We flew into Hanoi on Saturday, enjoying the fact that the flight was only about 3 hours from Seoul, then spent the rest of Saturday afternoon traveling to Haiphong, a sea port where we would pick up the Cat Ba hydrofoil the next day. The bus trip from Hanoi to Haiphong was really interesting - we got seats ok, but as often happens in Asian countries, the aisles also filled up, people there having to sit on tiny kid-sized plastic stools! The driver spent the whole trip tooting his horn about every 10 seconds, and we learned that this means 'I'm here' or 'I'm coming past you, look out!'
As we approached Haiphong people began to get off at various stops, and I started to get a bit concerned at the motorbike-taxi drivers who were all hovering at the bus stop, calling out and pointing to who they were going to 'take' before they even got off the bus, and then almost falling over themselves to get their fare! We have been in Asia long enough now to know how to say 'No, thank you' firmly, so we managed to get out of the bus, through the scrambling drivers, and into a taxi with our luggage, and off to the hotel. I had also read about crossing the road - sounds straight forward enough, but over in Vietnam the traffic lights are merely a suggestion, so you have to keep your wits about you. But, seriously - you look, check - then walk. They go round you!!! So, my crossing 'mantra' became - 'just walk, just walk, just walk ~ phew!'
We had read up about traveling using local transport, and enjoyed the sights and sounds as we went from taxi to bus to hydrofoil - arriving at Cat Ba harbour around 9am the next morning. We hopped in a local taxi over to Ben Beo harbour and jumped onto a small 'putt-putt' boat to be taken around to Nam Cat Island. The arrival into Cat Ba was spectacular compared to the built-up areas around Hanoi and Haiphong, which were a mix of industrialised, agricultural, and urban sprawled on a flat area. This area is part of the larger 'Halong Bay' - a world heritage site, with some amazing rock, caves, and mountains to explore.
Cat Ba town is a tourist-y town, but with a laid-back feel compared to Hanoi. It was in the off-season, but was gearing up for a local onslaught of tourists on the day we left, so while there they were preparing stages, flags, signs etc, all to do with a celebration of the time that Ho Chi Min came to visit the island.
Cat Ba Island is also interesting to walk around - it has a National Park, and is home to several species of animal and bird, but has an endangered primate that they are working hard to preserve. The golden-headed langur is only found in this part of the world, but the numbers are down to the 60's - so it is critically endangered. Obviously - we didn't see any! But, we did enjoy a challenging climb/walk in the National Park with a local guide. We walked up to a peak which had a lookout tower - reminiscent of the war, but now closed off to people. (thank goodness, wasn't keen!)
Prior to this, our driver told us about 'Hospital Cave' - and stopped there for us to tour. The cave is huge - but the entrance would be deceptive. It was used during the war by the Chinese and the Viet Cong as their hospital, but also as a hide-out. There were 3 storeys of concrete buildings inside the cave, which you entered up a steep path and climbed up a rickety wooden ladder. I was wondering how on earth the injured would get in there without sustaining further injuries, but of course - there was another entrance! Fascinating place to visit.
Tours around the bay were spectacular, the rock formations so picturesque, but my challenge to get the 'perfect photo' was not helped by the fact that every day was cloudy. This is common in this area, contrary to the brochures they don't get lots of clear blue sky days, and we didn't see a clear patch on any day. This didn't matter, we were there primarily to relax, and relax we did!
Kayaking around the area nearby the resort was fun, easy, and interesting. There were many shallow parts were you could see that you were paddling over the top of baskets set up in formation, ready to be raised up and sorted through. These were the pearl farms - but they have a sideline of shellfish production as well. The farmers move around them on their barges, raise the baskets and sift through them, then refill and relocate.
I noticed a lot of the housing architecture was tall and narrow - so narrow sometimes that it was the width of a double door and maybe a window on each side, then - up it went. After asking about this it appears that it is because of the 'rates' charged based on the width of the land used by the building! Clever. Often houses had a roof-top space that was open-sided and they had washing lines up there. I guess people could sleep there too in the summer time.
Another day tour we joined onto was to visit a village called Viet Hai, which was inside the National Park area. This was reached by bicycle, and is a remote and charming place. It was a small village that surrounded its lush rice paddies and had only had electricity since 2004. I think the 'eco-tourism' is proving helpful for the village - at least, I hope it is. It still appears unspoiled, but - there's always compromises made in the name of tourism, isn't there...
Our week was wonderful - we are really excited about going back in June, despite the fact that it will be ridiculously hot!! We had lots of advice from travelers about places worth seeing and that encouraged us to change our plans slightly to make sure we included Hoi An as well as Nha Tran. If you have been inspired to visit Vietnam - I would thoroughly encourage that idea - but do read up about how to travel safely, and do keep your wits about you in the bigger cities. I know that our coping mechanisms are much better now compared to our visit to Bali back in November - we have become more travel-savvy I suspect! Money is always an issue - it pays to know what the notes look like, colour and size, and have a clear idea of what they are worth - as you can get confused with all the zeroes!
It was a bit sad to leave as we had connected well with the staff, who had started to give us special treatment due to the fact that we were staying for whole week, whereas most people stay one night and move on. As a result, they dished us up special food from the 3rd night onwards as they felt we would get bored with the BBQ on offer every night!
The final highlight of the trip was the few hours we had to spend in Hanoi before heading out to the airport. One issue was going to be what to do with our bags - we didn't want to wander around Hanoi dragging our luggage behind us for 5 or 6 hours. I decided to try asking a hotel if we could pay to store the bags - so we approached the Zephr hotel in the Old Quarter near the little lake. They were most obliging, and didn't charge us for this service, and offered us the hotel taxi to get to the airport for $20USD - $10 less that the cost of the taxi into Hanoi when we first arrived!
So, we took off to explore Hanoi, and headed to my final destination that I had been hoping to visit - KOTO restaurant. This is an amazing project by an Aussie/Vietnamese guy who returned to Vietnam and was discouraged by the plight of kids living on the streets and decided to set up this teaching restaurant called KOTO - Know One, Teach One - which helps these kids to learn a skill as well as a multitude of life skills as well as trade skills. It was a lovely meal, and I enjoyed the opportunity to go there. Inspirational. (click the link if you'd like to know more!)
I hope you have enjoyed the blog - please also enjoy the slideshow and video footage at your leisure. If you want to ask anything or share your own Vietnam stories, please add a comment! It's always nice to have comments, it shows someone has actually read this :)
Here's a link to the slideshow of all the photos, if you wish to browse the album !
Vietnam Vacation
http://s1142.photobucket.com/user/isandmike/slideshow/Vietnam%20vacation
