Vietnam part 3 - 'Racontuering' around Hanoi onwards to Halong Bay...and then Hanoi

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As Mully and I patiently awaited the arrival of our bus in the Hello Vietnam Guesthouse we met the two girls from New Zealand who were also on the trip and sat quietly for over an hour. It finally arrived and we followed a Vietnamese guy to a bus and he took the bags off the girls who got onto the bus and then refused to take ours as we weren't to be picked up by this bus. So back to the hotel to wait for another bus, by this time it had been an hour and a half since we were supposed to be picked up. Then finally another guy arrived and we followed him down the road again passing by women murdering chickens in the street and we jumped onto a minibus full of other people. We began driving and I chatted to a couple of people around me where I was sitting. About ten minutes later Mully shouted back to me from the front of the bus "I think we're getting thrown off this CB" and sure enough it turned out we had been taken on the wrong bus again. So back to the hotel again with our tails in between our legs and the guy behind the desk rang the travel agency that we booked it through, also telling us that we should have got it through his tour operator and this wouldn't have happened. Nothing like "I told you so"s. Anyway after a further 15 minutes another guy arrived but this time no bus - he had arrived to tell us that the first guy should have picked us up and we would have to go the following day instead. Feeling extremely annoyed and frustrated we booked into the hotel for another night and agreed.

That day in Hanoi we wanted to do something and get out of the hotel so we set about exploring the city on foot. We walked through bustling market streets in the old quarter and headed down to the more modern part of the city in search of a cinema to pass some time. We arrived at the cinema, after some dodgy directions from about 8 different people, only to find that all the films showing were in Vietnamese and that we weren't going to understand them. Again a brief feeling of annoyance was followed by taking the piss out of the situation and our luck today. We sat down to have a drink and to cool off a bit, Mully with a 'Cafe Sua' (Iced Coffee and condensed milk) which had become his favourite new drink in Vietnam since his introduction to it by Andre in Hue. We ended up staying there a while and after about an hour and a half we headed on to see some more of the part of Hanoi we were in, finding lunch in a Pizza place where the buy one get one free offer was greatly appreciated. Headed back up towards the room and got showered and headed out that night for a few beer. We were drinking beer that cost roughly around 15p in the street along with about 20 other random people who had the same idea. After the keg had been drained we headed on stopping at a couple of bars and a club, but being the only two white devils in the place we headed on home having to get up early in the morning again for our bus to Halong...hopefully.

The next day we got up and hit the bus, again it was late but actually picked us up this time. It was full of people again and Mully and I were forcd to sit at the back with an amount of leg room only someone without legs would find comfortable, and randomly again Andre turned up on our trip. We headed on a 3 hour journey to Halong city where we would get on a boat to tour round the bay. The boat took a while to arrive and in the mean time I met Anna, a swedish/canadian from Quebec, Jason from Manchester, Tim from (can't remember exactly - apologies) Holland, I think, and Thad from Nashville in the US. Anyways apart from Cain, our guide, taking our passports and no one else, the wait was grand and we shortly got onto the boat and departed for the caves situated on an island in the bay. We arrived to a guided tour of the caves with rocks formed by the water that ran through them for thousands of years, and was quiet a sight and interesting till I slipped and fell on my arse, I keep promising to buy new flip flops. Afterwards we got back onto the boat for lunch and set off again around the bay heading for one of the many fishing villages that were afloat on the lake. The lunch was less than impressive but free so no complaining, and I sat and met an Australian couple and their french friend who I lectured on how the french used to be respected by the Irish until the Henry incident, which he replied that he didn't follow football but didn't want to be in the world cup if they cheated to get in. The jury's still out on that one. After lunch a few of us were taken out by a small boat round some of the surrounding lagoons and enclosed rock pools. Got a few pictures of the sun set and almost 'postcard' looking scenes of the bay and we headed to Cat Ba Island were it turned out that Mully and Myself along with two other folk from Denmark were staying the night and everyone else was getting off. This was a bit annoying as we'd met everyone and got on well and were looking forward to a bit of a shin dig and now were back to square one, so it was agreed that their was only one way to deal with the situation and that involved a couple of bottles of Hanoi vodka - only the finest for these raconteurs. So after tea we filled up a couple of water bottles of vodka we'd bought previously grabbed the guitar and headed up to the top deck to drink. We needed the water bottles as you were charged if you had brought on your own booze and obviously our plan was bullet proof as Vodka doesn't smell at all...however the staff didn't bother us and we stayed up drinking having met a few more of the new party of people. We got to bed around 2 or so with no drink left and hoarse voices from singing songs we couldn't remember the words to.

