Each word can be used for a different situation and each situation blends together to make a moment that is indescribable and perfect.
How do you know you have seen anything, if you have not seen everything.
We arrived into Hanoi around 4pm from Bangkok, we were told to book a taxi prior to arriving because; 1 the public transit is 30 years behind and 2 the taxi drivers will take you to the wrong place on purpose to try and make a commission at another hostel. We booked a van using Grab (similar to Lyft/Uber). It would have been a better overall experience to not fall into an easy solution but here we are lazy Americans. The Grab driver was very informative and decent english which surprised us.
We got dropped off a block from our hostel and the aromas of the Old French Quarter filled our vehicle before we could even set a foot to the pavement. The smell of fresh meat, fresh bread, as well as live fish and the mid afternoon stench that boils out at 100+deg. We slipped into our hostel ASAP, to drop our 30lb backpacks and get situated before making moves into a new, untouched city.
This hostel has been our busiest one yet and the combination of old French quarter smell and unwashed backpacker sat in the dimly A/C’d lobby, but we were gracious for the cool air. Fast check-in ✔️, room on the 3rd floor, we boogied to the drop zone. With it being extreme temps(100deg 80%hum =feels like109) in Vietnam we were told the city was empty. After walking around the corner I wasn’t sure where they would fit other people on a BUSY day. We found live fish, fresh churned cheese, and other assortments that we were fine with not knowing the background.
New city, new noises m, AND driving techniques. Horns galore, everyone has one, and everyone wants the next person to know they have one. The reason they honk so much is to let people know, to get out of the way because they are coming through and they aren’t stopping. The secret to all things on the road in Vietnam??!?! Pick a path and walk/drive in that direction without changing speed. You will get to the other side successfully without being hit. It’s more or less a trust fall exercise, during the road crossing. You convinced yourself 10 times crossing the street you were going to get hit, but as always they swerve around you and you get to the other side without a blemish, just as your friends should catch you after the trust fall. We had no agenda so we just walked around and enjoyed the streets, from flower shops, Bahn Mi shops on every corner and all the locals sitting on tiny stools enjoying beer or tea. It was pleasant and stressful all at the same time.
During check in at our hostel we were told there was free beer at the rooftop bar from 7-8pm so we made our way up there and quickly made friends with 4 individuals from London (Luke, Johnny, Natalia, Cary’s). They were playing cards and Nic and I being avid card players jumped in for a couple games. They having just graduated university drug Nic and I out to the bars till the weeee hours of the night. We danced laughed and were as free as anyone can be.
The next morning we were not so free, not feeling well and the temperature still at record levels it took us a while to get out of the hostel. However we pushed through the struggle and walked to Hoa Lo prison which was built in the late 1890’s and was used for holding Vietnamese prisoners during the French occupation. There were horrible stories of torture and death of both male and female in that prison all the way into the 1960’s when it was converted to holding USA POW during the Vietnam war. It was intriguing but also hard to believe people were imprisoned here for many years on end, including many relatives of those in America. It seemed there was a bit of a difference by how they described Americans were treated while prisoners vs what we have heard in America.
We had our first Bahn Mi, which is a Vietnamese street food sandwich that is a combination of French cuisine(French bagguette) and Vietnamese style meat, it was very tasty and extremely cheap. We bumped into Saint Joseph’s Cathedral which was closed due to construction on the inside and then we searched out the must try Ca phe Trung which is a coffee with an egg in it. Yes, you read that right, and yes it is absolutely delicious. They use egg white froth it up and put it on the top of coffee. You then stir it in and it becomes like the creamer. It is sweet and savory and I wanted many of them but at $1.25 we had to budget. We meandered back to the hostel for free beer hour again but mostly just to catch up with our friends from the previous night so we could reminisce on all the events that unfolded.
With our last full day we started early and began the shuffle to the Hanoi Train street which became famous for its small coffee shops and the train running right through it multiple times a day. Although no trains went through while we were there it was still cool to see how people are willing to make some $$$ off tourists and we enjoyed another egg coffee.
