Christmas 2007

some pics from Christmas day :)

Halong Bay / Cat Ba Island

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Our next stop was Cat Ba Island. We’d been dropped off in the wrong part of Halong City to catch the ferry to Cat Ba, and after our bus ride we couldn’t be bothered negotiating our way to the ferry terminal, so hopped on a tourist boat. The first stop on the tour was a stalagmite/stalactite cave – the size of the cave was pretty amazing, although the pink and blue soft lightening was a bit odd.






As we sailed to Cat Ba we passed floating villages. Agriculture on the islands of Halong Bay isn’t so good, but the fish are plentiful, so people have constructed entire villages on the water.





When we finally arrived on Cat Ba there was a mini bus waiting to take us to the town – I think we managed to jam 17 people (including luggage) into the 12 seater!!



I think this is where my cold was starting, so we had an easy dinner and an early night.
Next morning we were up bright and early and wondered over to the beach.
Like most of Vietnam there was money to develop the infrastructure but no on going funding for maintenance.




We wondered around a cliff side walkway to a secluded beach and had our earliest beer of the holiday – clocked in at 8am. A bloke rocked up and gave Reid a full body massage for about 45 mins –I think it only cost $6!!






Later in the day we jumped on a tour to Monkey Island. It was a bit strange – we were dumped on an island with a small strip of beach and told not to wonder too far cos the monkey’s have rabies. We had a go in a kayak – the whole time Reid was freaking out about falling out – turns out his fears were unfounded, the water was only about knee deep in most places. I attempted to swim, but after wading out 50m eventually settled for floating.




We were treated to a pretty amazing sunset from Monkey Island



That night we had one of the worst meals of our trip. I was trying to be adventurous and ordered crab and I got exactly that – a big crab on a plate



By now we’d already had a fair selection of spring roles, and they were generally pretty greasy so I attempted to order rice paper roles – we just got uncooked spring roles. I think Reid had beef – I can’t remember it so it can’t have been that bad??

Later we caught up with Chris and Jo again at the Flightless Bird bar (run by a Kiwi bloke) where Reid and Chris were offered $10 boom boom from the girls at the massage parlour down the road.

The next day was our last on Cat Ba – we rented scooters in the morning and rode around the island. I never really mastered the bike but Reid loved it!!





Our trip back to Hanoi was much better, although no less half arsed.

We caught a fast ferry to Hai Phong, there weren’t enough seats for everyone so they bought out little plastic stools. I think they would have sold tickets to everyone who wanted to go and only stopped when the ferry actually left the island, otherwise it was ALL aboard. The ferry travelled pretty fast, and the wake behind was pretty big and the waves smashed into the river bank – it must have been causing some much damage.

That night we stayed in Hanoi – this time we found the best part of the Old Quarter – it was so alive. This was one of the best times of our trip, we found a great hotel, we had a cook-your-own street BBQ, which was so tasty, and found 3000 Dong beer (approx 13c).

good early morning Vietnam

By 5.30am Hanoi was very much alive and buzzing. The Vietnamese were out doing their morning exercises (walking, tai chi, badminton) and the markets were full of people
Here are a couple of pics from different very early mornings in Hanoi

Vietnam - the first 24 hours!

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Hanoi to Halong City

After a relatively good flight from Australia we arrived in Hanoi, and right from the airport the adventure began. We decided to take the airport bus into the city (only $2), while we were waiting to leave a taxi nearly reversed into the bus – the bus driver and some official looking dude (maybe a police man) gave the taxi driver a good clip around the ear! Once the bus was jammed packed we headed into the city.

And sure enough, just as it says in the Lonely Planet the bus dropped us off at the “Spring Hotel”. Unfortunately the Spring Hotel had no vacancies, lucky for us the hotel owner has another very nice hotel just around the corner – determined not to get conned we politely declined their offer and set off trying to find the actual Spring Hotel.

When we did find the Spring Hotel it wasn’t the best, but we were hot and bothered and just wanted to put our bags down and have a shower!

The plan for the rest of the afternoon was to find the train station and buy tickets for the next morning to go to Halong Bay . . . . . . well that was the plan anyway. For two hours we walked around in circles trying to find the station and eventually gave up and headed off to have some dinner. The dramas of the day actually added to the excitement of the evening – Reid proposed over dinner, it was very romantic! We were exhausted and pleased to be sitting down having a cold beer when Reid popped the question, suddenly the troubles of the day were forgotten and the rest of the evening involved lots of smiles and gazing lovingly at each other :p

The next morning we attempted to get the 6am train to Hai Phong. But we ended up at the wrong train station so wrangled a ride on a trailer on the back of a motorbike at high speed to the right station – only to have missed the train by at least 10 minutes!!

We caught our breath and had a huge bowl of Pho Bo (beef noodles) for breakfast.

Sitting at the little café eating breakfast we noticed loads of buses pulling out of a nearby street - with signs saying Halong Bay! We’re in luck! As we headed in the direction of the bus station a mini bus pulled over and a guy leapt out yelling “Halong Bay, Halong Bay”. There were a few other western tourists on the bus so on we hopped! Finally we were on our way ☺

Turns out we were just the first in a LONG line of passengers to be scooped up off the street and jammed onto the bus!

As the bus speed along the motorway, swerving amongst the traffic a guy at the front of the bus was learning out the door yelling at every person standing or walking anywhere near the road, what we can only assume was something like “where are you going”?? After a particularly long negotiation a woman with two young kids got on the bus – both the kids screamed for a good half hour, before they eventually got their own seat at the back of the bus. Not long after one of the kids puked all over the seat and all over Reid’s bag!! What a treat!

On the bright side, we did meet Chris and Jo (from England). It was nice to share the trip with someone and it took the stress out of the experience – when we finally got off the bus we didn’t feel too pressured to rush into the next thing, we just all sat down, had a beer, and relaxed for a while.