Day 10 - Halong Bay
14th March 2011
Halong Bay is perhaps one of the most famous and popular tourist areas of Vietnam. Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Halong Bay has more than 3,000 limestone karts stone islands scattered across it. Most rise sharply out of the bay and are uninhabited. Lonely Planet describes it as "Majestic and mysterious, inspiring and imperious, words alone cannot do justice to the natural wonder that is Halong Bay".
Having read articles, guidebooks and also people raving on about it, I decided to booked a 3 day 2 nights cruise on Halong Bay with a company called Kangaroo Café which cost $120. On the day of the tour, it was grey and overcast. The tour bus came to pick everyone up at the front of the café and then it was a 3.5 hours drive east of the city.
Most of the drive there was pretty uneventful. However about 10 minutes until arrival, our tour guide got up from his seat and announce to the group that there was bad news. Our three day tour would be cancelled. Vietnamese authorities decided to close the bay tomorrow due to bad weather. He then said we had a choice of either turning around and heading back to Hanoi and get a full refund or do a day trip of Halong Bay and get a partial refund. It was an easy choice to make and the whole group decided to continue on.
We pull into the harbour of Halong Bay and walk down a long dock to the small shuttle boats that will ferry us out to our ship- the Bai Tu Long Junk. Just like most of the ships in the bay, it was styled as a traditional wooden junk. It was decent but nothing special. We were greeted with welcome drinks and soon after had a five course lunch.
After lunch, everyone on the tour group hung around the top deck to view the scenery. I chatted to some of the other guests including 3 Americans and 2 Australian couples. There were all very nice and friendly. Pretty soon we began to see some of the thousands of little islands Halong Bay is famous for and they really were gorgeous. The only thing I would have liked more was some sun. It's a pity for such a spectacular place in the world.
Several of the islands are hollow, with enormous caves and we were cruising out to one of these limestone caverns in the bay called Dong Thien Cung. On the docking area, there were Vietnamese workers doing construction work but it kind of looked like they drilling for oil. I noticed the beaches and water surrounding the island was pretty dirty. I guess the Vietnamese aren't really into environmentalism.
The entrance of the cave requires a short hike up several flights of stone steps high above the bay. To make it more majestic (and more appealing for tourists), they lit up the cave with blue, green, and pink hues, bringing attention to various stalactite and stalagmite formations within the cave. But in my opinion it looks tacky and not exactly natural looking. And for some reason, they decided to put little penguin rubbish bins around the caves. That along with the colourful lights made me felt like I was in Disneyland instead of in a world heritage area. The cave was also full of tourist because our tour guide told us it was the only cave opened that day and every other places and activities was closed. So I didn’t get to do things like kayaking and rock climbing or visit floating village and hike on one of the island. It was a bit disappointing.
We headed back to the Junk and just sat on the deck chair and admired the numerous little bulbous islands covered in plants and trees, dotting the horizon. The sky had been overcast and as evening approached, instead of a sunset, the fog rose and a damp chill surrounded us. Soon there were fog everywhere and we all watched as the limestone islands surrounding us disappear within the fog. It was very surreal and mystical. And before we know it, our trip was over. It went by really fast (total about 4 hours). I think the drive there was almost as long as the trip itself!
Without a doubt, Halong Bay is a place of outstanding natural beauty. But because of the bad weather and cancellation it did make the trip less enjoyable. I really thought Halong Bay would be the highlight of the trip but this was not the case. The cancellation of the trip left me with a few options. Where should I go? What should I do? Ninh Binh (Halong Bay on land) or Hoi An (another World Heritage Area)? Or fly back down south to Phu Quoc Island (tropical island with unspoilt beaches) or Saigon? Find out on my next blog entry!
50 Things I Hate About Vietnam!
Some people like to accentuate the positive and leave out the bad experiences in their travels. But I think it's important to let you guys know the good and the bad (especially for those who may want to visit Vietnam one day). But be aware every traveller is different and of course will have different experiences. While I think Vietnam is a beautiful, fascinating country, there are also a lot of things that I don’t like about it. Here I present to you...
50 things I hate about Vietnam
50 things I hate about Vietnam
1. Dirty streets - The concept of bins and recycling totally eludes the Vietnamese. The roadside and the rice fields will do just fine to dump all your crap. Streets are covered in crap. And there are no bloody bins anywhere.
2. The streets are also smelly.
3. The bumpy road - Random puddles and potholes can be found all over Vietnam.
4. It’s so hard to cross the road - There’s way too many motorcycles.
5. Traffic Law (or lack of it) -What few traffic rules there are, they are largely ignored resulting in the country having a high rate of traffic injuries and deaths.
6. The Visa price to get in the country.
7. The Pollution – This includes Air, Noise, Land, Water pollution. And it’s not just the bad pollution but lack of environmentalism. There’s so much junk in Halong Bay (and I’m not talking about the boats). The area is a UNESCO World Heritage site yet I could see the water is pretty dirty and polluted and there’s lots of floating rubbish.
