Ha Long Bay

11 Nov 2019

Our driver picked us up at 9 am for the 3 hour drive to Ha Long bay.  There were two young women from the UK, a couple of Australians, and a Swiss couple in the van with us.

After a coffee stop at an oyster/pearl shop, we were at the pier waiting for the motor boat to take us to the cruise.

I am thinking these are the boats for the budget cruises.  

Our boat was a bit flashier.

We got a pretty flash room, with a big bath, balcony etc.

We had lunch in the galley where the crew was introduced to the guests.

The cruise director gave us a run down of timing and itinerary.  The only thing I memorised was that happy hour 2 for 1 was 5.30 to 7pm.

We had a short break and were taken kayaking through caves and coves in the afternoon.

The beers for lunch didn't help with balancing the kayak.  Luckily we managed to stay in the kayak the whole afternoon.

We did have to to be rescued by the kayak guide when we got stuck on a rock bar. 

There was a pile up of kayaks waiting for us to be dislodged. 

I was happy to be back on the boat for a refreshing shower, and joining the rest of the guests for happy hour and dinner.

My steak for dinner was pretty horrible.  Generally speaking, the vegetables and herbs in Vietnam are exceptional.  The freshness, aroma and fragrance are unmatched.

The meat however are a different story.  The chicken is so tough and stringy, I reckon these retired egg laying hens could either supply a tyre factory or be our dinner.  The beef are from farmed geriatric water buffaloes which should rightly be made into belts and shoes, but we had them for dinner.

It was boomer rock with the Filipino band after dinner, to which the young stayed late and the old, not so much.

12 Nov 2019

There is not a lot to do in Ha Long Bay, so to keep up the illusion of activity, we were taken on a 45 min drive to this cave that was an army hospital during the Vietnam US war.

Able bodied people struggled the steps to get there.  So I don't know how the wounded did it.  There is no wheel chair access.

The hospital was located in the caves to protect from the B52 bombing of Hai Phong harbour by the Americans.

I suspect this facility is more of a morale boosting exercise for the common soldiers, rather than an effective field hospital.

We were out of there in 20 mins and back on our boat for check out and brunch.

While my feedback was generally positive, I did complain about the hospital cave visit.  

We were both confronted about this feedback, much to the amusement of the English girls in our van.

By 3 pm we were back in Hanoi, for some heavy duty shopping of Legend coffee beans and North Face stuff before meeting William for a drink at one of the many sky bars and dinner (for William).

13 Nov 2019

After a very nice breakfast at the Rex Hotel, we were picked up and sent home courtesy of Malindo.  A very nice trip indeed, with Hanoi being the highlight.

Fansipan High Site

9 Nov 2019

Still in Sapa, we visited the highest peak in Vietnam today.  I GPSed the height and it was 3,150 metres.

The peak is called Fansipan.  So you drive or train to the cable car, pay RM140 for a return cable car ticket.

Here they are waiting to stampede.

And then measure your height to confirm if you have the correct child or adult ticket.  Apparently there are no adults taller than 170cm in Vietnam.

Ta May is our tour guide, modelling by the ruler.















We got on the cable car which plunged into the clouds below before rising to the top of Fansipan peak.  

We climbed about 50 floors worth of steps.  Walked several Ks on this hill top complex.

There were Buddhas, mini temples and pagodas all the way up to the peak.  












And we made it to the peak where a photo with the Vietnam star flag was mandatory.

We rewarded ourselves with a salmon hot pot lunch.  

I normally don't take baths, but I did that night.  And we slept well.

  

10 Nov 2019

Being super efficient with our itinerary, we were done with the planned tours.  Having a few hours to kill before our ride to Hanoi, we walked around Sapa township.

The only thing cool about the town is the temperature.  There is too much construction and mess going on to make it a pleasant place for a walkabout.  

The people there were of course wonderful, very polite, patient (with us) and helpful.

These cute littlies were dressed up and sent out to sell trinklets in the streets.

Our driver picked us up from Pistachio Hotel at 3pm and we arrived in Hanoi at 9 pm.  A quick Pho Gai dinner across the road from our Rex Hotel, and we retired for an early start to Ha Long Bay in the morning.

Sa Pa Hilltop

8 Nov 2019

After a nice breakfast at the Rex penthouse restaurant, our Eco SaPa driver picked us up for the 5 hour drive to this hill resort town.

We were delivered to the Pistachio Hotel where we were greeted by our guide Ta May and a very nice room.

The roads in Sapa are very narrow, and are mostly undergoing repairs, widening and upgrades.  

