Adventures in Tonkin

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Wow. It has been a while since I wrote on this thing hasn't it? I guess now is the time to give you an update before I venture into the back end of Laos and kiss goodbye to decent internet connections for a while.

What have I done in Hanoi then? Mostly attempt to get out of Hanoi. The city itself is nice enough, with narrow winding streets and a lot of character, but unfortunately me and most of the people I've met have found its reputation for hostility and greed (a reputation I didn't even know about before coming to Vietnam) to be mostly justified. I've met some very nice and helpful people in Hanoi but the prevailing attitude isn't a very welcoming one and too many of its citizens seem to resort to deception and heavy overcharging in order to make money, which is a shame. I've done a few things here though, such as visiting the excellent Museum of Ethnology before going to Sapa and the touristy yet serene Temple of Literature. I think I might try and squeeze in a visit to Uncle Ho in the morning before I leave here.

I took the two main tourist sidetrips out of Hanoi, Halong Bay and Sapa. Firstly, Halong Bay which is a bay (obviously) with massive limestone towers jutting out of the water, meaning unbeatable views and lots of little grottoes and caves. Unfortunately, it is absolutely stuffed with tourist boats which sort of lets all these sorts of things down a bit. I was lucky to find a boat trip that was neither overly expensive nor absolutely terrible, which is apparently very lucky as Halong Bay is a bit of a minefield in that respect. First we went to look at a cave which was absolutely crammed with visitors and decorated with lights and plaster but still very spectacular. We also went to a beach which would also have been nice if it wasn't for the large pile of rubbish floating in the water (yuck) and went exploring in little rubber canoes, which was fun even if we didn't get very far. Then we just slept on the top deck of our boat (despite having cabins downstairs). It was very nice.

I then went back to Hanoi for a day or so before taking the night train to Sapa, a small town high in the hills which, like Dalat, brings a welcome relief from the heat. What it doesn't bring relief from, howver, is hawkers: it is packed full of ethnic minority women flogging handicrafts with the incessant cry of "You buy for me! You buy for me!". This can get a little tiring, as you can imagine, though I managed to befriend a a group of them and they were very nice to me, even buying me some stuff (free bracelet, lunch), which was cool, though I did end up making some purchases. I also had the slightly bizzare experience of a Vietnamese tourist having his photo taken with me and wondering why me in particular since about 30% of the people in Sapa at any one time are white. I also took a walk in the hills and fell spectacularly several times into the mud. It was fun.

Anyway, my Laos visa should be done by this afternoon and I plan to start my journey across tomorrow. I wasn't originally going to go there, but everybody I meet who has been there says it's really good so I've decided to go. I've also changed my plane ticket to skip India and Sri Lanka since my original plan was way too ambitious and I'm going to concentrate on SE Asia now. Turns out travelling takes more time that I thought!

See you later (much later)!

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