8. Mosquitoes / Bed Bugs in hotels.
9. Poor hygiene – A lot of the things I see in Vietnam just don’t seem very hygienic. For example many street side food vendors don’t cover their food well and it can get exposed to pollution from traffic or I see flies land on their food but they just don’t really care.
10. The small colourful plastic chair found in streetside restaurants which are designed for little kids.
11. Taxi Drivers- As mentioned in my earlier blog post, I was ripped off by a taxi driver in Hanoi. Taxi drivers will do anything to get more money from you including taking the long way to a destination and changing the price at the end of the trip. I have also heard stories of some using rigged meters that count faster than they should.
12. Motorcycle obstructing shopfronts – The Vietnamese like to park their motorbikes in front of a store or restaurant blocking the sidewalks.
13. Lack of tourism infrastructure (especially outside the big cities).
14. Tacky designs – I find the hotels have very tacky interior. Also they like to put random objects like colourful lighting and penguin bins inside caves or Mickey Mouse furniture inside a War Museum.
15. The unsafe drinking water.
16. Lack of regulations and disregard for safety – e.g. I’ve seen workers fixing the power lines on a busy street with no warning signs or fenced off area. I’ve also seen a lot of kids on motorbike with no helmet on and some parents bringing along their baby for a ride.
17. Tour guides taking the group to a “rest” stopover on the way to our destination. We would stop at an overpriced souvenirs store or restaurant. The tour guide would hope we spend some money so that he can make some commission.
18. Ho Chi Minh is everywhere!
19. Internet censorship e.g. Facebook is blocked.
20. Overcharging tourists - Ask any traveller about their experience in Vietnam and you will guarantee to hear them complain about how they overpaid for this or were lied to about that. It was funny hearing stories of other people getting screwed over. You cannot avoid being scammed in this region.
Most foreigners are seen as targets of opportunity. And it can happen anywhere on anything from an hotel room, a ride on taxi, coffee, meal, clothing, basic grocery stuff, etc. It’s actually reasonable for foreigners to assume they are being overcharged because it does happen a lot.
And I have a lot of examples of this from personal experience. I had a tour guide quoting exorbitant prices and when I called him out on it he just shrugged and said I have a lot of money and that the inflated prices are still cheap. Another time, in the hotel I was staying in Sapa, they wanted me to pay extra for a heater even though it was suppose to be included in the price. I might haggle for a bottle of water, but my ending price is still higher than that of a local buying it next to me. And finally there is dual pricing on some tourist attraction e.g. Cu Chi Tunnel entry prices are 4 times more expensive for non-Vietnamese.
21. North Vietnamese accents
22. The Vietnamese Dong – There’s too many zeroes
23. The bad weather screwed me over especially in Sapa and Halong Bay.
24. Being treated like a walking ATM.
25. Constantly being lied to - Liars lied about when we are leaving, lied about the price of tour, closing times of shop, price of taxi fare, hotel quality,etc
26. The Vietnamese have no concept of queuing.
27. The lack of public toilets – It’s so hard to find a public toilet in Vietnam, even harder to find a clean one. I once had to go to a restaurant to use one only to find out afterward it will cost me money for it.
28. All the honking - Horns are repeatedly honked by every motorist, on average, every five seconds. They honk when passing someone; they honk when turning; they honk when people aren't moving fast enough; they honk when they're driving the wrong side of the road street; they honk when pissed; they honk when happy; Honk! Honk! Honk! That's what you hear all day long.
29. Public Spitting
30. Aggressive selling – I’ve seen shoe shiner going into restaurants to ask tourist (while they were eating) if they wanted their shoes shined. I even seen one ask a guy if he wants his sandals shoe shined. I find some of the sellers are extremely pushy sellers. I had some follow me down the streets and pulling on my shirt.
31. Communist Propaganda and also the Communist Government.
32. Early curfew in Hanoi - Hanoi nightlife is non-existent as all bars and club close early due to a midnight curfew influenced by the still-present communist party.
33. The corruption in the country.
34. Crowded sidewalk – A lot of the streets in Vietnam are packed full of vendors who would bring their business right to the path of a walkway. This obstructs the path of pedestrians and forcing them to walk on the road.
35. The bad public transport.
36. The feeling that every other person seems to be cultivating some kind of scam. I had to be continuously on guard to the endless scams and rip offs that is so rife in this country.
37. Being stared at by locals.
38. There are many illegitimate businesses with the same name and logo of a competing business (there are no copyright laws in Vietnam). Many of the less reputable travel organizations often re-sell the services of the real one and at a huge mark-up. So you have to be sure that you used the right one.
39. Rude shop keepers – While buying souvenirs, the seller would laugh and brag to her assistant in Vietnamese that she was going to overcharge me.
40. The poor translations/engrish in signs
41. The bad fashion – Some of the clothes the local wear are laughable. Vietnamese men with pink hello kitty helmets but the thing is they don’t give a ****.
