Honk for Hanoi
Trip Start
Nov 22, 2008
1
3
10
Trip End
Dec 09, 2008
Hanoi,
Vietnam
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Yesterday was the closest thing that we've had to a sleep-in, seeing us waking just before 8:30am. This was to facilitate the purchase of some cheap airfares in Japan for Charles, who will be travelling there in 2 months. Breakfast was had at the Starbucks in the nearby KLCC (KL Convention Centre) while we waited for my friend from uni, Linda, to arrive. Linda hails from Singapore and was staying with some rellies in Kuala Lumpur before heading down to Johor to spend more of her uni break time. It turned out that Linda was running late so Charles and I returned to the hotel to relax during the down time.
Linda arrived in the hotel foyer at about 11am, at what time we headed off to the nearby Raja Chulan monorail station for the ever-enjoyable trip to KL Sentral. We had hoped to take the cheap shuttle bus to the Genting Highlands entertainment precinct however it turned out that the next few services were cancelled or sold out. Linda kicked into local mode to haggle with taxi drivers in both Mandarin and Singlish and get us a reasonable price for the 45-minute drive 40km drive up to the highlands. The drive started off relatively normally, with some crazy Malaysian driving on the freeway system. As the roads climbed higher, the routes became worse and the driving became crazier.
Genting Skyway
Much lane swapping, hard breaking and accelerating was had through the windy and steep roads to the highlands.Eventually we arrived at the Genting Skyway station, from where we caught the gondola up to the peak, where the main Genting complex is located. Linda made a good effort to reduce our taxi charge upon disembarkation, but not to any avail. The skyway travelled over lush tropical mountain peaks for about 15 minutes to the peak.
The state of the facilities at the peak was somewhat of a shock for us as the buildings were quite aged and worn, all in need of a good lick of paint and some TLC. Our main priority was the Genting Outdoor Theme Park, which took some effort to locate from the skyway station. The complex at the peak is quite large, featuring 5 hotels, 3 casinos, 2 amusement parks, heaps of retail space and a maze of roads. It took quite a while to follow the somewhat vague signage to the entrance of the park, which we quickly learnt was quite busy.
I can safely say that Genting Outdoor Theme Park is the most ghetto and random that I have ever been to. All attractions were tatty and generally unsafe-looking. Nevertheless the 3 of us made our way around the park, experiencing the better-looking attractions. Although it required extra payment, the relatively unique "Flying Coaster" was a great experience, as were the go-karts, which is something we haven't done at home for quite a while. Later in the day mist started to roll in over the peak, reducing visibility quite significantly by the time we were leaving.
Lunch was had at this weird local chicken franchise and dinner was Maccas so that Linda could have some shaker fries.
3 of Us
After eating we soon found ourselves descending through the mist, unable to see the ground or even the gondola in front of ours, back to the lower station. At the station we tried our luck with the Genting shuttle bus back to KL Sentral, only to be told that all services for the rest of the day were sold out. Linda once again came in very handy, as she was able to get us a cheaper taxi price for the trip back down to Kuala Lumpur.From Sentral the monorail carried us back toward the Novotel, where we checked the prices at the nearby Hagen Daaz ice cream shop. Unfortunately we couldn't justify spending the equivalent of $11 on a bit of ice cream so we walked back to the hotel, stopping off at 7eleven so I could pick up another Tuborg. Some discussion was had in the hotel room before Charles and I walked Linda back to the Suria shopping centre at the Petronas Towers, from where Linda could catch the LRT back to her relatives' house. We also used the opportunity to fill our wallets with a few more ringgits from one of the massive rooms of ATMs at the shops.
Charles and I didn't really get to sleep early enough for this morning's start. The alarm woke us at 3am and we were checked out by about 3:20am. We had to wait and walk a tiny bit to hail a taxi but then were soon back at KL Sentral. Unfortunately the monorail doesn't start until 6am so the taxi was our only choice. At Sentral we bought our 8 ringgit (roughly $4) tickets for the bus to the KLIA LCCT (Airport Low Cost Carrier Terminal) that was meant to leave at 3:45am.
