A short flight landed us in the smoggy, hot capital and after a nighmarish taxi ride from the airport, we got to the hotel. The traffic is kind of crazy also here, but at the same time different from Ho Chi Minh city. There are more cars, but still a zillion of mopeds. The traffic moved quite slowly and not even the air conditioned car could block out the exhaust fumes from all the vechicles.

As we only had one full day in Hanoi we had to make a decision on how to best spend the time. We picked between staying in the city and explore the Hanoi landmarks, or to take a day trip to Halong Bay. Since the traffic was so bad, and the pollution levels obviously quite high, we opted for the trip out of the city.

We could have taken an organized trip to Halong Bay but decided to do it 'our way' again. We hired a car and a driver and set out towards the coast on the east. The drive was three hours and not for the weak of heart. If traffic in the cities is crazy, at least it's slow moving. On the highways and country side roads some kind of rules that are foreign to Western travellers must apply which can make even the calmest person a neurotic back seat driver.... It took a while to figure out what it was the felt so unnerving and after a while we figured it out: the fact that there is a white dotted line in the middle road, separating traffic going in different directions simply doesn't mean a darn in Vietnam!!!

'Right hand side driving' only applies in the most rudimentary terms and most of the driving is done straddling the middle line and might involve slighly keeping to the right if there is oncoming traffic. Cars are trying to pass other cars or mopeds but the vechicles being passed just obliviously stay in the middle of the road, forcing the passing car to drive long stretches on the left hand side of the road.

Luckily we made it 'safely' to Halong Bay and jumped on the first tourist boat that was still going out that day. We had done some homework on the types of trips, but since we arrived quite late in the day, we didn't have much choice and ended up on a 'one star' boat (the two star boats are of better standard) with a group of Vietnamese tourists.

We went on a three hour cruise of Halong Bay

Victoria and the grapefruit

Robert on the boat

The tour would last three hours and take us to the UNESCO protected caves and a tour through the islands in the bay. At first we were a little worried we had been ripped off but the tour turned out to be pretty good. The first stop was to visit the caves, and the scenery was really amazing. The islands looked like 'jurassic park' island with tall rugged cliffs and lush vegetation. You almost expected a dinosaur to peek out through the trees!

Inside the caves, lighting made them look really spectacular and it was very nicely done.

Beautiful UNESCO protected caves

The journey then continued in through the islands where little fishing markets were floating between the islands. We stopped at one of them and got to look at the different ponds in which different kinds of fish, shellfish and strange creatures were kept. The Vietnamese tour group on our boat picked up a giant snail and a big fish that they bought for dinner.

Beautiful inlet

Floating 'convenience store'

Floating fish market

Some kind of fish

A big juicy snail

A little lady in a boat docked at the fish farm sold the spices and supplies needed to cook the fish.

A boat selling snacks and food

We were lucky to see the sunset which was amazing! The sky turned orange and the sun became a big glowing globe. The temperature was comfortable and probably around 22-25C which was a nice break from the last weeks in 30-35C.

The scenery was beautiful when the sun set.

After three hours the boat turned towards the mainland again. The boat crew prepared the fish and the snail that the Vietnamese tour group had bought and we were even invited to have dinner with them. Unfortunately we had to decline since we were heading back to Hanoi but, we were very happy that we got a chance to see a little bit of Halong Bay even though with more time it would have been great to go on a longer overnight trip as there are cruiseships where you can spend one or more nights.

Robert is stearing the boat!

Sunset over Halong Bay

Our driver was waiting for us and another three hour heart stopping trip waited before we finally were back at the hotel in Hanoi. If the trip to Halong Bay had been scary in daylight, that was nothing compared to doing it when it was pitch dark....

So in summary, our short stay in Hanoi provided us with a very nice experience even though it would have been nice to have another day to actually see Hanoi. We were now off to Hong-Kong again, but Vietnam is definitely a place that both of us really enjoyed and would like to explore more!

written by  Victoria & Robert on March 5, 2010 from Hanoi, Vietnam
from the travel blog: The rest of the world
Send a Compliment

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Det var så trevligt att se era fina bilder och läsa bloggen. Men hu för den resan, jag förstår mycket väl. Victoria, du börjar få riktigt fin profil nu ser jag i facebook. sköt väl om er och lycka till med södra halvklotet.
Kram
Mamma
PS jag är fortfarande helt slut efter min skidåkning (på dina skidor).

written by  maud Naess on March 7, 2010

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Glad to see the blog up and running again. It's fun to live vicariously through you. Keep having fun!

written by  Annelle on March 8, 2010

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