Northern Vietnam

We've been in Vietnam around 10 days now and we're still not sure what to make of it. Things seem to be improving, but overall we've been a bit disappointed with the country so far. In comparison to China, the sights are similar, the food is tasteless, it's noisier, less safe and you have to haggle for everything you want to buy, right down to a bottle of water. I know you have to expect those kind of annoyances in South East Asia, but I was kind of expecting something amazing which would compensate for that, and so far we haven't found it. Don't let this put you off going to Vietnam though; Mikko and I are definitely a minority, every other person we meet on our travels is loving Vietnam!



After Sapa, we made our way to the capital, Hanoi. Aside from the hostel, with its rooftop terrace and free beer, I don't think we liked anything about Hanoi. The worst part for me was the traffic; it's noisy and it's incessant, you take your life into your hands every time you have to cross a road (which is a lot, because most of the pavements are blocked!. You're so busy clutching your valuables and hopping out of the way of motorbikes and ignoring all the hawkers yelling "BUY SOMETHING!" that you have no time to absorb the atmosphere around you. We stayed in Hanoi just long enough to recover from the bad nights' sleep we had on the way in, and to book a 3-day tour out of there, to Halong Bay.

Halong Bay was nice! (Yes, honestly, in spite of my whining, it's not all bad!) We were picked up early in the morning and transported to the bay where there were literally hundreds of boats and thousands of tourists waiting to board them. We got one of the nicer boats, I think. We set off into the bay where there were hundreds of the karst rocks (the same type we saw in Guilin and Yangshuo back in China) rising almost vertically upwards from the sea.



It was beautiful, and very relaxing to be on the boat and away from the madness of the city. In the afternoon we went swimming for a bit (the sea was clean and warm!) and then went kayaking for a couple of hours. You could paddle through some of the caves which was fun as there were some pretty strong currents in there. The night was spent partying and sleeping on the boat.



The next morning we split into two groups (kayakers and rock climbers) and I went off to do more kayaking while Mikko went to learn to climb.



In the afternoon, after I'd had enough, I went to watch the climbers. Mikko did a great job. He sailed up the easier climb with no problem. He didn't quite make it up the harder one, but then nobody else managed it either. Maybe they deliberately make it that way so you don't get over-confident and go off climbing by yourself ;-)



We spent that night on Cat Ba island but unfortunately the tour didn't give you any time to explore there. We had another delicious meal of both local food and pizza, and the following day went back to Hanoi. I still didn't like it!!

From Hanoi we caught a luxurious overnight train down to Hoi An, where we've spent the last two days. It's been pretty rainy again and the river through town has burst its banks. The restaurant I'd set my heart on is somewhere under the water.



Hoi An is a much smaller town, and thankfully much calmer. It's main claim to fame is its shops; shop after shop selling tailor-made suits and dresses and all at a snip of the price you'd pay back home. I was quite restrained and just bought one summer dress, for 15 US dollars, very nice!



Tonight we're moving on again. We finally get to go to the beach!!! Mikko is hoping to do a diving course there but that scares the hell out of me I will settle for a few easy days on the beach, sipping cocktails and reading a good book. I can hardly wait!