Vietnam 2013

Sunday 6th of October

Steph and Grace drove us to Mickleham Road and dropped us off at Quality Inn Hotel. The girls stayed for a drink and then headed back home. We walked down Mickleham Road and found a place called Di Capprios. The pizza was pretty good and the pasta wasn't bad either. In bed for a fitful sleep by 11 pm.

Monday 7th of October

Up at 7 am and a quick cup of coffee before the bus picked us up for the trip to Tullamarine. At the airport by 9 and then queued up for check in. Through the security check and the 2 hour wait in the terminal. Singapore Airlines flight SQ238 to Singapore. Took off right on time at 11:25. A fairly smooth flight and landed at Changi International Aiport at 4 pm Singapore time. We picked the slowest queue through customs - of course. Brad reckons the Singapore official had a thing about the Japanese people in front of us and deliberately slowed down the process. Finally found the Singapore Stop Over counter and booked our seats on the bus to get to the hotel. It was a real eye-opener. Such a clean, orderly city set among lush tropical vegetation. Arrived at the Furama Riverfront Hotel. We were upgraded to a deluxe room on the 9th floor. Well appointed and clean. Hard bed but comfortable. Singapore is 4 hours behind Melbourne time so we had already had a long day. We decided to walk to Robertson Quay. Had dinner at the River View Hotel riverside restaurant / bar. Anna had Chicken Caesar salad. Brad had fish soup with noodles and scallops. Very warm and humid night. Walked back to the hotel via service station to get some snacks. Back to our room and a shower before an early night (been up for 18 hours) and turned off the lights at 9:30 pm.

Tuesday 8th of October

Another fitful sleep. Woke up at 7 am. Decided to walk to Clarke Quay for breakfast. When we got there, everything was shut! Kept on walking and took a detour through Fort Canning. We continued over Hill Street to High Street then headed north towards Raffles Hotel. Had a lovely breakfast at a cafe opposite Raffles. Afterwards explored Raffles and then decided to walk to the Singapore Fly. Hot and humid now. The fly was worth the cost and gave a great idea of how large Singapore city is. The high rise towers go as far as the eye can see. Met a nice couple on the Fly who suggested we go to the barrage gallery. We were going to take a cab but none were around so we walked over Bayfront Bridge then over to the Flower Dome and Cloud Forest. Had a look around there, then headed off towards the barrage. It was very quiet when we got there. Closed for maintenance on Tuesdays. Hmmm. Ordered a cab back to the hotel. It took quite a while and demonstrated to us how far we had walked. Despite that, the fare was only $10. Had a relaxing swim and lounged by the pool to rest our feet. Decided to go to Chinatown for tea. Set off on foot again. Chinatown is very busy. Had a look through a hawker food hall. Decided to move on and found a very busy restaurant a little further on. Had fried dumplings, steamed dumplings, beef with ginger and onions and some rice. Yummy. From there we walked (again) towards the river and took North Canal Road to come out at Boat Quay. Took a river cruise downstream to tour around the harbour and then back upstream to Clark Quay. What a contrast to this morning. It was packed! Walked back to our hotel. A well deserved shower an off to bed. We must have walked at least 13 km today. Very warm and humid but no rain, with the occasional welcome breeze.

Wednesday 9th of October

Up fairly early early again. Took a taxi to the Botanic Gardens. A humid morning. The gardens are magnificent. Free entry. Exotic lush tropical vegetation. Paid $5 to go into the Orchid garden. Exquisite displays. Had a coffee before taking the MRT to Little India. Two trains, changing at Serengoon. Little India is a contrast to all the other areas we have been to. Crowded and down market. Did a little bit of a self guided tour around the Serengoon Road area. Then had lunch at a little stall in Bellios Lane. It was getting pretty warm now so took a taxi back home ($8.80). Had some down time in the pool and lazed around till around 5 pm. then walked over to Clark Quay MRT and caught 2 trains to get to Newton Hawker Centre for tea. Had satay sticks and fried rice. Delicious. Walked back down towards Orchard Road. It was really busy. Very up-market. Had a coffee in a plaza area and started getting a little foot-sore. Took a taxi back to the hotel. ($10). Packed and organised maps, cash and travel documents for Vietnam tomorrow.

