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Published: April 7th 2010
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It seems the north of Vietnam is nothing but a series of trip highlights. After spending all our money in Hoi An, we traveled up to the capital city of Vietnam, Hanoi. It is a fairly large city, and in stark contrast to Saigon.
The old quarter is a maze of streets and alleyways that are impossible not to get lost in. Each street is named after the product that was sold there hundreds of years ago, and things still tend to congregate around the old quarter. For example, you can search for hours for a pair of shoes, and then turn a corner and find 50 shoe shops on the same street. It's a really neat city indeed.
After wandering around Hanoi for a day, we headed south to the city of Ninh Binh. This area is sometimes called "Halong Bay on the Rice Fields", and it certainly has the same feel as its watery counterpart. Tam Coc, which is the main attraction in the area, is a river that winds through huge karst formations that seem to shoot up out of the rice paddies. It is quite dramatic in itself. However, the only way to view it is
Tam Coc
Andy trying to bargain on the boat from a little rowboat that is paddled by a set of women who just want you to buy their wares. It was full of tourists and a real shame to see thousands of other people all doing exactly the same thing in exactly the same way. We found it quite disappointing.
Upon our return to the hotel, we ran into a couple who had rented a motorbike and toured the countryside and said it was stunning, so we decided to follow suit the next morning. This turned out to be a fantastic idea. The area surrounding Ninh Binh was one of the most beautiful areas we had seen on our trip. We drove through a series of ancient looking villages and onto tiny little "rice paddy roads" The rice paddies were bright green, and the "mountains" were all shrouded in mist. It was breathtaking. We saw a temple at the top of one of the mountains and decided to try and climb up to it. We left our motorbike leaning against some ancient headstones, crossed the water filled paddies on a ragged path a meter wide, and went for it. It turned out that the temple had a bunch of
stairs leading up to it, so our task of reaching the top wasn't too difficult. We looked down at all the tourists on the river from the previous day, and at the green paddies and mountains fading into the mist. Well worth the effort.
We came back to Hanoi for a night and then went to the real Halong Bay. Most tourists see the bay by way of a 3 day tour which includes a night on a boat, some sightseeing and maybe a night on an island as well if you're lucky. We decided to do things our own way and maybe do a tour or something from Cat Ba island, which is the settled island in the middle of Halong Bay. Again, this turned out to be a great idea. The island was absolutely stunning, as were the surrounding waters. The first night, there was an annual festival commemorating a visit of Ho Chi Minh to the island in the 60's. It was great! There were fireworks, some terrible live music, and all manner of merrymaking. The next day we embarked on a tour which included a half-day of kayaking followed by a half-day of climbing in
the Lan Ha area. It was a wonderful experience. For our final day, we again rented motorbikes and drove around the island. We hiked through a national park where I was attacked by bees (Jenny saved me), and then up to a rickety watch tower about 20-30 meters above the forest. The view was amazing. The rest of the day was spent just cruising the island's few roads and taking in the scenery. We were very glad that we didn't take a tour.
Back in Hanoi, we actually had a little bit of time to explore the city. We wandered the streets some more and tried our best to spend our money. So far, so good... Also, there was the food. I cannot say enough about the food in Hanoi. It was cheap, easy, and utterly unbelievable. I would go back for that reason alone. We also got a chance to see the mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh which, like Lenin, was creepy. It was very somber and serious, and he looked fake. I loved it. We also got a chance to see the presidential grounds along with literally a thousand other people. We chose the wrong time of
day, I think.
All in all, we had an amazing time here in Vietnam and are sorry to leave.
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Helen Reid
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beautiful photos
The scenery looks incredible! The kayaking photograph is amazing, with such calm waters and steep rocky outcrops...and the rock climbing...I am glad I did not see you doing that. Looks pretty scarry to me. The blog entry is very interesting and we look forward to hearing more details when you are back.