29
th
April – 8
th May 2016
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| Torrential in Phong Nha |
Having just
done the best cave tour ever made I was feeling pretty exhausted for my final
day in Phong Nha. I didn’t plan to do much which is just as well as there was
torrential rain. A massive storm woke me up. It’s a good job I didn’t do the
tour a day later otherwise climbing up that hill at the end would have been
muddy and very difficult.
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| Neon night bus |
There’s only
one type of public transport to and from Phong Nha and that is by bus so I had
little choice but to brave the overnight bus to Ninh Binh. This one was very
neon. I actually managed to sleep much better on this bus than the last time. I
was right at the back and those seats have a bit of extra room.
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| My own room |
There isn’t
much in the way of accommodation options in Ninh Bing, most people stay in the
village of Tam Coc as that’s where all the touristy things are. As I was
planning to hire a bike anyway and I didn’t want to pay the extra for a taxi to
the village, I opted to stay in the city. I treated myself to a private room.
It’s still cheaper than a dorm bed in Australia. I hadn’t had my own room since
sleeping in my car last year so it really was a treat.
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| River in Phong Nha |
I arrived
extremely early in the morning so I had another bit of sleep before hiring a
bike to explore. I only had the one night here so I wanted to see as much as
possible.
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| Mountains |
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| Epic Mountains |
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| Epic |
I headed
vaguely in the direction of Tam Coc but I got distracted by the magnificent
scenery around here. I kept taking detours to see more of it. Its described as
the inland Halong Bay and its spectacular.
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| Ducks! |
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| Dragon Mountain |
The first
proper stop I made was Nui Ngoa Long which means ‘The Lying Dragon Mountain’.
As I was driving up to this mountain I got ambushed by ducks. They were all
over the road and wouldn’t move until I nearly drove into them.
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| Dragons |
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| Awesome views |
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| Another awesome view |
There were
so many steps! It really was a challenge getting up here and it was hot too.
Not as hot as I have got used to but still hot to be climbing thousands of steps.
The view from the top was amazing. I can see why they call it the inland Halong
Bay. It looks very similar.
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| Orange centipedes |
There was a
little stone monument at the top that was covered in these bright orange centipedes.
They are pretty big too. I sat on the step for a minute before I noticed them
and then jumped off to stop them getting on me.
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| Underneath the mountain |
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| Inside rain |
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| Beautiful |
Underneath
this mountain is a cave that goes right through to the other side. It was
raining inside the cave which is something I’ve not seen before. The recent
rain was filtering through the rock and making it very wet inside while it was
completely dry outside. There was a little path that went around the side of
the rice fields that I followed for a while until it became too muddy and wet
to keep going.
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| More epic scenery |
I continued
on to Tam Coc village where I had some lunch. I had a Banh Mi in a little local
place that seemed to be having a big party. There was one long table of people
having a good time and then me sat in the corner with my chicken baguette.
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| Powerful feet |
I saw all
the boats moored up and the hundreds of tourists who were waiting to get in
one. I wasn’t tempted. Although the woman who steer these boats do have an
interesting way of doing so. They use their feet to paddle the boat which I
think is quite skillful. It leaves their hands free to hold an umbrella and a
mobile phone.
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| Some monument thing |
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| More mountains |
I followed
the river so that I would be able to see the same things as the people in the
boat. I went down a few dirt tracks which just made things more fun although I
did get a little stuck when I hit a dead end. I had to lift the bike up to turn
it around and it nearly rolled into the river.
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| Another temple |
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| A temple man |
I found a
temple in the middle of nowhere which looks like it has been built as a tourist
attraction but isn’t finished yet.
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| Yet more mountains |
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| One tourist loving life |
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| Another temple in the mountains |
The only
temple I paid entry to was this one as I had seen some cool pictures of it. Its
buried into the side of a mountain and has a few different levels which means
more steps to climb.
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| Stuffed in a hole in the mountain |
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| Cave |
I didn’t
stay too long as I realised I had left my phone on the bike. You’d only notice
it if you were really looking but I went back to it rather quickly.
