Well ........ soon. Firstly Auckland airport - way to early for the midnight flight. Dave is almost running to international to get through departures early (zoom, zoom) so we could make it to a bar near duty free with a big screen and spare tables to watch .. yep the All Blacks! glad we won or else it would've made for a very painful flight! On to Singapore. We sat next to this lovely old Asian lady who was going to Singapore to visit family. Started by climbing on the seat next to me try to get her bag in the overhead locker, would not let Dave help and then chatted away to us. Kept putting my seatbelt on me and sorting out my tray. Dave and I kept looking at each other and trying not to laugh. Then she gets up every hour during the flight and does Tai Chi by the toilet! gave me exercises to do for stretching (they were quite good too). A very interesting experience and made the time go quickly.
So .. Singapore Changi Airport. Cool place to spend time. They have a new Dreamscape exhibit in the middle of Terminal 2 Which is scenes projected onto the ceiling above the fishpond. I was just awe-struck!
Hanoi Airport - shell-shock. Very hot and sticky and lining up in long lines for customs and security. Very tired and not in the mood. Lines out the door literally! The customs were very serious and I got almost a smile when I had to go on tippy-toes to get a camera shot of my head.
Luckily no problems with being picked up and taken to hotel. But the traffic! I will say this every day, so bear with me, but the scooters, cars everywhere. No rules, just going for it. scary stuff to encounter on your first trip in the city! The hotel was amazing. 5 star, on the banks of a lake, overlooking parks and temples, Ho Chi Min mauseluem (where he is buried).
After settling in, we went for a walk by the lake along a path with bench seats. It was about 6pm and slightly cooler. First thing that hit me was the smell, rotten rubbish spilling out of rubbish bags, plastic everywhere. Interestingly, I went to sit on a bench seat to admire the view, and a Vietnamese older lady pushed past me and sat down. I was quite stunned as I thought politeness was a given in this county, so continued walking. After a few seconds a younger lady got up off her bench seat and offered it to me as she had seen what had happened. My faith was restored.
We went up to the roof top bar on sunset, and the views were incredible - all over the city. Nice way to spend the first night.
NEXT DAY- MEET AND GREET AND HALONG BAY
So yummy buffet breakfast and meet our Aussie friends Stuart and Annie. What a joy to see them. All of the Aussies had arrived late the night before. Dave went down to greet them, but I was sound asleep in my luxurious huge bed!
There are 15 in our small group tour - all Aussies except us. Our tour guide was called Q, who was very good and organised. Basically by 8am we were off on a minibus for 3 hour trip to Halong Bay. Nice to see the bus was air-conditioned, comfy and lots of water bottles on ice.
Our first stop on the way was a Silk embroidery painting place, where disabled adults work on these large 'paintings' made of silk threads embroidered on canvas. Honestly, the art work was incredible. It would take them months and months to finish one piece. Obviously there was the hard sell to buy from the overseers, but I really wanted one. Forgot you had to bargain till the last minute, and then started to play hardball. Came away with lovely piece of art, made by this man. I think he gets a percentage of the money.
Halong Bay was very interesting. I thought we were going onto a small boat with enough accommodation for just us. However, approaching the area you could tell money had been spent on new bridges, roads, hotels for the tourists. There were big boats moored up everywhere - lots of. We get off our bus and discover we were with many others (mainly Chinese). I would guess there were over 50 on the boat, which had 3 stories. We were greeted with a Dragon dance on the pier, which was rather confusing, and so hot for those inside the costumes! The boat was very big, with a bar drinking area on the top deck. We set off cruising the bay (which is huge, not just the little bay you see in photos). Our room had a balcony but really it was too hot to go out on it.
Our group all met up on the top for a cocktail or two with sunset happening. Very magical!
HALONG BAY
Huge cliffs jutting out of the water randomly - which gives an eerie feeling in the first light. the daylight also shows the rubbish floating by and the dirty brown water. Sigh! I didn't realise it would be so bad, tho I was warned. There are millions and trillions of boats everywhere, of all different shapes and sizes, including super yachts with their own speed boats. (only speedboat racing around which is good). The first option of the day was to go swimming. It was at this tiny, man-made sandy beach with hundreds of people and a roped -off area you cant go past. Our 4 said no thanks - mainly due to the state of the water and rubbish floating around. It was actually well-organised with little tender boats coming alongside to transport to a jetty at one end. We just sat on the boat and laughed!
Afterwards we got in the tender and we all went to a kayaking place for tourists, which again was well-organised with hundreds of kayaks coming and going. Dave and I went in one, where you go under this open hole in the rock though to a lovely calm bay around the jutting cliffs and back again. Naturally Dave did all the work, and I lay back and enjoyed the ride. He did try to teach me to paddle, but apparently I am too slow!
