The
overnight bus from Hue to Hanoi was the longest so far, 14 hours with
two or three stops. What made this one worse is there was nothing blocking the
oncoming headlights in my face so I ended up trying to sleep with my head under
the blanket. The main highway is a single lane in each direction and the
traffic don’t dip their lights at any point. As a passenger I was blinded by
some of the oncoming trucks, how the bus drivers cope is beyond comprehension.
I suppose by dipping the headlights they might need to take their hand off the
hooter, so they don’t.
Got to Hanoi quite early in the
morning and got off on the wrong foot. I had a dispute with one of the
motorcycle taxi drivers over the fare to my hotel of choice, so I took another one.
My mistake… In hindsight he probably was drunk. We almost crashed into another
bus which gave a massive honk on his hooter, partially deafening me and then
weaved in and out of traffic in the general direction of the old quarter. I had
a vague idea of where I wanted to go and he was clearly taking me somewhere
else, so I eventually bailed, paid him a part fare and walked the rest of the
way.
The
backpacker / tourist area of Hanoi
is mostly around the old quarter with cluttered busy streets selling every
conceivable item. There is a real bustle about the place, but it has a very
different feel to Ho Chi Minh City.
There is virtually no pavement as every available inch is used for selling or
eating. It can be a bit of a dice with the motorcycles for a bit of roadway to
walk on. Apart from the taxi’s there seemed to be less persistence from the
stall holders and it was quite pleasant to wander around.
I booked a
three day two night trip to Halong Bay, one of the “must do” trips in Vietnam. The
prices vary considerably and while all trips seem to go to similar areas, the
quality of the boat and accommodation can vary. I paid bottom dollar and ended
up on a really dodgy boat but with a fantastic bunch of low budget travelers.
The scenery
is absolutely spectacular and photographs cannot reproduce the feel of the
place. It’s definitely a trip that should be one everyone’s to-do list. The
first day was a trip to a massive limestone cave on one of the 1900 islands
followed by a visit to a floating village and a trip in a small boat through
some caves, finally mooring for some swimming and diving off the top deck for
the more adventurous.
We followed
this up with a good drinking session on the upper deck under the starts. While
most of the boats were relatively quiet we had such a good time that a bunch of
folk from a neighboring boat moored alongside came over to join us.
Because we
had run late the previous evening we missed out of our scheduled hour of
kayaking, so we were woken by the throbbing engine at around 6am and had early
morning kayaking around some of the islands at 6:30am. There’s nothing like a
bit of early morning exercise to clear the head.
After this
we travelled to one of the larger islands and checked into a hotel. Because we
were apparently on the budget tour, our hotel was set well back from the town
and wasn’t of a particularly high standard. I went off on a separate afternoon
cruise to Monkey Island where there were troops of
monkeys strolling around this coral strewn beach.
That night
about 10 of us went down to the local pub, which closed way too early at around
11. We decided to give karaoke a try. Walking back towards our hotel in the
slightly less savory part of town, we went in to the first karaoke bar and
asked is we could have a go. Unfortunately it turned out that this place was
purely a brothel and he didn’t actually have a karaoke, although he did offer
us massages. The next place we tried was also a brothel (though seemingly
unused at the time of our visit) but he did have a karaoke machine so we
negotiated a price on the beers and then let rip for a few hours. Half the
songs were sung in Spanish and half in English. Unfortunately there weren’t any
Hebrew numbers for our two Israeli friends.
At the end
of a few hours of hearty sing-a-long we tried to pay the bill. Only to find we
were locked in and disputing the bill with the Madame. We had been under the
impression that the cost would be the beers however there was now an
extortionate room hire cost added. After much arguing, bartering and general
grumpiness we eventually reluctantly paid up and were let out. I later quizzed
our guide as to the general practice and was told that that was in fact a
reasonable price. I don’t know how the locals can afford it. As backpackers we
found it quite steep.
Anyway, the
memory of being locked into a brothel in Vietnam over a dispute over the
bill makes it all worthwhile.
The next
day was the long trek back to Hanoi,
first by boat and then by bus. A word of advice to anyone planning a trip to
Halong Bay - it’s a long way to get there do the three day trip as a minimum,
it’s too far to go for the one day or two day cruise.
I had
planned to do a tour of some of the sights of Hanoi
before I left for Bangkok, but I unfortunately
ran into a bunch of mates who I’d met in Delat and Nha trang and we got stuck
into a few pubs in Hanoi,
so I never made it.
I also
never got to do the other “must do” Vietnam trip, the trekking to the
hill tribes around Sapa. That just leaves me with another reason to return.