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| Sunset in Ninh Binh |
I drove
around a little more before heading back to Ninh Binh. It was only a brief
visit but I had seen everything I wanted to see. The next day I got the train to
the capital, Hanoi.
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| No road markings |
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| Bikes |
The first
thing you notice about Hanoi is the chaos. There are just as many bikes in Ho
Chi Minh City but the streets here are so much narrower. Crossing the road is a
hair raising experience. You just have to close your eyes and step out.
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| Doing the old jedi trick |
The woman in
this picture knows how it do it. Just hold out your hand and use the Force to
stop the traffic. It seems to work.
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| Island on the lake |
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| Flowers |
It was
already late afternoon by the time I arrived so I decided to save the bulk of
my exploring for another time. I walked around the local area which was
interesting enough. There were people everywhere especially around the lake.
Most people were just hanging out.
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| Cathedral |
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| Service just starting |
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| The overflow |
The
cathedral was just down the road from my hostel and a service had just started
when I arrived. It was very full which I found surprising. I didn’t expect this
much Christianity in Vietnam. Those that couldn’t get inside were sitting on
stools just outside.
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| Full bar in the hostel |
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| I would like a flake with this |
I was
staying in one of those hostels that had a free beer happy hour where you could
drink as much as you wanted. They didn’t provide any flakes with these drinks
though. It was a very sociable hostel and I ended up in a big group
conversation before long.
The night
escalated from there. The bar woman said that we should go to the other hostel
in their chain and she would get us more free beer. This is a regular thing to
do but she told me they usually have a minibus to transport them. This time we
would have to walk and she didn’t seem too sure of the way. After a few minutes
of walking I pointed out that we were going the wrong way and we used my map on
my phone to get there.
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| Familiar face |
When we got
there they had run out of beer but they gave us some other free drinks instead.
I bumped into Kevin who I must have bumped into about twenty times when I was
in Laos. He must be following me.
We went on to a club which played some really shitty boring house music that I
really struggle to enjoy so I left after a while and found a place around the
corner that seemed better. The drinks were crazy expensive though.
I got
dancing with these local people who were loving the western dance hits. Then
the DJ played a Vietnamese song and everyone started singing. Then he played a dance remix of the national anthem which I thought was really an odd thing to play but
everyone seemed to love it. All bars in Vietnam must close at midnight which is
extremely early. I went back to the other bar to find the people I had been
with all night and I struggled to find it. They had lowered the shutters down so
the police wouldn’t know that the party is still going on inside. I couldn’t
find the people I was with, they weren't in there so I went home.
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| Halong |
The trip
down to Halong Bay was a fun one. I enjoy these group tours especially when I’m
travelling by myself. It’s a good way to make some friends but I didn’t get off
to a good start. Part of the ice breaker thing was the group had to come up
with a nickname for you using the first letter of your first name. I got a
little too excited and kept shouting out horrible nicknames like Arrogant
Angela and Malicious Michelle. They were just the first things to pop into my
head. When I yelled out Cunt Chris I decided to stop! I got nicknamed Awful
Alan because of it.
We arrived
at the harbour where there were some fancy looking ships. I was hoping one of
these would be ours but it wasn’t. Ours was hidden around the corner and to be
fair it was still quite fancy.
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| Room for two |
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| Top Deck |
All the
rooms were twin rooms and they were like hotel rooms. I had expected worse as
this as the cheapest tour available. The upper deck was pretty cool with
sun loungers on fake grass. We all went up top as we set off and got chatting.
Before long it was lunch time downstairs as we sailed into Halong Bay.
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| Enjoying the mounains |
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| Halong Bay |
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| This ones on a banknote |
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| The group |
There was a
guy moaning about how bad the weather was but he was clearly retarded,
something which was confirmed later on in the night. If you go on a booze
cruise you are likely to meet a couple of idiots. The group were generally a
good bunch. It was a little cloudy but they parted before long and the views
got better and better.
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| Mountains |
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| Someone said this was phallic |
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| More mountains |
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| Epic Scenery |
This is a
massive tourist spot and I had expected there to be hundreds of boats around us
all vying for space but it almost seemed like we were the only ones here. I
suppose it’s a big enough area that everyone can spread out.
