Our final stop in Vietnam was up north. Not as far north as I'd have liked to go (I'm coming back for you one day, Sapa!), but far enough to at least hit the capital, Hanoi, and the famous Halong Bay. As with the rest of Vietnam, we were far too rushed, but during our time we managed to have one of the best meals of our Asia trip, finish up our Vietnamese souvenir shopping, and learn the fine art of spring roll making. I mean, along with visit a UNESCO World Heritage site and all that.
Hanoi
We arrived in Hanoi by (what else) sleeper bus from Phong Nha, and it took about eight hours. It was about a twenty minute trek from the bus station to our hostel, during which time I decided Hanoi is just slightly less crazy and hectic than Ho Chi Minh, but not by much.
Also, here's a tip: There is a winter and it gets cold! I was shocked the first night to go out and feel how chilly it was. It was a weird change of pace. If you're going around November like we did, pack some jeans and hoodies.
We stayed at Vietnam Backpackers: The Original. I think this is the slightly more chilled out of their two locations, but if you're looking for more of a party atmosphere, they have one downtown as well. We were only staying one night so it didn't matter much to us. They had a nice lounge area past the lobby with couches, TV, and a bar, and the dorms were decent enough. Biggest downside was having to go up about four flights of stairs to our room. The hostel was down an alley full of other hostels and travel agencies in the old quarter.
I've got to be honest, I am no expert on Hanoi. We arrived at 6 AM and had only one day to sightsee during which we were exhausted. The only highlights we hit were the lake in the middle of the city with its red bridge...
...St. Joseph's Cathedral (which was closed)...
...and the ultimate highlight, 4 Ps restaurant. Seriously, if you are in Hanoi, go here. We were lucky enough to happen upon it since it was on the same street as our hostel, and we would have been sorely missing out to skip it. It's a super modern place with stone walls and an exposed kitchen. There was a wait but they got us in at a communal table.
My dinner here made it into my top 3 favorite meals I had in all of Asia (along with two from Myanmar: my tamarind leaf curry in Bagan and spicy arrabiata pasta in Yangon). I had herb and truffle camembert as my starter, and it was seriously one of the most phenomenally beautiful things I've ever eaten. Then for my main, I had a tomato spaghetti with house-made mascarpone cheese which was a little bit spicy and perfectly creamy when you mixed the cheese in. I was blown away by it all! Along with that, I found a nice IPA on the menu, one of the first craft beers I came across in Vietnam.
Now that I'm done raving about food, I don't have much left to say about Hanoi itself. Oh, I saw a dead, cooked dog on a platter outside a shop. Apparently dog is a common dish in Vietnam... watch out, meat eaters! We had noticed a distinct lack of strays in the country... Probably safest if you just go veggie during your stay, right? ;-)
Halong Bay
Choosing a Boat Tour
Unfortunately for us, I did not know that Halong Bay was a tour to book ahead of time. I'm used to showing up and doing things the day before. It's the backpacker way! I should have kept in mind that Halong Bay is a very popular attraction for all sorts of people including plenty of old and middle-aged tourists who probably booked their entire trip eight months in advance.
As it worked out, I did all my research on different boats in the afternoon on the day before departure. All of them seem to have the same basic itinerary, but prices vary wildly. The more expensive boats will be fancier with better meals and may offer you some kind of early morning tai chi session (sounds more like a punishment to me). Two day tours will often let you spend one night on the boat and another on an island. I would have preferred that as there are opportunities to rock climb and whatnot, but you know, we were limited by poor time management.
My main concern came down to age group. I wanted a lively boat of younger people, but not the shitshow 18 year old backpacker tours. It turns out I had no say in any of it really, because my first choice boat got back to me saying that they were booked full for the next few days. We went down to the hostel travel desk and every boat they called was booked full as well. Tried the travel agent across the street... first boat, booked full. I was starting to get nervous, but we hit a break. The travel agent pulled out a book for a new boat, Moon Light Cruise. Unfortunately it was so new that I couldn't even find a Trip Advisor listing or any trace of it online, but it was affordable and we were desperate. They had one bed left and we booked it.
Moon Light Cruise
We lucked out. Just about everyone on our cruise was around our age. I also really liked the boat, although a few of the girls said they'd been told it was "brand new" when it was clearly pushing at least 30. That didn't bother me! It had an old-fashioned feel to it.
We had a lower deck which was a narrow wooden hallway of bedrooms...
...an indoor middle deck which was the dining area and bar...
...and a top deck where we could have sunbathed if it had been anywhere above 50 degrees. I had only packed a small bag and left my large backpack at the hostel, so I had to find someone kind enough to loan me leggings for the two days.
The meals were also great. They segregated us four vegetarians at our own table, but they really came through on the veggie meals. Our options included tofu, fake meat, taro balls (so good), awesome fried cheese, egg rolls, veggies, and bread. We ate well!