Another lovely day over. Did more walking than planned today. We have done nearly all quarters of Singapore in a couple of days, so we have done very well indeed.

Thursday 10th of October

Early morning start. Up at 5:30 and then a bus pick up to the airport. Had to kill a couple of hours there until Singapore flight to HCMC took off at about 10:15. It was a bit late as we were lined up with 8 aircraft ahead of us. When we took off, there were 8 aircraft lined up behind us waiting. Fairly smooth flight until approaching HCMC through the clouds but a smooth landing. Had to wait about 20 minutes to get our visa processed, but then walked through customs without incident. An elderly gentleman was waiting with our name and he drove us in a minibus through the chaos that HCMC traffic. It is unbelievable. We we dumbfounded. There are motorbikes everywhere. Few traffic lights. Most intersections uncontrolled and it is every person for themselves. Despite this, the drivers are good natured and basically considerate and we saw no aggro. They do toot a lot but this is just to let people know they are there - we think. HCMC is pretty run down in most spots and pretty crowded. Did I mention there are motorcyles everywhere? - even on the footpath if the road is too busy. It is astounding more people are not killed. Got to our hotel room and braced ourselves to venture out for a walk. We both thought we would only be ever able to walk around our block as we did not think we would ever pluck up the courage to cross the road. Did I mention that there are motorcycles everywhere? On our walk we forced ourselves to cross a road and did so without being killed. Buoyed by this, we ventured forth to the Ben Than market, then wandered around marvelling at this chaotic place and started to get our confidence. Before we knew it, we had crossed half a dozen roads and ended up at The Reunification Palace and paid 26000 VND ($6 each) to have a look around. We then made our way back to the hotel for a rest after getting a SIM for the mobile phone. Rang Nick and Linda and they invited us for drinks at The Continental Hotel, which is where Graham Greene lived when he wrote The Quiet American. Armed with our trusty map, we made our way there after a quick shave and wash. That part of town is swanky in comparison to where we are, but still very busy. Had drinks with Nick and Linda who made some suggestions for places to eat. They weren't able to come out so we headed off to SH Restaurant which is hard to find. You go up some stairs, then take an ancient manual elevator to the top floor overlooking the street. We can say with confidence that this is the best Vietnamese food we have ever had. And it only cost about $25 a head including drinks. We then had a look around the Tax Centre which is like a department store sort of. Headed to Highlands Coffee for dessert then walked back to the Hotel. Slept soundly tonight. Hot, humid and light rain.

Friday the 11th of October

Slept in to about 7am and got up. Headed down to the dining room for a buffet breakfast then got ready to head off on a walking tour of HCMC as described in The Lonely Planet. It started off in a park near the big roundabout just south of Ben Thanh market. We then meandered over to the river area via some interesting side streets. It was getting pretty hot by 10am as we had a coffee in another Highlands shop. Continued the walk through the main CBD area which is a mix of ancient, old, new, rustic and modern design. Finished up at Notre Dame and decided we need lunch. Headed to a Pho 24 shop and had pho for lunch. Went back to our hotel for a rest and set off again in the late afternoon to go to The Majestic Hotel rooftop bar as we had been told it is good to see the sunset there. Unfortunately, it was pretty cloudy when we got there and the sun was not visible. By the time we were half way through our first drink, the skies opened to a tropical thunderstorm downpour. It came down unrelentingly for about 45 minutes The traffic just kept on going. Most motorcycle riders had plastic capes on which the pillions were holding over their heads. Some had capes over the front of the motorcycles that covered the headlight. It was our plan to eat at the Saigon Centre but it only had 2 restaurants and they didn't appeal - too western. So we did some shopping at the Saigon Square, bought a shirt and a bum bag and strolled back towards home until we found Pho Bo and pho and a chicken claypot for dinner. Once again it started pouring just as we were leaving and we had to stand under the awing for about 1/2 an hour waiting for it to stop. The traffic just kept on going. Even the people who live and eat on the footpath had to move to get out of the rain. Finally we sere able to get going again dodging storm- water waterfalls, puddles and motorcycles riding on the footpath back to the hotel. Hot, humid day.

