Day 33 - Twenty Seven Hours on a Bus!

Considering we were cocooned in the reclining bus seats for the entire day, this entry has been added after the fact.  Perhaps the delay has been useful. In retrospect, hard edges are always a little smoother and the difficult parts a little softer. Here are just some of the highlights from our bus trip from Hanoi, Vietnam to Laung Prabang, Laos. We started on January 24th and arrived on January 25th.

16:45 - Collected from the hotel and walked to pick-up spot
17:30 - Van came to bring to the station
17:45 - Tourists separated into groups by destination at station
18:00 - Boarded bus.
18:10 - Cargo loaded into, in, and on bus.
18:30 - Bus departed station
20:00 - Stopped for dinner
23:00 - Unloaded some cargo / took on passengers
01:30 - Stopped or more passengers
06:00 - Arrived at Vietnam-Lao border
07:00 - Vietnamese border opened / stamped out
08:30 - Processed Lao visa
09:00 - Continued into Laos
13:00 - Had Lunch break.


15:20 - Bus had mechanical problem in a small village

21:00 - Arrived in Laung Prabang

We had a booking at the Philaylack Villa, so we knew where the tuk-tuk driver should take us. It was so nice getting checked into a room simply to brush our teeth and have showers!

Day 32 - Goodbye, Hanoi.

How wonderful to be able to sleep in a little today.  The only restriction was to be able to go the the hotel dining area at around 9:30 for breakfast.  We had to pack too as we needed to check out before noon.  (We left the bags.)



Later, we walked about the lake area here.  Lot of folks were out as it is Sunday.  For some reason we have seen many newly, or soon to be married, couples being photographed.  Perhaps it is a tradition to be photographed in this area.  We slowly wandered through the busy, narrow streets looking for a place to eat dinner.  We found a German-Turkish-Cambodian place that served donairs, or what we call shwarmas. Just seeing Hanoi street life is an interesting adventure. Being Sunday, loads of people were out and about. Did I mention the motorcycles?



We ate a little too quickly it seems as we were back to the hotel by two in the afternoon.  A van will come to the hotel here between 5:00 to 5:30 to pick us up.  So we are sitting sipping on free tea waiting to get set up for a 24 hour bus trip into Laos.

Day 31 - Halong Bay for the Day

We knew we wanted to see Halong Bay as long as were this close.  There are about million travel agents for about a half million tourists and they all offer tours to Halng Bay.  Many are one or two nights, but we viewed the itineraries and didn't see a whole lot more for the extra days.  So we bought a one day visit knowing it would be quite a long day.

We were waiting in the hotel lobby at 8:00 am and the smallish van picked us up at around quarter past.  It was packed with the other 16 seats people full of tourists from Poland, Germany, Sweden, Holland, and Vietnam.  Getting to the bay took a little more than 3.5 hours.  We then said goodbye to our tour guide who'd be spending the night and were introduced to those in a day tour inside a new port side terminal.

We didn't try to skimp on the price as our travel agent explained that the very cheap tours get very cheap extras.  As it was getting on towards one o'clock we were ready for lunch.  We were seated with a Vietnamese family with two small girls and what I guessed to be an uncle.  The food was copious and frankly much better than I expected,  The variety of the food was large and the huge fish a nice addition.  We headed out towards the rocky outcrops as we ate.



Getting to the area of the floating village was quite awe inspiring.  One disadvantage of travelling a great deal as it raises one's bar for expectations.  I didn't know the scenery would be THIS captivating.  We paid extra for an add-on and a slight Thai lady rowed us around to see the caves and through a rock formation.  My life-vest didn't fit correctly yet I did not worry in the least.

The big boat continued along to some limestone caves and these were big ones!  Our new tour guide took a shining to us and two other ladies and we also sprinted though a more ancient well-known cave.  It was famous for a 13th century admiral who used it to store stakes which helped destroy Chinese boats in a ruse.

