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Published: December 1st 2007
Sunset haze
Flying into VietnamAfter bidding farewell to Alan, we departed KL with a transit stop in Bangkok (during which we walked off all the delicious food we had consumed so far on our trip to catch our connecting flight - it is a very big airport!). Our flight arrived in Ha Noi at sunset to give us our first glimpses of the Vietnamese haze (photo). After finally finding the right customs queue and haggling with taxi drivers, we had our first harrowing experience of Vietnamese traffic during our 45 minute drive to what we thought was our hotel. A two minute walk down a dark alley took us to our accommodation of choice ‘Hanoi Backpackers’ where we crashed for the night.
Tuesday 13 November 2007 Armed with a map of local attractions provided by the hostel and some basic Vietnamese phrases from Lonely Planet, we set off on a self-guided tour of Ha Noi. Our first stop was the local jeweller who doubles as the local banker where we became instant millionaires by exchanging 100 US Dollars for approximately 1.6 Million Vietnamese Dong. Our wanderings brought us upon St Joseph’s Cathedral (photo), Ha Noi Opera House (photo),
Hoan Kiem Lake and the Tortoise Tower (photo), coconut ice cream cones, powerlines that would make Energy Australia & WorkCover cringe (photo), and a random woman who offered to let us dress up as traditional fruit sellers for the princely sum of us buying a banana each (photo).
We managed to catch an afternoon performance of the Thang Long Water Puppets which was signposted ‘sold out until Friday’ (i.e. reserved for tour groups) by waiting to buy tickets until 15 minutes before the show started. The handcrafted wooden puppets are controlled by puppeteers wading knee-deep in water and accompanied by props, fireworks and music to make a truly spectacular show. (photos) Despite the narration being sung in Vietnamese, the visual humour crossed all language barriers.
A recommendation by the hostel for a ‘safe’ place to eat was warmly welcomed after our recent belly aches in Malaysia and a view of local offerings during our tour. The "restaurant" is an outdoor establishment surrounded by a high wall creating a courtyard, the perimeter of which is lined with cooking stalls, each of which prepares separate items on the menu - sort of like a centrally controlled hawker market, but cleaner!
Wednesday 14 November 2007 We departed early for an “organised” (using the term rather loosely) tour to Ha Long Bay, situated off coast east from Ha Noi. A 3 hour ride in an over-cramped minibus took us to Ha Long City where we met our boat at the tourist wharf (photo). We boarded our boat ‘pirate style’ (i.e. by a narrow plank) and then cruised around the bay viewing the limestone islands with the 112 other cruise boats in the bay that Michael counted. We stopped off at some limestone caves (photo) and then enjoyed a leisurely kayak (photo) around the chaotic harbour - occasionally having to revert to kayak-warp-speed to avoid collisions. The boats in the harbour seem to follow the same rules as are observed on Vietnamese roads - a honk of the horn means ‘you’re in my way, I’m bigger than you, and I am going to run you over’. However, if we had been lucky enough to survive being knocked out of our kayak by a passing cruise boat, our ‘death jackets’ (rated above local safety standards) would have ensured we would not live to tell the tale! The fittings on the jackets were
Turtle temple
Ha Noi has beautiful lakes in such a poor state that we determined the correct procedure for use of a ‘death jacket’ was to remove it immediately upon entering the water and cling to it as a floatation device.
Back on the boat, we sat on the top deck watching the sun set over the limestone islands (photo) - very romantic, just the two of us ......and 5000 of our closest fiends! (photo)
With $1 beers in ample supply on the boat, the merriment on the boat continued well into the night - highest count for an individual was 19 and still counting! One of the highlights of the evening was when, from the top deck, there was a cry “there’s someone in the water!!” We peered over the edge to see an unfamiliar man in a life ring swimming in the water next to the boat looking very exhausted and rather intoxicated (photo). After some discussion we convinced the captain that it wasn’t safe to have an intoxicated man swimming around his boat and we helped him aboard. Turns out, the larrikin was from Perth. He informed us that he was aboard a cruise boat and everyone was asleep (including his wife)
Wiring
that would make Workcover's toes curl and being generally boring so he grabbed a life ring and a bottle of vodka and hopped overboard for a swim in the harbour.
