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Published: February 21st 2010
Well it was with a great deal of trepidation that we boarded the plane from laid back Laos in Luang Prabang bound for Hanoi. We'd heard plenty of horror stories about scams and people being ripped off from the moment they landed to those who had been heckled virtually their entire way around the country. Well, we couldn't have had a more opposite experience!
Exec summary: What a stunning country. The people were amongst the friendliest we have met, the scenery dramatic, spectacular and varied, the food delicious, the chaotic cities electrifying and the white beaches magnificent and relaxing. All in all, we'd love to go back some day to do the bits we chopped out of our trip as well as go back to those where we'd loved to have stayed a bit longer.
And now back into the detail...the flight from Luang Prabang to Hanoi took less than 45 minutes across lovely mountainous scenery. This was compared to the alternative of a 24 hour plus bus trip where sleep would have been minimal, if at all, and involved the slightly more dodgy border land crossing which seems to be where people tend to have issues. We were very relieved to see that our Lao Airlines flight was in fact a Vietnam airlines flight (code share) and made us rest slightly easier as some of the Laos planes are not the most reliable. We got through to Hanoi safely enough and apart from my visa being stamped for 2 Feb instead of 1 Feb (which I didn't think mattered so long as nobody checked it until the 2nd) we had no issues and whipped straight through to the baggage claim which was nice. We grabbed our bags and then headed through the green line into the Vietnamese masses fearing that we were waving goodbye to the last bit of peace for the next 2 weeks. Our hotel pick up was waiting for us and so off we headed without any issues other than my brain miscalculating the amount of money I needed to draw from the ATM - clearly it has been on holiday for a while now! So, I had a 2nd attempt at the ATM and drew out a bit more than $10 worth of dong that I managed first time around!
As we neared the centre of Hanoi so the endless sea of rice paddies started to dwindle and the houses increased in number and density, as did the cars, trucks and motorbikes and each of their respctive hooting noises. The hosues are very tall and very skinny with almost all of them solid brick structures (as opposed to mainly wooden structures like in Laos and Cambodia), probably narrower or as narrow as the terraced houses in London but usually 3 or 4 stories tall. Many had a shop on the ground floor at the front of the house which opened almost straight onto the road - this is quite a big selling point apparently! They also only painted the front wall and then left the side walls which were also devoid of any windows (as one guy put it to us - in the hope that a neighbour builds a house next door so no windows or painting would be necessary). The roads were a vast improvement on what we'd seen in Cambodia and Laos and so the ride was much smoother than what we had become accustomed to. Hanoi was also very clean which was nice but did seem to have a slightly higher number of less skinny locals which we took to mean that Vietnam is possibly slightly better off than it's neighbours. In a place where most people look fit, healthy and skinny anyone who is even remotely in excess of slim and trim stands out like a sore thumb! By the time we reached our hotel in the old quarter of Hanoi it was crazy. We thought Phnom Penh had been busy but this made that look like 4am on a Sunday morning.
The hotel and staff were superb (Hanoi Atlantic Hotel for those who might one day go) and they had an amazing travel agent in their reception area so it wasn't long before we had booked our tour to Halong Bay for the next day, arranged for train tickets to, and accommodation in, Hoi An along with all the necessary pick-ups and drop-offs. The guy was brilliant! As part of our ROMSCAP (rip-off minimization and scam prevention program) we prearranged pick-ups and drop-offs with the hotels we stayed at and in hindsight it was a brilliant plan.
So off we headed for dinner and to look around the night market, again fearing we may return shortly, exhausted by the harrassment, but alas it was not to be. We crossed the road which really just involved holding your nerve and walking slowly and steadily, keeping an eye on the traffic, saying your prayers, and hoping to avoid being hit by one of the 2.5m motorbikes in Hanoi. As the hotel concierge said...run and you die! Most of the streets were filled with red and gold decorations or mandarin/naartjie trees, big pots of daisies or flower shops, all in preparation for Tet, the Chinese New Year (70% of Hanoi is of Chinese descent). The trees and flower pots are essentially their version of our Christmas tree. And rather than seeing them transported in the back of a car or tied to the car roof, we saw many a motorbike with a 1.5m tree in a huge pot being driven around in place of the second passenger.
Walking around was not the easiest occupation and later in Vietnam we actually realised that the best and easiest way to get around is in fact on a motorbike - if you can't beat 'em then join 'em. The pavements were literally filled with street vendors and motorbikes, which meant the only place left to walk is in the street itself which is shared with the 2.5m motorbikes - Vietnamese roulette anyone? Pedestrain crossings and traffic lights also didn't carry any weight so trust the "green man" sign at your peril!
