walk back to the Royal Hotel Hoi An.

*The five-star Hotel Royal Hoi An © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*The outdoor pool at the Hotel Royal Hoi An © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*The gorgeous back patio of the Hotel Royal Hoi An overlooks the water © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Discovery Bicycle Tours, 2520 W. Woodstock Rd., Woodstock, VT 05091, 800-257-2226, 802- 457-3553, info@discoverybicycletours.com, www.discoverybicycletours.com

Next: Ho Chi Minh City

DISCOVERY BICYCLE TOURS VIETNAM TRIP: HO CHI MINH MAUSOLEUM BRINGS NEW CLARITY TO A CLOUDY PAST

DISCOVERY BICYCLE TOURS’ VIETNAM: A BOAT RIDE THROUGH CAVES, BIKE RIDE TO TEMPLES IN NINH BINH

CRUISING BAI TU LONG BAY ON THE DRAGON LEGEND

DISCOVERY BICYCLE TOURS’ VIETNAM: HUE’S CITADEL, “CITY OF GHOSTS” & THE CHALLENGE OF BIKING THE HAI VAN PASS

DISCOVERY BICYCLE TOURS’ VIETNAM: HOI AN’S DAZZLING LIGHTS, TRANQUIL COUNTRYSIDE

A RENDEZVOUS WITH PROGRESS OF THE PRESENT, HORRORS OF THE PAST IN HO CHI MINH CITY

__________________

© 2025 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com and travelwritersmagazine.com/TravelFeaturesSyndicate/. Blogging at goingplacesnearandfar.wordpress.com and moralcompasstravel.info. Visit instagram.com/going_places_far_and_near and instagram.com/bigbackpacktraveler/ Send comments or questions to FamTravLtr@aol.com. Bluesky: @newsphotosfeatures.bsky.social X: @TravelFeatures Threads: @news_and_photo_features ‘Like’ us at facebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures

Biking Tours, Cultural travel, Historic Places, International Travel

Discovery Bicycle Tours’ Vietnam: Hue’s Citadel, ‘City of Ghosts’ & the Challenge of Biking the Hai Van Pass

October 22, 2025 krubin723

*Families in traditional dress visit the Citadel of Hue © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

On Day 6 of Discovery Bicycle Tours’ 12-Day Vietnam Tour, we get to ride (22 miles for the day), biking right from the Pilgrimage Village resort in Hue along country lanes. There is only light local traffic (mainly bicycles, motorbikes and buffaloes) to the Royal Tomb of Emperor Gia Long, the first emperor of Vietnam’s Nguyen Dynasty.

*One of the magnificent gates of the Citadel of Hue, Vietnam’s “Forbidden City” © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Built between 1814 and 1820, the mausoleum of Gia Long is a complex of several tombs and temples spread across a tranquil park-like setting of 42 hills and pine forest. What makes this place all the more special is the poignant love story of the Emperor and his first wife, for whom he built the tomb so she could be buried beside him (calling to mind the Taj Mahal).

*A scene of Vietnam’s countryside © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Our bike ride finishes at a pleasant restaurant in an eco-resort where we enjoy a delightful lunch before getting onto a “dragon” boat that cruises along the Perfume River to visit the famous Thien Mu Pagoda. The pagoda, with its moat now filled with lotus flowers, dates from the 1870s and has become the symbol of the city of Hue.

We next board our bus and are taken to the magnificent Citadel of Hue. Set on the northern bank of the Perfume River, the walled fortress served as the capital of the Nguyen Dynasty from 1802 to 1945, the last feudal dynasty in Vietnam. The Citadel was designated a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site in 1993.

This vast complex – 520 hectares – has a moat and ten ornate gates guarding a palace, temples, gardens and tombs.

*The Citadel of Hue houses magnificent architecture © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Our local guide, Vinh, tells us Vietnam was independent from 1802-1883. Then the fourth king passed away and the French moved in, turning Vietnam into its colony, from 1885-1945. “With help of an ally,” the Vietnamese pushed out the French, but that lasted only a year and the French returned in 1946 for nine more years. That triggered the Second Indochina War (what we call the Vietnam War and they call the American War).

This very place where we stand today was the site of a major battle in the Tet Offensive – our guide shows us photos of the Battle of Hue, a siege which lasted from January 31 to March 2, 1968.

As we walk through the expansive grounds, he tells us that the restoration of the palace was only completed last year – but he points to where we can still see bullet holes.

*The palaces and tombs of the Citadel of Hue manifest gorgeous decoration © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

The art, the architecture, the decoration – mosaic, enamel, sculpture –are exquisite, reminding me of China’s Forbidden City in Beijing. It turns out this is not coincidence: Emperor Gia Long modeled his palace complex after Beijing’s Forbidden City.

*A woman in traditional dress at the Citadel of Hue transports the visitor in time © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*A family in traditional dress visits the Citadel of Hue © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*Women in traditional dress at the Citadel of Hue transports the visitor in time © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

The experience is enhanced by all the families who have come in their traditional dress (which seems fascinating to me in a Communist country), to pose for photos as part of their Lunar New Year celebration. But it has the effect of completing the feeling of having been transported back in time. There are also large groups of school kids in their white shirts.

*Groups of school children in white shirts the Citadel of Hue © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

We have dinner this evening at the delightful Vy’s Restaurant in Hue and enjoy the bustling, festive downtown activity.

*Hue’s festive, bustling downtown © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*One of the Hue street merchants selling paper cut-out sculpture cards © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Covered Bridge & Hai Van Pass

Day 7 of the Discovery Bicycle Tours Vietnam tour brings the greatest cycling challenge – the seven mile climb up to the Hai Van Pass – and a visit to the intriguingly named “City of Ghosts.”

*The gorgeous pool and restaurant at Pilgrimage Village, Hue © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

But the day starts off with lulling ease – a delightful breakfast at the Pilgrimage Village resort, and a visit to the Vestige of Thanh Toan Tile-Roofed Bridge, a wooden covered bridge originally constructed in 1776 with seven apartments. It was dedicated to Tran Thi Dao, a child of Thanh Thuy Chanh Village and wife of a high-ranking Mandarin in Thuan Hoa Region who provided the funding. The bridge was recognized as a national heritage site in 1990 for its beautiful architecture.

*The historic Thanh Toan Tile-Roofed Bridge* *© Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

We cross the bridge and enter a busy village market, and after, are brought to an agricultural museum where we are treated to a demonstration of the traditional way the villagers processed rice by a docent with a great sense of humor.

*Village Market* *© Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*Playing the role of an ox at an agricultural museum demonstration © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

From here, we drive to the An Bang Village Cemetery, intriguingly known as “the City of Ghosts,” for its thousands of ornate mausoleums that extend over 8 km.

*Mausoleums at An Bang Village Cemetery, intriguingly known as “the City of Ghosts” © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Many of the tombs we see in this section are relatively new – dating from 1999 up to 2024 – but are fabulous and enormously expensive, costing $60,000-$70,000, and mostly paid for by relatives from the US, UK and Australia.

A plaque at one of the mausoleums explains it is in honor of Nguyen Van Linh, the first ancestor who established the Nguyen Van family in An Bang-An. He was born in Ky Hoi in 1539 and died in 1588.

From here, we have a picnic lunch before “hopping on our bikes to conquer” Hai Van Pass, also known as the “Pass of Ocean Clouds.” An iconic pass known around the world, it is the highest in Vietnam at 500 meters above sea level. Discovery Bicycle Tours notes that “a new tunnel through the mountain means that the 7 miles up the pass is a very quiet section of highway. The gradient is manageable, and the views are breath taking!” Actually, as I discover, the gradient is 4.6% up to 7.5%. (I think our0 Ride with GPS app even shows 12% at some points.)

*Biking to the entrance of the Hai Van Pass © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*Our Discovery Bicycle Tours group at the start of the seven-mile climb up to Hai Van Pass © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Now, all of our bike rides so far have been easy, with very little elevation. But today’s is an absolute challenge, even more challenging than the ride up Acadia’s Cadillac Mountain on Discovery Bicycle Tours’ Coastal Maine trip. Notably, we are the only ones doing this pass by bike (versus motorscooter or car) and I am one of the few in our group doing it with a regular hybrid bike (not e-bike).

I have my method – it may not look pretty, but it gets me to the summit: I keep looking down at the road immediately ahead of me (if you look up and see non-ending rise, you stop), try to keep my hands light on the handlebars, relax my shoulders, and think thoughts (mostly of how people have had to suffer but got through it). I stop a couple of times on a relatively flat section to refresh and then start again.

Because of this, I cannot vouch for the claim that this is “one of the great scenic drives around the world,” or a “deserted ribbon of perfection” as some have described it. It’s only later that I learn just how significant the it is: the Hai Van Pass dates back to the 1300s when it marked a physical boundary between the Champa and Dai Viet Kingdoms – you can still see an ancient grand gate at the summit which used to be a border crossing between the two kingdoms.

“Today, the road still represents a division between two distinct sides of Vietnam. Many travellers who backpack the length of the country say that the North and South of the country have two very different personalities, as well as notable climatic differences. The north is colder, more industrial and perhaps more serious, while the south is warmer, more tropical and the people are often said to be more laid-back. The Hai Van Pass is the point at which these two worlds meet.” (https://southeastasiabackpacker.com/hai-van-pass-vietnam/)

*The ancient gate at the summit of the Hai Van Pass © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

I make it to the top (I’ve refused invitations to ride up from our bus driver who has been assiduously following those of us at the back). I take a quick look at the fortress at the summit, and the “spectacular view” (the rest of the group have been at the top for about 20 minutes).

Our Discovery Bicycle Tours group makes it up the seven-mile stretch to the summit of Hai Van Pass, around the world as the “Pass of Ocean Clouds,” where an ancient grand gate used to be a border crossing between two kingdoms © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

*The view from the summit of Hai Van Pass, known as the “Pass of Ocean Clouds,” 500 ft. above sealevel and a seven-mile uphill climb by bike © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

From there, we bike down the other side of the Pass. Coming down is no picnic either – controlling the speed on the switchbacks. The best part of the ride is having done it. It has proved to be as tough and arduous as I expected (feared) and as satisfying to have done it as I had hoped.

In the bus on the way into the city of Hoi An, we delight in watching the massive traffic of scooters and play a game to find fours and fives on a scooter (since it seems this is the time that families pick up their kids, it isn’t hard), and interesting, the amusing decorations on helmets that express their individuality.

*A family of four on their motorscooter in Hoi An © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

We arrive at the Royal Hotel Hoi An, a gorgeous, five-star luxury European-style hotel and begin our visit to this dazzling city.

Discovery Bicycle Tours, 2520 W. Woodstock Rd., Woodstock, VT 05091, 800-257-2226, 802- 457-3553, info@discoverybicycletours.com, www.discoverybicycletours.com

Next: Hoi An’s Dazzling Lights, Tranquil Countryside

DISCOVERY BICYCLE TOURS VIETNAM TRIP: HO CHI MINH MAUSOLEUM BRINGS NEW CLARITY TO A CLOUDY PAST

DISCOVERY BICYCLE TOURS’ VIETNAM: A BOAT RIDE THROUGH CAVES, BIKE RIDE TO TEMPLES IN NINH BINH

CRUISING BAI TU LONG BAY ON THE DRAGON LEGEND

DISCOVERY BICYCLE TOURS’ VIETNAM: HUE’S CITADEL, “CITY OF GHOSTS” & THE CHALLENGE OF BIKING THE HAI VAN PASS

DISCOVERY BICYCLE TOURS’ VIETNAM: HOI AN’S DAZZLING LIGHTS, TRANQUIL COUNTRYSIDE

A RENDEZVOUS WITH PROGRESS OF THE PRESENT, HORRORS OF THE PAST IN HO CHI MINH CITY

__________________

© 2025 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com and travelwritersmagazine.com/TravelFeaturesSyndicate/. Blogging at goingplacesnearandfar.wordpress.com and moralcompasstravel.info. Visit instagram.com/going_places_far_and_near and instagram.com/bigbackpacktraveler/ Send comments or questions to FamTravLtr@aol.com. Bluesky: @newsphotosfeatures.bsky.social X: @TravelFeatures Threads: @news_and_photo_features ‘Like’ us at facebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures

Biking Tours, Cultural travel, Culture, International Travel, Outdoors Adventures

Discovery Bicycle Tours’ Vietnam: A Boat Ride Through Caves, Bike Ride To Temples in Ninh Binh

October 8, 2025 krubin723

*Our Discovery Bicycle Tours group is rowed in a traditional wooden boat into the Tam Coc (three caves) in Ninh Binh © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

One of the most heavenly experiences in Ninh Binh, Vietnam, is to visit Tam Coc (three caves), a peaceful valley set amid karst hills. Here we are rowed along a gentle river between paddy fields and through the trio of caves on a traditional wooden boat where the oarsperson paddles using her legs and feet. It is inexplicable how the oarsmen (most are women) are able to maneuver.

