I'm clearly quite behind on this blog, so I'm going to try and backtrack and write a few posts, broken up by location/activity. Ill try to remember everything I've done over the past few weeks. I've been really busy!
From Hanoi I took an 11ish hour overnight bus to Sapa, which is up in northern Vietnam. Really north--I think less than 40 Kilometers from China. (Yes, I thought about it. No, I didn't). I took a sleeper bus so the seats fully recline back, but the roads were so bumpy that I barely slept at all. Arrived in Sapa early in the morning, had breakfast and a ton of coffee, and met some other people on my tour. (I don't usually like to do group tours but its so easy and cheap to do them here, and its a great way to meet people, so I've been doing quite a few). I had some time to explore the town, home to the Black Hmong tribe. The women are beautifully and intricately adorned and they all sell goods and handicrafts. We then spent the day trekking, I think it was 12k in total. The views are stunning, it's set on a lush green landscape of rolling rice fields and mountains in the background. It's pretty cold and rainy this time of year, but we had an unseasonably bright and sunny day. Many of the Hmong women joined us and walked with us, as we were headed back towards their villages (set back in the mountains). Actually, we found out at lunchtime that they really had joined us to try and aggressively sell us their goods, but before then I had a great time learning about their way of life and chatting with them. Due to the recent influx of tourism, their English is actually quite good. And I learned some Hmong words, which I have since completely forgotten.
We ended our hike at a local homestay, where we spent the night. It wasn't exactly the authentic experience we had hoped for, since it was clearly set up for tourists, the family spent almost no time with us, and we all slept in one big room together on mattresses instead of being in smaller groups in various homes. But it felt a bit like summer camp and there were awesome people in my group, so we had a nice time (and much laughter over locally made rice wine, popular in the region). It was really cold at night but there are a few western-style bars in the little rural village where we stayed (oh, tourism), so we caved and went to one for hot chocolate at night. We wrapped ourselves in blankets, chatted over our hot drinks, and it felt like a proper winter night! Also the night sky was incredible!
Next day we trekked about 4k more, through rice fields, villages, and past a waterfall, then had a quick bus ride back to the main town of Sapa for much needed showers, wandering the town and local markets, a nice dinner, and the night bus back to Hanoi. There were 2 guys from Spain on my bus so then I accidentally started speaking in Spanish to the Vietnamese. Oopsies. I slept a bit more on this journey, likely only because I was so tired. Overall, a really nice time.
I got back to Hanoi early in the morning and after some waiting around at my hostel, I was able to check back in and snooze more until around 9 or 10. I booked another tour for the next day, for Halong Bay. This is one of the biggest attractions in Vietnam, a few hours from Hanoi. There are something like 3,000 islands rising out of the water, and you explore it mainly on the water. It was declared a World Heritage site in 1994. The next morning I was en route! I met Katie, a new British friend (who I'm actually still with now). 4 hour bus ride to Halong city, met the rest of our group (10 of us, great people from all over). Boarded our boat and had lunch while moving along the bay; great views despite the misty weather. Off the boat to walk through a cave, then we kayaked a bit on the water, then did a hike up to a gorgeous view of Halong Bay. Back to our boat for relaxing on the top deck, eating dinner, and a night of drinking and card games overlooking the water. Jam packed but great day.
The next morning I sat on the top deck of the boat for a few minutes by myself, watching the sun rise over the islands and boats. There was no smog, no crazy moto drivers all around me, no one trying to sell me anything. It was so peaceful and relaxing; I had one of many "ahhhhhhh this trip was the right choice for me" moments. Also I think it was snowing back at home at the moment, which helped.
From Hanoi I took an 11ish hour overnight bus to Sapa, which is up in northern Vietnam. Really north--I think less than 40 Kilometers from China. (Yes, I thought about it. No, I didn't). I took a sleeper bus so the seats fully recline back, but the roads were so bumpy that I barely slept at all. Arrived in Sapa early in the morning, had breakfast and a ton of coffee, and met some other people on my tour. (I don't usually like to do group tours but its so easy and cheap to do them here, and its a great way to meet people, so I've been doing quite a few). I had some time to explore the town, home to the Black Hmong tribe. The women are beautifully and intricately adorned and they all sell goods and handicrafts. We then spent the day trekking, I think it was 12k in total. The views are stunning, it's set on a lush green landscape of rolling rice fields and mountains in the background. It's pretty cold and rainy this time of year, but we had an unseasonably bright and sunny day. Many of the Hmong women joined us and walked with us, as we were headed back towards their villages (set back in the mountains). Actually, we found out at lunchtime that they really had joined us to try and aggressively sell us their goods, but before then I had a great time learning about their way of life and chatting with them. Due to the recent influx of tourism, their English is actually quite good. And I learned some Hmong words, which I have since completely forgotten.