We enjoyed some shopping success as we managed to pickup a few toiletries from a store (size of an office) that was so packed with goods that even floor space was used to display goods and in parts the "aisle" was no wider than the width of my 2 feet squashed together. We also came across a shop selling woven pictures and we ended up buying 2 of those to put up around our house one day (when we have one). And of course we bumped in to the odd street vendor selling tasty goodies so picked up some of those on our way to dinner too.
After a good nights sleep we headed off to Halong Bay for our 3 days/2 nights trip to see one of the new natural wonders of the world. The road trip was interesting as always and we saw a number of things which were pretty different. We saw a person on the back of a motorbike holding a large pane of glass, about 1.5m wide, whilst cruising down the highway which gave me the shivers. We also saw people carrying pigs, big porcelain pots, huge bags of rice, you name it all on the back of their motorbikes. Very few of the motorbikes have side mirrors which is no doubt the reason behind all the hooting, especially when someone approaches the road as the "look left, look right, and look left again" principle does not apply here! Everything travels on the highway from big trucks and buses right down to small little bicycles ridden by grannies - very hard to picture on the M25 around London! The side of the highway, by which I mean the hard shoulder, was also occupied by street vendors selling, of all things, French loaves of bread! Some had the bread covered with plastic to keep the dirt off but many had them out in the open only to no doubt be covered in vehicle dirt and dust. It also seemed like any and every operation whether it be directing traffic, tree cutting, roadside cleaning, etc. was always supervised by the military/police and usually involved a fair number of them standing around whilst a bunch of workers got on with the job - maybe all such operations are state run? As an aside, the traffic police trying to direct traffic in Hanoi were all but useless from what we saw and just ended up standing in the middle of a melee holding a baton looking like a drum majorette suffering from stage fright. There are also very few traffic lights in Vietnam so most intersections are like one of the battle scenes out of Braveheart, only swap screaming for hooting!
Although we got to the docks on time we had a delayed departure as one of the passengers only had an ID card and not a passport with them. By law, to stay overnight in a hotel/accommodation of any sort one needs to leave your passport with the proprietors in Vietnam. As such, and despite 1 1/2 hours of trying to convince the police that it was ok he unfortunately had to be returned to Hanoi. Anyway, off we headed, enjoying a tasty seafood buffet consisting of fish, baby squid, clams and prawns as we left the docks and headed for the ocean. We checked into our cabin which had a lovely little balcony at the rear of the Junk and plenty of windows out of which to see the world go by. Later that afternoon we went to see a rather impressive cave that was the size of a massive assembly hall and included some incredible stalagmites and stalagtites that included things like a cannon, an erect penis with scrotum, and two lovers embracing. The cave was in fact used as a hospital during the war. This was probably perfect as from the outside you wouldn't have known it was there unless you knew where to look. After the cave we went kayaking around the bay and exploring some of the towering rock columns that emerged from the water. It was great fun but quite a challenge with 2 paddles that were more like large toothpicks than paddles and a kayak that had obviously taken several thumpings to the hull so constantly pulled to the right (must have been a Toyota as everything kept going right).
We spent the rest of the afternoon/evening chatting to the other guests which included two Vietnamese lads from Australia, one seeing his mother country for the first time. It was very interesting chatting to them together with another lad their same age who had grown up in Vietnam and who was doing a short assignment in Norway. Quite different views on things! The political debate was also an interesting one although at the end of the whole lot I wasn't sure as to what I thought about it all - clear as mud!
Dinner was nice and was then followed by a beer and G&T whilst the crew indulged in too much rice wine and then fired up the karaoke machine! I can't say I'm a fan, especially when it is louder than standing next to the speaker in a techno night club, but they seemed to enjoy themselves - it appears to be a very popular pastime here and one regularly passes signs advertising karaoke. We have heard some of the worst singing ever though and there are a fair few contenders for an Asiavision song contest to rival the rather bad Eurovision contest! Some of the guests, Pam included, sang the odd song but I refrained from really ruining the evening. It did all seem a little out of place though in such a beautiful setting as Halong Bay where one imagines peace and tranquility are what one is looking for. On Halong Bay itself, it is very pretty and I can see why it is a natural wonder, but it didn't blow either of us away. Maybe the overcast conditions didn't help, or maybe the litter in the ocean put us off, but it didn't quite have the magical attraction we were expecting. The authorities definitely need to do something about the litter though as it will start to put people off visiting the place!
