Viet Nam: Vinh, Ha Noi, and Ha Long Bay

I first must apologize for how long it's been since my last blog. The computer I'd kept a journal on for this trip crashed a while ago and I'm only now bringing myself to finish the blog. I'll try to recall everything of our trip in Vietnam from my memory now.

So we left our guesthouse bright and early the next day, intending to catch a bus to Vinh, a city in North-central Vietnam. Well, we got to the station nice and early, only to have a lot of problems once we were on the bus. My theory is that not enough tickets were sold, so the bus company was trying to make us wait until the next day. There were about 6 or 7 other westerners on the bus who were just having none of it. Eventually we came to a compromise were we paid a little extra and the bus company hired a van to take us to the Vietnamese border, at which point we'd switch to a bus. Customs were surprisingly easy, especially considering how much we'd heard about how difficult Vietnamese border guards are.

Well, actually getting another bus on the other side turned out to be a headache. The driver of our van was supposed to take care of everything but we were not surprised when he tried to get more money from us to pay the Vietnamese bus company. His English wasn't great but he tried to tell us that the Vietnamese were charging him more than they were supposed to so we had to give him more. I told him that was his responsibility and we already paid the fare so he had to cough up the little extra. I'm still not sure if the Laotian guy was trying to swindle us (and failed), swindle the Vietnamese (and failed) or if the Vietnamese bus driver was trying to scam the Laotian. Either way, the Laotian coughed up the extra dough and we were on our way. The scenery was again amazing. How can this area of the world have amazing views everywhere you turn? It was very different than Laos, much steeper mountains and deeper valleys. We didn't get to Vinh until well after dark and I think it ended up being around a 15-hour day, including the time waiting for buses, we were exhausted.

Once we finally got in to the bus station in Vinh we checked into a hotel with a couple other guys we'd been on the bus with--a Danish guy named Peter and an American guy who shall remain nameless as I forgot it. We went out for some pho with them after we checked in and also had our first Vietnamese beers--which were pretty bad. I'm not saying Beerlao was going to win any medals but it at least didn't taste like carbonated urine. The pho was also pretty good, though nothing spectacular. Vinh is known mostly just for being the hometown of Ho Chi Minh (though he's actually from a little outside of the city). It is also known for being a big place where arms were smuggled in during the Vietnam War (or the American War as it's know there).

The next morning Peter took off pretty early to get to Hanoi (or Ha Noi as we saw it frequently spelled) and the American guy walked around town a bit with Henry and I before he caught a flight down to Ho Chi Minh City in the early afternoon. He had some good advice about Vietnam he embarked to us, mostly about getting to Hanoi before Tet, the Vietnamese New Year which was happening in a few days. It'd be very difficult to travel and do much once Tet started as most businesses close and most people just spend time with family. Well, I did some investigations and found that it was only going to be like 60 bucks a person to hop on a plane up to Hanoi, which would take all of 40 minutes as opposed to yet another long bus ride (7 hours is the general estimate).

So the next day we flew up to Hanoi, and checked into a Hostel near the center of town. Hanoi is a very dynamic city, and rapidly developing into a commercial and economic hub, not to mention diplomatic as it's the capital of Vietnam. The hostel was alright, but definitely had some travellers staying there that were the type of people we'd been trying to avoid--with moderate degrees of success. In particular was this guy named Simon who had an American accent buy yet claimed to be Colombian and Danish. Well, he'd get hammered every night and just be really obnoxious. We also met a pretty cool Australian kid named Elliot who was just finishing up a few months of volunteer work in Vietnam. We had some good times hanging with him and going to a hookah bar where we were actually the only Westerners there. If I remember correctly he also gave Patrick a pair of shoes, because Patrick had only been wearing his chacos since he ditched his shoes following our soaked hike outside of Luang Namtha.

We had a great time in Hanoi, wandering around and getting lost in all the winding, narrow streets and calamity of people. Paul and I each bought a pair of new shoes and some fake-down jackets that would hopefully keep us a little warmer in France. We all saw fireworks for the first time in years on Tet, and then the next day wandered through a huge, rolling street market. I couldn't for the life of me tell you where it was, but we had a fantastic time there and I had hands-down the best bowl of soup in my life. It was pho that I'm afraid I'll never be able to have again, as everything since (and before) merely pails in comparison. I have no idea what the meat was in it, but it had fantastically flavored broth, roasted tomatoes, perfect rice noodles, the lot. We complained a little bit when the guy tried to overcharge us, but seeing as how good it was, we didn't complain too much.

The next couple days were pretty relaxing. Very little was open as it was after Tet, save for the few traveller-oriented cafes and bars around. Food was also a lot more expensive because everyone had gone all out and feasted for the holiday, making the food supply a bit smaller. Henry's brother Sam arrived one day and he slid right in to our group. He was also a nice addition to help break things up and liven us up again. We'd been getting a bit annoyed with each other pretty easily so it was good to throw somebody else in the mix.

Anyway, we had all singed up for a little trip through Ha Long Bay, one of the most magical places ever. It was about a four hour drive from Hanoi to the coast and once we got there, we were blown away. The place is so special because essentially mountains and cliffs rise out of the sea. We got onto a refitted junker along with a group of four French people, and a couple groups of Australians about the same size. Everyone was in good spirits and we all had a great time cruising through the water and admiring the scenery, even if it was a little foggy. We hiked through a cave at one point that seemed a little tourist-trappy, mostly due to the multi colored lighting throughout it. That night we did some karaoke after dinner and Henry and I busted out our classic "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" and then Sam and I did "I Don't Know Much" by Aaron Neville. I believe one of the French women did "Hotel California" with Paul and everyone had a pretty fun time.

Next day we went to an island called Monkey Island, where we stayed in some huts on a beach. We tried to do a little swimming but as it was pretty cold and highs only in the 50's, we didn't last long. We also played a little beach soccer before migrating in to play some table tennis and foosball.  Dinner that night was buffet style and again was pretty good. Some good Vietnamese food mixed with a little Western food for those who weren't accustomed to it.

The next day we got back on another boat that took us to Cat Bah Island, where we went on a surprisingly difficult hike through the woods and up a little mountain. I think they should have told us how difficult it was from the start, because we all left covered in mud and sweat. The bus ride back to Hanoi was kind of uneventful except for when the older guy next to us told us his nephew was the lead singer of Electric 6, a band best known to me for a song about wanting to take somebody to a gay bar and then a Taco Bell. Random meeting but cool nonetheless.

Back in Hanoi, the hostel didn't have room for us again so we decided to instead go to a hotel down the road which ended up being about the same price and far nicer. As this was our last night in Hanoi, we went out again and eventually met up with some of the Australians from Ha Long Bay at a bar and had a very, very late night. The next day, the last for Paul, Patrick and I, was spent laying around the hotel room and trying to grab one more bowl of pho before we headed to the airport around 8. Henry and his brother would be spending a few more weeks in Vietnam, traveling down south via train and exploring more of the country we didn't really have time to. Our goodbyes were a bit sad, but also a bit anti-climactic. Paul, Patrick, and I were all still on the same flight to Europe and then Patrick split off as Paul and I headed for our connecting flight to Paris.