The endpoint of this thrilling and gorgeously scenic water route is a Tran Dynasty temple where Saint Quy Minh Dai Vuong, an earth and water deity, and his wife are worshipped. It is mind-blowing to realize the temple was first constructed 1000 years ago during the Dinh dynasty.“The Temple contains four stone pillars, each of which is a piece of art that our forefathers left behind for posterity, but which remain a mystery, with clever, artistically carved patterned borders. The spirits were known to the ancients as Long (dragon), Ly (Qilin, a unicorn, part dragon, part horse), Quy (turtle) and Phuong (phoenix) – indeed, the four sacred animals we had seen during the Water Puppet cultural show in Hanoi.

*The 1000-year old Tran Dynasty temple at the Tam Coc (three caves) in Ninh Binh © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

This is our third morning on Discovery Bicycle Tours’ 12-day Vietnam cultural tour, and after a fabulous breakfast at the Emeralda Ninh Binh Resort, we travel by bus through the picturesque countryside. It will also be our first day biking in Vietnam.

*Our Discovery Bicycle Tours group is rowed in a traditional wooden boat into the scenic Tam Coc (three caves) in Ninh Binh © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

After lunch at a local restaurant, we pick up our bikes and set out on our first bike ride.

*Setting out on our first Discovery Bicycle Tours ride in Vietnam, in Ninh Binh © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

We turn off local roads to cycle among the rice paddies and our guide, Nguyen Hong Phong, stops to explain the rice culture that has been so fundamental to Vietnam for 4000 years. (I can see how the “water puppets” we saw in Hanoi reflect this wet rice culture.)

Vietnam’s 4000-year old wet rice culture is still very present in modern-day Vietnam, though with new challenges of keeping workers and the rise of industrial complexes © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Before 1986, communal farming prevailed – the property was owned by the government and the farmers earned a share (theoretically equal but apparently not really, Phong suggests). But production wasn’t sufficient and people didn’t get enough rice.

Phong tells us that when he was a boy, his biggest wish at the Lunar New Year was to have enough food and clothes without stitches. When there wasn’t enough rice, they would mix in corn, tapioca, and “privately, secretly” catch snails, snakes, rats from the rice paddies. Even dogs and cats were protein for people.

*Our Discovery Bicycle Tours guide explains Vietnam’s rice agriculture © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

But a new law in 1986 allowed private ownership and open markets. The government divided up the land among the farmers. By 1996, Vietnam produced enough rice not only to feed its own population but to export, becoming one of the biggest rice exporters in the world.

*In 1986, the Vietnamese government allowed farm allotments to be privatized © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

But a new problem has arisen because young people can make more money in factories than on the farm, and farms are being abandoned or farmers have to hire workers.

Phong explains the process: dropping a seed and the sprout grows, within one month to 20 cm high, then the sprout is uprooted and transplanted. They have to build fences to keep out rats, mice, and fill with water to stop snails. After 3 ½ months growing, the rice plants are put into a nursery for one month more. By the time the plant is one meter tall, ripened to yellow, it is cut by hand or machine.

We learn how every part of the rice crop is utilized. But what I don’t understand is why white rice prevails even through the lean years of hunger and deprivation, when brown rice would be more nutritious and less costly to produce.

We stop along our cycling route to visit a community cemetery for war soldiers. Between 1945 and 1975, 3 million died in war, including one million soldiers. “Each community has a memorial, with the remains and the name of the person who died for freedom.” July 27 is the Day of the War Soldier, when families come and burn incense. A white flower on the grave indicates the soldier died without a family, a yellow flower denotes the soldier had family. We see the ages of these fallen soldiers, some as young as 18.

Biking to Hoa Lu, Ancient Capital City

After pedaling through several villages set amid a landscape of magnificent limestone peaks, we reach Hoa Lu. Hoa Lu was the capital of Vietnam from 968 to 1009 during the first two imperial dynasties of Vietnam: the Đinh founded by Đinh Tiên Hoàng, and the Early Lê founded by Lê Đại Hành. When the Lê dynasty ended, in 1010, Lý Công Uẩn, the founder of the Lý dynasty, transferred the capital to Thăng Long (now Hanoi),60 miles away, and Hoa Lư became known as the “ancient capital.”

*Statues memorialize Vietnam’s early kings, Dinh and Le, in the ancient capital city of Hoa Lu © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Here, we visit two temples – one dedicated to Emperor Dinh and the other in memory of Emperor Le – both with exquisite wood carvings and statuary.

At the entrance is the “stone dragon bed,’ where the king would have gotten off his elephant transport and walked the central path through the archway into the temple, while the mandarins entered through the sides.

Phong relates that in a feudal society, when a king passes away, they build several mausoleums so people don’t know where his actual body is buried – those that buried him are killed to keep the secret.

The thought occurs to me: To go from a king who can execute and torture at will to a dictator, even one who imprisons, tortures, and kills dissidents to preserve power but nonetheless is focused on bettering the lives of his people rather than his own aggrandizement, was a step up for the Vietnamese. But for us who are used to “rule of law”, “due process”, “equal rights”, “no man is above the war,” “justice without fear or favor,” and the ability to vote out an elected official, to find ourselves under the thumb of a dictator who politicizes justice, rules by violence, extortion, intimidation and oppression for his own benefit, is horrifying.

Also, what a difference peace makes to progress and quality of life.

We have a brief visit to the Old Palace.

We continue biking and stop at a cemetery– one of many we see in these rice paddies. Phong tells us it is common for the families to build a tomb for their ancestors within their allotment.

*A cemetery within the rice field keeps ancestors close in daily life © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Driving on the highway, we stop at one of several modern rest stops which also house handicraft shops employing people with disabilities. This one employs some 500 people and specializes in really fine embroidery (others specialize in painting, sculpture, lacquerware and other crafts)

The manager who greets us explains that these handicraft shops were opened in 1996.”Before they worked here, they stayed at home and couldn’t work. Now they get trained and can support themselves and their family. They have housing and are bused from home.”

*Skilled embroiderers at a handicrafts shop located in one of the highway rest stops © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

We watch how these craftspeople embroider these magnificent scenes that match a photo. The manager says it can take 2 ½ months to make one smaller embroidery, 4 months for medium sized and 8 months for large; 65% of the purchase price goes to the worker.

These folks have really perfected capitalism. The general manager finishes his introduction saying, ‘It’s the new year. We give good price. No tax.” They make it easy to spend US dollars, use credit cards and ship purchases home.

It’s a private company but gets support from government, so I ask Phong, “so this is a private non-profit”? “Nothing is ‘nonprofit’” he replies with a note of cynism. (He made a similar reply when describing how after the Communists took over government, ostensibly to give equal portions, he snidely inserted, “of course, nothing is really equal.”)

Later I ask Phong about taxes people pay and am surprised that they are similar structure to what we pay: under $500 income, no tax, then a progressive rate up to 35% based on income that includes their equivalent of social security, plus 2% for health care. With health care, they also have some covered and some out-of-pocket expense but I can imagine the cost of their health care is a fraction of what we pay in the US.

*The magnificent outdoor pool at the luxury Emeralda Resort © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

We stay for a second glorious night at the magnificent Emeralda Resort, sprawling like its own village with a palace-like entrance, outdoor and indoor pools, kids club, restaurants, and rooms the size of apartments. I get in a swim before enjoying a fabulous dinner together at the restaurant.

The next morning, we head to Bai Tu Long Bay for an overnight cruise on the Dragon Legend.

Discovery Bicycle Tours, 2520 W. Woodstock Rd., Woodstock, VT 05091, 800-257-2226, 802- 457-3553, info@discoverybicycletours.com, www.discoverybicycletours.com

Next: Dragon Legend Cruise on Bai Tu Long Bay

DISCOVERY BICYCLE TOURS VIETNAM TRIP: HO CHI MINH MAUSOLEUM BRINGS NEW CLARITY TO A CLOUDY PAST

DISCOVERY BICYCLE TOURS’ VIETNAM: A BOAT RIDE THROUGH CAVES, BIKE RIDE TO TEMPLES IN NINH BINH

CRUISING BAI TU LONG BAY ON THE DRAGON LEGEND

DISCOVERY BICYCLE TOURS’ VIETNAM: HUE’S CITADEL, “CITY OF GHOSTS” & THE CHALLENGE OF BIKING THE HAI VAN PASS

DISCOVERY BICYCLE TOURS’ VIETNAM: HOI AN’S DAZZLING LIGHTS, TRANQUIL COUNTRYSIDE

A RENDEZVOUS WITH PROGRESS OF THE PRESENT, HORRORS OF THE PAST IN HO CHI MINH CITY

_________________

© 2025 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com and travelwritersmagazine.com/TravelFeaturesSyndicate/. Blogging at goingplacesnearandfar.wordpress.com and moralcompasstravel.info. Visit instagram.com/going_places_far_and_near and instagram.com/bigbackpacktraveler/ Send comments or questions to FamTravLtr@aol.com. Bluesky: @newsphotosfeatures.bsky.social X: @TravelFeatures Threads: @news_and_photo_features ‘Like’ us at facebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures

Attractions, Biking Tours, Cultural travel, Historic Places, International Travel, Monuments, Places of History

Discovery Bicycle Tours Vietnam Trip: Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Brings New Clarity to a Cloudy Past

October 1, 2025 krubin723

*Visiting the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi on Discovery Bicycle Tours’ 12-day Vietnam trip is a profound experience © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

Visiting the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi is a profound experience – revelatory, even. I had not expected to see the great liberator of Vietnam’s actual body, lighted from above. And shortly after, standing outside the Soviet-built mausoleum, I realize as we listen to our guide, Nguyen Hong Phong, that I had no actual understanding of who Ho Chi Minh was. Combing the recesses of my mind, I realize I saw Ho Chi Minh simply as the enemy and likely a brutal dictator (more like China’s Mao Tse-Tung). And even though I had lived through the Vietnam War (known here as the American War), I really hadn’t understood that either.

But here in Hanoi on Discovery Bicycle Tours’ Vietnam tour, I can see how Ho Chi Minh is justifiably venerated as a hero to his people – George Washington, Lincoln and FDR rolled into one. Visiting is like a pilgrimage with rules that accord him maximum respect. We walk up the stairs into the mausoleum, and slowly walk around his actual body, lit from above, as if he is merely sleeping – the still sleeping Liberator.

Ho Chi Minh, Phong tells us, “is the most respected in Vietnam. People changed their name to Ho. He is worshipped like a god in homes. He overcame the French, Japanese, Chinese and Americans for independence and freedom. Now we live in a peaceful country because of Ho Chi Minh.”

*Our Discovery Bicycle Tours group at the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum*

Coming back to the front of his mausoleum (built by the Soviets), Phong relates that Ho Chi Minh was born in 1890 into an educated family – his father was a Mandarin, working for a royal family. In feudal society, only men went to school and women stayed at home. He and his brother went to a French school.

He attended college in Saigon in 1911, studying culinary arts and applied to work as a cook in France. He wound up working on a ship, traveling to America, Britain, France, Russia and in 1928, went to China. Seeing the world in this way is what cultivated his revolutionary ideology and zeal to liberate Vietnam from foreign imperialists. On Feb 3 1930, he gathered party leaders and set up the Communist party.

“What he really learned was the importance of making Vietnam independent. He left Vietnam to learn enough about the French to kick them out,” Phong tells us.

