Relaxing in Halong Bay. Getting angry in Ha Noi -- city of scams and rude people. Time to get out of here.

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HA NOI - May 13

Well the introduction to Ha Noi was shit. As soon as we stepped off the bus we were scammed....."free taxi." A guy was claiming free taxi to anywhere we wanted to be dropped off since the bus cannot go into the city. We (Anna, Beth, Hannibal (chilean), and I) thought it was a little sketchy cause nothing in this country is free but we took it anyway. Well ya, we didn't get dropped where we wanted but in front of a guesthouse where there just happened some dude waiting for us. The trunk open, I was about to get my bags when he started to push me away while closing the trunk door cause we said we weren't staying at this guesthouse. If we didn't stay then we pay for the cab. Thus an arguement ensued. Beth was the one who was doing all the "talking". I was just laughing really cause here was this little vietamese young guy talking shit and swearing saying he "hates tourists like us", calling us "pussies" and "do you want to fight me?". It was really laughable until the cabbie started to drive away with our bags. He stopped but it was an obvious threat that he would do it. The angry guesthouse dude threatened to call the cops and I was like "sure go ahead". He never did but I busted out my cell and said that I would call them. Well, I tried but something was wrong with the connection cause there was none. Don't know if it was that reason or what but I think the cabbie was fed up with waiting around, he was the one who opened the trunk. We got our bags and when I was putting mine on the angry guesthouse dude looked me in my eyes and said "do u want to fight me?" I laughed out loud and said "you ain't worth it buddy." What a little shit. That whole ordeal took about 30 mins with tons of people watching. I so didn't want to be in this city. I was angry, frustrated and tired and so didn't want to be there. There just happened to be this other "nice" guy who saw the whole thing and wanted to help us out and he just happened to work for another better guesthouse, Darling Backpacker Guesthouse. We weren't interested that much cause we were meeting with Hannibals brother to discuss where to stay. So we left with our bags. Having met up with his brother, the nice guy was there too and we ended seeing what his guesthouse had to offer. It sounded decent (double, tv, hot shower, free internet and breakfast) for $7. Although he said it was central it was getting a little out there. We ran into some friends of Anna's and they bad mouthed the place where we were going cause they stayed there and did the Halong Bay tour and it wasn't good at all. Don't know exactly what happened but they weren't all too happy with those folks. We continued on our way to the guesthouse anyway.....we were tired and just wanted to find a place. The room was okay, I've seen better but it was doable. Anna and I shared. The other 3 were sharing too but they had to add another bed to a room which turned out to be just a mattress on the floor. They weren't cool with that they went to find another place. Anna and I had breakfast there and the another guy working the front desk was being all helpful, showing us the booklet with all the tours they provide. I mentioned about getting my china visa and he would provide a moto for a $1 and also he could do the vietnam visa extension too. Of course I wanted to shop around at other tour companies for trips to Halong Bay although the plan was to leave for Cuc Phoung National Park the next day with Anna. It was too late to go to the Ho Chi Minh masuleum because they close gates at 10:15am and we couldn't go to any other museum or sites cause they close for lunch around 11:30 and don't reopen til 1:30/2pm. So I used the free internet until the others who found another guesthouse came by to pick me up and go for a walk around the lake. Well, on the way, we saw the guy that helped us to his guesthouse fighting with the chick that warned us against going. I was told that he tried to slap her!! He was angry cause she was bad mouthing their company and when we all were trying to walk away he kept following. She called the police but they wouldn't come down, she had to go to them!! How brutal is that. Eventually he left her alone. Sux cause she was on her way to the airport to go home......shitty way to end your travels. Again on the way to the lake, we ran into Sebestian and Marijke. Some of us went off with them to show where to stay while Beth, Anna, and I continued to the lake but it ended up they were in a shopping mood and I definitely wasn't after the stint in Hoi An. So it was just me that walked around the lake and I didn't even do the half of it. I was in a weird mood and starting to stress about whether to extend my Vietnam visa which runs out on the 21st and figuring out china visa. I started back for the guesthouse when I spotted half the group eating lunch. I joined them and had some not so great vegetable pho. I ain't that impressed with pho soup. Probably just don't get good ones, maybe with chicken, it would be better. While the others went for a drink somewhere, I continued on to the guesthouse but the streets are pretty damn confusing. At several points I had to bust out the map and figure out where the hell I was. One time, another foreigner came up and asked if I was looking for "Vega Travel" cause him (french/american) and his 2 buddies (american, french)had been searching for it for a while and ended up being right in front of them. I was actually standing in front of the place. They were now looking to buy tickets to the Water Puppet Show and couldn't find the stadium. Since I was just there and had bought my ticket I showed them on the map where to go. The first nice people in Ha Noi so far and they were foreigners. That wouldn't be the last time I run would into those guys.

