Northern Vietnam - Hanoi, Sapa & Halong Bay

After a month and a half of beaches in Thailand, we were ready for a beach break and excited to get to Vietnam for some cooler weather. We took a quick stopover in Bangkok to do some shopping and take in a movie before leaving Thailand.

When we first got to Hanoi, it was absolutely chaotic. Motorbikes everywhere, cars honking constantly, and there doesn't seem to be any traffic rules. Crossing the street is just like playing "Frogger", but once we got the hang of it, we figured it all out and we were a little more brave. We stayed in the Old Quarter - most travellers stay in this area of Hanoi, lots of hotels and cafes everywhere. We tried Vietnamese coffee for the first time and are now hooked on it :) We found there wasn't too much to do other than go to some museums and temples or just sit in coffee shops, so we were looking forward to booking a trip to Sapa and Halong Bay to get out of the city.

To get to Sapa, we had to take an 8 hour overnight sleeper train to Lao Cai, about 2km from the Chinese border. We hadn't taken a train before in Asia, so didn't know what to expect. It was so noisy and bouncy, we didn't sleep at all. Once we got to Sapa though, the long trip was definately worth it. The scenery was unbelievable and we were so amused by the local Black H'mong women that surrounded us when we got off our bus. There were about 20 of them running up trying to talk to us and were waving and smiling while we were waiting in the hotel before our trek. There ended up being 6 of the tribe women walking with us for the whole 17km on the first day. They were very helpful and nice, and spoke pretty good english - very cute babies a few of them had too. However, we were disappointed at the end of our trek when about 20 of them surrounded us trying to sell us souvenirs. Oh well, we still ended up buying a few things that we'll probably never use, but would've felt bad if we didn't buy anything after they hiked all day with us.

We trekked through a few different villages and saw how all the different village people live. It was crazy to see how simple they live and to learn all about their culture and traditions. We saw soo many little kids working hard all the time too - carrying heavy baskets or logs on their backs and hiking up the mountain, impressive! We finally made it to our homestay - there was four in our group and we ended up having another pair stay with us, along with our guides. We had a good time with everyone - our host brought out some "happy water" (rice wine) to start our dinner.....the "water" kept flowing and it turned out to be a really fun night, haha. Next morning, not so happy, haha, but we still managed to get up and go trekking again. Then it was the night train back to Hanoi that night, this time, we were exhausted and slept almost the entire time.

The morning we got back from Sapa (4:30 AM), we left for Halong Bay at 7:30AM. When we first got on our "junk" (traditional vietnamese boat), we were amazed at how nice it was...not what we would expect when we hear "junk". Our room on the boat was probably nicer than a lot of the hotels we've been staying in. The first day we toured around, went kayaking and went through a big cave that was packed with other tourists. Really busy, but still good to see. The next morning we got up early and hiked up about 400 steps up a mountain to get a good view of the bay - was pretty good, but tiring at 7 in the morning. We then transferred to a smaller boat and went on a jungle trek through Cat Ba National Park. Was really good because everyone else on our boat had only booked a 1 night tour, so it was just the two of us with our guide, Hien. We stopped in and visited an old man who was living in the middle of nowhere in the National Park. Was cool to see how he lived - really basic, grew all his own vegetables, had his own fish farm and chickens. Then we continued on and headed to Cat Ba island, where we stayed in a hotel for the night. Was a cool harbour town, pretty laid back compared to the chaos in Hanoi!

We're now in Hanoi, going to a national park near Ninh Binh tomorrow (about 2 hours south of Hanoi) for a couple days, then we start to head further south in Vietnam to Hoi An.

Thats it for now!

Khao Lak to Ko Samui

We've hit a bunch of places since last post, so will try and keep it brief for each one.

Khao Lak - was a lazy beachside town 100km north of Phuket island...pretty cool place, was the place hit hardest by tsunami 5 years ago, so has not built itself up as a tourist destination like elsewhere. We basically lazed around, and rented a scooter hunted for deserted beaches : ), and waterfalls. Once at the waterfall, I tried scaling the wall to cool off under the water...got there okay, on the way back, slipped and my foot plunged into the water under some leaves....all i could think was water snake! so I scrambled out quick as i could as Jenn laughed.
Khao Lak was also a jumping point for Similian Island National Park, 9 island Marine park, where you can only take day trips...so untouched other than the daily boats...pretty unreal place, just did some snorkelling and laying on the beach there. Probably the nicest place either of us have ever been.

