Hanoi and Halong Bay

Hanoi and Halong Bay

The city of Hanoi is the central hub for all things worthy of sightseeing in northern Vietnam, with a population of 3.5 million. We were there one night before going on a 2 nigt 3 day cruise to Halong Bay. Then I was there a few days afterwards while waiting for my India Visa.

Arriving on the overnight bus with Nate, we traipsed around with Adam and Catherine (2 people he had previously travelled with who happened to be on our bus) to find a hotel but they're not going cheap in this place! Found one eventually and I rushed out to sort my visa for India. Dissapointingly, because of a public holiday I will not be able to spend the 4 or 5 days in Sapa that I intended to as otherwise I cannot collect my passport and visa before I fly to Kuala Lumpa. Hanoi is as crazy as Ho Chi Min with loads of motorbikes but it also has character, especially in the old quarter where each road seems to be dedicated to a different item!

In the afternoon after some internet stuff we got a cylco to see the lake but to be honest I was feeling very tired after the overnight bus ride and it wasn't all that. In the evening I saw my friends breifly at Hello Vietnam which seems to be the cheapest place to stay, and looked around at some places to book our trip to Sapa. My card wasn't working which threw a spanner in the works but paid the 3 mil using Nates cash just before the travel office closed. I'm looking forward to Halong Bay but feel very sad that afterwards me and Nate will go our seperate ways. Probably the reason for my black mood.

Halong Bay Day 1

The natural wonder of Halong Bay consists of 3000 'islands' or limescale cliffs rising from the gulf of Tonskin, and is a Unesco World Heritage sight. Nathan and I went on an organised trip for 86 USD for 2 nights and 3 days consisting of a cruise, visit to awesome caves and grottos, kayaking, visit to Cat Ba Island, and an overnighter to the secluded 'Monkey Island'. Oh and some karaoke, pirates and apparitions thrown in as an added extra...

We set off early on a 3 1/2 hour bus ride, stopping at the obligatory arty type expensive places where backpackers never make any purchases anyway! We were trying to slyly find out what others had paid for the same trip because I was worried that going slightly upmarket may not actually benefit us in any way. But we were pleasantly surpised by the boat - it was cute, clean, had a deck with sunloungers and mine and nates room shared our own little balcony out the back. The food was really great too, the first evening we enjoyed seafood and for a backpacker the whole situation felt uncommonly classy! The weather was not clear, it has defintely turned the last few weeks, but it made the rock formations look mysterious protruding through the mist. There were seemingly endless rock formations - I knew Halong bay had a reputation for a reason but this surpassed my expectations. I was really excited to be on such a nice boat feeling like a holiday maker and not a skanky backpacker! We had craftily smuggled on some vodka and coke too expecting expensive prices on board - which we were absolutely right about - but they wanted 5 dollars for every bottle you brought on! So like naughty teenagers we bought a can of coke and then kept going back to the room to refill with our own supplies! The whole evening was a blast. We met this guy called Leighton from San Fransisco who I knew would be interesting the instant I saw him - he was obviously an individual by the way he dressed and I guessed creative. He kicked off the karaoke (he said he used to work in entertainment) and to be honest it could have remained a one man show! He was absolutely hilarious and he really made the evening as others either took a while to warm up or remained a bit shy and wouldnt do the karake or anything. We nick named him Mr President after he won the card game we played in a half drunk state, and henceforth the remainder of the evening centred around parliment and, pirates?! Dont ask, but there were a lot of 'Arg's' floating around! I cant remember how many times I sang on the Karaoke - there was a small crowd of us that were up for it - including suprisingly Nate who did it for the first time ever, a grand total of 3 songs including a duet with me. Aw. He looked so sweet.

Earlier in the day we had sailed around and visited caves which were absolutely spectacular and like something out of 'Lord of the Rings.' It was wonderful to be reunited with the Cannon 450D of Nates and once again I was snap happy. We also stopped to do some kayaking which was reminiscent of Vang Vieng.

What a fantastic day.

