9/6/2010 - 9/8/2010 (ha noi)

Ha Noi - Halong Bay - Sapa

One of the main recommendations people gave us was a stop at Halong Bay. Halong Bay is located in the northeastern corner of Vietnam on the Gulf of Tonkin. The Bay is famous for its 2000 plus rock formations that rise out of the water to create breathtaking views. It can be difficult choosing a boat, which in Vietnam is called a junk. I think everyone in Vietnam has a part time business of selling tours for the bay and all for vastly different prices. You can easily be on the same boat, eating the same food and have paid $100(US) more than your fellow travelers, so you have to be a little cautious about your purchase. Annie and I spent a good amount of time in Ha Noi meeting with different tour operators and settled on Ethnic Travel based on a Lonely Planet recommendation. Ethnic Travel focuses on more remote locations and tries to steer clear of upwards of 500 competing junks on the bay. That was enough of a selling point for us and we negotiated a killer deal for a two night, three day tour. 

We started our journey in an oversized van with only the driver, guide, a French couple, and ourselves. It was heaven, not being crammed in like sardines. The trip was relaxing and we made one stop in a ceramic village for some tea. When we arrived in Halong Bay, things quickly picked up as we were engulfed in a sea of backpacker tourists. Our guide joined up with a Spanish couple and escorted us to our junk. The junk was a modern two level craft that resembled an oversized tug boat including old rubber tires hanging from the sides. The first level was the sleeping quarters and the second level was an open air dining area. The top of the boat had a sun deck with mast and sails. We settled into our quarters and then joined the group for a fresh seafood lunch and were on our way. The bay didn’t disappoint in natural beauty as we coasted by hundreds of limestone peaks. We sailed for several hours as Annie and I got acquainted with our traveling companions, Stephen and Caroline from France and Victor and Martha from Spain. Later in the day, we stopped in a small fishing village and took a water taxi through the village to say hello to the locals. The taxi looked like a large upside down turtle shell and was piloted by a young Vietnamese girl. The fishing village consisted of many floating houses connected by rickety wooden docks. It would be a very unique way of life. As the sun began to set on the day, the captain parked the boat in a quiet cove and we spent the next hour taking a refreshing swim in the emerald waters of the bay. Many of us jumped off the second story while admiring the high flying acrobatics of our captain as he preformed his best Olympic diver impersonations from the high sun deck. After our swim we enjoyed more fresh prawns and some lively card games before retiring for the evening. 

On our second day, we ate breakfast at 7:30am and then stopped at the Surprising Cave. We were very surprised at just how big the cave was in the middle of a large limestone island and its peak offered some spectacular views of the harbor. We then returned to the Halong harbor and got back on the van to venture east to a more remote part of Vietnam called Bai Tu Long Bay. The trip was an hour and a half. We boarded a much more basic boat and set sail for Quan Lan Island. During the afternoon, we stopped for lunch and then spent the next few hours kayaking and swimming. We were surrounded by limestone rock formations and the only other inhabitants were local fisherman. In the late afternoon, we arrived at Quan Lan Island as the bronze sun illuminated the pale white sand of this remote locale. We loaded all of our luggage into a tuk tuk and were on our way to stay with a local family for the evening. With no tourists in sight, we made our way up the narrow sandy road of this former military island. We stayed with a retired fisherman in a very luxurious home stay and enjoyed a very large dinner and many ice cold beers. We had many laughs as we taught our charismatic Vietnamese guide Quan, American slang. 

On our final day of the tour, we woke up again for a 7:30am breakfast and then cycled 15km to a small beach near the northern harbor for one final swim. We boarded our final boat for the two hour return to Bai Tu Long harbor and enjoyed one last look at the spectacular scenery. When we got back, the van picked us up and took us back to Ha Noi where Annie and I caught the overnight train to Sapa for some mountain trekking. For me, the tour to Halong Bay was one of the most enjoyable things we have done on our trip with many elements aligning including weather, food, company, and sights to make for an outstanding experience.

Halong Bay High Dive from Annie Lin on Vimeo.

Toured Halong Bay in Vietnam and our boat captain took our camera on a dive from the top deck of our boat.

9/3/10 – 9/5/10 (vinh)

Vinh – Hanoi

Good morning, Vietnam! And what a morning it was as we were jolted awake at 5am by a loud bang. It sounded as if the train hit something but it was just the train stopping at the Ha Noi train station. As we exited the train we were accosted by taxi drivers and were they aggressive. We were duly warned by fellow travelers but many of the drivers grabbed my arm which took me by surprise since in other countries they will follow you but not make any physical contact. After we located a reliable taxi driver we headed off to a hotel recommended by our friends, Pete and Danielle. Unfortunately, the hotel was full and after traveling for 24 hours we were too tired to think. A guy approached us about his hotel and presented a business card with a name of a hotel in Lonely Planet. We were skeptical it was the actual hotel but since he offered us a good deal we decided to take our chances. The hotel turned out to be a small family run place centrally located in the Old Quarter of Ha Noi.

