VIETNAM - Hanoi
The journey the three of us had been dreading, overland from Hong Kong to Hanoi, was over in 16 hours! far less than the 2.5 days which we had been advised it would take on various websites. It was so easy, we got off the excellent sleeper bus in Nanning and were immediately thrown onto another bus which would take us to the border at Friendship Pass. On arrival we boarded golf buggies which took us to passport control, then more buggies then onto another bus and we were travelling through Vietnam.
Hanoi arrived very quickly and we were immediately bombarded with offers of taxis or rooms for the night. Our guest house was situated in the centre of the old quarter which is an absolutely crazy place. Crossing the road was one of the first obstacles, we would later use this as a measure to see how long people had been in Vietnam, if they were struggling, they had just arrived! The trick is, to cross looking at all the moped drivers and never stopping, let them go around you, quite scary at first but not too bad.
Hanoi is a nice city, the old quarter is always busy and there is always somewhere to get a cheap beer, mostly on plastic chairs on street corners, 15 pence was the record!
While in the city we tried to pay a visit to Ho Chi Minh but unfortunately he was closed for the afternoon. We did however make it into his museum and it was a very odd place with examples of all that influenced his life including art and sculpture. Ho Chi Minh famously fought on the front line, for the North Vietnamese, against the South Vietnam/US forces during the war. He wanted Vietnam to be united under a communist government. Throughout our trip through Vietnam we would learn more about this period of history and the subsequent consequences.
The journey the three of us had been dreading, overland from Hong Kong to Hanoi, was over in 16 hours! far less than the 2.5 days which we had been advised it would take on various websites. It was so easy, we got off the excellent sleeper bus in Nanning and were immediately thrown onto another bus which would take us to the border at Friendship Pass. On arrival we boarded golf buggies which took us to passport control, then more buggies then onto another bus and we were travelling through Vietnam.
Hanoi arrived very quickly and we were immediately bombarded with offers of taxis or rooms for the night. Our guest house was situated in the centre of the old quarter which is an absolutely crazy place. Crossing the road was one of the first obstacles, we would later use this as a measure to see how long people had been in Vietnam, if they were struggling, they had just arrived! The trick is, to cross looking at all the moped drivers and never stopping, let them go around you, quite scary at first but not too bad. Hanoi is a nice city, the old quarter is always busy and there is always somewhere to get a cheap beer, mostly on plastic chairs on street corners, 15 pence was the record!While in the city we tried to pay a visit to Ho Chi Minh but unfortunately he was closed for the afternoon. We did however make it into his museum and it was a very odd place with examples of all that influenced his life including art and sculpture. Ho Chi Minh famously fought on the front line, for the North Vietnamese, against the South Vietnam/US forces during the war. He wanted Vietnam to be united under a communist government. Throughout our trip through Vietnam we would learn more about this period of history and the subsequent consequences.We decided to take a day trip to Halong Bay on the coast near Hanoi. It is a beautiful bay full of stunning karst mountains. They are similar in form to those we saw in Yangshao but surrounded by water. We boarded a boat for the day to sail into the middle of the islands. While sailing around them we had the chance to get off and investigate some caves, go Kayaking at to check out the stunning views which the area has so plentifully.
While in Hanoi we made the decision to buy each other Christmas presents to give each other at Whale Island for Christmas. I was buying for Karl, Karl for Clem and clem for Me, how exciting!
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