Arrived in Hanoi and got ambushed at the airport by cabs drivers and after 15 mins of trying to get the best price, embarked on the drive of death. A warning, their driving is totally insane and the use of their horns is a must even if they aren’t angry! Got into the city and actually liked the look of the place which was helped by cool weather and managed to run into Lisa who stayed with us in Australia over the NY which was very coincidental! Next day walked around the city, checking out some of the places to see in the Old Quarter such as Bach Ma temple, memorial house, Hoan Kiem Lake and old Hanoi prison which all were very interesting especially the prison and how biased it was about the US involvement in the Vietnam war.
Next day we headed out to Halong bay for a 3 day tour around Halong Bay and Cat Ba island with one night on an old Junk boat. Arrived on the boat, which was actually better than we expected after knowing what we paid for the trip, and the views were unbelievable. There was thousands of limestone islands dotted around which we cruised between until we arrived at Sung Sot Cave which was a large grotto inside one of the limestone islands. We then went kayaking around the bay and then headed back to the Junk with the group for dinner and drinks. We had a great group of people and met an Aussie and UK couple who helped make for a great night on the boat and even included some attempts at breakdancing and even the old show stopper – the teddy Bear roll! Next day we regrettably left the group and went to Cat Ba National park to climb the peak, which again being hungover was a very stupid idea as it was a very steep climb! Anyway made it to the top and it was well worth the exercise, even if we didn’t think so at the time, and headed to Monkey Island. Apparently all the monkeys had “seen” enough tourists in the morning so we only saw one monkey, even after we hiked all the way to the beach on the other side. It was funny because not only did the girl who decided to sit on the beach and not trek see 5 monkeys whilst sitting there, but a Vietnamese couple decided it would be fun to secretly take photos of me and Jason...but got our email address so then could send them to us! Instead of another night on the boat, we were at a hotel in Cat Ba with another group of people, who we just couldn’t be bothered with as we still felt really tired and sick but still managed to be convinced into going out with a Dutch guy and his GF for a few drinks –which ended up being a good night also though on our way to the pub only then did we realise our hotel was in the red light district of Cat Ba.
Next day was woeful and consisted of 8 hours of travelling back from Cat Ba to Hanoi only so we could make the 7pm sleeper bus to Hue which was going to take 13 hours. Luckily we made it back in time only to find when we got on the bus, Lisa and Danish couple that we had met were on the bus. The bus was actually not as bad as we expected, although lucky we weren’t any taller or it would have been very uncomfortable. We Arrived in Hue this morning and with the Dutch couple and another couple, rented a minivan to see a few of the local sights in one day so we can head off to Hoi An tomorrow.
As always sitting in a hotel writing this, not being able to access Facebook in Vietnam, but being able to turn off the air con by using the TV remote...
