Dear strangers!
It was an amazing week for me, traveling to Hanoi to Sapa and continue to Ha Long Bay. I like the idea of expect the unexpected and being open to new things.
It was quite late in the afternoon when I arrived in Hanoi. I checked out the old quarter area a bit, wonder around what is going on. Like most of the big cities in developing country, Hanoi is similar to any other small cities in Indonesia. There are more motor cycle than cars in the town and it is hardly to spot the trafic lights in the small junctions. Cars and motor cycles just cross from every directions in quite slow speed. Peddlers are everywhere carrying traditional food to sell, small stalls on the streets selling Pho - the famous Vietnamese noodles and also coffee. As I analyzing the city and trying to get used to the environment, I saw a lady in the traditional Vietnam hat selling eggs on the basket sitting on the pavement with one lady customers. I was curious, guessing is that Balut (the boiled fertilized duck embryo) or the normal eggs, I heard there are a lot of people eating Balut in Vietnam. So I asked the lady what is she selling, too bad, the Vietnamese people doesn't speak English much. So after I looked at the other lady mixing the egg with the salt, ginger slice and mint leaves, I am sure it was Balut. With limited knowledge of language, I just pointed at the egg and asked for one. She told me it was 10000D for an egg. It quite reasonable price for me after converting it to dollars, I gave her a nod and tried the Balut. At first I was afraid to eat that, but once I mixed everything, it taste so delicious. After I finished the food, I paid and I looked at the other customer, she only paid 6000D. Maybe she gave me the traveler price, but it worth to try and the taste beyond my expectation. After the Balut and trying to forgot that I got cheated. I walked through the main road and I saw long queue on the corner of the road, the food stall sells a yellow rice with green been paste, something like meatballs slice and garnished with fried shallot, again curiously I ordered a bowl. I really can't imagine how it tastes like to eat green beans paste with yellow rice, it was not bad at all and very filling. I didn't manage to finish it.
I still have couple hours before I left to Sapa. I stroll around through the small roads and end up at the junction of Lương Ngọc Quyến. It was so crowded with people enjoying their afternoon sitting on the stools sipping a glass of Bia Hoi. Bia Hoi is very popular among locals and tourists, it was the fresh beer locally brewed, it tastes smooth and nice, the price is super cheap, 5000D. I tried a glass of it and then back to redenzvous where the bus will pick me up and send me to train station. There are a few people in the bus and I bumped into a girl from Singapore, we had a talk a little bit about Vietnam before we check in to get our train ticket.
About 9pm we boarded to the train. The train is not too bad with two double deck beds and power points to charge phone. It is not the luxury train but quite reasonable to be my home for next 8 hours. I waited for the other passengers to fill the empty beds, pondering what kind of person are they and what if they are some serial killer or robbers? Am I going to be safe locked in this cabin with them? Soon after a couple came to the room, a tall bold guy with his wife. They don't look like the bad guys in the movie who are going to hijack this train, I gave them simple smile and start the conversation with them. The husband is from Netherlands while the wife is Vietnamese. 8 hours in train flew so fast we talked about places in Vietnam, what to do next and also about Netherlands. I fell asleep around 11pm and awake when the sun shined through the window. We reached Sapa at 5.50am.
Everyone in the groups gathered around at the main entrance of the train station and waited to be picked up. The bus took us to the Sapa town where the hotel is. After being dropped at the Summit hotel and had our breakfast, we were divided to the groups of six and being assigned to a local tour guide. My tour guide is a young boy about 15 years old name Di. In my group there were a couple from Brazil and another couple from Switzerland. About 9am, we marched down to the city centre and start our trekking for 12km to the Hmong Village. The weather was not friendly at all, it was raining on and off. When we reached the main road, there were a lot of people with the traditional Hmong cloths coming towards us and following us, from kids to the young moms carrying the baby on their back. I felt like a celebrity on the red carpet with all the questions to answers. They accompanied our journey to their village. The trekking took about 3 hours, it was hard because of the rain made the soil slippery, I slipped a few time and it was quite dangerous if you unprepared. The trek worth every slipped and mud, the scenery was amazing and beautiful. The Hmong villagers who marched down with us was very helpful trying to help us to go through the slippery paths. Finally we reached our destination and have lunch, before those friendly villagers let us have our lunch, they were trying to sell all kind of handicrafts starts from 200000D, if we refuse to buy they start to force and keep reminding us about all the helps they gave during the trek. It is not about the money but I don't buy things that I won't use. I offered them money without taking any of their handicrafts in return but they refuse. All of the traveler in the group felt that we were being forced to get things from them. Well, after lunch we continued trek to the next village and wait for the bus to pick us up back to hotel. We had shower before get on the train back to Hanoi. I spent another night in train with Spanish couple. I didn't have chance to chat much with them since I was pretty knackered from the trekking earlier. I slept and awaken when I reached Hanoi.