Saturday 12th of October

Up early again to get in breakfast before Viet came to pick us up for our tour. He greeted us with a G'day mate. No worries, she'll be right. He is part of Saigon River Cruises and took us to the riverside where we boarded a speed boat for the trip to Mekong Delta. Saigon River is pretty dirty with lots of rubbish and water hyacinths floating past. We went along a man made canal which surprised us as it was much wider than even the Murray River to take a short cut without having to go the coast. There were river side shanty towns with sheds on sticks for houses. At first they looked abandoned but on closer inspection there was washing hanging out to dry. Lots of industry on the river banks. There were many heavily laden barges and river boats moving sand upriver, gravel down river and container boats. It took about 2 hours to get to Ben Tre Island. We got out and went to a honey farm and had morning tea. Then off to coconut candy farm in a row boat down a narrow canal. Coconuts are versatile. They provide drink, food, building material, fire fuel, fertilizer and other things too numerous to mention. Later we got into another boat like a small junk that took us to another island. We had a short pony ride and later ended up at a place where we were served a typical Vietnamese meal in our own personal pegoda. We had deep fried elephant ear fish and we were given lessons on how to roll rice paper with salad items which were then dipped in dipping sauce. We also had spring rolls, small Vietnamese pancakes and mushroom soup. It was delicious. Back on the put put boat to go to My Tho Tourist Boat Station. On to the bus to return to HCMC. It was a pretty ugly road via Tan An. The road was lined with ramshackle sheds and poorly maintained buildings for miles. The traffic was unbelievable in the sense that it it amazing more people aren't killed. Trucks, buses and cars and motorbikes all over the place. The road was in poor repair. It is shown as a major highway on the map but in places it is no better than a unmade road. Dropped in to the agent orange charitable workshop and picked up some resin items after being given the tour and shown how they make their wares. Back to the hotel for a quick rest. Anna went off to sort out money, tickets and taxi arrangements for tomorrow. We for dinner at Hoa Tuc Restaurant and once again a fantastic meal at a reasonable price. Back home to pack to the trip to Da Nang tomorrow. Warm and humid but no rain today.

Sunday 13th of October

Up early again to have breakfast then catch a taxi to Tan Son Nhat airport to fly to Danang. Arrived with plenty of time to spare. Vietnam Airlines flight was smooth but cloudy. Flew past some high mountains on the left as we approached Danang. Landed on time and our transfer tour driver Kip was ready and waiting for us. First stop was the Cham museum to look at some ancient sculptures and some history of the area. The youngest relic there was 500 years old! Next we looked at the Dragon Bridge then headed south to stop at China Beach. It is a Gold Coast type beach but hardly anyone was swimming there. A lot of new development going on between here and Hoi An. It will not be too long and it will be solid apartments and resorts along the coast. Next stop was at Marble Mountain, which is a group of 5 'mountains' which used to be mined for marble. There are a number of marble carving establishments next to one of them. This one has a number of pagodas and caves dedicated to Budha and Hindu (which pre-dated Buddhism). There is an elevator up to the top then paths and staircases lead to the attractions. One cave was particularly impressive with steps leading into a large cavern with flat tiled floor and a large shrine at one end. We exited via the stairs to be assaulted by a number of marble souvenir sellers. Our driver had parked in one of these seller's carpark and of course we felt obliged to buy off that on. Can't buy too much as it is very heavy. Left Marble Mountain and continued on our way towards Hoi An. In Hoi An, our driver stopped at a silk weaving factory. We got a lesson on how silk is manufactured from silk worms and we were shown spinning and weaving processes. Once again we were ushered to the souvenir shop before being allowed to leave. Finally arrived at Hoi An, found our room at the Vinh Hung Emerald Resort with a view over the Thu Bon River. It was pretty hot and humid. We strolled into the village and had lunch at a small restaurant / cafe. Great food. Back to the pool for a swim and read a book before heading back into town for tea. It was much busier now with night stalls in the street and most restaurants busy. After dinner crossed the bridge to old town and strolled around. It was very pretty with red and orange lanterns everywhere and some candles floating down the river. Headed home and slept well.

