Photo: Hue citadel
We arrived in Hanoi from Cambodia at 21:00 Saturday evening, 26th January. We had a Vietnam visa approval letter, organized before leaving Thailand, and somehow managed to be first in the queue at Hanoi airport to get our entry visa. We cleared Immigration and went out to the Arrivals area to find our pre arranged taxi ride to the hotel, it was chaos. Unbeknown to us it was the start of the Tet, New Year, holidays in Vietnam and everyone was arriving home to visit family. The Tet holiday is celebrated over five days, first day with father’s family, second with mothers, third with teacher, fourth with friends and fifth with anyone. We searched the held up signs for our names but could not find them, one guy offered to take us but we were weary of scams as we had been warned there were plenty. However, just as we were about to go with him, another guy turned up with our names and we safely went to our hotel in the old quarter.
We had booked a 15 day tour of Vietnam with G-Adventures and were due to meet our fellow travelers the following day at 18:00, so with a free day in Hanoi we went for a walk to Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum and the old University. Once inside the compound of Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum, we were herded into groups and had to walk within the white lines, watched by many guards, it felt strange. The University was the original Confusious University where he encouraged learning.
The traffic in Hanoi was like nothing we had seen anywhere else in Asia, motorcycles by the thousands, they drive on the right and anything goes. Crossing the roads was taking your life in your hands, hoping the traffic would go around you; we survived and by the time we left Hanoi were just like locals. The old quarter was a mass of narrow streets, teeming with street vendors, motorbikes, cars, people and noise. Just five metres from our hotel was Pub corner, a crossroads with a pub on each corner where you sat on a small plastic stool on the side walk and drank your beer as you watched the mayhem. Brian tried to pay with a dong banknote with a small tear in it, no luck, vendors will only accept perfect notes.
At 18:00 we met our fellow travelers for the next 15 days, a mix of ages from 20 to 60+, from UK, Canada and Australia, seemed like a good group and went through the tour itinerary.
Monday was a free day to further explore Hanoi before going to the Water Puppets show in the late afternoon, they were fun. After the puppets we left Hanoi on the overnight sleeper train to Sapa. We were happy we were in the ‘first class’ sleeper compartments, four to a room, (we shared with Mike and Maureen from Canada) it was tidy and clean. Sapa is in the mountains northwest of Hanoi, the bus from the train station took us up to Sapa at 1,500m, with the surrounding mountains at 3,000m. It was suddenly a lot colder. Sapa was a lovely little town, very reminiscent of a ski resort and is the starting point for trekking in the surrounding mountains. What we didn’t realize was that The North Face trekking gear is made in Vietnam and the prices were very good for clothing, backpacks, trekking poles etc. In the afternoon we went for a walk through a local village, Ta Phin, accompanied by the women of the village trying to sell the local crafts. It was a different lifestyle, small wooden huts, inside cooking, meats hanging from the ceiling and rice and goods stored in the lofts. The locals were very friendly and appeared happy, we heard about the local customs and culture and shared a drink with them. After a good night’s sleep, catching up on what we missed on the rattling train, we met our local guide, Ling, and headed off with our day packs for an overnight homestay in Ta Vinh village, a six hour walk. The scenery was stunning; unfortunately we did not take our SLR camera only the small one and the photos do not do it justice. The hillsides were all terraced with paddy fields, there was a river running along the valley floor and we passed through villages along the route. The walk was very easy and we arrived at Ta Vinh village and our homestay mid afternoon. The homestay was a large house with dorm style sleeping; we had a bed downstairs with Julie while everyone else was upstairs. After organizing our beds we went for a walk down to the river and returned for sundowner drinks on the deck. Due to the cold, dinner was inside with the homestay family and turned into an evening of toasts with the local home brewed rice wine to celebrate Tet holiday and Andrew tried the local tobacco pipe. A couple of the group got right into the swing of the rice wine and later as we were all playing cards, Guy was seen tried to walk through a wall thinking it was the stairs, after being guided in the right direction he then crawled up the stairs to bed. At 3am, Brian woke Gail shouting, Gail let out a blood curdling scream and then Brian told the story. He had seen something crawl along the side of the bed, realized it was not the homestay cat and gave it a big kick, he was convinced it was a rat. The following day, after pancakes and bananas for breakfast, we had a two hour, more strenuous trek out to our waiting bus back to Sapa. The local children who accompanied us were like mountain goats, skipping across streams, guiding us on the best way to go. Back in Sapa it was showers and a free day until the night train back to Hanoi. Sapa was truly a highlight and a must see for anyone going to Vietnam.
Back in Hanoi we showered and caught the bus to Halong Bay for an overnight stay on a boat. Halong Bay is very like Phang Nga bay in Phuket, same rock formations just more of them and hundreds of tourist boats. Brian called it “Phang Nga bay on steroids”. The overnight on the boat was fun; we enjoyed a walk through some caves and to the top of a hill lookout. After dinner we had a Karaoke evening, luckily no-one could sing so no-one got embarrassed. The following morning it was back on a bus to Hanoi and another overnight train to Hue, however the train this time was a government run train not the tourist train for Sapa and the standards were not as high. However, we did sleep for most of the journey and for the most part it was clean if tired looking.
Hue was once the imperial capital of Vietnam and we did a motorbike tour through the narrow streets, paddy fields and woods. Next morning we jumped into the cyclos and went to see the imperial citadel before taking a bus over the Hai Van pass to Hoi An for a three day stopover.
Hoi An was an important trading centre and has a strong south Chinese influence. The old town has a pedestrian walking zone, free from the thousands of motorbikes. In the evenings the Chinese lanterns that are strung across the alleys and streets add a great atmosphere. Hoi An is a mecca for tailors, shoemakers and craftsmen. Getting clothes made to measure in Hoi An is very easy and the quality and price are excellent, needless to say many in the group left Hoi An with heavier luggage and lighter pockets. We also hired some bicycles and rode the four kilometers to the beach for a couple of hours, watching the parasailing and jet skis out in the bay. Late afternoon we all turned up for a Vietnamese cooking class, great fun and the food wasn’t bad either.
Early Thursday 6th February, we flew from Hoi An to Ho Chi Minh city for one night. We had dinner at a noodle shop famous for Bill Clinton dining there, went for a cyclo tour and walked to a local bar for beers and onto dinner. We also watched on the sidewalks and parks as locals played badminton and happy sacs. The following day we drove to the Mekong Delta for a boat tour and another homestay in Xe Lam village.
Again our sleeping arrangements were dorm style, this time in the open with mosquito nets. After relaxing in hammocks we went for a walk around the village and back for dinner. We were all offered the opportunity to taste an entrée of bbq’d rat, Brian tried it but Gail did not. Dinner was a lot more palatable and after an evening of cards we retired for the night with no interruptions this time.
On the way back to Ho Chi Minh city we detoured to the Cu Chi tunnels. There are over 250kms of tunnels and you have to admire the Vietnamese for living in them for several days at a time. Back in Ho Chi Minh it was time for our final dinner before flying back to Phuket on Sunday 9th February.