Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
It's oh so quiet…Sshh…sshh - the 'moany blog'
Hanoi and Halong Bay
We caught the overnight train at 2pm from Hue to take us to our next stop Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. Like the other train rides this was another fawlty towers experience. It is not unusual to get to your cabin and find some locals who have camped out there without a ticket, staring at you blankly even when you try to tell them you have tickets for the room. This time we had a couple of randoms; with one of them a local man with a full US army uniform including hat - slightly unnerving!
First class in Vietnam makes UK first class seem like BA Business class, the beds were dirty and unmade, I could see around the side of the mattresses and it looked like it hadn't been cleaned in a decade. The floor was littered with the remains of food from the previous occupants. I took a deep breath, gathered my thoughts and remained quiet until our guide sorted it out.
Thankfully some fresh sheets were brought round and we managed to make it semi habitable. Sleeping was an endurance test, managing a couple of hours before the train halted to a stop and the ticket guards banged on our door and rushed us off the train.
We arrived at Hanoi and it was cold, dark and wet, reminiscent of a dank dreich Scottish morning. We were definitely not expecting such a dip in temperature when we arrived; flip flops were probably not the best attire! To top it all off we arrived mid Tet.
Tet is the Vietnamese new year and everything shuts down for 5 days, it was like a ghost town. All that we could find to do was go to the cinema which thankfully had some movies in English. This was the lowest ebb of the trip but since everything else has been so rammed with good experiences, we can't complain too much (and those reading this will be cursing!)
The next day we got back on our private bus (made for Vietnamese size people) and headed to Halong Bay. The weather only got worse as we moved further North. It was a real pity as the scenery here is absolutely stunning. Hundreds of large rocky islands emerge from the sea. That said the low cloud and mist did give it a ghostly quality.
A private boat took us over to the islands were we visited an amazing cave that, through years of water erosion created an almost alien like interior. Afterwards we kayaked around the islands and through mini caves for about an hour. The boat took us to Cat Ba island which is one of the largest in the area but again due to bad weather and Tet it felt like we were at some spooky deserted beach resort. Everyone was cold and wet and the mood was not that high. Think most people were ready for this part of the trip to be over and for a new leader to bring us some renewed energy and vigour.
Our time in Hanoi came to an end and we waved off Viet and welcomed our new leader Su who is from Thailand, as well as two others that have joined. The third part of our journey takes us through Laos and then on to the final destination of Thailand. We have one more night in Vietnam in a placed called Vinh, this is really a pit stop as it is close to the Laos border. The bus trip was far from comfortable as it is the same cramped style we have been used to, knees up to our chins! The journey is interesting and nail biting at the same time. Its quite comical really, we went through various toll roads so you would assume they would be nice and straight, oh no! They are still mid construction, combine that with all the crazy moped & truck drivers, cows and pedestrians on the road and it makes for a hairy ride. Sleeping is not an option so the 6 hour journey really drags. Looking out the window you can see miles of paddy fields and small figures with triangle hats working away vigorously on hand drawn ploughs. Families crouch outside their small homes around fires, even though its raining they seem to prefer to do everything outdoors…cooking, washing, eating, socializing and even peeing!
Have just arrived in Vinh to our 3 star accommodation and rock hard bed, a slab of concrete would be comfier. 6am start tomorrow but we are looking forward to getting back into the sun and enjoying our last 2 weeks.
- comments