The next morning I awoke to pretty nasty stomach cramps which I'd only experienced before when I'd had food poisoning and this was no different. I skipped breakfast, instead spending my time in bed and within 0.13 seconds of the loo. We had a mountain bike ride scheduled for mid-morning and my goal was to make that. The trip there was a rough one for me and involved trying not to embarass myself in public. On getting there I felt better being on stable ground which was a relief. Armed with a fist full of loo paper we took off on the bike ride on mountain bikes that resembled a stripped down version of the real thing...only 1 out of 18 gears and no gear changers, patchy brakes, a saddle that was as hard as Arnie's right bicep and big enough for only 1 butt cheek with pedals that felt like they were missing half a cog! Nevertheless we set off with me bringing up the rear, as opposed to yesterday's lunch, and with about as much strength in my legs as an Ethiopian power lifter. We cycled the 3 km's to the half way mark and drinks station by which time I was exhausted and aching all over and feeling a little uneasy. And then out came the yellow looking rice wine with a big snake inside the bottle. My stomach did a back-flip and off I charged to the little white hut in the bush. With the evil now extradited I felt a lot better and so off we headed on a walk to see a cave used b the Vietnamese villagers during the war to shield from the American bombings. It was nowhere near as big as the cave we'd seen the previous day but still impressive and better than anything we'd seen in Laos. We returned to our bikes and started making our way back to the boat. I really struggled getting back and the exertion up the hills proved too much once again and an emergency stop was required before continuing with the last few hundred metres. The island itself, Cat Ba, was very picturesque and peaceful and I'm glad I went along despite all the issues. On getting back to the boat I headed straight to bed for a rather halucinagenic sleep whilst the others enjoyed some lunch. We eventually arrived at our hotel and again I headed straight to bed to rest as my body was now aching as if I had a bad dose of the 'flu. We spent the afternoon watching movies on HBO, our saviour, and just when I was starting to get better Pam started to complain of stomach cramps. Unfortunately they were not sympathy pains, and it wasn't long before Pam was going through the exact same things I had experienced 8 hours earlier. She spent the rest of the afternoon, all night and the first part of the next morning out of action and avoiding all food whilst I was slowly but surely managng to keep some down. Our bullet proof stomachs had finally given in but rather than it being a back street restaurant or streetside vendor it was what we thought was a safe tourist kitchen. Our adventurous eating spirits had now taken a knock but it didn't take us more than a few days to get back into the spirit of it all again. On the trip back to the harbour from our island hotel I managed to take in the sights that I'd missed the day before, except for Monkey island and the monkeys, whilst Pam slept. One thing I found interesting was that we had to change boats when we crossed the provincial, not even national, border. Seemed a bit beaurocratic but I guess everyone wants a share of the tourist pie and obviously just coming to some sort of fee sharing arrangement didn't quite work out.
We were both happy to get back to our hotel where we were met by all the happy people, ready with our bags and train tickets to Hoi An for our journey later that night. We grabbed a few goodies for the train and then headed to the station with our travel agent/hotel accomplice who not only made sure we got there ok but escorted us all the way to our cabin. We'd heard some horror stories about people being ripped off at train stations and these guys really did go the extra mile making sure that their guests not only arrived but also departed safely and without incident. I couldn't recommend the hotel and it's staff more highly! The train itself was lovely and the journey went smoothly and without any issues although we came to see some of the differences between Vietnamese and western cultures. Everyne uses whatever cups they want to - there's no I'll use this one and you use that one - and turning off lights and closing doors seemed to be a tricky one too so I awoke several times during the night having to turn off the light and close the door.
Our hotel in Hoi An was just what we needed after the rocky ride in Halong Bay with a nice swimming pool, good restaurant and clean bedrooms. Feeling reenergised, we headed out to look around town and get fitted for some clothes, being one of the things Hoi An is famous for. It really is a charming little town and just walking through the streets was a pleasant experience. The slower pace of life was welcomed after the craziness of Hanoi and we soon found a little street side restaurant where we enjoyed a tasty lunch whilst watching the world go by. The people here all seemed very happy and friendly and we were able to roam around without any haggling issues. We then spent the afternoon getting Pam fitted for a few dresses and other bits and pieces which took a bit longer than expected but eventually was all done - I'd got some suits made in Bangkok and was not in the mood to go through all the hassle again so just acted as advisor as best I could for a woman trying to get clothes made (it's tough, and unforunately I am a very poor substitute for a close girlfriend!).
