Northern Vietnam

Saturday April 2nd (Vietaine - Hanoi, Vietnam)

We woke up early and rushed to get to the airport to make sure we were on time. Turns out that the Lao airport is tiny and it doesn't operate like any airport we'd ever been to before. Everyone waits outside these glass doors and when your flight is up everyone checks in, then you proceed through security and wait again. It just meant an extra wait for us because they were running a little behind. We finally arrived at the Hanoi Airport around 5pm, it was a little disappointing to spend an entire day waiting but it sure beat a 28 hour bus ride. We arrived in rush hour and took at $2 shuttle into town (which is 50km's away) it always surprises me, but every we go traffic seems to get crazier. There are usually no sidewalks, and scooters parked on the edge. Intersections don't usually have lights and they use traffic circles.... it's a crazy system but it seems to work. To cross the road you just walk into traffic and trust that if you go slow they will avoid you... the same deal when you are walking down the street, you just walk on the side of the road and they will avoid you. Upon arrival we were so scared that we only left our hotel to eat and book a tour... a total of walking one block, but today we walked around cautiously but surprised at how well the system works. We ended up booking a 3 day boat tour of Halong Bay and Cat ba Island, one night sleeping on a 'Junk' and the other in a hotel on the island. Seems like go-go-go but we didn't want to waste a day in Hanoi. 


-Jason

Sunday April 3rd (Hanoi - Halong Bay)

This morning we headed off to our tour of Halong Bay. We were both pretty excited because we have heard so many good things about it and everyone who has been to Vietnam told us it's a must see. We get on our mini bus and it is already completely full. We were the last two people on so we are stuck on the fold down chairs. At least the four hour ride is a smooth one (not windy). When we arrived in Halong City, we had to get off the bus and wait to get on our boat. There was a lot of confusion and I don't think our guide knew what to do with us. There were people who were just getting a ride to Cat Ba, people who were on a 2 day tour and then people who were on a 3 day tour(us), but they put us all together. When we finally go to our boat and told our itinerary, it was completely opposite as to what we were told when we booked it. We were spending the night on Cat Ba island and tomorrow night on the boat. We were served lunch (cold french fries, fish, rice and tofu) and went to our activity of the day, an island cave. It was a huge cave and pretty tricked out with fluorscent colourful lights. It was kind of cheesey with a million people inside, but still amazing to see. Our next stop was the "floating village" which was a few houses in a bay and we had the option to take a power boat around for an hour for $5 each. We decided against it and it was a good thing because the trip only lasted 20 minutes. We then headed further south until we made it to Cat Ba Island. After we got off the boat and were rushed to the bus, we then got to sit on the bus waiting for 2 hours until the driver was ready to go. The tour company is very tight lipped as to what it is that we are always having to wait for. But 2 hours sitting on a bus while our driver ate was a little irritating to everyone on the tour. Making it to our hotel that night was a pretty big relief to everyone. The hotel ended up exceeded our expectations. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.



-Lisa

Monday April 4th (Halong Bay - Cat Ba Island)


Waking up nice and early to meet up for breakfast with the group, we got downstairs to find out that all we were getting was a mini bagette, not what most people were expecting before the trek. Having all your meals included is nice, but it seems to be hit or miss. We all boarded our little bus and headed to the  national park where our guide booted us out and told us that we could walk up the mountain if we wanted and if not it was free time. No guide was really necessary, but there were not frills with this budget tour. The trek took about all of 30 minutes up and 30 minutes down, so it meant about an hour and a half wait for the bus with nothing to do... spirits were down because everyone was starving after the hike and the locals had us trapped an hour away from anything else. We took the bus back to the hotel for some lunch and then on to the next activity.. Monkey Island. Part of the problem is that there are so many tour companies booking different tours which all get tossed together and people pay different prices and are promised different things. We ended up paying $20 more then the cheapest tour booked but $30 less then the most expensive. There were some unhappy individuals when it came to forking over $8 to go to Monkey Island... because it wasn't supposed to be included. A few of the groups had their receipts which showed that they had it included. It ended up in some heated arguments and some calls to various travel agents. We decided just to pay up because it really wasn't worth the fuss, in the end it only costed $5... our tour guide was apparently trying to take $3/pp overhead. It was worth the money to go and see the Monkey's.. but it was a sad at the same time. There were tons of monkey's who all relied on getting fed by tourists... so they we eating bags of chips, oreo's and whatever else they could get their hands on. They were extremely aggressive and even stole a bag of oreo's out of a man's hands but who could blame them. After this we were bused around the island back to a 'Junk' to spend the night, turns out that we got a fancier boat then we originally cruised over on. After a nice dinner we shared a few over priced drinks (you weren't allowed to bring your on beer because it was technically a restaurant) but it was funny because the kid that was selling them to me was maybe 15 years old. Minus the waiting and the upset people in our tour we enjoyed the day :) 