More and more I was starting to get anxious about what to do first, do the national park as planned then Halong Bay or vice versa. Any way I played it out, I would be over my month in this country so I had to extend no matter what which took 4 days or pay more for 1 or 2 day service, plus the China visa would take 4 business days. Maybe some water puppetry would take my mind off shit for an hour. I sat beside a very happy elderly couple from the U.S. I enjoyed chatting with them and they were impressed with my work with polar bears and asked tons of questions. The man actually reminded me of my Papa, in facial features and his personality. I felt very comfortable with them. The french and american guys I met earlier sat behind me. The show was really quite cute. The puppetters were behind the house set so you couldn't see them and controlled the puppets via a long wooden handles that were under the water so you couldn't see them either. The show demonstrates everyday life of the Vietnamese people, like farming, fishing, harvesting, and includes many symbolic creatures such as dragons, unicorns, and turtles. Anna met me after the show but she couldn't find the others who we were suppose to meet at some bar. I saw the 3 guys lingering outside and while Anna went to go take pictures of the bridge on the lake, I chatted with them. We all went for dinner at this place recommended by a foreigner who was living in Ha Noi. It was pretty good except I only got a salad and vegetable dumplings which I was thinking was going to be chinese dumplings but ended up being just these fried flour balls. They were tasty anyway but kinda plain. I found out their names over dinner, Philippe was the french/american, Pete the american, and Renaud another french. I'm talking about France french not Quebec french. They were going on the Halong Bay tour the next day with Vega Travel and paid $70usd for 2 days, 3 nights. They tried to get us to do the tour with them but that was a little out of our price range. However, we've been hearing horror stories of basically you get what you pay for, cause there are tours for like $20-40 but bags have gotten stolen, cockroaches in rooms, food not good, etc. Phillipe was pushing to go back to Vega and just talk with them and maybe they can do some sort of deal. The Vega guy appeared sincere and nice, talking to us about the trip. Phillipe was like can you give these girls a discount since they want to go but are hesitant. Which was true but still funny. The guy said that he couldn't give a big discount but offered the same tour for $60, 10 bucks cheaper. I tried to keep a poker face while Anna and I looked at each other. We thought that was a pretty good discount all things considering. We asked about the one night, 2 day tour but it didn't include the trekking on Cat Ba Island which is what we really wanted to do. We tried to push for $50 or even $55 but he wouldn't budge. We agreed anyway on $60. The only thing that I made sure of before paying was if I did not have my passport with me cause it will be getting extended at the same time that I can still sleep on the boat. I've heard from people who didn't have their passports that they had to sleep in the hotel, even photocopy of passport wasn't good enough. They swore it would be fine and I was holding them to that because sleeping on the boat was all part of the package and I was looking forward to it. They scanned and printed my passport with my visa and that was that. I went next door to another travel place to extend my visa because Vega Travel was asking more than I wanted to pay. This woman at Sinh Cafe was super nice. She was the first decent honest vietnamese I had met. Her 5 month old was awake lying on the desk and he was so cute. So I planned to get my visa extended with her for $31 and done in 2 days so when I got back it would be ready then I can proceed with the China visa application. Her shop was closing and I still needed to get my departure/arrival paper stamped by my guesthouse. She told me that she would stop by my guesthouse in 10 mins to pick up the paper. So nice. So Anna and I headed back to the crappy place. It was only 10 or 10:30pm and everyone was already asleep. The workers of guesthouses in all Vietnam and Cambodia don't actually sleep one of the rooms but in the reception area on mattresses. So the dude had to be woken up. Not even thinking that it would be a problem, I told him that he had to stamp it for the extension and he looked at the paper and flat out said "NO". I was so surprised, my mouth might have opened a bit in surprise too. I didn't understand why until it dawned on me and I told him "it's because I didn't go through you isn't it?!" It sure was. What a fucker. So the woman came 10 mins later and I couldn't give anything to her. She was trying to talk with this guy who did a total 360 in personality. Since he wouldn't give the stamp, I had to go back to her shop and pick up my passport from her. On the way she was saying that the guesthouse wasn't very good and many others are like that. I felt super bad keeping up this late with 2 kids and she kept apologizing for not being able to drive me back. So now I was stuck, I would have to wait til I got back from Halong Bay to get the visa extension which would push me staying longer in Ha Noi since I'd have to wait longer for my china visa. Aiya!! She said she would have stamped it except they aren't a guesthouse but Vega Travels should do it since they too are a guesthouse and if I stay with them afterwards it shouldn't be a problem. So here she was giving me back my passport and telling me to go to another place to get it done.......she's not making any money off of all this trouble. Such a nice lady.

