Another crazy Asian country. We arrived into Hanoi in the afternoon with no idea where we were. The bus didn't stop at a bus station but on some street miles away from the city centre. We had a fun filled few hours trying to adjust to the manicness that is Hanoi while figuring out how to get a taxi without being completely ripped off. We did consider walking the 7 km with our bags instead but as Niamh is incapable of walking five yards without tipping her trolley over, then kicking it (it gets very embarrassing), fixing it and then repeating the process, we decided a taxi would be best on this occasion! In the end we deduced where we were on the map and walked round corner away from the hawker taxis to hail a hopefully more legitimate taxi on the next street, just after we stopped quickly for a cold drink. Cool down, put some ice on Niamh's bruised toes (from the kicking). We hailed a taxi and after repeatedly making sure he turned on the metre we proceeded to name every street we went down so he knew we knew where we were! We were not incredibly annoying, I swear!
Hanoi is so busy. There is no differentiation from footpath to road. Basically the footpath is for stalls and parking their countless mopeds and motorbikes. The people everywhere are trying to sell you things, normally at extortionate prices. We had someone come up to us and put a basket of fruit on my shoulder for a photo. We said no and tried to walk away but she was not giving up that easy and wouldn't take the fruit back. We explained we didn't have a camera and our phones are too crap to have cameras on them and she relented.
There are so many motorbikes in Hanoi. Crossing the road is a true skill which I think we have started to master. You have to walk slowish but at a steady speed and ignore the traffic coming at you. They swerve at the last minute but just like to keep you on your toes before that. If you did get hit it wouldn't be just the weight of a motorbike and driver, but also potentially their entire family, a wardrobe, a fridge or whatever ridiculous stuff they have literally piled up on it. The music of constant beeping provides a nice calming background noise. Actually, it's not calming, it's relentless and annoying but that's just how they roll. It's a cool place but a day or two is enough. However, the hostel we are staying at, Little Hanoi Hostel, is great, the staff are brilliant, especially Tony.
Emmet had his second interesting hair cut at a tree barbers. I kid you not!
We went on a tour for two nights to Halong Bay which was pretty spectacular. We got a bus to Halong City and boarded a boat which was going to bring us around for the day. The people on the boat were sound. There was an Irish couple on board, it was nice to hear an Irish accent for a couple of days. We all chilled out on the top deck while sailing around beautiful limestone karsts. The first stop was a cave which was huge. It was lit up in tacky neon lights but was still brilliant. They pointed out different shapes in the rocks, like one they said was a big finger pointing, we all said it looked like a big something else, but whatever.
We then went to Titop island and climbed a load of steps up to the top to see some really great views of the bay and then went for a swim in the sea.
After we went kayaking. We were crap. The guide told us to get in the kayak and turn left then kayak around this giant rock. We had problem turning and went straight into a floating village and then straight into the rock we were meant to go around. We kind of started to get the hang of it after a while but still lagged behind the rest of the group. Kayaking is not our strong point!
The food on the trip was amazing. Every lunch and dinner, plates of food would be put in the middle of the table for everyone to tuck into. Some of the veg was cut into the shape of birds or even insects! After dinner the crew played some cheesy dance music for us, disco lights included.
In the evening we watched the Netherlands vs Denmark in the Euros. There was a Dutch couple on board. There was lots of shouting at the TV due to the result.
The following day we went to the Cat Ba island and checked into a nice hotel and went back out on the boat to an island called monkey island, for obvious reasons. It was funny watching them climb down robbing people's food. Apparently they like to rob sunglasses and bags too! A monkey's got to accessorise you know. We chilled out on the beach and went for a swim too. We went for a drink in the evening with some of the other people on the tour. We got free shots of rice wine with our beer, which helped us sleep until 1.45 in the morning when Ireland were playing Croatia. There was no budging Niamh, so there was a lot of whisper shouting done at the tv, terrible result for the lads unfortunately. Come on the boys in green!!!!
We organised a trip to Sapa afterwards, which is in the very North of the country. We got a night train to a nearby town. We shared our cabin with some cochroaches, which wasn't on the catalog. There was meant to be someone waiting for us at the train station. Unfortunately there wasn't and everyone we had travelled on the train with was sent off on a bus without us. The bus drove off but had to return to pick up other people a little while later with everyone still on it. It turns out there was a mix up with names and we were meant of be on the bus after all. Lucky it had to come back or we would have been sitting there for a while. It was all sorted in the end but we had a fun two hours worrying what was going on! We were not happy campers.
We then went on a hike which was brilliant. The views were amazing. It is a beautiful place. The group we went with were sound, we had great craic with them. The one annoyance was constantly being hassled by locals to buy handicrafts. There were a group of women waiting outside the hotel and they followed us for the whole three hour hike to our lunch spot. They were actually good craic so we bought a small bag from one lady we were chatting to the most. Then other people started asking us to buy from them. After lunch a whole new group of women showed up who informed us we also had to buy from them because they were from a different village. They followed us for the rest of the hike. It started to get annoying then. For the rest of the three days we were followed everywhere we went by people selling the same stuff. The most frustrating thing about it was the fact that young girls, some as young as four or five were sent over to sell things. The poor kids should be out playing, enjoying their summer holidays, not selling to tourists. We told the children that we would not buy from them because we thought they were too young to be working. It probably won't make any difference, but hopefully they will say it to the parents.
Hanoi is so busy. There is no differentiation from footpath to road. Basically the footpath is for stalls and parking their countless mopeds and motorbikes. The people everywhere are trying to sell you things, normally at extortionate prices. We had someone come up to us and put a basket of fruit on my shoulder for a photo. We said no and tried to walk away but she was not giving up that easy and wouldn't take the fruit back. We explained we didn't have a camera and our phones are too crap to have cameras on them and she relented.