Our adorable guide was Steve, and he was a constant source of entertainment. I especially loved how he would repeat simple things at us three or four times to make sure we understood. During spring roll making, he'd hold up a bowl full of bright orange chopped carrots and hold it out in all directions going, "Carrot. Carrot. Carrot." He'd then repeat the same for every other ingredient. He mastered the art of being endearingly but unintentionally funny.
No matter where we went, you could see gorgeous views of Halong Bay in every direction. It really is amazing how the rock formations just go on and on through the water. It was nice just to stand on deck or look out the windows at any given moment.
There was no wifi, but to be honest, that was probably for the best. I just so happened to be on this cruise on Election Day 2016 (The Reckoning), and I would have spent the entire time below deck just reading the news and being consumed by rage. It was kind of funny (by which I mean nothing about this election was funny AT ALL) because I had left the hostel that morning while the election results were coming in on TV. I had almost wanted to skip the tour altogether and just start drinking at 8 AM commiserating with my fellow Americans.
Turns out, there were four or five other Americans on my boat, and the last thing we heard before boarding was some obnoxious American guy way too excited to deliver bad news announcing to us (since he had mobile data on his phone) that it looked like the totally in-touch working man's celebrity billionaire (my sarcastic words, not his) had it locked down. The whole pier just fell into shocked silence, and us Americans on our boat just stood around in disbelief like it was a funeral. It was worse because we were forced to wait until returning to civilization the following day to have anything confirmed for sure.
Anecdotes are fun, but I feel like I'm veering off topic.
Activities
It was a fun couple of days despite the weather. These cruises (I'm assuming the others are the same) give you a nice mixture of activities and downtime.
Our first stop was off on a floating wooden platform where we grabbed kayaks and lifejackets and went to paddle around the bay. Due to a potential oncoming typhoon, we were confined to a little inlet where the waves weren't so choppy. Weirdly, I felt waves of heat coming from somewhere, and it wasn't until I touched the water that I figured it out. Who would have expected in the chilly weather that the water would be like a warm bath?! It was kind of cool.
Afterwards, we headed over to Sung Sot Cave, more commonly known as Surprising Cave. We were pretty caved-out after Phong Nha, but it was worth it for the views. We stopped at a midway point and up at the very top with a beautiful look out at Halong Bay.
The cave itself was nice too. It had colorful spotlights illuminating different sections.
Parts of the ceiling were indented so much they looked like sand dunes. There was a rock shaped like a turtle at the end where people left money and rubbed it for luck (I couldn't help thinking you could make a few bucks showing up on your own... someone needs to clear out that cash!). I was most curious though to find out what the "surprising" part of Surprising Cave was. Turns out, it's... * SPOILERS*
A penis rock. Just goes to show that maturity levels are much the same worldwide.
We spent the night having a free drink (or drinks) on deck (there was some terrible wine and a full keg of beer) and playing games on the middle deck.
We kicked off the next morning going to a floating pearl farm which was different. Walking along the outer wooden boardwalks we could see underwater nets holding oysters, men shucking them, and women extracting pearls. We had way too long to wander around the very expensive gift shop which none of us could afford. I don't think 20-somethings are the target age group for fancy pearl jewelry.
Our last organized activity was a lesson on making spring rolls. Steve informed us that key criteria in marrying a Vietnamese man is to be able to make a good spring roll. After he rewrapped mine, shrugged disapprovingly, and told me "It's ok!", I realized I can give up on ever having a Vietnamese husband.
We were back at the pier following lunch and jumped on the van for the 2-3 hour ride back to Hanoi. They do make a stop each way at an Agent Orange charity shop which has some cool souvenirs including handcrafted products and silk clothing. When we arrived back in Hanoi, Steve informed us that we'd have to quickly jump off the bus and grab our luggage from underneath so that the driver could keep moving through rush hour traffic.
Of course, the first pair to get off couldn't find their bags. Steve got off to help them amidst (what I assume was) a bunch of cursing in Vietnamese from the driver. When they still were taking too long, this totally jacked driver in his wifebeater honestly launched himself over the seat looking like what I imagine the Viet Cong did during an ambush. Poor Steve-o looked pretty stressed out the rest of the trip. When our turn finally came, no matter how many times we told him we already had our luggage with us, he continued to warn us, "Maria and Lewis, prepare to arrive." We were just laughing and going, "Steve, we're ready!"
We grabbed our luggage out of storage at the hostel and took a cab out to our hotel near the airport for the night. I had chosen Family Transit Hotel because they offered a free one-way shuttle service to or from the airport. They were very professional, helped with our bags, and were ready to take to the terminal at 7 AM sharp the next morning (ready before we were, in fact).
That closed out our visit to Vietnam, but we were headed back to Thailand one last time for Chiang Mai and the Yi Peng lantern festival.