"Private Touring Vietnam - Stage 1 -... " a Hanoi Travel Page by Gillybob

Day 1

We made our way to Hanoi on a flight up from Kuala Lumpur. Landing at Hanoi we are met by our first guide, Duc, and driver, Diem. It takes about 40 minutes to drive into Hanoi to the Golden Key hotel which was over first stop on our tour. Duc was very informative, with an accent that was a strange melange of TV accents from the USA, England and Australia. We spent the afternoon catching up with sleep before meeting up with Duc to go out for our evening meal (fried noodles and chicken followed by fresh fruit and yoghurt) which is really yummy. The biggest challenge in Hanoi is all the traffic and its mostly 2 wheels. Crossing roads can be a real challenge! Duc walks us back to the hotel where we rest up before setting out to see what the drums are that are playing just down the road - it turns out to be a fashion show outside a market so its back to the hotel.

Day 2

Our first full day in Hanoi and we have a city tour. We start with a visit to the Ho Chi Minch Mausoleum; luckily Uncle Ho is off in Russia getting a preservation touch-up so we don't have to see his body in the glass coffin. Then we go to the buidling that was Ho Chi Minh's office - painted a bright yellow like all government buildings. Then its on to Uncle Ho's house next to a small lake. We then walk on to the One Pillar Pagoda - built literally on a pillar over a small pond. Its tiny but full of beautiful statues with a staircase leading up. From there, we head to the Ethnology Museum where its nice to cool off whilst learning about all the ethnic minorities that make up the people of Vietnam. In the grounds we walk round and through some of the houses of the ethnic minorities. We also walk past a 'funeral tomb' and Duc tells us about the statues which surround the building and depict the circle of life (some very large male appendages here!).

We have lunch and go for a short walk to Hoan Kiem Lake where Ngoc Son Temple sits on an island. After returning towards our lunch venue, we meet up with Duc and head towards Van Mieu Temple (Temple of Literature).

At West Lake, we start out for a walk and become the stars of a southern Vietnamese family's holiday photos! We then head to Tran Quoc Pagoda which has some beautiful altars and an impressive eleven section tower.

From there we head to the wonderfully air-conditioned Water Puppet Theatre. Whilst the story is conducted in Vietnamese without any English translation, it is very impressive with dragons that still manage to 'breathe fire' after going under the very green water.

After the water puppet show, we take a walk around the Old Quarter of Hanoi where the streets are named after the wares the merchants sell and the biggest challenge isn't what to buy but how to get across the streets full of mopeds and scooters.

Day 3

Our second full day takes us out of Hanoi so its nice to be able to enjoy the air-conditioned vehicle for a good drive. Our first stop is Bich Dong temple. The first temple is at the base of the cliff then its a walk up quite a few steps to the second temple which is built into the cliff and a further steep climb takes us up to the third temple. There are beautiful views of Tam Coc on the way.

After lunch - which includes goat meat - we head down to the sampans for our cruise around Tam Coc which is considered to be Halong Bay in land. There's some crouching to do to get under a couple of low bridges but the scenery is beautiful. The hilltop dragon and phoenix have been specifically built to attract visitors but they only add to the atmosphere. Even the pressured selling from our oars-woman isn't so hard to be annoying.

On the way back to Hanoi we see even more evidence that two wheels are just as good as four in Vietnam! A man has a bicycle heavily laden with clay pots whilst another man rides a moped with a cage of piglets on the back! The streets themselves are packed with mopeds as usual.

Hanoi to Halong

After breakfast with views over Hanoi from the top floor of the Hang Nga Hotel, we head out to Halong City and there's plenty of opportunity to take in local sights on the way. As soon as we arrive, we head straight out into the bay which is full of limestone islets and is similar to the scenery around Krabi in Thailand but with a lot more islands. We have lunch which includes fresh prawns and crabs which are delicious. Oce we're out past a few islands, we stop and have an opportunity for a swim which is great after all the hot, sticky days. We head back towards Halong City and stop at Thien Cung Cave. The walk up to the caves is quite challenging for both of us after our swim but the interiors are well worth it. Duc points out lots of different forms amongst the stalactites and stalacmites as well as an opening to the sky known as Heaven's Gate. Then its back to Halong City pas two small 'fighting cock' islands which are the symbol of Halong Bay. In the evening, there's an opportunity to walk through the local tourist market and the sea front back to the hotel.

Today we head back to Hanoi. We take a different route to that which we came along. On the way, we stop at a street-side cafe for lunch which is really nice. After lunch we stop at But Thap Pagoda and I take the opportunity to light incense, say prayers and leave offerings for two friends who are fighting their battles against cancer. I also buy them some small gifts from the stalls outside the pagoda. From the pagoda we continue to head back to Hanoi through some more stunning scenery.

Another restful night and we head out of Hanoi, south west towards Mai Chau. It takes us an hour to get out of Hanoi and its there that the rain starts - luckily its not too heavy. We head towards the hills and the scenery is beautiful despite the cloudy weather. As we head up into the hills, we start to head into the clouds but what we can see is breathtaking. As we start to drop down into the valley where Mai Chau is situated, we leave the rain behind and the clouds break up slightly to let through some patchy sunshine. Lunch is inside one of the stilt houses with a bamboo floor and the food is very nice. After lunch, we take a walk through the village. Each house is set up with a loom to weave some beautiful scarves and pashminas with a small shop area selling their wares including baskets, bags, friendship bracelets and bookmarks. Each house has someone asking you to buy but without any of the pressure we experienced when visiting the hilltribes in Thailand. I pick up a few pieces to take back as gifts before its time to get back into the car for the journey back to Hanoi. On the way we see hundreds of bicycles and mopeds, many of which are heavily laden with all manner of things including sugar cane, whole families and one with two quite large pigs in a cage. They still don't beat the live cow on the back of a moped we saw on the way to Halong City - a missed photo opportunity if ever!

Our last night in Hanoi gives us our first real lie-in of the holiday before Diem and Duc take us out to the airport for our flight down to Danang. Hanoi has been really interesting and a great introduction to Vietnam; here's hoping the rest of the trip is as good.