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Published: January 10th 2012
Our sleeper bus
3 aisles of sleeper beds but we were on the 5 chairs at the back.Hanoi
Happy New Year everybody!! Well we are now in Hanoi, Vietnam. On the evening of the 26
th we were picked up from our hotel in Vientienne, Laos and taken to the bus terminal ready for our gruelling 24ish hour journey North Easterly direction to the capital city of Hanoi. The bus ticket cost around $35 USD each but was a lot cheaper then flying to we decided to go for it. Once at the station we made sure that our driver waited whilst we checked we were actually getting on a sleeper bus and not a local bus as we had paid extra for this. It all looked fine and after he gave us our packed lunch that was included in the price we waved goodbye and jumped on the bus. The driver soon ushered me off and said wait till 7pm. We had about an hour to go so we just waited outside the bus door so we would not find ourselves at the back of the queue and with ‘rubbish’ seats. More people came and the driver was appearing to allow the locals to board, choose a seat then note it down on a piece of paper.
I asked if we could go onboard to choose a seat but the driver just said no, go away until 7pm (not very friendly) however me being me jumped on board anyway when he was not looking and put our sleeping bags on two of the sleeper beds. Eventually more tourists arrived and they queued up behind us as they too were not allowed to board.
The driver eventually called us on but let the locals and anyone that looked local so a Canadian and a Thai tourist was able to board first before finally we were allowed on. As we got on he said to all of the tourists to head to the back seats. There are 5 seats all together that are in a sleeper position instead of being individual. We kicked up a fuss for a moment but as the bus was full we had no choice so instead head to the back. My sleeping bags were still saving our two seats so I just moved them, anything for an easy life plus we were going to be sitting next to a nice Dutch couple we had been speaking to and another girl from
Switzerland so could of been worse. Journey got on the way and we soon realised we were actually in the better seats. Yes we were all very cosy next to each other but we appeared to have the most leg room as there was nothing obstructing our legs. A poor Indian guy who was 6”4 was all squashed up in his seat, felt sorry for him and thankful that the driver did not listen to my grumbles and give us a seat as Terry would of had a very uncomfortable journey. There was a TV onboard which the driver played Vietnam pop music, again being at the back it was lot quieter. We managed to sleep off and on and eventually made it to the Vietnam boarder at around 2am. The driver then turned off the engine and we all slept until 6.30am where he then proceeded to drive through border control. We all got off the bus, got our passport stamped out of Laos then walked to the Vietnam border where anyone foreign had to pay $1 to get their already expensive visa stamped. I love bribery over here, you pay or no stamp haha. Least we had our
visa already otherwise you would be turned back I am sure. Anyway it took around 3 hours altogether to get this all sorted before we were on our way again. The driver stopped at various road side cafe where he obviously got free meals as he was bringing the tourists and eventually we arrived in Hanoi 28 hours later at around 9.30pm. All in all not a bad journey.
The Dutch couple, Laura and Rick along with Terry and I got a taxi together. The driver insisted we go by meter so we agreed. Soon realised that his meter was clocking up faster miles then we were going as no way had we travelled 15KM in 5 mins. We started to query this but the driver stopped the car in the middle of no where in the dark and said $5 per person instead of the meter. Everyone protested but Laura said wait till he gets us there to the centre first then we can argue. He pulled up in town which was very quiet, pointed to where the hostel was and insisted we paid the meter which was now at 200,000 dong. In fact the meter
was going twice as fast so we said we would only pay 100,000 dong (£3.50ish) I know the £7 he was asking for is not a lot of money but he was aggressive, ripping us off and threatening us if we did not pay, if we let him get away with this he would do this to every tourist he meets. He started getting very angry, but we had the bags out the car so was not too worried. Rick went to a nearby hotel to ask how much a taxi ride should be but I told the driver he had gone to get the police. This really made the driver angry and came right up to me shouting in Vietmenese before I made out some English swear words. I thought he was going to try and take my bag but I was taller then him and what with Terry next to me he thought better of it and stormed off with our 100,000 dong. Shook us up a bit so we decided to all spend the night in the Dorm room ($6 each) and find a cheaper private room, if there was one, tomorrow during daylight. The hostel confirmed
we did the right thing and gave the driver more then enough for our short ride – good! Next day Terry found a much nice hotel, with ensuite for $15 so slightly more than a Dorm but we have our own room – great.