*The Founding Fathers of the Republic of Vietnam © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

He returned to Vietnam in 1941, having been away for 30 years. In 1944, Ho Chi Minh and General Japp (also a national hero) set up the Viet Minh, to resist foreign occupation by theFrench and Japanese during World War II.

When the Japanese and the French (who had occupied Vietnam since 1868, introducing Roman alphabet to replace Chinese characters the people used for 1000 years) left in 1945 at the end of World War II, on Sept 2, 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared the independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam. But after only one year, in 1946, the French attacked, forcing Ho Chi Minh into the mountains and retaking control.

“He wanted peace and agreed to divide the country in two for two years. They agreed to divide along the 17^th parallel. It was supposed to be temporary. Five million people (mostly Catholic), fled south while one million southerners moved north. Then there was supposed to be national elections.”

But the US blocked the election (claiming concern for a “domino effect” of Chinese-led Communism spreading across IndoChina) and set up a puppet government in the south

*Ho Chi Minh is still the most venerated hero to the Vietnamese © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

When the war ended in 1975, Vietnam was united under the Communist regime.

The South Vietnamese who worked for the Americans were terrified of retribution and left (they were the “boat people”)

But Vietnam was still not at peace. China set up a new government in Cambodia that attacked South Vietnam. Fighting continued from 1979-1988.

Vietnam has only had real peace since 1988.

In 1986, the government implemented a “revision policy”: “We close the past, and look to the future,” Phong tells us. “The state still owned industry but allowed people to own their own businesses, allowed private enterprise and open markets. The rice fields were divided so you worked for yourself.”

*Ho Chi Minh shunned the Presidential Palace, built by the French © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

From the mausoleum, we visit the complex where he lived – the Presidential Palace taken over from the French (Ho Chi Minh refused to live in it and only used the palace as an office and to receive dignitaries). Instead, from 1944-48 he insisted on living in a modest one-bedroom house, then moved to a house on stilts (reminiscent of where he lived with a Thai family), which again, was absolutely beautiful, but very modest.

Looking through the window into *Ho Chi Minh’s house on stilts © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

In 1967, Ho Chi Minh became sick with lung cancer and was moved into another house, steps away from his house on stilts. This one looks camouflaged like a bunker, and was connected to underground bunker because by then, the US was bombing Hanoi. When he died in 1969, at the age of 79, the location of his body was kept secret and moved multiple times. His body was kept inside a cave until 1973, when the US left, and then asked Russia to build a complex. Until 1977, they moved his body nightly, keeping the coffin hidden underground. Peering through the windows of his homes provides a window into who Ho Chi Minh was in life.

*A house built like a bunker where Ho Chi Minh lived his last years © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Before we leave the complex, we visit the One Pillar Pagoda, which dates back to 1049. The French destroyed it in 1954, but the Vietnamese rebuilt it in 1955. There is a billboard that lays out the moral “do’s” and ”don’ts” of Buddhist/Confucian/Taoist society.

*The One Pillar Pagoda in Hanoi © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

If I had questioned how Americans would be received in Vietnam, I soon get my answer standing in front of a monument to John McCain at the lake where McCain’s plane was shot down in 1967. McCain began six years as a prisoner in the dreaded Hoa Lo Prison, infamously known as the “Hanoi Hilton” – famously refusing to leave until his comrades were also freed. (We don’t get to visit but today it is a historic museum which has an exhibit devoted to the American prisoners, but is mostly showcasing French colonialism, see “Museum Hopping and Shopping in Hanoi”). The monument dates from 1992, when John McCain became one of the first Americans to come to Vietnam to heal relations; President Bill Clinton established relations in 1993 and helped revive Vietnam’s economy.

*The John McCain Monument in Hanoi © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

In December 1972, American B52s bombed Hanoi, surrounding villages and hospitals. As we look around Hanoi today, there is little evidence of that.

If Vietnamese still resent Americans you do not feel it at all. When I ask our guides about that, I am told “We are a Buddhist country. We do not look to the past; we look to the future.” If anything, though, there is still resentment between North and South Vietnamese, similar to the cultural divisions that remain between north and south since America’s civil war.

“The Vietnamese love Bill Clinton, the first US president to visit after the war, and we love John McCain. The United States is one of seven countries with the best relations,” Phong says – US, France, Australia, and Russia. “We close the past and look to the future.” Interestingly, considering one of the excuses for the US to enter the Vietnam War – the “domino theory” that China would take over IndoChina – is that Vietnam is wary of China, which had dominated Vietnam for 1000 years. “Local people feel cautious about China’s ambition to invade.”

*Our Discovery Bicycle Tours guide Calista Phillips with Mr. Trung, Vietnam’s national champion cyclist, where we get our rental bikes © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

It is our second day on Discovery Bicycle Tours’ 12-day Vietnam tour, and we’ve come to the Mausoleum after stopping first at the bike rental shop owned by Mr. Trung, a 70-year old former national champion and president of the Giant UNCC (he poses with us and shows magazines that feature him), where we are fitted for bikes that we will use in Ninh Binh, Hue and Hoi An.

*Our Discovery Bicycle Tours is rowed into the Thung Nham bird sanctuary © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

From here, we drive a couple of hours to the Thung Nham Ecotourism Zone (I enjoy looking out to the scenery, how soon we find ourselves amid rice paddies and farms). It is sunset when we are taken by traditional boat into a bird sanctuary. Flocks of birds – storks, herons, teals, tropical starlings – take their positions in the tree tops over the Thung Nham wetland. There is a stunning resort set within the preserve, all the more gorgeous as lights and lanterns come on as the sun sets.

It’s another 45 minutes drive to Emeralda Ninh Binh Resort, a fabulous five-star resort where we will stay for two nights.

*The luxurious Emeralda Ninh Binh Resort where our Discovery Bicycle Tours group will stay for two nights. © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Discovery Bicycle Tours, 2520 W. Woodstock Rd., Woodstock, VT 05091, 800-257-2226, 802- 457-3553, info@discoverybicycletours.com, www.discoverybicycletours.com

Next: Ninh Binh: A Boat Ride Through Caves, Bike Ride To Temples

DISCOVERY BICYCLE TOURS VIETNAM TRIP: HO CHI MINH MAUSOLEUM BRINGS NEW CLARITY TO A CLOUDY PAST

DISCOVERY BICYCLE TOURS’ VIETNAM: A BOAT RIDE THROUGH CAVES, BIKE RIDE TO TEMPLES IN NINH BINH

CRUISING BAI TU LONG BAY ON THE DRAGON LEGEND

DISCOVERY BICYCLE TOURS’ VIETNAM: HUE’S CITADEL, “CITY OF GHOSTS” & THE CHALLENGE OF BIKING THE HAI VAN PASS

DISCOVERY BICYCLE TOURS’ VIETNAM: HOI AN’S DAZZLING LIGHTS, TRANQUIL COUNTRYSIDE

A RENDEZVOUS WITH PROGRESS OF THE PRESENT, HORRORS OF THE PAST IN HO CHI MINH CITY

_________________

© 2025 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com and travelwritersmagazine.com/TravelFeaturesSyndicate/. Blogging at goingplacesnearandfar.wordpress.com and moralcompasstravel.info. Visit instagram.com/going_places_far_and_near and instagram.com/bigbackpacktraveler/ Send comments or questions to FamTravLtr@aol.com. Bluesky: @newsphotosfeatures.bsky.social X: @TravelFeatures Threads: @news_and_photo_features ‘Like’ us at facebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures

Benefits of travel', Biking Tours, Cultural travel, Culture, Destinations, International Travel, Places of History

Unexpected Delights in Hanoi on Discovery Bicycle Tours’ 12-Day Vietnam Trip

September 23, 2025 krubin723

*Train Street is as colorful as it is thrilling an experience in Hanoi © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

Discovery Bicycle Tours’ Biking Vietnam tour is designed along the best principles of travel: to explore, discover, learn, make connections, be present, experiential, meaningful and revelatory, and do it in a way that maximizes the benefits and minimizing the negative impacts of tourism.

*Taking a traditional boat ride into the Thung Nham bird sanctuary © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Of the 12 days we spend in Vietnam, traveling from north, to central, to south (flying between regions), we bike on six of them. That might seem odd for a biking tour, but you don’t travel 30 hours to Vietnam and miss the important highlights, like Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum in Hanoi, taking a traditional row boat through the caves of Ninh Binh; cruising overnight on the Ha Long Bay; discovering the Citadel and Imperial City of Hue; walking the colorful markets and enjoying the nightlife of Hoi An; or touring the War Remnants Museum, the historic Ben Thanh Market, or miss the experience of street food in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) because you are obsessive about biking. We get to do all of these, and also bike through villages, stopping to learn about traditional crafts, and amid the rice paddies to learn about Vietnam’s 4000-year old wet rice culture and ancestor worship.

*Riding the bus between destinations affords an opportunity to see vietnam’s countryside © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Riding in the bus between destinations lets us see the countryside (and I have set myself a challenge to get photos of people working in the fields and four people riding a motor scooter); the way the homes are laid out, the ancestral tombs in the fields, the occasional tractor, the massive, new industrial parks under construction. You see progress unfolding at the speed of the bus, all the more impressive when you realize what a young country Vietnam is, having proclaimed independence in 1945 but only “reunified” in 1975.

*A family poses in traditional dress for formal photograph during the month-long Lunar New Year celebration © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

The essence of this tour is about familiarizing us with the Vietnamese people (who, we learn, are a mosaic of 54 different tribes), the rich cultural heritage and today’s achievements in overcoming literally millennia of conflict, war, oppression, colonialism. When we bike, hike or walk, we barely have to think a question, let along ask it, before our guide, Nguyen Hong Phong, stops and answers. “This is normal for me, curious for you,” he tells us at the outset, as we sit for tea in the Apricot Hotel on our first afternoon together in Hanoi. “When you are curious, just ask,” he adds.

*A government building in Hanoi. Political symbols are less prominent than would be expected, while motorscooters and Starbucks and KFCs are ubiquitous © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

2025 marks the 50^th anniversary since the Fall of Saigon that so abruptly ended an interminable war (and reunification as an independent country). You can’t escape the fact of the “American War” (which frankly was the tail end of a decades long war for independence before the United States interceded), but our tour seems to sidestep the past in favor of the present. This is probably a reflection of Discovery Bicycle Tours’ primary focus for its guests: “You’re on vacation!”

(There are several important sites that are not included in this tour that I would recommend setting up pre and post days: the Hoa Lo Prison in Hanoi, infamously known as “Hanoi Hilton” and the Chi Chi Tunnels which is an excursion from Saigon. Even the War Remnants Museum, a must-see in Ho Chi Minh City, was not on the itinerary but we visit when we could not visit the Reunification Palace as planned.)

*Ho Chi Minh’s last residence, where he lived from 1968 to 1969 when he died is camouflaged and connected to escape tunnels © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Still, there is no escaping the past: in Hanoi when we visit Ho Chi Minh’s 1968 residence, built like a camouflaged bunker with escape tunnels and learn they moved his body regularly when he died in 1969; when we visit the John McCain Monument where the American hero’s plane went down and he was captured; when we see the bullet holes in the Citadel in Hue and are shown photos of fighting that took place on the very spot where we stand; and when we visit My Son, a sacred historic site outside of Saigon, and learn that the Vietnamese appealed to President Nixon to stop bombing. I think Americans who visit Vietnam have an obligation to see what was done in our name, especially because it is so important to learn from history so not to make the same mistakes, and not be duped by an administration determined to go to war for its own political agenda.

Our Discovery Bicycle Tours group gets to learn how to make rice paper during our ride in Hoi An. Americans are warmly welcomed in Vietnam and have opportunities to visit people where they live © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

I frankly didn’t know how I would react coming to Vietnam – I am the generation that lived through the Vietnam War (known here as “The American War”), or how Americans would be received. My questions are soon answered – the Vietnamese warmly welcome us Americans (and French and Chinese and a list of nationalities that have oppressed Vietnam). Vietnam is nothing like what I expected – in a good way. It’s in this capacity that one of the important attributes of travel come to fore: we travelers are ambassadors, promoting mutual understanding and connection.

