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Having seen on the map the distance to Hanoi (capital of Vietnam) from Luang Prabang, you would have thought it wasn't far.. After going to the travel agents and hearing it was about a 20 hour bus ride, most probably on just as treacherous roads as our previous trip, an hour's flight sounded a lot more appealing! It was well worth it too by all accounts!
Arriving in Hanoi was certainly an eye-opener, a significant contrast to Laos with high rise buildings and a lot bigger city than any in Laos. It also had the most dangerous roads I've ever seen, with 1000's of mo-peds weeving in and out of each other, using their horn to inform each other of their whereabouts. Having checked in to a good hostel, we went for a wonder. The fact that we probably walked in one big circle around the city and couldn't find a lively bar at 11pm did not give great first impressions. To add to the frustration it was the bar opposite our hostel that we found to be the liveliest after trapsing around for ages! We eventually grabbed a few beers in this bar, but come 12.30 we were rudely interupted. A van pulled up with somebody shouting in Vietnamese over the loud speaker.. Next minute 2 policemen jump out with their guns and start smashing glasses and chucking the seating outside into the back of the van. A city curfew - communism for you!
Despite bad impressions of Hanoi, before we left for the Halong Bay we actually had a great night at a snake restaurant. We got to handle snakes, those that dared (not me) could kill a snake (provided they ate the heart, that was incidentally still beating) and we then got served snake dishes. Some of the snake food was pretty yummy and with a good group, unlimited snake vodka and a lock in after at one of the bars (we were clearly looking in the wrong places the previous night) it turned out to be a pretty awesome night, that I certainly paid for the next morning on the bus!
Halong Bay - a naturally beautiful place with 100's of large rocky islands that jut out into the landscape, however slightly ruined by the way the Vietnamese have blitzed it with tourism and not thought for the long term. On the way in there was a notice saying vote for Halong Bay as one of the wonders of the world.. If there wasn't rubbish and oil in the water, a cave being changed from its natural formation to make way for coloured lights and pathways, derilect buildings on the main island coupled with high rise buildings then it would certainly be up there! Nevertheless, we still had a great time, staying on a boat for the first night and Cat Ba Island for the second. We did a treck up to a view point that posed excellent views for the whole of Cat Ba Island. The treck was pretty treacherous in wet conditions and we happened to take the hard route which was more like rock climbing. Flip flops were certainly not ideal! We also rented out bikes on the island, so managed to cover the whole island with some nice coastline and great views of the surrounding landscape. The tour we went on happened to be one of the cheaper ones and we certainly paid for it with the waiting around on the last day, however with a good group of about 20, we had a fun time.
Now as a group of 4 lads, (we picked up 2 from our Halong trip) we headed down south to Hoi An, most famously known for its tailoring shops. Nearing my birthday, I thought I'd treat myself and made up my own design of jacket for the tailors to make for me. A bit of a risk, nevertheless it paid off. Next morning there was the jacket just as I'd designed it - pretty amazing how they can just make clothes overnight! You probably couldn't get more original than this! Whilst in Hoi An we also wanted to do some of the Vietnam Top Gear trail and so rented out bikes for the day and drove up the coast, which was beautiful.
We moved swiflty south to Nha Trang just before my birthday, due to it's notorious party town reputation. It lived up to its name, having an awesome birthday by the beach with beers by day and partying by night. Certainly made the most of it being my birthday, getting one too many free drinks I'd say! The few days after followed in much the same fashion, meeting back up with the girls I'd originally left Bangkok with. This was definately my favourite place in Vietnam.
Our final stop was Ho Chi Minh city in southern Vietnam. I certainly enjoyed this city a lot more than Hanoi with good nightlife and some worthwhile tourist spots. The tunnels were a great experience - an underground network the Vietnamese had built in order to protect them from the Americans and deploy their attacks. I was particularly surprised by the wittyness of the Vietnamese, using reverse footprint shoes and booby traps to combat the Americans. It was also shocking to experience the cramped and intensely hot conditions they must have lived in. A small frame would definately be desirable for this. I also got to shoot an AK47 at the tunnels which was unreal! Our next stop was the war museum and we were told we would come out of here hating Americans - this wasn't far wrong. They were absolute animals, slaughtering and torchering the Vietnamese as well as dropping chemicals that are still causing birth defects today in Vietnam.
This could have explained the less friendly nature of the Vietnamese, particularly in the north. I don't think this helped my overall impressions of the country, as ofcourse it's always nice to be able to talk to locals and have a laugh. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the experience of Vietnam and would have liked to have seen more of it, particularly an island to the south, Phu Quoc and the far north.
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