Halong Bay day 2

We had a gorgeous breakfast and made our way to Cat Ba Island for lunch where we said goodbye to the rest of the boat and proceeded to Monkey Island - a resort with only us two and 3 girls. It was a completely secluded romantic spot but I think any more than a day and I would have gone stir crazy as there was nothing much to do although the sun did come out for an hour or so which we grabbed for some sunbathing. We had the bar to ourselves the 5 of us, and just chilled eating and playing a bit of pool. The bed was the absolute comfiest I had slept in in the whole 3 months of my travels in a really cute bungalow, and I was gutted to have to get up at 7am to have breakfast before being picked up by the boat at 8. On the way back we passed floating houses and fishing villages and also the famous 2 chicken rocks kissing! I was a bit chilly though and raining on and off so I didnt make the most of the gorgeous views having to keep warming up inside, but its a trip I wont forget in a hurry.

Looking at the photos from the caves, there were several that had very eiree phenomenon which Nate was convinced was a pirate, I thought was Jesus, and others thought ranged from the devil to goblins and mythological figues. It really was very strange though, because it certainly wasnt there when we took the photos and the same impression appeared in about 8 different photos taken at different times from different angles and by both me and Nate. It totally spun out Nates ultra practical and scientific mind!

Hanoi

Arriving back or from Halong Bay, (in the rain!) we had to find another hotel because the place we had left our bags was full. Could have been worse though, as we ended up next door for 8 USD. I did a quick turn around and then went to meet my friends at 'Hello Vietnam' to go on to the evening part of the festival together. Austin and I went on ahead because the others wanted to eat first. All I can say is I had a wicked evening seeing my friends again (Elli, Sam and Rory who I had last seen in Hoi An, and Austin, and Tom, and Laura and Mei. We had all had a good night out together in HoI An too when dancing on the pool tables!) I must have drunk more vodka and coke than I realised, because at some point I lost track of my camera (did I put it down when I paid for a yummy hot-dog?) or did someone lift it out of my bag?! Either way, over the next couple of days I wrote emails and visited 'The American Club' part of another frustrating couple of days in Hanoi because I couldn't leave for Sapa before getting my India visa and also wanted to hang about in case my camera got handed in and didn't want to go to Sapa without photo taking facilities after I had so been looking forward to it! - but the flip side was I got to spend a bit more time with Nate. One night we went out to the puppet theatre by the lake, and another went out for a nice meal (spaghetti cabomara - yum yum!) and then to the evasive jazz cafe which had a good repuation and was great except for the price of the drinks. I ordered a B52 because it had Baileys in to be dismayed at it arriving as a shot!

I also rushed around trying to find a new camera after mine went walkies the other night. I found a couple of shops that seemed significantly cheaper and to cut a long story short I ended up buying a Sony W300 which had been recommended to me and I found for 225 pounds when it was 369 on the sony website. I wanted to get something like Nates Cannon 450 which I have become very attached to over the past few weeks, but it would have meant also buying a digital as I always need to have a camera on me and the big ones are just too heavy and bulky for outing non photograph specific. I'm really getting stung though in thE currency - they only often let you draw out 2 mil or less (112 ish pounds) from the ATMs and charge each time. Then as the price of the camera was quoted in dollars, the shops exchange rate into dong also stung because what was good for them wasnt good for me! But sometimes theres no way oif getting roung these things.

I think generally it was a bit of a sad time for me too, my group of friends were dispersing who I really liked and had some really fun times with all the way up Vietnam, and I knew me and Nate would be going our seperate ways too. Any small sense of security was vanishing and as always I approach the next phrase with trepidation even though I know I'll be fine when I get into the swing of being by myself again.

A couple of the days I had walked around Hanoi but on the last day (the day Nate left sob sob) I got a cycle bike which was, er, interesting! I thought motorbiking in these places was mental enough but at least on those you had a horn (which by the way you use frequently!) I got completely lost at one point and basically its not just as easy as asking for directions the average person can't speak english or read maps!!

I also booked my trip to Sapa which as was so last minute (I couldnt book it until i physically had my visa and passport in my hand as there was no time to collect before my flight due to a public holiday) I was told I didnrt have a sleeper on the 10 hour overnight train journey on the way home. Joy to the world.

I settled up with the hotel (we spent another frustrating hour finding a 3rd hotel as the one we went to last nght was full) and waited to be picked up for Sapa. I would liked to have spent 4 or 5 days there but it wasnt to be. Hey, Im going to India, you cant have everything in life...