Halong Bay

Arriving in Halong City you pass a big advertising board with the words ‘vote Halong Bay as one of the new Seven Wonders of the World.’ Alongside the Temples of Angkor, Halong Bay is arguably South East Asia’s premier tourist attraction. Approximately 1,553 square kilometres in size, the bay has 1969 islets that stand dramatically out of the water. It used to be a mountain rage but has since been submerged under water, leaving only the tallest peeks dry.

On the basis of a recommendation and good write ups on the internet I went with Vega Travel. It was not the cheapest, but certainly not the most expensive tour available. After one of the ships sinking in February killing twelve people, it seemed a good idea to play it safe. That said I was later told that a thorough review has taken place on all the boats, with thirteen per cent being removed for being unsafe!



At eight am I jumped into the minibus with nine other people and made the four hour trip to Halong City. Australians, Americans, Israelis and a couple of token Faroe Islanders made for great company over the two days. We arrived and were taken on a shuttle boat out to our ‘junk’. The boats are modeled on the Chinese Junks originating from 206BC! Fortunately these are a little bit newer. It had three floors. On the bottom were the rooms, all with air conditioning, the third time I’ve had this joy on my trip! The second floor was the dining and bar area, whilst the top was reserved for sun loungers. Ten or so minutes of settling in we were served a great lunch and then went up top to enjoy the scenery.



Sailing amongst the cast formations, gave a very unworldly feel. Coupled with the fog that hung over the bay, it was easy to imagine that we were explorers entering an undiscovered land. Planet of the Apes sprung to mind. After a few hours, chatting and enjoying the view we stopped off at a cave. I didn’t have huge hopes but it actually turned out to be rather wonderful. The caverns were huge, the rock formations superb. Our guide did the world wide trend of look that rock looks like… and we nodded or shook are heads. It was a really good half an hour or so exploring the three chambers.

After boarding the boat again it was time to do some kayaking. Looking around I wasn’t too enthusiastic. Every man and his dog was in the water paddling about. But our captain had other ideas. He took us away from the cave to another one twenty or so minutes away. There we had the ocean to ourselves. I teamed up with Peter and we paddled through the gap in one of the islets and ended up in a spectacular lagoon, enclosed by the surrounding cliffs. There are few more idyllic places I have visited. It was momentarily ruined when a Vietnames tourist paddle boat found us. “Where are you from?” shouted the tour guide with the help of a megaphone. We were laying in the water at this point, our feet on the kayack, laying back in the water, enjoying the buoyancy of the lifejackets. “Australia” came the reply over the other side of the lagoon. Cue lots of camera flashes as the Australian couple regretted their decision to answer the question. They soon departed and we were left with the area to ourselves. After a struggle to get back into the kayak we paddled out and around to some of the other islets. Two hours passed in a flash and we found ourselves in the middle of a shipping lane with gigantic tankers and increasingly choppy waters. With the light fading we headed back. After lunch we enjoyed a few beers under the moon light and a ship with an incredible number of fairy lights. I’m still confused as to who they were trying to impress.

The following day we sailed back to port and returned to Hanoi. I was concerned after Ninh Binh whether I’d opened my Christmas presents early and would be disappointed by Halong Bay. Thankfully I wasn’t. Is it better than Ninh Binh, I’m still not sure, but it’s certainly unique and a wonderful experience, sailing for two days onboard a luxury boat for bargain prices.

Ninh Binh

On my previous post I wrote about how despite enjoying Vietnam a lot, it has not had the same level of wow factors as other countries have given me. That was to change in Ninh Binh.

The overnight bus to Ninh Binh was a bit of a shocker as I came down with a cold, further agitated from arriving at my destination at five in the morning. I got off the bus with one other person, everyone else carried onto Hanoi. We were greeted by a lone lady, advertising her guesthouse. With no map of Ninh Binh or anyway of finding out where I was I agreed to check out her place. Open for just ten days, it was to make Ninh Binh even more special, with family meals, more advice then I could handle, and all in all a wonderful atmosphere to the place.

I spent the first day watching films and attempting to beat the cold that was trying desperately to put a hold on my trip to Vietnam. I ventured out a couple of times to eat food. Ninh Binh has no tourist infrastructure (outside of three guesthouses) so ordering food was an enjoyable mystery of pointing at a word on the board and seeing what would arrive. Of course it’s not quite as random as in other places of the world as you can pretty much guarantee whatever you order will either be rice, noodles or soup.



The second day I got on a bicycle and cycled out to Trang An. I was informed that Tom Coc had been invaded by tourist groups from Hanoi and as a result was now a hive for hawkers and general hassle. Trang An was supposed to be a more relaxing place to enjoy the spectacular scenery. My guest house owners were of course correct. It was splendid. The reaction I had when I first set eyes on the limestone peeks that emerge from the rice fields was to quite literally slam on the breaks on my bike and look in amazement. The nine kilometer lake that weaves its way through twelve caves just capped it all off. I joined a young family on a boat for the three hour trip. It was breathtaking and a real wow moment on my trip. Not just in terms of the scenery though, watching some of the women rowers, rowing with their feet was one of the stranger skills I have witnessed.

