Hanoi, Sapa, Halong …

Just got back from a trip that felt much longer than it really was. Pictures soon.

• Day 1: Thursday 30th April 2009

  Landed in Hanoi 9.30pm, had to fill out this stupid yellow health check survey due to Swine Flu twice cause first time round we didn’t fill up our immigration card cause they ran out on the plane.

  Land transfer to Hotel. Driver was strange, road hogged on left lane (left hand drive) while many vehicles high beamed his ass. He was very easy on the horn too, but very selective and only horned at singular motorcycles in the lane on his right. Weirdo.

  Arrived at Huang Thanh Hotel at around 11pm. Booking cock up but hotel staff was superb and gave us 4 rooms for the price of 2. Highly recommend this hotel, price is alright but the service was awesome. Rooms were clean, free internet at the lobby and the staff go out of their way to help you. Kept the door open for us even though we came back late from supper (almost 1am), helped us changed USD(~800) to Dong at a good rate (17.5k), helped me find my hp which I carelessly dropped in the taxi from the airport, allowed us to keep luggage for the whole day and even offered to let us take showers even though we had already checked out. They offered us luggage parking and showers for our last day too! Fucking A+.

  Went to Night Market (or what was left of it) for some supper. Streets were dark and lifeless. Ate at a motorbike carpark that was converted to some street stalls. Menu was in Vietnamese, we were the only foreigners there, all mostly locals. Food not bad, utensils not very clean, all of us feared getting LS. Randomed appetizer from the menu, they ran out of whatever that was and we picked the next one on the menu which turned out to be fried corn in batter, surprisingly nice! Also tried some Hanoi Vodka which tasted like sake according to some.

  Back at 1am for a good nights rest.

• Day 2: Friday 1st May 2009

  Breakfast provided by Hotel, picked Pho, was mediocre at best. Beef was tough, but ends up beef is tough everywhere in Hanoi. Nice view from food place in hotel, overlooks city.

  Waited for bus pickup to Halong Bay. They were late but turns out travel company (Columnbus Travels) cocked up our Halong Bay booking (Zoom the intern messed this one up). After some discussion we swapped our Halong and Sapa Tours and decided to go to Sapa first leaving the next day. They gave us a complementary day tour in Hanoi for our troubles. Basically the delay was about 2hrs.

  Went to see some lame pagoda and 2 temples. After Ang Kor Wat, nothing comes close. But enjoyed company, and took many pictures.

  Lunch was at the Little Hanoi, recommended by Lonely Planet read the signage. Food was pretty good, lots of us liked the aubergine dish. Start of the Vietnamese coffee addiction.

  Took Trishaw ride through the French Quarters. A bit squeezy but very enjoyable. Ride was slow enough to feel involved but yet fast enough so as to not be boring. Saw some fake Tiger shoes on Shoe Street which I wanted after my pair from Bangkok fell apart. Vowed to go back to get them.

  Went back to Shoe Street to search for the Tigers. My friend SJ managed to bargain from 28USD to 12USD a pair. She is the queen of bargaining.

  Had some local food (glutinous rice) for dinner. Mediocre for me.

  Went back to hotel to get ready for night train to Sapa, departing 10pm. Due to change in itinerary, we got downgraded to a train mostly locals take and from a 4 person bunker to a 6 person bunker. SJ reprimanded Hai (new guide) for this but later we toned down. Bunker was very squeezy but we made the most of it. Hanwei graciously offered to sleep in the next bunk as there were 7 of us. Covers looked and felt dirty but slept through anyways. Needed to pee and dreamt I went to pee but woke up to find I hadn’t peed and went to pee. DEJAVU.

• Day 3: Saturday 2nd May 2009

  Arrived at around 6am, scenic bus ride up mountain to Sapa. Misty and cool weather. Checked in to take a much needed shower before setting off to trek. Had the best Pho I’ve ever had at a Food Joint in Sapa, I forget the name. Ren had to buy shoes so we walked the market and shops to find one. Store lady was hiding, but finally got shoes. I picked up a jungle hat. We bought ponchos due to light drizzle.

