Here it is, the long awaited 'Nam post...
First off, if someone comes up to you and offers you a trip to Vietnam, SAY YES. Don't think about it, just do it! It's a BEAUTIFUL country, filled with many more things than I was able to see in the 10 days I was there...Also important to note that I was tired and feeling the need for this vacation more than ever before...So while there was more that I could have done in 10 days, I spent 4 full days doing nothing on the beach. In the shade of course...
So we flew to Hanoi, which is the "capital" of the northern part of the country (Ho Chi Min being the other big city in the south..). We'd been warned to head to a travel agency right away and look into 2 things...The first was the train, and the other was the boat trip on Halong Bay. We needed to sort those two things out before doing anything else..Luckily for us we got dropped off at a great little agency, the woman was very helpful and able to get us everything we needed right off the bat! We booked the trip to Halong Bay (which by now you've seen my pictures of...STUNNING. Dalia's pics are even better, I don't know how b/c we have the same camera - maybe she's been doing some online learning!!!!), and that meant that we had one afternoon to hang out in Hanoi, and we left the next morning..We were also set to get on the train 2 nights later....
This meant we needed a hotel for the night. I'd looked up a couple hotels in the Old Quarter, and as it turned out we were just down the road from it. It cost 30$ a night, so 15$ each, and was beautiful. One problem tho...The room they showed us had someone's stuff in it. As in, they hadn't checked out yet, and we were allowed to look into it. Can you believe it?!?!?! We knew we couldnt stay there b/c we didnt want our stuff poked into, or worse, stolen. We left there, much to the receptionists dismay, and went across the street. This place was nice, not as nice as the first place, but we thought, hey if they show us an ACTUAL empty room, we're good. So we walked up 5 flights of stairs, yes, 5 flights...and the man knocked on the door and headed in. Dalia was ahead of me and saw that the housekeeping staff had been resting on the beds. Not making them, but laying atop them. WHAT? So we said no to that place too...We headed back to our little travel agency and had her recommend a place for us. She said there was a pretty cheap place close by, and suggested we have a look. So we did. And it was ghetto. But clean, and the people there were kind. And there was noone in the room that we were shown. So for 12$ a night, that's right, 6$ each, we'd found a place!
We then headed off to look around, eat some food, just get a feel for the place. We knew we'd have a whole day to shop in Hanoi on our way home, so we didn't buy anything, just chilled out..We were picked up at the hotel the next morning by 7:30. We got on a bus with maybe 6 other people, all looked interesting. About 45 minutes into our 3 hour ride, the guide asked the couple in front of us for their receipt...They were visiting from another asian country, so there was a bit of a language barrier, but it was eventually discovered that they were on the wrong bus!!! Thankfully a) that wasn't us and b) all the guides know each other, so it wasn't a big deal to find the correct tour for them once we got to the dock..
Once on the boat there were 6 of us (remember we lost 2...), one man traveling solo, and 4 younger guys from the UK. They were bound to be fun! So we headed out on a little boat to the bigger, "pirate ship" (that's what it looked like to me) that we'd be staying on. Out room was very cute, no problems there..We were to have lunch, and sat in groups. Turns out the other 4 people from out bus spoke Spanish, so they sat togethe, the 4 boys sat together, and D and I and the man traveling alone together..But the food had been prepared for groups, so after a little confusion, the solo man went to sit with the 4 others, and the boys joined us..they were VERY fun. 3 of them had been traveling together for about 2.5 months after having worked in Australia for the better part of the year, and the other had just joined them. I think I posted a picture of them, you'll see the one that just joined them by the color of his skin...
When we got on board, Dalia, who generally doesn't like the singing rooms in Korea, turned to me and said "wouldnt it be great if there was a kareokee machine?" - I didn't think it would be great b/c I didnt think many people would participate. Was I ever wrong! There was a machine, and most of us sang for hours!!!! There's a video of all of us singing the O Canada, but it was takin on Dalia's camera, so I don't have access to it right now. If she sends it to me, I'll post it here - should be hilarious!
So the boat was great..We saw some caves, did a little kayaking, bought "illegal" beer from ladies in rowboats, and even a little swimming...Sleeping on a boat was no different than sleeping on land. I imagine the fact that we were on a bay, rather that the open waters, had something to do with the calmness of the waters...Great food, good people, all in all a great little side trip.
So back to Hanoi, and a few hours to kill again. We were able to leave our stuff with the travel agent, and found a grocery store with some different Western things that we can't get here in Korea..toothpaste and tea was what I stocked up on!
Next we boarded a train that would take us to Denang, which I'd say is about 1/3 of the way to Ho Chi Min. The train was great on the way down b/c we got on at 11pm, so it was time to sleep. I'd been awake all day, having got up pretty early on the boat, so I was dead tired..We shared with a grandfather and his grand-daughter, and a random man who didnt speak to anyone, just slept...It was a great trip, you wake up and see some of the most beautiful scenery EVER! It seemed as tho we were on the edge of a cliff, and that leaning over would cause us to fall...Some people a few cabins down from us got their window open and were able to likely get some great shots, but we didnt..so my shots are through the dirty window...not good!
