Hanoi to Halong Bay, from cacophany to tranquility

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  Hanoi, Vietnam
Sunday, November 23, 2008

When we first got to Hanoi, it was a complete shock to our senses.  We'd heard about the crazy traffic, but what we hadn't realised was the noise that accompanies it.  Imagine the start line of the tour de France with all those people on their bicycles, then imagine the start line of the Boston marathon, except all those people are on motorbikes, and instead of this being a wide boulevard, it's a narrow street. Then imagine that they blow the start whistle and everyone takes off, and they're all honking their horns.  Now add in some cars, also honking their horns, then add some pedestrians, and you have an idea of Hanoi traffic.  And when I say the motorbikes and cars are honking their horns, I don't mean just one honk, I mean they just drive with their hand permanently on the horn. Now some people find it quite a challenge to cross the road, given the abovementioned scenario.  Personally, I rather like it.  There are no rules at all, and you certainly can't wait for a break in traffic, so you just plunge into the road and leave it up to the bikes and motorbikes to weave around you or stop one inch before you -- and so far it's worked

Floating Village

.  And the thing is, you mostly have to walk in the road because the pavements are taken up with people's motorbikes being parked on them.

So anyway, the moment we got into Hanoi, we realized that we wanted to get away from it as soon as possible, so we booked our trip to Halong Bay.  We were picked up the next morning and after a 3 hour drive arrived at the bay.  It was a little bit like being on a tourist conveyor belt -- dozens of buses and minibuses depositing hundreds of tourists, who are then all deposited onto their "junks" -- the name for the boats that cruise the bay.  On the bus down we were with a lively group of Americans, Israelis, Thais, French, and there ensued a long political discussion.  On our boat we were with a much quieter group -- a Russian, a German couple and a Malaysian family with two small, delightful children.  We had lunch on the boat and then began cruising the bay.  Halong Bay is made up of limstone karsts (sort of mini-mountains) that rise up from the bay.  It's stunningly beautiful.  Then we got off the boat to explore a limestone cave filled with stalactites and stalagmites, it was wonderful.  Following that we kayaked to a smaller bay.  Carol decided to pass on the kayaking so I was partnered with one of the Malysians who'd never kayaked before, so I took the back seat (the one that does most of the work -- usually Carol's position!!) and worked hard for the next hour, but it was really beautiful, so totally worth it

Halong Bay

.

In the evening they gave us dinner and then we sat around, played cards, talked etc, before going to bed fairly early so that if we wanted to be up for the sunrise we could.  We were -- but the sun wasn't!!  It remained overcast, but thank goodness it didn't rain.  We spent the morning cruising the bay -- can't wait to upload the pictures, although I don't think they could capture the magnificence and serenity of it.  Then back to the dock for lunch.  We found the food thing quite interesting on the boat and at the restaurant -- they would bring us out a couple of dishes, for example, fish and rice and we'd think that was it, so we'd eat plenty, then they'd bring out another couple of dishes, vegetables and seafood, then when you thought that was it, they'd bring out more vegetables and more seafood and so on.  Oh yes, and they gave us a bowl of soup, and when we finished that, another bowl of soup!  So needless to say, we didn't starve.

After that it was back to Hanoi.  We had stayed in a hotel where they were extremely nice and friendly and they'd told us they'd be full when we got back, but they walked us over to another hotel also run by the same family, and they're also so friendly and helpful, we're happy.  Also, this time we have a room in the back, which is way quieter than our first night.  After depositing our stuff, we went off for a walk, and somehow this time, although it was just as noisy and crazy, we began to feel like we were getting used to it and could see ourselves staying here for another couple of days. 

So, still a lot more to say, but I'll save it for this evening.  (One good thing about the hotels in Vietnam, they pretty much all provide free internet so it's very easy to get online.)

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Halong Bay	Halong Bay	Halong Bay	Outside the Cave, Halong Bay
Inside the Cave, Halong Bay	Kayaking Halong Bay	The Malaysian family we hung out with	The junk (boat) we were on

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