Whirlwind Tour of the North - Hanoi to Sapa to Halong Bay to Hanoi again

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Sapa is my new faourite place in Vietnam!

I know I said that about Ninh Binh, but its definately Sapa. Closely followed by Hanoi.

Hanoi kicks ass - its the coolest, most hectic yet totally charming place. Its been our base for the last week or so, and while we are excited to leave for The Phillipines tomorrow, we'll be really sad to leave Hanoi. We could spend so much longer here. We are staying in the old quarter, and its the most rambling place with motorobikes, cyclos and people just teeming around. The streeets are really charming, old and ramshackly. Each street specialises in a different trade - silk, shoes, baby stuff, tin, bamboo, clothes, childrens toys, electronic goods, herbs & natural medicine - and there are bia hoi and street cafes everywhere. The shops spill their contents out on to the foot path where people also randomly park their motorbikes, so you have to walk on the road. A Bia Hoi is a local street pub, where they set out little tables and chairs on the footpath and serve dirt cheap, microbrewery beer. It tastes slightly flat and fruity but at VND 3000 a glass (that's about 12c) you get over that pretty quickly. Plus its got no chemicals so the hangover is minimal. They are a brilliant place to meet people. You just sit on your little chair and nab whoever is sitting beside you, or they nab you. We've met a loads of fellow travellers this way, and also come across one or two from our time in Cambodia! There's Mike, the slightly sleazy English man with one fake arm (he lost it in a mincer at 16), Mick from Huddersfield or somewhere near Manchester, the two German birds we met in Cambodia, countless Ozzies and Cliona from Birmingham who is "genetically Irish"! Its great craic.

So, on to Sapa. We caught the night train up to Lao Cai and mini bus to Sapa and settled in to the Lotus Hotel early the next morning. At $8 a night for a top floor room with a balcony, you cant go wrong. Sapa is just stunning. Its like the alps except swap the Milka cows for buffalo, the vineyards for rice terraces and your pies and birch for bamboo thickets. Various ethnic minority hill trips live around the area - Hmong, Red Dzao, Laos, Black Thai and Giay ethnicities. They speak their own languages as well as Vietnamese and some English. The Hmong woman in Sapa town itself all have excellent English. That's because they are relentlessly trying to sell you clothes, jewellery and marijuana (seriously, little wrecked old ladies with babies strapped to their backs!). They all wear their traditional garb. Initially you think this is just for the tourists benefit in Sapa town. But when you go further afield trough tiny villages you that most of them actually do wear these clothes every day. They make their clothes from flax, which they weave and spin and dye an indigo colour with local leaves. They dye runs though and you can see their hands are permanently stained a blue-ish colour. You can see them drying out the cloth in the local village houses that are dotted in between rice terraces through out the valleys. I cant say it enough. Sapa is amazing.

We organised two trips. The first was a mountain bike trip from Tram Ton Pass and the second a 13km hike through the valley from Sapa to Ta Van village - we chose the "medium" route, but ended up on the hard one! The bike trip was incredible. You get driven up the worst road in the world to Tram Ton pass which sits at 1900m and cycle (well freewheel) down the other side (on a much better road!) for 32km. The views are stunning - its all moody with cloudy peaks, lush vegitation and waterfalls, and far below you can see the rice terraces. Cows and buffalo hang out on the moutainside, moving as nimbly as goats. The road is one hairpin twist after another and its so much fun freewheeling (not too fast Mam) down. At the bottom we wandered on foot through some minority villages - Black Thai and Laos people. We were invited into to one house for some green tea, which they grow on the slopes. The houses are built up on stilts and the pigs, poultry, buffalo and dogs hang around underneath. There is invariably a satellite dish hanging off the side of many cottages (kind of shatters the illustion a bit!). There are gorgeous kids, ducks and little piglets everywhere. You often see little girls with their younger baby brother or sisters strapped to their backs. The adults are mostly out working in the fields harvesting the rice. We came at such a good time. When the rice is ready it turns from a green to a more yellow hue and the colours on the hills are amazing. A few weeks later, and Im sure it would all have been harvested leaving behind stubbley brown terraces instead. Thankfully, the jeep drives you back up the 32km - there is no way in hell we would have been able for the cycle back up - to visit Silver Waterfall and from there we cycled down The Worlds Dodgyest Road 15km back to Sapa. They are only really building the road on that side of the moutain, so its dusty and potholey and in places almost doesnt exist. Its a bit of a challenge but good fun. We were filthy by the time we got back to town, but went straight for a nice cool beer.