Hanoi is the capital city of Vietnam. The weather is cold at the moment. I know not as cold as England but probably around 15c in the day time and having to wear jumper, coat and woolly hat at night. First walk around town we thought the city was horrible, very busy, people seem unfriendly but as the day went on we soon found Hanoi’s magic and met some great local friendly people.
We visited the prison museum which was built at the the end of 19
th century by the French who ruled at the time. During the Vietnam war it housed American soldiers who had been shot down and captured. You can watch video clips of how well they say the American soldiers was treated, which was pretty much the theme of the museum. John McCain, US senator was also shot down in his B52 bomber and was here
for some years. Some of the wreckage from his B52 plane can still be found in a lake, nicknamed B52 lake, which we went to see within the centre of Hanoi.
Halong Bay
We really wanted to go on a tour around Halong Bay where you spend two days and one night on a junk boat. Terry, Laura, Rick and I booked with our hotel in the end as around town they quoted similar prices but our hotel said they would store our luggage, save our rooms for when we get back at the same cheap price for NY eve and insisted if we was not happy we could call him. Cost us $40 each which was not bad. Some people on the boat had paid $35 whilst others had paid $60 so I would say best bet is pay the cheapest you can and with someone that seems genuine as can be.
Most of the junk boats we saw looked pretty similar. The food on our boat was great, basic but enough was provided so we felt full. We were a bit delayed getting to Halong Bay as had to pick people up around
Bumper boats
Surprised no boat sank town then once at Halong Bay we waited around for more people to arrive before finally getting onto the boat around 2pm where we had lunch, no drinks included but luckily we had brought plenty of water and a sneaky bottle of red wine so did not have to pay for this. We had lunch whilst we headed to a cave which was pretty spectacular actually. Full of guided tours but the formations inside were fascinating and the guide pointed out all the dragons and other animals you could see in the rocks. We then travelled through Halong Bay and once darkness fell we had evening dinner, you were not allowed to bring your own alcohol onto the boat but they of course sold beers which weren’t too expensive so had couple of them and enjoyed an evening of karaoke with a sneaky glass of red. Terry and I got up and sang too, we had a great crowd on the boat, 17 all together, so was a fun evening.
Next day we woke up, had breakfast and admired Halong Bay. It was very misty due to being a little off season but still could see all
the rocks and to me the mist added a bit of eeriness to the boat trip so I loved it. Best trip I have done in a long time. We docked up, went for lunch, again included in the price, and started the 3.5hr journey back to Hanoi. As we were driving along the road which look like our versions of dual carriageways I noticed that cars were starting to U-turn in the road and coming towards us on the hard shoulder. It was getting dark by now so could see their head lights flashing to warn drivers they were driving the wrong way. They could not cross over to the other side of the road as there were barriers blocking the way. We were still driving really fast so started to worry about this. All of a sudden our driver does a U-turn and starts driving very very fast up the hard shoulder and towards on coming traffic. Supposedly there was a traffic jam ahead. We narrowly miss the speeding on-coming traffic, head up the slip road before finally we start to go the correct way down the road. However our driver gets a phone call, does a U-turn
and heads back down the road we just came off. Our guide said there is traffic everywhere getting into town so we are just going to have to sit it out. Only took an hour to get through the jam all together, but feel like I lost a lot more in hours due to stress. I hate queues but much prefer to sit in them then dice with death – haha. Got back to our hotel, changed and were ready to hit the town for NY eve.
There were plenty of outside parties going on around the city so we headed to one where a European DJ and a live band played. Must of been thousands of tourists and locals packed into the town square. We had a brought some cans of beer and with Laura and Rick had a great time. The band started singing ‘Imagine’ by the Beatles just before the 10 sec countdown, was really nice and everyone was all singing together! As you do at 12am Terry and I had a little kiss, hugged our two new friends, I noticed that none of the Vietmenese were hugging or kissing and the crowds promptly
dispersed after this, this was very different, anyway we handed over our empty beer cans (yes only the Westeners appeared to be drinking on the streets :o)) to a lady who was running around the foreigners trying to collect as many empty cans from foreigners before her friends we staggered home.
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Pat White
non-member comment
Looks magical Kate and Terry and well done to standing up to the taxi driver. Momma xxx