HANOI (May 21-23, 26,
29, 2013)
Hanoi was everything we wished and hoped for and is what you
would expect of a developing Asian city.
There are motorbikes flying everywhere and in all
directions. We later learned each person owns at least one motorbike although two
or three is quite common and the city has a population of over seven million
people. That means a lot of motorbikes on the roads!
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| A traffic circle gone bad. Or perfectly fine in the eyes of the Vietnamese. |
There is constant honking from all vehicles. But the horns aren’t used like
they are in Canada. Here the horn is used to say “hello” or “I’m coming up
beside you to pass you” or “can you move out of my way”.
In amongst these vehicles there are ladies carrying around
fruit on baskets suspended on a pole they carry over their shoulder to sell to
shops and any passerby.
You sure stick out like a sore thumb as a Caucasian person
and anyone driving a taxi, tuk tuk or motorbike who sees you walking around
will ask you if you want to pay for a ride somewhere. After several “no, thank
yous” they eventually give up.
Even worse are the shop owners or street vendors. They will
actually follow/walk with you for blocks asking you if you want to buy a fan,
or a hat, or a bracelet. They don’t take “no” for answer until at least the
tenth the time. We had a bit of this in Thailand but nothing as persistent.
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| Here some lady selling fruit came up behind Adrian and put her pole on his shoulder before he even knew what happened. We of course took pictures but then had to pay more than normal for the pineapples. Pineapples were tasty though and we got some good photos out of it. |
But as long as you are in the right mind set, the city is an
exciting challenge walking around, bargaining and finding a decent place to
eat.
In terms of eating, we ate a LOT of pho (noodle soup). We
love it back in Canada and the real thing over here is just as good. We also
tried some nice cakes from local bakeries. These were established as part of
the French influence as they once ruled the country. Our favourite dish we
tried was called “bun bo nam bo” which is a dry noodle dish with thin strips of
beef, bean sprouts, garlic, lemongrass, green mango and peanuts in a tangy
sauce.
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| Bun bo nam bo |
Our first two days in Hanoi were spent planning out and
budgeting our time in Vietnam as well as the rest of our trip. But we were able
to get some sightseeing in as well. We walked around Hoan Kiem Lake and Ngoc
Son Temple on the Lake. After that we caught a water puppet show nearby that
showcased the beginnings of Vietnam and some traditions of the Vietnamese
people. We were also hoping to make it to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Complex but
we either didn’t wake up in time (the mausoleum anyway is only open from 8-11am
with the last entry being 10:15am) or we were too tired after coming back from
our trips to Sapa and Halong Bay. We booked these two trips on the second day
and allowed ourselves some resting time by coming back to Hanoi for a day
before setting off for the next trip.
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| Our hotel is the green one in the middle. The Vietnamese like to build tall and narrow buildings. Great way to optimize space but can be a pain with no elevator. |
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| Hoan Kiem Lake |
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| Some of the water puppets "off stage" |
SAPA AND AREA (May 24-26, 2013)
On our third night in Hanoi we got transported to the local
train station to catch a night train to Lao Cai and then onto Sapa for a hill
tribe trek. We decided to do this one together as the temperature is much
cooler compared to Chiang Mai and the trekking was meant to be easy so I
thought I would be able to handle it and get the experience of meeting hill
tribe people and spend a night at a homestay.
The night train was an enjoyable ride. We shared the cabin
with a couple of Asian girls but they were quiet and kept to themselves. The
beds were comfortable and long enough for us to lie almost completely straight.
We were meant to arrive at 5:30am the next morning so we called it a night by
10pm. Adrian managed to get a pretty decent sleep but I think I must have been
a bit anxious because I was constantly waking up. By 4:30am the train staff
were knocking on the cabin doors to advise us we would be arriving at Lao Cai
station soon.
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| In our cabin on the night train |
After waiting around an extra hour for some people arriving
on a later train we all loaded into a minibus and drove the twisty windy 38km
to Sapa Town. Once at the hotel in Sapa we checked in for our trip, showered,
had breakfast and prepared our packs for the trek and homestay that night. By
9:30am we were off.
We began our trekking by first walking through “downtown”
Sapa and following the road out towards the villages and rice terraces. In the
first 2kms or so on the road we got to know our guide and the rest of the
group. Our guide was from the village we would be homestaying in and was
dressed in her traditional “going out/to the market” attire. She spoke very
good English which she said she could attribute to her husband who studied
English and the many tourists on these trips. The rest of the group consisted
of three hilarious Malaysian guys and two friendly English girls. In town we
were joined by our guide’s mother who was carrying her daughter on her back and
other hill tribe ladies and their babies who would be accompanying us for the
rest of the day.