Our only full day in Hoi An was spent walking the streets and taking in some of the many sights. It really is a stunning city and the mixture of cultures makes it even more so. We visited the Japanese covered bridge, the Cantonese Assembly Hall, the Ceramics museum in an old house and the Tan Ky house which has been in the family for 7 generations. The houses themselves are very interesting, all with 2 stories, as the town floods on a fairly regular basis, especially these days, and so each time they move all the ground floor furniture to the 2nd floor using a pulley through the trap door. Sounds like a lot of work and isn't great for the wooden structures but seems to be a way of life there. We also saw an ethnic music show, which was 30 minutes long and perfect for most of the audience. It included just plain music, singing, dancing, and even some mimed story telling. All very good indeed! The rest of the day we spent getting Pam's clothes fitted and adjusted before posting them back home to Canada - easy come easy go but not easy for a woman to do!! We'd also picked up a lovely painting earlier in the day and were most impressed by our bargaining skills and ability to establish what was the going price for the painting in question.
And so we left Hoi An feeling like we'd seen and done what we wanted to do but also thinking that another day would have been nice. We were taking the Easy Rider's to Jungle Beach which essentially means sitting on the back of a bike for 4 days as you are driven through the Vietnamese country side and back roads. The whole idea is to get more insight into Vietnamese life and culture and to get off the well beaten track. And we were not disappointed!
A large part of the trip revolved around trying different Vietnamese food so every meal was different. For breakfast we tried omelette baguettes, noodle soup and the very tasty Vietnamese coffee. Lunches and dinners are hard to tell apart but included rice or noodles, making our own spring rolls with crispy rice paper as one of the fillings (delicious!!), goat wrapped in leaves (different but also very tasty), Vietnamese barbeque (you do it at your table, like a fondue), soup with pigs tails (looked like a finger, tasty but very fatty), some of the most delicious fish ever, plenty of fried veggies, Vietnamese lime juice and a couple of Saigon beers all at the local as opposed to Western hot spots - brilliant. It's not all about the stomach, and we stopped at rice paddies to learn how they work, saw some waterfalls, visited a big lake which is meant to be a romantic hotspot, visited minority villages, an orphanage and some hotsprings as well as several war memorials and scenes of some of the more intense fighting in the area, including an airstrip now used for drying fertiliser. We crossed rather flimsy suspension bridges and visited the minority village community halls.
An interesting comment our guide made one day was that when people want to show affection in Vietnam they go into the bush or inside the house but when they want to "make water", as he called it, they are quite happy to go whenever and wherever it suits them. We regularly passed people, mainly men, urinating on the side of the road, on a building wall or next to a bush. It isn't that much different from Cambodia or Laos where even buses would often just pull over to the side of the road with men heading one way and woman the other to go and answer the call of nature - fascinating to watch and rather surprising the first time it happens!
We also learnt that in the villages if a house has its window shutters open there is a woman inside who is available for marriage, if the shutters are closed all the woman are taken! Far less deceptive than some of the tricks the ladies try where we come from!!
One of thr real highlights, gruesome as it may sound, was when we got to see a pig being prepared for part of the Tet festival. Essentially the villagers put the pig in the fire to burn off the hair and I guess sterilise the flesh, before dragging it out and scraping it down with their machetes to remove the last of the hair and crusty bits before giving it a hose down. And then came the dissection - for Pam this was not all new but for me this was something I had never seen in an Economics class or Accounting 4!! I was amazed at how ordered the insides were, and clean too. I could actually make things out and it was nothing like the spurting blood I was expecting. The strangest bit was probably collecting the blood from the abdominal cavity - the blood of course is a delicacy so with the help of a cup or just 2 cupped hands for the congealed stuff, it was all scooped into a big bowl to be treated and properly congealed. With the pig fully dissected and all limbs, organs, and different cuts of meat removed or chopped we headed off and decided to let them get on with the cooking and festivities.
Our first night on the trip was spent in Dak Glei and we decided to take a walk down town. We really were a novelty in this little village and whilst watching a game of volleyball as the sun went down were approached by a woman, along with several other villagers and kids, who then proceeded to ask us questions as she practiced her English. We ended up chatting to her for some time but had a great time with her and the kids. On walking home we bought some water, which was nothing unusual, but the fact that we new a very little bit of Vietnamese and were obviously not a common sight, actually drew a crowd! We found it very amusing but just as we find their activities and looks quite interesting they must find the same! All great fun and smiles and laughter all around. Even walking home we had some fun as a group of kids proceeded to shout hello to us the whole way down the street, with each of our waves and Xiang ciao's (hello) being greeted by another round of hello's. Eventually we were just too far away from them and it came to an end but it really did leave us with a lovely warm feeling about all the Vietnamese people!