Monday 14th of October

Today is a rest day. No need to be up early. Took advantage of that. Had breakfast in the resort dining room. Lazed around for a while and intended to take a boat tour on the river but it was cancelled as the weather report was for heavy rain and wind. Walked into town and stopped at a tailor shop to get measured up for some jackets and shirts. Back to our room just as it started to rain. It kept on raining on and off but we were able to make it into a restaurant for lunch without getting too wet. Great food again - $7 (I think now I'll just comment if the food is not great). While we were there the wind and rain really picked up. We sat it out then headed back to the resort. We had booked a massage earlier and had a combined session with a masseur working on each of us. Very relaxing. Still raining so caught up on some reading in our room. Later on ventured out dodging the rain to have dinner in old town. We ate in a nice restaurant, but it lacked something. The other places we have eaten in has virtually been in the front room / yard of private houses. This one was more geared to the tourist trade and the food seemed a little westernised. While in the restaurant, the waitress mentioned that a typhoon was about to hit and we had better get back to our room. As we walked home, the wind suddenly sprung up. The small river between old town and An Hoi had broken its banks. We got home safely before the real wind started. We got a phone call from reception making sure we were safely in our room at about 10 pm. It was a wild an windy night...

Tuesday 15th of October

Woke to find that there had been quite a lot of damage to the gardens over night. The wind is still blowing. The river has burst its banks and risen to cover half of the resort grounds. Wireless internet in our room not working. Got dressed and headed down to the dining room for breakfast. Leaf litter all over the place. Some palm trees and bamboo plants blown over. The dining room was full. Nobody was allowed to leave the resort. Overheard conversations that the police had closed the roads. Some people were supposed to leave today to various destinations. All flights cancelled. After breakfast went up to reception where the wireless was still working and there is a public internet computer. Hopefully the worst of this will be over by lunchtime. Back to our room to catch up on some diary and do some reading... Had lunch at the resort. Afterwards decided to walk in to old town as the island area still badly flooded. We had to walk over the road bridge because the foot bridge was under water. Walked virtually the length of Hoi An an then decided to cross the bridge to Can Nam island. They were still cleaning up after the typhoon there too. For the entire length of this walk we were dodging trees, power lines, piles of rubbish, mud, deep puddles and of course the motorcycles! Turned around after 1km or so onto Can Nam and made our way back. Crossed back onto our island and most businesses closed as still no power in our part of town. Brad suffering blisters between toes from walking 5 or so km in thongs and concerned about infection after walking through flood waters. Returned to our room to regroup and rest. Ventured forth again for a late meal. We had to go to old town again as no restaurants open on the island. The river is even higher now - due to high tide according to the locals. Managed to negotiate higher land and kept feet dry. Found a place to eat which was very busy due to not all places available for business yet. After dinner, strolled as far as we could but it seems that the water is rising even further. Headed back home. The higher ground now under water. Had to take shoes off and walk in bare feet through knee deep water. Made it home then relaxed before going off to bed.

Wednesday the 6th of October

Woke to sunshine! No wind! Breakfast at the resort then arranged to get some more laundry done and hire bicycles from the same place (20,000 VND). Went for a ride all the way to Cua Dai on the coast. Passed the hotel where Nick McArthur stayed when he was here last year. Paid to park our bikes and had a look at the beach. Lots of damage. You could see where the ocean had been washing up and over the beach onto the road and into hotel areas. The entire route we had taken was like an ants nest of people working - chopping up fallen trees, sweeping water out of shops and houses, working on power lines. The army was coming through with trucks to pick up the rubbish an there were hoses washing the mud off everything. Had a coffee on the beach before looking around the Cua Dai area. Took a turn onto a side road which then became a narrow path wining through the back blocks. Heavily occupied areas. The houses are small and they are nothing to look at from the outside, but we could see in and they were neat, tidy and sparsely furnished. Lots of houses had chooks roaming around the yard. Made our way back to Hoi An and were surprised how much cleaning up had been done in the last couple of hours. The river seems to have subsided a little. We picked up our tailor made jackets and shirt and are very happy with the quality,. Very few restaurants open on the island but found one on the river front to have lunch. The mud had been hosed away and the fallen trees and palms cleared up. Another delightful meal. We've decided that the food on our island is better than the food in the old part of town which is more westernised. We went back to the resort for a swim and headed off for another ride around the island seeing parts that had been inaccessible during the flooded times. Back to the hotel for another swim but only had a short one as it started to rain. Sat under cover at the outside bar and passed time speaking with the bartender as the sun went down. Once again ventured our for dinner on the island, deliberately picking a part of town that had been closed down during the flood to help them out getting back into business. Back to the resort and checked our bags for the trip to Hanoi tomorrow. Very warm and humid today. Got a little sun burnt despite wearing sun screen.

