Vietnam

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Hanoi - Halong Bay - Hue

We walked across the border to Vietnam and compared to China it was backwards the way we had to fill in paperwork and go back and forth between different people. As soon as we entered Vietnam we were ripped off starting with the taxi driver. Despite asking him to take us to the bus station he took us to his friends minibus to take us to Hanoi. He tried to charge us 4 times the amount and we disagreed with him. We tried walking to the bus station and along the way someone offered us a good price so we jumped in. On the way to Hanoi we stopped for lunch, we brought corn on the cob and got ripped off again being charged triple the price, they then tried to give us change in chinese!!. Getting back into the minibus they tried to squeeze more people in the already overpacked bus. Arriving in Hanoi we were dropped off conviently at a hotel where someone was waiting for us, not where we asked to be dropped off. the hotel was nice and we were tired so we stayed there anyway.Hanoi was crazy, a city with 3 million people and 6 million motorbikes. It was always a mission just trying to cross the road.In this city it was funny, red light means go green light means go so basically there are no rules for the traffic. In Hanoi we found a great restaurant Hanoi 1, it was the best food we have had since Australia!!. Whilst in Hanoi we visited Hoan Kiem Lake, Ngocson Temple, Thap Rua (Tortise Temple) and the Handi - craft markets.

From Hanoi we booked a day trip to Halong Bay which was based around a legendary dragon who used to live here and broke up the land with its tail, creating islands, grottos and caves. We went into 2 of the caves that were lit up and had great jagged features.We visited a floating fishing villiage and got to walk around it. Our boat was a junk boat and where we docked was like a huge traffic jam. the boats smashed into each other and they did'nt seem to care. Leaving Hanoi someone else tried to rip us off again!!!. We were told the bus was on its way to pick us up, only to be told 5 minutes later that the roads were closed to Hue and we would need to stay another night, because we refused to stay she changed her story and said the bus was broke and we would have to pay more for another one. Thats when we lost our cool!! Finally she gave in and booked us on another bus and gave us some money back because she could see we was'nt happy.

We arrived in Hue 12 hours later where we walked to Thanh Toan Bridge. It was 6km walk past gorgeous rice paddies and ornate villiage homes.Everybody we passed was excited to see us and said hello. We passed a school and all the kids were screaming and waving at us. We got to the bridge with the help of a friendly local and tried a special Vietnamise snack of nuts coated in honey with rice paper. They were delicious. On the way walking back we see a beautiful sunset over the fields. We really loved Hue and it was so peaceful to see the countryside.

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Comments

[Mum V]

Anything goes
It must have been a bit of a nightmare for all of you when you first arrived. Having the locals trying to rip you off but If I know you Sam I am sure you made sure they were not going to get away with it. It must have been scarey but also quite funny at the same time seeing so many motorbikes on the road. Love the pictures of the caves the colours are beautiful. Its sounds like you were celebrities in this part of the Country. Soo glad you enjoyed it.