After three hours sat on a wooden seat I was ready to hit shore. My pain however was healed slightly by the last ten or so minutes as we entered the home straight along with another three boats. Two of them were in the process of a macho Vietnamese exchange, seemingly racing to the finish post. The other boat was filled with the women who burst into local songs. Before I knew it everyone was singing. I could join in with the Vietnam chorus on one of the songs but other than that I was left to clap along. The songs just added to the majestic beauty of the place.



From Trang An I cycled to Hoa Lu. An old capital of Vietnam there is not a lot left. I went to one temple which was unremarkable but did have five hundred steps to climb to a view point at the top of one of the limestone peeks. Unfortunately the view was a little blocked by trees. Instead I veered off the path and opted to climb on up to the higher of the two. It was a bit of a climb, but well worth it when I finally got an unobstructed panoramic view of all the different peeks. Climbing back down was a little trickier with the continuous concern of not wanting to fall as the rocks are stupidly sharp.



The following day I headed south and went to another viewpoint. Again the climb was well worth it and the view beautiful. Although Ninh Binh is off the Western tourist radar it is not to the Vietnamese tourists. One of the reasons they come is for a pagoda, which I currently cannot remember or find the name of. From a non Buddhist perspective it wasn’t particularly interesting however being surrounded by hordes of Vietnamese tourists was highly entertaining as many handed me food and wanted to practice their English.

I loved my three days in Ninh Binh, it is quite simply criminal that it is not visited by more people. It’s by far the stand out of my time so far in Vietnam. The scenery is unique, and awe inspiring. In Laos I came across a couple of places off the tourist radar, Kong Lor Cave and Tat Lo waterfall for example and it is kind of understandable as they are a bit out of the way. However Ninh Binh is slap bang on the route to Hanoi. How a gem like this can exist in such a well trodden country as Vietnam is anyone’s guess. One thing is for sure, it should be on every persons itinerary. It’s incredible.

Hue

I was thinking about the shortness of some of my posts on Vietnam. So far it is up there with Laos as my favourite place in South East Asia and yet I’ve not written to the length of other places. I can think of a number of reasons for it but eventually settled on the fact that the so called ‘escalator’ approach to tourism means that it is harder to have those sporadic experiences that I have had in other countries. It was with this in mind that I headed to Hue and as it would happen, doing things a little bit different brought their rewards as I managed to become the definition of the worst Wedding guest of all time and amazingly not offend anyone!


It all started on the second day. Hue has a number of tombs spread around the countryside. They’re large affairs with some lovely buildings, sweeping lakes and an interesting history to match. It’s a very Asian affair. Most people either hire a boat or join a boat tour down the so called perfume river. I felt the tours all seemed a bit rushed so decided to rent a bicycle and do it myself. I set off around nine o’clock, where I was quickly joined by a mother on her scooter who insisted on crawling along with me for a chat. Unfortunately after a while she left me and I got lost. My main downfall was not the map I was using but rather signposts. Vietnam does not do sign posts to tourist attractions. But here they did. They were useless and after cycling up and down a hill too many times I was about to give up. It was then that I bumped into David from the Czech Republic who was the exact replica of me in terms of sweat and tiredness. Oh and he was also lost and had been for longer than me! The one saving grace was that we had stopped next to a path that led to a rather spectacular view over the river and mountains in the distance.
We retreated back down the hill where if luck would have it a couple on a scooter pulled up and pointed us in the correct direction. Tu Doc tomb was nice enough, a little gothic with plenty of ‘modest’ Asian architecture. Its size is what was most striking, when I think of a tomb I think of a bit of stone in the ground. With various buildings there were houses, temples, ritual areas, and rather wonderfully a small island that the owner used to keep elephants and tigers on for hunting. The island was tiny, a bit unfair I felt.



Leaving the tomb behind us we headed on up the road. It was there that we came across a wedding party. Pausing to look from a distance we were very quickly accosted and sat at the front table as party guests took it in turns to try their hand at karaoke. They fed us, and in true Asian style poured and poured beer into our glasses. Just like at the ‘rocket festival planning session’ in Laos, you don’t sip it, when someone chinks your glass, you down it with them. This is no good at midday. Now Vietnamese people get a very bad rep from travelers. “Vietnam is lovely” so many proclaim but then they add “except for the people.” So far I have found exactly the opposite (and touch wood this continues) and there can be no greater advertisement for this then that hour spent with a hundred or so Vietnamese guests. David and I sat there, coated in sweat, out of breath, dirty, in t-shirts and shorts and they couldn’t have been more kind. Everyone was smiling and waving, so many came up to speak to us and toast their drinks. The wife and groom had their photos taken with us on their request and we appeared on the official wedding video. As we made our excuses the wife’s sister translated for her parents who apparently couldn’t be happier that we had come and spent some time with them. It was a wonderful cultural exchange.

