Just some background info about this trip… I had always been curious about Vietnam and finally set aside the time for a good visit. At first I was going to combine it with Cambodia (flight would’ve been more convenient in hindsight) but I really thought I should focus more on one place than try to rush through everything as us “Americans” tend to do… Then it became a question of where in Vietnam to visit… Ho Chi Minh? Da Nang? Hanoi? Ultimately, I chose to stay in the North as the sights seemed to be more about the people and nature instead of war memorials and beach resorts (I know.. a very crude generalization but you can only research so much beforehand). Having said that… this was probably the most risk I’ve taken on a trip with regards to trusting others with the transportation, tours, etc. Unlike other more formal tour packages I’ve been on, you’re not with a single tour guide throughout the entire trip… rather you get handed off to someone else for each leg of the trip and you don’t necessarily know who they are, where they came from and who they work for. I first searched Kayak to see available hotels in a good location, then went to each individual hotels website to see how well established they were. From there I looked at the variety of tour packages they offered, compared itineraries, evaluated trustworthiness, and ability to customize plans… then booked directly with the hotel (not Kayak… usually I get better service from the hotel this way). There are soooo many different tour and transportation agencies in Hanoi with mixed reviews (even describing different experiences for identical intineraries/packages) that it’d be impossible for any first timer to be 100% confident with what they’re getting into beforehand. Also, when booking tours through a hotel in these kind of places, I feel a little more comfortable in knowing they will be a little more invested in you, your safety, and overall satisfaction (you’re staying with them after all). Private tour groups that you might just find in a storefront on the street? Maybe not so much. Though the hotels ultimately place you with these other tour companies, you’re trusting that they know which companies are better overall or better to avoid (with your interests in mind too). Ultimately, I ended up going with Hanoi Bella Rosa… considering everything above and then some, they were the best fit for this trip and e-mail communication with the hotel manager was prompt and detailed. I was able to plan an itinerary with them for the majority of my stay and they were fairly flexible with my schedule. Since I’ve never been there before, I was travelling solo, and don’t speak the language, I really just had to trust the hotel to execute everything well. Even after considering all this, who knows… they could ALL be in cahoots from the start…. but you do what you can to minimize risks I guess hehe…. soooo, on with the trip!
QUICK SUMMARY:
Day 1: Hanoi Arrival
Day 2: Hanoi – Ha Long bay overnight on boat
Day 3: Ha Long Bay – Hanoi – Night train to Sapa
Day 4: Sapa – Overnight at hotel
Day 5: Sapa trekking – Night train back to Hanoi
Day 6: Hanoi
Day 7: Hanoi
Day 8: Hanoi
Day 9: Hanoi Departure
TOTAL COST:
Roundtrip Flight Tokyo –> Hanoi: 491USD
Airport pick up & drop off: 30USD/2 ways
Accommodation: 43USD x 4 nights: 172USD
Ha Long Bay trip with Oasis Luxury Cruise: 225USD
Sapa trip for 3 nights 2 days overnight at hotel: 175USD
Day 1 - Arrive Hanoi
Landed at 1310. Immigration was divided into Vietnam/Asian/Foreigner lines… made it through by 1400 so it didn’t take so long. Driver was waiting for me at the baggage exit with a handwritten paper (my name was misspelled :/). Before leaving the airport, I needed a sim card ($12, 7gb vinaphone – 10 day) so the driver took me to the counter where it took them a while to get it working in my phone (I now have Google Fi which is 10000x better than anything else I’ve used for travelling). We jumped into a plain ‘ol white Toyota car at 1420… made sure to take a picture of the car and license plate just in case since I couldn’t get the driver’s name from the hotel (they used some private company, unmarked taxi service, didn’t speak English >.<). Again, just having to trust the hotel’s word and that this guy is going to take you to the right place because he had my name written on a piece of paper at the airport. As for the ride, that was an experience of its own… appeared to be no rules of the road, drivers were always honking, and I almost got car sick. Scooters were often overloaded, distracted drivers everywhere (cell phones), and the loud gum chewing driver…. one scooter actually had 4 people and 2 dogs on it… which in the moment was actually quite impressive.
