Hanoi & Halong Bay

Got on the nightbus to Hanoi and saw Jen who i'd met in Dalat on the biker tour as we were travelling along. Had a swift chat then tried to sleep.  The next day I arrived and again, it just so happened i was staying around the corner.  Nice one...till i saw the shithole.  Why oh why do i do this to myself....coz i'm on a budget thats why!!  I passed a few rats on the way and headed to my dorm room.  It was ok but no atmosphere.  So I decided to go and get breakfast and have a wonder around.  I was dying to see Breaking Dawn Part 2 so off I went to the cinema.  It was great!  A little piece of normality for a few hours.  When I got back I went to a bar on the corner of my street and use the WIFI.

Daniel and Jen

A few minutes later I heard 'oy!'  It was Jen and she decided to join me.  A few more minutes later I heard 'Tracy?'.  This time it was Daniel who i'd met in Hoi An!  I found this really surreal but loved it!  So we all sat there having a beer and chatting the day away.  When Dan left, Jen and I went to find food and after found a bar/pub/street corner selling beer for pittance.  The stools were that low that my body thought it was squatting and I soon needed a number 2 hahaha.  Held off and went for a wee in the most disgusting alleyway/toilet I had seen.  By now, a hole in the ground was bliss except I'd ran out of toilet paper!!!!!  We got talking to some others from Canada and England and Jen decided to go to bed. With my bag firmly attached to me (lesson learned remember again) we walked across the road to a jazz bar.  Jason (the canadian guy) had forgot his bag and walked back across the road........it was gone.  Phone, money, photos of his whole trip...gone!  I felt horrible for thinking it but I felt a little better knowing it wasn't just me it happened too. (I'd met a guy who was on his 4th iPhone??? Why would you buy more after the 1st one being stolen you prick!)

Check out the low low low stools

The next day I was off to Halong Bay.  At the halfway stop I heard 'oy!'. It was Jen! We were doing the same trip but different boat.  We arrived on the boat and it appeared that not only did I NOT have my own room as told, but I was sharing with a German girl and Austrian guy who were friends!  THEN we went to put our bags in the room and it just so happened that not only was I sharing with 2 strangers (not a massive problem for me by now) but I was sharing a double bed with the German girl!!  So we decided one thing...lets get pissed!

Caves in Halong Bay

We watched the sunset over Halong Bay and got showered (individually of course...and a cold one!).  I had been talking to an older guy called Peter from the UK but lived in Asia teaching and we decided that we both fancied a bottle of red wine that night....until we saw the price...$18 (£12) for a local bottle of shit!  Anyway, whilst on the top deck a woman in a little motorboat pulled up along side us so we all raided her of her alcohol...including 2 bottles of red wine.  The boat wanted to charge us corkage for beer and wine so we hid them in our room.  After dinner was karaoke...yeah right!  We all pissed off onto the top deck and snuck our alcohol out of our rooms like naughty school children.  We talked and laughed all night whilst hiding the evidence from the crew who came up for a nosey every now and again hahahahahaha! Pissed as farts lol!

Our 'junk' boat

Sunset over Halong Bay

The next day we headed back to Hanoi and back to my hostel.  I thought about changing it but I only had one night left.  I headed out to KFC (awwww!) for dinner and met Jen on the street corner!  We decided to go to the City View Cafe for a few drinks (or hair of the dog for me from the night before).  We had booked the same bus to Laos the next day and said bye after a few laughs about my disaster Halong Bay trip.

My last day in Laos.  All I wanted to do was sleep.  I had been on the go since China, 2 and a half months ago but I dragged myself out of bed (if only to kill the bleedin dog that had been crying outside since 4am!!). I decided to give the mausoleum a miss.  A dead embalmed body....no thanks!  So I walked to the lake and to the old prison.  Was ok.  Then I headed back to the City View Cafe for lunch and to meet Jen later.

Mao Lao Prison

View from the City View Cafe

After a few more beers (wrong idea...you'll see later) we headed back to our hotel/hostel and met again on the bus to Laos.  Oh what fun we were in for...................