From there we carried on through stunning countryside, up way to many hills before reaching Ming Mang. It is the better of the tombs in my book being a bit grander, but by this point I was really feeling the heat so didn’t get as much out of it as I would have liked. Another hour or so back and I collapsed in a heap. Seven or so hours on the bike, it supports what I have said before that cycling or motor biking is such a great way to get out and see these countries.

Outside of the tombs, Hue has a citadel, which if I must be perfectly honest was a little disappointing. It was of course at a huge disadvantage as the citadels of Bundi, Jodhpur and Jaisalmer are just everything that you would imagine of a fortress. So one hidden within the city didn’t have the same romanticism for me. It was nice enough for an hour but was nothing to write home about.

I enjoyed Hue as I have enjoyed everywhere in Vietnam so far. Next up twelve hours on a bus and Ninh Binh.

Hoi An

Nobody dislikes Hoi An, so it was with slight trepidation that I got off the bus and booked myself into a three night stay. I’ve not had the best record of going to places which everyone loves.

Hoi An was an international trading port dating back to the seventeenth century. A World Heritage Site, it’s loosely the same as it was hundred and fifty years ago. The old town is awash with colourful quaint buildings, narrow lanes and plenty of atmosphere. A river runs through the heart of the old town, taking boats out to the ocean. It’s a strange place because on the one hand it has admirably staved off touristic development and kept everything, as much as possible, as it once was. That said however, being one of the most popular stops in Vietnam, has meant that every single building in the old town has something to sell to the tourist. From a distance the living museum lives on, close up, you need a bit more of an imagination. For four or so dollars you can get an all inclusive ticket to five attractions. Some of the temples are nice, the museums however looked awful, and the Japanese Covered Bridge is all a bit uninspiring. All in all I had mixed feelings about my investment!



On the second day I took a bicycle out to An Bang beach. The beach itself is picturesque, very under developed. Unfortunately the clouds rolled in, thunder roared and my Asian beach was turned into a Scottish beach in winter. The swimming shorts were put to waste as the waves rolled in and everything was a little bleak. On a nice sunny day I guess it would be great!



I was up at five in the morning on my final day and heading to the World Heritage Site of My Son. Older than the temples of Angkor it dates back to the fourth century. Being there so early meant that other than a few other people on my mini bus there was no one else around the ruins. As for the remains themselves well there were none that made me go wow in amazement but the setting in amongst the trees with mountains as their backdrop was beautiful. Come the evening I bumped into a couple from the tour, Jason and Sally. I mention this firstly because my total cost for a night out in Hoi An was one dollar. I kid you not, beer comes in at 4,000 dong or fifteen pence. I also mention it because one of the things I enjoy most about traveling is meeting people from different nations and occupations. Well Jason had been a professional boxer before encountering an injury! Obviously as a sports fanatic that interested me greatly!



Hoi An was rather nice. It’s the sort of place that people of any age would enjoy. I left it for a short four or so hour trip to Hue. My bus was a sleeper bus, which was strange considering I was traveling during the day. No way was I going to question it though because it meant I could enjoy the stunning views whilst lying horizontal! Not long after we started we pulled into a car park and was told the bus was stopping for a half an hour. Climbing out I realised that we had stopped at the Marble Mountains. Normally I would be one of the many who mull around the bus, a little hesitant to venture further afield in case it leaves. The sight of caves to explore though had me waving goodbye to the bag and sprinting around as much as I could see in the time. I loved every second of it. The caves were huge and contained lots of Buddhist and Hindu statues, either lit up by the tasteful colourful lights or the more dubious fairy lights. No matter it was just superb there and for anyone reading this who will be traveling on a bus to Hue, get on one that stops at the marble mountains it is wonderful. For the rest of the journey I couldn’t help but remember Darren's words who I had met previously in Laos. A guy from Newcastle he makes a living out of singing cover songs in the voice of Tom Waits. He had described Vietnam to me as ‘outstandingly beautiful.’ he’s not wrong.

Nah Trang

Five star resorts for the rich and famous, and plenty of cheapies for the rest of us. Nah Trang was not the day light robbery that I had expected. I also didn’t expect to say that the development has been tastefully done. The hotels are all away from the beach and built not to the exclusion of local life. All in all it’s quite nice in Nah Trang.