The following morning we were awoken a t 6 a.m. to go kayaking. This was a difficult enough task for Mully trying not to vommit off the back of the Kayak while the Australian girl he was with apddled the boat aroud, while I was the odd one out and had to get into one by myself and ended up just floating aroun the bay looking and feeling drunk from the previous night. We were then brought back to the boat after about 20 minutes for breakfast, a cold egg and bread and then were dropped off in Cat Ba island to meet up with the rest of the group from the previous day. They had a quiet night the day before and the two irish clowns were in form on the bus as we headed inland for a two hour hike. This involved climbing and walking through a jungled path and steps, along with jagged rocks to reach a summit where a tall rusted tower stood at the very top. Myself mully, anna, andre, thad and the other tour guide champ headed to the top and looked out over a spectacular view of moutains. A few snaps later and we headed back down the mountain, Mully's hangover desserting him as he did his best impression of Tarzan, while a struggled to keep up. We got down and got back onto the bus to head back to the hotel where we going to stay the night while the rest of the group went on the boat. We had another free lunch and decided to head to the beach. So the five five of us along with Anna's mum headed to the beach and went swimming and lay about for a couple of hours, having to shelter from the sun after a while with the fear of sunburn was taking over. A long lazy day where we got to know each other and thad questioned anna on her love life, and again it was time to head back to the hotel. We tried to get onto the boat for another night but alas it wasn't to be so Mully and I grabbed a shower each watched Airplane and headed out for something to eat after another small free meal. We met Tim and the Auztralian couple out while we ate and headed back to the hotel to find we'd missed Rush hour 2 and watched the rest of Rush Hour 3 on HBO before falling to sleep.

The following day again we were awoken early and headed back to the boat to join the group. We got on and were told that we were heading for food and then back to Hanoi. So a final few snaps and then headed back to Halong city for lunch. The bus took a while to get back and we waited aroud finally being split up again from the group and headed back to Hanoi on an over crowded bus. Myself and Andre got on one while Mully and Anna were on the other. We agreed to meet Mully up at the tourist place we'd booked the tour and headed back there to wait on him. After about 20 minutes he arrived back and we set about looking for a hotel at a cheap price. This was a little more difficult at this end of town and after a good bit of walking we settled on a room that was $10 for the three of us, me losing a game of one, two, three to get the matress on the floor. We settled in to the room and headed out within 10 minutes to go to get some 15 pence beers and chat about the trip. A good night ending with us having a laugh at a drunk 'Camerican' gentleman who we couldn't stop running into.

Up the next day and check out of the hotel after breakfast and Mully and I set about finding a new hotel as Andre was heading for Loas that night. We agreed to meet up again before he went and so we headed of in the direction of our first hotel, finding a place clse to where we had stayed the first time in Hanoi. It was cheap and had all the perks we'd come to expect in Hanoi and we set off once again with the intention of sending some things home and meeting Andre. We sat around the lake at the centre of old quarter for a while and then went in search of some food for Mully and Andre, which they settled for a Kebab and a cafe sua. Afterwards we said our goodbyes to Andre and headed off to get stuff sent, along with a few detailed postcards from Mully to home ranging from the words 'Vietnam's Class' to a limerick for his cousins. Headed back to the hotel where I went on the net for a while and then we headed out for a $4 all you can eat pizza buffet - awesome. We went back to the room having to get up for 6 to get to the airport to get to Kuala Lumpur the following morning. As we slept in past the alarm until about 6.15 we were running a little late but made it to the airport with tons of time to spare. As we headed out I was sad to see the end to the trip in Vietnam, we had met some really cool people and had a great time travelling up through the country, also meeting some characters both Vietnamese and otherwise. It would be sorely missed.

Anyways, back to our favourite airline Airasia to head back down past Thailand and to head on to Malaysia where we get a connecting flight later that night to Singapore to meet up with the rest of the lads which I was looking forward to. We decided to kill time and to go into the city for a while, after of course a long awaited McDonalds. This was an hour in and so we set about seeing a bit pf the city and climbed up the the twin towers owned by Patronas after Mully batted his eyelids at the guy behind the counter to let us in after he told us they had no tickets left. Mully took about 20 million pictures and we headed down, becoming slightly concerned about the smell of the both of us as the travelling and late awakening meant no shower. We went in search of one thinking we had time, however after about 10 minutes I saw a large clock on top of a building saying that we actually had mover forward an hour from the time in Hanoi, which meant a mad scramble for a taxi and to get the bus back to the airport. Unfortunately for us we missed our flight and were told that another one would be 50 pounds, so we got back to the city centre in search of a bus to Singapore. After a search aroud the train station we got pointed in the direct of the bus station where we found a bus to singapore which would get us there the next morning at six. The bus was comfy and well airconditioned so we settled into a night bus to singapore. We arrived and after making our way through customs we made our way into the city and found an internet cafe where we managed to get in contact with the rest of the boys to find the hostel they were staying in. We made our way to the backpacker's inn and met the lads who we all shook hands and swapped stories and craic from the previous weeks apart.

Well that's about it fol ks for south east Asia. It was an amazing trip and I am left with some memories that will stay with me for as long as Iwill live and had some great times (sorry to rub it in!). I hope that I may get to come back and can only encourage anywone thinking of travelling that this is somewhere you can't miss out on. I have the boys to thank for most of the good times and happy memories and I can only imagine what the rest of the time will hold. It's now onwards to Oz and the camper van idea has hit a bit of a brick wall so we're still deciding on the best course of action, but whatever it is I'm looking forward to it.

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