13th-14th
We endured our 3rd and final overnight train this evening and it was by far the worst one. When we got onto the train there we're people just leaving but also leaving behind their mess. After swift moves from our tour leader we were given clean sheets and pillowcases and luckily Katrien had some antibacterial wipes to give our table a clean!! A few hours into the journey we had a group of locals trying to find a bed and proceeded to open our cabin door a few times. Not long after that distubance, two Vietnamese men were arguing for a good hour... So as you can imagine it wasn't our best nights sleep. We were glad when we got off the train in Hanoi and onto the bus Halong Bay bound.
We arrived in Halong Bay early in the morning and after a much needed nap we headed to the Pier to board our private boat. When we got onto the boat we were presented with a huge lunch consisting of seafood, noodles, Rice and good old French fries. After lunch we have arrived into the main area of some of the mountains. Halong Bay translates onto the descending Dragon Bay. It comes from a legend that said a Dragon descended down into the water and the mountains ascended from the sea. There are over 1969 limestone mountains in Halong Bay and although we only saw a handful it was one of the best excursions we have had. It was absolutely beautiful. Although the weather was a little cold and misty when we were in between the mountain the view was spectacular!! We were taken to some poignant rock faces; the fighting chickens (however our guide changed the name to kissing chickens, quite fitting with Valentines day) and the insense mountain which is featured on the 200,000 Dong note. We also went to a cave which was discovered by a local fisherman and what a magnificent site!! The limestone caves had been formed by water erroding the limetone by waves and rain water. The shapes were amazing and it was nice to see the different forms and shapes some of which are striking resemblances of animals and people. After the cave we went to a floating village. The villages are incredible, they started then fishermen came into the bay to catch fish but then they realised that if they stay here they can harvest as well as farm the fish they catch. There are whole villages located in the bay consisting of floating houses and house boats complete with a primary school in most of the bigger villages.
After a good few hours on the boat we made our way back to shore and returned to our hotel. Apart from the Bay there isn't much else to do or see in Halong so after a good nights sleep we were back on the bus off to Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam.
We arrived on the 15th and after getting a better understanding of our surroundings we headed for a nice dinner for one of our group members, Nic's Birthday. We started the evening going to one of the many street vendors' little cafe's. There we had local beer costing a mere 14p per glass! We also tried some local nibbles before heading to a lovely restaurant looking over the lake, which at night is lit up all around with pretty lights! After lots of laughs at dinner we headed out to a Hanoian nightclub. It was possibly the worst nightclub we had been to! There was two little 'hip' Vietnamese in charge of the music one of which proceeded to sing over some songs! Luckily most places are required to close at 12 so we could make good excuses to leave.
16th February,
Today we did a lot of walking again. We went first to the Ho Chi Minh Museum- well actually by mistake as we were dropped off in the wrong place by the taxi driver, we actually wanted to go to the Mouselleum! The museum wasn't really catered too well for anyone other than the Vietnamese people, but it was very arty and well structured. After the museum we walked to the Mouselleum and saw a guards procession outside however we were too late to see Ho Chi Minh himself. We then walked back towards the old quarter where our hotel was located but did so walking around the small streets on the city. We then walked to the prison museum which was a struggleto find but after a while of wondering around and attempting to communicate with a local we finally found it. It was a very interesting museum which was mainly about Vietnamese political prisoners but there was also a section about the American pilots who were kept there during the war. The period where the Americans were there the prison gained a nickname the Hanoi Hilton because the prisoners had a good time in prison and were given much better treatment than the locals. An interesting insight to some Hanoi history. By the time we got back it was time to get ready for dinner again. Tonight was our final night together as a group. It was nice to reminisce on our time together and it was sad saying goodbye to some new friends that we had spent a lot of time together over the last 3weeks!!
17th,
Final goodbyes were said to the group carrying on to Loas and our lovely tour leader and the group parralell to us before we headed back out to the famous water puppet show exclusive to Hanoi. In the show there were different little stories of traditional Vietnamese lives and a few legends. It was a very interesting show and they used traditional puppets but controlled them underwater which was something we hadn't seen before. After the show we chilled out with the two Canadian brothers before a last few cheap beers to send them on their way to Sapa. We were officially the last two in Hanoi! We went for our last traditional meal in a lovely restaurant over looking the lake but we decided not to stay too long as we couldn't hear ourselves think due to a very loud lady who filled the empty restaurant with her non stop talking!!
18th
Today is our last morning in Vietnam!! We will have breakfast and a last walk around the city before getting a taxi to the Airport. We have a long fligh via Saigon to Melbourne and then to Sydney but I'm sure we will find something to occupy our time. We should be in Sydney at around 2pm local time which is 11hours ahead of English time. We have heard that WiFi isn't that reliable as here in Asia (hard to believe) but we Will try and keep up to date as much as we can!!
One part of our adventure has finished now but we are onto the next one! We have had an amazing time here in South East Asia and met some lovely people on the way too, friends we will definitely keep in touch with.
Goodbye Asia, until next time... Australia here we come!!!
Katrien and Rob
xxx
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