We ended our hike at a local homestay, where we spent the night. It wasn't exactly the authentic experience we had hoped for, since it was clearly set up for tourists, the family spent almost no time with us, and we all slept in one big room together on mattresses instead of being in smaller groups in various homes. But it felt a bit like summer camp and there were awesome people in my group, so we had a nice time (and much laughter over locally made rice wine, popular in the region). It was really cold at night but there are a few western-style bars in the little rural village where we stayed (oh, tourism), so we caved and went to one for hot chocolate at night. We wrapped ourselves in blankets, chatted over our hot drinks, and it felt like a proper winter night! Also the night sky was incredible!
Next day we trekked about 4k more, through rice fields, villages, and past a waterfall, then had a quick bus ride back to the main town of Sapa for much needed showers, wandering the town and local markets, a nice dinner, and the night bus back to Hanoi. There were 2 guys from Spain on my bus so then I accidentally started speaking in Spanish to the Vietnamese. Oopsies. I slept a bit more on this journey, likely only because I was so tired. Overall, a really nice time.
I got back to Hanoi early in the morning and after some waiting around at my hostel, I was able to check back in and snooze more until around 9 or 10. I booked another tour for the next day, for Halong Bay. This is one of the biggest attractions in Vietnam, a few hours from Hanoi. There are something like 3,000 islands rising out of the water, and you explore it mainly on the water. It was declared a World Heritage site in 1994. The next morning I was en route! I met Katie, a new British friend (who I'm actually still with now). 4 hour bus ride to Halong city, met the rest of our group (10 of us, great people from all over). Boarded our boat and had lunch while moving along the bay; great views despite the misty weather. Off the boat to walk through a cave, then we kayaked a bit on the water, then did a hike up to a gorgeous view of Halong Bay. Back to our boat for relaxing on the top deck, eating dinner, and a night of drinking and card games overlooking the water. Jam packed but great day.
The next morning I sat on the top deck of the boat for a few minutes by myself, watching the sun rise over the islands and boats. There was no smog, no crazy moto drivers all around me, no one trying to sell me anything. It was so peaceful and relaxing; I had one of many "ahhhhhhh this trip was the right choice for me" moments. Also I think it was snowing back at home at the moment, which helped.
We went to a pearl farm and saw some oysters, then did a lovely bike ride around one of the larger islands. More beautiful views of the bay, and we rode through a small rural village.
Some people in the group were then dropped off at beach bungalows for the night, and the rest of us who were staying in a hotel were dropped off on Cat Ba Island. We (mom close your eyes) rented motorbikes to get to Cat Ba National Park and explore for a bit. I didn't drive the bike (that would be silly) so I got to look around as my Australian buddy Jack got us there and back in one piece. We did a short but pretty, and at times steep, hike to a lookout point.
On the way back we stopped at Hospital Cave, a multipurpose area in a cave used by the VC during the war. Pretty much everywhere you go in Vietnam was involved in the war. You can see bomb craters in lots of places, and most towns have some sort of history rooted in the war. It's been really interesting to see, lots to think about. Some of the stories are fascinating.
The following morning (I think I'm up to Dec. 9th--Happy Bday Anna!) we had a few hours on the boat back to Halong City, then the bus ride back to Hanoi. Katie had met a guy a few days earlier (Stephan from Germany) and they were getting on an overnight bus that night out of Hanoi. I decided to join them, so when we got back to Hanoi around 5pm I immediately bought a bus ticket for 6:30pm. In my next post ill tell you where we went! You must be bored reading by now.
Oh and also, it's not easy to get pictures up on this blog, but i've been posting a few as I go on Facebook. You can check them out there :)
Oh and also, it's not easy to get pictures up on this blog, but i've been posting a few as I go on Facebook. You can check them out there :)
Hugs and kisses!
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