Felt relieved after arriving at the hotel. They also welcomed me with a drink and some fruit at check-in. The Manager seemed knowledgeable… previously spent 10 years as a tour guide and spoke English well (thankfully). We reviewed the itinerary we had initially planned via e-mail and he actually talked me out of doing the homestay in Sapa which was part of the original plan. Not even 30 minutes after meeting the Manager, he invited me out for drinks with his friends after he got off work so I said why not? Got up to my room and was a little disappointed… shower door didn’t close all the way, window didn’t close/lock all the way (would need a ladder from the lobby to get in anyway), safe didn’t work, tv didn’t work. Usually I’d request another room but since this was just for one night (leaving for Ha Long Bay the next morning) all I needed was the bed really. Oh, and how could I forget about the toilets! Apparently the sewage system can’t handle toilet paper so….. if there’s a hose and trash can next to the toilet, the hose is for your butt and the trash can is for the toilet paper! I think you can figure the rest out….
Side notes: Emergency phone number #113 for police. Hotel exchange rate at the time was 22,000VND/USD (vs. 22712 market). Sim card still didn’t catch well, sometimes only catching 4G or edge.
After resting for a little while, went down to meet the Manager in the lobby. I thought we were just walking but he pulls out his moped and tells me to jump on… now honestly this was my first time on a moped ever (hard to believe?) and in Vietnam of all places… I was pretty much hanging on for my life and trying not to get hit by anything or anyone heheh… A quick zip through the city streets and a few blocks later we arrived at what looked like the bar street… We met up with a few other guys (other staff from my hotel and the sister hotel) and they ordered a beer tower, some bison, and squid… they kept saying the beer here was “fresh” so it was good though I’m not sure what that means for the other bars in the area eheh. They do “cheers” a lot with the drinks and they said it’s to make everyone drink the same amount, at the same time…. (and I mean like literally every time someone takes a drink they do cheers again). Sitting on the little plastic stools on the curbside you’ll see girls in uniform walking around selling beer, cigarettes ($1 for 2 packs), beggars with children for sympathy, locals and foreigners alike… still not quite sure how this systems works because the girls pretty much float from shop to shop but you can order from them and they’ll just go into whatever shop you’re in and almost act like your server….? The four hotel staff basically ordered everything from and paid for the first place… then we went to get hot pot (“morning glory” vegetable important to them), roast duck, and some very very strong kind of local wine (tea chaser is key) at a different restaurant. For the most part we just talked about my reasons for travelling there, where else I’ve been, and of course I took advantage of the situation and asked as much as I could of them. They gave me some stories, tips and advice… for instance, even as a tour guide the Manager had things stolen off him at the night market twice in 14 years. I paid for the second place since they were treating me to a good time… it wasn’t expensive but still I received no change and they kept all the leftovers (hmmm….?). Can’t figure out why they were so nice except for maybe me paying for the second meal? But even that was not so much (to me anyway). They were a bit touchy with the humor (hitting/grabbing leg)… always in good fun, and always pouring, serving drink/food to me. I had a good time but it didn’t stop me from feeling a little cautious around new people. Afterwards, the Manager took me back to the hotel (we drank kind of a lot to be driving/riding a moped but it was only a couple blocks and it’s so crowded you can’t go fast either). Overall, such an nice, unexpected start to the trip and I was already getting more than I thought out of the first night there.
Day 2 - Ha Long Bay
Started at 0700 with breakfast in the hotel lobby. It was buffet style with an extra menu to order from… overall not bad for being free. Was a little hungover from the night before… stomach junk and headache got worse (stomach got better by the time I reached Ha Long). Hotel staff was very friendly and made an effort to greet everyone and ask them how things were going… and it wasn’t in that half-hearted, almost obligated way, but seemed like they actually cared.
Checked-out of my room and left the rest of my luggage with the hotel while I would be away. The bus picked me up directly in front of the hotel which was a nice surprise. It was a long bus ride with a stop halfway at some art distribution building where they employed disabled people. Highway speed limit was slow (max 60kph) which is probably for the better. Often no divider or even lanes/lines with scooters usually on the far right, passing on left side into oncoming traffic. Oncoming traffic has to honk and flash their headlights a lot. Not a whole lot to see other than some random cows roaming around smaller towns.
