Our stay in Halong Bay was short and sweet. The hotel was quite plush, the evening's pizza edible and the local market interesting enough (although we've well and truly had our fill of bloody markets now.). The reason for our stay however was the bay itself and its circa 5000 rocky islands and outcrops. We boarded what was described by the tour operator as a 'junk' but was really just a thinly disguised tourist boat.
As we sailed out of dock we were served lunch - seafood and fish for the majority, and chicken and pork for those with more conservative tastes (ahem = KW.) Once lunch was concluded and we were well away from the clogged and worrying polluted port-area we had some time to take in the dramatic scenery before tying-off at a floating village for a spot of exercise. A few of us had indicated that we'd enjoy a bit of kayaking and five crews of two from our tour did just that. Miss WIlliams and I donned our life jackets before determining that any 'man-over-board' exploits would likely be hindered by the 'aids' which could not be secured properly around one's torso. Consequently we left them on the raft. Much to our surprise we proved to be a highly co-ordinated and efficient outfit and after plunging through a few tunnels into bays with huge limestone sides, we were the only crew to paddle beyond the confines of the floating village into more open waters. Here the currents and winds were much stronger and we had to work a lot harder to maintain our course; still very good fun however. Once back aboard the raft, the only set of steps were in use on another ship. Our boat had also drifted away a little. Not being the most patient of souls, I reached and just grabbed a tyre on the back of the boat and managed, with Kate's help, to haul the boat close enough so we could clamber aboard - much to the amusement of the crew and the staff hiring out the kayaks.
Once all back aboard, we then chugged our way back to a cliff-side stop and took a tour of a huge cave complex that had been discovered by a fisherman in 1993. I have to say that, despite my patriotic tendencies, this knocked-spots off Dan-Yr-Ogof!
From Halong Bay we were bussed to the capital, Hanoi. You'll have to excuse my language but I really would not be surprised if Hanoi was Vietnamese for "Shit Hole". It's really not a great place to spend time. It is, by some margin, the most polluted environment I have ever had the misfortune to have to breathe in. The city has 6.5M inhabitants and 3.5M mopeds! We never saw the sun in our three days there due to the constant smog!
Things to see are actually pretty limited. We visited the French-built prison which became known as the 'Hanoi Hilton' by U.S. airmen (including republican presidential candidate John McCain) who were imprisioned there having been shot down during the war. What was most striking was the difference in the way that the prisioners were apparently treated in French-Colonial times compared to how the U.S. prisoners were held during the war. If there is one thing that the Vietnamese government seem to do really well it is propaganda.
We decided not to go to see the embalmed form of Ho Chi Minh who lies propped-up in bed like some sort of natural history museum exhibit. Minh had requested that his body be cremated and his ashes spread in the countryside all over his beloved nation. It therefore seemed wholly distasteful to effectively support going-against a man's last wishes - a bit like not putting "I told you I was ill" on Spike Milligan's gravestone. What we did visit and thoroughly enjoyed however was the famous Water Puppet Theatre. It clearly takes a lot of skill, coordination and practice to do something that well.
Our last day was spent wandering around with the two Aussies who were also exiting the tour at the same time as us (the majority were continuing to Laos.) We also had to move hotels as we'd decided when we'd booked to try somewhere a bit more central for our last night. This was a terrible mistake! The hotel we moved to scores remarkably well on Trip Advisor and the breakfast tables are decorated with letters of thanks from past-visitors. One even suggested that they would return soon for another 'pampering.' We wondered if the online comments and letters were actually an elaborate joke. The staff were curt and our room had no windows to the outside. Worse of all, when we the lights were extinguished we heard a lot of scurrying and then found rat droppings. I went to the desk and asked to be moved. From the third floor we were moved to a similarly nasty room on the ground floor. Thankfully it appeared that there was no way that a rat could infiltrate the similarly windowless space. Unfortunately, we were wrong. At 02:30 Kate shot-up in bed saying that she'd heard something knock-over a water bottle. As I rubbed my eyes to clear away the sleep, they focussed on something; a new friend, let's call him Roland, sat atop the TV! He then dashed behind the fridge. As Kate and I sat there, we could hear squeaking and tiny footsteps all over the main foyer outside. This place was riddled! After a short chase we managed to persuade Roland to join his friends and family in the corridor.
After a couple more hours we were relieved to hear the alarm that signalled that we needed to get up for our early flight to Bangkok. If you have arrived at this blog because you've Googled something related to travelling in South East Asia, please take our advice and avoid the Hanoi Astoria Hotel like the plague carried so effectively by Roland's fore-fathers! Stay in the Anh Hotel. We certainly wish we hadn't moved after the end of our GAP Adventures Roam Cambodia and Vietnam tour!*
*Full title included to aid web searches.
We have quite a lot of catching up to do too. Since doing aour bit for human-rodent relations, we've spent 30hours solid travelling to Auckland and since drive 1800kms around NZ. Anyway, the weather here is fabulous, unlike at home by all accounts. That said, there is still snow on the mountain peaks. Again, photos to follow!
Until then.
Ciao (We'll learn the Maori phrase ahead of my next post!)
T&K.x
Oh, one more thing: congratulations to Sméagol for finally finding the ring and then offering it to Nyki in exchange for her hand in marriage!