You come to Nah Trang for the beach and it’s a good beach. Clean and sandy it fulfilled my criteria. The warm waters with no jellyfish in sight capped it all off. In the distance several islands and mountain peeks create a rather dramatic view to look at when peering up from my book. Low season I guess helped with the peace and quiet as there were less hawkers. In the evening there was a good variety of bars on offer, which made for an enjoyable few beers.

As much as I enjoyed it I only stayed for one night. I’ve realised that my longetivity at a beach is very much dependant on accommodation i.e. beach huts! It’s never quite the same waking up in the morning and having to cross several roads before reaching the beach. I’m a purist. I want to open my door, walk down three steps maximum before putting my feet on the sand. I guess I’ll probably be waiting for Indonesia for a chance of that happening again!

Dalat

“You’ve here for how long?” I asked surprised.

“Ten days. I’m leaving in a couple of days.” replied the Swiss national.

Why had he been in Dalat so long? Well it’s too hot at sea level so he had decided that he would make his home one thousand five hundred meters up instead. This is sort of rational thinking except that I couldn’t help but feel he might have exhausted the available sites by now. Dalat is a more acceptable climate than the steaming Vietnamese plains but there isn’t a huge amount to do. The old French hill station doesn’t offer an awful lot. The best parts are reserved in the surrounding countryside and there is no shortage in men on bikes wanting to take you to see them.

These men differ from the normal moto drivers. After the Vietnam war, a number of Southern veterans teamed together and set up a motocycle club called ‘the easy riders’. Wearing blue jackets they see themselves not as a mere vehicle around the area but as experienced guides taking you to places you would not possibly find without the help of them. I met Lan in a café and agreed on a day tour with him. He spoke impeccable English having received a degree in tourism and had been touring around the local countryside and indeed further afield for the past ten years.

The bike was considerably bigger than I had been on before, which provided the initial problem of just how I was supposed to climb onto the back. Successful, helmet on (a rarity in Asia) we drove out of the town and into the mountains. As Lan took care of the driving I had plenty of time to enjoy the surrounding scenery as the cold wind blew onto my face. It was all rather beautiful as farmers tended their crops and local villages and minority groups went about their everyday lives.



Over the course of the day Lan crammed plenty in. We visited a silk factory, a flower farm, a coffee plantation (Vietnamese coffee is the best I have ever had…Fact!), a tea plantation, a number of pagodas, statues, view points and finally a waterfall before breaking for lunch. After a set meal that easily defeated my appetite, and a glass of rice wine, flavoured with dead snakes and geckos, we were back on the road again taking in a rice wine factory and the so called crazy house, which whilst crazy fell slightly short of my expectations. All in all it was a great way to get out and see the surrounding area. It is becoming increasingly popular to go further afield and join your guide for many days across the highlands. Personally whilst tempting, I do think that the price is whilst great for what you get for a day tour, steep to say the least for longer!

Through bad/wonderful planning I couldn’t get a bus directly to Hoi An without going on an epic trip via Vietnams premier beach resort, Nah Trang. With that in mind I planned an unexpected day stop back in the sauna, at the beach.

Mui Ne

Mui Ne, the good, the bad and the ugly.

Let’s get the latter out of the way first. Mui Ne has sold out to tourism on a big scale. With around ten kilometers of resorts lining the water’s edge it was never going to win my heart in the way it does for some. The one saving grace is that Mui Ne town seems to carry on quite happily in isolation to the terribly overdeveloped tourist strip. Look at maps of Mui Ne and they show sand stretching all along the coast. In reality most of the resorts back onto a concrete flood barrier. I could make out the beach in the distance, but considering just how far the area stretches, it was going to take quite an effort to get to those few meters of white sand.

The ugly was not a surprise, I was well prepared for the tourist development. The bad however was less expected and in many ways contradicts my general hopes for each place I visit. I thought when I was in Saigon that there were not a lot of tourists. Well in Mui Ne, there didn’t seem to be anyone at all! Due to the extent of the development, any travelers there were seemed to be occupying a resort or guest house to themselves, which created a very isolated and largely ghost town feel to the place. Low numbers is not a problem at all in my book, it normally creates a nice community atmosphere, however dare I say it, Mui Ne is the exception to the rule. It needs people! There is a chance they may have been up the other end of the strip, but that might as well be another town! I was apparently staying opposite Mui Ne's most happening bar 2010/11, when I was there it seemed to be just me and the tumbleweed.

Now for the good, and it is a very good, good. Mui Ne has some rather wonderful sand dunes. I thought the ones I saw in Jaisalmer were great, but here, well blind fold me, gag me, then when releasing me tell me I was in the Sahara Desert and I’d believe it. Traipsing up and down the dunes, admiring the view out to the ocean, made the journey to Mui Ne worthwhile.

That was my snapshot on Mui Ne. I didn’t stay long, the absence of people and the overdevelopment was depressing. Still it is a must see in terms of those rather wonderful sand dunes.