The bus journey from Ventianne to Hanoi took about 18 hours. At the border a Canadian guy who had put his passport through the wash was denied entry into Vietnam because of it. I really felt for him as he'd put the passport through the wash before applying for his visa and was given a Vietnamese visa, but one of the border patrol guards was being arsey so didn't let him pass. Therefore, he had to do the 10 hour bus journey in reverse. To make things worse, my mate Grievesey put his passport through the wash twice and was allowed into Vietnam.
Arrived in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. We were staying at the Kangaroo hotel in the middle of the Old town, which is the heartbeat of Hanoi. I highly recomend this place. Linh and her staff will go out of their way to help you and it's a nice place to stay. Overall the accommodation in Vietnam is pretty good and cheap, even in the budget range.
Hanoi is absolutely mental though. There are approx. 4 million people and rougly 2 million mopeds. The streets are narrow in the old town. Throw in a few cars, cyclos and buses and you get the idea that crossing the road is scary! I wished my dad was with my holding my hand, just like when I was a little boy. Gary loved the whole madness of the place though. The fact that many businesses show off half of their stock on the pavements and you get small scale eateries with stools and mini tables means you have to walk on the side of the road half of the time as well.
Stayed in Hanoi for a couple of nights before going on a 3 day trip to Halong Bay. Before leaving we went to the prison which was built to house those against French rule and later used to hold U.S. POW's, most famously John McCabe. We also went to a water puppet show. Half of the show was pretty good, but I fell asleep half way through so couldn't have been that good. We also visited the pagoda on the lake, which houses the enbalmed remains of a giant tortoise that once lived in the lake.
Halong bay is beautiful. It's like Phang-Nga in Thailand, but without the rivers and Mangroves, but the limestone karst fromations are higher and more numerous and the water is clearer. The only downside is that it is very, very touristic.
On the first day of the trip we met a cool Canadian guy, Justin. We then went to a cave which was pretty good, but I'm getting a little fed up of caves. EVery time I go to one the guides keep telling you to look at different formations that resemble animals. They do resemble them slightly, but after visting a few caves, it's same same but different.
After this we went to a little beach for a swim. The weather wasn't the best, but I took off the fake Prada top I had aquired in Hanoi and was surpirsed to find that the water wasn't too cold at all. We witnessed a few eagles (don't know whatsepcies) swopping down into the sea attempting to catch fish. A shame my camera skills aren't up to scratch so you'll have to take my word for it. Didn't see them catch anything though. Then we got back on the boat for dinner.
The next day we went kayaking and wnet to Monkey island. We didn't see any monkeys and the bay there is very shallow. Even in the middle, you can stand up so it was nice swimming, sunbathing and skimming stones there for a while. Then we went to Cat Ba island.
Cat Ba island is nice, but again there are many tourists. We did a 2 hour trek up a hill which offred superb vistas across Halong Bay and we saw pots at the base of many pince trees, which they tap to collect the sap which is used to make glue. There are many pool hustlers on Cat Ba. We all lapyed one guy at pool, betting 20,000 dong (approx.65p) After loosing to him, he told us that he is Cat ba island's #1 pool player. Crafty bugger!
There's good night life to be had on Cat Ba island. We went to a club not too far from our hotel and met a copule of cool people there. the best bit was the dance off. It started off fairly well enough, but then people started doing really stupid dance moves and not pulling them off. Steve and I were in stiches. The best move was when 1 Vietnamese guy lay on the floor in a press up position. His frined then proceded to do a flip over him, but landed on top of him. Everyone else was still clapping and cheering, but Me and Steve were almost rolling on the floor with laughter. After witnessing some more crap moves, Steve said that I should give hime a piggyback across the dance floor. I declined at frist, but then thought yeah why not. I piggy backed him across the dance floor, with Steve shaking his fist in the air. To our amazement we received the biggest cheer of the night!
After leaving the club we went to the promenade. It's just like blackpool, with loads of fake, brightly lit palm trees. A guy in a boat came up to us and tried offering us a tour for 50,000 dong. We told him to do one as we wouldn't be able to see much in the dark anyway. Some people. unbelievable! Then we proceeded tp push each other through the hedges for some stupid reason. It seemed fun enough at the time.
The final day of the tour was spent on the boat back to Halong City. The sun was out so we sunbathed on the top deck admiring the splendid view.
Returned to Hanoi for one more night before getting a sleeper bus to Hue. The journey took about 10 hours overnight, but the beds are obviously designed for small Vietnamese frames as it was very uncomfortable. Thankfully, a nice gurl gave up her bad on the side of the bus, which was longer and wider, but still uncomfortable.
