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The first thing we did when we arrived in Hanoi is book our trip to Halong Bay. Due to our limited time we had to choose between here and Sapa and we had to head out immediately. So after arriving at 5:30am we were on our way to the coast by 8am to catch a boat for the next two days around the bay. Or at least that is what we thought. Hanoi offers a completly different vibe then Saigon, in fact the North offers something entirely different than the South. We seem to prefer the South. They just have it more together there; less harrassment and a better understanding of the tourist market and hospitality. No matter where you are someone is skimming off the top to make a profit but it seems the South is smart enough to limit the amount of people involved whereas the North is a little more chaotic they don't seem to have a handle on the amount of pockets that are getting lined with each deal. Anyways with that said we knew we would pay a little more to see the Bay since we didn't have time to shop around but we were given some advice beforehand as to what we should expect to pay. We were also let in on the secret that there is no luxary trip ...they will charge you whatever for a luxary trip but in the end you will get the same trip as everyone else just at 3 to 5 times the cost. We were okay with overpaying by 10 but when its all said in done we probably wouldn't have done the two day trip.
On our way out to the bay we had a few delays...flat tire and then our guide had to sort out the boat. But by lunch time we were on board and quite happy. We had to laugh though because the minute we boarded we had some angry costumers (German again) who paid for a luxary one day trip (which cost them more than our two day trip).
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