Looking at maps I wanted to walk to Ho Tay lake, and saw some buildings that looked cool so we started walking in that direction. We tried to get one through a street but was stopped by an armed guard and he pointed us in another direction so we walked that way. Finally a few blocks and we found the entrance into the gated street area. Not knowing what we were getting ourselves into we quickly found out that this was the area dedicated to Ho Chi Minh, the communist leader of Vietnam during from 1910s to 1980’s. There was a Ho Chi Minh museum as well as Mausoleum (where his dead body is on display). The Mausoleum was closed but there were still mobs of people there to see the GREAT leader. We decided since we were here we may as well pay the $5 to get into the museum. It was a very weird experience, especially being American in a museum that had a lot of anti-sentimisim towards Americans, Due to the Vietnam war, which was drastically different then what we experienced the previous day at the prison. Either way it was an experience to see the praise the ex leader still had around his country. You can see the extremely wide street in the below photos. I am assuming that this was designed so he could land and take off in a plane in case of emergency.
We made it to the lake and it was extremely large but so dirty, we were told you could swim in it, but we didn’t see any swimmers and we for sure wouldn’t touch a toe to it. It was glass and super hot out so it made me miss the lakes back home. We also saw a few other monuments along the walk and decided we needed some Bun Cha (a noodle and pork dish) that was recommended to us. It was extremely tasty and probably our favorite food so far in Vietnam.
We sat at one of the most iconic street corners in Hanoi and had some beers while watching the traffic squirm like ants between each other. There were millions of honks but no collisions, it was impressive. We thought there were some things Americans could learn from this chaotic masterpiece and how not to have road rage off one minuscule event. We ran out of time in Hanoi, but we seen most of the main attractions and realized Hanoi although a large city doesn’t have a ton of attractions, we believe this is due to the sheer amount of wars North Vietnam as been in and the amount of buildings and other sites being bombed and or destroyed over 100’s of years of conflict.
We only took videos of the chaos and a video won’t upload with the bad WiFi, so will need to show you another time.
That night we took a sleeper night bus to Ha Giang. We booked the tour through our hostel but were told very minimal details. It was actually extremely comical. The first VIP bus took us from hostel to a random street at 8pm where we got in the cabin sleeper bus. This was the nicest bus we had been in and you could almost lay flat. We were excited for the chance to sleep on the road but didn’t realize that we were going to be tossed around like a wash machine for the next 6 hours. There was also no bathroom on the bus, but they did stop at a few bus stops along the way for us to pee, they also picked up other passengers and no extra sleeper spot so they slept in the aisle between our beds. At approx 2am I was shaken awake and told I needed to get off the bus. Not knowing where we were or where we were “supposed” to get off. We were dropped in front of a hostel and they said, we think you are supposed to be here so go to 6th floor and find a bed, so we walked the 6 flights of stairs and found a dorm room with 20 beds, most of them empty. Thankful to lay down without getting tossed around, with no A/C we slept in a pool of sweat. (Boy are we spoiled). By morning we realized every bed was taken and some were even doubled up, obviously we were tired because we slept through all these others coming into the room. We still weren’t sure we were in the right place but we kept getting shuffled around until we straddled the motorcycle and took off on the Ha Giang loop. WE MUST BE IN THE RIGHT SPOT.
Over our 4 day tour we took approx 2000 photos between Nicolette and myself. The photos will not do this place any justice, but the immense beauty and landscape that we have never experienced was incredible. Again, I do not have words to truly capture the Ha Giang region. Per our tour guide there are 54 languages in Vietnam, and 22 are along this loop. The small communities are on every nook and cranny and some how nestled on every cliff edge and rock outcropping. There are nearly 1 million people scattered throughout this region, and no village or town surpasses a population of 1000, which proves just how many villages there are hidden throughout the mountains. Every little path or road you see that’s cut across the mountain is the villages lifeline to the outside world.