. Despite looking drunk and exhausted he informed us that he was fine, except that he was upset that he had dropped his vodka which sank like a rock! Seeing that he was okay, Michael and I retired to our manky beds (you get what you pay for!). Some time later, after he had rested and quenched his thirst with some cheap beer, we heard a THUMP THUMP THUMP SPLASH as he departed.
Thursday 15 November 2007
Still on the boat, we headed off for a day at Cat Ba Island (the largest island in Ha Long Bay). Our boat dropped us at a ferry wharf to meet a bus to take us around the island. It was at this point that our tour guides decided there wasn’t room on the bus for Michael and Barbara so we were sent on a separate bus. Not informing us where we were meant to be going, nor where Apprentice banana seller
This photo cost one banana our alternate bus was going, Barbara refused to board the bus without the assistant guide to accompany us. Having successfully negotiated our ‘hostage’, we caught the bus. Nobody really knew where we were going except that we were told “checking” which was interpreted that we would be “checking in” to our hotel, dropping our bags and then going hiking as per the schedule. Accordingly everyone planned to change into their hiking shoes at the hotel. However, the bus didn’t drop us at the hotel, it dropped us at the base of Cat Ba Mountain for “checking” (translated as “trekking”) where the group proceeded to climb the mountain (an hour hike) in rubber thongs and pretty sandals. Having only just recovered from Penang Hill in Malaysia, Barbara decided she would sit this one out so she found a comfy resting bench a little way up the hill with her mozzie repellent and water. To her surprise, other would-be thong hikers who had stocked up on beer at the stall at the bottom of the hill (planning to carry it up and drink at the top) decided it was a really good idea and joined her. The group (now about 8, photo) drank (Barbara sticking to her water) and laughed and had an absolute ball and were occasionally referred to by passers by as “drunken Aussies” (despite Barbara being the only Aussie and completely sober too). Meanwhile, Michael climbed and climbed and finally reached the top (photo) where he found a rickety tower (photo) which a few in the group dared to climb. Michael didn’t due to the hornets’ nest enforcing the limit of 5 people at a time on the tower. Back down the mountain, we were met by buses which we were promised would take us to “the hotel”. Once again Michael and Barbara were allocated to a separate bus however this time her bag was put on the main bus. Barbara insisted that she travel WITH her bag so either her bag was going on the alternate bus, or she was going on the main bus with her bag. The tour guide was very difficult but eventually she regained possession of her bag, her hostage, and the name of the hotel we were supposedly staying at - in case our bus went elsewhere. Surprisingly, we arrived at the correct hotel...only to find that our tour was overbooked and thus not enough rooms were available. Accordingly 4 in our tour were sent to a hotel around the corner.
After settling in we opted to do some independent exploring. We weren’t sure where the beach was because our trainee tour guide said the beach was 500m away but the regular guide said it was 3km away. The reality was somewhere between. There are in fact three beaches on Cat Ba Island: Beach 1, Beach 2 & Beach 3. To this day we’re still not really sure which is which. The reason is that Beach 2 is the one always recommended in travel books and by tour guides. Accordingly, every beach likes to call itself Beach 2. We ended up visiting TWO Beach 2’s and a Beach 3! It was a very nice walk around the cliffs to visit the beaches but the water (as in the rest of Ha Long Bay) was not very pleasant to swim in. The local wildlife consisted of bottle-dolphins and jellybag-fish. However the sunset is spectacular (photo).
Friday 16 November 2007
After breakfast, we headed back to the boat and cruised around Ha Long Bay then back to Ha Long City. We had lunch at a local hotel and then hopped the bus back to Ha Noi. Back in Ha Noi, we enjoyed dinner at Cyclos Restaurant with Lisa (a Canadian backpacker also returning from Ha Long Bay). Cyclos Restaurant has a great atmosphere, even if being a little ‘touristy’. The decor is great, with the seats being made from old rickshaws (photo).
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