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Published: October 21st 2006
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Breakfast in the hotel is a buffet but was a good, but slightly odd selection - nice to have fresh fruit again though!. Got a cyclo over to Ho Chi Mins Mausoleum; the driver asked us if we were on honeymoon?. Not sure how Beckie managed to plant these people along the way so far in advance!. Could not get in to see Uncle Ho but went to the one pillar pagoda, the Presidential palace and then Ho's museum (he seemed to have loads of psuedonyms and it took a while for us to realise that it was all about the same person - doh!) . Aparently he lived in an electricians house at the palace for a while; maybe someone should have a chat with Tony Blair - see if he is willing to do the same, save the tax payers some expenses. We got a great map from the hotel and it made wandering around on our own nice and easy.
The temple of literature was well preserved and was Hanoi's first university. Lots of stelae (giant stone tortoise with engraved stone tablet on back). Very nice and well preserved place. Taxi over to Hoan Kiem lake and
to the Kangeroo Café for lunch. They also do local tours and it was a recommendation for the Ha Long bay tour, but we decided it was too much cash for what they were offering and we are going to go with ODC travel in our hotel instead.
Everything is bigger, more structured than India/Nepal, the roads seem to be better quality and faster. However Vietnam does not at the moment seem as friendly or funny - we feel the stories are not as interesting! Memories are a strange thing - pain really does lessen with time!. Even the touts here are more civilised - they go away when you say no- we are not used to this. The cyclos here are different as well - the customer is on the front whereas in India you are on the back- bit worried it might make the drivers a little less careful - the customer will get hit first.
After all our sightseeing we went for a drink at the Metropole Hotel. It was really oppulent - one cocktail was more expensive than our room!. It was a beautiful place though and made a pleasant change. On the way
through we stopped outside the Opera house - a huge grand old building and were amazed to see dozens of wedding cars stopping. The bride and groom dashed in with flowers bringing up the rear (presumably for a photo) before zooming off again. Must be a very popular destination. Mum Baker would have liked the wedding cars - they also got decorated with flowers - good for the florists bills!.
Final tourist trap of the day was the water puppet show. It was an amazing set of scenes set in front of a house with the controls for the puppets under water. We did not totally understand what was going on but it was good to see.
Ate dinner at a street vendor near the hotel. They set up an impromptu café on low plastic seats and tables. Food was good and filling and tasty. However we got ripped off by the serving kids. There were no menus - in the end it was only $10 but it was still more than anyone else - resolved to only stop at places with prices in the future.
12th October.
Spent a relatively lazy few hours in the morning
sorting out our intra Vietnam travel. Used ODC travel and they have been really great - seem like a good company and would use them again. After that we just wandered around for a while- think the tourist business and the flights have caught up with us!. Had some Pho (traditional local noodle soup) and then wandered over to one of Hanois old gates. Beckie had a pedicure and got her toes painted in pink with flowers all for £3!. Went to a recommended restaraunt for dinner called Little Hanoi - had a sign outside that it was in all the guide books, so you will know it if you see it!. It was good and cheap but full of westerners. Wandered around the 36 streets where each sells a particular product ie paper/silk etc....
13th October
Up early to get out to Ha Long bay. We decided to do a two day tour as its 3hrs in each direction. We did the tour with ODC travel and after the transfer from Hanoi got aboard their junk for a massive delicious seafood lunch. It was all freshly prepared and really tasty - the squid was brilliant - must have
Wedding Car
(Not ours!) been very fresh; Neither of us had tasted it like that before - normally is a little more tough.
Headed out into the bay after lunch. Its full of huge limestone rock formations about 2000 in total. Stopped off at one with a gigantic cave in the centre; so called 'surprising cave'. It was discovered by a french lady about the turn of the centuary. It was fairly tacky with neon lights, but the rock formations were cool.
Stopped at some fishing nets where the locals had some fresh fish for sale. Some of the tour people chose some - it was battered about the gills to kill it and then transported on board. Now that's fresh! The ships cook then will prepare it for dinner, but if the size of the lunch is anything to go off then they did not really need it. It is very entreprenurial though - even out here. There are touts (in boats) trying to flog you fags and booze - all yelling 'you wan buy sometink'.
Headed over to Titop Island for the last stop of the day for a swim before the sun went down. Water was warm and
cleanish(!) and it was good to finally break out the swimmers. Just relaxed on the top of the boat before dinner. Was the first time in our travels we felt truly relaxed and the first day it felt like a holiday!. Dinner was another huge spread of rice, fish, fresh veg, squid, prawns and spring rolls. Think they are going to have to roll us off the boat. Lots of boats are moored up in the same place but they are far enough away that their lights just sparkle on the water. Bit touristy but still quite cute. The ODC trip has been fine at the end of they day you get what you pay for - but at $39 it is pretty good value for money.
14th October
Had a slightly disturbed nights sleep - it was unbearably hot and the diesel generator was chugging away all night. If this is vietnamese for a romantic night then population control will not be a problem!. We did not get up for sunrise in the end but aparently did not miss much. It was very hazy with the humidity and there was not too much too see. After breakfast we
explored some of the islands by sea kayak and went for a quick swim - good to do something active again. Although the bay is a UNESCO world heritage site, its not that well maintained. The water is fairly grubby and there are lots of things floating around. It seems a shame they are not taking more care of it, but I guess that is more easily said than done - all visitors will want their view to be pristine...
The boat then wound its way slowly back to Halong dock before lunch. We sat on the top deck - but even though it was hazy the sun was really warm and Paul managed to get a bit pink. Need to be a bit more careful!. Took about 3hrs to get back to Hanoi before we jumped in a taxi to get to the airport to make our 7:30 flight to Hue. Bought some green pea sweets from a sweet seller- must be a local aquired taste as they were disgusting!. Flight was good and easy - great way to reclaim some time - no more overnight sleeper trains at the moment- not enough time!.
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