All the 'H's' this time, marking the second half of Vietnam and leading us into Laos: Hoi An, Hue, Hanoi and Halong Bay. Hurrah!
We had an interesting journey from Mui Ne to Hoi An, getting on the bus at 2pm, getting off the bus at 8am the following day and breaking down inbetween! I think I must have some majorly bad juju going on from something as I seem to get more bad luck than most when it comes to these sorts of things! However we made it and managed to find ourselves an indoor pool (meaning sunburnt Alex can use it) and a nice room (even if we have to climb 4 flights of stairs) for only $10. woop woop.
We went for an explore around Hoi An and it is beautiful! It is a UNESCO city which means that it cannot be modernised without permission, so though the streets are lined with tailors and other tourist attractions they are all housed in gorgeous historical houses. There are a surprising amount of temples for a place with about 5 main streets too! At night the place is even more beautiful with laterns everywhere, especially lining the river creating great reflections. Hoi An is renowned for tailors, with the majority of visitors to the city leaving with a personally fitted dress, shirt or even suit. Alas or lack of money as all of my clothes have felt the 5 months in my backpack and being washed by who knows who and are on the whole holey! I managed to hold back though and we went and had a great dinner instead!
Hoi An actually has some food special to this area, a noodle dish which traditionally is made with water from a particular well and some little rice paper dumpling type things. Delicious!
We got the bus to Hue the next day and arrived late afternoon so did nothing until the next morning when we went to visit the Citadel. Again a really beautiful area, half standing and half ruines due to the American/Vietnam war. Inside the main walls of the Citadel is the Imperial City, essentially a citadel inside a citadel where the important stuff happened and then within that is the Forbidden Purple City (!), a citadel inside a citadel inside a citadel where everyone, eunuchs included, lived!!! We wandered around here for a couple of hours in the blazing heat and even came across a couple of elephants in the process. We left Hue on the overnight bus to Hanoi that evening since there wasnt much else we wanted to do.
The night bus broke down again!
Made it to Hanoi and decided that we wanted to go to Halong Bay the following morning so once we were settled into the hotel we listened to the hotelier sell his tour of the bay. $58 each and it sounded pretty good. We had been warned not to go on the cheapest tour as it isnt so good so we thought this was a good option but decided to ask around a little first. After a few quotes we found one for $42 each for exactly the same tour, same brochure, itinerary, etc. We also managed to book our bus to Laos with the same guy for the evening we got back from the tour. So we decided to go back to the hotel to tell them that we had booked the tour elsewhere and though we felt a little bad about it because the hotel had been so nice the price won in the end. Also we needed to get on with some sightseeing as it was now our only day in Hanoi. We went back to the hotel first to cool down and told them about the tour. When we came down from our room the lady at the front desk asked us to leave the hotel because our room had been double booked and all the other rooms were full. Naturally we did not want to do this as we were unpacked and only had another 12 hours or so in the city and the museums shut in less than an hour. Then the truth came out. Actually we were being chucked out of the hotel becuase we had not booked our tour through them. I was so unbelievably angry at this. At no point had we told them that we would definately book something with them and what if we werent doing the tour anyway?
The hotel reps in Vietnam tend to come to the buses as we are all pilling off and offer a free taxi ride if you want to look at their rooms and always quote a really low price when you are standing on the side of the street. In Hanoi we took up the offer of the taxi as we were miles out of town and decided to take the room. He wanted $12 but since we had been quoted $10 on the side of the road we stood our ground and managed to get this price. Then we went downstairs and when we wanted to go out were coerced into having breakfast, for free, while they sold their tour. This all meant that when the man was trying to chuck us out he claimed that we had lied to them. Eventually, though angrily we left. We didnt have much choice as they threatened to throw our stuff onto the street if we had not left within 15 minutes. Since Alex's laptop was loose in the room this wasnt something we could test to see if they would do or not. We found another hostel for the same price and realised that the hotel had really shot themselves in the foot. They had paid for our taxi, our breakfast and needed to clean the bed and bathrooms which we had already used, without getting any money from us.
We spent the rest of the day wandering around the old quarter, looking at the markets and sitting on one particular corner which has three or four bia hoi shops. Bia Hoi is a locally brewed beer delivered to each outlet on a daily basis. Consequently it is 4000 dong per glass (12p). We met some really nice Vietnamese people sitting here, they shared their food with us and one of them taught me some Vietnamese. I also learnt that they do not say 'please' when speaking. I asked how to say it and the guy said that he never had. I think this explains some of what we perceive as rudeness when they talk English. It just doesnt occur to them to say please.
Sitting in the same place we met some aussies, kiwi, brits on holiday and an expat who has a son our age. This motly crew went to a place which the expat knew to watch the England game, airing at 1.30am. OWch. Since we had spent the night before on the night bus and had had a very stressful day I could only manage the first half so Alex and I went home at 2.30, also we had to be up at 6 the next morning for our Halong Bay trip.
Halong Bay: I will sum up the weekend rather than put in too much information as this blog is far too long already. Most people probably wont make it this far anyway! The location is amazing and some of the geological formations are stunning. The boats we spent the night on were nice but fairly basic, you get what you pay for. We went kayaking and hiking (in flip flops and a strapless dress) and swam around a bit. The second night was on an island and we met some kiwis, amazingly found a kiwi bar and watched the New Zealand vs Italy match. Once kiwi was so excited by the game he broke his chair!
Sounds idilic doesnt it.... it would have been if the Vietnamese could organise a piss up in a brewery. Considering this tour runs everyday the organisation was terrible. And the communication was non-existant meaning that if there was any organisation we couldnt understand it. Situations such as being told that our stuff would be locked on the bus and coming back to find it sitting by the side of the road occured. Also we were due back at 5pm and our night bus/ 24 hour bus to Laos was leaving at 5. We were assured that this was ok but when standing quayside for an hour waiting for the bus and then having to sit while it filled up on petrol makes you pretty anxious when there is a time limit. We made it to the bus, an hour late, I had to run with my backpack on, and then had to wait for an hour for the change from the minivan to the actual sleeper. There is just no logic!
We arent too sad to be leaving Vietnam to be truthful. We had an amazing time in the southern half, everywhere apart from Hanoi infact. In Hanoi however they are out to get money at every opportunity and you cannot help but feel ripped off at every point. If it wasnt for the nice Vietnamese in the beer joint Hanoi would have been a waste of time as far as I am concerned. However, the rest of the couple of weeks were amazing. Lovely people and tour guides and some amazing sights.
Lets see what Laos has in store for us!