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Published: November 22nd 2005
Silvery Ho-Tay
the lake in the old quarter of HanoiAfter a short flight from Vientiane we were in Hanoi. We had chosen a hostel to stay at and they offered free airport pickup so we thought that was pretty decent, especially because we were arriving at night.
Sure enough there was a young guy waiting for us with a big sign saying Miss Fiona. When I say young, this guy looked about 14 and drove like he had never driven a car in his life. It was a 45 minute white knuckle ride with this guy dodging in and out of cars beeping his horn constantly and at one point overtaking onto the opposite side of a motorway with a truck coming straight for us, oh did I mention that he was also on his mobile phone laughing hysterically the whole time. Andrew was pretty angry with him and kept grabbing the phone of him and telling him to drive, slow down, take it easy, but he just continued to piss himself laughing. We arrive at our hostel in one peace but it would be fair to say that our initial impression of Vietnam was not a good one. After a relaxing time in Laos we were thrown right
it's better than a picture...
artists at Ho-Tay lake, Hanoi into the madness of Hanoi.
The next morning we were up early to find another place to stay as we were kept awake all night by the rats and cockroaches. We got a much nicer place and headed out into the middle of Hanoi to see what there was to see. We had a nice walk around Hoan Kiem lake in the centre of the city, it was so tranquil, like a bit of paradise (or Tannadice as Andrew would say) in the middle of hell, okay maybe not quite hell but pretty chaotic.
After a walk we decided to go and book to see the famous water puppet show, so we joined the end of a growing queue and waited. There were loads of hawkers buzzing around us selling everything from postcards to knifes. One lady selling fruit and wearing a traditional wooden basket over both her shoulders was pretty persistent and shoved the basket onto Andrew's shoulders and was wanting us to take a picture and give her money, the next thing we knew a police man runs across and tries to grab her, knocking Andrew to the ground, the police man grabbed her and was
a typical junction
in Hanoi's old quarter shouting at her in Vietnamese and was pretty rough with her, she hurriedly gathered up the remaining fruit from the street and ran round the corner. That is just a little taster of what Hanoi is like all the time, constantly being hassled to buy this or that or to get a cyclo or motorbike, it is totally wearing and pretty annoying.
So it's fair to say we didn't like Hanoi, but we have met plenty of folk who did, nevertheless we decided the best thing to do would be to move on asap. We booked a three day, two night boat tour to Halong Bay and Cat Ba Island north of Hanoi. We were picked up the next morning at our hotel and it took about three hours to get to the boat in Haiphong City. The weather was pretty bad, I think we were getting the tail end of the typhoon that hit Hoi An earlier that week.
Our boat was a beauty, maybe 80 feet with cabins below, lounge in the middle and a beautiful top deck for sun bathing. The rain did not matter it was just so good to be out of Hanoi.
along the rooftops
a view from our room in Hanoi's old quarter We sailed out for a few hours and then set down in a quiet spot to have dinner and spend a night on the boat. We had a really good bunch of people on our tour, a French family with two kids, a Belgian couple and a Malaysian couple both around our age, a German guy and an older Australian couple. We stuck with the Aussies and German and had a good night eating dinner and playing cards. It was a nice feeling to spend the night out at sea and I was not sea sick so that was a bonus. Up early the next morning we were given breakfast and then we trekked to a village in Halong Bay to meat the locals, see the beautiful scenery and have a traditional Vietnamese meal with a local family.
Back to the boat to do some swimming and lazing around in the sunshine before heading to Cat Ba Island to spend the night there. Cat Ba Island was not at all what we had expected, it was really touristy and pretty tacky with a lot of 'massage' parlours and kids selling stuff on the streets, a wee bit like Blackpool
our vessel to Ha Long Bay
not the best weather for sailing.... but not as big or busy. We were just here for the evening to have dinner and sleep before setting off on the boat the following morning to Haiphong City and then back to Hanoi.
After a good feed we decided to head out with the Aussies and German to find some karaoke, we were successful and spent the remainder of our evening singing our hearts out until the wee small hours. Andrew stole the show with his singing and dancing cabaret act 'Viva Las Vegas' I think he must get that from his Uncle John.
A little bleary eyed the next morning we headed for Hanoi and then straight onto the night train to Hue.
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bill
non-member comment
Halong Bay Trip Arrangement
I have never been to Hanoi. thinking of going there soon with my family. May I know how did you arrange your Halong trip, via which local agent and cost per person? Do you need to book in advance? Thanks for helps!