Thursday 17th of October

Didn't sleep all that well last night and the boats that have been missing from the river for the last couple of days started around 5:30 am with their putt putt engines. Overcast but very humid and warm. Breakfast at the resort restaurant. Got a driver and car provided to take us to the airport in Danang. Quite a lot of storm damage apparent on the way to and in Danang on the beach front. The ocean flooded over the beach and road into residential areas. Took off from Danang on time. A bumpy flight in cloud almost the entire trip to Hanoi. Raining and 22 degrees on arrival. Found a yellow shirted taxi driver who set up a fixed price of 350,000 VND ($18 US) to our hotel - Golden Silk. Very chic looking french style hotel. Had to wait while our room was made available so had lunch in the bar. Great pho and fresh spring roles and not too expensive. Checked in to our room and later took a walk around one half of the lake then a part of the Hanoi walking tour. Starting to get tired so returned to the hotel to freshen up. Went looking for a food street and found a laneway with a number of authentic local street type cafes. We had pho, spring roles and wonton soup. First impressions of Hanoi - the drive from the airport is crazy. The city itself is a little more sophisticated than HCMC. It has a greater proportion of cars vs motorcycles on the road but the traffic is still crazy.

Friday 18th October 2013

Slept in today. Had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel restaurant. Returned to our room. Brad starting to feel a bit off. Had a slight fever last night and feeling very fatigued today. Took a stroll along the other side of the lake. Explored a couple of upmarket shopping plazas but Brad struggling now. Sat down in a cafe and passed a couple of hours sipping drinks and Anna had lunch. Later on visited the Vietnamese History Museum and walked through the French quarter. Streets are wider here and you can actually walk along the footpath instead of it being taken up entirely by parked motorcycles or food stalls. Had a light dinner at the Hotel dining room before being picked up for the trip to the train station. On arrival it was fairly chaotic. The station is pretty run down. There was supposed to be a representative from Indochina Travel waiting for us but there was no-one there. A man approached Anna and asked to look at our tickets. He spoke no English and kept saying something we couldn't understand. He then snatched the tickets from Anna's hand and took off. He left an ID card with us but we had no idea where he had gone or what he was doing. We were thinking we had been done. He later turned up with our tickets now with vouchers attached and demanded 200,000 VND for them. We protested this and ended up giving him 100,000 VND to leave us alone. We were later ushered on to the train. The Southern Aurora it is not. Basic and not that clean. Old Russian sleeping carriage. Got moving on time and when we turned out the lights we were rocked off to sleep.

