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Published: October 30th 2012
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Rough Night
Our best means of sleeping in Bangkok airport! Safe to say we didn't sleep well! Never ever expect to have a good sleep on the floor of an airport; for one, its not comfy and two, its cold! That's been the worst part of the trip by far. Anyway, after maybe 2 hours sleep we got to Hanoi, a city full of mopeds and motorbikes, and despite the rumours that crossing the road is hard we seemed to manage quite well. The thing you have to watch out for are the cars, always look for the cars! They don't have the same turning circle as a bike does. The mopeds weren't the only things we noticed, the food too has been awesome. Maybe it is the change from curry or the reintroduction of meat to our diets that has made this food stand out, either way Vietnamese food is gorgeous. Chopsticks proved challenging and opting for a fork would be an easy way out, so we avoided it and stuck to our guns. Now, 8 days in we can pick things up without looking like Christiano Ronaldo on a rugby field.
Other than the food and means of getting around, we have had a non stop, sleep deprived 6/7 days. The first day we
spent looking around Hanoi after a quick power nap in the hostel, seeing the lakes and Old Quarter shops. We had also booked ourselves onto a trip to Halong bay, well known among tourists here and the Vietnamese also.... We had gotten a bargain really, $160 for 6 days, 3 in Halong Bay and 3 in Sapa, but we soon found it why it was so cheap. We took the bus there, us and 500 others all in their different vehicles, and boarded the boats shortly after. We were told that the itinerary had changed which we didn't mind at all, just as long as we got what we paid for!
The bay is magnificent, hundreds of small islands protruding from the turquoise sea, non but 2 are habitable. The guides had no idea how the islands developed which is the sign of a good tour. Still, the green vertical cliffs made up for the tour guides lack of basic knowledge and the boat journey was spent ogling at the scenery. We pulled into a floating village, a polystyrene city, home to a good number of people. We kayaked around the caves, bays and villages for half an hour,
Halong Bay
Loving the scenery in a very touristy part of the world boarded the boat and set off for Cat Ba island.
To say there were literally hundreds of tourists, Cat Ba island was a ghost town. There are endless multi storey hotels but no one was around, we were the only people in the hotel that could easily hold 300 guests. We had met a couple of French girls that we went for drinks with in the evening, one could speak English and the other couldn't. Neither me nor Laura can speak French so we both felt sorry for her and used her friend as a link between he two. The next morning we played the waiting game, the guide was trying to wing it and we cottoned on, giving him a pretty hard time. In the end we got what we paid for and went on a walk up to the top of a near by hill. We tagged along with a group so that we wouldn't get lost and started out up the hill. It was good to spend time with a group, as part of the change in itinerary meant we were on our own for the biggest part of the trip. Once we scrambled our way
to the top, the 360* view was amazing, and joined by 30 or more others at the 5 by 5 area at the top it was a squeeze. It couldn't spoil the views though.
We were helped down the mountain by a couple of locals, one nicknamed the Monkey Man, pretty much because he was a complete nutter, happy jumping in between rocks and branches in a Tarzanesque way. The other local was much more down to earth, wheeeey, helping us descend some pretty hairy sections. We left the group at the bottom and continued our 'personalised and intimate' adventure. In the afternoon we went to the beach for a couple of hours, swimming in a warm sea and chilling out a little.
After another 2 hour wait, we were getting used to waiting by now, we got on board the Junk boat where we were to have an overnight stop. The bed was massive and comfy, the room even had an ensuite bathroom. All the rooms were taken up by people our age so it was going to be a pretty good night. We ended up playing drinking games based around childhood games like musical chairs,
musical statues and the limbo. You would never imagine how into a game of musical chairs 10, 20 odd year olds could get, and Laura well, she had to win didn't she!
We got up early and took a dip in the sea whilst watching the sun rise before venturing back towards the mainland with a family of Auzzies. This has been a minimalistic account of the trip, but the rest was mainly us getting messed around by a travel company! Only go to Halong Bay if you don't mind a wait and a couple of scammers in and amongst! They are there so watch out for them!
Once we got back to Hanoi we had a few hours to spare so went in search of a camera. We have now moved into the realms of SLR photography, and the photos are much better, probably because I've taken 3 times as many! It's a worthwhile investment! After the shopping spree we got onto another bus to begin a 12 hour journey to Sapa, with reclining seats and the works.
Driving into the mountainous village of Sapa we both knew it was going to be a good
Laura's Friend
We caught ourselves some sort of reptile, just don't know what it is! one. Mountainside after mountainside of rice paddies, small villages and bamboo trees. It resembles the alps in summer, not that I've been but Laura says so, very green and incredibly nice. It was refreshingly cool, maybe 15-18 degrees with a wind in the air, and it didn't smell of car fumes either. Our guide couldn't have been nicer either, buying us sugar cane and other village foods along the way. One thing we did notice from the off was the average height of a Sapien, probably around 4 foot 10 and I took pictures of them alongside Laura to document it. Anyway back to the trek.
There was Laura and I and then 4 Spaniards in the group. Couldn't have been a better group either, all of them equipped with a decent camera and more than happy to show me the ropes (it's no longer on Auto!!!). As for the walking, it was mainly roads and dirt tracks on the first day, not what we expected but then after Halong Bay we didn't expect much else, through quaint villages and across rickety footbridges. Even in this rather remote area, there was still Wifi or 'Wefe' as it is known
in Spain, and satellite TV. It's an awesome place and round every corner is something different, whether it be a waterfall or a village. We swam in the rivers on both days, at first sight they look freezing but when you do the toe test its a shock that its warm. We stayed in Guest Houses both nights that we were there, whereby you sleep in the same house as the people that own it and have dinner with them too. It was one of the highlights cooking with the family and seeing how things are done without microwaves, cookers or any electrical equipment as a matter of fact. They have a drink too that they make called Rice Wine. If you want to get drunk, this is the stuff! After about 8 shots on a loosing streak at a card game my head was feeling it.
The remainder of our time was spent walking, up and down dirt tracks and through bamboo overgrowths, definitely worthwhile doing a trek. The scenery is stunning and its a good break from city hopping. We would recommend it to anyone, just don't expect it to be too strenuous and take it as
more of a guide around the foothills of Sapa. Do it if you get the chance and go round the markets of Sapa too, not like the ones back home (as you can hopefully see in the photos!). Another overnight bus, another terrible sleep and a day in Hanoi sightseeing before another overnight bloody bus to Hue!
Over and Out!
Another note, we have now turned into people from Manchester as its about one f the only northern places people have heard of. Cheers United!
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grandma & grandpa
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happy days
hi darlings so good to hear from you again. we are so happy you are enjoying yourselves.you both look really well in the photo at Halong Bay.The whole experience sounds amazing!!! are you able to practice Spanish with your amigos?what part of Spain are they from?we think the photo is of a bug!!!its a great picture. we look forward to the next chapter. Love you,look after each other.Loads of love from us both.huge hugs & xxxxxx