Nic rode with me on a 125cc Honda Blade. It was a semi automatic (no clutch) with 4 speeds. To go up in the sequence(1 to 2) you pushed the toe shift lever down, to go down in the sequence (2 to 1) you pushed the heal lever down. This is a bit counter intuitive and I miss shifted 4 times over the 4 days and Nicolette let me know every time… Due to the small bike Size we were only able to pack a small pack for each of us, and strapped it to the back of the steed. We left our other larger bags and belongings at the hostel. Me being about a foot taller then every other person in this country, the motorbike was extremely small and after 4 days I could feel it in my knees, however it was fun to ride what the locals ride and do a little racing with our guides up the hills. In reality I’m not sure you could really have a larger motorcycle due to the sharp curves in the road and traffic that is constantly thumping along the local roads. The largest bike we saw was a 150cc motorbike similar to the 125 we had. There are 3 ways to ride the loop, self guided, guided, and easy-rider guided. An easy rider is where you pay someone to drive you while your seated on the back of the motorbike. All you have to worry about is taking pictures and enjoying the view. I was the driver who was giving nicolette an easy ride. So she took most all the pictures. The other 5 girls in our group, 1 drove herself and the other 4 took an easy ride from a local.
Day 1 of Ha Giang Loop:
We departed Ha Giang around 10am (in the counter clock-wise direction of the loop) because of a few late adds and people learning how to ride a motorbike for the first time. A slow start and a bit impatient-Preston led right into gorgeous Mountain View’s and a mouth full of smiles. We stopped a few times along the way to take pictures and when crossing Heavens Gate (Cong Troi pass) which was the stepping stone into Dong Van Karst Plateau GeoPark (Unesco World Heritage Site) we stopped for coffee and it started pouring rain. We all got geared up for the rain, but It was short lived and we kept the 7 tourists and 5 guides moving. This was the only time it rained all 4 days. Just down the hill was Fairy Bosom viewpoint to see the strangely similar size and pointed mountains in the distance, hence the name, And then a family style lunch in Cho Kem that was shared by us 7 tourists. The “standard meal” Lunch included plates of fried veggies, pork, chicken, spring rolls, tofu, soup, and fried egg. Which became the standard for dinner and lunch’s the remaining 4 days.
We stopped in a small village where they made Hemp items (clothing, bags, etc) to other villages and tourists. They did everything by hand or basic machine from splitting the hemp stalk, tying it together to increase the length, putting it in rolls, dying the hemp, and making the products. It was interesting, to see how they made it from such a simple plant. We got to our Homestay in Du Gia around 5pm and put on our swimsuits and drove up to the local waterfall swimming hole. It was a busy little spot and the water was very refreshing from the hot and sunny day. A homestay is very similar to a hostel however the owner or host lives on premise. Luckily Nicolette and I had our own private room, not so lucky there was no bathroom or A/c in the room. We showered, changed, and had another family style dinner, this time it included our group and 2 others all who were at the homestay for the evening. We chatted with everyone, people were from across the globe. Each person had a different background and different plan for their travel and lives. Refreshing to know there is so much opportunity out there in this world. Our tour group included Lucy(California)and Georgia (New York City) who went to college together and were now traveling together and the PARIS TRIO Coco, Raphael, and Albane who also were traveling together. With dinner comes “Happy water” the local Corn wine(more like liquor) that is served each night with dinner. We did the local cheers to celebrate all of us coming together on this great adventure. Then we sang Karaoke for a few hours,I sang “Girls Just Wanna have Fun” to break the ice and instead I broke all the glass from being off key. Everyone ended up singing which was a treat. We crashed hard from the extremely exhausting day.
