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Published: August 6th 2007
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We spent our last month travelling in the North of Vietnam. Vietnam is a county full of contrasts and extremes, some days we loved it, some days we hated it. Vietnam is probably the nosiest, dirtiest and most frustrating country ive ever travelled in but it is also one of the most beautiful and friendly places ive been to.
The accommodation in Vietnam is luxury in contrast to Thailand or Lao, we spent most of our time in hotels rather than the bamboo bungalows we had been used to. Although the hotels lacked character we did enjoy a few luxuries like hot water, air con, bath tubs and satellite TV!
Hanoi Hanoi is an eclectic mix of old and new Vietnam. You can still see glimpses of traditional life in the ancient, narrow streets of the old quarter but the streets are jam packed with motorbikes and people talking on mobile phones. Hanoi is busy and noisy all day everyday; we tried to escape it but the only quiet pace we could find was our hotel room! Motorbike drivers keep their hand pressed on the horn as they drive through the city and when there are 3
million motorbikes driving through a relatively small area it gets seriously noisy.
We spent our days in Hanoi walking through the streets of the old quarter, drinking coffee in the many cafes, drinking the world’s cheapest beer ‘Bia Hoi’ (about 6p a glass) and eating Vietnamese street food.
Halong Bay A Unesco World Heritage Site, Halong Bay is one of the natural wonders of Vietnam. There are over 3000 amazing limestone islands rising from the emerald green waters of the sea.
We spent 3 days cruising around Halong Bay on a traditional wooden boat, stopping to explore the caves, kayak and dive off the boat. We spent 1 night sleeping in a cabin on the boat and 1 night in a hotel on a nearby island. The scenery was breathtaking especially sitting on the boat in the evening watching the sun set between the limestone formations. We also visted Monkey Island, where we relaxed on a beautiful white sand beach.
Sapa I think we might have found our next English teaching location in Sapa! The small town is situated high in the mountains in northern Vietnam close to the border with China.
The villages dotted amongst the surrounding mountain ranges and beautiful bright green terraced rice fields are home to many semi-nomadic hill tribes who still live traditional ways of life - the views are breathtaking.
We arrived at 6am after an overnight train from Hanoi and were greeted by rain, dense fog and cold - we weren’t prepared for the chilly climate - I didn’t even have a pair of trousers (pants for you Aussie readers!). That morning we set off in the rain on a 3 day trek, fortunately within an hour or so the rain and fog cleared and we had sunshine and clear skies for the rest of the trek.
The first day of the trek was with a group of 6 people and a guide - the other people in the group were good fun but really really slow, we didn’t mind waiting for them though as the views all around were stunning. After a pretty easy days walking we arrived at the first nights ‘home-stay’, unfortunately it was more like a hotel than a home-stay, it even had a bar! We were disappointed as we had been hoping for more authentic accommodation. The 2nd
days walking was more challenging as we trekked through the mountains. After lunch the rest of the group went back to Sapa and we continued with the guide for another night. We spent the 2nd night in a traditional home in a less touristy village. In the village was a natual hot spring which we spent a couple of hours relaxing in. The next day we had a quick swim by a waterfall and then set off back for Sapa.
During the walk we met lots of people from the different hill tribes, most of who were trying to sell us handicrafts - after a while it gets annoying as they don’t go away when you say no. We did buy some small gifts from some children who walked with us for the whole of the first day and gave us a really good insight in to their daily lives (their English was great). Although the trek was much easier and more touristy than we had hoped for it was still a real highlight of the trip and it was great to learn how the hill tribe people live.
We decided to stay in Sapa town for another
3 nights and found a hotel with a breathtaking view of the valley below - we just lazed around for a couple of days enjoying the views. One afternoon we hired a motorbike and drove to a local hill tribe village where a couple of teenagers took us around and showed us their family home and told us about their traditional lifestyles - Lara even dressed up in traditional costume!
Sapa is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen and I hope the increasing level of tourism doesn’t affect the authenticity or the beauty of the area, I think we’ll be back one day.
Ninh Binh The town itself is nothing to write home about but the surrounding countryside made it a good base. Tam Coc was the main reason we visited, it was a surreal place - a bit like Halong bay in the rice fields. We were rowed through lush bright green rice fields, around amazing rock formations that rise out of the rice fields. It was almost as beautiful as Halong bay and very tranquil. After our boat ride we got on a motorbike ride and cruised through the surrounding
countryside, we got lost quite a bit but the views were great and the roads great fun to drive on (Lara didn’t think so as she had to get off and walk through the mud a couple of times!).
Cuc Phong National Park Another motorbike journey! Cuc Phong is a national park about 65kms away from Ninh Binh. Most of the journey was along scary, busy roads where you have to dodge crazy drivers - sometimes I just closed my eyes and hoped for the best (don’t tell Lara though!) but as we got closer to the park the roads got smaller and quieter and the surrounding countryside more and more impressive. We started off with a quick tour around an endangered primate rescue centre where they look after and breed monkeys and gibbons that have been rescued from hunters who sell the animals to be used in traditional Chinese medicine. From here we had a 30km drive through the national park to our accommodation for the night. It was so nice to drive on a road with very little traffic and no incessant beeping of motorbikes - bliss! We arrived at our 'pad' for the night
by late afternoon, it was a basic room in a wooden pillar house - exactly what we had been looking for, an escape from the noise of Ninh Binh and Vietnam in general. The following day we got up early for a walk through the forest before bus loads of Vietnamese students ruined the peace and quiet and then headed back on the motorbike to the noise and traffic of Ninh Binh.
Cat Ba Island We wanted to end our trip chilling out on a beach and Cat Ba Island worked out to be the perfect place to do it. We had visited Cat Ba on our cruise around Halong Bay but had only seen the Harbour area, we had heard the beaches were pretty good so decided to check them out. We found a room in a hotel overlooking the harbour - it cost $10 but worth $50! The room had a balcony overlooking a beautiful harbour where we could watch the sunset over the mountains. The beaches were a 5 minute walk around the headland and we spent our days lazing in the sand and swimming in the warm sea - a perfect end to
a great trip.
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