Hanoi:

Hitchhiked with a local until the Saigon Airport for 40,000 dong ($2).  After I got my boarding pass was waiting for my flight to Hanoi and suddenly saw some familiar faces, it was the same old couple who accompanied me from Cambodia to Vietnam. We greeted each other and had a long conversation. Came to know about their relatives who are there in India, the tiny island where they live in NZ, only few hundred people live there with just one grocery shop  and many more. Finally it was time to say adieu and move to my next destination Hanoi.

 

Mid night landing:

Vietnam air was one of the best flights I have ever taken. Had my dinner in the flight itself, although air hostess had trouble speaking in English but their hospitality was outstanding. The moment I landed in Hanoi it was mid night. Took a taxi to go to old quarter’s hostel where I had booked for the night. But the route was deserted, hardly anyone on the road and it was dark. For a moment I thought I’m in trouble but finally saw some people on the road and also the board old quarters. Hurray! I’m finally here!! It felt like welcome to Hanoi

Tom coc(Ninh Binh):

Tam Cốc, literally means “three caves”. It consists of three natural caves — Hang Cả, Hang Hai, and Hang Ba formed of natural erosion on the Ngô Đồng River. The highlight of this place is you can take a boat ride along the Ngo Dong river passing through scenic rice fields, limestone karst and caves. It’s a tiny little village in the provice of Ninh Binh. The entire route is abundance of natural beauty. I loved this place, something totally new for me the country, food, culture and people.

Something unique you find here is the local women and men row the wooden paddles of the boat with their feet so skillfully that it looks they have been doing it all their life. Total boat ride takes about 2-3 hours and it’s refreshing. Once we were done with boating it tempted us more to explore this area and hence decided to ride on a cycle along the river, paddy fields and limestone rocks. Words cannot explain the beauty of this land and one need to definitely visit it to have a feel of it.

 

Hanoi City & Dinner:

One evening met up with some local students and volunteers who worked for a school in Hanoi. They all got together to celebrate a friend’s wedding and I was invited for dinner. It was a steam boat dinner where in all the raw food was kept by the side and a bowl of hot soup was boiling in the middle. The raw meat or vegetable needs to be dropped in the bowl, left for few minutes until its cooked then you can have it along with the soup. After dinner we went to the Old quarters area which is the happening place of Hanoi with Jazz music and lot of restaurants and lounges around. I had an unforgettable evening with the locals. We also went around the city in night on bi cycles.

Also one thing i shouldn’t forget is the morning walking tour were the university students take travelers around to show the city and local culture. I was assigned with a student, she was very kind enough to take me around the city for few hours walk and showed me different aspects of the city right from the daily routines of local, how people pray, kind of food they have, etc. For people visiting Hanoi this tour is a highly recommended.

 

 

Ha long bay:

I came to Hanoi, mainly to visit Ha long bay. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and popular travel destination in Quảng Ninh Province. Hạ Long Bay has an area of around 1,553 km2 and close to 2,000 islands, most of which are limestone. The limestone in this bay has gone through 500 million years of formation in different conditions and environments. The evolution of the karst in this bay has taken 20 million years under the impact of the tropical wet climate. After a long journey, we reached the jetty where we could board the ferry. It was hot and humid felt really boring for a while. Few minutes later the lime stones slowly started showing up. I decided to go upstairs and have an uninterrupted view of the little mountains. Numerous tiny mountains were there one after the other in middle of the ocean and white sandy beaches. Our boat stopped for a while for us to have Lunch and enjoy the views around. After Lunch decided to do some Kayaking around the limestone and nearby caves. We even went inside a cave with Kayak and explored it. After an eventful day it’s time to get back to Hanoi.