Hanoi and Ha Long Bay

Hanoi

Returning from the Sapa tour to Hanoi I had two days go and see the sights before being Joined by my friend from back home Jamie. Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam and in my opinion it seemed to be as busy and bustling as any other major city in SE Asia. However the only difference being that Hanoi is controlled a lot more by the government/police. This can be seen/experienced every day at midnight when policemen are ferried around the streets of Hanoi in a little sooty and sweep van to close the bars and usher the drinkers back home or to their hostels.

I stayed at a modern hostel in the French Quarter of Hanoi which was packed full of narrow shops and bars etc... my favourite being the Vietnamese coffee shops. I spent the 2 days walking around the city and ventured to the lake, central market and cathedral. I steered away of the popular prison tour because I felt had seen enough about death and torturing people at my previous destinations. Due to the police the night life is pretty tame, everyone sits around on the small plastic chairs drinking cheap beer until midnight and then cops come and send you home. I was no different and found a few cool places to drink with a Swedish guy Martin before heading back to the hostel by motorbike taxi (this was stupid error) long story short the driver pickpockted my phone, however I did manage to keep hold of the Sombrero I acquired earlier in the night so all was not lost!! Must have been a funny scene me on the back of a moped with a 2 ft sombrero on. Ah well lesson learnt I suppose.

Ha Long Bay

Jamie's arrival led to swiftly booking a Ha Long Bay cruise. One of the seven natural wonders of the world it had to be done. We settled on a mid budget trip which included the four hour bus journey to and from Hanoi  to Ha Long City and one nights accommodation on the boat with food included. The trip was amazing and we visited caves, Ti Top Island and a pearl harvesting farm. The island was the best part for me... after climbing the 200 steps to the top of the islands viewing point we suitably cooled off with a swim accompanied by sea eagles. A truly amazing sight. The food on board was also excellent and included fresh prawns, clams and crabs. Although the return cruise to Ha Long Bay was blighted by a thunder storm it was still impressive to be in Ha Long Bay. Needless to say with Booze being expensive on board the smuggled bottle of rum also helped me to feel terrible as well as the said thunderstorm.

Upon return to Hanoi we had another night to kill before leaving Vietnam for Hong Kong. After a brief TV interview with a local vietnamese TV channel we spent the evening around the old quarter in small bars with live music and loads of Gin and Tonic and Rum and Cokes. Overall Hanoi was great but the lack of sights and early finish time made it my least favourite place in Vietnam but Ha Long Bay was defiantly the best!

As always pics FYI. Peace and Love JH