After a quick nap to refresh ourselves we walked around to familiarize ourselves with the city. It was crazy. There were motorbikes, bicycles, and cars everywhere and everyone beeped their horn constantly. We thought it was bad in Bali but the Vietnamese took it to a whole new level. Each night I counted my toes to make sure I still had all ten. The constant stream of traffic and beeping doesn’t stop regardless of the time of day. There doesn’t seem to be any traffic rules but it is a system that works for them and eventually traffic does move along.

To take a reprieve from the frenetic streets of Hanoi we treated ourselves to a matinee movie one afternoon. There weren’t a lot of choices so we settled on the movie, Salt. It was entertaining though a bit over the top in terms of dramatic effect. Overall, we give the movie a C. 

We also visited the major sites, including the Temple of Literature and Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Complex. The Temple of Literature is dedicated to Confucius and noble scholars from all over Vietnam came to study here. We weren’t able to go into the Mausoleum to view Ho Chi Minh’s corpse but it was an impressive building even from the outside. They strictly enforce the boundary surrounding the mausoleum and anyone caught passing the line was asked to immediately step behind the line again. When we first arrived at the mausoleum we weren’t sure where to go so I walked to a guard to ask for directions. He didn’t even allow me to walk up the steps to the mausoleum to speak with him. We visited Ho Chi Minh’s humble home, which gave us a glimpse into his simple lifestyle.

Another highlight was the water puppet show. The puppets are carved from water-resistant fig tree timber, which are then attached to long poles floating on water. The puppeteers stand in water behind bamboo screens orchestrating the show. The show depicted scenes from legends and though it was in Vietnamese we were still able to understand the story. It was amazing how graceful the puppets moved on water and there was even fireworks for special effect. The band using traditional instruments provided a nice compliment to the show. It was one of the more enjoyable things we had done in Hanoi.

9/2/10 (ba na hin)

Ba Na Hin, Laos - Vinh, Vietnam

Coming off of what felt like a real life pirates of the Caribbean cave adventure, we were energized for our long travel day and excited to move on to Vietnam. The local transport picked us up at 8am in front of our guest house. The transport consisted of a mid-size pickup truck with a covered roof to create an enclosure for the passengers and a place to stack luggage up above. The pickup bed was half filled with boxes containing supplies for the local village shops and the bed was lined with 50lb bags of rice stacked three deep. The driver helped us load our luggage onto the roof and secured it with a bungie net and we squeezed ourselves in the back among the locals and were on our way. The transport was cozy, filled with supply boxes, rice, and ten natives. As we progressed along our route, things quickly got cozier and at our journey’s peak the truck was loaded with twenty passengers bursting from the truck and the bumper held a full-size motor bike. It was like nothing I had ever experienced as my body was contorted in every imaginable direction for our two hour trip. A lady in her early seventies, 4 feet tall, and limited on teeth kept me warm as she sat on my feet for the entire ride giving me a smile from time to time as I wiggled my toes. 

When we arrived at the Lak Sao bus station, we coordinated our trip over the Vietnam border to Vinh. The bus wasn’t leaving for another two hours and Annie and I decided to venture out for some lunch. Lak Sao is a small transport town and the only reason to visit is if you are coming or going. After stopping at the local bank, they recommended the only one restaurant, which in fact was the name. While in Lak Sao, we probably ate more dirt than lunch from the dust clouds stirred up from the hundreds of swarming motor bikes. Our second bus from Lak Sao was larger and fully enclosed. When we originally boarded it was a lot more spacious but just before departure, the locals slid open the windows and began to deposit large supply boxes of food into any remaining space making things much more confined. The trip to the Vietnam border passed quickly as we ventured through the rising mountains of the region. When we arrived at the border, it felt nearly abandoned and we had to exit the bus and walk our way into Vietnam. The procedure was fairly painless as the immigration officers scanned our luggage much like any major airport. The sprawling immigration area is on a relic hilltop fortress from the by gone Cold War era.

The drive toward Vinh was incredibly beautiful as we twisted our way down through the mountains and back into the countryside. After a short transfer to a new bus we passed through hundreds of rice fields as the locals worked feverishly to harvest their crop. The sun was setting and the bus stopped often to squeeze in more passengers and avoid the local herds of cows. It was picturesque and both Annie and I commented on how nice it would be if would could stop to take some photos. After an hour on our new bus we arrived at Vinh and navigated our way to the local train station. Things were a little busier than usual because this day was the Vietnamese Independence Day, 65 years ago Ho Chi Man helped liberate Vietnam from the French. We lined up an overnight sleeper train that left at 9pm and would arrive in Ha Noi at 5am. At the train station, we met some nice locals who took us to a local restaurant for dinner and got us situated with some beer and food and before we knew it, Annie and I were compressed in our cozy sleeper bed looking forward to getting back to a big city in the early morning.