Finally arrived at Ha Long bay around 1245 and it kind of reminded me of Nassau. Was told temperatures get as high as 37 degrees in the summer, and as low as 6 degrees in the winter. Now it was 22 degrees (just right). The tour package I chose through the hotel was the 2-day/1-night Oasis Bay Luxury Cruise. Not the most expensive of the tour packages I researched but also not the cheapest… I would say it was in the upper middle ground in terms of price/quality. We had to wait a little while at the pier for the tender to the tour boat.
Once we got on the boat, we were all given a warm ginger tea welcome drink and then briefed about the boat itself and itinerary. Apparently the hammer in the rooms were for breaking the window in case of emergency…hmmm? Tour guides name was Pham but he liked to go by Mr. Bean (why?). The brief was followed by lunch (set meal) which was pretty good but didn’t realize they were going to charge for everything extra, even water. Either way, it was relaxing watching the islands pass by while eating as we made our way out to the main attraction.
After reaching our anchor point, we had kayaking time from 1500 – 1630. Had to keep sitting next to a guy from Taiwan – on the bus, at dinner, and on the kayak. Nice enough guy but it’s kind of irritating when tour groups charge you more as a single traveller and yet you keep getting paired up with another single traveller… they didn’t have even one extra kayak and not to mention I had to paddle quite a bit extra for his lack of judgement. The islands/bay were very cool to see from this perspective… seemed like low tide at the time which allowed us to go through little tunnel. Noticed some of the other kayaks were sinking, cracked, etc… they were all cheap to begin with but makes you wonder about the average quality of these tours. We had kayaked at the same time as another Oasis “Party” boat. Supposedly I’m on “romantic” boat (nothing mentioned this before) and some of the younger people on our boat wished they signed up for the party boat instead (they had inflatable water trampolines, younger group overall)… I was glad with my much quieter choice (though they did turn up the music loud during our own happy hour). Nobody opted to go swimming after kayaking but the water was warm enough for it (~15 degrees C).
At 1900 they held a spring roll cooking class in the dining room but since I waited to go last there were only scraps left for me… again, a little disappointed they didn’t even have enough for everyone to make…and mine of course came out pretty lame…. oh well, failure… not a deal breaker anyway.
Dinner came after the spring rolls with fish. This time I sat next to Mr. Robin of Seattle… Alaska Airline flight attendant, nice guy. Ha Long beer was good, Hanoi beer not so good, Tiger beer also good. Server was always asking “Full? Have enough food, want more?” and for some reason I didn’t really know how to respond to that line of questioning… like no one has asked me if I wanted more food in that kind of setting before? And would it be rude to say that it wasn’t enough food to begin with? Oh well… I was satisfied as it were so I just answered politely.
After dinner I spent some time relaxing out on the top deck, looking at the island silhouettes in the dark. The only other lights were from the other boats anchored nearby. It seemed all the tour boats had gathered from their separate day tours into one little bay for the good night.
Day 3 - Ha Long Bay & Hanoi
Awoke at 0600. Hoped to get some good sunrise pictures but there wasn’t much of a sunrise, just hazy and cloudy. Skipped the morning tai chi class and went back to my room instead. Turned on the A/C and to my big surprise, three giant cockroaches fell out onto my things! Pretty fat, juicy ones too! Took me a little while to make sure they weren’t hanging out in my bags after that… pretty gross. One of the main observations I made to myself was that there were sooo many tour boats. I couldn’t imagine how the islands and water weren’t getting somewhat ruined, especially by the so-called “party” boats which to me defeats the whole purpose of visiting a place like this. Another observation of mine was the big fat jelly fish in the water the size of grocery bags and how I was glad I didn’t go swimming the day before.
Breakfast was at 0700 and was good but also a little rushed. By 0740, we had to be done eating and onboard the tender which would take us to Sung Sot limestone cave. It was really crowded (7000 people/day) with a good mix of tourists from different countries. We got there relatively early but still got stuck in the line on the one way path, slowly going up the stairs and into the cave. Once in the cave it opened up a bit as it really was huge in there. Coming back down to the water you can make your own way back to the tender while looking at all the small stick fish swimming under the piers.