42. Small tube houses – A lot of the houses (also shops, restaurants and hotels) in Vietnam are really tall, really long but very narrow in width. This is due to limited space and because the buildings are taxed by the width of the building. As a result, a lot of cheaper hotels are built at the width of a single room. This meant I had to climb flights of stairs (with my entire luggage) just to get to my room in level 8 (since a majority of them don’t have any elevators).
43. The electric power lines in the streets.
44. The way Vietnamese drive – It’s crazy scary especially when you have a driver who likes to speed and is so eager to overtake every vehicle on a narrow one lane (in each direction) road on the mountain side.
45. The really hard beds in a lot of Vietnamese hotels
46. Locals giving incorrect change - Not only do they not give me the correct change, I had a taxi driver pretend that he doesn't have any money with him so that he can keep my change.
47. Poverty – It’s depressing to see
48. Constantly being hassled - All too common street scene is a tourist walking down the street with a motorbike or cyclo in pursuit, with the drivers yelling 'hello, motorbike', 'hello cyclo', 'hello, where you from?', ‘Hello where you go?”... I was also hassle all the time by the locals offering to sell street snacks, sunglasses, souvenirs and services like shoe shine and even sex.
49. The dodgy raw meat that is sold in the market
50. Leaving the country – Despite all the hate I've just mentioned, I really enjoyed the country and had a great time there. So I would say coming back home is what I hated the most!
Day 9 - Bac Ha
13th March 2011
The next day I went on a tour to Bac Ha which is about 3 hours drive from Sapa. What attracts people to this town is the Sunday Market. It is the biggest ethnic market in the province - where all the hills peoples (Dao, Tay, Thai, Nung and Flower Hmong) from the surrounding area meet once a week to trade their goods.The drive there was long and bumpy with lots of sharps turns and sudden stops. Our driver was speeding all the way and was constantly honking and trying to overtake vehicles on a one lane highway. The tour bus passed through many scenic mountains and I could see very steep rice terraces down the valley below. They were the most amazing landscapes I have seen in the entire trip. Unfortunately the tour bus didn't stop so I didn't get a chance to take any photos.
I arrived at Bac Ha around 10:30am and the tour guide gave us about two and half hours to explore. The markets here are unlike anything I've seen in Vietnam. It is a genuine country market, with livestock trading, farming tools and a lot of handcraft items. Minorities living high in the hills walk hours on end to get here just to pick up a new plough head or a wooden saddle. They also used this area as a social gathering place. It felt like something out of National Geographic.
The other areas of the market were selling everyday household items, kitchen utensils, shoes, sandals, gumboots and even some electrical goods. There is even an area (long row of chairs with mirrors erected) where one can have a haircut. In the central area of the Bac Ha markets, there is a food court. It was filled with lots of locals and not many tourists.
One of the more interesting areas was the livestock section which was selling animals such as buffaloes, horses, chicken, pigs and even puppies. And finally there was also section of the market geared more towards the tourist - selling textiles and wall hangings, elaborate textiles, handbags and other trinkets made by the local tribespeople.
Although I was at the market, I didn't purchase anything. I spent most of the day people watching. There were a huge number of market-goers (local and foreign people alike). It was a blend of sounds, smells and colourful things to see which made it an experience not to be missed. Everywhere you turn the vibrant colours from the Flower Hmong women hits you. Their intricately woven costume is especially great for photography. The locals don't mind you taking pictures of them either as I think they are so used to it by now. The Flower H'mong was also not as pushy or talkative as the ones in Sapa.
I also went to Vua Meo Palace which was located at the base of a mountain about 15 minutes walk from the market. The palace is where the former king of the Hmong people lived early last century. The entrance fee was only 5000 dongs/ 25 cents to get in but there wasn't really much to see (most of the rooms in the building were completely empty). The architectural style is quite interesting though, it was a like a strange mix of 'oriental baroque'.
Then it was time to regroup for the tour. The guide took us to a local village which were surrounded by rice terraces and small mountains. The scenery was similar to the one in Sapa, except this time I could actually see something. I should note, at the time of my visit, it wasn't rice season, so the landscape while impressive wasn't at its best. They say the best time to visit Sapa is around September, when the rice is about to be harvest. This is when the green colour covers all the large mountains, the fields and rice terraces and it's like the images you see in postcards.
Our final stop for the tour was to the Chinese Border near Lao Cai (Vietnamese side) / Hekou (Chinese side). It's just a border with a bridge crossing to the other side. Nothing interesting to say really. Then it was back to Lao Cai Station where the tour ended. I left at 8pm on the overnight train back to Hanoi sharing the cabin with three Americans girls. The train ride back was noisy and very unstable and I had troubles sleeping. At one point, there was a loud bang and the train came to a halt for about half an hour. I eventually was able to fall asleep and I arrived back to Hanoi in the early morning.
Sapa was one of my favourite destinations of the entire trip. Despite the poor weather, I still enjoyed it immensely. It's just an incredibly beautiful part of Vietnam. Definitely a must visit!
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