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Published: September 24th 2014
Hello everyone,
I am now a lady of leisure. As I have completed my project for the Australian/ Vietnamese NGO, KOTO which was to compile a Health Resource Catalogue, I now have time on my hands. I am planning on exploring the local vicinity more on my deadly treddly. There are lots of small cams (islands) and precincts which I've yet to visit.
As Sue2's daughter and her partner, Ben were here visiting, it was time to do the tourist thing.......Sapa and Halong Bay tours out of Hanoi. After spending the first night in Hanoi before our planned trip to Halong Bay, we were informed early in the morning when we were supposed to be leaving, that, due to unforeseen bad weather, our tour was cancelled. Luckily Sue2 had the forethought to see if we could swap our itinery so that we did the Sapa tour first and hope that when we arrived back in Hanoi the weather would have improved. Mother Nature smiled on us all week.
We caught the overnight sleeper train to Sapa which turned out to be clean and comfortable, if quite noisy.....you know that noise that goes kerlunk, kerlunk, kerlunk aaallll night? Not a
bed bug to be seen! Once we arrived at our hotel and had a late breakfast, it was off for our first tour/trek. Going downhill for five kilometres doesn't actually count as a trek in my book so at the bottom, once the others hopped on xao om's (motorbike taxis) to be transported back, I walked back with our lovely tour guide, Mao. The poor thing.....as fit as she is, she did have short legs and I felt for her but after no decent exercise the week before and sitting on planes and lying on trains, I was keen to incorporate some into my day. I did buy her a Kem (ice cream) on the way back. The next day was a 12km trek through Mao's village which is part of the Hmong people. As a car had been prearranged to take us back at the bottom, it seemed churlish to make poor Mao walk back. Besides, she had already iterated vehemently that she would refuse if I was even contemplating suggesting it.
Back on another train to Hanoi which was similar but different. A lot quieter but instead of a nice soft doona as on the trip up,
we had stiff, old canvas looking curtains! Wouldn't have worried about this except our aircon was on full bore and we ended up freezing during the night so had to use them...as ineffectual as there were. I even put my cardigan on!
Reversing the tours turned out perfectly, weather wise, as out trip to Bai Tu Long in Halong Bay couldn't have been nicer. It was on a beautiful old junk called Red Dragon which catered for ten people and we were catered to very well. We spent time swimming off a sandy, little beach, checked out a cave and also a floating fishing village. The rising moon that night was very impressive as it was a very large full moon....quite spectacular.
Sue2 and I spent the last weekend in Hanoi and caught up with a couple of friends who were ex volunteers from Hoi An. We sampled the night life and finally made the sojourn to the KOTO restaurant which was impressive.....especially the food. It was delectable. We also managed to squeeze in a walking, eating tour of Hanoi on the night we originally arrived. It was a rambling walk around town, learning some of the history,
checking out the produce markets which was an assault on our senses and tasting unusual cuisines and different cooking techniques. I even ate a silkworm larvae.....crunchy on the outside and pate on the inside, he said! He was right but not a pate I would eat again! After four hours of walking in the stifling heat on one of the most congested nights of the year in Hanoi (children's moon festival ), we were ready for a beer!
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Paul
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Nice one Sue
Hi Sue. Thanks for all the great blogs. How would a vegetarian fare in Vietnam?