Hanoi, Cat Ba Island & Halong Bay

Hello All

Welcome to our next installment from Vietnam...

In Hanoi we stayed in the Old Quarter, which was pretty interesting - like a maze with each street selling one thing. There was a kind of B&Q road where all of the tools were spilling out into the streets. Others sold just safes, bamboo poles, pots n pans etc. Unfortunately there isn't really one with a concentration of places to eat. We arrived in Hanoi tired and hungry, only to find this out, leaving us floundering around hungry, although we did eventually fill our tummies :)

Hanoi is where we finally bit the bullet and bought our very own note book laptop. We were getting fed up with using cafes and ancient computers, with slow broadband in hotel receptions. Praise the lord for this decision - happy days :) Although no Facebook as it's illegal in Vietnam. I've only been able to connect to it once!

We saw a Water Puppetry performance, which is a ancient art form here, it was pretty interesting for a one off but not exactly Avatar special affects ha ha!



Water Puppets. Why the sad faces? (see bottom of blog)

Anyone whose been to SE Asia will know how popular and numerous night markets are here, but Hanoi had the edge, not necessaraly on quality, but on the sheer scale of the thing! it seemed to go on for miles and causes a 'moto traffic jam' :)

After Hanoi we took the slow bus and fast ferry to Cat Ba island. We arrived just in time to find them paving paradise - or so it seemed. In fact most of the island is a national park, but the road between the ferry port and Cat Ba town will soon be filled with posh resorts. Cat Ba town itself is a bit like Southend on Sea. The most fun to be had was watching how many Vitenamese can fit on a tandem (4) and a scooter (5). But once we got our own scooter and got out of town, we discovered the beauty of the island. We hiked to top of 'mountain' in National Park. It was only 250m high, but climbing up through the jungle in the heat and humididty it felt like a mountain. Thankfully the fantastic view of the island from the top was worth it.

Marc at the top of Cat Ba Island

From the island, we took a boat trip to in Halong Bay. We imagined it to be one large bay, but it in fact covers a huge area with around 2,600 limestone karsts (islands) surrounded by turquoise sea, with a few white sandy beaches and caves thrown in for good measure. It is a truly beatiful location!

We spent 2 days and one night on board our own private 50 ft 'junk' boat which we had to ourselves (except our guide, two crew, a cat and some huge cockroaches). Apart from gawping at the scenery, we did some swimming and kayaking and had tons of good food - all very relaxing. We watched an amazing sunset the night we spent on the water then played poker and drank wine, before sleeping on the roof of the boat - our first one million star hotel!

Halong Bay

European hair vs humid Asian climate. No contest!

(I've yet to have a 'good hair day' here)

Sunset on 'our' boat

On the second day we stopped off at Monkey Island. We set off on a walk, not realising our guide was planning to take us beyond all the paths to the peak of the island. This involved climbing a bamboo ladder with most of the rungs missing and scrambling up jagged rocks on all fours. 2 knackered pairs of flip-flops, and one cut foot later we gave up and came down. And to add insult to injury we never saw the monkeys!
Luckily we avoided a strike by the boat crews, which we later learned affected people in the days immediately after our trip. Phew!



Now you know!