We arrived in Hanoi on new years eve (the Chinese new year) otherwise known as Tet in Vietnam. This is the biggest holiday of the year for Vietnamese people, for most the only holiday of the year. After we got to our hostel we headed into the city to watch the celebrations and the huge fire works display over the lake. The first thing we realised when we landed was it was fucking cold… after leaving Laos where it was in the high 30s we were not prepared for the cold, misty dull weather.
Vietnam is the land of motorbikes if you do not own a motor bike you are no one. Cars are relatively new to Vietnam and with a 200% tax are very expensive so only the very wealthy have cars! Scooters and motorbikes dominate the streets with thousands of them on the roads and the footpaths. Hanoi is a crazy city and it was always entertaining watching the city in action. Scooters and motorbikes are used for everything, they are used as people carriers
to transport whole families we saw motorbikes with 4 and 5 people on them, they’re used as delivery vehicles to transport things you could never imagine could be carried on the back of a bike. For example we saw washing machines, trees, animals in cages, chairs, TV’s on the backs of bikes. People even sleep on their bikes.
The city is mostly old, with narrow streets and ally ways and crumbling buildings. We soon discovered how the city operates! The footpaths are for parking your scooter,
driving your scooter, its where people set up there make shift restraunts and where people sell anything you could think of, its where Vietnamese people sit on tiny baby sized tables and chairs eat noodle soup and socialise. Its for these reasons that most of the time we had to walk on the streets along with the motor bikes, scooters, cars and busses. Traffic is non stop, there seems to be no road rules, people drive on the wrong side of the road, run red lights... There is no pedestrian crossings. Crossing the road was a whole new kind of extreme sport for us and often terrifying and exciting. On our first morning we sat on the balcony of a cafe and watched the locals. Its was here that we learned how to cross the street in this crazy city. Its very simple really...just walk. You just have to go for it and hope for the best, walk out onto the street amid the hundreds of bikes and non stop honking of horns and hope that the bikes and cars will go around you. Crazy I know, but it worked.
The worst thing about arriving in Hanoi during the New Year was that all the tourist attractions were either closed or unbearable over crowded with holidaying Vietnamese people. So on a wet cold day after spending a few hours walking round the city dodging scooters we came across an Irish Pub. It was about 4pm when we went in to have a drink, almost 10 hours later we left the bar having paid our 2.5 million Dong bill! Back at the hostel Stephen and James made some drunken skype calls home while myself and Sinead went to bed. Needless to say much of the following day was spent in bed. The following day we did do some stuff. We went to see Ho Chi Minh's body on display which was interesting. His body is kept in a special building (on display to the world despite the fact that he requested a quiet cremation when he died) watched over by many very uptight guards who demanded we not talk, laugh, smile, put our hands in our pockets. This guy is a big deal in Vietnam. After this we went to the "Hanoi Hilton". This is the prison where many American solders including John Mc Cain were held by the Viet Cong during the war. Its also where many Vietnamese were held by the French after they took over Vietnam. The prison museum was very interesting but completely one sided propaganda controlled by the communist government. Basically it tells of how badly the Vietnamese were treated when they were held by the French and how when the American were held here they were treated like kings and had everything they could want and need. A bit one sided we thought.
The plan after Hanoi was to head south so we booked bus tickets to Nimh Bhinn a few hours south. The bus was at 6pm and the day before this Sinead had left a huge load of washing to the hostel reception she was told it would be back by 12pm the day were due to leave. Were were out all day so when we got back to the hostel at 4pm she went looking for her washing. The problem started when the kid who is about 15 years old and had been left in charge of the hostel speaks no English so just getting him to understand what she was asking for was a task. After three hours, many phone calls and a lot of shouting from Sinead the laundry still had not shown up and we had to leave for the bus. Sinead had no choice, pretty much all her clothes were missing she could not leave without them so just me and Stephen got on the bus. Sinead was so pissed off the poor kid in the hostel was almost in tears when we left... it was actually quite funny for the rest of us. Loosing her temper and almost making the kid cry did pay off how ever... she managed to get a free night in the hostel, free laundry when it did show up and a free ride to the next day to Nimh Bhinn.
Nimh Bhinn is a shit hole... It looks like the war just ended there yesterday. Its dirty, gray, filthy, loud and busy! Thankfully we weren’t here to see the town. We spent a day in the surrounding country side... went for a boat trip in Tanm Coc which is made up of huge limestone formations surrounded by paddy fields and water ways.
The boats are small row boats each boat takes 2 tourists. In the boat was a husband and wife team. The husband rows while the wife does the small talk and points out stuff. At the end of the river there are dozens of boats which have basically been turned into a floating shop with drinks, beer, fruit etc and basically pester you until you buy something and something for your guide as well.. On the return journey the woman in the boat pulls a big bag out from under her seat full of embroidered table clots and doilies and starts the usual guilt trip and doesn’t let up. Eventually James caved and bought something. She wasn’t happy, after much pestering and sob stories about how much money we have (Yea right) she gave up not before giving James an ore and making him help row all the way back, id say she wanted to get us back fast so she could get us out of her boat! Despite all this the scenery was beautiful and worth the trip.
After the Tamm Coc we climbed some hills and many steps to see temples, pagodas and amazing views of the paddy fields and visited the floating villages. As soon as this was done we got the hell out of Nimh Binn.
We got an overnight bus further south to Hue. The busses in Vietnam are like none I have ever seen before. They actually have bunk beds in them which are pretty comfy except on this occasion we got ripped off.
We were among the last people to get on the bus and were forced to sleep two in a bed. The beds are very narrow and tight and with two of us in a bed the journey was unbearable long and uncomfortable. Nothing new there then. Thankfully we had invested in some Valium so this helped make the journey slightly more pleasant. It was needed as seems that all drivers epically bus drivers in Vietnam are wanabe formula 1 drivers on a mission to get to their destination as quick as possible by overtaking every vehicle in their path; even when there is on coming traffic and honking there horn as much as they possibly can.
Hue was a quick one day stop on our way south. Its a really nice town and one of the towns which was worst hit during the Vietnam war. On display in one of the parks was some of the American tanks and weapons captured during the war. Boys being boys, Stephen and James had a great time playing around in the tanks.
We also went to have a look at the old city. This was the old capital city and home to Vietnam royalty in the past. Its was damaged during the war and when we were there they were in the middle of restoring the city. The bits that were restored were beautiful but there is a lot of work to do.
By this point in we discovered a few things about Vietnam First of all it’s a huge rip off of a country. There is always one price for locals and one price for tourists and much of the time the tourist prices are ridiculous. Everyone is out to sell you something and rip you off because they assume your rich we always heard the same thing “but this is very cheap price for you” Prices for some things were higher that what we would pay at home. We were pretty quick to cop on to this so we didn’t let ourselves fall for the ridiculous prices, lots of haggling was done. Although at times we had no choice. Also people in Vietnam are tiny, James is a giant and I at a pretty small 5ft 2in am well above average which is nice for a change. Vietnam is also the land of counterfeits. Counterfeit books, DVD’s and Music among other tings is available everywhere and not just on the street from some dodgy fellas, its widely available in big posh department stores and government buildings as well.
Next stop is Hoi An.