*Celebrating a birthday in Hue, Vietnam. What a difference peace makes © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

In Vietnam today, you can see the impact of peace, free markets, free enterprise have to achieve prosperity – a lesson to all those who are inciting conflict and war. You see the benefits of trade and globalization – a lesson for those who would disrupt and unravel alliances and build barriers instead of bridges.

Old Hanoi

Since our group is first meeting together at 1 pm for a walking tour, I have the morning to myself to explore. I walk across the street from our luxury hotel, The Apricot, to the park that rings the small, picturesque lake.

*A woman poses in traditional dress for formal photograph during the Lunar New Year celebration in Hanoi © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

We are here during the month-long Lunar New Year celebration, made even more festive because of the 50^th anniversary of reunification – everywhere that is possible has decorations reminiscent of how we celebrate Christmas. People dress in their formal, traditional costumes and pose for photos taken by professional photographers. People travel on holiday. There is a festive atmosphere everywhere.

There are political symbols, posters, flags and such but no more than the giant advertising billboards and the Starbucks, KFCs, McDonalds, Burger Kings. Also, I am flabbergasted at the proliferation of motorscooters and the paucity of bicycles. Crossing any street takes fortitude and a measure of fatalism, but where there are traffic signals, the systems are sophisticated and effective. Also, cell phones are ubiquitous.

*The proliferation of motorscooters in mind-boggling © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

I head into the Old Quarter where I am intrigued at the “old propaganda posters” shops, the coffee shops (who knew Vietnam was such a major producer and exporter of coffee?), and massage parlors as common as nail salons at home.

The Propaganda Poster Shop seems more to satisfy the American and European tourists who visit (“Make Art Not War”).

But here at the Propaganda Poster Shop I happen to see many postcards for Train Street (reminding me of Lisbon) which suggests it is an important site and inspires me to go in search of this place.

*Old Propaganda Posters shop © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

After getting lost (my WiFi isn’t working and I can’t figure out the map) and stopping numerous people to point me in the right direction, I look up and am drawn to colorful lanterns, walk up a staircase and find myself quite literally on the train tracks. Train Street!

People have set themselves at café tables and chairs and are even hanging out on the tracks taking photos. It is all the more amazing because it turns out it is just 5 minutes before the train is due (and I am so lucky because only a few trains come through a day). With 5 minutes to go, there is even a baby playing on the track!

I am standing alongside the track and a lady yells at me to sit down in one of the plastic chairs, like a kid’s chair. As the train comes tearing through at what seems a very fast speed, it is so close that had I held out my hand, it would have been taken off. I reflexively suck in my breath and try to make myself as small as possible until it passes. Unbelievably thrilling.

I feel proud of myself for being able to find my way back to the hotel by 1 pm in time to meet our Discovery Bicycle group for our first activity together, a walking tour of the Old District. I have already been traveling with 8 of the group for Discovery Bicycle’s four-day Cambodia pre-tour and now we meet the other 10.

Phong leads us to the St. John Cathedral, the oldest church in Hanoi. Built on the site of the biggest, most sacred Buddhist pagodas of the Ly-Tran Dynasties, the cathedral was constructed at the end of the 18^th century of wood, then reconstructed with baked clay in 1884-1888. Phong tells us that Catholics are a minority; the biggest religion in Vietnam, he says, is “triple religion” – a mix of Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism (ancestor worship).We will see evidence of this everywhere we go.

*St. John Cathedral in Hanoi. © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Phong volunteers that the Communist government “allows free religious worship and free press” (though I question what he means by “free press”), then adds that protest against the Communist Party is not allowed; nor is there an opposition candidate in elections. Vietnam has been a one-party government since 1954, but in 1986 introduced new freedom in commerce and open markets.

“We have more freedom than in China. They block media there, here they block the BBC but we can get CNN.” Whatever they block, he says, people get curious and have their ways of accessing.

*Walking through Old Hanoi © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

“Society is improving for ordinary people. Since 1988, we are living in peace. We feel more freedom, a peaceful country. We are now friends with Russia, Ukraine, the European Union. The USA is one of seven strongest friends. Peace is good for people, good for the country. [Tourists want to] come to a peaceful country.”

Phong tells us he learned English (as well as French and Chinese) at university where he studied tourism, but today, children are taught English as early as 3 and 4 years old in school. Public school is free he tells us, even in the mountains where parents are actually given a money incentive to send their kids to school.

*Tin Street in Old Hanoi © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

We walk through Hanoi’s Old Quarter where the name of the street may well describe what enterprises take place there, established generations ago by the people who resettled in the city: Tin Street, Silver Street, Basket Street, Copper Street.

We return at 3 pm for tea at the Apricot Hotel – an elaborate affair – that includes an introduction and orientation to our 12-day tour (with biking!) with Phong as our lead guide.. Indeed, we will go first thing the next morning to get sized for our rental bikes which we will use for five of the days (the driver and bike mechanic who travels will us will travel 2 ½ days to Hue, when we fly), and will pick up a different bike in Ho Chi Minh City (way too far to drive and return).

I realize that we have just enough time to see the 5:15 pm traditional Water Puppet Theater cultural show just across the street from the hotel, before we meet again to go to dinner.

I had seen this heritage show when I was in Ho Chi Minh City six years before, so was enthusiastic to see it here, and encourage my traveling companions to come.

*Water Puppets Theater is a delightful cultural show © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Most of our group from the four-day Cambodia pre-tour (we really bonded) are game and we actually purchase the last tickets for this immensely popular program. The show is a cultural treasure that utilizes this traditional art form, with musicians performing with traditional musical instruments and song, fables and folk stories enacted by these marvelous puppeteers (yes, the puppets are in a pool of water!).

Captions and notes about the theater and the scenes are flashed on the walls beside the stage. Vietnam water puppetry, I learn, was born from the rice civilization in the Red River Delta, so agriculture is vividly depicted by the puppets, with farmers and familiar images such as riding buffalo, plowing, harrowing, transplanting rice, slapping water, harvesting. (Later, when we bike among the rice paddies, we will see how this tradition originated.)

*Water Puppets Theater has its origins in rural rice production © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

One of the scenes enacts “The Legend of Returning the Sword by King Le Loi” where LeLoi caught a holy sword by chance as he led the resistance war. After defeating the invaders, he proclaimed himself king. King Le Li goes out boating on the Green Water Lake, when suddenly a large turtle surfaced, took the sword from King Le Loi’s belt, and dived back into the depths, carrying the glowing sword in his mouth. (This is all enacted with puppets in the water).

The humor that is integral to the culture is displayed where the puppets enact an old farmer “Chasing fox away from the flock of ducks”. “It creates Vietnamese optimistic farmers,” the notes say.

The notes for “The Spirit Mediums Spiritual Dance,” say that “Vietnam’s Mother Goddess worship has been honored by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity. In today’s life, Mother Goddess worship is mainly known to the community through the concept of ‘The Spirit Mediums’. Traditional cultural elements such as costumes, music, dance and folk performances imbued with Vietnamese cultural identity are created, developed and passed on from generation to generation.”

The ”Four Sacred Animals Dance” brings together Long, Ly, Quy and Phuong (Dragon, Unicorn, Tortoise, Phoenix) “praising the nature of heaven and earth, hoping for a peaceful state and a peaceful and happy life.”

*Water Puppets Theater puppeteers come out for their curtain call © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

There are fire effects and of course water effects and amazing choreography – you actually cannot figure out how the puppeteers coordinate so well (and underwater!) – and then the puppeteers appear for their curtain call, up to their waist in water.

The show finishes just in time for us to walk together to dinner in a charming restaurant in the Old District.

*A delightful restaurant in Hanoi’s old district © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

A note on the table about the apple cider makes us giggle: “Cider drinkers get more refreshment and excitement while still keeping their sanity. Especially suitable for women.”

Our lunches and dinners at restaurants are typically pre-ordered and served family style, with multiple courses so that we typically have chicken, beef, seafood, vegetable, rice, soup dishes – always with more than enough to satisfy even American appetites, and to get a really excellent idea of the cuisine.

*Our Discovery Bicycle Tours guide Calista Phillips and Jake can’t resist purchasing these hats at the night market © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

We walk back to the Apricot Hotel through the bustling night markets that take over the streets, brightly and colorfully lit.

*The Apricot Hotel is a five-star luxury hotel set just across from the picturesque park and lake © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Exploring the Apricot Hotel (we will be leaving early in the morning after breakfast), we discover an exquisite rooftop indoor pool and bar with a giant video screen. The artwork around the hotel, the elegant (French-inspired) furnishings are gorgeous.

Discovery Bicycle Tours, 2520 W. Woodstock Rd., Woodstock, VT 05091, 800-257-2226, 802- 457-3553, info@discoverybicycletours.com, www.discoverybicycletours.com.

Next: Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and Ninh Binh Bird Sanctuary

DISCOVERY BICYCLE TOURS VIETNAM TRIP: HO CHI MINH MAUSOLEUM BRINGS NEW CLARITY TO A CLOUDY PAST

DISCOVERY BICYCLE TOURS’ VIETNAM: A BOAT RIDE THROUGH CAVES, BIKE RIDE TO TEMPLES IN NINH BINH

CRUISING BAI TU LONG BAY ON THE DRAGON LEGEND

DISCOVERY BICYCLE TOURS’ VIETNAM: HUE’S CITADEL, “CITY OF GHOSTS” & THE CHALLENGE OF BIKING THE HAI VAN PASS

DISCOVERY BICYCLE TOURS’ VIETNAM: HOI AN’S DAZZLING LIGHTS, TRANQUIL COUNTRYSIDE

A RENDEZVOUS WITH PROGRESS OF THE PRESENT, HORRORS OF THE PAST IN HO CHI MINH CITY

__________________

© 2025 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com and travelwritersmagazine.com/TravelFeaturesSyndicate/. Blogging at goingplacesnearandfar.wordpress.com and moralcompasstravel.info. Visit instagram.com/going_places_far_and_near and instagram.com/bigbackpacktraveler/ Send comments or questions to FamTravLtr@aol.com. Bluesky: @newsphotosfeatures.bsky.social X: @TravelFeatures Threads: @news_and_photo_features ‘Like’ us at facebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures

Adventure Travel, Biking Tours, Cultural travel, Ecotourism, Historic Places, Museums and Exhibits, Outdoors Adventures, Places of History

Discovering Cambodia’s Angkor Archeological Park, Among the World’s Most Fabulous Monument Complexes

September 16, 2025 krubin723

The dramatic sunset scene of the warrior statues on the Tonle Om Gate bridge outside the Preah Khan temple on our Discovery Bicycle Tours four-day Siem Reap, Cambodia pre-tour © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

Today – technically the third day of our four-day Discovery Bicycle Tours Cambodia pre-tour in Siem Reap – is our first real bike ride, planned for 36 miles. We pick up our bikes at the tourist office where we also pick up our passes for the national historic sites, and cycle right into the Angkor Archeological Park. We cycle on the Angkor Bikeway and hidden trails through the ruins and forest of Angkor. (Calista Phillips, our Discovery Bicycle Tours guide, and I have already acquired our passes on the first evening when we went to see the sunset at Phnom Bakheng; the three-day pass allows for three, nonconsecutive days of visits. Discovery purchases our tickets and reimburses me the $62 I spent.)

*Biking lets us experience the sights, sounds and feeling of Siem Reap’s countryside © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

We bike on country lanes with rice paddies and fields on either side, seeing homes with thatch roofs, water buffalo. Our guide, Ta, shows us a cashew nut as it is plucked from the tree, the outer layer opened releasing a noxious acid; and the abandoned skin of a snake.

*Biking lets us experience the sights, sounds and feeling of Siem Reap’s countryside and how people live © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

What feels like 10 of the miles (though probably less), is riding through a thick layer of sand (like skiing on ice). Once I get the hang of it (the trick is getting into a lower gear), it is still stressful, requiring concentration, but not as scary, with immense and lasting satisfaction when we come to the end of this country road, where we come to a literal archway. Here we find a USAID hat in the middle of that sandy road – crumpled, ripped, dirty, trampled – a metaphor it seemed for what Trump/Musk had just done by shutting down USAID.