Afterwards it was back in the tenders again, back to the boat. How they know which boat to go to, when there are hundreds out there, is still beyond me. One of our tenders broke down, so we had to go back and tie it alongside ours to tow it back. Very interesting to watch the process.
Cocktails at Sunset - on the top deck. Now this was more like it! Happy hour, cheap drinks, magical vista, lovely people. Good times.
NEXT MORNING - CAVE CLIMB OF A THOUSAND STEPS
so .... it was a visit to a cave as outlined in the itinerary. I was excited, as who doesn't like a good cave, however the more the guide talked about it, the more anxious I got. I assumed (silly me) that it was at ground level, at the bottom of one of those cliffs. But no ---- it was half-way up a cliff, and yes you had to climb to get to it. In 35C heat, and 90% humidity at 8am in the morning! 200 steps straight up1 Oh god, and that was the start. Our friend Annie and I were the slow ones, so Dave and Stuart were behind to encourage us. At the top, lots of heavy breathing and heart racing, water drunk, you could see into this magnificent cave structure, which was actually about 5 different caves all joined up. So off we go, walk up and down, more steps and down. Grandeur vista, and up steps! the hard part was that it was so hot in there, and no breeze coming through. Like being in a sauna.
Right at the end it was up a lot more steps to get to the exit, with a wonderful view overlooking the bay I might add. I was gasping for breath, lots of water, and actually felt dizzy and faint! It was nice to have fresh air, so then down, down, down to the bottom where the tender was waiting to take you back to the boat. Not a lot of people, which was a god-send, as I could not have done it with heaps of people behind me. Annie and I were very proud of ourselves I have to say.
HANOI
Once more, back on the bus, and back to Hanoi. Lots of haze of pollution as we entered the city. We went past the rich areas, which are so different to the poor shacks with rubbish piled up outside. More cocktails on the rooftop bar (could get used to this!)
Set off at 8am for walking tour of the city. Straight into peak time traffic, which is crazy anyway, and the heat! My god - even after an hour I was sweating like a pig, had the fan out, water bottle drunk. Our guide Q was a power walker, marched across roads with confidence, and not once checked behind him for stragglers. (us). We went gorgeous leafy green streets with the French influence houses, and a grand cathedral in the middle. FACT - 10% Vietnamese are Catholic, due to the French. Then marching on to this remarkable place called Train Street. Dave had heard about it, but it is where a train track goes through narrow spaces between shops and markets, really close to people. the local govt had just banned tour groups from going there to see the train come through, as too dangerous. So not sure why we were allowed but we all sat down on chairs place about a foot away from the train track, and were given cold drinks and in the shade under shop awnings. Then you here a loud whistle, and the local shop keepers come running out to push you and your chair back, and then the train comes past! Really close to you - and at a reasonable speed. Quite the experience, and apparently at night it is even better!
After that it was power walk to a narrow side street selling food and upstairs for an egg coffee demonstration. In the air-conditioning! Yay.. this was 3 eggs beaten with a mixer with a dash of rum, coconut syryp and honey for sweetness. After a few minutes it turns into a kind of thick mousse, which gets dolloped onto the top of hot, strong black coffee. Actually really nice! Even with the rum in it!
Then onto bycycle tuk tuks for a ride across town, past lakes, statues (lots of statues of Ho Chi Min) and into the old town. Our driver kept trying for the shade of trees, so now and again we would swerve across the road into the shade. Very nerve-wracking when you think we are competing with hundreds of cars and scooters for space. THEN - just as we were about to turn into a narrow street for our lunch restauarant, CRASH! A stupid scooter driver tried to pass on the inside, by me, and clipped the edge of the tuktuk as it went across in front. Down he, and the scooter went onto the road, right in front of us. Dave gets to get off to help him, but our driver yells at him to stay, and then he goes and starts yelling with all sorts of rude gestures to this guy spread out on the road. The guy is trying to get up, retrieve his shoe, which had come off. A lovely old lady came over and picked up his scooter, put his bag back on, and the guy got back on and drove off! We were in shock as it happened so fast! A good story to tell the others at lunch tho. So the only crash we saw in all this traffic mayhem involved us!
After walking some more through the old town markets, narrow streets, no footpath, avoiding parked scooters and zooming scooters, and rubbish, it was back on the bus and back to hotel. What a long, hot day! My feet were so hot and swollen I had to soak them in a cold bath.
After a rest it was out to a cultural show, which was actually a water puppet show with musicians playing old Vietnamese instruments. I loved it, as big puppets came up out of the water to tell a story. At the side there was an outline of the story being told in Vietnamese, English and French! so you could follow what was happening very well. Very clever and unusual. Then back onto the bus for a special dinner which was a Vietnamese feast, Very yummy with different dishes to try.
Very long and full day in the heat. Quite knackered and a bit over-whelmed to be honest.
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