Day 2 of Ha Giang Loop:
It being Saturday there was a
Market just a 10min walk from our homestay. So our group went down and walked through the market. It was an experience seeing a whole village market this time selling more clothes, and animals then food. There were puppies, cats, chickens, cows, pigs all for sale. The squeal of the pigs made your ears ache especially when someone would buy one and put them in a rucksack and carry it down the road to their motorbike. It was very hot and smelly from all the animals so we didn’t last too long. We got back to our homestay and they had pancakes(more like crepes) and bananas for breakfast that was a nice morning boost. On the motorbikes by 10am, the guides weren’t feeling so good from the “happy water”, we headed towards Meo Vac and went over a pass with views as far as you could see. The roads were so bad between the pass and Meo Vac we even got re-routed through a small village with 1 lane road and I had to dive into a small driveway to be narrowly missed by the large semi truck coming our way. Adrenaline was high. We stopped in Meo Vac and had the “Standard meal”. Although it was tasty, we did get sick of it due to having it for sooooo many meals, plus it’s not the local cuisine but catered towards tourists. Not thinking the mountains and roads could get any better, we were star struck when we got to Ma Pi Leng Pass. We stopped, took in a coffee and a bathroom break with likely the greatest bathroom view I have ever had. We didn’t rush this stop as we wanted to take it alllll in. We drove up to a skywalk and took turns driving up a local road (1 lane) with cliff face on one side and cliff drop on the other to the top where there was another incredible viewpoint. Nicolette was supposed to be taking pictures and videos but her fear of heights kicked in and we didn’t get the footage I was expecting, which is just fine. She wasn’t sure she was going to be able to ride back down due to the current fear but I talked her into it and said it was probably safer for me to drive out then her walk out. She was very brave and made it out with only a few tears shed. Another memorable moment. Being at the top we spent the next 30miles twisting and turning down the hill to Dong Van where we came into a cute town and got to our homestay. With about 3 hours of free time before dinner we walked out the back of the homestay and made our way through a rice field and took in the fresh air and mountain surroundings, then made our way back through town to check out the local happenings. We grabbed a beer for the mom and pop shop and watched some middle aged ladies play volleyball. They were surprisingly very good and we found our selves cheering them on with incredible spikes and digs. The standard dinner again, this time with just our small group so we got to know the other 5 girls extremely well and I would say we became Friends. We took many happy waters from our tour guides and had lots of great laughs. Us 7 tourists took a little walk into the city center and enjoyed the cool evening with a beer and even a little ice cream! We all called it a night and went to our 20 bed shared room.
Day 3 of Ha Giang Loop:
We were up and eating breakfast at 8:30am again pancakes and bananas, this time the pancakes where actually like pancakes, and we said goodbye to our new friends as their tour was finishing and us 2 still had another night. We did make some commitments about us hosting them in the USA and them hosting us in Paris, (see you gals soon!). With it being just me, Nic and our tour guide Lai, we tore out of town heading back towards Ma Pi Leng Pass so we could head down to the lake and take a boat ride. With it just being us 2 drivers we went much faster then the 7 person group. At one point Lai even pulled over and said we are going much much faster than most people, and I replied, let’s keep it that way, it’s a lot of fun going faster, he smiled a big cheesy grin and tore off up the road. The road down to the lake was super narrow and very busy and I was a little nervous for Nic knowing her fears from yesterday but she braved through it and we made it to the landing pad. It was an extremely steep hiking path to the boats and loads of tourists but we made it there in no time, jumped on a boat and turned towards the gorge. Lai said that from top to bottom the gorge is approx .7mile deep. And it was sheer cliffs. Water was super green and it was calm and graceful the entire 30min trip. They damed up that river in 2015, to help power some of the villages in the valley. It being so deep they had to bring each piece of the boat down individually and build it at the bottom. They started doing tours as we did only in 2019. With a death hike up from boat, Lai needed a cigarette and to catch his breath once at the bikes. Then we began or tour north to the China/Vietnam boarder. You think the USA has a boarder between Mexico you should see this one, 10ft+ tall fence with electricity and lights along the entire boarder, and idk how they installed it, the jungle is so thick and the mountains are so insanely steep it seems nearly impossible to have installed in this region. We could see China towns across the fence and wondered what life is like for those villagers vs the villagers of Vietnam. We got lunch in a small village called Then Pa and of course we had the standard lunch this time however the meat was… different. The pork we got still had hair on it from the pig. But I will say I ate around the hair and it may have been the best piece of meat so far in Vietnam. We chatted with Lai over lunch and taught him some English and he taught us some Vietnamese. It was nice having some one-on-one with him and it made it a lot easier not having 10 others around all just speaking English. He opened up a notebook and I wrote down every word he didn’t know so he could memorize it. Full of hair ;) from lunch we hiked up to the Lung Cu Flag point which had a massive Vietnam flag to show China this was Vietnamese land. Just passed the flag pole was also a temple under construction for people to come and pray to bring peace, safety, and good fortune to those in Vietnam. This is only a mile or 2 from the northern most point in Vietnam. We had a long afternoon and got to Yen Minh around 5pm for the night at another homestay. We had our own room with A/C so we were very grateful. Standard dinner and happy water with some new friends we chatted about everyone’s travels and life plans before playing a few games of billiards and going to sleep.