  Finally started trekking at 10am. Peed at some local’s house before mud trail, lady was just breast feeding right in front of us. Black Mongh (one of the tribes) kept asking us to buy crap, only useful thing was a stick with a sharped point for trekking, 5USD wtf. They followed us and offered us assistance the whole way (3 hours) then proceeded to emotionally blackmail us into buying their crap. In the end I just gave one of them 1USD so she would go away.

  Trail was extremely muddy and slippery due to rain. Many fell, some fell more than others (Shang). Felt exhausted from processing rocks and finding the next one to step on. Bridge was missing, had to take off shoes to cross river. Adrenaline rush, soles of feet felt shredded, water was icy cold. But everyone felt a sense of accomplishment with the successful crossing, trekked a bit more to the lunch place, had to cross another mini stream.

  Lunch did not match up to the trekking and river crossing we did to get there. Best thing was the wet rice, like Japanese rice. Black Mongh Tribe continued to blackmail us.

  Trekked a bit more through a village, saw this water powered rice de-husker. Plowing the fields looked like very hard work, thank God I’m not a farmer. Bus back to hotel for a warm shower and then dinner at a restaurant. Guide had gastric and went to LS while we walked to the Love Market and Food Market in Sapa. Love Market was lame with some lame dance, food market looked like food poisoning waiting to happen. Church was closed. Kept getting attacked buy umbrellas. Vietnamese are shorter and everyone carries a fucking umbrella and they dont give a shit who they hit with it. Fucking umbrella kept hitting my head left right center. We bought some black chicken, something Hai kept raving about. Hw and Shang tried, said it tasted wierd, so we used it as a prop for our photo taking, the “Mad Black Mongh lady selling Black Chicken”. Hilarity ensued.

  Watched parts of Golden Compass on tele and went to sleep.

• Day 4: Sunday 3rd May 2009

  Woke up late for breakfast. Suppose to be ready to leave at 7.30am but ended up only starting to eat then. Hai rushed us to leave. Bus ride to Baha Market 3 hrs away. Animal Market was interesting (horses, buffalo, dogs, pigs, ducks etc etc). Horse got raped while villages cheered. Hanwei got a good National Geographic vid of that.

  Visited another village then bus ride back to train station. Went to Chinese border for a while. Checked into day room then search for riverside cafe. Couldn’t find one so went to nice hotel roof top bar for drinks. Ju got high, Shang did a B52 and we tried all their unique cocktails. Mediocre Buffet Dinner at hotel. Food is cheap in Vietnam.

  Washed up in day room, looked at pictures, hid Hai’s bag. Then train ride back to Hanoi in uncomfortable 6 person bunker, leaving 11pm.

• Day 5: Monday 4th May 2009

  Train got delayed for 3 hours and we reached Hanoi only at 10am. Bus picked us up to go to Halong Bay (3hrs). Hai continued with us as our guide. Quite a number of strange people from France (Lesbian Couple L-word like), Canada, US on our tour group.

  Great bread omelette breakfast thing on bus. Arrived and boarded Pinta Cruiser, a luxurious junk. Boat was very nice. Set off to Halong Bay, lunch was served onboard. Seafood was alright.

  The best part of the boat ride was sitting on the top deck and watching some of the 2000+ islands go by. Very serene. Wasn’t overcrowded and the landscape was so natural and untouched. The water was extremely calm too. First stop was some caves with stalagmites and stalactites. Then we cruised to a enclosed part of the bay to swim. Water was cold at some parts but there were warm drifts at other parts. Washed up for dinner then drank wine in the moonlight.

• Day 6: Tuesday 5th May 2009

  Woke up to watch sunrise at 6.30am. The rest didn’t make it, despite Shang’s long rant about it being “once in a lifetime” and “that no matter what I’ll be there”. We had breakfast followed by kayaking (1hr) to a hidden lagoon. Water was very calm, surrounding was beautiful.

  Washed up had lunch as we cruised back to the port. Uncomfortable bus ride back to Hanoi

  Mad rush at the travel agency, settling fees. SJ did her thing and managed to get a cool 20% off the Sapa tour, this is on top of our complementary day tour. Went to look for coffee beans, others did some last minute shopping. Dinner was even more rushed at Highway 4, a bit pricey. Then our F1 taxi driver got us to the airport in record time.

  Kenna caught for overweight carry on at airport and had to pay 20USD for 15kg. Turbulent flight back to Singapore landing at around 1am.