Next stop is Ha Long Bay. The bus picked us up at 8 and we headed to Haipong, the nearest port to Halong Bay. I was in the bus with another 13 travelers who are going to be my 'boat mate' for the next 24 hours. We didnt chat a lot on the journey most of us fell asleep. We reached Halong Bay around 12pm and had lunch on the boat. The first group I got to know is a family from France, they are very friendly and nice, after that I got to know a solo traveler from USA, and a girl from Thailand traveling with her boyfriend and the boyfriend's friends. A China girl who have been traveling for 6 months, two Portugese girls, another two Argentina girls and one group of locals. After lunch we went to the cave and kayaking for half an hour. Had dinner on the boat and spent a night on the boat. It was raining in the night so we stayed in and play cards, talking about the next plans and exchanging emails or facebook. All the horror started when the french girl, who had lunch on the same table with me earlier came up and told us that there were a lot of bugs on her bed and not long after that another two girls also complaints the same things.
The next day we went to CatBa island, trek up to the CatBa National park and then back to the boat. The rest of the groups stayed back in the island. I was happy with my decision to stay in the boat, meeting a new people and being a real backpackers instead of sticking to the same group the whole time, even tho I enjoyed the time with them. I met another traveler from Norway and Switzerland. We just hang out on the decks talking till morning and I saw shooting stars, three shooting stars, it was beautiful.
Halong Bay is beautiful but dirty, the people throw the rubbish to the water, sadly the Vietnamese in Halong Bay are pretty rude and always scream at you whenever they talk, especially when you are stuck on the boat with no choice of food and drinks, they tried to make money out of you. The boat I stayed in was pretty bad, the food was not nice, the crews ate very nice fresh prawns with big fishes while they served us onion, water spinach and small fish. I was not happy with the service I got on the boat and it is better to buy the tour in Hanoi than book it online because the agent who selling it will charge you more. The price of the tours are varies from 57USD - 67 USD for 3 days two nights either you want to stay two days on the boat or one day on boat and one day at the island. The scams didnt end there, other travelers complaints about the travel agents who sold them the packaged promised them free kayaking for few hours.
Well, that's in the package! So you have to pay some amount of money and get over it if you want to see beautiful Halong Bay!
It was an amazing week for me, traveling to Hanoi to Sapa and continue to Ha Long Bay. I like the idea of expect the unexpected and being open to new things.
It was quite late in the afternoon when I arrived in Hanoi. I checked out the old quarter area a bit, wonder around what is going on. Like most of the big cities in developing country, Hanoi is similar to any other small cities in Indonesia. There are more motor cycle than cars in the town and it is hardly to spot the trafic lights in the small junctions. Cars and motor cycles just cross from every directions in quite slow speed. Peddlers are everywhere carrying traditional food to sell, small stalls on the streets selling Pho - the famous Vietnamese noodles and also coffee. As I analyzing the city and trying to get used to the environment, I saw a lady in the traditional Vietnam hat selling eggs on the basket sitting on the pavement with one lady customers. I was curious, guessing is that Balut (the boiled fertilized duck embryo) or the normal eggs, I heard there are a lot of people eating Balut in Vietnam. So I asked the lady what is she selling, too bad, the Vietnamese people doesn't speak English much. So after I looked at the other lady mixing the egg with the salt, ginger slice and mint leaves, I am sure it was Balut. With limited knowledge of language, I just pointed at the egg and asked for one. She told me it was 10000D for an egg. It quite reasonable price for me after converting it to dollars, I gave her a nod and tried the Balut. At first I was afraid to eat that, but once I mixed everything, it taste so delicious. After I finished the food, I paid and I looked at the other customer, she only paid 6000D. Maybe she gave me the traveler price, but it worth to try and the taste beyond my expectation. After the Balut and trying to forgot that I got cheated. I walked through the main road and I saw long queue on the corner of the road, the food stall sells a yellow rice with green been paste, something like meatballs slice and garnished with fried shallot, again curiously I ordered a bowl. I really can't imagine how it tastes like to eat green beans paste with yellow rice, it was not bad at all and very filling. I didn't manage to finish it.
I still have couple hours before I left to Sapa. I stroll around through the small roads and end up at the junction of Lương Ngọc Quyến. It was so crowded with people enjoying their afternoon sitting on the stools sipping a glass of Bia Hoi. Bia Hoi is very popular among locals and tourists, it was the fresh beer locally brewed, it tastes smooth and nice, the price is super cheap, 5000D. I tried a glass of it and then back to redenzvous where the bus will pick me up and send me to train station. There are a few people in the bus and I bumped into a girl from Singapore, we had a talk a little bit about Vietnam before we check in to get our train ticket.