In Hanoi the weather has been cold during the last few days.  Today, though, was sunny and I was again able to run around in short sleeves.  By the time 4 o'clock came, everybody seemed ready to go back to shore and the 4 hour trip back to Hanoi.  I am absolutely glad we chose to spend the day this way.

The bus let us off in the crowded Old Section of the city so we could get some dinner.  He didn't get back to the hotel until well after 10:00 pm.

Day 30 - The Ba Dinh District

Our hotel map is good but it's not exactly to scale.  We saw the location of the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and reckoned we could easily get there on foot.  We were right.  We took most of the morning after a late breakfast to see that section of the city.  Being winter hours, all buildings closed at 11:30 am for the day.   Neither of us were too interested in the mausoleum, his house, nor the museum anyway.  We did like the One Pillar Pagoda in the area.



We kept walking towards West Lake and Truck Bach Lake.  It was time for lunch.  We stopped at a little place facing one of the lakes.  It took a while as they "outsourced" our fried rice.  The hot ginger tea came quickly and was welcomed due to the cool temperature outside.  We found a sauna that we'd seen mention of online.  It was nice to get warm!

We took a taxi back to the hotel for about $2.

Day 29 - It's Not Hot in Hanoi

We knew as soon as we landed last night: Hanoi would be cold. To be more accurate, Hanoi is a lot cooler than we're used to. As soon as our big bag came off the luggage carousel, we opened it to get our up-til-now-unused sweatshirts. Today seemed wintry as well. There was a very light mist. You know, it was not wet enough to open our umbrellas, but after a while one's clothes become damp. We explored the entire Hogan Kiem area on foot, first heading to the lake and historical French quarter.

Notice my heavy clothes near the Hanoi Opera Theatre.

Later we wandered the Old Quarter for lunch and again for a late dinner. Dinner at the Gecko is memorable for it's cool vibe and eclectic music selection. It reminded me of something in Vancouver's Yaletown, although we seldom eat there.

This city seems quite unlike Saigon.

Day 28 - On an Airbus North

We were on an Airbus rather than one for the road.



On Monday, I bought the tickets on JetStar Pacific for the domestic flight. Yesterday, I got an email marked important saying that our flight would be delayed from its scheduled time. So, rather than going to the airport around 10:00 am we were able to hang around the 'backpacker area' for lunch. It was an easy flight but we didn't get to Hanoi until after six in the evening and it was dark. We neglected to by a $2 ticket on JetStar bus to downtown. Yet we did buy them right from the curbside. It was over 45 minutes to downtown Hanoi.

A much too friendly taxi driver grabbed us. He was a scam as his meter was rigged. We had asked at a large hotel, near the location where the bus stopped, how much a taxi should cost to our hotel area. We knew it should be around $2 for the six minute ride; not over $20. We refused to pay and as he had no picture and license in the cab, we knew we were right. We paid him the standard fare which he had to accept. Welcome to Northern Vietnam!

Our hotel is quite fancy for $21 a night. We are on the 7th floor at the Rising Dragon Estate. We are in the Old Quarter and near the Hogan Kiem Lake and not for from the Historic French district.

Day 27 - Mekong Delta Islands

We had the time and the $10 each. So we figured this brochure quote was the best use for our day:

ONE DAY ME KONG TOUR

Overview: Mekong delta, the place is well- known for Vietnam’s rice basket, will attract tourists by its unique beauty. Thinking of this area, people will think of many rivers, floating market on the rivers and fruitful garden on two river banks. Furthermore, the local people with very warm hospitality will make tourists unforgettable. Please com there for an interesting experience in life time.

Itinerary: A smooth one-and-half-hour bus ride through rice field scenery along National Highway 1 brings you to the beautiful rural district of Trung Luong.

Take a motor boat to enter My Tho city through Bao Dinh natural canal. Then pay a visit to My Tho's colorful street fruit market alongside the canal to soak up the lively atmosphere and watch the locals trade their produce. Take a leisurely cruise on the Tien River to Tortoise island. En route, view the fishing port, the traditional stilt houses and boat building workshops, and the other three evocatively-named islands - Dragon, Phoenix and Unicorn islands.

