Hanoi & Ha Long Bay, Vietnam 2020.

Edited by: E.Gray Editing

Travelling is difficult on the body, often you leave at odd hours and arrive at even odder hours. We prefer to travel on night flights, this allows us to sleep on the plane, find accomodations easier (as you arrive during the day), and makes adjusting to the time difference easier. So after we travelled 31 hours with one layover in Hong Kong, we arrived at lunch time in Hanoi, Vietnam on January 4, 2020. Were we well-rested? Well… as well-rested as you can be after sleeping on a plane.

One of the first things we did was find WIFI, so we could look up Uber/Grab prices, this enabled us to negotiate cab fares. We also purchased SIM cards for our phones ( approx. $20 CAD for both) and a data package (which allowed us to use Uber, Grab and WhatsApp), this included call and text. Most things are negotiable in Vietnam, cab fare, market stalls, accommodations, scooter rentals etc, however if you go to a supermarket, chain store, restaurants, rental place or chain hotels these prices are fixed.

Something that stood out about Vietnam was the people, they were all very friendly, welcoming and always smiling. Often they would come up to us in the park or on the street and start talking English with us. They would use GoogleTranslate for any words they didn’t know.

Hanoi is a busy, loud, smelly city. We spent a total of four days there. Our first night was at Republic Backpackers Hostel, a semi private room (a bed with shared bathroom) which cost $6.00 CAD. We only booked one night because we wanted to see the location and vibe of this hostel. It was not the cleanest hostel, but the location was good.

We met friends from back home, Paul and Rhonda, during our first night in Hanoi. We walked the streets, saw the night markets stopping for dinner and drinks at a local restaurant. Being ambitious about being on vacation, and in a warmer country, I decided to wear flip flops. This was a mistake; the roads and sidewalks were uneven, and there always seemed to be water running down the side of the road. Wet, uneven roads and flip flops just don’t mix well.

Later we moved to Little Charm Hanoi Hostel, where we stayed in a dorm room, ($8.90 CAD for two beds for two nights). This hostel was A LOT cleaner, friendlier, closer to the city centre and had a pool. We walked the French Quarter, which is known for its elegant Colonial buildings that have been turned into government buildings and museums. It has 36 streets and brings the feeling of France to Vietnam. As we wandered, gazing at these magnificent buildings, Paul and Rhonda told us about their AirBnB and how cheap it was compared to hostels. We put that in our back pocket to talk about later.

On our third day in Hanoi we went to Hoa Lo Prison Relic, several people from the hostel had recommended going. We did pay extra and got the headset tour, so we could understand what we were seeing. This prison was home to thousands of Vietnamese patriotic and revolutionary fighters, it has also housed regular prisoners and American pilots that were shot down during the bombing of North Vietnam during the Vietnam war. As you go through the prison the guide explains the conditions in which the prisoners were kept, along with the mental and physical torture they were put through. I did not have much knowledge on the revolution or the war, let alone what prisoners

Photo Credit: V.Gray experienced. I found it a lot to take in,

however I am glad Ryan (my spouse) and I did. It was a topic I needed to learn about, it helped me understand what this country and it’s people have been through.

We spent our last evening in Hanoi, at the hostel pool with free local beer. We met people from England, Germany and someone doing a VISA run.We ended up having dinner with the couple from Germany, Marc and Alanae, we became fast friends and spent a lot of time travelling Vietnam together. The next morning we got up early and headed North, to Ha Long Bay for 2 nights.

Ha Long Bay was one of our favourite places in Vietnam. It was quiet with beautiful buildings, the limestone islands topped with rainforest and stunning emerald water with boats resting on the shore. We booked an AirBnB in Ha Long Bay. We had only booked 2 nights on the app, however we reached out to the owner privately and booked 3 additional nights.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

We took a day and did a boat tour of some of the little islands in Ha Long Bay. You pay for your boat ticket, which takes you to a few different islands depending on the length of the tour (full day, half day or overnight). We did a half day tour, the boat departed at 9am. I always recommend arriving early for things in Vietnam, often scheduled times are more of a suggestion… Booked for 9 am? Might actually be 8:45 am? or it could even be 9:30 am? You just go with it.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

Our boat tour had three stops: the first was a really cool cave hike on one side of Bo Hon Island; the next was a kayak or long boat through a rock face to a little bay to see macaques monkeys on the opposite side of Bo Hon Island; and the third you could lay on the beach, swim or do a small hike to a mountain viewpoint off Hon Ti Top Island. We did the hike down through the cave at the first stop. There is a bit of climb to get to the mouth of the cave, however it is an easy hike. The path was well lit and marked, making it easy to explore. We also got a little extra time to explore round the island before returning to the boat.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

We returned to the boat for lunch (this was an additional cost) and sailed over to our next stop on the other side of the island. Our next stop was the long boat or tandem kayak to see the macaque monkeys. This is the first time we had shared a kayak, it seemed to work out well. I tend to be a mover and Ryan is more of a lounger (so I did most of the paddling). We went around the little bay area and viewed monkeys from our kayak.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

Our last stop was the beach; we decided to get a few beverages, hang out and people watch. The view point was under construction, so trying to figure out how to get to the steps, to do the hike to the mountain viewpoint, looked a bit more unsafe than normal.

The tour wrapped up about early afternoon,giving us time to meet up with Marc and Alanae for drinks, and to catch-up on their adventures.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

As we were catching up, we had all noticed an amusement/water park called "SunWorld". We decided to go check it out, only to find the water park was closed (it was January, "winter”) but the amusement park was open.

The total cost was $6 CAD a couple to go in, there were maybe 10 other people in the park - definitely the park’s off-season. As a result we had no lines and could ride all the rides as much as we wanted. Except Marc got denied access to one roller coaster.

You see he wasn’t too short (which is the normal reason), but actually too tall for the seats. As a result he wouldn’t fit properly and this was a safety concern. Naturally the rest of us had to ride the coaster, and couldn't stop laughing the entire time. As Marc watched from the side lines. We spent the remainder of our afternoon at SunWorld and Marc was allowed to ride all the other roller coasters with the rest of us.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

As we continued to explore Ha Long Bay, we made our way through their shopping mall, night market and parks. The sea food was very fresh. One afternoon for lunch we ordered oysters, and while we sat at our table, we watched as the waiter walked out of the restaurant, hopped on his scooter and took off. Within 10 minutes he returned with fresh oysters from the local market.

We also had bbq a few nights, you get a table and order a meat/vegetable plate. The waiter brings the plate you requested along with your drinks and condiments. Then you cook your own meat. At one meal we had to have our hot plate replaced, we had accidentally burnt our meat, completely Phot Credit: Marc H.

charred the plate and created a lot of smoke. We paid a bit more attention when cooking after that.

At this point we were sick of wearing sweaters and wanted to head south, but we also wanted to see the rice fields (which is north). We debated heading even further north to Sa Pa, where usually all the iconic pictures of people wearing hats and holding baskets in rice fields are from. But someone had suggested going to Nihn Bihn instead of Sa Pa, it still had the rice field AND it was South.. PREFECT! We were heading south to Ninh Binh.

Cheers!

Photo Credit: V.Gray

Map of Vietnam and places we travelled.

**Please note that all opinions and views expressed in this post are my own, from my own experiences. If you would like to see more pictures follow me on Instagram vikki.gray

This post is edited and proofed by E.Gray Editing. (https://www.egrayediting.com )**