HALONG BAY - May 14 -16

Oh ya I forgot to mention, Anna said that while she was on the computer at the guesthouse trying to download music onto her ipod, the guy was helping her and tried to KISS her!!!! So the one guy slaps people and the other dude molestes his guests. I asked if she wanted to move to another place but she said it was alright. We really should have especially when he refused to sign the damn paper! I was very angry. I hated Ha Noi and wanted to get out. It was a good thing I was going on this tour....time to finally relax and forget about the bullshit. The next morning, we weren't given our free breakfast. The guy called us bad people and kept going on and on. I asked how he can run a business like he does but got an incomprehensible answer. He went on about how he was so helpful and yet we don't book a tour through him. Well if the tours weren't so shitty and you weren't such an ass maybe we would have. Anyway. I totally didn't want to give this guy the room rate since we didn't get our free breakfast but to avoid more arguments plus the tour guide from Vega was waiting, we just paid. The boys also had something bad to say about their guesthouse too as well as the british chick, Lotty beside us. It seems like the norm here, if you don't book any tours through your own guesthouse, you get treated like shit. I'm so glad I didn't give me passport to the guesthouse cause I was told that some places end up charging more for the room than was quoted and you don't get your passport back until you pay. Back at Vega I talked to one of the guys and told them the situation about the visa extension and asked if they could do it in two days and for $30 cause the night before they quoted me a higher price for faster service. They agreed and I was all good.

