Hanoi - Redemption..Ha Long Bay and Sapa...

We took a lovely large Vietnamese airlines plane from Hue to Hanoi - a very short and comfortable flight. Already pre-warned of the scams that lie waiting for you as you disembark from the plane, we intended to catch and legitimate Vietnamese airlines shuttle bus into town. We were ushered almost immediately to a shuttle bus, that of course was masquerading as the real one but the price was the same (due to some haggling) so we got on end enjoyed the ride.

Aesthetically Hanoi is more French Colonial, than it is the set of Rush Hour. Hanoi was charming from the get go. Hanoi is also like lover who's afraid of commitment- offering you something you want to then taking it away. In our case it was the need for redemption, we wanted to love Hanoi.

It was a shaky start as we had decided to top off a good first day in town with dinner at a street vendor (they are cheaper than cheap, quote unquote, The Lonely (effing shit) Planet) …sitting on little plastic seats we enjoyed our shared BBQ with 2 bowls of rice, to then overhear the English speaking businessmen next to us start to question their bill. They asked for the manager, he didn’t exist, they protested, it didn’t help, they said they would report them but in the end they had no other choice but to pay. We knew we were in for a nasty surprise and low and behold we were charged overall more than 3.5 times the cost that locals pay (which we knew as we had already asked a couple of them eating there before we got the bill). The bill added up to more than a 5 course meal we ate cooked by a top chef back in Hoi An...

The locals eating there tried to help us but caved under the pressure and then disappointingly started to justify the cost. We expect to pay 2x as much at the locals, this is fair enough, but a blatant rip off is bad business and it‘s no way to look after tourism - unfortunately this sometimes seems to be the story of Hanoi’s attitude.

As lovely interlude - Jerry, Jez, Jezza (Dave's Dad) graced us with his presence the next day…and lucky for him we had already pre-booked him into the Ha Long Bay and Sapa tours were were planning to do in the 8 days that he was with us.

Ha Long Bay is scattered with 1690 limestone picturesque islands and aqua water, it is the UNESCO sight to be seen. We arrived to see the water full of Junks, the traditional wooden Chinese/Vietnamese boats and the islands shrouded with mist. But by the time we were out in the bay there were clear skies and warm air. Our junk called the Marguerite, was lovely, large and welcoming… especially with a sugar cane drink on arrival - yum! We were then fed a ridiculously large lunch, including a vegetarian version that was big enough for 4 people! Dave and Jez considered converting for the spoils.

That day as part of the tour we went to the Amazing cave (inside one of the islands) and Kayaking - which was Jez’s first time. He was surprisingly speedy, leaving us for dead as he headed around an island into oblivion. We returned for a ridiculously large dinner, Karaoke and squid fishing before retiring to our cabins for a sound sleep.

Dave getting some sun on the top deck of our Junk

Junks wandering around Ha Long Bay...

The view from Amazing cave

Jerry and Meals..

Jerry paddling off at top speed

Dave jumping from the top deck of the Junk

Brothers in arms...

Inside the cabins

Jerry enjoying the view from the Marguerite junk

Enjoying the view, again!

Jerry and our little friend on the tour

The next arvo we returned to Hanoi for about 24 hours before leaving on the 9 hour night train to Sapa, which is north of Hanoi and quite close to China. It is known for it’s temperate climate, numerous hill tribe villages and beauty.  Our train arrived at 6am, Jez and I quite weary from lack of sleep and Dave lovely and refreshed from heaps of sleep. We then trekked about 5kms through the minority villages with our guide 'Lillow' who was funny and a great host. We also had Phat (6 year old) and his Parents who were a freindly Vietnamese family that we spent the tour with. Phat would hold our hands and swap to who ever was the most interesting every 3 mins, a ball of energy and the main interpreter between us and his parents. The second day was an 8 km journey to 3 more minority villages, an absolutely stunning walk through rice paddies, mist and placid buffalo. 

 Amelia and Jez eating breakfast on our first morning

I was so happy to rug up and get a break from the hot weather!

hill tribe ladies...

Jerry and Phat

Jerry with some of the hilltribe kids

Dave's the favourite falang, handing out pop corn to the kids

Hmong kids with babies strapped to their backs

Sapa town

Starting out on our second day's trek

Phat wearing a traditional hilltribe hat

The rice fields Sapa is famous for..

Group shot!