Khao Sok - next we headed inland towards Khao Sok National park, apparently the oldest Jungle in the world. Stayed in a treehouse with not much around us...it was pretty creepy at night with all the noises. Took a full day tour where we took a boat through the whole lake with cool limestone cliffs/mountains around...then got to the end where we trekked through jungle and into a massive cave. Went through cave for about 1.5hrs saw tonnes of creepy stuff (bats, spiders, frogs). The cave was pitch black the entire time, and there is a small river that runs through it that you are constantly walking in...fear the snake again! ha ha. Eventually we hit a point where you have to swim about 10 metres in the dark.

Ko Tao - from Khao Sok we travelled to the little island of Ko Tao in the Gulf of Thailand. Tried out scuba diving for first time, which was a blast, would have done more if it wasn't so pricey. We'll plan to do scuba again towards end of trip. Ko Tao is probably busiest dive place in Asia, so has a different vibe than other islands - dive shops everywhere, and lots of backpackers. The rest of the 4 days we laid around and took in many chang beers : ). The island was one of the coolest we had been, but is starting to feel tourism, as its getting crowded, more developed, and lots of garbage.

Ko Phangan - Pretty nice island with high moutains rising up, and home of the full moon party. Dates didn't work out to go to this, but possibly in April we will make it back for it. Not much to say here as we did virtually nothing on quiet beaches. Rented a beachfront bungalow for about $15 on a pretty secluded spot. This island is not over run other than Hat Rin (place of full moon party). We stayed on Bottle Beach, really nice spot.

Ko Samui - This island is definately the most westernized of the three in the Gulf - McDonald's, Starbucks, fancy hotels and restaraunts, and lots more tourists! (Mostly European, as there is an international airport on the island) We figured we needed some adventure after laying around for 4 days on Ko Phangan, so we rented a scooter, and hit some buddhist sites, and saw most of the major temples. Had a minor scooter mishap infront of a restaurant full of people, wearing my nice green helmet, looked like an idiot, ha ha. We hit the driving range...realized the golf skills are a bit rusty, wanted to a round of golf, but couldn't fit it in.
Next day took a tour to Ang Thong National Park, which is a bunch of small islands. Did some snorkelling, kayaking, hiked up to a few viewpoints to get pics of the park, and another one to see a big emerald lagoon that formed in the middle of one of the islands. Had a rough ride on the ride back, the sea has been rough in Samui, and Jenn and I thought it would be cool to sit in the front of the speedboat, bad idea, we have some sore backs to report! ha ha.

Now, we are heading to mainland Surat Thani to fly to Bangkok for 1 day, do some quick shopping, and then jet out to Hanoi in North Vietnam for less beach and more adventure!

Ko Lanta/Ko Mook/Phuket

After we left Krabi, we headed to Ko Lanta for 5 nights. So far Ko Lanta has been our favorite island - really laid back and not too big or busy. We rented a scooter and toured the island and found some desserted beaches. Spent a lot of nights just hanging out having a beer on the beach, was great!

Next we headed to Ko Mook, small island south of Ko Lanta. Was REALLY quiet. We pre-booked our bungalow here for 4 nights, probably could have left after 2, but was definately a memorable experience. We stayed at a place that was brand new, only opened 3 weeks before, and the first night we were there, we were the only ones at the resort. We roughed it a bit and stayed in bamboo bungalows that were REALLY basic - 2 twin mattresses on the floor with mosquito nets, and a fan, which cut out in the middle of the night because the island doesn't have 24hr power...and...a shared bathroom. So, were ready to go after 2 nights....but, we toughed it out and met some great people who showed up. Met another Canadian couple and a Swedish couple and made friends with the staff (an old lady and man who were the cooks - and the old man was VERY offended if we didn't eat everything off our plate! - but was really nice and kept bringing us treats from the village or fresh coffee in the morning...definately good service). Also made friends with the owner's dog, Brownie, reminded us of our own a bit...

From Ko Mook, we headed to Phuket - huge change. Phuket is really busy, expensive, and very touristy. Went from being the only ones on the beach to sharing it with a couple thousand on Kata Beach. So only spent 3 nights there, stayed in a nice place, went to the zoo, the old town center, and went to see the Big Buddha. I think they told us it was going to be the biggest in the world, was pretty cool, on top of a huge hill, so we had a great view of all of Phuket. We were also able to catch the gold medal hockey game - woke up at 3 AM and watched it live from our hotel room, Kyle was able to down a few beers, and I think we woke people up - Kyle was screaming when Sid scored! Anyways, had a good time, but were definately ready to leave after 3 nights....

We are now in Khao Lak, about hour north of Phuket for a few nights, and then we are heading into the jungle at Khao Sok National Park.

Thats it for now,

Cheers

More pics at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/kyle.houston