The drive to Halong Bay was 3 hours. Chatted with Lotty who was just on vacation and was envious of my travels for a year. Everyone I've run into that is only on vacation for a couple of weeks or months say the same thing. On the way, Ba our guide introduced himself and told us a bit about what to expect in the days to come, swimming, kayaking, more swimming, trekking on Cat Ba Island, visiting some caves. This all sounded good to me. There was 12 of us on the tour, 13 including Ba. There were 2 Australian couples, a swiss couple, Lotty (british), the 3 boys, Anna, and myself. The boat was pretty decent too. There were 3 floors, the roof to sunbathe, main floor was the dining area, and bottom had kitchen and our rooms. We were a good bunch. The lunch they provided was a lot and surprisingly good. We were on our way to the some caves but Ba warned us that it was going to be really touristy. Standing on top of the boat there was great view of a fleet of tourist boats heading in the same direction. Look like something out of Pirates of the Caribbean or something. It didn't rain but sure felt like it. It was really foggy where you could just see the outlines of the islands. Kinda cool though but we hoped for a clear day tomorrow. Ba told us about how Halong Bay came to be where a dragons tail that gouged out valleys while running toward the coast and as it dove into the sea the lower areas became filled with water. So Halong basically translates to the "where the dragon descended into the sea". There are many caves throughout bay but we visited Hang Sung Sot. I've been to many caves but this one was pretty cool. It had a penis rock which was lit by a red light. Ba mentioned something to us beforehand about don't stare at the red light or you'll be distracted. I was wondering what the hell he meant but kinda figured it had to do with something dirty just the way he said it, all giddy. Yup it looked pretty damn phallic. But that wasn't the only highlight of the cave. The chambers were huge with some pretty impressive stalactites and stalagmites. After the cave we had 2 hours of kayaking. I think something was wrong with our kayak because it always would turn to the left. Of course it couldn't be the fault of Anna or me😊 It was pretty damn tiring. We kayaked to this tunnel and rested quite a lot but also to just take in the views. It was sad though to be in such a pristine beautiful area and to see garbage in the water. I picked some out that I could reach but it was everywhere. Everyone back on the boat, we didn't go that far before we anchored to settle for the night. This was where all the tourists stayed overnight. Ba said it was the low season so there weren't half as many boats as there usually is. I was grateful for that cause it would have sucked if there were more boats. No sense of privacy. Before dinner, everybody went for a little swim. And everybody jumped off the top of the boat. It took me a long time to get up the nerve to do it. I wasn't worried about the height considering I did a free fall off a 7m cliff but this was different....I had my bikini on and was worried about it coming off once I hit the water. I waited til the boys were swimming away and I jumped. YAY, my top stayed on! Hehehe. The water was nice except there were jellyfish around and not the small ass ones like in Sihanoukville but big red ones. There is no escaping the women sellers. Now it was a floating convenience store and they row along the boats yelling out "you buy something!" Even when we were all swimming "you buy something." Ya sure let me just take the money out of my bikini.......sheat! I asked how much the choco-pies were and I just laughed super hard when she said 40.000vnd. It was 12.000vnd in Hoi An.....I don't think so biatch. Dinner consisted of several dishes and I can't remember them all but it was really good. I was pretty freggin' tired once everything was settling down for the night. The boat ended up moving further to another spot because the boat next to us was blasting karaoke. Ba talked to us about his dream of starting his own tour company. Two boats would be ready in a couple of months, it's just the money to get started was the problem. We talked about the war and the vietnamese feelings nowadays, how some still hold grudges and hate westerners; the elections and how if there is just one party how can there be an election; his family and how they had very little growing up; how he had malaria twice and survived. Then he busted out the card tricks. Everyone except, the boys, Lotty, Anna and I went to bed. We played cards for what seemed like a long time. Of course asshole had to be played and I was the asshole but only once😊 Then we played another game, I forget it's name, I had never played before but they say is the basis for all other card games, like Hearts. We went to bed around midnight I think.

Next morning, breakfast didn't compare to the previous meals. Maybe because it was our last day on that particular boat. We switched to a smaller boat and headed for Cat Ba Island to do a 2 hour trek. It wasn't that bad even with the steep hill climbs. Much to my disappointment, we didn't come across too many animals, not even monkeys. We did see a lot of spiders, a tiny snake (see picture), tons of red ants, crab in a hole, and this cool insect that traps ants by making this funnel in the sand and living in the bottom so the ants cannot climb out. I think I actually saw these same insects in St. Kitts when I was hiking. They are pretty neat. We stopped at this couples house in the middle of the island. They were remained on the island because they had been living there for like 16 years, even before it was deemed a national park. They had fish traps in the little lake, several orchards of various fruits surrounding their property, and they were also growing corn. A lot to maintain for only an elderly couple. The puppies were cute but had fleas and god knows what else. Soon they would not be so friendly like their parents to protect their crops. They provided us with "free" tea, bananas, and papaya. I normally don't like papaya but here is different from back home, it's sweeter and more orange. Tastier!! Mmmmmmmmm papaya. There was a jar that Ba put money into and we asked if we should too and he was like "if you feel like it". Well shit, what can you say to that so I put in 5000vnd, more than enough I think for what I ate. We hiked to the road and walked back to the boat. I cut feel my shoulders burning. The sun was super hot. Back on the boat Ba said that he was taking us to where tourists normally don't go. Typically they all stick around the Halong Bay area but was going to take his tours to another area since he won't have contracts with the Halong Bay boat companies.

The area where we had lunch and a swim was gorgeous and a lot cleaner and quieter. Didn't want to swim right after lunch so while everyone else went in, Philippe and I sat on top the boat and chatted. Very cool guy that seems well travelled, born in France, went to university in Atlanta, and lived and worked in Italy. After travelling for 3 months he was going back to the States to begin his masters degree. When the heat became unbearable on the boat, we decided to head to the waters. I didn't jump this time but dove from the bottom level.......and my bottoms came down around my knees. Hahaha. Hope I dove deep enough so nobody saw that was back on the boat. Funny. I don't know how long we were in the water but it seemed like quite a while. I went off on my own for a bit to reflect on things and to enjoy the time I had surrounded by these monsterous creations. It was very peaceful, lying on my back in a star position, getting in touch with my senses; feeling the water envelope my body, hearing the underwater life, smelling the clean air, starring at the crystal blue skies with hawks flying over. People were getting back on the boat and I was getting a little pruny so I decided to board as well. It took an hour and a half to get to Halong Bay city, where we were to spend the night at some hotel. The drive was beautiful through more island and viewing some nice secluded beaches.