Day 4 of Ha Giang Loop:
I told Lai we needed the local breakfast so he took us into town and we got Pork Pho, previously I thought Pho was an Evening meal but its actually for breakfast. We even got to pick out the meat through a glass box. None looking that appetizing, I went with the already grilled pork patty’s, don’t know how long they had been there but they were absolutely delicious. Breakfast was a success and it being our last day we turned towards Ha Giang where we started. We were driving through a small village on the way to Lung Khuy cave and the locals started yelling at us, Lai being ahead didn’t stop so I kept following him, down the narrowest and steepest path yet. Which finally dropped us at a parking lot. We parked the mopeds and a whole mob of people started showing up and yelling at us. Lai just smiled and talking to them he told me “start hiking to cave”. I asked if our stuff would be ok, (cause they were just strapped to the back of the moped) and he said yes fine. So we hiked up the .5mile worth of steps to the cave entrance rented a headlight and did a self guided tour in the cave. It was extremely large and very poorly lit even with our headlights. We were not fully immersed in the current situation because we were unsure on what was going on outside the cave with Lai and the locals. It didn’t take us long to make it through, the stalactites and stalagmite’s were massive, supposedly the cave was discovered in 2017, and is one of the largest in the region. We walked back down to the bikes, everything seemed untouched and no one was there. Happy nothing was taken we made our way on the narrow path back down. Just before we went back through the village they had put a bamboo fence across the path so we were not able to get out. A bunch of them ran towards us, but Lai was extremely calm so I was not so concerned (it helped that he spoke Vietnamese). He paid them off, not sure how much, they removed the fence and we went on our way to lunch. At lunch in Quan Ba I asked Lai what all that was about, and he said he was not sure. So we didn’t talk about it anymore. We had another standard meal, and we made our last stretch back to Ha Giang. I thought we were near the bottom of the hill at lunch but after lunch we kept driving down and down and down and down we went down hill forever, it was hard to comprehend. Then into the flats that were flat, straight, and very hot, the worst part of the trip, and we had to pull over because Lai said he was falling asleep. He took a smoke break on the side of the road and we continued into Ha Giang. We were about 4 hours ahead of schedule so we stopped at a lookout point over the city and had a coffee. Nic said it was the worst coffee she had ever had. I ordered an egg coffee and I thought it was quite good. One last stop on the agenda we went up to a waterfall with a short hike and took a few pics before going back to QT Hostel (where we booked the tour and stored all of our luggage we didn’t take) and had about 4 hours before our bus would pick us up to take us to SAPA. We booked a room for the evening ($15)even though we were only going to be there a few hours, so we could shower, repack our bags, and have some A/C from the blistering hot day.
While riding the loop little kids in the villages would hear the motorbikes coming and would run up along the road and would stick there hand out for high 5’s. Nic and I would stick our hands out and slap them as we were riding past. Most of them loved seeing us on the loop, some gave us the casual finger but most smiled, waved, and hoped for a high 5.
We were blown away by the age of kids and what they were doing. We saw children 6/7 years old carrying large loads of crop up and down the mountains with their parents and grandparents. We were motorbiking and they were walking, (they obviously couldn’t afford them). We also saw kids approx 2 years old walking along the roads with cliffs with speeding trucks and motorbikes all by themselves, no parents insight. It wasn’t out of the ordinary to see 4/5 year old with an infant 1-6 months old strapped to their back carrying them around getting high 5’s from us on the side of the road. The kids were way ahead of the western world in terms of intuition because they had to to survive. We baby our children so much they never learn to do things on their own like they do in Vietnam. It’s so hard to explain but Nicolette and I couldn’t believe our eyes watching some of these situations unfold in front of us.
