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Published: August 27th 2010
We arrived in Vietnam actually in the afternoon after about an hour and a half's flight from Hong Kong. After having enjoyed the comforts of the western world for so long, we were a bit unsure of what to expect from Vietnam. After successfully picking up our Visas and making it into the country we were happy to be picked up by a taxi guy that we had arranged through the hotel-it made the journey to Hanoi a bit easier!
One of the first shocks was the crazy driving of the Vietnamese people. Our taxi driver seemed insistent on making sure we would crash, whether into other cars, lorries or mopeds or bikes. We just about made it, though it was a challenge just to get across the road to the hotel through the mass of beeping moped drivers and bikes!
We checked into our hotel in the old town and on first impressions we were pretty happy-lovely furniture, TV and even an interne connection. It was only a few hours later when the bathroom started smelling funny that we were a bit less impressed. However, after a wee nap, we headed out to see what the old town
had to offer. We ended up chilling out with a few beers at one of the many bars-well, it was just on the corner of the street with little stools outsidee beer was less than a dollar so we were happy! No gin and tonics or Rose wine though :-(
There were a few tourists around which was a good sign but this place really was crazy and busy-all hours of the day and night! We ended up having beef noodles at another little roadside stop-it was all cooked fresh and the many of the little stools that we practically had to crouch on were already taken up by Vietnamese people. So far, the language barrier hadn't really been a problem and pointing usually got us what we wanted! The good thing is that beer is 'bia uh' or something similar that sounds just like beer so we could manage that!
Luckily most of the rooms here have air con so we had a bit of relief from the mad humidity and caught up on some sleep. After a couple of hours though, we were woken up by a crazy Aussie theatening to kill his mate for smoking
too much pot! This went on for some time...Def more of a 'hostel' feel, though we still had our own room.
After a breakfast of bread and jam(no toast, just bread), we set about exploring the sights. We walked so much and saw the lake, many, many shops and streets that all looked the same after a while and with a constant barrage of people trying to sell us stuff (though not agressively really), the we walked to Ho Chi Minh's Masoleum where you can see his embalmed body, but we were too late, so we had to just go to one of the temples and stop off for some ice cream instead!
It really is an interesting place and I think we will be glad we got to see it, though we're not so sure we would rush back. Maybe it was one city too many after New York and Hong Kong as well, or maybe we just ain't cut out for that pace of life anymore (getting on a bit now, ha ha) but we decided t get out of there the next day and head for the quieter Cat Ba Island and Halong Bay.
We decided to make our own arrangements instead of booking a tour which was a bit of a risk but cheaper-we hoped! We got a taxi to the train station though the taxi driver didn't seem to know where we wanted to go and dropped us off almost on the side of the highway surrounded by of beeping horns! Luckily the train station ended up being around the corner and we managed to get tickets and get on the train. Next we just had to find our boat and get to the island!
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Tim
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Flight to Hanoi
Hello - I'll be there in 2 weeks and am a bit nervous! do you mind me asking what Airline you took from Hong Kong to Vietnam and how much the flight costed? Also, did you get your Vietnamese Visa's on arrival?