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| Leaving Sapa |
Before long our terrain turned into dirt paths and steeper
hills and the landscape of rice terraces completely surrounded us. Such a
beautiful setting but a hard way of life. We were told and later saw everything
is done by hand including the planting of each individual seed. Along the way
we saw water buffalos, pigs, chickens and roosters. We even saw a large snake
that had just been caught and killed in a village we passed through. Supper was
taken care of for them that night! Our guide was great at stopping every now
and then to tell us interesting facts about the area and if we had any
questions along the way she was always able to answer them.
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| Working our way down into the rice terraces |
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| Shosho and Pang |
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| A nice scenic shot of the rice terraces behind us |
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| Rice terraces and corn fields |
After about 12km we stopped for a late lunch in a nearby
village. It seemed to be the place where most groups would stop because as we
made our way into the building we were swarmed by villagers wanting us to buy
their handicrafts. We managed to literally get cornered until we bought
something. We didn’t appreciate the pushiness but we did want to buy a couple
things. And we were able to use our bargaining skills to get the items at a
decent price while still helping them out a bit financially. So in a way it
worked out alright. Then finally we could eat!
After lunch it was just another 2km or so until we arrived
at our homestay for the evening. Even though the air was cool I somehow still
managed to get a headache so I went down to try and sleep it off while Adrian
continued chatting with the rest of our group.
Unfortunately these trekking trips are quite popular and so
our homestay wasn’t nearly as interactive and authentic as we were hoping. In
terms of interactive, well it wasn’t at all. Our guide pretty much just dropped
us off, said we would be staying here for the night, and she’ll see us tomorrow
morning. There were no introductions to the family and I don’t think they spoke
English. They made us supper and breakfast but they didn’t eat with us either
time. We also got to try some rice wine but they didn’t partake in it with
us. They were nice enough but I would
have liked to spend some time with them. As for authentic, technology is
everywhere now. In the afternoon and early evening members of the family were
watching a movie on their computer. And if we had brought our laptop or
smartphones, wifi was available and free to use.
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| Our homestay for the evening |
The next morning we started our trek again with it raining
on and off. The rain actually started in the evening sometime and so the paths
were pretty slick. We were meant to trek through a nearby bamboo forest but
because of the conditions we took a different way and walked to a waterfall.
There wasn’t much trekking planned for the second day so we stopped for lunch
around 12pm and were then transported back to the hotel.
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| Hard at work in the rain |
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| Group photo before we were transported back to the hotel |
At the hotel we were able to shower, have an early supper
and chill out. Then we were driven back to the train station for another night
train back to Hanoi.
HALONG BAY (May 27-28,
2013)
We spent a day in between our Sapa trip and our Halong Bay
trip in Hanoi to catch up on some sleep. The next morning we were picked up at
8am along with three girls from the Philippines to be taken to Halong Bay City,
3.5 hours away. From here we were then transported onto our boat for the next
two days and one night.
Our guide for the trip/cruise was great – good English,
funny, informative, constantly updating us on our itinerary. The boat was nice.
We got our own room and ensuite. And the food was delicious – lots of seafood,
rice, steamed vegetables called morning glory, spring rolls, etc. We’d like to
think it was worth spending a bit more.
Halong Bay is the one of the three World Heritage Sites in
Vietnam and it is gorgeous! The weather wasn’t the greatest but cruising around
the ~3,000 limestone islands in turquoise waters was beautiful.
After our lunch on the boat we were taken to Ti Top Island
where we climbed a hill for a great view of the Bay and then went for a
refreshing swim. From there we got to do some kayaking in amongst the smaller
islands and through a floating village. It was fascinating to learn and to get
a quick glimpse of how these people live.
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| At the top of Ti Top |
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| Me feeling like a celebrity getting my photo taken with a bunch of Vietnamese girls |
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| Kayaking around the islands |
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| Floating village |
Once back on the boat, Adrian met two Englishmen who would
be joining us for the night after being out all day. The three Filipino girls
and I took part in a mini cooking class where we learned how to make fresh
spring rolls with rice paper, noodles, pork, egg, vegetables and pineapples.
Before long it was supper time. And soon after that we tried our hands at squid
fishing. No one had any luck but it was fun to give it a go.
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| Halong Bay sunset |
The next morning we woke to clearer skies and a nice Western
breakfast of pancakes, bacon, pork sausages, and fresh fruit. This prepped us
for our cave exploring through Sung Sot. Once again our guide was very informative
and provided us with fun facts about the cave and pointed out all of the
different shapes and “animals” people have found over the years.
Once we returned to the boat, it was time to pack our bags
and check out while we made our way to the City. And once we arrived in the
City we had an early lunch and then made our way back to Hanoi.