I found the information on the Vietnam war very interesting. The feeling seems to be very much that the north won and every monument seems to emphasise that fact with the Russian and Chinese built tanks standing proud next to statues of victorious soldiers, minority people, and peasants. But don't let that make you think the country is filled with anger and resentment - it couldn't be further from the truth! The past is gone and everyone is looking forward!
One thing we did notice riding through the central highlands was the extent of the deforestation and subsequent erosion. It is chronic!! No wonder they have had such bad floods in recent years. The hillside is scarred from head to toe with land slides and the rivers are clogged with tree stumps and silt. I do hope they manage to get things back on the straight and narrow otherwise the short term gains being made now are going to result in very long term damages far in excess of any gains.
Throughout Vietnam there were plenty of flags and banners celebrating 80 years of the communist party and 30 of those as the ruling party. The old loud speaker systems still operate in most towns and 3 times per day, with the first starting at 5am, there is music and various political announcments. In my mind, that was about the only thing that made it feel like a communist country - for the rest it really just seemed like a one-party capitalist state.
Anyway, after 4 very hot days on the back of the motorbikes we arrived at Jungle Beach Resort (comes extremely highly recommended for anyone wanting a hassle free and very relaxing and peaceful break from it all). This place is idyllic- thank you very much for the suggestion Marsh and Ruth. With little bamboo shacks along or just off the beach, delicious meals provided, stunning beach with sea water at the perfect temperature, friendly dogs and puppies running around and an excellent coffee "shop" on the beach just 10 minutes walk away it was the perfect place to just chill out. Lunch and dinner are eaten together with all the other guests and each meal seemed to be 4 different dishes, including veggies, meats and seafood and plenty of rice. All washed down with lovely cold lemon juice or some fresh Vietnamese tea or beers. Many meals went on well beyond the standard 30 minute frenzy and it was often mid-afternoon or close to midnight before we left the table. It wasn't only sleeping and resting that we did though. We took several walks along the beach to watch the sunrise/sunset, go to the early morning (6am) village market (very busy for a little village with all the woman doing the shopping in their pj's whilst the men drank tea and coffee in the coffee shop - maybe out fishing all night?). As the fish hit the market it was chopped up in a flash and sold - fresh as can be. The meat was a bit more interesting, with all the chopped bits of meat, and I mean all, just laid out on a tarp with people rummaging through it like it was a clothing sale; pick up a piece, look at it, don't like it, chuck it back in. Everything you wanted, whether it be sirloin, trotter, intestines, head, or ribs just got chucked in one bag, weighed, paid for, and off one went! So easy!! Pam and I did manage to get very burnt one day - we're not sure how or why as our time in the sun was short, but we suspect our sunscreen bought in Hoi An was maybe not what it was made out to be and just didn't work. Anyway, flaking skin aside we're now almost recovered.
And so off we headed to Saigon to catch our flight out of Vietnam to Chiang Mai in Thailand. We caught the train from Nha Trang which was alive with colour and people as the Tet festivities were kicking off. We were glad we got to see some of it as everyone was really very excited for it all. Our train ride down to Saigon was less impressive and not the tourist class ticket we got on our previous journey. Our beds had already been slept in, the cabin was filled with rubbish, and there were even toothpicks inbetween the sheets and the mattress. With most of the train staff drinking profusely in the cabin next door, smoking like their lives depended on it even though it was a non-smoking train, and more interested in trying to win the card game than look after the paying passengers we both got rather wound up. Anyway, I managed to find a slightly more sympathetic member of staff who gave us some clean sheets which we then used to remake our beds. We still slept in our own sleeping inners that night as we were both put off by the filth in the cabin but we arrived safely enough and made it to the airport without incident.
All in all, Vietnam has been an awesome visit. We skipped Saigon, Hue, and Sapa and would have loved to have spent more time in Jungle Beach but it has left us wanting to come back which is always a good way to leave. The people were superb and incredibly welcoming and friendly and we had no sense of ever being hassled or scammed. As with Cambodia and Laos, if the corruption can be kept to a minimum here we really see this as a country with a massive amount of potential!!! For now it's on to Thailand where we meet up with Shannon which will be a nice treat. Hoping that this finds you all well and until next time...
Best wishes
Keith and Pam
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liz & rod
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Happy days
Hi you guys. Glad you weren't hassled to death in Vietnam. Jungle Beach sounds wonderful. We never got to Halong Bay so was really interested to hear about that. We'd love to go back too someday. Maybe we can go together! L x