They are either one or 1.5 lanes wide, and shared with pedestrians.   The drivers perform near impossible squeezes.

Our first visit was to the Cat Cat village.  This is a hillside village constructed for the H'mong people of these hills, purely to attract the tourist trade.

So the undulating steps were lined with shops, points of interests and photo stops.

They also put on performances of traditional dances, music and artisan crafting.

They are allowed to grow hemp for weaving, but the leaves smells very much like a AC/DC concert.

Ta May then took us to Heavens Gate where the views of the mountains are spectacular.  

It was misty so we didn't see much.

They built a temple and some cheesy artifacts at the top of the viewing platform.

But the builders didn't bother to clean up after themselves and left a lot of building rubbish amongst the statues and buildings, ugh.

Then we stopped over at a small waterfall before going back to the hotel.

The power points in Vietnam are wonderful, they work for everyone!

Come On Hanoi

6 Nov 2019

Continuing our tour of South East Asia, I decided to book a private tour of North Vietnam.  It was gonna be a 8 day tour of Hanoi, Sapa hills and Lan Ha Bay.

I also managed to secure a "promo" business class fare from Malindo low cost airline for RM800 return each.  Well, it turned out to be a low cost business class.  

The meal was bad, and the seat didn't really work.  We had seats 1D and 1F, anymore forward and we'd be in the cockpit.

We arrived in Hanoi after 2 hours 45 mins.  I picked up some data sims for D200k each, and we were out to meet our guide David who was waiting for us at gate 1. 

The drive to Hanoi Old Quarters was 30 mins in light traffic.  After check in and a short rest, David was back to pick us up for the street food tour.

First stop was for a spring roll snack and thirst quenching beer from this lady pouring straight out of a keg.  The beers were D5k about RM1 or 35 NZ cents.  That's David in black.  

Then we stopped at a satay stall for a stick of pork satay.

For our street food mains, David selected Bun Cha.  This is sweet beef stew with green papaya.  You soak rice noodles and veges in it.

We sat next to another family in very low stools, about 3 inches off the floor.

It was good and we found getting up difficult.  It is like getting out of a Porsche 911.  So if you can't stand straight up, you tuck and roll off.

We did a bit of walking through Hanoi Old Quarters.  The streets are organised into specialities.  So we have a jewelry and gold street, a flower street, worship street where they sell praying stuff and wedding street.

By this time we were really full and look very bloated.  But David still made us share a bowl of fruits in coconut cream.  We gingerly lowered ourselves onto those stools again, crashing the last 6 inches when we lost muscle control.

7 Nov 2019

Today's tour covered the significant Hanoi sites.  First off was Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum.  Uncle Ho lies in-state here  perfectly preserved, and hasn't aged a day since 1969.  I looked for Madame Tussauds sponsorship sign but found none.

We weren't allowed electronics so there is no proof we saw him.  We have to dress and behave respectfully as we filed past.  Hats off, no folded arms or hands in pocket.

The large park area also houses the Presidental Palace, a pagoda and the HCM Museum.

President's Palace of French build.  Above is a pagoda.

The Vietnam Parliament is across the road from HCM. 

Next point of interest was the Temple of Literature, dedicated to Confucius.  It was also the location of the first Vietnam University built in 1070.

I didn't know humans could write then, but there you go........  Apparently all the classes were conducted in the court yard.

It was full of temple type prayer rooms.   

Next we visited the Dien Bien Phu railway track that's really close to houses and shops.  A tourist was run over and died last week, so they posted a cop there to stop people from crossing.

The shops on the other side were very sad.  

David then took us for a walk along Lake Hoan Kiem.  Hoan Kiem means return the sword, and in Cantonese too.  There is a back story to that, but I can't remember it - haha.

We continued this spiritual and significant sites of Hanoi by visiting the Aeon Mall at Long Bien for coffee beans and assorted other purchases.

We were on our own for dinner that night, so we firstly visited Dream Beans coffee for some wonderful egg coffee and coconut coffee. 

Egg coffee is layered with condensed milk, expresso coffee and beaten egg yolk.  Photo of Egg coffee below before stirring.

 

Cold coconut creme coffee above.  Tuan the proprietor was a great host explaining the construct and how to partake.  He buys the raw beans directly from farmers up north and roasts them himself.  We will be back to work through the menu.

We then ate dinner, rice flour rolls at a low rise cafe next door before adjourning home.

And we took in Saint Joseph's cathederal on the way home.

We stayed at the Rex Hotel in the Old Quarters.  They have a roof top bar and a penthouse restaurant.  You can make out Hoan Kiem lake on the left.