Hanoi
Well, after being spoilt with the warm sunny days in Hong Kong it was a bit of a shock to arrive in a very wet and slightly cold Hanoi.
I seem to have started a habit of booking accommodation in the wrong location when we arrive somewhere, and Hanoi’s, although a great little studio apartment, was a 5 mile walk into the old quarter where all the interesting bars and cafes are located. To be fair I thought I’d booked near the lake in the old quarter — but this was another lake (subsequently remembered that Hanoi has several city water spaces!)
However, this did provide the opportunity to get our average steps back up from a dismal average of 9000 to 22,000 a day, and most of the walk was around the huge lake with cafes and people fishing (some very menacing cat fish being pulled out).
The weather wasn’t going to improve, so we decided to only stay in Hanoi for a couple of days and had a good wander around the city, and there was a great atmosphere as everyone was getting prepared for the Chinese New Year in February.
The city was alive with people, and I love the atmosphere in Vietnam’s cities. We didn’t see anyone having cross words or people being anything other than warm and friendly.
When we were here last in 2013 our stay corresponded with the annual Earth Hour.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Hour
We didn’t know this was happening and it was a surprise when the power went out in the city. Now I don’t think I’m being unfair to say that in England the looting would have started within the hour! But In Hanoi once we’d established what was going on we walked around in the darkness and saw people having picnics, playing music, and spending time with their families, and this friendly atmosphere doesn’t appear to have disappeared — which was great to see.
We had a couple of hours till we left Hanoi, and we’d had to check out of our accommodation and didn’t fancy wandering any more, so we jumped onto the city tour bus which turned out to be a really funny couple of hours as we tried to see how many people we could get to wave at us 🤣.
Hoi An
Now I love a train ride and whenever there is a possibility of a sleeper we usually do it!
Hanoi had a train direct to Danang, which would then be a short taxi drive to Hoi An, where we’d decided to head.
So for £24 each we had a sleeper bed for the 16 hour overnight journey.
In the morning I did feel a bit stiff as the bed was very hard! But I got up at 6:30 to a chap pushing a trolley through the train serving pork noodle soup, which I think partly to the experience was the best soup I think I’ve had so far. Richard missed out though as he wanted cake!
About an hour before getting into Danang the train skirts around the coast and you get some lovely views.
Hoi An is this pretty little town set on an inlet of the South China Sea. However, when in the town it looks just like there’s a river running through.
The main ancient town area is very touristy with lots of shops, cafes, and restaurants, and was a lot busy than I remembered. Regardless of this though the architecture of the French colonial buildings that line the streets remain intact.
Now at some point someone thought it would be a good idea to light a lantern or two and the whole town now comes alight at night with hundreds of coloured lanterns of all shapes and sizes lining every possible space of the buildings, streets, and even the river, with people enjoying evening boat rides.
There are a couple of beaches near to the town. They aren’t the prettiest place to visit, but it’s a fun bike ride to get there and the coast is lined with fresh seafood restaurants. The sea was certainly warmer than the south coast of Australia.
Cham Island
Vietnam does have some islands just off its coast, and like much of Vietnam they have a mixed history, with many of them being used as prison camps.
Cham is one of these islands set about an hour boat journey off of Hoi An and we decided to head out there for the weekend.
The night before leaving for the island we had arranged to see Lou, Jonks, and their boys for drinks. We had spent Christmas with them and they were on holiday and our paths were crossing, them heading up to Hanoi and us down to Ho Chi Min.
The next morning we had to be up at 7am to get the transport to the 9 am ferry. Fair to say we both were feeling the effects of our night out. The crossing was really rough, and my sea sickness was a little worse than usual!
When we arrived we checked straight into our accommodation right in the centre of the village and harbour, and spent most of the day in bed recovering! But managed to surface around 4 pm in time to watch the sun setting from the hotel’s rooftop balcony.
Next day we were back to normal and hired a motor bike, with very fetching helmets
We set of around the islands, firstly to the Northern peninsula. It wasn’t long before we came across landslides that had thrown rocks across the road.
We kept going, and at one point had to literally get the bike off the road, and navigate a very narrow path on the cliff face.
We kept going but eventually the road beat us, had been completely blocked and was impassable.
There was, as in a lot of Vietnam, evidence of the war, and in Cham’s case it was the lookout defence posts which were dotted around all of the island. Unfortunately there still appears to be security concerns and the island has an army presence, and citizens from China/Hong Kong are not allowed to stay on the island overnight.
We headed to the south of the island and there were also signs of landslides, but we did make it the second village on the island where it appeared the main temple was located.
There were also visible signs of larger tourist developments and villas, but it was unclear how old they were, or if construction had completely stopped.
The island was very rustic, with little restaurants that served fresh seafood and the usual noodles!
But I think the best time was getting to the beach or sitting at the cafes in the village and watching the sunsets, which have been spectacular.
We had planned on staying till Monday, but were told that if we didn’t leave on Sunday then we would be stuck on the island for a few days as the weather was changing and the boats wouldn’t be crossing. We had our train booked for Ho Chi Min on the following Tuesday, so sadly we packed up a day early and headed back to the mainland.
Route so far
Matlock-Singapore-Bali-Gili Islands-Java-Borneo-Sumatra-Singapore-Australia-Hong Kong-Vietnam.