 Jerry enjoying some tobacco from a rather large pipe

We returned that night to Hanoi via the 9 hour overnight train, Dave awoke refreshed, Jez tired and myself dusty from a night of the spews in a stinky unlockable toilet. It was exhausting enough spewing for 6 hours, but even more so when one arm was constantly  holding the door closed to prevent intruders, the other holding a rail to steady and my crouching legs so I could aim in the bowl…

The next day I spent entirely in bed while Jez and Dave had lunch with Phat and his family at a lovely restaurant to exchange photos. The morning after Jerry headed to Ho Chi Minh City and we flew into KL on route to Sumatra. It was sad to say goodbye to Jez and equally sad to bid farewell to Vietnam. But we are ready for a new country and new adventures, of course even more wiser to the scams…

Hue - land of lies

Arrived in Hue to a swarm of young Vietnamese men trying to secure our custom at their commissioned hotel. When all you want to do is get your bags off the bus and orient yourself, it’s a tiring dialog of ‘no thank you’ ‘we’ve already booked’ ‘no, thank you -we just want to get our bags please’. To escape it all we jumped into a taxi which after 3 seconds we realised was a big mistake. He asked for flat fee first, then agreed eventually to put his meter on. He proceeded to take us around in circles on the scenic route and then eventually to our hotel after we threatened to get out. The scams, lies and hassle can be disappointing and tiring and only seem on the increase as we head further north.

The hotel we got dropped off at was a little out of our price range and of course super nice. They were lovely and took us to a sister hotel with cheaper rooms. In contrast perhaps not as plush but overall our room was excellent value (a/c, cable Tv, fridge, bath, balcony etc) for $12 a night. As usual the staff asked us where we were going and what we were doing each day, then urged us into taking a river tour. In fairness we planned on taking a river tour eventually. We were also nicely urged into a private car to the airport. The line was drawn however at the DMZ tour (de militarised zone, the border between the old north and south Vietnam) which is over 100kms away.

 Dave sitting in front of the flag tower within the Hue Citadel

Our the front of the Ngan Gate outside the purple palace.

Dave in front of the Emperor Gia Long's reading room

Dave in front of the Thai Hoa Palace

The Koi in the lakes near the entrance to the Thai Hoa Palace

You could pay 2000 VND to feed them and they were very hungry!

Every time that you venture from your guest house or hotel you are accosted by locals and asked EXACLTY the same questions. First they try to get your attention by clapping, then they say ‘hello’ and as we are not completely rude we respond with a greeting - bang, they have you hooked and proceed with ‘where you from?’… ‘Australia’…. ‘ahhh Sydney or Melbourne?’… ‘Melbourne’.. ‘how long you in Vietnam?’ ‘ 1 month’… ‘very nice…have you done a tour?’ ‘no thanks’ ‘how about an easy rider bike tour’ ‘ no thanks’…. ‘do you need a car to the airport’ … ‘no thanks man’ … ‘you have guesthouse?’… ‘no thanks’.

Today we got scammed into having lunch with a nice man who said he had family in Melbourne and would love to chat. He then paid for lunch and said he would be happy if we bought him a bottle of wine for him to enjoy with his family and the monks at his temple. We agreed, but he wanted Dave to go to the market alone with him which we declined as politely as possible - so we just had to offer him the money for the wine and his face suitably lit up. We asked how much it normally was, he said we should choose how much -  but the nicest bottle was $250000 VND, we decided on $100000 VND and handed it over. 2 seconds later a cyclo driver told us the man was a liar and scammed tourists often. We may sound stupid for being believers but it’s so hard to be rude and cause confrontation when you feel something isn’t right.

We never get scammed out of a lot of money - the most damage is done to our trust when we reach out to create genuine connections with local people. Overall we have found many of the Vietnamese that we meet on the street (in the North) to have an ulterior motive. Every time you walk down the street we feel like we have giant neon dollar signs above our heads. It’s hard to be made a fool of, it’s hard to travel when you are not respected enough to part with your money for a genuine service or item at a fair price for both parties but mostly it is hard to feel compassion and understanding for the hardship that ultimately motivates some people to treat you in this way. This is not an overall Poo Poo of the Vietnamese people, on the contrary so many have been delightful, friendly and lovely. Let’s call it a observation of a slight issue that has been wearing down our armour.

On another positive note Hue offered us some stunning temples and palaces which we explored on bicycle and foot. The tour turned out to be well run and interesting too - most stunning were the beautiful tombs of 2 of the previous emperors. 

 In front of the Thien Mu Pagoda

 By the Song Huong river near the Pagoda

 Our our Dragon tour boat

 Lunch on the Dragon boat

The Tu Doc Tomb on the Song Huong River

Dave under the arches at near the base of the tomb

Keeping cool near one of the many lake of the tomb

In and around the ground of the Tomb

Mr Iguana...

Tomb of Minh Mang

 The stairs that lead up to the tomb

Amelia on the stairs, in the sweltering heat!

In and around the grounds of the tomb

The walls inside the tomb are covered in Mosaics that took thousands of people, working non-stop 6 year to complete.

Up close to the details..