Enjoy a sumptuous lunch served right in the heart of the orchard to the accompaniment of Southern Vietnamese folk music performed by the islanders. After visiting the coconut candy mill, take an amazing rowing boat trip along the small canal.

Then continue to Ben Tre province, "the country of coconuts", to see a typical agricultural model known as "Garden - Pond - Cage". Enjoy a relaxing cup of honey tea before returning to My Tho via Tan Thach natural canal, cruising under the shadows of water coconut palms. Return to Ho Chi Minh City by bus.

There was sufficient downtime but it was a good way to spend the day. For example, after lunch we had an hour to walk or bike around the real villages and see the life of the residents. Going by a school was interesting. Most importantly, gliding through tropical canals was the closest I will probably ever get to the iconic movie experience. The day was long too. We didn't get back into Saigon until 6:30 pm. So, I think it was day well spent.

Day 26 - Saigon City

We picked up amazing French pastries and tropical fresh fruit for this morning's breakfast.

We had been researching about Vietnam tourist destinations and checking a calendar.  We even walked back to the "backpacker's area" early to see about buying a bus ticket to start our process of heading north.  We talked though and figured we have already done enough beach-breaks, so several common stops were not necessary.  Similarly, Dalat is a high-altitude city made famous during French colonial era.  We did some of those type of British hill-country stations on this trip well. The ancient cities of Vietnam's central coast might be interesting but we have done a lot of ruins and will go on to Laos.  So we made a big decision; we are going to fly to Hanoi directly.  It will save about 48 hours in buses and only cost twice as much at around $90 each.   We walked back to the hotel room and I created an account on JetStar and we'll be aboard one of their planes on Wednesday.

Last night, I sort of became enamoured with the old area of Ho Chi Minh City.  The streets around the historic center were so pretty.  Modern LED street lighting created a shimmering and welcoming atmosphere.  Therefore, today, we walked back towards that old center of District 1.  It really reminds one of a European city.  The design of the Cathedral Notre Dame, of course looked French but in the daylight the People Committee Hall was petty impressive.  It was built as the Saigon City Hall in the French Colonial style at the beginning in the early 1900's.



We just got back from a great dinner in the backpacker area.  I had pizza and Jay Malaysian-style nasi goreng.  We watched all manner of tourists traipse past.  As we are left with an extra day, we also bought day tours of an few islands in the Mekong delta for tomorrow.  It should last from about 8:00 to 5:00.

Day 25 - Good Morning, Vietnam!

We slept well on the 7th floor at the Nouveu Happy Inn.  We we not really supposed to get breakfast as we'd booked on Agoda just to have a room waiting on our late arrival yesterday.  Yet, when we said we might stay more, we were quickly given a Vietnamese chicken pho, a type of thin soup.



It's Sunday but we walked out of the hotel and I was immediately impressed with this city. On the Vietnam map it's called Ho Chi Minh City, but in many people's heart it is still Saigon! Our hotel is in District 1. We simply walked out and towards the Ben Thanh Market and accidentally came across the "Backpacker's Section".  How nice to be in a city which is really set up for tourism.  The streets are wide due to their French heritage, and also clean.  Flowers are planted everywhere.  Also yellow potted flowers adorn the front of most businesses as decoration for the recent start of the New Year which is referred to as Tet here.

We found the market and noticed lots of tropical fruit for sale.  Jay ended up buying one as it was unfamiliar looking to him.  It was a larger version of milk fruit known in his language in Sri Lanka.  We also bought other things such as cut jack fruit to put in our hotel room's refrigerator.  We walked back to the busy tourist section for lunch.

It was hot enough at 2 o'clock for a little nap.

We are trying to figure out how many days we have remaining and how to fit the rest of Vietnam and Laos into the remaining days.   We may see what we can of the old section of the city this evening and tomorrow.  Am I ready for a night bus tomorrow?  This seems like a really nice place to spend more days than we have available.


The area of District 1 near the Opera House is beautiful!