Saturday 19th of October

Woke to a knock on our compartment door at 5:20 am, just before arriving at Lao Cai. We had both slept more than we expected. It was still dark when we got off the train and we were met by our driver to go to Sapa. Lao Cai is a fairly big town, but nothing much to look at. Out of town we started seeing rice paddies and the road started the climb up the mountains. It was misty in patches, but we got some glimpses of steep terraced mountain sides and lush green growth. Our driver was like every other Vietnamese driver we've had - polite, quiet, but takes suicidal risks when overtaking on blind corners and approaching crests. It pays not to look out the front windscreen during these manoeuvres. The mist was turning to full on fog and visibility was low. Arrived in Sapa and once again the streets are very narrow with motorcycles, buses and trucks all tooting each other. Arrived at the hotel (Bamboo Sapa) at 6:30 am to be told our room would not be available until 2:00 pm. Many hours to kill so we checked in our luggage and started exploring. The town's streets are lined with hotels, restaurants, cafes, hiking gear shops, massage shops and souvenir shops. The M'hong people are one of the local hill tribes and a number of ladies dressed in colours were waiting for us to sell their wares. They are very insistent. The conversation starts with, "Where you from? How old are you? What?s your name?" Then comes the hard sell. They are very insistent an won't take no for an answer. They will follow you for a couple of hundred metres asking why you won't buy from them. One lady was particularly insistent an we finally relented to go to her 'store' as she called it. She had her basket there and started showing us her stuff when an official came over and attempted to stop the lady showing us her wares. He was manhandling her and taking her stock. We don't know if he was a policeman or some other official but he had a red and yellow arm band on. A number of other ladies joined in the fracas hitting the man on the head with bags. We made a strategic withdrawal and went back to our hotel. The weather was cool and there was misty rain so we sat it out for a while before venturing out again. Guess what? There was that lady again waiting outside to sell her wares to us. She wasn't going to let us get away without making a sale. We later found a restaurant offering cooking classes so we thought that might be a nice distraction while the weather was poor. That was a very good decision. The Sapa Boutique Hotel was a lovely establishment. We had a cooking lesson by the chef - Son. His wife ran the reception desk and was beautiful. We were then given a piano recital by there 5 year old son. After a great lunch we went back to our hotel and checked in to our room at last. We were pretty tired by now so had a shower and a snooze. Our room apparently looks out over a magnificent valley, but we are in the clouds today and can?t see it. Had a drink in a minority bar, then dinner at a nearby restaurant. Very cheap but good.

Sunday 20th of October 2013

Slept well. Room large but fairly basic. Huge bed. Breakfast and shower before being picked up by our Indochina tour guide Kien and our driver Mitatik. Drove through the fog for about 3km into the valley. When fog cleared we got some views of terraced hillsides and village houses. This is what we came here to see. Got out of our vehicle and started our foot journey through different villages made up of different minority groups. They can be identified by their clothing and womens' hair styles. The first area was a more primitive tribe with basic huts of lower standard. All are surrounded with saturated ground of the rice paddies. Pigs, chickens, ducks and water buffalo roam around freely. Surprisingly there are a number of dogs around too. Our guide told us that they do eat dogs here. We stopped at a house and saw a water hammer to husk rice, a hand operated spinning wheel operated by foot and hand to spin hemp into thread, and a loom to make material. The material produced is dyed with indigo. The women make beautiful garments from the material. We continued on to a minority group souvenir shop. Many fine carvings of stone and wood, jewellery, paintings and small trinkets. We had morning tea here - Sapa tea made of flowers. We continued on a narrow road for a while before turning off onto a narrow footpath through another farming area. Each family owns about 1 hectare of land. They grow rice, corn, and vegetables and they might have a buffalo each. The next village was a different minority group and their houses were of a higher standard and a bit cleaner, but the basic set up was the same. We stopped for a picnic lunch at a table overlooking the valley. Baguettes with ham, cheese, salad and a boiled egg, with bananas, odd looking mandarins and a sweet milk drink. We were to continue after lunch through a rice paddy and up the hill to a waterfall but the ground was very wet and slippery. Our guide decided to take us back on an easier route near the river. We could hear music coming from a house and on closer inspection we saw a number of people preparing chickens and other meats on the veranda. Our guide told us they were preparing for a wedding and seemed to be very excited about this. He led us into the house and we met a number of men chopping up pigs and chickens and other unidentifiable pieces of meat. The kitchen area was full of people cooking in big pots and giant woks. Back on the veranda there was a flat screen tv with a video slide show of the couple who were getting married. We were invited by the family to stay for tea , which we did. They gave us sweet rice cakes to eat. It was a fascinating experience and they were happy for us to be there as complete strangers. Later today the whole village will start to arrive for 2 days worth of feasting and celebration with lots of rice wine to be consumed apparently. After thanking our hosts we continued upstream towards a narrow suspension motorcycle bridge over the river where we were met by our driver for the drive back up into the clouds at Sapa. We did our last walk around town and discovered an alcove off the market lane with material for sale, and another place that made a trouser belt while we waited. We we picked up at 5:30 pm by Mitatik to take us back to Lao Cai for the train back to Hanoi. It was past dusk as we headed down the mountain and Mitatik pointed out some lights in the distance and said "China". He didn't speak much English so it was nice for him to do that. At least we can now say we?ve seen China! Once again a bit of a hassle getting our train ticket from our voucher. The person we spoke to didn't get much response from us after our experience in Hanoi. He made a phone call and our guide from earlier today Kien arrived and sorted things out. The train and left exactly on time at 7:30 pm. This carriage a little more modern than the one the other day, but still fairly primitive with squat toilet. We are due in Hanoi at around 4 am. Can't wait...

