In honesty I was kind of over South East Asia when it came
time to go to Vietnam. Alas I had committed to meeting my school friend Amy on
the 24th of March for a couple of days to see Halong Bay which I had
heard was stunning.
After a short flight from Luang Prabang (learning buying
flights in country is cheaper than outside so long term travellers be heartened
some things are cheaper left to the last minute) avoiding the 27 hour bus
journey which was the only other option to Hanoi. I was then to make my way to
Hoi An. The information centre was the cheapest option by far for the overnight
sleeper bus so anyone taking time in Hanoi I would suggest this as your best
option for buses – but not the Halong Bay tour.
The bus journey was interesting starting with a motorbike
ride across town, then a mini van before reaching a bus with actual beds….so
novel. As a rookie I sat on the side of the driver meaning I had head lights
coming at me all night. We stopped for a long time around 11pm when all the bus
was asleep and the lights out. I looked out the window to the oncoming lane of
traffic and saw the limp body of a motorcyclist with his head covered with a
torn piece of corrugated iron and the
bent and broken front of a large truck. My gasps of “dear god” must have roused
a few people. Sleep was fitful for the next 15 hours after that. I calculated
with the population base that there must have been a couple of births along the
19 hour journey to balance the sadness of this accident, and the three weddings
helped sway my mood.
Hoi An
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Hoi An is possibly the prettiest city in South East Asia.
The Portuguese colonial architecture is charming and the colours of the city in
a warm sunshine yellow reminded me much of Hilbre Ave and the yellow home my
Mum has fashioned. I had an express purpose in Hoi An, and that was to get some
serious tailoring done. I wanted to learn the end to end process of pattern
making and really get a grip on the art of tailoring; after all I have toyed
with the idea of throwing in the corporate towel to do this in the UK. In
reality tailoring in Hoi An is now a massive industry. Every tailor I visited
(there are 400 in the town!) thrust a Next catalogue at me (perhaps equivalent
of Farmers clothing section, for NZers) and the patterns were well tuned after
years of serving western tourists. I tried to take a picture to one tailor and
instead of producing a billowing silk shirt it was returned tailored with darts
and shaping and had none of my specifications. Although lovely in its own right
it took me going to the family home to see the final alterations made to get it
mildly close to my design. On the other hand I had a beautiful silk dress made
in the fabric market to match that of a Burberry design I found…not bad for
$US35 instead of £499! The market tailors are seen to be cheapest and most open
to bargaining. They also have the pick of the fabrics, if they don’t stock your
choice of colour, stretch or pattern, one of their buddies will. I had a shirt
and my favourite shorts reproduced and a pair of navy cashmere stretch
trousers. All perfectly fitted first time.
I chose a well reputed suit tailor for my work suit and was very
satisfied with his proficiency and service. He is available for on-going
tailoring via email as well, so it’s nice to know for $US110 I can get a suit
to fit – best if it comes from the Next catalogue though obviously!
I enjoyed a morning at the beach between tailoring sessions
and can highly recommend taking a bike in Hoi An. I ate well in Hoi An also and
had possibly the best Fettuccine Fungi at the Green Mango and account that to
the awesome Mushrooms in Vietnam. Green Mango was a perfect European treat for
me as a solo diner as the staff were all desperate to practise their English
and I was served with a delicious appetiser and breads with Anchor butter. My pet
hate eating alone is that I either eat loads – with a starter and main that
most would share and often err on caution to save being hungry!
On the opposite side of the recommendation spectrum avoid
Greenfield Hotel I stayed there for the week thinking the free cocktail hour
was a great way to meet travellers which is novel in SE Asia. In reality it was
damp and I ended up getting £200 stolen in all my left over currencies from my
room by housekeeping. I have no spare cash reserves now so I guess that exhausts
that happening again – my love of Hoi An and Bangkok are matched to some
degree!
I took a flight back to Hanoi for £27. It seemed preferable
to the 19 hour return bus ride!
Halong Bay
Amy and Kat met me in Hanoi in the mid afternoon and we made
our way again to the central city to see the mayhem and learn how to cross the
road. We had one express mission and that was to find the best Halong Bay tour
for three days two nights for an affordable rate. I had spoken to many
travellers to get a few ideas about price. After some careful research and many
questions and some rather ridiculous bargaining (on my part!) we scored a great
trip for $117 each including all food and transport including a kayak
excursion. So sure were the organisers at the Youth Hostel that we didn’t have
to pay until we got back to Hanoi.
On arrival in Halong Bay we were pretty shocked by the white
boats. The picturesque bay is punctuated by hundreds of large sleeper boats
generally sleeping around 14. The Tourism board has instructed all boats must
to be painted white from their dark brown by the end of April. Our boat was one
of the last to take up paint, so we looked antique in an enchanting way (the
others haven’t quite got more than one coat over the dark brown making for a
bloody ugly white wash look).
Our tour took us deep into the beautiful bay of Halong on
the China, Vietnam border leading to the South China Sea. The first day took us
to the “surprise caves” which despite their over population of tourists (frog
marched in with thousands of others) was pretty stunning. Surprising mostly by
their sheer size. I would suggest 200m in depth and 50 metres high. It seemed
very grand. The lighting made it more hilarious than magnificent, but
definitely well worth the visit. From here I joined Juan one of the French guys
on our boat - who I understood to be returning from an Intelligence conference
(or maybe my thoughts of 007 where getting carried away in this idyllic
setting) – on a kayak and we went and discovered a few caves and enjoyed some
quiet away from the motors of the hundreds of boats.
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The following morning we were taken to another boat and
enjoyed the Deluxe tour which meant nicer food, stiff chairs and included a
cycle ride into Cat Bar islands village and another cave to see where Viet Cong
hid during the war and finally a visit to Monkey Island, where we saw….well
Monkeys unsurprisingly. We stayed the night in Cat Bar Island and enjoyed a
drink and a head and neck massage for $1 at a Kiwi pub. The pub is adorned with
Speight’s posters from home and it made me very homesick. Having Amy there
probably added to it and sated it in the same step! (Tom you would love it –
except for the obvious unavailability of Speights itself). Our final day was a
direct boat back to Halong City and then a bus to Hanoi.
It was a really worthwhile trip and although the weather at
this time of year is often not best for seeing the full view of the bay we had
a brilliant second day of sunshine so were able to see both the cloudy ethereal
view and the clarity of sunshine.
Finally in Hanoi we went to see the Water Puppets show which
was a short but sweet introduction to Vietnamese life and the art of water puppetry.
I couldn’t have asked for a better end
to the South East Asia stint….well that was until I got a text message the
following day telling me my niece Isla was born!
[BOOK RECOMMENDATION: I had picked up The Girl in the Picture to read whilst in Vietnam and I can highly
recommend it to anyone interested in the war or that has/wants to visit Vietnam.
A really interesting insight into the circus of the subject of one of
humanities greatest images of wartime fear and civilian impact]
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