The next day we went trekking down through the valley below Sapa. As I said, we took a more difficult route than the one that the tourists normally do, but it was so worth it. We were the only other westerners around until we got down to Lao Chai village, close to the end of the trek. We set off and were immediately followed by these two Hmong ladies, whose bamboo rucksacks were laden with all sorts of enbroidered goods to flog us! We made it clear at the beginning that we didnt want to buy anything, but that didnt put them off. In fairness, they were lovely, helping me along some slippy parts (Id snotted myself early on) and chatting away showing us the different plants they use for different purposes and telling us how many "bebes" they had! We wandered down these tiny trails through the rice terraces, and my God, the views were just breathtaking. We picked our way along this track which was at the top of a ravine, a river roaring below us at the bottom - for the most part it was pretty safe, but in one or two spots you really had to watch your step. We made our way along paths that sometimes were really just streams that doubled as pathways, up and down through the terraces and villages (up is hard, hard work) and finally rested 10km in at a little shack to have a drink. The Hmong ladies pounced! Well, they'd stayed with us for 10km even though we'd tried to discourage them, so it was difficult to say no outright. The problem (well one of them) was that we didnt have much money with us (who brings much money on a trek?), and of course they started trying to sell us embroidered pillowcases and cushions at stupidly inflated prices. My problem was that I felt railroaded into buying something from them that I didnt want. Ive no problem buying locally produced goods knowing the money will go to the people who made them BUT I feel it should be my choice when, what and from whom I buy! Anyway (minor rant), we managed to bargain to get away with buying a small bag for a descent enough price - I think they realised we didnt have that much cash on us anyway. Deal done, they buggered off and left myself, Si and our guide, Nam to finish the trek and have lunch on our own. There we met all the other trekkers who had done the different routes, and there they were being bombarded by the local woman as well - feckin loads of them crowding around the door to our restaurant. They left us alone though - maybe word was out they'd get nowhere with us! I have to say, and the pictures hopefully will do it justice, it was the most fabulous day Ive had in Vietnam. I would happily come back here and spend even more time in the mountain regions again. Later, that evening we met Mick (from Hanoi) and spend the evening in the local Bia Hoi. Sapa closes really really early though, everyone is knackered from hiking up and down mountains, so we retired to our balcony for the rest of the evening. The following day, the three of us went down to Cat Cat Village and back - 3km each way - climbing back up is a total killer. This route takes you through Sapa market (I love markets - you see such crazy shit) and lo and behold we came across the famous dog meat for sale. No, we didnt try any. But it was pretty cool to see it. He probably came from that truck we saw in Ninh Binh. Poor woggums. Later, we got the night train back to Hanoi and went straight from there to Halong Bay.

Halong Bay, unfortunately, was a bit of a disappointment for us. We'd heard so many horror stories about people getting ripped off on the cost of their trips (people on the same trip paying anywhere between $40 to $140), the boats being rat-infested, overcrowding etc. etc. So, we'd spend a good bit of time in Hanoi trying to ensure we chose a good trip, without blowing the budget. We chose ET Pumkin Travel which actually gets good reviews. There were about 18 on our boat which was grand, the boat looked like a more run down version of the pictures we saw in the brouchure, but was fine. However, our room was right above the engine room (noisey much?) and the loo stank to high heaven - we had to sleep with door open as our windows wouldnt open. It was either suffocate from engine fumes or suffocate from the poo fumes. And there were cockroaches. Only small ones mind, but still and all. I took a sleeping pill to ensure I was totally knocked out. Although the engine/poo fumes probably would have been enough. There were three Isreali girls whose room was right beside the kitchen and they had BIG cockroaches. They slept on the upper deck!

Halong Bay is beautiful, and if I hadnt been to Ninh Binh I would been utterly dissappointed with the trip. It is gorgeous - 3000 or so limestone karst islands rising out from the sea - pretty much like Ninh Binh exept not on land. We cruised around slowely for a couple of hours dropping people off to Cat Ba island (not on the agenda) and visiting some pretty cool caves, again similar to Ninh Binh but much bigger, and totally commercialised - all lit up and teeming with tourists. We finally, as the sun, set got to go kayaking. Actually, the sun had set and we were paddling around in the dark trying to avoid other junks! We had been promised a swim in the blue/green waters of Halong Bay as part of the agenda. But sure it was totally dark and we had to hound the crew to get us a ladder so we could actually get back on the boat if we did go for a plunge. Finally (they were busy watching TV) they got a ladder and we went swimming in the dark. Fortunately we jumped in on the right side of the ladder, as we quickly discovered there was a really strong current! Still, the water was nice and its always exciting (if not stupid) to swim in the dark! We sat on the upper deck until about midnight having beers in the moonlight chatting away to some Kiwis and Brits (whove just left NZ) and they gave us great tips on where to go and what to see. It was the nicest part of the trip, sitting in the dark, which the looming black shapes of the islands shillouetted against the moonlight, the boat gently drifting from side to side.

So, I wasnt too dissapointed when we woke the next morning to be told we were heading back to land (we were supposed to stay out two nights) as a typhoon was on the way! I was dying to get off that bleedin boat!

Back to Hanoi and day early we came, and we were very happy about that! We dont even mind the hooping down rain! We treated ourselves to a nice Western burger and chips in Le Pub, and headed to Bia Noi junction were we met Mike of the Fake Arm again. I think he actually lives at the Bia Hoi.

We are off on the next leg of the journey tomorrow, and Im really excited about that, but I will miss Vietnam. Its such a fabulous, gorgeous place with great people, good food (Cambodian grub is better), and cheap beer!

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Photos

Crashed out at the market, Hanoi
Dont worry, she's not dead, just sleeping!

This little piggy definately went to the market!
As did the duck. Street vendors, Hanoi.

Dinner!
Noice eels!

Dinner!
Tasty Fat Frogs

Dinner!
Crab Mayhem

Street Cafe, Hanoi
6.30am

Street Cafe
About 9pm.
HACCP regs do not apply!

Hello Donkey!
You find weird and wonderful things to worship in Vientamese temples...

Comments

[eimear]

I am sooo jealous, loved Hanoi and loved the cheap flat beer on the side of the roads sitting on the tiny little plastic chairs....maybe an idea to open a few of them in Ireland with this whole recession lark! all is well in Cork, weather is great, the old indian summer buzz is happening finally! safe trip and look forward to the next blog lots of love Eimear