Northern Vietnam - Hanoi & Ha Long Bay (2/6-8)

Hanoi
Arrived in Hanoi late night and went to Hanoi Backpacker's where another girl was going. Of course we had no reservation but luckily they had a dorm bed (strange because most places in SE Asia don't have dorms at all). We decided to book a 2-day overnight trip to Ha Long Bay, back to Hanoi for a few hours then on an overnight train to Sapa in the north for a 3-day (2 night) trek. Talk about pushing it all in! Good thing we didn't try to do south and north.

Our one full day in Hanoi was then spent walking around exploring the city a bit where we stopped for lunch at the nearest lake. There are lots of lakes spread around the city and yet it's a busy city as well with lots of hustle. Decided to send stuff home by sea which basically means cheap and also that I might arrive home before the package (3-5 months). So, some of the gifts may have to wait awhile. :) The people here were nice but seemed a bit more reserved then in Cambodia and Thailand. Had a nice dinner (with an incredible chocolate pudding cake, mmm chocolate save me!) at a place that employs homeless kids to get them off the street. Pretty cool place run by a British guy.

Then we caught the Thang Lo Water Puppet show which was amazing and so different then anything I had seen. This form of puppetry was started when the country experienced flooding and the music was so complex and beautiful. I was surprised to like the music and singing so much. And, for first class (40,000 dong) we got a CD which I can't listen to until I visit Johnette & Pete in Israel. Fun stuff, the anticipation is killing me. Okay, maybe not that harsh.

Ha Long Bay
For $30 U.S. dollars we went first by minibus (3-4 hours) and then on a boat to through Ha Long Bay. The boats are crazy pushing around each other to get in the docks and let people on and off, sometimes pushing against each other in a manner that doesn't seem like it is good for the integrity of the vessel. Our guide Lan (means orchid) took us through the "Amazing Cave" - couldn't the French come up with something more original for something so spectacular? Hmm...we did attempt to recognize all sorts of animals in the many rocks formations created 2 million years ago, so Lan said! I caught on pretty quickly while Carrie was having some trouble at first (along with others in our fun but small group). Lunch on the boat was a variety of things and I said early on that I was eating vegetarian. They gave me a plate of sugared nuts, thank goodness that wasn't the only part of my meal! And of course they haven't figured out the whole chocolate for dessert thing so we had watermelon. Darn them for being so healthy!

Next we anchored and then took kayak's out to the "Hidden Cave", the spectacular thing about this was the silence of the inlet we visited. The peace of it was soothing. Two of our group, the Brits, went for the swimming but as it wasn't the warmest of days we opted not to go! Our room on the boat was nicer then most of the rooms we had stayed in so far! And dinner was an excellent mix of food again, including some grilled fish (memories of Ko Chang and Treehouse Restaurant, yum). The sunset on the deck was stunning but probably won't translate in the photos but I tried my best. We had a great group: Beth (Australia), Klaus & Katy (Austria), Greg & Daniel (England) and us crazy Americans to finish up a great mix. Another funny thing was the saleswomen on boats stocked with snacks like Pringles, Oreos, Crackers, Drinks (including beer). They even asked us if we wanted something while we were kayaking! Crazy! On Wednesday we even had a hot shower and not the most abundant of our breakfast so far - Asian pears (my favorite) and toast. Oh well, better for our mushy bodies - no need to stuff them further. Another crazy thing when we "docked" the boat was how we had to climb over at least three other boats to get to the stairs and then do a fairly large leap (with the help of someone's hand at least). Phew! These short legs were a bit nervous I must admit! Then on the minibus, my favorite thing, and back to Hanoi Backpackers. We did have enough time to catch some drinks and dinner with all but Beth from Ha Long Bay crew. Nice view of the lake from City View Cafe and then we hate to admit it but we had some pizza! Pretty tasty if I say so! Next stop far northern Vietnam, Sapa and the hill tribes. (If you haven't noticed I'm trying to shorten each posting a bit. Okay, not by much but I'm trying!)