Night bus to Sapa, OH BOY, so when looking at our booking there was no information of any kind bus, homestay, times, etc except a number to call and the drop off time. When we started getting concerned is when everyone was saying we would get to Sapa around 2am but our booking said 6am. So we asked the guy at the front if he could call the number that was given so we could figure out if someone was going to pick us up from the bus station or where we had to go. (We don’t have cell reception) She said we needed to go to Roxana hotel in Sapa and the bus driver would drop us off. EASY ENOUGH, we got on the sleeper bus but it was more like a 14 passenger van with seats that reclined a bit more and rode the bus into Sapa. What was supposed to arrive at 6am but we got there at 1:45am HUH the bus driver must have missed a few stops. With little sleep, The bus driver said get off, we said “we were told you would drop us at Roxana hotel” he responded “too tired get off”. So we got off the bus grabbed our luggage and had no idea where to go. Found a-car with some driver sleeping in it and we knocked and he came out I asked how much to hotel. He said 100k, I responded 50k, Nicolette said he smells like liquor let’s not ride with him. Luckily at that exact moment someone else walked up to us and said 80k I was like great let’s go. 20 minute drive to who knows where, he dropped us in front of the Roxana hotel at 230am. Great we can finally get some sleep. Walk inside everything is pitch black not a person to find. Where are we supposed to sleep??? we were told we would have a place to sleep when we got here. We walked around, looked, tried to find someone, finally I went to the 3rd floor where there were rooms and all of the hotel rooms had lights on and the doors wide open. Still no one around and no one in the rooms. I went back downstairs grabbed Nic and the bags and went up to the rooms. We went in a room, shut the door (it didn’t lock) and we laid down. Not sure we slept at all but at 630am graced by a beautiful view we decided we should probably get up and go figure out what we should be doing since the previous night was such a cluster. We walked down with all of our luggage and an elderly lady said breakfast here and pointed at a table. So we sat down. I walked to the reception and asked the front desk what was supposed to happen to us that day. She said breakfast at 730am and someone will be here at 9am to go trekking. Still not sure if we are even at the right hotel, no one has asked my name yet or for any documentation of our trip reservation, I went back upstairs and had a breakfast (baguette and eggs) with Nicolette and Joeri (from the Netherlands) who was also just as confused on what he was supposed to be doing. He had been dropped off at the hotel at 5am that morning. At 9am our tour guide showed up and us and 6 others started a trek (hike). We were not told where we were going, how far, or what to pack in our small 1 night duffel bags. We trekked through corn fields, rice terraces, small villages, and water falls. It was gorgeous. Two people fell due to the slippery conditions which eased the previous nights tension that everyone had experienced. We learned a bit about the region, the different languages, and cultures that each village had. We were also told that all the rice grown in this area was stored to be used throughout the year. None of it was sold. They plant the rice in May, and harvest(hand pick) it in September, all the rice grown that season needs to feed the villages through the next September. The corn was grown for livestock feed, hemp was grown for clothes, and Indigo was grown for dying their homemade clothes. We ended up walking through 3 villages over 15miles when we finally got to our homestay at about 3pm. This was our least nice place thus far but all 7 of us had to get through the evening together. There was a river so we went down put our feet in the refreshingly cold water after the long hot day and then played cards and had some beers before walking into another village to get some water and ice cream. Back to the homestay for dinner we had the standard meal then played cards with our 5 new best friends Joeri(Netherlands), Linda and Kim (Germany), Brogan (New Zealand), and Mitchell (CANADA). We learned some new games, gambled a bit and laughed the evening away trying to not think about the sleeping situation upstairs. The situation!?!? Lots of bugs, extremely hot, and no doors. The happy water with dinner and extra beers helped us all get a solid nights rest.
