Hanoi, Halong Bay & The Perfume River
Trip Start
Nov 05, 2002
1
9
69
Trip End
Aug 13, 2003
Hanoi,
Vietnam
Sunday, December 15, 2002
I made it back to Vietnam, as part of another trip, in September 2005. Check out the entry for Hanoi here. It's a lot better of an entry than this crap. Honest.
************************************** Update - September 2005 ************************************
Hello again!
Well we are back in Hanoi again after a few crazy days, and for us, some very early mornings!! I can't remember what day I mailed but we headed out of the city on a bus at 7am and went to Halong Bay. It was great to see the place but what a joumey to get there!! We had about 3 and a half hours on the bus - our driver was nuts and kept his hand on the horn for about 80% of the journey and tore along and braked every 5 minutes too!!!! Aaaaagggghhhhh!!!
We had lunch and then hopped on a boat and set sail!! An hour later we hopped off and visited a very cool cave that was only found 8 years ago I think - very impressive but I don't think the photos we took will do it justice. After that it was back to the boat for 3 more hours!! It was a nice day but hazy which was a pity - we still had our fleeces!!
We got to Cat Ba Island in Halong Bay and were met at the pier by a really prehistoric bus!! The journey to the hotel was only 10 mins long, but now that we have survived it I can tell you that it was crazy!!! For parts of the journey it was dirt track but for most of it we were just balancing on a tiny bit of road that was about 2 inches wider than the bus!
That evening we were all just wrecked so we had dinner and a walk and then headed to bed. The next day began with another early start and another boat trip - this one was I and a half hours long. Then we walked for an hour through the beautiful National Park, had a break and then began a trek up the mountain. I only got halfway up and then I turned back coz it was mucky and slippy and I just didn't feel safe. Dave (the mountain goat) Byrne ploughed on though and took photos from the summit.
That evening was more or less the same as the one before but we had made a few pals so we popped to the pub for one or two! Early to bed again because of the 7.30 departure the next day! It took all day to get back to the city and boy were we tired by the time we arrived!
Gluttons for punishment that we are we booked another tour for the next morning!! This time we went to see The Perfume Pagoda - a pagoda that is actually in a limestone cave. It was only a 4km trek to this one so that was ok! Still a good workout though! It took 3 hours by bus and an hour by boat to get to the place where the 4km trek began! The boat only took 5 people and we had to sit on teeny weenie stools!! Mad!! We travelled through a beautiful mountainous area and paddy fields so the scenery was fantastic!
Today is a rest day and tonight we get the over night bus to Hue!!
Till next time!! B.xxxx