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| Man making a living |
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| Still awesome |
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| Cheers |
We jumped
into some kayaks in one of the little bays and went exploring. We went over to
some people using a huge netted platform to fish on. There were a couple of
tents on the platform. These guys live out here and rarely go on land. Then we
went through a small cave through to an enclosed bay. It was really beautiful.
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| Time for a swim |
Back at the
boat it was time for a swim. We jumped from the top deck which is bloody high
up and it took a lot of will power to jump off. Once was enough. The water
wasn’t the cleanest as I saw an empty bottle of detergent float by.
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| The eagles are coming |
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| Dam pole in the way |
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| Goodnight Halong |
That night was
when the booze cruise element really kicked in. We moored up with a boat full
of Uruguayans who were way more drunk than us. They were playing some Latin
music that was drowning out our music. It turned into a bit of a confrontation
when they all came over to our boat to play table football and hang out but
wouldn’t turn their music off. After a while our boats separated which was
probably for the best. Our token idiot was ready to hit one of them.
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| Party time |
We were
listening to some generic boring house music which people say they enjoy but
they are just trying to be all cool and won’t admit that its shit. I managed to
get my ipod on which is full of mainstream bangers and suddenly everyone was
dancing. Point proven.
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| The showpony |
There was a
super camp Australian in our group who came into his own after a few drinks. He
did a full on show for everyone including pole dancing and twerking underneath
the limbo bar. It was funny to watch. It was a good night overall.
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| The captain |
It was an
early start for breakfast but we didn’t need to be up so early as we didn’t do
anything on the second day. After breakfast we hung out on the top deck
but we didn’t go anywhere for a couple of hours. Half of the group got on a
different boat to take them somewhere else in the bay. They were on the three
day tour. Another boat joined ours who had already done their third day and
would be coming back with us. I didn’t like these outsiders coming into our
group!
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| Making spring rolls |
As we sailed
back we had a lesson in how to make proper spring rolls. Some were better than
others. I think mine was pretty decent. We didn’t get to eat our own though.
They were taken away to be cooked and were served with the rest of our lunch.
We got back
to the harbour and waited for the bus that would take us back to Hanoi. There
was a huge fire on one of these boats only a few days after I was there. It was
pretty major. People had to jump overboard from the upper deck to get away from
the flames and the boat was completely destroyed. I’m glad it wasn’t our boat.
Back in
Hanoi I had a couple of hours to chill before catching the overnight bus to
Sapa for the valley tour. The bus was just as comfortable as I expected. It
arrived really early morning. They let you sleep on the bus for a couple of
extra hours before the sun comes up which is handy but they turned the air con
off. I woke up absolutely dripping. It was really sweaty inside the bus and the
driver had locked us in so I couldn’t get out. I was just contemplating
climbing through the drivers window when he opened the door.
I still had
to wait around a while for the pickup which was late. The tour wasn’t organised
all that well. It was one of those sheep herding ones with little care about if
you actually enjoy it. The scenery more than made up for it though.
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| Incredible view |
The pickup
took us to a hotel where we had breakfast and it had a spectacular view of Sapa
Valley. It was hard to believe it was real. I met others on the tour but I
ended up sat at table were no one wanted to speak and when they did, it was in
French. The table behind me was chatting constantly so I switched tables as
soon as a could. We were split into groups after breakfast anyway but I was
with Alec who I had already been chatting to. He was English but was living in
Hong Kong.
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| Sapa Valley |
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| Epic view |
We set off
on our hike though the valley and it was quite the hike. It was busy on the
path and Alec and I kept losing our group. We had to keep stopping to let people
catch up which was a little frustrating. We were never sure which of the small
Vietnamese women was our guide as they all dress the same and there were a lot
of them. One of them made me this horse.
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| Horse |
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| Nifty plumbing for the rice paddies |
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| Rice paddies |
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| One of our guides |
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| Buffalo during the ploughing |
The valley
is incredible. I took a lot of pictures. I’m so glad a managed to squeeze it
in as I nearly didn’t come. The path wound its way up and down the side of the
valley and through rice paddies. The path was a little muddy but nowhere near
as much as it would have been if it were raining.
