To celebrate the occasion, Meg and I decided to go to Halong Bay in Vietnam, a Unesco World Heritage Site. I've been itching to get out on the water and a cruise through beautiful Halong Bay sounded perfect.
We flew into Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, on Sunday morning and went straight to our hotel, located in the Old Quarter of the city. I never thought I'd experience traffic as insane as Bangkok or Jakarta but Hanoi is the winner, hands down. Particularly, the Old Quarter is a pedestrian's worst nightmare, with it's narrow, winding streets, the millions of motorbikes wizzing by makes crossing the road seem like an episode of Fear Factor (except Hanoi is much more dangerous). As if the sheer amount of traffic wasn't bad enough, there don't seem to be any traffic laws. Yes, there is the occasional street sign or, less frequently, traffic light, but no one obeys them. Heck, from what we observed, quite often people have difficulty agreeing which side of the road to drive on. It is a tangled mass of weaving traffic with relentless beeping to basically say "heads up, I'm coming through" - a fruitless activity considering everyone is doing the same. Yet, despite the madness, somehow the Vietnamese have it figured out.
We spent our first day in Hanoi exploring this insanity, making our way to Hoan Kiem Lake, Ngoc Son Temple, and exploring the numerous small shops throughout the Old Quarter. One thing we noticed right away was the aggressive way you're approached by street vendors. Whatever they're selling, they don't take no for an answer, following us for a block or two. And despite our polite refusals, they'd often walked away muttering under their breath and glaring. One woman selling bananas forced her traditional Vietnamese hat and goods onto Meg for a photo op - after which she demanded money, of course. By this time, we were looking forward to getting out of the city.
The next day, we were off to Halong Bay. We boarded a junk ship (meaning a ship of Chinese design, not a piece of crap boat) in Halong City and began our tour of the bay. There's little I can say to describe the splendor of the thousands of limestone karsts and islands. Words and pictures don't do them justice. We stopped at one of the islands to explore some caves and then went for a swim. My favorite part was when we dropped anchor for the evening and were jumping from the 3 story junk into the refreshing waters.
We awoke Tuesday morning with a spectacular view from our cabin. What a way to wake up on my 30th birthday! We spent the entire day kayaking and swimming. It was fantastic! That evening, we arrived at Cat Ba Island, where we stayed for 2 nights at Sunrise Resort. The surf on the beach was awesome and I spent most of my time bodysurfing. Meg gave it a shot but her bikini wasn't exactly built for it and she ended up mooning every Vietnamese on the beach. I was in tears with laughter as wave after wave kept knocking her over.
By Thursday afternoon, we were off to Hanoi once again. We dined at a gourmet Vietnamese restaurant called Wild Rice for supper. I love Vietnamese food and this place was a real treat. Our last day in Vietnam was spent exploring the city, sampling the local cuisine, and touring around in a rickshaw. We stopped by the Temple of Literature which was dedicated in honour of Confucius in 1070!
Halong Bay was definitely the highlight of the trip for us. While Hanoi is interesting, I think it can only be enjoyed in small doses, then it just gets overwhelming. We wish we could have seen more of the country-side, as the little we did see is gorgeous - perhaps a return trip is in order. :)
For more pictures of our trip, check them out here.
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