Hanoi and Halong Bay

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As you can see I’m on a mission, I will finish this blog - eventually!!

Hanoi
19th - 21st May (1)
23rd - 24th May (2)
1st-3rd June(3)

We ended up in Hanoi 3 times, between trips to Halong bay, Sapa and finally before we left the country to fly to Singapore. On our first visit we did most of the things that the city has to offer. This being a visit to see the body of Ho Chi Minh at the Mausoleum, this is the holiest place in Vietnam with the rules of visitation being very military. You have to stand with hands at your side, no talking, no phones, no photos etc etc. Children who look about 3 years old are sent it to see Uncle Ho on a school trip and its most amusing watching their teachers trying in keep them quiet. Now given that his body is not embalmed there is a strong argument to believe that it's likely to be a wax works figure, but the whole thing is a surreal and moving.
The other things we did in Hanoi included drinking Bai Hoa, which at 2,000 dong (20 cents) a glass you can't complain, even if it is warm. And we went to see the water puppets, which to be fair was tedious but a good cultural experience. We enjoyed a few KFC’s as was a little tired of Pho Bo (beef noodle soup) by now and visited many markets looking for cheap t-shirts and backpacks.

Halong bay
21st - 23rd May
This is highly likely to be the touristiest trip in Vietnam, however you can totally see why it is as the scenery is breathtaking, beautiful and amazingly vast. From seeing pictures of this place I expected it to be a hand full of islands where that one great picture can be taken. In reality is immense and continues for miles and miles, which everywhere you look being amazing. There is a standard trip that you book from any of the 6,000 travel agents in Hanoi. Now you can get 1, 2 or 3 star which is the difference of about $40, $65 or $200, now not sure about the $200 trip but whether you pay $40 or $65 you basically get the same trip, on the same boat, with the same food. So we did 2 day 1 star, which includes one night sleeping on a junk boat in the bay. This is a great laugh and we met a good group of fellow travellers, including a party dude from Hawaii who lives in Frankfurt and an Irish guy who of course got the party going with vodka shots and jumping of the top deck of the boat into the water. Plus 2 people that we first met on the beach in Goa, which was very random! Greg had a big night and ended up sleeping under the star on top deck, and after coming to bed a 7am I got him up to go canoeing, tee hee! The next day we went to Cat-Ba Island and national park, the weather was wet, so we spent the day relaxing before another night out drinking tequila shuts with Brisbane-ites (always up for a laugh), a couple from Canada and a English guy. Was a good night but by the end I was ready to go back to Hanoi to sleep and watch movies in an air conditioned room.

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Comments

[JOHN]

HANOI
GREG LOOKS TOTALLY ZONKED IN CANOE !! THE TRIP TO HALONG BAY MUST HAVE BEEN MIND BLOWING. FINALLY VIEWED THE CD YOU SENT - PICTURES ARE ACE - CANT WAIT TO SEE YOU BOTH. LOTS OF LOVE.