*Mastering how to bike on sand © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*Our guide,Ta, shows us what a cashew nut looks like on the tree © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

We ride a bit further on regular streets and have our first snack stop – with local foods (best cashews ever), dragon fruit, bananas, and coconuts cut so we can drink the juice with a straw, and then come upon a wedding, where the uncle of the groom comes rushing out to greet one of our riders, Pam, who he had helped rescue just two days before when their taxi had car trouble on the way from the airport. Small world!

*Coming upon a wedding, the groom’s uncle recognizes one of our riders © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*We get a personal view of a wedding and learn something about the two-day rituals © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*Calista Phillips, our cheery Discovery Bicycle Tours guide, takes us on a country road in Siem Reap © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*Seeing a metaphor in a dirty, dusty, crumpled, ripped USAID hat found on the sandy Cambodian road © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

We come to our first temple, Banteay Srei, a 10th century temple dedicated to the Hindu gods Shiva and Parvati, which is considered a “jewel of Khmer art” because of its intricate carvings.

*Exploring Bateay Srei © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

The full ride is 36 miles but we have to cut it short by 6 miles for time, so are transported to the last two temples by bus (others could cut short the ride even earlier because the bus and bike truck pretty much follow us).

*Ta Som © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Our next stop is Ta Som with its dramatic ficus (fig) tree enveloping one of the towers. It was constructed at the end of 12^th century, beginning of 13^th century during the reign of King Jayavarman VII and features monumental gateways and a central shrine decorated with intricate carvings that I find dazzling. It was destroyed centuries ago and lay in ruins until international partners provided assistance to restore it. The temple earned a place on the World Heritage list in 1992 and was the first project to be managed by the World Monuments Fund’s Cambodian staff.

*At Ta Som, you feel you are walking through art because of how the gateways line up. © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

We next come to the stunning and significant Preah Khan which I find most intriguing and spell-binding – perhaps because one of the guides offers to give a private tour for $5 and points out views and details we never would have seen or appreciated, like the only carved image of Shiva holding a mirror among these temples, and an alcove where he tells us to beat our chest to hear the resonance. (This winds up being a common practice and I recommend it highly.)

Preah Khan *© Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Preah Khan (it means “Royal Sword”) was built in the 12th century for King Jayavarman VII to honor his father on the site of his victory over the invading Chams in 1191.

The guard explains that the King built this temple with an aim of bringing Hindus and Buddhists together – a Buddhist sanctuary is offset by satellite Hindu temples. Half of the temple has Hindu carvings; the other half is Buddhist. (I wonder if this is why the temple was intentionally destroyed.)

*The Preah Khan guard points out the only carved image of Shiva holding a mirror so far discovered among these temples © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

What is so fascinating about these vast temple complexes is that they were not just for worship but would have been like palaces, castles or fortresses, housing hundreds, if not thousands of people. The Preah Khan complex combined the roles of city, temple and Buddhist university and would have had 97,840 attendants and servants, including 1000 dancers and 1000 teachers.

The stone – which mostly appears grey-black- becomes a blazing orange in the setting sun as we leave.

We cross a bridge lined with impressive military figures – several with the heads cut off, very possibly to sell on the black market.

*The dramatic sunset scene of the warrior statues on the Tonle Om Gate bridge outside the Preah Khan temple © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*Impressive military statues line the Tonle Om Gate bridge outside the Preah Khan temple © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

As we cross, the sun, glowing a fiery red, offers a spectacular scene and our guide, Hang, stops the bus for us. We have just two minutes to capture the setting sun before it falls behind trees.

Between 800 and 1200 A.D., hundreds if not thousands of temples were built through the region. The oldest ones have all but disappeared due to weather, war, religious conflict and greed (stealing the art for sale). The ones we see today have had to be excavated from overgrowth and restored and represent the Golden Age of monument building. They have a certain common style – largely because of they were built in the same era, and many of the ones we see were built by King Jayavarman VII, which makes you wonder about how he had the resources and manpower. But the temples are remarkably individual for their art, theme and most especially how you experience of discovering them, so I come away with my favorites.

The most famous – for good reason – is Angkor Wat, a religious complex spanning more than 400 acres (five times the size of the Vatican) and widely recognized (confirmed by the Guinness World Records) as the largest religious structure or monument in the world. It was originally built by the Khmer Empire, commissioned by King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century as a Hindu temple before being converted into a Buddhist site by the end of the century.

What strikes me, though, after seeing several of these, particularly those built by King Jayavarman VII and King Suryavarman II, is how similar to Peru and the temples built in the mid-1400s, most famously Machu Picchu, by the Incan emperor Pachacuti, known as the “Alexander the Great” of the Inca. It makes you think about the commonality of the human history.

Back at the Aviary Hotel, I get in a 20-minute swim in the rooftop pool before meeting our group for a 10-minute walk to Chamrey Tree, an elegant restaurant filled with gorgeous art, where we have a fantastic dinner.

After dinner, Calista and Jake go off to explore the night market, where Jake is game to try any unusual food. The next morning, he reports back of his experience eating insects (not sure if he also snacked on snake or just observed).

Departure Day: Angkor Sunrise & Biking

*Sunrise at Angkor Wat © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Day 4 is our departure day from Cambodia, but our last morning in Siem Reap starts at 4:30 am (we are given a bagged breakfast to take with us) so we can be at Angkor Wat for the sunrise (with thousands of others). The famous view would have the iconic temple back-lit and reflected in two large pools in front – alas the sunrise is not all that impressive and even coming so early, it is hard to get a good enough position for “the money shot,” but the experience is exciting enough.

The real thrill comes after, when we go to explore the temple. Most of the sunrise-goers leave, so we are able to visit with comparatively few people if we hustle – our guide urges us to get on line fast so we aren’t trapped in an hour-long wait to climb the steep staircase.

*Climbing the steep staircase into Angkor Wat © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

We get inside the temple just as the sun is penetrating the structure.

*Angkor Wat © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

It took hundreds of thousands of workers just 37 years to build – (the 37 year deadline coincides with the belief in 37 heavens and 32 hells and there are 37 steps to enter. Like Machu Picchu, these temples were built by devotees as well as slaves. The stones came from a quarry 35 miles away (during COVID, they had time to study and discovered a canal, which they now believe was used to float the stones).

*Angkor Wat, the largest religious complex in the world, had to be reclaimed from the forest © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

The temple would have been overgrown after centuries of abandonment; it was rediscovered in 1941 and the French helped restore the temple after a collapse in 1947. The World Monuments Fund has been working to preserve and restore these temples since 1991 and Angkor Wat was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992.

Built in early 12^th C under the reign of Suryavarman II, Angkor Wat was both the grandest of all Khmer temples and a city in its own right.

Angkor Wat houses what are considered the finest examples of Khmer art – carved bas-reliefs stretching nearly 600 meters.

In the eyes of Khmer people, the most significant bas-relief in the Churning of the Sea of Milk Gallery portrays devas and asuras in a dramatic tug of war representing the eternal struggle of good and evil that churns amrit, the elixir of everlasting life, from the primordial ocean.

*The bas-relief Churning of the Sea of Milk portrays heaven and hell and the eternal struggle between good and evil © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Heaven and Hell is depicted in an astonishing 68-meter-long wall carving: heaven above consists of two tiers while hell has 32 tiers. The inscriptions tell what kind of sin a person may have committed in life judging by the tier the sinner ended up on after death.

*Angkor Wat’s Hall of a Thousand Buddhas* *© Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

In the Hall of a Thousand Buddhas (Preah Poan) a few stand out dramatically from the grey statues for their gold robes. Sometime in the late/post-Angkor eras after the temple converted to Buddhism and eventually Theravada Buddhism, monks began collecting Buddha statues here.

Banyon Temple

*Encountering monkeys on the trail © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

From Angkor Wat, we bike to the Bayon Temple, with its enormous, fantastical enigmatic faces looking in every direction from every stone tower – 216 in all. It is not known who the face represents – we heard they represented Buddha before achieving Nirvana, or possibly the ruler who built the temple, Jayavarman VII.

Dating from the late 12^th century (after Angkor Wat) and the last to be built in the Angkor, the Bayon is a Mahayana Buddhist temple built to pay homage to the king responsible for its construction, Jayavarman VII, and dedicated to his mother. We are told that 12,640 people would have lived within it, including 650 dancing girls.

We note the sign: “Beware of Monkey Attack” – sure enough, one of our group reports being “accosted” by a monkey.

With time growing short before some of our group has to get to the airport, our 12-mile bike ride is cut short (though some have biked along the top of the defensive walls of Angkor Thom). and we travel by bus to the last temple we get to visit Ta Prohm, famous for scenes from Angelina Jolie’s “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” film.

*Ta Prohm Temple © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

You really feel the age of the Ta Prohm temple with massive trees growing out of the stone and massive stone blocks in heaps.

Of the statues consecrated here in 1186 by Jayavarman VII here, most important was Prajnaparamita, the personification of the Perfection of Wisdom, a figure whom the king identified with his mother.

Given its fame and the dramatic setting, as well as the time of day, it is no surprise that the temple is fairly overrun with tourists.

It’s fairly amazing how much we do on Day 4, our departure day when we fly to Hanoi to start the 12-day Vietnam Discovery Bicycle tour: three temples, a fabulous bike ride, lovely lunch, and since they have arranged a late check out (the flight several of us are on is at 7 pm), I even have time for a swim at the Aviary Hotel. But then I remind myself: we got up at 4:30 am!

*Discovery Bicycle Tours organizes the four-day pre-tour in Cambodia to make our visit to Siem Reap to be satisfying, productive and comfortable © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Discovery Bicycle Tours organizes everything to make our biking as satisfying and our brief time here as productive and pleasant as possible – which means we are accompanied by a third guide/bike mechanic; the bike truck typically is nearby; and the bus that takes us to the start/finish, and various stops accompanies like a SAG vehicle, so we don’t have to bike with our big cameras but have access when we get to a site. The snack (and rest) stops are also really marvelous – typically with local foods – well planned and well timed.

*Enjoying local treats, like coconut juice, for our snack on Discovery Bicycle Tours’ four-day Cambodia pre-tour in Siem Reap © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

In addition to the Discovery Bicycle Tours guide, we have two local guides here in Cambodia – one who likes to be called “Hang,” and the other who likes to be called “Ta” – both take care of us like mother hens, though I would have liked more background information about the different sites we visit. (An excellent source is “Angkor Temples in Cambodia” www.angkor-temples-in-cambodia.com.)

*The Aviary Hotel, an eco-conscious boutique hotel, is our base in Siem Reap for the four-day Discovery Bicycle Tours Cambodia pre-tour © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Discovery does a great job of providing advance materials, the day-by-day itinerary, packing lists; excellent bikes (e-bikes are available but not really necessary) and helmets, and even though we do ride together with guides at the front and back (and not a great idea to go off on our own), we have Ride GPS so we can follow the route.

Get the required visa and arrival document at Cambodia’s website (evisa.gov.kh), where the fee is $30 (if you use a visa service it costs something like $197), but give yourself enough time to get the confirmation.

Also, always double-check the U.S. State Department’s travel advisory and make sure no vaccinations are required or recommended.

It is also recommended to purchase travel insurance – especially for the medical and evacuation coverage. You can check a site like travelinsurance.com to get recommendations.

On to Vietnam!

Discovery Bicycle Tours, 2520 W. Woodstock Rd., Woodstock, VT 05091, 800-257-2226, 802-457-3553, info@discoverybicycletours.com, discoverybicycletours.com.

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© 2025 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com and travelwritersmagazine.com/TravelFeaturesSyndicate/. Blogging at goingplacesnearandfar.wordpress.com and moralcompasstravel.info. Visit instagram.com/going_places_far_and_near and instagram.com/bigbackpacktraveler/ Send comments or questions to FamTravLtr@aol.com. Bluesky: @newsphotosfeatures.bsky.social X: @TravelFeatures Threads: @news_and_photo_features ‘Like’ us at facebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures

Adventure Travel, Biking Tours, Cultural travel, Outdoors Adventures, Places of History, Uncategorized

Hiking, Biking Adds Dimension to Experiencing Siem Reap, Cambodia’s Ancient Archeological Sites

September 10, 2025 krubin723

Our six-mile hike through Kulen National Park leads to the Reclining Buddha, said to be the largest reclining sandstone Buddha in Cambodia. Hiking and biking adds a physical even spiritual dimension to experiencing the ancient temples and monuments during our Discovery Bicycle Tours’ four-day Cambodia trip © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

Biking back roads of Siem Reap, Cambodia, passed farmland and fields, through small villages our Discovery Bicycle Tours group chances upon a wedding – but not just any wedding. As it happens, the uncle of the groom was the man who came to the rescue of a couple of our riders who had car trouble on the way from the airport. When Pam gets off her bike to take a photo of the wedding, he recognizes her and dashes out – even inviting our Discovery Bicycle Tours group inside the tent to participate in the ritual underway. The experience gives new meaning to the expression, “small world.” Biking has that effect of making the world smaller, more intimate, more connected.