We were greeted by the floating villages coming into Halong Bay city. It's a small port town that doesn't really have any reason to visit I think. The best is to always rent a moto and explore on your own. The hotel we stayed at was pretty posh ($30/night). The best place I've stayed in so far on my travels. A bunch of us agreed to meet up in an hour or so after showering to explore the town and market. The market was closing and I unsuccessfully bargained for mangosteens and Philippe caught this on tape. Boh well. While some went to get beer, Philippe and I checked out the port and what appeared to be the seedy area of town so we turned back. We met up with the others and the remaining guys that from the hotel and went to get some dinner. This was an ordeal, just to agree on a place (there were 8 of us) and then had problems ordering. It was really embarassing really. I felt super bad for the cooks and waitresses at the restaurant. Lesson #1 just order whats on the menu, it's just too confusing. Reason why, here it is: Renaud was interested in the both the fish and crab soup (2 separate soups) but he wondered if they could be mixed together into one bowl. And he asked if there were noodles in the soup, "like pho soup with noodles" and he did the action of eating pho soup with chopsticks. It was fuckin' hilarious especially with his french accent. The girl seemed to understand, smiled and said yes. Well he got two bowls of soup, one fish, one crab and there were no noodles. He tried to explain again what he wanted but it came back same same and NOT different. In the end didn't eat the soup but reordered fried noodles and vegetables. I always go with my fried rice and veggies. Simple. We went to a bar afterwards that was playing some bad 90's music but then but on a Michael Jackson music video dvd. When thriller came on I got chilled and didn't really want to watch it because I knew I would get nightmares like I did when I was younger, afraid that Michael was under my bed. Anna ordered a strawberry daiquiri, well what we normally think of a daquiri with blended ice. But this was basically thick syrup and ice cubes. Hahaha. She couldn't drink it and the owner came out and made her another one which basically was the same but a little stronger. She didn't drink it. Issues arose when we were to leave but she didn't want to pay for it. Back home, even if you didn't like it you payed for it. Same would apply here. Turns out Philippe payed for it to avoid any hassle. Aw what a sweet guy. Hehehe. Cards were busted out at the hotel but didn't last long cause everyone was tired. For such a posh hotel you'd think they could afford some decent beds. They were hard as a rock. I thought that maybe I could finally get some decent sleep but it wasn't so much the bed that bothered me it was the air-con that we didn't turn off. It was freezing. The free breakfast was okay. Lotty was staying another night on the island so we left her there and the rest of us got onto a bus to drive to another boat to take us back to where we started. On the boat we got, some of us wanted one more swim including myself. We were only in the water for like 15mins before Ba called us back. I took one last mental picture of the islands and serene surroundings and that was that back to the shit ass Ha Noi. The bus back was boring until we started talking about dirty stuff, like different words used for various parts of the body but coming from different regions of the world. It was educational really😉

