Catching up... Halong Bay

Feel pretty out of touch with keeping this blog up to date so hear goes....

Last Leg of Travel (for now!):
Soph and I headed to Halong Bay after our tour of Sapa. I hadn't really done much research for this part of the journey to be honest - I'd basically just google searched some images... But Halong did not disappoint.
We decided to go for a pre paid tour again as Sapa was a success and nice and easy - I would recommend doing this for any place you want to visit for only a few days, especially if you are in the mood to be a proper cheesy tourist.
Halong Bay was spectacular. It looked like the set for Pirates of the Caribbean but with those big floating rocks in Avatar (sorry to use film references to describe - it's a bit of a cop out I know!). Even in the mist and the drizzle the scenery was breathtaking. VERY epic film style.

 

The photos really don't do it justice.

 

Our first night was spent on 'Monkey Cruise'. Where we had our own little cabin, with a lovely big window right at water level. We had plenty of time to chat with the other travellers on board and enjoy a 'Halong Beer' or two before out first stop.

 

Our fellow travellers were a really good bunch, including some proper northern lads who were very funny (and very rude) right from the word go. Male banter and clowning around was just what Sophie and I needed I think.

Our tour guide, 'Smokey', also really appreciated all the buffoonery and unlike the more sedate groups of wrinkles walking around enjoying the beautiful caves sensibly, Smokey had us all trying to find the best 'mans weapon' amongst the stalactites and stalagmites...The winner got 5 beers.

We then had the chance to kayak around the islands. An absolute must for Halong. Although within 30 seconds of getting into the water Sophie and I got in the path of an oncoming boat and got trapped under it's bow... We were screaming and laughing so much...!

 The silliness of course continued into the evening with everyone on board singing karaoke and dancing around to old 90s pop music. By 11pm the cabin crew were all joining in and clowning around with us. One of the younger guys ended up getting out his traditional Vietnamese flute and playing along to the pounding dance music.... A totally un-English and hilarious evening - I couldn't do it regularly but it was certainly different and really fun.

The next day we were taken to a little beach island where we stayed the night in a tiny little thatched beach bungalow. Very romantic, and again a beautiful secluded spot.

I even got to hand feed some local wild beach monkeys!

A fantastic end to the travelling adventure (for now...), and now I am back in Saigon job hunting and apartment hunting - desperate to unpack my backpack!

 





Sapa

Yet another stunning part of the world hidden this time in the north east of Vietnam. And once again I am at a loss for decent vocabulary in which to describe it! I'm really going to have to sort out my totally linguistic inadequacy before I start to try and teach English - blame 3yrs of a Science degree perhaps...
The thing that struck me first was the weird perspective Sapa has... I haven't seen many mountains or views that have so much going on vertically, so it felt almost unreal to see mountains stretching high up into the clouds and also sweeping down into the mist, so you can neither see the top of bottom of anything. Everything is also watercolour paint colours so it gives you the feeling you really are looking at a huge backdrop to an amazing play. It actually looked a bit 'Lord of the Rings' like Dad! Talk about Misty Mountains! :)

...more to come...

 

Ho Ho Ho - Hoi An, Hue, Hanoi

Hoi an:

         A very pretty and romantic small city which felt to me like a sort of French Venice...

 

 

 

         Hoi an is famous for it’s tailoring (which has become a bit of a tourist gimmick if I’m honest). However the city has lived off tourism for 300years so in a way it’s actually authentic that it’s touristy! I found that there was no price difference in having clothes made in the market compared to the ‘posher’ looking shops, but it was less obvious that it was a ‘sweat shop’ in the shops on the main roads. I had two dresses made and have worn them both loads already!

           My birthday: kept my expectations for the day realistic and didn’t do the typical Annabelle thing of making it a huge deal, so I ended up having a lovely lovely 22^nd. The hotel staff all wished me a happy birthday and sophie took me out on a cycle ride to the beach and treated me to a coke in a hammock overlooking the river.I felt very content and lucky and I didn’t even miss home or speaking to everyone too much. I was also really very touched by all of you who emailed me – I wasn’t expecting emails or to hear that you are reading my blog. It really made me feel good, and stopped any lonely feelings before they’d even started.

Hue:
   
         I had read a fair bit about Hue and was therefore expecting a very old, cultured city with beautiful parks boarding the river, and lots of delicious food from the days of the Emperor’s rule . Unfortunately Hue itself was a bit of a let down, and I’m not sure why it’s so prominent on the tourist map.. I would probably advise spending longer in other places in Vietnam to anyone who travels here.

That said it was so lovely to have Julianne and Laura travel all the way up from Siagon (18hrs on a train – are they crazzzzyyy?!) for delayed birthday celebrations. We enjoyed far too many cocktails and caught up on all the goings on – which included many many funny stories on both sides…

       Did a lot of cycling round the area after the success of renting bikes in Hoi An which gave us a better perspective of the city and landscape around. I would definetly recommend renting bicycles in these cities if you do visit, as there are a lot of scams around and taxis and ‘helpful’ people on motorbikes are not all that they seem unfortunately.

 

Hanoi:

        After the last two sleepy cities and a few tense travel days for me and sophie we were really ready to start having some FUN again. Hanoi was just what we needed. An excited city with narrow roads, lots of lost looking tourists, an embalmed Ho Chi Minh, hot cross buns, friendly Indians in taxis, good beer, and some really well laid out museums.

 

     Hanoi is the most organised place I have visited in Vietnam – one street will be entirely devoted to shoes, while another will only sell selotape and paper, and the street next door only huge bags of glitter and bird cages… Still chaos but very organised for Vietnam.

     The food has also reawakened my love for Vietnamese cuisine. Bo La Lot has become a definite favourite here – succulent strips of beef rolled and fried in a type of vine leaf.

  

Hanoi is also full of history and legends. Including the one about the huge magical tortoise that lives in the lake in the middle of Hanoi..

The lake is the real ‘heart of the home’ in this city. In the morning the old locals do tai chi and dance classes around the edges, in the evenings couples walk around and photographers can be seen taking really cheesy picture of newly weds amongst the trees. The Women's museum was also absolutely fantastic, and i'm pretty rubbish at behaving like an adult and being interested in reading placards for more than 10 minutes... but I loved this museum, and I also really enjoyed visiting the Water Puppet Theatre and having some of the history explained to me in nice simple dance and music by floating puppets on a stage of water... 

 I have enjoyed these last few places but I think for me nothing could really follow Kon Tum and have the same level of impact on me. I have also made the decision to stop travelling in about a week and go back to Siagon to find a job and an apartment. I literally can’t wait to stop living out of a bag and to be able to put my shampoo and toothbrush in the bathroom and then leave it there!