*Coming upon a wedding is one of the delights of biking in Siem Reap, Cambodia on Discovery Bicycle Tours’ four-day pre-tour © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

You don’t go to Cambodia to bike, but biking adds a whole extra dimension – and perspective – to the travel experience, as I find on Discovery Bicycle Tours’ four-day Cambodia pre-tour add-on to the 12-day Vietnam bike tour that follows.

You bike in Cambodia to have such immersive experiences, to see scenes unobstructed and at a pace where you can really observe, even stop and get off the bike for a better, lingering view, to ride through villages, alongside homes and farms and fields that you would never see otherwise, and to have such serendipitous encounters as coming upon a wedding. Discovery Bicycle Tours’ four-day Cambodia is tailored, so we bike on country roads and back roads rather than through the intensely trafficked towns, and we are taken by bus to far-flung locations so we are not deprived of seeing the important highlights of Siem Reap.

*Discovery Bicycle Tours’ guide Calista Phillips takes us on Siem Reap’s back country roads © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Siem Reap has justifiably become a major attraction for visitors – as evidenced from many lovely hotels in the city, the bustling markets and shops and the modern new international airport that opened (for logistical planning purposes it is important to take note that it is more than one hour’s drive from downtown, not the 20 minutes of the old airport),

Indeed, Siem Reap is a long way to go: it’s taken me 32 hours, three planes and three, long immigration lines, though it could have been less had I flown east from JFK instead of west; also when you book your travel, be aware that you cross the Dateline so you lose a day; and be very aware of the online process to get the visa and arrival document).It’s too long a way to go to miss the extraordinary sites by obsessing over biking point-to-point exclusively.

I make my way to the Aviary Hotel in the heart of Siem Reap (Discovery has arranged an airport pick up but somehow I missed it), riding a shuttle from the airport with a local woman who now works in Sweden, home to visit her family. I have the good sense to ask her where to go for the best place to see the sunset. Phnom Bakheng, she replies without hesitation. Armed with this information, as soon as I pull up to the hotel where I am met by Discovery’s guide Calista Phillips (I actually had just traveled with her on Discovery’s Idaho Trails bike tour), our local guide, Hang, arranges for the hotel’s tuk tuk driver to take Calista and me at 4:30 pm. (Others in the tour had other plans.)

*The Aviary Hotel’s garden pool provides a cozy sanctuary. The boutique eco-hotel is a great base for our four-day stay in Siem Reap © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

I organize my afternoon so that I recover my energy for our adventure, and resist my inclination to explore the area, taking advantage of the Aviary Hotel’s stunning garden pool (it also has a rooftop pool) at the Aviary, a delightful 43-room eco-friendly boutique hotel which is our home base for our four-day stay.

Sunset at Phnom Bakheng

The 35-minute ride through the streets on the tuk-tuk – basically a carriage pulled by a guy on a motorcycle – to the Phnom Bakheng temple is extreme fun (what a ride!).

We immediately see why this is the most popular place for the sunset. Situated in the heart of Angkor Archaeological Park, the Hill of Phnom Bakheng offers gorgeous views of surrounding monuments and countryside. (Calista and I have purchased our three-day Angkor Archeological Park passes online, which the others will get their pass later; the 3-Day Pass is valid within 10 days of purchase; Discovery reimburses me the $62.)

Because of heavy seasonal rains causing damage, the eastern stairway is closed, so we hike for 15 minutes along a shady gentle sloping path which provides a panoramic route to reach the temple.

*The first glimpse through the trees is of the 10 century Bakst Chamkrong glowing orange in the setting sunlight© Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

The first glimpse through the trees is of a temple, glowing orange in the setting sunlight. This is Bakset Chamkrong, built during the first decades of the 10^th c at the foot of Phnom Bakheng, the only pyramid temple in the area that has survived. The notes describe a rare Sanskrit text engraved in the doorjamb about the mythic succession of Khmer kings. According to the myth, the dynasty descended from the union of the hermit Kamba, said to be “born from himself” and the celestial nymph mera. (Note: this architectural jewel can also be visited.)

Continuing on, we come to beautiful views over treetops in haze to the water.

*Phnom Bakheng, which is undergoing restoration, is the best place in Siem Reap to see the sunset* *© Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

And then we come to Phnom Bakheng, which is undergoing restoration– a cooperative project begun in 2004 of World Monuments Fund (WMF) and APSARA National Authority of the Kingdom of Cambodia.with funding from US Dept of State, US Ambassador fund for Cultural preservation and US Embassy Phnom Penh.

We climb the steep stone steps to the top of the temple, and I am struck at the people who have taken up their position facing away from the sunset. I ask why and a woman points down and to the side, and mutters, Angkor Wat. Indeed, this majestic structure –one of the largest religious sites in the world –emerges from the haze and rises above the tree tops. Oh. The hope (expectation) is that when the sun dips, it will turn the grey/black stone a firey orange like the temple we saw on our walk up.

I squeeze my way into one of the last positions that would give me that view and wait.

*Our sunset hike to Phnom Bakheng gives us this view of Angkor Wat, rising out of the haze and the tree tops © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Alas, when it is clear that the weather will not cooperate (it is still a beautiful sight), I take another position to watch the sun, now a firey red ball, skirt alongside two of the temple’s stone towers, and when it finally dips into the clouds, go to study more intently the carvings on the temple.

*Phnom Bakheng is the best place in Siem Reap to see the sunset* *© Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Notably, many of the faces in the carvings have been mutilated – testifying to the religious struggles and ping-ponging of theocratic power, while the several monks here and people worshipping at the temple testify to the temple’s continuing role as a sacred place.

*Surveying the beautiful carvings on Phnom Bakheng temple © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

We are among the last to start down after the sun has dropped into the clouds, and by the time we get all the way down, it is actually dark – just adding to the atmosphere. Our ride back in the tuk tuk (the guide has waited for us and we cleverly have taken down his telephone number in case we have trouble finding him) is tremendous fun. We get to see how people gather together at night. (Graffiti spotted from the tuktuk: “Love Cambodia. Hate Fascism.”)

*Phnom Bakheng temple is still a holy site © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Our driver very kindly asks if we prefer to be dropped at the hotel or at Pub Street, about five blocks further than the hotel so we can get a sense of the colorful night life. We opt for the night market and immediately are engulfed in the neon lights and activity. We come upon crafts people and food sellers.

*The lively night scene at Siem Reap’s Pub Street © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Hiking Kulen National Park

Our first full day in Cambodia is not spent biking but hiking. After a delightful breakfast at the hotel, the nine of us who are doing the Cambodia add-on (of the eventual 19 of us who will be doing the Vietnam tour), gather together and set out for Kulen National Park.

The six-mile hike through a jungle on the Langur Trail, named for leaf-eating monkeys that live here) brings us to historic places – where religious symbols have been placed in a stream, a temple, and, most interestingly, a rocky hideaway that was used for the Khmer Rouge.

*We hike along the River of a 1000 Lingas © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

We hike along the River of a 1000 Lingas – the phallic symbol of the Hindu god, Shiva – and rock carvings depicting Hindu deities made during the Khmer Empire.

The six-mile hike through a jungle on the Langur Trail, brings us to historic places – where religious symbols have been placed in a stream, a temple, and, most interestingly, a rocky hideaway that was used for the Khmer Rouge© Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The trail takes us to a fabulous 16^th century Buddhist monastery and sacred site for pilgrims at Preah Ang Thom. There is such reverence that we need to take off our shoes before we climb the steps to where the massive Reclining Buddha is housed – in fact, we are told, it is Cambodia’s largest sandstone reclining Buddha. The pose, the colors are simply jaw-dropping magnificent.

*The six-mile hike on the Langur Trail, brings us to a 16^th century Buddhist monastery and sacred site for pilgrims at Preah Ang Thom © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*Face of the reclining Buddha at Preah Ang Thom © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Our hike continues into what seems to be a village and central marketplace for the national park, where we have lunch in a delightful restaurant. From there, we walk a path that takes us to a steep staircase (103 steps) to the scenic, 81-foot high Phnom Kulen Waterfalls.The area evokes the water cleansing of the Ganges, and was a holy place in 802 AD. We swim (fish nibble at our dead skin – actually a spa treatment), frolic under the forceful spray, before busing back an hour to Siem Reap.

*We enjoy swimming at the 81-foot high **Phnom Kulen Waterfalls** © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Taking into account that we won’t be getting back for the rest of the group to experience the sunset at Phnom Bakheng which we raved about, our guide, Hang, stops at Pre Rup, for us to explore as the sun sets. This temple was built in honor of Lord Shiva in 961 AD by King Rajendravarman while Siem Reap was the capital of the kingdom of Koh Ker, before the capital was moved to Angkor. (It is not nearly as impressive, so do not miss an opportunity to see the sunset at Phnom Bakheng.)

*The sunset from the top of Pre Rup © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

We gather at 7:30 pm for dinner at Spoons Restaurant – a delightful restaurant which is also a social enterprise where young people from disadvantaged circumstances are trained for jobs in hospitality. The food, the presentation, the ambiance are superb.

The Aviary Hotel

Our base for our four-day visit to Siem Reap is the Aviary Hotel, a 43-room eco-friendly boutique hotel that offers a luxurious, comfortable, modern environment with delightful Cambodian flourishes celebrating the Kingdom’s birdlife and filled with locally commissioned art. The Aviary’s turquoise pool has a garden-like setting curtained by vines and flowers that drape over the balconies above and comfortable lounge chairs, from which you can order drinks and food – a truly relaxing sanctuary. A rooftop pool seems as big as an Olympic pool and is particularly delightful at the end of the day and into the evening. Each morning we enjoy a marvelous buffet breakfast. The hotel also offers its own café. (Aviary Hotel, #09, Tep Vong Street, Siem Reap, Cambodia, +855 12 241 602, reservation@theaviaryhotel.com)

Discovery Bicycle Tours, 2520 W. Woodstock Rd., Woodstock, VT 05091, 800-257-2226, 802-457-3553, info@discoverybicycletours.com, discoverybicycletours.com.

Next: Biking Siem Reap’s Angkor Archeological Park
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© 2025 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com and travelwritersmagazine.com/TravelFeaturesSyndicate/. Blogging at goingplacesnearandfar.wordpress.com and moralcompasstravel.info. Visit instagram.com/going_places_far_and_near and instagram.com/bigbackpacktraveler/ Send comments or questions to FamTravLtr@aol.com. Bluesky: @newsphotosfeatures.bsky.social X: @TravelFeatures Threads: @news_and_photo_features ‘Like’ us at facebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures

Biking Tours, Cultural travel, Historic Places, International Travel, Museums and Exhibits, Places of History

Boat Bike Tours’ Netherlands Islandhopping: Discovering Living History in Enkhuizen

July 30, 2025 krubin723

People in period dress bring to life the village of Urk as it was in 1905, in the Zuiderzee Museum, an open-air living history museum village in Enkhuizen that re-creates daily life around the Zuiderzee before the sea was turned into a lake © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

On Day 8 of our Boat Bike Tours’ Islandhopping Netherlands tour, we wake up in Enkhuizen, back where we started. We have breakfast and have to disembark by 9:30 am but we are able to leave our luggage on board for a couple of hours, giving me time to explore a bit before I need to take the train back to Amsterdam and the Schiphol Airport. I really appreciate this bit of time since I hadn’t a chance to explore Enkhuizen when we first arrived (I recommend coming a day before the ship sails so you have more time), and though I had some time to explore in the evening, i really enjoy myself wandering around this morning.