HA NOI - May 16 - 22

Anna and I shared a room at Vega Travels and instead of a tv in the room there is a computer with internet!!! Sweet deal. We didn't really talk about going to Cuc Phoung National Park and so she left for Sapa the next day (night train). I went to the China Embassy early the next morning to get that ball rolling. I ended up spending two freggin' hours there because I had no clue which visa to get. I thought I was well researched but apparently not. I didn't just want the single entry visa (30 days) because I didn't know how easy it was to extend and how many times one could extend. I opted for the double entry (60days), valid for 3 months but I did not like the fact that I have to leave the country after the first 30 days then I can reenter and have another 30 days. I have no clue where I will be after the first month to fly out from plus how much it will be to fly and where the hell will I fly too. Fuck. Maybe I will go back to Singapore, knowing that I will have a place to stay and can figure out working in China and go from there. Who knows. So I made my entry to China for the 25th. It takes 4 business to process so I pick it up on the 22nd and I will be gone from this horrible city that night on the train to Sapa. It was too late to see the Ho Chi Minh masoleum again after I was finished at the embassy. So I just went back to the hotel. Met up for lunch with the boys, finally had my pizza that I had been craving. It was alright not that great. Anna and I had dinner that night before she left. Then I met up with Lotty and we went to a bar where the boys were hanging out. Didn't stay there for long before going back to sleep. Went for breakfast with the guys since they were leaving in the afternoon for Bangkok. I was thinking it was going to be nice to be on my own again but after everyone was gone, I got pretty depressed. I think though it has to do with this crappy city. If I were on my way travelling too it would be fine but the fact that I was stuck here for long time got to me. With internet in the room though it was good because I chatted with my bestfriend who I hadn't talked with since leaving Canada. Talked with fam and friends and all the time to update this blog. After dinner I went for ice cream and this Vietnamese/American invited me to chat with him since he said he was losing his english since being here for 2 months. And he just happened to resemble Andy Lau so why wouldn't I. Hahaha. His family left right after the war, moved to California and it was interesting to here his stories how even he is treated different in Vietnam even though he is the same colour as them. He is from Saigon so he is another foreinger in Ha Noi and gets treated like one too. Very interesting. On the way back to the hotel, I saw this moto zoom past me with two guys on it and this chick yelling and running after it. I just witnessed a girl getting her shoulder bag snatched from her. That totally sucked and made me even more angry toward this town. It was nice though to see the locals around her being concerned and taking her to this cop that was sitting across the street. I was very anxious to leave this damn city.

I told myself that I had to see something in the city so after breakfast I met up with another Canadian couple from Calgary. They were going to the Ethnology museum and I really wanted to check it out too and it helped to have the incentive of other people to go with. So we shared a taxi and went. It was a pretty cool museum of all the different minority groups in Vietnam but I was tired by the time we got to the upstairs. I wasn't enjoying it anymore, reading but not really taking anything in. The couple were leaving for Sapa that night but were going to China the same day I was so we planned to meet up in Sapa and go together. That afternoon, on my way for lunch I ran into Tom, whom I last saw in Saigon. We chatted over lunch and he wasn't too pleased about Ha Noi either. He was looking to get out as soon as possible. Next day ran into another Canadian from Mississauga whom I first met at the China Embassy. He was going to the train station to buy his Sapa ticket for that night. So I went along thinking I'd buy mine too but forgot that I changed all my dong for US dollars. Boh. I keep meeting people and they are the lucky ones that are leaving. Soon it will be my turn just one more day! Oh ya, I got hit from behind by my first moto! It was alright. No harm done. Just startled me then I just shook my head because there was no way that he could have gone around me with all the road to his advantage. I was squeezing between two parked motos on both sides of me and this dude figures he could fit too and he did but niking by arm and leg. Whatever. I was just happy he didn't run over my foot or that my leg didn't touch the burning exhaust pipe. Then I would have been a little pissed.

I hear Sapa is beautiful so I am thankful that I won't be ending my Vietnam travels on a bad note here in Ha Noi. I cannot believe how fast my time in Vietnam has gone. Much faster than Cambodia that's for sure. I love Vietnam don't get me wrong. It's just Ha Noi.....hmmm really the rudeness started in Hue so it's more northern Vietnam that gets sketchy. Loved the south. I will not miss the horns constantly blarring on the roads or the moto drivers trying to get ur attention through several ways: 1. clapping of the hands; 2. "woowoo" alone or in combo with clapping; 3. flicking the hands up in your face; 4. "hey hey"; 5. making the revving gesture with hands; 6. "u want moto" or "motobike?"; and the best, 7. riding right in front of you, cutting you off......cause that really makes me want to take your moto. I hope I am somewhat prepared for China.....more people, more rude people, more shoving, more hoarking, but I already know this. Hopefully my obession with China and the people will somehow make it tolerable. Ha ya right.

My China travels have finally come. Strange feeling. Chat lates.

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Photos

Cat Ba Island
Couple living on the island for 16 years so didn't have to leave.

Cat Ba Island
Yah! Finally some wildlife. Can u spot it?....baby snake with it's head peaking through the leaves.

The Halong group havin
A memorable dinner with tons of mix-ups and embarassments. The group: Renaud, Anna, the Swiss couple, Lotty, Philippe, and Pete.

Comments

[good guy]

you deserved it, i think.