Vietnam - Hanoi

  Hanoi, Vietnam
Friday, November 9, 2007

We now needed to leave Vang Vieng and catch our connecting flight from Vientianne to Hanoi. We booked the VIP bus once again as our transport.  We were firstly met by a smaller mini bus that was to transport us to the "VIP" vehicle. We drove around collecting other tourists before stopping outside a transport office doing nothing for about 15 mins. We thought this strange as the scheduled departure time was 10:00am and it was now approaching 10:30. Eventually we headed the short trip to the main road where we were to meet the VIP bus. Surprise, surprise, it had already left so the mini bus became our VIP transport to Vientianne. It actually turned out to be a good thing as the mini bus had no capacity to play endless Asian Karoke!
We were dropped in Vientianne after about a 4 hour trip. Luckily it was close to the fountain, a place we were familiar with so we could find our way around.
I had been missing a shoe for a couple of weeks as when we were last in Vientianne I gave it to a local repairer who indicated that I come back tomorrow to collect it. Unfortunately tomorrow was  public holiday and the stall was closed. We had to go to the airport early the next day so the shoe was sadly left behind.
I was not confident the shoe would still be there after all this time, but there it was at the bottom of the repair pile. One small snag was that the repairer did not remember me and was unwilling to give me back the shoe. His attitude softened when I produced the other one. We all had a bit of a laugh and he charged me 50c for the repair. We gave him a dollar and set off to find our favourite Vientainne soup stall or lunch.
Choosing a mode of transport to Hanoi was a no brainer really. It is either a 23 hour bus trip or a 49 minute flight. See if you can guess our choice!
The flight was quick and uneventful and we were met at the airport by our transport to the Sofitel Plaza Hotel.

Hanoi lake fisherman

Unfortunately the Sofitel had no record of our reservation. This part of the trip was booked in Adelaide so the Hotel blamed the Oz connection and the Oz connection blamed the Sofitel. We were given a room but were told if the voucher arrangements couldn't be negotiated it would cost us US $220 for the night. That didn't please us greatly as that was almost a months accommodation at Vang Vieng! We were confident the Oz connection would come through so we accepted the conditions. We were only here for one night then off to Halong Bay for a cruise. We were then to return to the Sofitel for 1 more night. Unfortunately there was no record of that booking either. We were told all would be sorted by the time we returned from the cruise, and thankfully it was.
Halong Bay was a 4 hour bus trip which was longer than we thought. Anyway no more on Halong Bay as that will be covered in a separate travel blog entry.

Sunset over lake in Hanoi

While at the Sofitel we were informed, via a information sheet slipped  under the door, that Hanoi was currently battling a Cholera outbreak. That news helped us decide to cut our Hanoi stay short by a few days. We decided to only eat in reputable looking restaurants. This was more expensive but we though it would be safer
From the Sofitel we moved to Old Quarter. A much more interesting and vibrant part of town. We booked in at the City Gate Hotel. A very comfortable and clean outfit run  by very friendly and honest people. It is in a small and not so busy lane away from the quite considerable Hanoi traffic noise.

Hanoi street seller

We recommend it to anyone heading to the area. Our first venture out was at night and we found it hard to follow the map so we got lost. No drama though as we just hired a Cyclo to take us back. Later we found out that the map we had didn't seem have the correct street names. The place is a bit of a rabbit warren but we had much more directional luck the next day when we followed the map in the Lonely Planet book, smaller and hard to read but accurate.
We spent the next day exploring the Old Quarter. Each street is named after what it sells, e.g. all the shoe sellers are found in shoe street etc.

Streets of Hanoi

We bought a pile of DVDs from 2 different sellers. One lot looked quite professionally presented while the others were definitely from a branch of Dodgy Brothers DVDs Inc! We have the portable DVD player with us so have since watched a few. Some are excellent others not so. One Dodgy Bros. offering turned out to be no more than a 5 min preview of the movie it was supposed show. Oh well, they are only a dollar each.
We found glasses street and Deb asked if they could copy her reading glasses. The proprietor took her glasses away, returned a few minutes later with the prescription for the lenses, and said he could have copies made by 2pm. It was already 12:00 so we thought this was pretty efficient. Deb negotiated 2 pairs with nice frames for $50. He quickly said OK to this price so we probably could've got them cheaper. Anyway we went and had some lunch while we waited. The restaurant turned out to be the same one we were at the day before. Turns out they have entrances from 2 different streets. Oh well, food is quite good.
We returned to glasses street in less than 2 hours and found Deb's glasses ready and waiting. She tried them on and was impressed with the quality. She now thinks she might even get some more made when we get to Hoi An.

Streets of Hanoi 2

That night we decided to go to Brothers restaurant, as described in the Lonely Planet. We left our hotel to find some transport. As it looked a little way away we decided to try hiring 2 motor scooters with drivers. They negotiated about $8 for the both of us which was overpriced but we couldn't be bothered haggling too much. Turned out to be an eventful ride. Both drivers were quite "adventurous" with their weaving in and around the Hanoi traffic. At one point Deb's motor scooter ran into a cyclist at an intersection. Not a major incident, but frightening none the less. Her driver fell quite a long way behind and while waiting for her to arrive at the restaurant I was starting to become a bit worried. She turned up unscathed, we paid the drivers and decided a taxi would be a better option for the journey back to the hotel. Turned out that the Brothers was booked out anyway so we would've been better off eating somewhere in the Old Quarter.
The next day we had a sleep in before venturing out for more Old Quarter exploring. We had booked a sleeper train ticket to Hue via the hotel staff that would be leaving at 7pm. The proprietor let us keep our bags in the room until it was time to go to the station. He called us a taxi and bid us farewell. Taxis are a good way to go in Hanoi. They have metres and are quite cheap.
When we arrived at the station a man at the entrance asked for our ticket. We thought he must be official so showed him our tickets. He then took Deb's bag and ushered us to some seats and asked us to stay there. When it was time to get on the train he came to get us and our bags. He was being helpful so we had decided we would give him a couple of dollars (30 000 dong) which, by Vietnamese standards, is more than generous. He showed us to our cabin then proceeded to ask for over 100 000 for his efforts. None of what he had done for us was beyond what we could've achieved ourselves. Cunningly though he had placed us in a position in the station where we couldn't see what was going on, otherwise we wouldn't have needed his help. We refused to pay him and were quite annoyed at his deceitfulness. He came down in price to 50 000 dong quite quickly. We offered him our original tip and indicated no mention of money was made at the beginning. He eventually took the 30 000 and left. Advice to others: Beware of helpful people posing as officials at train stations!
The sleeper was spartan but comfortable and turned out to be a good way to travel. Leaving Hanoi at 7pm, have a sleep in a bed, and arrive in Hue just after 8am.  Beats a bus any day!