*A reminder that despite its historic appearance today, Enkhuizen was bombed in World War II © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*Enjoying a walk-about picturesque Enkhuizen © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*Zuiden Kerk in Enkhuizen* *gets ready to welcome congregants for Sunday morning service* *© Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

I find myself at the Zuiden Kerk (church) – magnificent yet simple and unpretentious, awesome yet approachable; ancient yet modern, the painted wooden ceiling shaped like the upside down bottom of a boat. It is Sunday morning and people are gathering for service as the organmeister plays Pacobel.

Plan to spend at least 3 hours at the Zuiderzee Museum, an open-air living history museum village in Enkhuizen that re-creates daily life around the Zuiderzee before the sea was turned into a lake © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

*The Zuiderzee Museum, an open-air living history museum village in Enkhuizen, re-creates daily life around the Zuiderzee © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

I find my way to the Zuiderzee Museum, an open-air living history museum village that re-creates daily life around the Zuiderzee before the sea was turned into a lake (the Ijsselmeer where we have just sailed) – when the dam was built in 1932. You stroll the cobble streets and explore 140 historic buildings collected from the former Zuiderzee region.

*The baker is open for business at the living history Zuiderzee Museum in Enkhuizen© Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*Visit the apothecary at the living history Zuiderzee Museum in Enkhuizen© Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

The outdoor museum was opened by Queen Beatrix in 1983 as an extension of the indoor Zuiderzeemuseum, which opened in 1950 (the indoor museum doesn’t open until noon so I have to miss it). Most of the buildings are authentic while others are reconstructed replicas of actual buildings. A complete village, you can wander around and visit a windmill, lime kilns, fish-smoking house, steam laundry, drugstore, pharmacy, basketmaker, blacksmith, cheese warehouse, school (where wooden shoes are lined up outside the classroom), even a hairdresser, and visit the working post office. The harbor is a replica of its layout on Marken. From April to November you can see life in the village of Urk as it was in 1905, meet residents and watch traditional activities, like games and building clog boats, and demonstrations of crafts such as rope-making, cooperage, basket making and herring being smoked.

*The Indoor Museum is “a treasure house of the Zuiderzee” © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

The Indoor Museum, “a treasure house of the Zuiderzee,” consists of a string of 17th century buildings (original and replicated), some of which were used by the Dutch East India Company. Here, various collections are presented with a modern approach: you can dive into a ‘Sea of Stories’ and experience life on the former Zuiderzee in this interactive exhibition. A popular attraction is the ‘Schepenhal’ (ship’s hall), which allows visitors a close-up view of historic ships. The indoor museum also displays artifacts from the Zuiderzee cultural past, including paintings, furniture and traditional local costumes (‘klederdracht’). (Unfortunately, it opens at noon and I do not have the time to visit.)

*Enjoying a walk-about picturesque, historic Enkhuizen © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Both indoor and outdoor museums have several restaurants located in National Heritage sites, like the Hindeloopen Pub, the Amsterdam House and the Pepper House on the Wierdijk.

Admission is 22E (56E for a family); plan to spend at least 3 hours at the outdoor museum. [Note: if you are extending the boat bike tour with a stay in Amsterdam, you may want to get the Iamsterdam city card (www.iamsterdam.com), which includes admission to the Zuiderzee Museum, https://www.iamsterdam.com/en/whats-on/calendar/museums-and-galleries/museums/zuiderzee-museum]

Zuiderzee Museum, Wierdijk 12-22, 1601 LA Enkhuizen, https://www.zuiderzeemuseum.nl/.

Getting to Enkhuizen

*Enkhuizen is a pleasant hour-long train ride from Amsterdam’s Central Station © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

I am relieved to see how amazingly easy it is to get to/from the embarkation point in Enkhuizen from Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport (especially since I arrived by plane on the same day as the boat departed): just walk down to the train (every 15 minutes) to the Central Station, a quick switch to the train to Enkhuizen (every half hour) for the hour-long, comfortable and scenic ride. The trick is to “check in” with a credit/debit card using the app, or purchase a ticket (14-16E) before you go through to the train by tapping on a pole (a conductor will double check on the train), then when you depart the train, tap it on the pole again, and the correct amount is debited. (If you don’t pre-purchase, the conductor can charge you an extra 50E; I did forget but the conductor was extremely kind in helping me buy the ticket online.) Then it’s just a five minute walk from the train station to the ship. You can purchase tickets in the vending machines at the stations or online on https://www.ns.nl/en/journeyplanner#/. The website can also be used to check the timetable.

Getting back to the airport is equally easy – we are asked to leave the ship by 9:30 am (but I am able to store my luggage there, so I could visit the city until 11).I time my touring to get back to the ship, pick up my stuff to get the 11:39 am train to Central Station in Amsterdam, then a quick switch to the train to Schiphol with more than the three-hours before my flight at 7:05 pm.

*Take the train from Schiphol Airport to Central Station in Amsterdam’s historic center (be sure to buy/download your ticket and tap the yellow pole) © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Boat Bike Tours

This was my second trip with Boat Bike Tours (I had the best time on their Bruges-Amsterdam boat-bike-tour – utter perfection with the biking, the boat, the sights along the way; be sure to plan to spend at least a day in Bruges before the bike tour to appreciate its enchantment).

Boat Bike Tours, which is based in Amsterdam, got its start when Channel Cruises Holland, a barge tour operator founded in 1977, added biking to its itineraries in response to guests asking for traditional Dutch activities. The new cruise-and-cycle concept was so successful that it was spun off as its own brand in the mid-1990s. Between 2000 and 2020, the company added more itineraries and ships. Last year, Boat Bike Tours merged with Islandhopping, a Croatia-based operator which also specializes in cruise-and-cycle travel (I loved the boat-bike trip in Greece that I took with Islandhopping some years ago). Together, the merged company, while operating under their own names, offers more than 70 itineraries in 15 countries, and has opened a North American sales office in Fairfield, Connecticut.

“With half of our guests coming from North America now, it makes sense to have an office here,” said Jana Tvedt, Director of Sales, North America for Boat Bike Tours. “We’re available when needed and familiar with what Americans and Canadians are looking for in destinations, experiences and ships. And we’re always happy to work with travel advisors, groups and charters.”

Each season, the company contracts some 50 ships including barges, motor yachts and sailing ships, ranging in category from comfortable to superior. Biking styles include guided for casual riders and independent (self-guided) for seasoned cyclists, with touring bikes, e-bikes and mountain bikes available depending on the destination.

Itineraries range from five to 15 days, with most being eight days, and cater to a variety of budgets and interests, from historic cities and landmarks to picturesque natural landscapes and the world’s best wines. The Boat Bike Tours concept is to enable guests to connect with local people, culture and nature, while traveling by smaller boat and by bike also takes guests beyond tourist hotspots and minimizes environmental impacts. (Our sailing ship, Leafde fan Fryslân, uses biodiesel.)

Boat Bike Tours will be offering a deluxe itinerary on a newly built ship for 2026, Magnifique X, that includes a hotel stay in Amsterdam and a hotel stay in Paris © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The big news is that Boat Bike Tours will be offering a newly built ship for 2026, Magnifique X, an all-suite ship accommodating 32 passengers, giving the company a new deluxe, superior category. In addition to the bigger cabin, the itinerary is also enhanced with upgraded amenities, support van, included lunches, and more sightseeing inclusions. The itinerary goes from Amsterdam to Paris with one night hotel stay in Amsterdam, then biking to Bruges, then a motorcoach transfer to Paris where there is a hotel stay. (Bookings are open.)

Among its most popular itineraries for North American travelers:

*Come at least the day before starting out on Boat Bike Tours’ Bruges to Amsterdam trip to be enchanted by Bruges at night © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Amsterdam to Bruges: Cruise and ride through the Dutch countryside of Zeeland and western Flanders in Belgium. Tour world-famous cities such as Amsterdam, Antwerp, Ghent and Bruges, as well as picturesque villages, a Dutch cheese farm, the windmills of Kinderdijk and the magnificent natural landscape along the Schelde River.

Split to Dubrovnik: Hop from island to island in the South Dalmatia region of Croatia by boat and e-bike. See the town centers of Split and Dubrovnik, and experience the culture and nature of more sparsely populated islands like Brač, Hvar, Korčula, Lastovo, Mljet and Šipan. E-bikes help with hilly and mountainous terrain.

Cochem to Metz: Follow the Moselle River through Germany, France and Luxembourg, passing endless vineyards and stopping to taste local wines. See enchanting old cities like Cochem and Bernkastel, the once-imperial Roman Trier, the stunning waterfalls of Saarburg, the Gothic cathedral of Metz and welcoming villages in between.

The merger of the Boat Bike Tours and Islandhopping means that clients of either one can take advantage of a 3% loyalty discount when booking. Notably, bike tours prove superb for the burgeoning number of solo travelers, and each departure offers at least one cabin with a reduced single supplement.

For more information, contact Boat Bike Tours, 203-814-1249 or visit https://www.boatbiketours.com/.

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Biking Tours, Cultural travel, European travel, Historic Places, International Travel, Museums and Exhibits, Places of History

Boat Bike Tours’ Netherlands Islandhopping: Exploring the Solar System through an 18th Century Lens

July 23, 2025 krubin723

The marvelous Eise Eisinga Planetarium, the world’s oldest continuously operating planetarium in the world, dating from 1781, in Franeker visited on Day 6 of Boat Bike Tours’ eight-day Islandhopping tour of northern Netherlands. © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

Day 6 on Boat Bike Tours’ eight-day Islandhopping tour of northern Netherlands is a case when the hype doesn’t even begin to match the reality of the experience. Today’s ride will take us either 29 or 36 miles (depending on our choice of short or long routes) from Harlingen to Franeker, through the Frisian countryside and rural villages to Bolsward and into Makkum on the eastern bank of lake Ijsselmeer. Boat Bike Tours doesn’t just curate the cycling routes, they also curate experiences. In this case, our bike tour turns into an exploration of the solar system through an 18^th century lens.

The marvelous Eise Eisinga Planetarium, the world’s oldest continuously operating planetarium in the world, dating from 1781, in Franeker, was built by the amateur astronomer in his house, now a UNESCO World Heritage site © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

We set out biking first to the historic center of Franeker to visit the Koninklijk Eise Eisinga Planetarium (Royal Eise Eisinga Planetarium) – the oldest continuously operating planetarium in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage site. I had never heard of Eise Eisinga or his planetarium, but am instantly amazed.

*Eise Eisinga was a wool-comber and largely self-taught scientist and astronomer who spent seven years, from 1774 to 1781, crafting his planetarium in his house © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Eise Eisinga was a wool-comber and largely self-taught scientist and astronomer who spent seven years, from 1774 to 1781, building a remarkable planetarium in his house! – in his living room/bedroom/dining room to be precise. We see the cupboard where he would have slept with his wife under the mechanism, the pull-out trundle bed where his children would have slept, the dining table. Above, on the ceiling, we see where he constructed a solar system where the six known planets in exact scale follow their rotation around the sun with remarkable precision even by today’s standards, using today’s instruments. The fact that the mechanism is still in working order is evidence of the ingenuity and foresight of its maker, who left detailed instructions for its maintenance.

*See exhibits of early astronomical devices at the Eise Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

While waiting for the English-language presentation, we visit the fascinating exhibits that take up the rest of his home, starting with a delightful video interview between “Eise Eisinga” and an actual Dutch astronaut and another superb video about Eisinga’s life.

When I learn about Eise Eisinga’s biography, I am awed by his genius, bringing to my mind Leonardo DaVinci.

Eise Eisinga was born in 1744 in Dronrijp where he attended primary school. Like many children in those days who worked at home, he worked in his father’s wool combing establishment. In addition to his father’s profession, he inherited his father’s interest in astronomy and mathematics. Eise was so determined to learn that he would travel every week to Franeker, a major center of learning, to study Euclidean math with Willem Wijtses, a wool dyer. When he was 24, Eisinga married Pietje Jacobs and settled in Franeker in 1768, working as a wool comber.