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| So Epic |
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| Some many farms |
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| Down the valley |
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| The village |
We had lunch
in a village just next to the river. It was in a big restaurant that had about a hundred people in, all doing to same thing. They must make some decent money here.
We got ambushed whilst we ate by a few different people trying to sell us stuff.
We had already been ambushed a few times. One woman got quite angry at me when I
didn’t want anything. “You stay in my village, you buy something” she said. I
understand they are just trying to make a living but its bloody annoying.
One thing
that did annoy me was Alec bought something after saying no 3 or 4 times. People
like him are the reason that saying ‘no thankyou’ once is no longer enough and
the reason I get so pissed off with them and I told him as much.
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| More farms |
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| More rice paddies |
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| Our Homestay |
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| Pretty basic |
After lunch
we walked back up the side of the valley to a homestay where our group would be
spending the night. It was pretty basic but that’s part of the charm. We were
staying in the upstairs bit on mattresses were comfortable enough and had fly
nets.
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| The oven |
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| The kids |
The family
didn’t speak to us that much, maybe their English wasn’t too good, but we got
an insight into village life in Sapa. The stove was a pit in the middle of the
kitchen. They do have a small TV but not much else in the way of home comforts.
It must get pretty cold here in winter.
Dinner was
really yummy and plentiful. Its always good to eat some real Vietnamese food
made by real Vietnamese people. We gave them a hand with the dishes to be good
house guests. The group wasn’t all that sociable, in fact most people went to
bed at 8pm so I watched The Walking Dead on my phone.
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| Another day in the valley |
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| Walking through a bamboo forest |
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| Down into the valley |
The next day
the trekking continued through more rice paddies and bamboo groves. We were
lucky with the weather. Two gorgeous days of sunshine.
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| At the top of a waterfall |
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| The waterfall |
We stopped
at a waterfall for quite a while. The water was freezing so there was no way I
was going in it. It was a really nice spot but we were there for ages. I think
each group has a set time for lunch so we had to wait before arriving at the
restaurant. We were never told about what was going on. Just herded along as
and when necessary.
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| Crossing the river |
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| The river |
We had lunch
at a different place than the one we had been to the day before. It was just as
busy with hundreds of westerners squeezed in. The tour hadn’t quite been as
cultured as I had hoped. It would have been nice if it were similar to the experience I
had had in Inle Lake in Myanmar but I should have known this would be much
more touristy.
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| The town of Sapa |
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| Traditional clothing |
We got a
minibus back to the hotel so that we didn’t have trek all the way back. We had
an hour before the bus would take us back to Hanoi so I opted to walk to the
bus station instead of waiting around for the transfer. This way I could
explore the town of Sapa along the way. It’s a pretty little town with an
amazing backdrop.
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| Town in the mountains |
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| Nice town |
While I was
waiting for the bus to arrive an old Vietnamese man tried chatting to me. He
barely spoke any English but he managed to tell me his name and I told him
mine. I showed him my passport so that he would understand. He was really
interested in all the stamps I have and surprised I had been to all of them. He
was also amused by hairy legs and stoked them which I found a little odd but
funny.
The bus back
to Hanoi wasn’t an overnight one, thank god, but it did get in quite late. I
went straight to bed.
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| The famous man's mausoleum |
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| Guarded |
I only had
one day left in Vietnam and I wanted to see a bit more of Hanoi. It was a bit
of a slow start as it had been an exhausting week but when I finally got going
I went over to Ho Chi Minh mausoleum where you can see the famous man embalmed.
You have to get there early and queue up for hours so I missed out but I wasn’t
too fussed about seeing a dead body.
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| Presidential Palace |
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| Changing the guards |
I walked
around the rest of the park, past the Presidential Palace and I watched them change the guards
before heading back in the direction of my hostel. There was a museum I was
going to go to but it was a Saturday and I thought it would be super busy. I
couldn’t be arsed with that and I was quite happy to go back to the hostel and
just chill. I had an overnight flight to catch that night so a bit of rest
would be a good idea. The next stop in my Asian Adventure was the Philippines.
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