About 9pm we boarded to the train. The train is not too bad with two double deck beds and power points to charge phone. It is not the luxury train but quite reasonable to be my home for next 8 hours. I waited for the other passengers to fill the empty beds, pondering what kind of person are they and what if they are some serial killer or robbers? Am I going to be safe locked in this cabin with them? Soon after a couple came to the room, a tall bold guy with his wife. They don't look like the bad guys in the movie who are going to hijack this train, I gave them simple smile and start the conversation with them. The husband is from Netherlands while the wife is Vietnamese. 8 hours in train flew so fast we talked about places in Vietnam, what to do next and also about Netherlands. I fell asleep around 11pm and awake when the sun shined through the window. We reached Sapa at 5.50am.
Everyone in the groups gathered around at the main entrance of the train station and waited to be picked up. The bus took us to the Sapa town where the hotel is. After being dropped at the Summit hotel and had our breakfast, we were divided to the groups of six and being assigned to a local tour guide. My tour guide is a young boy about 15 years old name Di. In my group there were a couple from Brazil and another couple from Switzerland. About 9am, we marched down to the city centre and start our trekking for 12km to the Hmong Village. The weather was not friendly at all, it was raining on and off. When we reached the main road, there were a lot of people with the traditional Hmong cloths coming towards us and following us, from kids to the young moms carrying the baby on their back. I felt like a celebrity on the red carpet with all the questions to answers. They accompanied our journey to their village. The trekking took about 3 hours, it was hard because of the rain made the soil slippery, I slipped a few time and it was quite dangerous if you unprepared. The trek worth every slipped and mud, the scenery was amazing and beautiful. The Hmong villagers who marched down with us was very helpful trying to help us to go through the slippery paths. Finally we reached our destination and have lunch, before those friendly villagers let us have our lunch, they were trying to sell all kind of handicrafts starts from 200000D, if we refuse to buy they start to force and keep reminding us about all the helps they gave during the trek. It is not about the money but I don't buy things that I won't use. I offered them money without taking any of their handicrafts in return but they refuse. All of the traveler in the group felt that we were being forced to get things from them. Well, after lunch we continued trek to the next village and wait for the bus to pick us up back to hotel. We had shower before get on the train back to Hanoi. I spent another night in train with Spanish couple. I didn't have chance to chat much with them since I was pretty knackered from the trekking earlier. I slept and awaken when I reached Hanoi.
Next stop is Ha Long Bay. The bus picked us up at 8 and we headed to Haipong, the nearest port to Halong Bay. I was in the bus with another 13 travelers who are going to be my 'boat mate' for the next 24 hours. We didnt chat a lot on the journey most of us fell asleep. We reached Halong Bay around 12pm and had lunch on the boat. The first group I got to know is a family from France, they are very friendly and nice, after that I got to know a solo traveler from USA, and a girl from Thailand traveling with her boyfriend and the boyfriend's friends. A China girl who have been traveling for 6 months, two Portugese girls, another two Argentina girls and one group of locals. After lunch we went to the cave and kayaking for half an hour. Had dinner on the boat and spent a night on the boat. It was raining in the night so we stayed in and play cards, talking about the next plans and exchanging emails or facebook. All the horror started when the french girl, who had lunch on the same table with me earlier came up and told us that there were a lot of bugs on her bed and not long after that another two girls also complaints the same things.
The next day we went to CatBa island, trek up to the CatBa National park and then back to the boat. The rest of the groups stayed back in the island. I was happy with my decision to stay in the boat, meeting a new people and being a real backpackers instead of sticking to the same group the whole time, even tho I enjoyed the time with them. I met another traveler from Norway and Switzerland. We just hang out on the decks talking till morning and I saw shooting stars, three shooting stars, it was beautiful.
Halong Bay is beautiful but dirty, the people throw the rubbish to the water, sadly the Vietnamese in Halong Bay are pretty rude and always scream at you whenever they talk, especially when you are stuck on the boat with no choice of food and drinks, they tried to make money out of you. The boat I stayed in was pretty bad, the food was not nice, the crews ate very nice fresh prawns with big fishes while they served us onion, water spinach and small fish. I was not happy with the service I got on the boat and it is better to buy the tour in Hanoi than book it online because the agent who selling it will charge you more. The price of the tours are varies from 57USD - 67 USD for 3 days two nights either you want to stay two days on the boat or one day on boat and one day at the island. The scams didnt end there, other travelers complaints about the travel agents who sold them the packaged promised them free kayaking for few hours.
Well, that's in the package! So you have to pay some amount of money and get over it if you want to see beautiful Halong Bay!
Hanoi City, where all the local and tourists are having the fresh beer (Bai Ho) in the afternoon sitting by the low stools.
Trekking through the beautiful view of Hmong Village, Sapa.
Halong Bay, one of the best sceneries I've seen.
On the top of the Catba National Park - climbed to the top of the tower!
Trekking up at Catba National Park and met amazing traveler along the way.
No comments:
Post a Comment