-Jason

Tuesday April 5th (Halong Bay - Hanoi)


It's the last day of our tour and neither of us got a very good sleep because we pulled the short end of the stick and were stuck next to the engine. We both woke up with sore throats and to the smell of sulfur. Breakfast was a million times better then yesterday because we each were lucky enough to add an egg to our bread. Right after breakfast we went kayaking, an activity that would have been better if it wasn't so foggy out. It was still fun and it was cool to be so close to some mini islands and in the crystal blue water. It was time to head back to Halong City and we were all pretty tired and hungry after we got off the boat and expected to get right onto our bus but instead were faced with more waiting. They make you sit in some womans shop expecting that you will buy her pringles and the lady is constantly moving you from seat to seat to make room for the other tourists they are bamboozling with their waiting scheme. The lady didn't know personal boundaries and was poking at my side to make me sit down at the opposite end of the table away from my entire group. After an hour our bus showed up to pick us up but once we started to get in he quickly drove off, turned around and picked up some other people instead. Our guide seemed confused and told us the new driver will be here in 5 or 2 minutes. Half an hour later we were on the bus. Jason got the last seat and after I swore I would never sit on a pull down chair, it was how I spent the next 4 hours. We got dropped off somewhere in the Old Quarter of Hanoi and were just going to find a random place to stay, when a random guy asked us if we needed a room, and we followed him to our home sweet home for the night. Hanoi is a fast paced, crazy motorcyclists city and I have a heart attack everytime I walk in the street, so I am eager to get out of here and to the south. We booked our open tour bus tickets and went off the movies. We ended up seeing Battle LA, and watching movies in Hanoi is the same experience as Central America, cell phones and kicking the back of your seat the entire movie. The verdict is still up in the air about the movie.

Overall our opinion about our tour is a mixed one. While in the end we got everything that we were told we were going to get, hearing that people were paying half of what we did for our tour really was a shock and it made us really upset. We could understand if it was a few dollars, but not when you're paying twice what other people are and getting the exact same tour. That isn't what any traveller wants to hear. The guide having a melt down and yelling, showing that he was unable to deal with difficult situations and did not act professional also was a huge negative. I guess using our Chiang Mai trek as a standard for any tour we take makes us realize that we were really fortunate. But I don't know if we would have really wanted to go through all the trouble of planning it by ourselves. It would have been a huge stress and i'm glad we didn't have to go through it. Also we wished we could have had at least one nice day :(. If we ever book again we'll have to look around a little bit more to make sure we aren't being over charged.


-Lisa

Wednesday April 6th (Hanoi - Hoi An)


Knowing that we had a day of being homeless we waiting right until 11:29 to check out. We wandered down the busy street to find a nice restaurant serving reasonably priced breakfast (sit down restaurants can be extremely pricy, especially in tourist areas) After breakfast I decided that I would get a bike tuk-tuk down to a market... not really even thinking about anything other negotiating a good price... we were at a market before we knew it. We got there and realized that we had no real desire to buy anything other then some cheap shoes... they laughed at me when I asked for my size. We wandered back to the lake to kill some time and decided to go check out a museum that is in the middle with an embalmed fresh water giant turtle. These giant turtles apparently live in this lake and they have legit pictures of them... but it's like the Ogopogo/Loc Ness. These turtles are believed to have stolen the mythical sword that fought off the Chinese... so it's a big deal. After the museum we decided to try and find a restaurant that the book raves about and give it a shot. On the way we stopped into a few shops and I finally found a pair of shoes, I got her down to $20 US, good thing she didn't know that was the first pair I found in Asia that fit. Now we are sitting in the lobby waiting for our night bus to Hoi An :( I really do hate night buses, but this on is apparently a sleeper bus with beds.... $35US for an open ticket for all of Vietnam, I find it hard to be overly optimistic... fingers crossed. 


-Jason