HaLong way from home...

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From Hue we took (yet) another sleeper bus to Vietnam's capital - Hanoi. Our first impressions of the city were slightly marred when it turned out that Liam and Ben had had their bags urinated on whilst stowed in the hold of the bus. Nice. Still, we headed straight for the City's Old Quarter (our stinking bags drawing some strange looks from the locals as we passed) in search of lodgings.

After arranging for our bags to be washed back at the hostel we headed back out into the city. First stop: The Ho Chi Minh Museum. It was nearing closing time when we reached the museum so we were ushered in free of charge. It turned out to be a bit of good fortune, as the museum, save for sum imaginative decor, was wholly uninspiring or informative. From the museum we visited Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum. With these 2 sights ticked off the list it seemed that we had covered the majority of things to do in Hanoi. With this in mind we booked a 2-day trip to Halong Bay.

Halong Bay is home to more than 3,000 limestone karsts protruding from the sea. We had booked to stay overnight on a "junk" and spend our time touring the bay amongst the impressive karsts. Gloomy weather and a broken junk soon put paid to this idea though and it was the bar that got the majority of the attention as the weather deteriorated. We did visit some caves which it seemed that everyone on the boat had seen a better version of elsewhere and went kayaking the following morning (with greater or lesser versions of a hangover - what else is there to do on a boat?).

It may be a little sad but I think the highlight of our time in Hanoi would be the shopping in the Old Quarter. After some serious haggling we all managed to procure some form of fake designer gear at silly prices!

Next stop Hong Kong - on a 27hr bus journey!

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Comments

[Daddy Dixon]

paul merton
Seen these on Paul Merton - and in real life!!