Hanoi Golden Time Hotel

For the lads only...! And pass on to anyone I've missed out<br><br><br>fukit, this way is far easier...(cheers mikey) ...so here we go...this should be amusing as I've been avoiding it for the last 10 months...but I'll have a good stab at it now because, well...hungover as hell...dressed up like fricking batman, and I swear I must've **** my pants in the last few days cos I aint had a solid **** in weeks!!!<br> <br>Brief account, as I don't want to give too much ...

... while they start threatening to rip up our passports (it's customary in some parts of Vietnam for the front desk to hold the passport of guests) and we have no choice to pay the 10USD they want. However, they still wont give them back our passports until Aly turns on the waterworks. After the whole dam incident we get on a minibus to join our Halong Bay tour. <br><br><br>

... split shifts (start at 7am and finish at 9pm) and less money, so we declined the offer. Bandung was looking like a better possibility every day, and we started to think it the most likely option.<br><br>... until the morning of September 6th. Konrad hadn't been able to sleep all night, so was awake when the email came in from the job we'd missed out on: they had more students enroll and were offering us jobs -- to start in 2 weeks! I woke up at 6am, surprised that ...

... sea that made up our first day.<br><br>After a chilled evening of beer and general good banter, the second day started with a further boat ride in a smaller vessel through narrower passes, past floating villages and small fishing boats to the private island that the hostel had received permission to clear a small bay portion of to build open air bamboo huts that made up the mini camp for our second night's accommodation. In this secluded spot we were ...

... care if anyone was in their way. Nor do they care if there are red lights, other vehicles on the road, or if they are on the wrong end of a one way street. We quickly learned to run, bob and weave in order to survive streets crossings. <br><br>The Old Quarter is a haven for those who like labels, but would rather not pay for the real thing. I can only describe it as a cross between shopping at a flea market and Costco on a Saturday afternoon, but doing so in ...

... are two ways to visit Vietnam: starting in Hanoi, and<br>going South; or starting in Saigon, and going north. <br> When to Go/Climate:<br>The best season to travel to North Vietnam is during the hot summers,<br>from May to October. Winters in the North are cold and cloudy. In the<br>mountainous regions in North Vietnam (Sapa), it may be freezing during<br>winter. Central Vietnam wet season is from ...

... breakfast since we were off by six in the morning to the airport.<br><br><br>At Halong Bay, we were enjoying the boat ride with some lunch and talking to other tourists. But when the kayaking time arrived, the boat people said that kayak was not included in what we paid for. We were disappointed because Tuyen said it was included. Our option was to join the small boat ride and pay VND40,000 each (around $1.50). Still it was a blessing in disguise because Halong&#8217;s ...

... can say they have done that! Not Aunt Charlene (tsk tsk!) she was being too prissy and didn't want to get in the water! You guys make sure to give her a hard time about it, haha. I really wish we could have stayed longer because I wanted to go sea kayaking so bad. I think that would be an amazing way to experience the bay. To be that low on the water and to be able to kayak right up to the edge of the caves and cliffs would ...

... a driver to take a Cyclo ride for an hour to tour Hanoi. It was drizzling then and I am still jet-lagged so, I hopped it. The ride was $2. My Nazi Masseuse I had my cyclo driver drop me off at a Spa that the receptionist recommended. In true lets-rip-off-a-tourist fashion, he tried to scalp me for more money, even though I paid him first before getting in. As always, feeling bad, I gave him an extra 5k. I went to a place called Spring Fragrance. I had the following done ...

... to decide. J After we were brought back to shore, we took a walk back to our Hotel. On the way back, we passed by an Art Gallery and went in to check the place out. Here we found amazing pieces of artwork - handstitched pictures of anything imaginable - people, places, animals, events of daily lives, etc. It was a very interesting gallery and not to be missed. Footnote: We later found out this was not the only restaurant offering such ...