The cold days (Hanoi – Halong Bay)

I waited and waited and waited for my flight to Hanoi, unfortunately I misread my flight times to Hanoi and had to wait 5 hours for my plane additional to that it was slightly delayed too, but I was in no rush. However after such a long waiting time I couldn’t wait to get into bed and catch up on some sleep.

The flight was quick and painless, just after over one hour I arrived at the Hanoi Airport and got picked up by the pre-arranged pick up service from the hostel. I wasn’t too impressed by the rain and coldness that welcomed me to Hanoi; first time in ages that I had to put on sweater and jeans to stay warm.

The hostel, by all fairness, gave me a bed and the opportunity to shower, nothing more or less. I wasn’t impressed, but it was only for two nights so I knew I would survive. Next time I definitely would spend some more dollars for a nicer accommodation.

I woke up early in the morning to start my explorer day in the city and plan again for the next few days. After a short time I realised that my choice of clothes for the day wasn’t appropriate and I went back to the hostel to change into something warmer and took my jacket with me.

I walked and walked and walked to see some sights in Hanoi, some blisters later I decided it was time for lunch (at Puku Bar&Restaurant, very yummy). I walked a bit more and headed back to my accommodation. 

Since it was so cold I decided it was time to say good bye to my favourite flip-flops ever, they accompanied me since my first stop last year in Bangkok, I admit they did a pretty good job.

I had to get up early in the morning for my trip to Halong Bay. Arriving at the Mini Bus I got squeezed in between a Canadian Girl and I believe he was a big Irish hungover bloke, all in all not that bad, but I was relieved when I finally got off the bus.

We were rushed to the boat and dumped our bags on deck before we had some lunch, which pretty much was what I expected, a simple meal, mostly vegetarian.

After a few conversations with the other participants we realised that we all paid a different prices for the same tour, most of us paid 50 dollar, but some a bit less and some as high as 60 dollar. So if you do ever plan to do such a trip, be aware that the price difference does not necessarily give you a better tour.

We first headed to some caves and walked around, painful with my blisters, but beautiful to watch.

We continued to see the famous Halong Bay Islands, a stunning and mystic surrounding that captures you straight away.

This was followed by a quick kayak trip before it was time for dinner, which again was again very simple. We spend the night on the boat while the little waves were singing us to sleep. It was great.

I really enjoyed myself on the trip and would do it again if I have a different option of tour operator. I wish I could remember the company name that took us around, because the Tourguide Kevin was just simply rude and ignored us most of the time. Not very pleasant, but luckily I had fun with all the other people on the boat.

The next day was not very exciting; all we did was pretty much just heading back to Hanoi with a lot of waiting time in between.

I just arrived back in Hanoi on time to catch my bus to Laos, a 19 hour trip ahead of me. I will spend another 5 days in Laos before it goes finally back to London for a while.

I keep you posted as usual :)

Happy travels.