Hanoi, Halong Bay & Sapa - Hanoi, Vietnam
Hanoi, Vietnam
I think we must have been planning to save the best for last because the last few days we have seen some of the nicest sights we've ever seen. We arrived early morning in Hanoi (5:30am) and could have sworn it was the middle of the day. The park was filled with people doing Thai Chi and the rest were walking laps of the lake. We headed straight for our hotel and got some rest. The Old Quarter was lively as the small streets branched off away from Hoan Kiem lake. We had just enough time to cruise around and enjoy some street side beers before getting organized for Halong Bay and Sapa back 2 back. We were recommended to use a travel agent (Ms Ly) who was very friendly and helpful. We set off to Halong bay for one night and two days. We hit it off with our tour guide, Hip, right away and got treated to the best room on the boat. It was much nicer than I ever expected. cruising the bay in between huge karst stones rising from the water was a tranquil experience. We got to enjoy the floating villages by kayak and a huge cave that could have been the set of an Indiana Jones movie. I cant say enough about the experience. The food was great and we got entertained to some late night karaoke courtesy of some fun loving malaysians and a local girl from Vietnam with her French 'Fiancé'. We got back to Hanoi and caught the night train to Sapa. This was without a doubt our favourite stop in all of Asia. We spent three days trekking through rice terraces and villages with the local Sapa ladies who stayed with you 12km just to make a sale. We are coming home with a lot of Sapa stuff and we must have over 100 pictures of the scenery. Our tribe guide, Sue, wouldn't have been much more than 4'7 and 80 lbs and she carried her little baby on her back the whole trip. We enjoyed a home stay with a nice German couple, and Austrian with his Cambodian girlfriend, then a nice hotel in town overlooking the mountains. It was the perfect way to finish south east Asia. As we're packing up and heading for the airport it feels like we are on our way home. It would be great to get back to friends and family but were glad its not over yet. We go to Hong Kong for the weekend before flying to Istanbul. The protests seem to have died down just in time.