Arriving in Denang we were on the search for the bus station...It would have been super cheap to take the bus. But when a man approached us and told us that for 5$ each we could take a taxi and leave now, we said OK! We shared with a Japanese couple, and really, 5$ was worth it. One of the best moments of my time with Dalia happened shortly after. The driver pulled into some sort of showroom. Said we didnt have to buy, just look. D and I have experienced this in many countries. Sometimes we indulge the driver, but today was not the day. So Dalia says, no, we're not doing this...in such a way that the driver quickly put the car in reverse...EXCELLENT!
We got dropped in Hoi An around where we wanted to, and actually ended up staying in the first place we looked at. It had "free" breakfast (up to a certain amount, but it was delish and we could have easily stayed within their budget...), actual free internet, and great a/c....25$ a night...beautiful! We headed out and found a tailor who made us some matching blouses, different fabrics..Hoi An is famous for their tailors, so we knew we'd get stuff made. We didn't go back to the first place b/c we had quite a few problems with the fit of the shirts (it was as if she made both shirts in the measurements she took for my blouse but Dalia's body is much different than mine...), but we did find another lady who was great! All in all, I had 2 dresses, 1 pair of pants, 1 pair of shorts, 2 skirts, 2 blouses and a fabulous winter jacket made..And 6 pairs of shoes. HAHA! The blue dress and winter jacket are my favorite, but I've worn almost everything and have had great reviews! And the shoes...5 are sandals, 1 is a pair of flats, and I'm thrilled with them. I can't buy cute shoes here...so it was worth it.
We did the tailors and the beach in Hoi An! There were lots of other things to do, but like I said, we were tired...We rented bikes for less and 2.50$/day...and that's 2.50$ together I think! The bike was about 4km away (GASP!) but on a very flat road, alongside a beautiful river! Of course we'd be sweaty by the time we got there, but we were just going to lie around, so it didnt matter! We parked our bikes at the same little retaurant, sat in essentially the same chairs, at pretty much the ame food, each day. And it was awesome! The sand was the hottest I've ever witnessed. We'd laugh at people who ran from their sun chairs to the ocean, but then wore our sandals to the water so that we didn't have to run..I did run a short way one day, it was that hot! There were a few jellyfish one day, but otherwise the water was great! The beach was stunning also - again, see the pics!
The ladies at the tailor were very fun, very persuasive, but like I said, totally worth it! We almost had a crisis with one of the pairs of shoes, but in the end it all worked out!
The last part of our journey brought us back to Denang to the train station. We kinda figured that the ride wouldn't be as great as the one down, b/c we were boarding at 2pm. There really wasn't anywhere to go, and we'd been assigned one top and one bottom bunk, so we couldnt really interact. Nor did we want to sleep b/c it was the middle of the afternoon! The only book I had left wasn't very good, but my iPod saved the day. The other top bunk was like "musical bunk" - someone got off and on at each stop, but the other bunk had a great Vietnamese guy who spoke great English! As it turned out, he'd done his Masters in India in English..The lectures were given in Hindi, even though the textbooks were in English, so he'd essentially taught himself!! WOW!!! He was headed to Hanoi to pick up his degree, that was at the Indian Embassy there...Color me impressed! I told him that I loved Vietnam, and said that my only problem was the staring. It seemed, especially in Hanoi, that there was no shortage of stares, and points...Dalia pointed out later that ALL foreigners we started at, not just the round white ones...and I began to just get over. He made a good point - that tourism isn't all that big there, so most often the stares are because we're interesting, not b/c they want to be rude! There's an obvious US influence in Hanoi, but what he said is true. Before I came here, I never thought I'd ever go to Nam...Being here, I've been all over the place, and so this was a logical place to go...but to most of the world, Nam isn't a hot spot. So that helped with a little of the mystery...
Back in Hanoi we had a driver who pretended he didnt speak English when we told him to stop, frustrating but funny b/c it seemed like he was suddenly speaking in tongues...We went back to the same ghetto hotel we'd stayed the first night, and slept for a few hours...We then headed out to buy our souvenirs, we'd saved pretty much all souvenir shopping till then! The poor salespeople, they didn't know what to do with us. We'd made a list of what we wanted. Like any friends, we have similar taste and they had great souvenirs in Vietnam, so we went in and asked for prices, then asked what kind of discount we'd get if we bought 14 of something..hahah! In the end, we got fair prices, and I'm pleased with my purchases...Course I'm running out of space in my little apartment...Good thing there are few trips between now and me moving home..Less aquiring of new things...Oopps!
A great trip - and I'm already looking forward to the next one!!!
