Easter holidays: Vietnam with Jaimee, Hannah, Matt, Rueben and Benji.
Wednesday 3rd April: airasia.com flight from Coolangatta to Kuala Lumpur. Connecting flight to Hanoi. Jaimee had bought her ticket Coolangatta - Hanoi and so she was able to check her luggage all the way through, but I had booked mine as separate flights and so had to collect bag at KL and check-in for Hanoi flight. A bit of a hassle, but we were able to pick up a Starbucks coffee on the way, which made up for it :) 8.5 hours followed by 3.5 hours
We were amazed at the efficiency of KL LCCT (Low cost carrier terminal). SO many planes on the tarmac! Small cultural differences already creeping in - older folk skipping queues, time after time..Air asia's motto is: 'Now everyone can fly!'
Visa on arrival in Vietnam was a good idea. We did NOT need the two passport photos. They accepted Dong and US$. We applied online at:
Taxi from Hanoi airport to Old Quarter cost 330 Dong - there is a sign outside that tells you this but the drivers still attempt to test your conversion skills by quoting us$25...instead of us$15. It seemed to take a long time to get there; crazy roads... horns blaring continuously.
We arrive at Hanoi Guesthouse www.hanoiguesthouse.com
The ladies there were wonderful. Great rooms with snacks and water. Good location: the minute you step out you are immersed in a flowing stream of scooters with the occasional vehicle squeezing past. Bodies are walking in every direction - maintaining course as the scooters and motorbikes pricy and swerve to avoid collision. Terrifying to watch!
Our hotel was happy to offer us a Halong Bay Tour but we seemed to be in the street that had all the tour operators, so very easy to shop around. We booked through Kangaroo Tours travel. A pile of glossy brochures to skim through - all the boats looked beautiful in the pictures. 2 days 1 night $69. Transfers to and from Hanoi included.
With this booked and paid for, we began our first day of exploration in Hanoi. First we visited the lake with the red bridge. Ngocson temple. I tried pineapple off the street and was surprised to taste the chilli dust sprinkled on top! We the walked about 2km across town to Ho Chi Minh's palace and Mausoleum. We witnessed some guards military training in the sweltering heat before heading back across town in a 7 seater taxi to a supermarket where we were able to pick up snacks for our Halong Bay Tour the following day. The supermarket was interesting; lots of rows of sauces and spices, rice noodles and pho noodles, lots of Japanese and other Asian snacks. You can't take your handbag into the supermarket with you.
The girls fancied some new sunglasses. We found ourselves on 'sunglasses street' and began bartering for a good price. They sales girls assured us that we were buying the best Korean fakes.
For dinner, we visited a vegetarian restaurant called Tamarind Cafe, across the street from our hotel. They had 3 separate menus: Indian, Malaysian and the Vietnamese/vegetarian menu...overwhelming! But great food.
We were all fighting jet lag so after dinner we decided to treat ourselves to a massage. 'Snowdrop spa' was able to accommodate all 6 of us. (No.6 Luong Ngoc Quyen Str.) Jaimee and I were in one room. The ladies were chatting the entire hour. Good pressure, almost too sore but my body needed it - it's not two weeks since the ironman! The ladies were walking on our backs and using their knees, too! We strolled around the busy hectic streets and then collapsed into bed.
Friday 5th: woke up early..tried to make the instant coffee in my room but I ripped the pack open and the powder went up my nose! Not a good start.. Breakfast at the hotel...bread and eggs.
We were told it would be a two hour bus journey out to Halong Bay, but it soon turned into a 4.5 hour trip! The roads weren't too hectic, just slow. It was scenic with all the green rice paddies and small rural villages.
We arrived at the port for Halong Bay and our tour guide 'Bee' announced that we would all be operating as if on a single day tour due to a predicted storm.. The government controls the paperwork for the boats out on Halong Bay. If the weather is a threat, they ban overnight tours. Although it was a glassy still day, we were given the option of returning to Hanoi that night...another 4.5hrs on a bumpy bus, or a night at a hotel on an island. We chose this option and would stay at 'The Hidden Charm' hotel on Tuan Chau Island.
The island is being developed into a tourist resort island. There is a lot of construction but it looks like it will be many years before this is a fully functional resort island paradise!
On our Halong Bay boat cruise, we stopped at some incredible limestone caves before continuing to a floating village where we kayaked around some more stunning caves. The kayaks were in a bad state - holes...it's amazing that we didn't sink! Such a beautiful location....stunning backdrop. We didn't do as many analog Bay activities as we had hoped, but there wasn't much we could do about the weather.
Saturday 6th: we got up and had breakfast before embarking on a 7km jog around the island. I've been eating so much food - it's all delicious and new. The running felt hard after 2 weeks of no sport!
We now await our bus back to Hanoi..we have an hour to have dinner before boarding another bus that will take us down to Ninh Binh, another 2 hours.
