North Vietnam

Hanoi

I arrived in Vietnam in time to catch the tail end of the most recent Typhoon! Basically a lot of rain, nothing too serious but enough to keep you off the streets. I went and found a hotel to hide in and luckily the rain was about to end.

The traffic in Hanoi is about 99.9% motorbikes and their horn is the most commonly used form of defensive driving. Crossing the road is certainly the one of the first challenges that anyone new to vietnam experiences. Basically just start walking and the traffic moves around you (or at least that's the plan and it hasn't gone wrong yet. I have however seen one spectacular bike crash on the open road. A guy somehow fliped and rolled his bike while travelling along at around 70km/h. He seemed OK as he got up and went to pick up his bike. The live two pigs which were tied to either side of the back of the bike did not look too happy though.

The morning saw the rain beginning to clear so I was off again. As it turned out when I went to book a tour to Halong Bay they were just about to leave so I was back on the bus and out of Hanoi before i'd even begun.

Halong Bay

My Halong bay tour consisted of three days of cruising with one night in a boat and one night on the shore with a little kayaking thrown in the mix. Halong Bay was absolutely stunning. The limestone Islands climb out of the water everywhere with their vertical walls and an undercut around the tide mark everywhere where the sea has eaten away the rock. The water is always flat calm as there is no wind and even if there was the whole area would be completely sheltered by the islands. The area reminds me of Milford Sounds and the Bay of Islands all rolled into one. This place would be a wakeboarders heaven if you could travel faster than about 10knots.

We went to a large limestone cave in one of the islands that dwarfed anything I'd seen in NZ. It was pretty spectacular if not a little disappointing to see the comercialisation of some a beautiful area. Power points were cemented into the rock and used to make staircases while multicoloured lights lit the wall with patterns to give the impression of moving water.

The kayaking was very relaxing, exploring the little outcrops and caves that are everywhere in this area. In one area we paddelled through a cave that must have been about 100m long and only 2m high to find our way to a stunning private lagoon(with only that one entrance).

After a bit of cruising and a bit of paddling it was a pleasure to swim off the boat with the water so warm that you could stay in all day. Our boat had a bit of a diving competition from the boat roof with another boat moored across the bay. We eventually won with a pair of synchronised backflips off the roof of the boat.

The meals were also superb. All in all a very relaxing time to contrast with the hustle and bustle of Hanoi (Ho Chi Min is going to be something else!!)

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