Monday 21st October

Well, that wasn't much fun. Our cabin was the last in the last carriage near the toilet and over the wheel bogie so we had doors banging and the suspension rattles, groans, creaks and vibrations and noticeably rockier ride than on the way up. Neither of us got more than about an hour's sleep at most. Arrived at Hanoi station at 4:20 am. We were picked up by a driver and taken back to the Golden Silk. There was not a room available for us. We waited around the lobby to around 6:30 then walked to a cafe near Lake Kiem at sunrise for baguettes and toasted ham and cheese for breakfast. We had a look at the map and decided to head towards the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum. The weather today was perfect, if a little overcast and smoggy. Our route took us past a number of embassies. Ho Cho Minh's memorial is set in a large garden area. Watched the changing of the guard (happens every 20 minutes). We then paid our admission to see Uncle Ho's office, house, car garage, house on stilts and his fish pond. The people here revere him. Took a different route home (of course) and got back to the hotel at 10:45 am to find there was a smaller room available so we took it. Had a shower and a rest before heading off to the water puppets show. It was quite entertaining but people taking photographs during the show was a bit distracting. Afterwards headed up the Highlands coffee shop on the 3rd floor balcony and had an entertaining afternoon watching a number of near misses and soft touches between motorycles, cars, buses, cyclos, pedestrians and bicycles negotiating the roundabout and 5 way intersection below. Back to the hotel to prepare our bags for tomorrow's trip to Halong Bay. Had tea at Thai Express as recommended by Nick.

Tuesday 22nd October

Breakfast at the hotel then picked up by a minibus at 8:00 am. Picked up two other couples before heading off towards Halong Bay. Interesting drive to get to the main highway and "freeway" for a short distance before heading off to the main road. There are markings on the roads here, but they needn't bother. Nobody takes any notice at all. Around the half way mark we stopped at a tourist trap for a rest and toilet stop. The last 40 km or so were road works so it was bumpy and slow. Finally arrived in Ha Long Bay at about midday. We were loaded onto a tender boat after a short wait and taken to our boat which has 3 decks, 2 for accommodation and one for the lounge and dining room. There is an additional sun deck on the roof with lounges and chairs and tables. Our room was well appointed and very comfy, Had lunch cruising north passing fantastic scenery. A bit misty / overcast obscuring some features, but as we got further north, the closer we got to the kastes and could see more detail. Stopped at Ti Top island and climbed to the top for a 360 degree view. Sweating now. Back down the steps for a paddle at the beach before re-boarding the boat. A short cruise later we stopped to look at the floating village. 620 people live here. We were rowed around the village in a bamboo boat. They catch and farm fish for a living. Back on board for a rest before dinner, then had a go at squid fishing. No bites. Buffet dinner.

Wednesday 23rd October

Woke up with the sun shining in our cabin at 6:00 am. Beautiful sunny day lighting up the scenery. Magnificent views of other tour boats and the kastes. Had a coffee and watched the Tai Chi session on the sun deck. Cruised to the island where Surprise Cave is. Disembarked and climbed the steps to the cave entrance along with a couple of hundred other people. The caves are good but are showing signs of wear by the sheer numbers of people going through. The stalactites and stalactites are dry so no longer grow. Back to the boat to pack and then to the dining room for a full buffet breakfast. The cruise south was stunning with perfect sunny weather. Got back to the dock all too soon and at midday i it was back on the bus for the not very picturesque drive back to Hanoi. In our hotel room now typing this and sorting out the luggage for the trip back to Australia tomorrow. We will have our final genuine Vietnamese meal tonight. Hanoi is overcast and very smoggy again. It is a crazy place but we have enjoyed the experience.