Got back to the boat at 0925. Went to my room to freshen up only to find there was no water and no wifi. At 0945 they made us check-out of our rooms so I just went to relax on the upper deck again. I remember thinking to myself that the island mountains looming in the distance looked just like an army of monsters sitting quietly in the mist…
At 1030 they served a pretty good lunch (and the wifi came back on) as we made our way back to the mainland. Once lunch was finished, I settled the bill just before arriving back at dock (@1145). Total bill ended up being ~420000 VND for 3 beers, water, smoothie, watermelon juice, 2 coffees plus tip (little less than $24 total). The tip wasn’t much due to my complaints listed above. Overall it was a pretty good experience, and I got out of it what I had hoped to. Would I go with that company again? Maybe not necessarily so, though after seeing all the other tour boats out there I think my initial assessment was pretty accurate (this company being upper middle tier). That, and a “romance” boat ain’t always as fun by yourself hehe.
Back on the bus to Hanoi. Side note: If bus riding safety is a concern of yours, the seat belts are hit or miss, at least on this particular bus. A couple girls kept trying to find a pair of seats that had working seat belts with no success. Next up, of course another stop to try to sell things to you… this time it was a pearl factory. Workers seemed to be just sitting and waiting for buses to arrive and had all their demonstrations timed from the time we stepped off the bus. At least it’s a chance to stretch the legs.
At 1430 and about halfway back to Hanoi, we made another rest stop at an art/snack/pottery shop. The snacks all looked old and were not cheap at all but at least the salespeople were not pushy. Rest of the bus ride back was spent watching all the cows, farms, dogs, chickens, fires, underpass hangouts, and shells of unfinished buildings pass by.
After getting back to Hanoi, I went for a walk around the lake as the lights were just starting to come on around 1730. Watched lots of people exercising, selling art/drawings/fruit/pedicab rides… little more pushy vendors but not in an in-your-face kind of way. Always nice to see locals enjoying public spaces in a very natural, everyday life sort of way. Since I would be catching the night train to Sapa later at night, I didn’t have a room to check-in to back at the hotel and I was just trying to kill time until then.
For dinner I ended up settling on Cau Go Restaurant near the busy roundabout at the top of the lake. I was tired and haven’t had the chance to explore the area yet so I went with something that looked easy. The place was a little more pricey/fancy, and I was definitely under-dressed, but felt lucky to get a high table without a reservation. Seemed like a popular restaurant… I had to talk to greeters on street to see if a table was available before going upstairs. Overall, a really great meal… bun cha, springs rolls, vietnamese coffee (much stronger), all for 456225 VND (~$21 USD).
Back at the hotel, they had a small shower room in the back of the lobby for me to freshen up in. It was small, but still nice to have a shower/toilet room (yes shower and toilet are all in same space) to freshen up (no shower on the overnight train). I repacked my duffel bag and left my suitcase with the hotel again for this portion of the trip. The hotel bellhops/porters (one was in training) accompanied me by taxi from the hotel all the way to my train cabin… like literally picked up my ticket for me at the station and walked me all the way into my room on the train. It was a very old fashion station with all the trains, ticket desk, cabins, snack cart. The train station and cabin might have been difficult to figure out on my own for the first time riding it. The entrance we used didn’t look like a train station either (in hindsight, it was actually the back side of the station) and the ticket office was more of a ticket desk in a little hut… no English signs at all. I think the taxi ride from the hotel was only ~23000 VND… the bellhops paid it as this was all considered part of my next tour package. We passed by some extra nice rooms but mine must’ve been in the second to last car with the whole line being at least 10 (long) cars overall (longer than standard Japan train cars).
The other guests in my cabin (4 people per cabin) spoke Spanish (very fast paced) as I made an effort to remember my high school classes. I did manage a quick “esta bien?” while pointing at my 4-port USB charger (only one outlet per cabin) in an effort to share it with them and they had no problem with it. To be honest I could have just pointed at it and they would’ve gotten the point and saved me some potential awkwardness too hehe. They otherwise kept to themselves for the rest of the short night… almost like I wasn’t even there. Train Lady passed by with the cart offering free water/tea but the beer cost 25000 VND. Just some random thoughts in my head to go to sleep by: knowingly had a Japanese exam fast approaching, trying to learn basic Vietnamese since I’m here, trying to remember Spanish from high school, lot of Germans (and other Europeans), lot of Koreans, broken English too… very diverse tourism here. I think more than I’ve experienced before. “On the night train to Sapa”, something nostalgic? Old fashioned, romantic, old travel books, old world…Hogwarts Express? Trading Places?… A new feeling for me anyway. Boy, this train is fast and bumpy…
To be continued…