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Published: February 1st 2007
So when I last left you, I think we were heading up to Hanoi!
We arrived in one piece, Vietnam Airlines comes highly recommended. We had opted to stay in the city's Old French Quarter, with visions of it being a quiet, peaceful retreat from the rest of the city! How wrong could we be, we were in Vietnam, where the horns don't stop beeping and engines don't stop running! After settling into our guesthouse, I took myself off to explore the maze of back streets which made up the Old Quarter. Every street you turned into was filed with street vendors selling something different from the previous street - shoes, jeans, gravestones, jewellery, food, towels, herbs, mirrors! It really was sensory overload - all over again! I had pictured Hanoi very differently but in many ways was equally as crazy as Saigon but on a smaller scale!
Having spent a couple of hours out on the streets of Hanoi it was time to escape into the comfort of our guesthouse to watch some of the Australian Open - not very Vietamese but it was a very welcome distraction from the hussle and bustle outside!
That night we
met up with Jo and Margaret Ann's friends Nieve and Ealmon - the Irish to Scottish ratio was spiralling out of control! We enjoyed a lovely dinner before washing it all down first at Marios, where we had a round of drinks and legged it from the overly affectionate bar staff who were all dressed up as the Mario Bros., before settling down for the night at Half Man/Half Noodle where we drank our way through the cocktail menu!
The following day we hopped on some cyclos for a tour of the city's highlights. We took in Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum, the Temple of Literature and generally just soaked up the city's atmosphere whilst sitting back on our cyclos, letting the driver do all the hard work!
We left Hanoi behind and went off on a 3 day, 2 night tour of Halong Bay - the natural wonder of Vietnam! Unfortunately, the weather wasn't too great but that didn't detract too much from the beauty of the place. Hopefully the photos will do it justice! We spent our first night on board a traditional Vietamese boat - a Junk - where we whiled away the evening with some
Our Morning Trek...
Much to Jo's "amusement"vodka and a packet of cards! Unfortunately, in true Vietnam style, they had overbooked the boat so we were a bed short! The tour guide was pleading with me to "help " but the prospect of sharing a double bed with a retired Singaporean who had a dodgy knee didnt really appeal to me so in the end, Jo, Margaret Ann and I had a very uncomfortable night's sleep sharing a double bed...far better bed mates than a random Singaporean!
The following day was spent hopping on and off various boats, trekking (much to Jo's amusement), visiting caves, and a short stop at Monkey Island to see the monkeys...funnily enough!
Our second night was spent on Cat Ba Island. I have nothing much to report from there as we only left the confines of our hotel to fetch some munchies from the local mini-mart! But our fellow travellers informed us that we didn't miss much!
The third day saw us return to Hanoi in time to catch dinner and a few drinks with our new friends Matt and Natalie before heading home for an early night!
And that brings my Vietnam adventure to an end as
Stopped off at this ladie's "house" for coffee and oranges!
All she had for company were a few chickens (bound to catch bird flu soon) and a husband who was out hunting....middle of nowhere! the following day saw us off to Laos, not before heading to the market for some last minute bargains - a pair of Converse trainers, 4 pairs of much needed boxer shorts and a belt - all for under a tenner!
I have really enjoyed my time in Vietnam - very different to anywhere I have ever visited before! I was, however, ready for a slower pace of life...how the Vietamese keep going I don't know but one thing I won't miss is the sound of a horn beeping!
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Mum
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Lost for words
Your pictures tell a fabulous story and give a real flavour of all that you have experienced. I'm really very envious - is it too late for a career change? Quite fancy becoming a travel correspondant. Sure it would beat working for the NHS.