Through the Mist
The stingy operators wanted to fill the bus before departure so we didn't end up leaving the station until about 4:15am. The bus then took a very roundabout route, past Putrajaya, presumably to avoid going through as many tolls. The suspension was extremely squeaky and the ride uncomfortable, but at least it was cheap.At the terminal we had to queue for a while behind some first-time and package tour groups with copious amounts of random extra luggage items, almost pushing us into the check-in closing time. Thankfully the queues for immigration departures were far shorter than when we went through arrivals, allowing us about 10 minutes to grab some custard tarts and queue for the flight as it had unreserved seating.
Air Asia served again for our flight to Hanoi, this time utilising their short-haul A320 product. Since the flight was only about 60% full Charles and I both had 3 seats each and were able to sit at windows. The flight was relatively uneventful as we had to entertain ourselves and the Malaysian breakfasts that we pre-ordered were nice.
Arrival into Hanoi brought mixed emotions with uniformed soldiers conspicuously loitering in many areas and then ANZ making its presence known through advertising and a good presence both in and out of the airport. I withdrew some Dong (local currency) at my local bank's (ANZ) ATM, receiving a receipt letting me know how much money I had in my account in this weak currency ($1 = ~10000VND)! A quick visit to the tourist information stand reminded me of Vietnam's French colonial past as they only had pamphlets in French.
Brothers
This begun the process of refreshing my French, which has not been needed for a while.The Pacific Hotel in which we are staying is a bit to the side of the old quarter here in Hanoi making airport shuttles inappropriate, especially for us virgin Vietnam Travellers. The $18USD we paid for the 1-hour taxi ride into town wasn't too bad. The drive into the city was insane compared to even what we had experienced in Malaysia. Honking is a part of the normal driving process, with most drivers honking their horns several times a minute. Cars are driven on the wrong side of the road, which added to the thrill of dodging and harassing other vehicles and pedestrians.
We crashed into the 2-star hotel before taking a walk through the crowded and chaotic streets to the central part of the city and the Hoan Kiem Lake. We were haggled by beggars and traders but found it interesting to walk through such a different environment. It took a while to get used to crossing the road without getting honked by the various other vehicles, all of which use traffic regulations more as guidelines than actual rules. The typical tourist pricing issue exists closer in the centre of the city, where meals cost twice as much as the local mini-cafes near the hotel. As such we grabbed lunch at a local street cafe near the hotel just before returning to the hotel for an early afternoon break, while we waited for the revolutions museum to reopen after their lunch breaks. This dining experience brought home the mixed nature of Vietnam as our fellow diners consisted of some locals and them some Europeans conversing with each other and the staff in French, even if that did not appear to be the mother tongue of all present.
The walk to the revolutions museum required us to retrace our steps past the southern tip of the lake. This museum opened before the Vietnam War but now documents the history of Vietnam's occupations, invasions and conflicts with various other countries for the last few hundred years. The content that the museum conveyed was interesting however this was mainly done through tons of framed photographs with corny and biased captions in Vietnamese, French and English.
Due to the early start we were growing tired after the museum and thus we made the 20 minute walk back through the crowded streets to the hotel, stopping along the way to pick up some 1.5 litre bottles of water for roughly 80c each. Back at the hotel Charles and I took advantage of the free wifi and generous number of cable TV channels to relax before returning to our lunch spot for dinner. I'm now completing this blog in the room having just enjoyed a nice 2 course meal with beer for only $5.
Comments
Hey!
Great blog so far, read the first entry yesterday. Although, I must say, I'm a little worried that your taxi trip ended with a crash into the hotel... :P What's also worrying is that the driving is worse than in Hong Kong. Unglaublich!
Sounds like you two are having fun though! Looking forward to hearing about the crazy adventures to come.
Grüße
Amazing Asia
Great to see photos this time. As usual this is the best blog.