On May 8, 1774,a local newspaper published a prediction from a preacher that the confluence of Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter and the moon would result in the mutual forces of these celestial bodies knocking the earth off its path and cause it to be burned up by the sun (“the end of time!”). That set off a panic and seems to have been an impetus for Eisinga to begin building his model of the solar system to show the extreme unlikelihood of planets colliding.

*The fascinating planetarium that Eise Eisinga built in his bedroom/dining room © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

It took Eisinga seven years to construct his planetarium – a real triumph of craftsmanship to carve the wood (his father, a woodcarver, helped), create 6,000 precision nails for the cogs, and the exquisite painting. Eise would have finished sooner, but in a critical development, he had to adjust the placement of the pendulum that kept everything in motion, because his wife drew the line on allowing him to cut a hole in the floor (it was their bedroom, after all), so he had to recalculate everything and replace all 6,000 nails.

The power (and motion) for the entire mechanism comes from a clock, “like the beating heart of the machine,” our guide explains. The mechanism is powered by a system of nine weights – one for clock and 8 for different axels of system

All is built to scale to fit into the space – an astonishing 1 to 1 trillion – and everything is turning so slowly, you can’t detect motion visually. Every planet has its own calculated speed, so Mercury takes 88 days to make one full rotation; Venus takes 224 days; Earth takes 365 days plus 76 hours while the moon takes 29 ½ days to go around the earth (it shows the phases of the moon); Mars takes 687 days; Jupiter, with four moons (the number known at the time), takes 11 years, 315 ⅓ days for its rotation; and Saturn, the furthest known planet at the time, actually has rings and 5 moons and takes 29 years plus 164 days for its rotation.

How do they know the planetarium is still working when everything moves so slowly?

“Everything is connected, so we check what moves daily: the date, zodiac sign, day of week.” On December 31, a special nail pushes the gears into motion to flip to the new year.

Eise Eisinga was such a visionary, two years after finishing his remarkable machine, he wrote a 90-page manual explaining how to maintain it.

“Every 22 years, we follow 5 steps – take board down, sand down, paint the years, let the paint dry, then replace it in the attic,” our guide says. The wheels are so big and move so slowly, they clean the gears once or twice a year.

Eisinga’s son took over when he died, and the planetarium remained in the family for 140 years until 1922 when his great granddaughter was the last in the family to maintain the planetarium. Then the City of Franeker took over its management.

Most of the mechanism is original (Mercury had to be replaced after being damaged in World War II) but they have had to change the ropes for the gears and pulleys.

After the presentation, we are able to climb the stairs to the attic to peer into where the wheels and gears are laid out.

*We are able to climb up to the attic to see the gears that run Eise Eisinga’s fascinating planetarium © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Eisinga came to Franeker with his wife because it had the second largest university in the country and was a center for learning that drew famous scientists. But you can appreciate how trade with the world not only gave Netherlands the wealth to pursue science and innovation, but the access to and transfer of knowledge, not to mention a culture of Enlightenment that was open to new ideas and discovery. And Eise Eisinga was wealthy enough that he could afford to make natural science a hobby.

It is a humbling experience to imagine such expertise and craft hundreds of years ago, before the tools and instruments we have today.

The museum offers several permanent exhibits: Eisinga’s former wool combing establishment, an extensive collection of historical astronomical instruments, Eisinga’s mathematical and astronomical manuscripts which you can digitally peruse, all marvelous juxtapositions to an interactive permanent exhibition, De Ruimte (Space) that opened in 2016, as well as that delightful video conversation between “Eise” and a modern-day Dutch astronaut (English subtitles).

*Some of Eise Eisinga’s manuscripts are on view at the Eise Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

I peek into a room to see the finishing touches on a new temporary exhibit: a spectacular astronomical cabinet from 1771 by Jean Paulus and Prof. Ghiesbregt. “After long wanderings, this Belgian instrument came into possession of Bert Degenaar, a famous Dutch antique collector. On his behalf, the instruments were completely restored and made functional again by horologist Pieter de Ruiter. The 3 meter wide and over 2.5 meter high cabinet is equipped with various globes, planetariums (including an unprecedented representation of the 5th-century worldview of Martianus Capella) and the 16th-century heliocentric worldview of Copernicus. A number of dials provide information about various time indications, calendars, the position of the planets, the phases of the moon, and the orbit of Jupiter’s four largest moons.” The exposition also includes a large collection of original drawings of the various instruments.

*Finishing setting up the new temporary exhibit at* *the Eise Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker*: *a spectacular astronomical cabinet from 1771 by Jean Paulus and Prof. Ghiesbregt* *© Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

All of this goes to serve as a literal display of what The Enlightenment was all about, which largely due to mass printing and trade, made its way to the New World, as well, and was foundational to the Founders of the United States.

Admission to Eise Eisinga’s planetarium is 6E (a HUGE bargain).

Eise Eisingastraat 3, 8801 KE Franeker, phone +31 (0) 517–393 070, info@eisinga-planetarium.nl, https://www.eisinga-planetarium.nl/en/plan-your-visit/, https://www.eisinga-planetarium.nl/en/the-planetarium/

Thankfully, we have enough time to appreciate what’s here at the planetarium (this is important), though I could easily have spent another hour.

*The scene along our bike route from Franeker to Makkum on our Boat Bike Tours’ Netherlands Islandhopping tour © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

We continue on our 36-mile bike route which follows much of the a famous 11-city, 200-km bike tour, and in the course of two days, we will visit six of the 11 and have the opportunity to collect stamps (like passport stamps) on postcards our guides have provided.

By the time we ride into Bolsward, one of the Eleven Frisian Cities, the rain has stopped. Here we see one of the art installations we have been told about – this one looks like Toothless from “How to Train Your Dragon.”.

*The magnificently decorated Court of Justice Building in Bolsward © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Bolsward is really beautiful, and I am entranced by the magnificence of The Court of Justice building, now a museum, where I get to climb into the tower built on top of the Court in 1617 (a really improbable and unsafe construction).

*You can climb into the tower of the Court of Justice Building in Bolsward © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

But this is the first day when I see why people would get an e-bike in the Netherlands – I’m guessing I am pushing through or against 15 mph winds.

In the evening, our guide, Edith, leads a walking tour of Makkum– it’s just me and a couple from Alberta, Canada. Edith points to homes that have a Coat of Arms or some indication of who lived there, when the fellow shows us his ring with a Coat of Arms. He turns out to be a descendent of the Trip family, one of the wealthiest, most powerful families in Netherlands.

He relates more of his family’s fascinating story as we sit in a historic pub with centuries old Delpht tiles of great 17^th century trading ships, noting more than once than the family fortune had been long gone and his branch of the family emigrated to Canada. It’s like having someone from that time tell their story.

*Trip shows me his coat of arms as we walk around Makkum, and tells the story of his family, one of the richest and most powerful in Netherlands © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Trip’s family’s coat of arms, he relates, has three zoltbommel (wooden shoes) – a nod to the fact that the family started by manufacturing wooden shoes.

Then, brothers Jacob and Elias Trip went into river barges, got rich, then expanded into sea trade. They had a connection with an iron factory which they parlayed into weapons manufacture, arming the Dutch rebels against the Spanish in its 80-year war for independence, 1568-1648 (apparently selling arms to both sides).

*Tiles in a historic pub depict trading ships very likely belonging to the Dutch East India Company© Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Trip was among the original investors of the Dutch East India Company (Verenigde Oost-indische Compagnie, VOC), in 1602, the first public company to issue stock and the first truly multinational corporation, transforming global commerce and trade (at its peak, the company would have been worth $7 trillion in today’s dollars, the most valuable company in history). The VOC was granted a monopoly on Dutch trade with Asia and also possessed the power to wage war, make treaties, govern territories, and even mint its own currency, as if a nation-state. So much of what we experience on our trip goes back to the Dutch East India Company.

Meanwhile, the Trips became one of the richest and most important families in Netherlands. Portraits painted by Rembrandt of his relatives Jacob Trip (1576-1661) and his wife, Margaretha de Geer, are in the National Gallery and Ryksmuseum. Their sons, Louis and Hendrick Trip, became fabulously wealthy arms merchants, and built the Trippenhuis in 1662 once the widest residence in Amsterdam and on the list of top 100 Dutch heritage sites.

Edith adds that the Netherlands was one of the first republics in the world and makes the claim that its declaration of independence in 1581, provided a model for Thomas Jefferson in 1776, and was printed on paper from a Dutch paper mill.

“We are now a kingdom, but we started as a republic. Our constitution limits the power of king, our monarchy is more about public relations, like the United Kingdom.”

The first king of the Netherlands, Napoleon’s brother Louis who reigned from 1806-1810, started an art collection, which he brought to TrippenHuis – in essence the first Ryksmuseum. Trippenhuis was where Rembrandt’s “Night Watch: hung until 1851 and since 1887, has housed the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.

*Returning to our ship, Leafde fan Fryslân, after our walking tour of Makkum as the sun sets © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Biking Makkum to Stavoren, Sailing to Enkhuizen

Day 7’s ride takes us from Makkum to Stavoren, from where our ship, Leafde fan Fryslân, will sail across lake IJsselmeer to Enkhuizen, the endpoint of our trip. There is a prediction of rain today and strong wind, so the guides suggest I do the shorter ride (19 miles) and promise I won’t miss out on anything I will regret (the longer route, 30 miles, goes along several Frisian Lakes).

*Coming upon a historic windmill, De Nylannermole, which the sign says dates from 1784, with a modern wind turbine in the distance,on our ride Makkum to Stavoren on Boat Bike Tours* *Netherlands Islandhopping tour © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Among the highlights of the ride are coming across a house deliberately built in an upside-down version of a traditional Frisian home (a bit surreal and you have to wonder), and a historic windmill, De Nylannermole, which the sign says dates from 1784, though its history goes back to 1624 (I’m trying to figure out the Dutch). At one point, I see the windmill with a wind turbine in the distance behind it, and later, we see windsurfers and sailboats – all reflections of how the Dutch have embraced wind.

*The charming old city of Hindeloopen is a popular hub for cyclists © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

We stop for lunch in a tiny little village as rain comes (we sit under umbrellas outside), and then continue on to Hindeloopen (where we should have cycled for lunch), an old trading town famous for a traditional decorative painting style. Hindeloopen seems to be the epicenter for cycling.

This is a very charming village, where I go to explore and find the Grotte Kerk, dating back to the Middle Ages. This building dates from 1632.

*One image shows the importance of wind in the Netherlands: sailing ships, wind turbines, wind surfing © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

As we finish our bike tour, we come across (actually riding through) a major, 150 km, bike race.

*Riding through a 150 km cycling race on our way to Stavoren (a humbling experience) © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

I finish the ride 1:15 pm, hoping I made the right choice in biking the shorter route, and have some time to explore Stavoren before we sail.

There is yet another one of the art installations (this one a giant fish), but I am particularly intrigued by the sculpture of “The Lady of Stavoren” here, and the moral to the story it offers.

“The Lady of Stavoren” legend dates from when the city was the largest and richest in Friesland. Many of the merchant ships were owned the Lady of Stavoren who ordered one of her captains to “Bring me the finest treasure in the world.” He brought back a grain that transformed into pure gold in the midday sun. She forced him to throw it into the sea. A fisherman foretold that she would be punished and at some point beg for grain. Later, two of her ships were lost at sea and she became a beggar woman, while the place where the grain was tossed turned into a sandbank, where a plant that grew ears of corn grew up but yielded no grain.

“The Lady of Stavoren” statue pays homage to a legend that dates from when the city was the largest and richest in Friesland. *© Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

We have an enjoyable sail back to Enkhuizen, a gala farewell dinner, and then I go off to explore the historic town, which is really worth more time than I will have before I have to return to Schiphol Airport early the next day. (Suggestion: arrive the day before the ship sails to give yourself some time to enjoy Enkhuizen.)

More information, Boat Bike Tours, www.boatbiketours.com, 203-814-249.

Next: Zuiderzee Museum is Not to be Missed in Enkhuizen

BOATBIKETOURS’ NETHERLANDS ISLANDHOPPING: THE TEXEL ROADS YIELDS UP ITS TREASURE

BOAT BIKE TOURS NETHERLANDS ISLANDHOPPING: SAILING THE WADDEN SEA, BIKING, EXPLORING TERSCHELLING, HARLINGEN

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