North Vietnam {HaNoi & HaLong Bay}
I'd been warned.
Expect an invasive culture, language barriers... to be cheated, to be mixed up and backwards in my travels.
The people are not friendly, they'll yell, they'll 'rip you off'.
They're known to be scammers.
Yes, there were places where this occurred, but in an overall reflection, Vietnamese culture is full of the kindest, friendliest, happiest, most beautiful people I've met so far in any of my travels to Asia.
Most days, coming to an end, there has been at least one random act of kindness, if not more, from a local who did not know us, nor owe us anything.
With all the warnings, arriving at the Hanoi airport was an overwhelming feeling. After having a good laugh at ourselves with the immigration officers we proceeded to look for our hotel transfer. It had not come. Once getting this organized and arriving to our hotel, there was no room available but we were to stay at a 'better hotel' one block away. We were skeptical. Once we arrived and saw that it was indeed a better bargain, this started our streak of wonderful travel experiences through Vietnam.
What a treat Ha Noi was! I'd assumed as a large city it was not going to be a good experience but I was pleasantly surprised. Staying in the old quarter gave us many options for exploration. On Ha Noi's narrow streets, lined with tall buildings, we found streets dedicated to one merchandise. One street for shoes. Another for hats. Another for lanterns. It was rather neat to see a city this way.
The 'Hanoi Hilton' was a sad but good experience .. Walking through a former prison, now historical museum, where a huge part of world history took place was overwhelming but we gained so much knowledge. Little did I know at the time that I'd spend most of my time in Vietnam thinking ... 'I wonder what it was like during the war, where I'm standing right now?' The prison had exhibits of what it was like for men shackled to tables inches apart, isolation cells, and women's cells. Dark. No privacy. No toilets. A slice of history was a good way to start my travels through Vietnam. An awakening.
The world heritage site of HaLong Bay with it's 1,600 islands was the next stop. Taking a two day, one night boat excursion was the best way to experience the bay. After our 170km bus ride to the ocean side, our tour boat housed about 20 people, all wonderful and from all over the world. Though cloudy, and cool temperatures, we spent the days touring and kayaking the bright aqua waters between the thousands of high limestone formations that formed barriers to the open sea. Small caves and shrines can be seen in the walls of the limestone once up close. While kayaking around the bay there were small floating homes which belonged to people in the fishing industry. Some people laid lazily on hammocks on their porch area while others purchased goods from locals selling out of small wooden boats. Toddlers ran wild though the water is only inches away and there's no railings for protection.
A large cave that could have housed every tourist in the area was our first stop. This cave found high in the limestone was obviously a huge tourist attraction as there was a paved path through and well lit areas. I felt like I was in an Indiana Jones film. From here the tour group made a stop at Ti Top Island where we walked up 400 stone steps to end up on top of the small limestone mountain. At the top there was a panoramic view of HaLong Bay in the setting sun. At night the boat was alive with almost everyone singing karaoke. For a non-karaoke lover I certainly enjoyed myself immensely and there was some serious talent that night. On our final day we cruised around HaLong for some extra site seeing as well as visited a pearl farm. As a pearl lover I was quite interested to learn the ways of pearl harvesting and just how long it takes and how minimal the production can be. From watching the pearl impregnation to the extraction from the shell was a unique experience.
After heading back to HaNoi our journey continued on our first sleeper bus heading south to Hue. The 12 hour bus, we'd been terrified for, was a perfectly "smooth" ride with no complications!
Expect an invasive culture, language barriers... to be cheated, to be mixed up and backwards in my travels.
The people are not friendly, they'll yell, they'll 'rip you off'.
They're known to be scammers.
Yes, there were places where this occurred, but in an overall reflection, Vietnamese culture is full of the kindest, friendliest, happiest, most beautiful people I've met so far in any of my travels to Asia.
Most days, coming to an end, there has been at least one random act of kindness, if not more, from a local who did not know us, nor owe us anything.
With all the warnings, arriving at the Hanoi airport was an overwhelming feeling. After having a good laugh at ourselves with the immigration officers we proceeded to look for our hotel transfer. It had not come. Once getting this organized and arriving to our hotel, there was no room available but we were to stay at a 'better hotel' one block away. We were skeptical. Once we arrived and saw that it was indeed a better bargain, this started our streak of wonderful travel experiences through Vietnam.
What a treat Ha Noi was! I'd assumed as a large city it was not going to be a good experience but I was pleasantly surprised. Staying in the old quarter gave us many options for exploration. On Ha Noi's narrow streets, lined with tall buildings, we found streets dedicated to one merchandise. One street for shoes. Another for hats. Another for lanterns. It was rather neat to see a city this way.
The 'Hanoi Hilton' was a sad but good experience .. Walking through a former prison, now historical museum, where a huge part of world history took place was overwhelming but we gained so much knowledge. Little did I know at the time that I'd spend most of my time in Vietnam thinking ... 'I wonder what it was like during the war, where I'm standing right now?' The prison had exhibits of what it was like for men shackled to tables inches apart, isolation cells, and women's cells. Dark. No privacy. No toilets. A slice of history was a good way to start my travels through Vietnam. An awakening.
The world heritage site of HaLong Bay with it's 1,600 islands was the next stop. Taking a two day, one night boat excursion was the best way to experience the bay. After our 170km bus ride to the ocean side, our tour boat housed about 20 people, all wonderful and from all over the world. Though cloudy, and cool temperatures, we spent the days touring and kayaking the bright aqua waters between the thousands of high limestone formations that formed barriers to the open sea. Small caves and shrines can be seen in the walls of the limestone once up close. While kayaking around the bay there were small floating homes which belonged to people in the fishing industry. Some people laid lazily on hammocks on their porch area while others purchased goods from locals selling out of small wooden boats. Toddlers ran wild though the water is only inches away and there's no railings for protection.
A large cave that could have housed every tourist in the area was our first stop. This cave found high in the limestone was obviously a huge tourist attraction as there was a paved path through and well lit areas. I felt like I was in an Indiana Jones film. From here the tour group made a stop at Ti Top Island where we walked up 400 stone steps to end up on top of the small limestone mountain. At the top there was a panoramic view of HaLong Bay in the setting sun. At night the boat was alive with almost everyone singing karaoke. For a non-karaoke lover I certainly enjoyed myself immensely and there was some serious talent that night. On our final day we cruised around HaLong for some extra site seeing as well as visited a pearl farm. As a pearl lover I was quite interested to learn the ways of pearl harvesting and just how long it takes and how minimal the production can be. From watching the pearl impregnation to the extraction from the shell was a unique experience.
After heading back to HaNoi our journey continued on our first sleeper bus heading south to Hue. The 12 hour bus, we'd been terrified for, was a perfectly "smooth" ride with no complications!
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| Almond root in which hoa lo political prisoners hid documents for the revolution |
