Playing tourist
Halong Bay began in Hanoi, a city that rivals Phnom Penh in terms of transportation chaos (and more than outdoes it in terms of sketchiness). We’d expected Hanoi to be the more subtle and enjoyable of the two major cities in Vietnam, but Saigon seems to be an oasis of calm in comparison to the absolute madness in Hanoi! It’s a beautiful city with a beautiful lake in the Old Quarter, but the roads are unbelievable – motorbikes by the hundreds of thousands, buses, taxis, pedal rickshaws, bicycles, touts, souveniour stalls, roaming vendors, confused tourists from all over the world and a scam at every corner!
We’d been determined to “do” Halong Bay on our own despite numerous warnings that it just ends up being way more complicated and expensive than signing up for a tour. Once in Hanoi, however,we started to think that given our time and money crunch for the month of November, a tour might be an okay idea. We did our homework, determined not to be screwed over; every other establishment in Hanoi is a tour agency and 99% of them sell dirt-cheap tours and then pack you onto a boat with tons of people from other agencies. For example, our hotel (which was the shabbiest we’d seen in Vietnam anyways) claimed to be THE Sinh Cafe, a “reputable” company, and offered (ie pestered us everytime we walked downstairs) us a three day, two night trip, all inclusive, for $45 apiece. In reality, our street alone had nearly ten “Sinh Cafes” and apparently the real one is actually located in Saigon. Asia certainly specializes in cheap knockoffs!
We ended up going with Vega Travel, an agency who had to recently change its name due to the lack of copyright laws. We handed over $98 apiece and hoped for the best – luckily this was one place where you really did get what you paid for!
We were picked up Tuesday morning and taken in a minibus to Halong City. There was a reststop along the way where every other tour bus in Asia had stopped; we were ushered into the warehouse-sized souvenior shop and encouraged to enjoy the silk/gems/statues – “all original, very good price!” The dining area was at the very back, offering an exotic menu of hamburgers, hotdogs and fried rice at exorbiant prices. Gabe spotted a back room where all of the Vietmanese guides were eating soup; he asked the girl how much it cost and, as a patron handed over 15,000d for his meal, she informed him that soup costs 35,000d. I broke down and bought the most expensive bag (funsized, mind you!) of M&Ms on the planet – damn that running appetite – and escaped back to the van.
The port was about as chaotic as the roads in Hanoi, but Tuon, our guide, quickly got us onto our junk boat (an type of ornate Chinese ship, not actually junk). Incredibly, there were only four guests on our tour! Aside from Gabe and I, there was a girl named Margaret from Chicago who was travelling alone after teaching gigs in Prague and Korea and also a Belgian guy named Paul who was a bit awkward at first (“so…Americans?”) but who quickly warmed up.
We were shown our cabins – extremely nice – and had some time to sit up top while we pulled out of the port and into Halong Bay. Lunch was soon served – an absolute feast of prawns, sauteed squid, chicken, veggies, rice, baked fish, spring rolls and tons of fresh fruit. Things were looking good…
The afternoon consisted of a cave visit, viewpoint hike, kayaking and swimming. Itineraries tend to make me cringe, but with only four of us it was very tolerable and the scenery made up for any complaint that I could have possibly had! Dinner was another delicious, massive spread of food and the four of us spent a lot of time savouring it (or maybe just making room in our stomaches). As is always the case when sitting with Europeans or Australians, conversation was dominated by American politics and trying to explain how our healthcare system (dys)functions.
Gabe and I had planned ahead and brought a bottle of Dalat wine (the going price is $2, the boat was selling it for 12), but forgot our corkscrew. When we asked to borrow one we were informed of a $5 fee for “services” if we wanted to bring our own drinks. We declined, Gabe worked his magic and removed the cork with his camera tripod (?!?), and we were soon enjoying the night and the bottle (sans glasses) on the top deck.
Day two started off with a breakfast of noticably lower quality (the westerner’s “favorite,” toast, fried eggs and bananas) and a transfer to a smaller, though still nice, boat. Margaret stayed behind as she was on a two-day tour and the three of us were soon spending the day “trekking” in Cat Ba National Park and kayaking. The 6k trek was about the difficulty level of our typical walk to breakfast (wasn’t so easy for Paul), but the serene Jurassic Park-like surroundings were incredible and we thanked our lucky stars that we weren’t in a group of 20 people!
By 3:30 we found ourselves on Cat Ba Island where we were to stay in the Holiday View Hotel for the night. We were both relieved to escape from the schedule and our very friendly but overly helpful guide. After Tuon was convinced that we knew how to use our key, that the hot water worked, that we had directions to the english-menu restaurants (riiight) and that we wouldn’t forget breakfast in the morning, we were finally able to lock the door and marvel at the unfamiliar luxury surrounding us!
Most of our guesthouse rooms have been nice enough, but there’s always that “something,” be it a leaky sink or hard bed or karaoke bar next to the window. This room was a welcome change – huge, soft, freshly laundered bed, big spotless bathroom, refrigerator, a sea view, large television and all those cute little free extras like coffee and soap. We spent the evening enjoying some bia hoi on the waterfront and eating dinner before lounging on our amazing bed with a movie – very refreshing, and definitely the nicest place we’ll stay!
The next morning started with a huge fresh hotel buffet breakfast that was of very good quality (no deep fried eggs this time!), and we were back on the boat by 7:30. It was a four hour trip back to Halong City, and the lack of itinerary was nice – we were able to just sit and bask in the sun and scenery (Gabe spent his time dreaming of rock climbing). After one last huge meal at a restaurant in the city, we boarded another minibus and (tourist stop included of course) found ourselves in Hanoi by 4:00.
The traffic and touts were grating after such a peaceful few days, and the overcharging and calls for “hello! moto? no? marijuana? where you go? moto?” were getting to us both. Luckily we had an amazing Halong experience to reflect on, and were out of Hanoi by the following evening. One more stop in Sapa, then onto Laos where we’ve been promised a quiet, laidback country where no one wants anything out of you. Perfect for the holidays!
Tags: food, Halong Bay, Hanoi, Photos, Sinh Cafe, tour, Travel, Vega Travel, Vietnam
allisonrae
November 21st, 2008 at 4:51 am
[…] Original post by allisonrae […]
February 11th, 2011 at 10:22 am
June 11th, 2012 at 5:41 pm
Wow, that was a great read through. Finally, somebody who really thinks and is familiar with what they are writing about. Quite hard to find these days, especially on the internet. I saved your blog and will make sure to keep coming back here if this is how you always post. Many thanks, keep it up!