So day 6.... we were up and off to Hue today. An amazing bus journey later we were settled into the hotel and headed to lunch during some free time. Made it to bar Why not and had noodles again! Next we headed off on a tour to the Tu Duc Tomb. It was basically a massive parkland for the King Tu Duc...bit of a useless man apparently. He sat around the beautiful grounds and had hundreds of concubines and unichs at his disposal. Instead of righting wrongs and improving life for his people he wrote poems and prayed for "someone else" to help his people. Very pretty place and huge grounds with temples etc. Explored the place for a bit and the rains were threatening! And of course there were the ladies trying to sell ponchos and umbrellas as soon as you stepped out of the Tomb. Next it was onto the Pagoda after viewing how incence and hats are made. The pagoda was interesting, hung around to hear the monks chanting (didn't sound very peaceful actually...bit more aggressive really!!). Then we took a very lame boat down the "perfume river" whilst the rain fell lightly around us. Dinner was organised for us...a place was booked that was owned by a deaf man and his 8-or-something daughters. Looked like a dive but the food was really good. And beer so cheap!! Great night finished off with a free cocktail on the hotel roof-top bar with great views of the city.
This morning we headed off on a cyclo tour to the Forbidden purple city. Contiki was out in force on their cyclos, pretty hilarious!! We stopped for our group photo (currently in my backpack getting squished into all sorts of contortions!) ten we toured the Forbidden city which was very lovely. After a look around and some Elephant rides it was off to the (poor excuse of an) airport. Here Dean the tour guide gave me some tips about Luang Prabang and Phonm Penh, among other places in Laos and Cambodia. After the flight (about 1 hour) we got on a bus to the city of Hanoi. The bus could only take us so far and we had to jump off, scoop up our luggage and cross through crazy traffic (similar to HCMC, maybe fewer bikes but more chaotic) to get to the small lane our hotel was down. The hotels on contiki have been palatial!! Especially compared to Europe where the rooms were as big as the bathrooms I was now using. How four of us got ready in limited time in those bathrooms is unfathomable!! But we did! A few of us had a walk around town and picked up some silk scarves and DVDs..then hit-up the legends beer restaurant for a brew and some food.Really nice. We had a great view over a busy "intersection" so masrvelled at the chaos below. Then a perfomance started on a stage in the middle of this intersection! It was crazy because bikes were passing by and stopping, thereby holding up the traffic! We crossed thorugh the madness to have a look at the lake at night. Then Lisa, Mel and I ran into Dean and shared a bevy with him in a small bar around the corner from our hotel. Hanoi was nice but busy and chaotic once again...something I wasn't too excited about being part of!
Day 8... today we had a three hour drive to Halong Bay. I'd seen some pictures of this place and it is campainging to be listed as one of the world's greatest wonders. It was instantly evident why! It was absolutely huge and scattered within the bay were thousands of limestone "islets" and "karsts". Spectacular....I couldn't comprehend the magnitude! We boarded our private Junk boat (very impressive) and settled in for lunch. What a lunch it was!! About 9 different courses or plates of seafood. Crab steamed in beer, clams, garlic prawns, fish, octupus...so amazing and I ate it all! Meanwhile we were floating among the most picturesque place I have ever seen! Once we were all full we headed to some caves and had a look around. After this we had the option of going to a lookout (up some very gruelling steps). I stayed back as I wasn't feeling too well and thought I could do some more reading and planning for my trip. Slept a little bit and woke to hear the guys jmping off the boat. We had another epic meal at dinner, which pretty much mirrored our lunch and after this we drank and dance, some people staying up pretty late. I wasn't feeling the vibe so went below deck and stuck my head out the window just marvelling at the karsts surrounding the boat. I could imagine floating peacefully in a kayak or something at night, the karsts towering over you with their millions of years on the earth belittling you and forcing you to ponder over your tiny existence!! Beautiful.
Day 9... we were up and cruising again. I could stay in Halong Bay for at least a week. After breakfast a few of us opted for a boat ride to see some monkeys. It was amazing to see them in their natural environment, the babies were so tiny but acrobatic nonetheless! Mr Richmond will be dissapointed I could name the species of them... What was for lunch?? You guessed it, more seafood!! I was still impressed by the dishes that came out in a constant flow of yummyness. Then we had to say goodbye to Halong Bay and we were all very sad to leave. Back on the bus for 3 hours and we had our last dinner together as a group at Le Tonkin. We couldn't go to the KOTO (know one teach one) restaurant as they were closed for a meeting whioch was a huge dissapointment. Le Tonkin had probably never served a group as big as ours so the service was terrible slow and a couple of meals never made it out! We headed to a bar near the hotel and after a few drinks landed at "The tunnel bar" which was really funky. We pretty much had the place to ourselves so drank, smoked some shish and danced for hours! Excellent last night. I rocked up to the hotel at 2am pretty intoxicated, though not overly, went on facebook and snacked on some pringles whilst chatting to Lisa- awesome roomie!
Our last day....nawww...it was a late start as we took advantage of the sleep-in! ASfter packing I went with Lisa to her hotel to dump my stuff while we walked around the outer area of Hanoi. After buying shoes for trekking in Sapa I got my bag and we walked to the hotel a few km away....well it was after we took a wrong turn!! Got back a bit sweaty so changed and headed to legends for a last beer together. Said goodbye to everyone at the hotel as they were off to dinner and I was waiting to be taken to the train for my big Sapa adventure!!
All in all contiki was pretty amazing. I felt a bit weird being part of a tour group again after preparing myself for solo travel but it was good to have some mates to drink and party with...and share the experience of Vietnam!!
I'll fill you in on my Sapa trip next so stay tuned...
Love to ALL!!!!! xx