Arrived in Hue (where apparently the end scenes of Full metal Jacket are supposed to be based), needless to say knackered so went to bed once we'd checked into the guesthouse. Hue was the capital under 6 emperors from somehwere in the 1800's to the early/mid 1900's. I quite liked it. There's the old citadel and I also visted a pagoda, which is famous for being home to the monk who drove to Saigon and set fire to himself in protest against the president before the Vietnam/American war for raising taxes. I used to have the rage against the machine poster with this picture on my wall, so I had to go.
We also visited the DMZ (demilitarised zone) that kind of marks the border between North and South Vietnam. The 1st stop on this tour was the so called frame of a church. It is literally the reamins of a Catholic church in whcih the Noth Vietnamese army (Viet Cong) hid during an American attack. You can see bullet holes and some sort of explosive device damage and it's quite eerie being in there imagining what it must have been like hiding in there.
Then we vistied a raod junction that had a large communist billboard and 2 remains of American tanks on show. Then we visited a few more communist statues/sculptures. It's quite good seeing a couple because I'd never seen any before, but after a while you get bored of them. The best bit was crossing over a river bridge to hear the shouts of a fisherman who wanted us to take photos of him. He was brilliant, with his hands on hips posing. On the way back across thebridge he wanted us to take more pics of him. Most amusing!
We visited a crappy, litter strewn beach before going to the Vinh Mok tunnels. These were built by the local community after their village had been bombed. Apparently, the U.S. used 7 tonnes of bombs per person residing there.
Next stop Hoi An. We booked ourselves into a nice guesthouse in Hoi An and went to a tilor shop to be fitted for some clothes. Then we wnet to a resaturant to eat and play pool. It kept raining on and off, sometimes torrentially. On the way back from the restaurant to our guesthouse the water in the street nearly came up to our waist. Upon getting to the guesthouse, we could see water on the floor. This kept rising and Gary helped the staff clear some of the furniture.
The next morning the water on the bottome floor was knee deep and we were stranded. We had to go out to get food. At first I thought F**k that, but I thank Gary, Kate and Steve for giving me the balls to follow them. We waded out onto the street, down the steps of the hotel and off the pavement into the actual street. The water was up to my chin and I'm no Bruce Forsythe so you can imagine how deep it was (over 5 feet).
We literally swam to a restaurant and then came back to be told by the staff that it's best if we leave. They had no power or water. We met a cool guy, Danny and he joined us. We rented a boat. Yes, that's right a boat to feryy us to dry land and booked ourselves into a nice hotel with swimmming pool. EWven though it was raining cats and dogs we still made use of the swiming pool, because we were drenched anyway.....plus this hotel was 4 times as expensive as the one we had left.
Couldn't really do much over the next few days due to the high water level so swam and made a few trips to the decent Indian restaurant around the corner.
When the waters finally receeded, we went back to the tailors. I wasn't happy with my ruosers and the other guys weren't happy with their goods either. So we told them to sort it out! We then saw the old Japananese covered bridge. It was an anti-climax. it is tiny and looks so much better in pictures. Still took a few pics though. The next day we went back to the tailors and to be fair to hem everything was perfect ad we were now happy, apart from the one ghastly shirt which I bought. Still that was my bad taste and naievety in believing Gary that it looked nice, not the tailors.
Our last day in Hoi An was an early riser. We visited My Son, soe old Champa ruins. These were pretty paltry, especially after witnessing the majesty of Angkor. Once again, it was very touristy, but it's difficult getting off the tourist trail in Vietnam.
We then set off on what we were told would be an 18 hour journey to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). Unfortunately, Gary lost his ticket so had to remain behind. Sorry I didn't get a chance to say goodbye properly to you Gaz!! I knew from past experience that it would take longer than this, but didn't think it would take 24.5 hours, including two planned stops for breakfast and lunch and 1 unplanned stop due to water in the engine.
It was my last my last day in Vietnam and the last with Steve and Kate so I didn't want to be lame. Some how I stayed up all night and day so i could be with them and then see the War remnance museum the following morning. The reunificatin palace was shut to visitors due to a govt. meeting, but still got a picture of it. Also snapped Notre Dame Cathedral, which looks very similar to St. Chad's cathedral in Birmingham.
Said my good bys to Kate and Steve before jetting off to Singapore. Was extremely tired and knew if i styaed in a hostel i wouldn't get much sleep. the hotels near Singapore airport are very expensive so ended up in the red light area. I ate some dinner and then went to bed, but there was a stupid bleeping noise coming from the fire alarm every 5 seconds so didn't sleep to well. Got up early for a flight to Brunei, still feeling very tried indeed!!
