Halong Bay 19th – 21st June

After looking at the dozens of tour operators for Halong Bay cruises, we decided to go with Alova cruises, although more expensive the boats were nicer and they didn’t cram dozens of people into a small space.

On the first day, myself, Hannah, Ylan and Jerry boarded a bus to Halong city, boarded our boat and headed out to the open sea. On arrival at our base we dropped anchor had a great lunch and although the wine bottles were on the tables we were given a complementary juice :(
After lunch we jumped in the kayaks, we went for a paddle around some islands; while the scenery is amazing the amount of rubbish floating on the surface of the water ruined the charm of the area.

Then we took a small boat to what looked like man made beach, where most of the other boats from the harbour had taken their guests, but with a high cost café, expensive deck chairs and pricey volley ball rentals we decided to just sit on the sand and admire the view, you know the view past the dozens of tourists in the water, past the jet skis, and past the rubbish floating about.

After that we had a cooking class, which was making spring rolls (again with the spring roll cooking classes!!). Then shortly after that we had dinner, spring rolls, prawns; crabs the list goes on, a great meal. Although the drinks were very pricey the little Vietnamese women from the surrounding floating villages would row up to the boat and sell cheaper beers, much to the disapproval of the bar staff.

Buy something!?!?

The next day we woke up early and took a small boat to Sung Sot cave, a huge cave that has had a path and some great lighting installed, our guide pointed out many figures that had been spotted in the cave; some obvious and some required a stretch of the imagination. 

 Later that day we headed out and took a look at the floating villages and the floating pearl farm. Our last stop for the day was at a small beach where we found a spot of water that didn’t have any rubbish and went for dip, which stopped promptly after a floating poo made its way towards us!
Later that night we made some more spring rolls and had dinner, we had smuggled a bottle of wine on board and sat on the deck in the warm night air talking with other travellers.

Reading back over this post I don’t sound too positive but I feel like it’s a fair review, Halong bay is marketed as a wonder of the natural world and boasts its UNESCO status, and yes the thousands of small islands and green water makes for a great view, but over the years this place has become the number one tourist attraction in Vietnam and I’m sure many years ago Halong bay would be a magical place, but the affects of tourism haven’t been managed well, the rubbish the over crowding, we were told in peak summer time there would be over 40 cruise ships anchored in the small area. Don’t let his put you off the idea visiting I think I was just a little let down due to the hype. 

Hanoi: 17 – 19 June, and a few other days

We arrived into Hanoi early but not so bright and despite everyone’s warnings, still ended up paying an extortionate price for a taxi to our hotel. Luckily the warm welcome we received at our hotel, Finnegan’s Hotel, made us feel much better. Owner Viet, his wife and brother, were all so lovely and helpful. Viet really went out of his way to give us advice on different trips we wanted to do to Halong Bay and the North, and detailed instructions on some fabulous restaurants to visit.

So after a shower and a bit of a rest, we met up with our Canadian friends Ylan and Jerry and headed to Hanoi’s best ‘pho’ (noodle soup) restaurant (another of Viet’s recommendations). The queue went out the door and onto the street. This place is so popular that the neighbouring restaurants have just given up trying to compete; the busy staff could be seen running into neighbouring restaurants with steaming bowls of the delicious soup.

Once refuelled, we set off to explore the city in the stifling heat. We visited the Military History Museum, which was interesting, although rather propaganda-like.

For a late lunch, we were tantalised by the smell of chargrilling pork on the street and sat down to some delicious bun cha, a popular North Vietnamese dish. Bun Cha is served as a broth with fish sauce, sugar and vinegar, with chunks of the grilled pork and a few other veges. Alongside this, you are given a plate of cold rice noodles and the ubiquitous plate of herbs, added as per your preference. You dip the noodles into the broth little by little and slurp up, also tasting the delicious grilled meat as you go. It’s also common to order a side of spring rolls, also dipped in the broth. Writing this is making my mouth water…  

Another taste sensation we tried in Hanoi was ‘egg coffee,’ or cà phê trú’ng. I think this is a Hanoi specialty, although it’s not so well known. We tried ours at Café Giang, which is a family-run Hanoi institution. It doesn’t look like much from the outside, but is a cute, if simple, little café once you make your way down the dark passageway. Basically it’s Vietnamese coffee – so with sweetened condensed milk at the bottom of the cup, followed by strong coffee, (and ice if, like us, you need to cool down), and on the top is a layer of foam made from egg (I think both the yolk and white). To enjoy, you take a spoonful of each of the three layers. The result is amazingly creamy, rich and sweet – I’ve heard it compared to eating tiramisu.

Hanoi is centred around the Hoan Kiem Lake, a popular hangout spot in the evenings, by which time the temperature has dropped enough to be comfortable. Walking around the lake, you encounter young couples canoodling, older people getting their exercise in or performing some bizarre hula-like stretches, families eating ice cream, and others playing badminton. From here, many of Hanoi’s main attractions can be reached on foot, provided you can withstand the heat and humidity.

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

Other sights we enjoyed in Hanoi included; the One Pillar Pagoda (not impressive at all – looks like a tree hut and about as exciting, although there is some story behind it from memory), the Temple of Literature (a lovely complex set amidst a beautiful park), and the Women’s museum (interesting and very modern). Walking around the old quarter one day, we decided to visit the nearby Opera House. Somehow we managed to mistake the Hilton Opera House for the opera house itself, and found ourselves wandering around the hotel a little confused! To be fair, the hotel was rather grand, and gave the impression it could once have been an opera house, although we did feel rather silly when we realised our mistake.

Using Hanoi as a base, the four of us went on two trips – one to Halong Bay and one to the North – each time returning to Hanoi and comforts of our new favourite hotel and hotel owner.

Hue: 15 - 16 June

Our next stop was the historical city of Hue. Located along the Perfume River (which unfortunately does not smell like Perfume), Hue was the national capital, and base for the Nguyen dynasty, which ruled from 1802 until 1945, when emperor Bao Dai abdicated in favour of Ho Chi Minh’s revolutionary government (thanks wikitravel).

During the Vietnam War, Hue’s location very close to the border between North and South Vietnam, resulted in some tough times and damage to some parts of the city, although we didn’t find this noticeable today.  

Interestingly, we were told that given the relative isolation of the centre of Vietnam during the War, the Vietnamese spoken here is very different and pretty much incomprehensible to Vietnamese from the North or South.

From Hue you can trek out to the Demilitarized Zone and the Vinh Moc tunnels, the former supposedly created as a buffer between the North and South, but which suffered intense fighting.  We decided to give this a miss and instead focused on the sights of Hue itself.

Throughout Hue, relics of the Nguyen dynasty are numerous, and include the Imperial Citadel, several pagodas, and the various tombs of the Emperors. The grounds of the Citadel were quite vast, but we found the Tombs to be the most beautiful – particularly that of Tu Duc, which is situated on a lake filled with beautiful lily pads.

There really is a lot to see in Hue, and we could have spent longer exploring the various tombs and pagodas.

As ever, we’re always keen to try the local specialties, and in this case, it was the Bun Bo Hue – a delicious noodle dish.

From Hue we took the sleeper train north to Hanoi. Arriving at Hue station, we ran into Ylan and Jerry, who were headed on the same train. The carriage Kylie and I were in contained two other beds, one occupied by a rather annoying Vietnamese woman. In the middle of the night, this woman suddenly decided it would be a good idea to watch home movies on her video camera, at full volume of course. She also carried on a number of lengthy, loud, phone calls. All this meant that by the time we pulled into Hanoi at 6am, we were pretty shattered.