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Ok so the bus to Hanoi was a little horrendous..but it won't be the last one. I'll explain that later. We had the back seats as usual and most of it was bearable but the roads we're so bumpy at points (normally when I was just dropping off) where you we're actually flung in the air and slammed back onto your seat. Anyway long story short we arrived ok in Hanoi many Oreos later!
So Hanoi is a hole..it's not my favourite city at all. However it is the gateway to all the cool stuff. Hotel is fine..hotel lady could talk a donkey to sleep though. Stopping in Hanoi serenity.. Booked our tour to sapa, and sadly the bus to get us to Laos (the bus was $100 an flights we're $450 :( ) I was really trying to avoid this bus journey as I've heard how horrendous the roads are in load. Never mind! We'd already booked our halong bay tour with vega travel..
The story here (you need a bit of background) is that Hanoi is different to the rest of Vietnam it has different laws or something..so for instance we have booked all our buses with the reliable good company sihn tourist. In Hanoi there are 2 real offices and about 20 fakes with the same logos and leaflets etc. Hanoi is a snake pit for people trying to rip you off. So me being. Me spent hours reading into reviews etc. vega travel is actually recommended in lonely planet. And then you have the old holy trinity of travel websites I usually cross reference: trip advisor, lonely planet and travel fish. But as I'd had to pay the deposit by payment link I was convinced they we're Dodgey. So armed with a map we set off to find their office. Which we did. All was we'll.
went to the markets in Hanoi which we're insane I didn't like them..Hanoi reminds me a little of Bangkok - and don't even get me started on the traffic I've literally never seen anything like it. Although we've learnt when crossing the road it's best to just walk and things will go around you. I'm used to crazy but this was too much so we went to hide in the hotel.
Next day we got collected for halong bay. 3.5 hour drive but our tour guide ducky is a hero and has the funniest sense of humour.
We we're initially very concerned out our tour group as it was all French 60+ people. Until we picked some young people up.
Ducky explained some facts about Hanoi - showed us the bridge that got bombed 10 times by Americans and told us Hanoi means city with internal river.
When we eventually arrived in halong city it started to drizzle. Found out that halong means descending dragon..there's a myth that dragons came to help the Vietnamese defend halong from the Chinese army..the dragons then stayed and turned to stone creating the many islands of halong bay. There are 1969 islands in halong bay- fun fact. Got a little boat to the big boat which was nothing like we expected. The boat is a traditional Vietnamese junk which is beautiful! Mine and marts room is amazing big double bed with ocean view window..nice big shower and a balcony out the back with a glorious view.
We had lunch which we have now established is just plate after plate after plate of good food! Then relaxed as we drove towards the amazing cave.
Now on a clear day I'd imagine the scenery to be incredible but it was so foggy..but in a strange way equally as cool..it literally felt like we we're in the Bermuda Triangle or something.
We then docked up and headed over to the "surprising cave" everyone was in good spirits despite the weather and continued in. It's actually gigantic. Ducky told us about secret tunnels that the Vietnamese fishermen use to use during typhoons to get from the first chamber to the second..the tunnel was so so small even I only just for through!
There's a rock formation that is meant to be a pointing finger..some strange Chinese man kept telling us it looked like a baby maker haha!
Ducky then stopped and spoke to us about Vietnamese new year and the year of the dragon. He then asked us one by one..I'm a snake and mart is a
He was explaining that mart should not be surprised because she does not care about you (his English is a little broken) he then went on to explain that she cares a lot about her family and you but doesn't always say it out loud.
After the cave it was time to kayak- highlight of the day!! Me and mart got in and took us a few minutes to find our rhythm.. We had to wait for ducky as it was so misty he needed to lead us all. We went round exploring the Islands..couldn't help but feel like we we're in pirates of the Caribbean..and that at any minute we could fall off the end of the earth. At times it was a little creepy as it was getting dark and there was a low mist but it was so cool just kayaking around halong bay with no one in sight. Mart became really competitive and decided we needed to win..people later commented on how fast we we're. We eventually arrived at the boat (1.5 hours later) and me an mart came in too fast and nearly decapitated me..made it back anyway! Before dinner we had a mini cooking lesson..they taught us how to make fresh spring rolls ourselves which we're Absolutely delicious then..Time for an absolute feast..plate after plate of sea food and meat and rice! Very good.
Lots of travel story swaps later over beers and time for bed..ready for an early rise hoping tomorrow's a little clearer. Pretty surreal being on the boat as there's no movement at all so feels like your on land..pretty cool to look out the bedroom window and see a few boats docked up in sea surrounded by these massive limestone islands.
Woke this morning to a wonderful day..clear with a bit of mist. Brushed our teeth on the balcony admiring the views..had breakfast and then set off on the little boat to ti top island for a morning hike. We reached the top and could hardly breathe but the view your rewarding with is out of this world. Another incident of photos doing no justice. We stayed up there for quite some time admiring all we could see..headed back down and some people went for a swim..however the sad fact is the fisherman that live in halong pollute the water quite a lot so I wasn't swimming in there.
We spent a while talking to ducky- he doesn't see his family for 2 months at a time due to work he's such a nice man though!
Some of the group that we're doing 3 days set off for cat ba island and we stayed on the boat for our cruise back to harbour. We went through Central halong bay and saw many many of the islands..I think mart described it accurately he felt like we'd die and were on a boat sailing to heaven. With the mist and how quite and peaceful it was it really felt like that's here we we're heading. 4 million photos later after another spectacular lunch we landed back to shore and made the long drive back to Hanoi.
Had to go and find the "shoe street" everything here is separated into zones. We we're having massive issues finding mart some trainers in uk size 11 as to Vietnamese people that's unheard of. We eventually found him a pair of converse..this will have to do for our trekking adventure beginning tomorrow night to sapa!
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