It poured rain all night and into the morning, and with plans for some additional trekking into a bamboo forest we had to change and just went to a waterfall instead. It was a perfect morning for a hike, with clouds and a slight sprinkle we stayed cool for the most part. Went through multiple villages, and had lunch where Mitchell got stung by a bee. Lunch that day we actually got to order off a menu instead of the standard which was a nice change. A SUV picked us up from lunch and took us back to the hotel in SAPA. With 3 hours before our bus ride back to Hanoi we walked up the road to a coffee shop that Linda and Kim had recommended for a coconut coffee (coconut ice cream in coffee). With lots riding on their suggestion it was just as good as they described. All 7 of us had one and we smiled our way into Sapa where we walked around for another hour or so before going back to the hotel to get the bus. The same SUV that got us from lunch took us to the bus, it was much to small for all of us and our luggage, but we made it. To go along with the theme of the transportation disaster Kim and Linda were not on the list to get a bus ride back to Hanoi. We finally convinced them to allow them a ride back and we rode together back to Hanoi, sharing snacks like childhood friends.
With one more thing left to do in the north we got an early tour out of our hostel to Ha Long Bay, which is famous for its picturesque views that includes 1000’s of islands and emerald green vegetation. We had heard that it was lots of fun, but didn’t quiet realize what we were getting ourselves into. Up at 630am to get packed up from the previous week of travel and pack a new overnight bag for Ha Long. Breakfast at 7am that took forever, so we scarfed it down quickly to meet the tour downstairs at 730. We were led for about 2km walk to where a bus was picking us up, there was a mob of people and different busses and we got told to get on multiple different busses before finally settling into one and snagging the front seats. We got a front row view of near death experiences of 100’s of motor bikers. The bus driver just honks his horn and merges, not caring about other vehicles in his path. It’s honestly a work of art. Two hours into a silent bus ride that smelt like everyone had a hefty night out, we arrive at a ferry landing. They shuffle us off the bus, and we wait in the scorching hot sun until we were pointed to a ferry. We scrambled on the ferry and took off across a body of water for about 30min. To the other side, we exited the ferry and were told to wait again. 25minutes ticked away then we were corralled into a bus again and squirmed our way around Cat Ba Island for about an hour before getting to another pier. Again we waited for about 40min, then we got on another ferry, our final means of transportation of the day. We took off on the ferry into the islands, weaseling our large ferry with 45 tourists around. Come to find out, we were not meant to be on that boat because our original boats engine had went out that morning, but we had made it this far and everyone was in high spirits. We ate lunch on the ferry, the STANDARD MEAL, this time it included fish. We made some quick friends and joked about the mess of the morning. We came to a stopping point and everyone went swimming, there were loads of trash in the water, and it seemed like none of the locals even noticed so we swam the afternoon away, Jumping off top deck, doing flips, people conquering their fears, and soaking up the sun. Everyone back on board we made it to our own little island (Hideaway island) at about 4pm. We got our bunk rooms sorted and everyone went swimming and got more beers due to the high heat. That evening we had a BBQ that included the “standard” meal as well as grilled chicken pork, fish, and oysters and squid, which were a bit interesting. We partied the night away dancing, playing pool, singing, and of course late night swimming. We even had some moments of great conversations with some of our new friends Esme (Netherlands), Muireann (Scotland), and Joe(United Kingdom) to name a few. The day ended as quickly as it started with smiles to last a lifetime.
The next morning I woke up and thought I somehow was transported to a different island. The tide had went in over night and where we had been swimming the night before was now just a rock field, the sea had literally dropped 10 feet in the matter of a nights sleep it was crazy. Breakfast and reminiscing about the night and off on a kayak around the islands for the morning. Again as beautiful as it was it was hard to look past all the trash that was in the water. Back to our private island for lunch before jumping back on the boat to make our way home. 3 boats, 2 busses, and 4.5hrs gone and we had landed back in Hanoi, and lastly the 2.5hour train ride to the south.
If you think you can’t travel here because of costs you need to think again. Let’s say the average date night for 2 is $100 in the USA, a $100 will last you almost a week for 2 in Vietnam. Their popular meals Pho, bahn Mi, or bun Cha each cost about $2/ serving, and beers are around 50cents. Of course you can find places to eat that are more expensive but why? When you can budget and eat with the locals.
Notes to others: be sure to pack Dramamine (motion sickness medication) because the driver gets paid extra if he finished his route faster or picks up people on the way, so they cram as many people in the bus that they can, and they don’t stop if you need to pee or puke unless it happens to be conveniently at the same time of a drop off or pick up.
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