Hanoi and Halong Bay

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Hi all,
Sorry to bombard you with blogs the last few days but we're almost up to date now!! Vietnam was the place I'd been really looking forward to seeing and its been great so far ( Hanoi, Halong Bay, Sapa, Hoi An and Hue) and although some of the locals don't seem to be as friendly (in Hanoi) as those in Thailand and Laos the cities and sights are superb. Hanoi old quarter was my favourite place and you could wonder for hours having a nose at all the shops and relaxing in the cafe's and bars. Old Hanoi, Red Bar, Le Pub are great places. The DVD shops are a must-$1 for a film that has just come out in the cinema in the UK!!
We arrived on the Friday night and went to a great restuarant called Cyclo I had the best Fried rice with sea food ever and the Banana split was pretty good too😊 On the Saturday we went to see Uncle Ho which wasn't much fun but good to see. After doing some Rough Guide research, in the afternoon we went on a mamoth walking and sightseeing session across town. Crossing the road in Hanoi was great fun, the roads are so busy and there are no crossings like in the UK. As a tip you need to wait for the cars to pass and then just confidently walk out into the road - the motorbikes will swerve around you!!! On the Saturday night we went to the water puppet show which was amazing and then Old Hanoi restuarant and a few bars. It was the last night for a few of us with the GAP tour group. On the Sunday the tour went to Halong Bay. A few of us decided to book a seperate tour so for $58.00 we took a seperate tour to stay on a boat overnight and come back the next day. Halong Bay was chaos when we arrived but soon got on our boat and were away. It was freezing though and the first day was misty so couldn't see much. Luckily on the Monday morning the mist had cleared so the pictures are much better and we went to see this massive cave system.
After that we met up with GAP for one last night on the town and parted company! On the Tuesday I caught the sleeper train to Sapa which was even colder but well worth the bumpy train journey!!!

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Photos

Fruit anyone
Scammed at last - she wanted $3 for that but she got $2

Comments

[AlanB]

You lucky, lucky b....
Just browsing through your blog entries - Lou, RJ and I were temporarily homeless, so haven't seen a few. Halong looks great and one of the Hmong girls in your photo's looks suspiciously like the guide I had 2 years ago. I wish that I were there. Looks like you're having loads of fund