Hanoi and Halong Bay

Bye bye Billy, Billy bye bye

In the bustling city centre of Hanoi, a new challenge arises. We’re going to have to sell our beloved bike Billy and try not to lose too much money on it. The parting is very painful, though. Saying goodbye to this wonderful machine is pretty hard after spending so much time on it. We even do some price checks to have an idea how much money we’d have to spend to ship our mechanical buddy home, but quickly change our mind once we realise how much it would actually cost us. Unavoidably we end up making some flyers advertising our bike for sale.

After a whole lot of facebooking, driving around aimlessly, quite a few headaches and a last visit to the mechanic (to sell the bike in good condition), we manage to set up a meeting with a friendly French couple that has also taken a year-long holiday (be it after ten years of working instead of our mere six months). We get along very well instantly and after a short test drive they agree with our asking price. We hand over our keys during an enjoyable exchange of experiences while drinking some hostel-provided free beers. Bye bye Billy, Billy bye bye.

Finally rid of our sales-related headaches we find some time to actually visit some spots around Hanoi. Most people say you’re either completely sold on Hanoi (and hate Ho Chi Minh City) or completely hate it (and love Ho Chi Minh City). Honestly, we didn’t like either of them a lot. They’re both all right, but not great. We liked all the quieter, hidden and not so hidden gems on the road in-between quite a lot more.

Travelaversary

All of a sudden we realise how long and far we’ve come, as the date we left our homes is coming ‘round again, but in 2017. It’s time to celebrate our “travelaversary”. We simply cannot ignore this big milestone, so we decide to – for once – spend quite a lot of money on a “two-day-one-night” cruise through Halong Bay. That very famous bay with all those rocks in the water, yes, that one!

All of those limestone rocks and mountains are abundant in the bay, counting just short of two thousand, so we’ve got plenty to look at during our two-day trip. Besides mountain gazing, we visit a small (but crowded) beach and a huge (but still crowded) cave, which is lit by a myriad of coloured lights, making it quite kitschy. A nice visit, nevertheless.

One thing that is a bit regrettable on our wonderful cruise is the absence of sunshine. The heavens have rarely been this clouded on our Vietnamese adventure, but we don’t care too much for it, as it doesn’t rain. We still take hundreds of pictures, which we always tend to do in spectacular places like this. On top of that we get a chance to really stuff ourselves with lots of food that’s included on this trip and enjoy our small cabin. This cosy little room is quite luxurious compared to what we’re used to and an incredible difference to sleeping on the deck of an old, rocky boat with twenty other people. We realise that we quite enjoy sleeping on a boat when we have our own room. Nothing like our adventures in Indonesia, really.

Long story short, a visit to Halong Bay is one of those things you simple cannot miss when you are in Vietnam and a two-day cruise really does add to the experience, allowing you to enjoy your surroundings in a very relaxed way. We really do recommend it to anyone, even if you are on a tight budget like we are. It was a perfect “travelaversary” and end of our visit to Vietnam. Now only Hong Kong awaits us, being our last destination in Asia before we start our long journey home…

Recommendations

• Hanoi

• A visit to Hỏa Lò Prison is worth it, if only to get an idea how much a political point of view can bias the information you’re being shown. The French terrorised the Vietnamese here, while in later years, American prisoners were incarcerated in what is depicted as a five star hotel as it were. We do have a lot of doubts about the correctness of all the provided information. But they offer a student price, so we’re not complaining.

• Drink cheap or even free beer all over the old city, then go on a stroll around the nearby Hoàn Kiếm Lake.

• Halong Bay

• If you have the time, you could visit Halong Bay from Cat Ba Island instead of the typical two- or three-day cruise from Hanoi.

• Wake up early to catch the sunrise. Most boat trips only start their itinerary on the second day after sunrise, so you might still be sleeping while you could witness one of the most unique sunrises on the planet. If it’s not cloudy, that is.

Striking

• Hanoi

• Lots of hostel thieves were signalled during our stay in Hanoi. We recommend you never leave anything of value in your hostel room, not even locked away in a personal locker.

• Halong Bay

• There are a ridiculous amount of boats taking trips around Halong Bay and – in typical Asian style – they all offer almost an identical itinerary. That means you visit everywhere at the same time as everyone else. You simply cannot escape the crowds