There are so many motorbikes in Hanoi. Crossing the road is a true skill which I think we have started to master. You have to walk slowish but at a steady speed and ignore the traffic coming at you. They swerve at the last minute but just like to keep you on your toes before that. If you did get hit it wouldn't be just the weight of a motorbike and driver, but also potentially their entire family, a wardrobe, a fridge or whatever ridiculous stuff they have literally piled up on it. The music of constant beeping provides a nice calming background noise. Actually, it's not calming, it's relentless and annoying but that's just how they roll. It's a cool place but a day or two is enough. However, the hostel we are staying at, Little Hanoi Hostel, is great, the staff are brilliant, especially Tony.
Emmet had his second interesting hair cut at a tree barbers. I kid you not!
We went on a tour for two nights to Halong Bay which was pretty spectacular. We got a bus to Halong City and boarded a boat which was going to bring us around for the day. The people on the boat were sound. There was an Irish couple on board, it was nice to hear an Irish accent for a couple of days. We all chilled out on the top deck while sailing around beautiful limestone karsts. The first stop was a cave which was huge. It was lit up in tacky neon lights but was still brilliant. They pointed out different shapes in the rocks, like one they said was a big finger pointing, we all said it looked like a big something else, but whatever.
The food on the trip was amazing. Every lunch and dinner, plates of food would be put in the middle of the table for everyone to tuck into. Some of the veg was cut into the shape of birds or even insects! After dinner the crew played some cheesy dance music for us, disco lights included.
In the evening we watched the Netherlands vs Denmark in the Euros. There was a Dutch couple on board. There was lots of shouting at the TV due to the result.
The following day we went to the Cat Ba island and checked into a nice hotel and went back out on the boat to an island called monkey island, for obvious reasons. It was funny watching them climb down robbing people's food. Apparently they like to rob sunglasses and bags too! A monkey's got to accessorise you know. We chilled out on the beach and went for a swim too. We went for a drink in the evening with some of the other people on the tour. We got free shots of rice wine with our beer, which helped us sleep until 1.45 in the morning when Ireland were playing Croatia. There was no budging Niamh, so there was a lot of whisper shouting done at the tv, terrible result for the lads unfortunately. Come on the boys in green!!!!
We then went on a hike which was brilliant. The views were amazing. It is a beautiful place. The group we went with were sound, we had great craic with them. The one annoyance was constantly being hassled by locals to buy handicrafts. There were a group of women waiting outside the hotel and they followed us for the whole three hour hike to our lunch spot. They were actually good craic so we bought a small bag from one lady we were chatting to the most. Then other people started asking us to buy from them. After lunch a whole new group of women showed up who informed us we also had to buy from them because they were from a different village. They followed us for the rest of the hike. It started to get annoying then. For the rest of the three days we were followed everywhere we went by people selling the same stuff. The most frustrating thing about it was the fact that young girls, some as young as four or five were sent over to sell things. The poor kids should be out playing, enjoying their summer holidays, not selling to tourists. We told the children that we would not buy from them because we thought they were too young to be working. It probably won't make any difference, but hopefully they will say it to the parents.
We stayed with a family the first night in a home stay. It was more of guesthouse than a home stay but the family were lovely and we had a great time. During and after dinner we were given shots of happy water, which is a rice wine. We started playing a great drinking game where you have to balance cards on a beer bottle. It was so much fun. The rest of the people on the tour and the guide were sound. We went to the pub for a drink afterwards but got kicked out for being too loud...oops. The guide was hilarious and really loud and giggled like a girl, much like Jimmy, a six foot something American guy we were hanging out with. It was funny.
The next day we managed to hike after all the rice wine to a waterfall higher up in the mountains. We done well! We have to stop drinking before hikes! We went paddling in the river which was refreshing and stood under the waterfall. It was brilliant, really great experience.
That night the rest of the group headed back to Hanoi, while we stayed another night. The final night was a bit boring without everyone and the power kept going due to a storm. The hike the next day was not as good as the previous ones. It was to another village but basically went through endless stall selling the same stuff we had been looking at. In hindsight two days would have been enough. The fact the rest of the group had gone and we were a little lonely didn't help either! We got some great shots though. Phototastic!
We then spent one more day in Hanoi. We went to a really good coffee place hidden behind a silk shop with views out over Hoam lake. I got a yogurt coffee which was delicious. I never even heard of one before. Then we got Bia Hoi which is a really cheap fresh beer. About twenty cent. Boo yeah! Bia Hoivin lots of beers!
We hopped on a night bus to Hue which was an interesting experience. The beds are so small. We are not tall and had trouble fitting in, fair play to anyone over six foot who manages to get a nights sleep! The roads are not particularly good either. Everytime the bus goes over a pothole you end up going flying into the air. And the driver loves to sound the horn very frequently. But it got us to Hue in one piece, so all is grand.
Hue was a good place to chill out in after the hustle and bustle of Hanoi. The hotel picked us up on motorbikes, which we manged to fit our rucksacks on- the Vietnamese have skills in stacking. We spent a day wandering about the citadel. It was similar to a lot of old complexes we have seen but was a grand way to pass a few hours. It was my birthday (Niamh) so we went to a nice veggie restaurant and then bought a cake...it was delicious. We had been threatening to buy a whole cake for ourselves since China, so when the excuse to do finally arose!
I'd say that huge finger in the cave pointing on something looks like a thermometer. I'm sure!
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