As we got into Vietnam and spoke to people that had recently been on the trip we started getting slightly different views, tales of bad boat companies, cramped conditions and rats.  

We decided that this was not a time to penny pinch on the experience, and to actually weigh the options before us to make a choice that is frugal but not to the extent where we sour the experience.

Costs

You can get a Ha Long Bay tour for as little as $40 or as much as $200 per person, with a whole range in between. Having heard the tales of rats and bad food from people at the lower end of that range we decided to go up just a little from the bottom and paid $87 each for the experience. This included one night and two days on Ha Long Bay, food for the time we were there, as well as transport there and back.  It also included some limited activities while we were there, such as kayaking.

Activities

For our tour everything was prearranged with very little “free time.”

We were picked up first thing in the morning and driven the three hours to Hanoi to Ha Long Bay – half way we stopped at a rest point for 30 minutes.  One of those typical places where bus companies are paid to drop customers for a while.  Overly expensive food and drinks, and plenty of tourist tat for you to buy, should you wish.

When we arrived on the boat we were given the keys to our room straight away, it was rather nice, even had an en-suite.  Very small, but didn’t feel cramped – and to be honest it’s a boat cabin, you can’t expect any more for that money.

We were sailed out into Ha Long Bay itself to enjoy the thousands of islands that dot this area of Vietnam.  We were not alone, there were hundreds of other boats around us.  Our guide said that there are 300 overnight boats in Ha Long Bay at any one time.  We spent some time just looking out at the islands and enjoying the peace and quiet.

We were unfortunate that there was lots of rain as we were moving into Ha Long Bay, a thunderstorm in fact.  Once it hit we sheltered in the boat and were fed a good lunch while the rain cleared.  There was some talk that if the rain didn’t clear we wouldn’t get to kayak, but thankfully it did and we moved to the kayaking station.

In a little mini bay you could kayak a two person boat around to your heart’s content, but if you wanted to go into the little cove with monkeys and interesting plants you had to pay 50,000 VND each – we opted for this.  It was a little short, 30 minutes, but it was interesting and I enjoyed the combination of drifting lazily and some speed.

After the kayaking we went to a pearl farm.  Not much to see really, a very basic introduction room with examples and very little description of what was going on.  There was a room where you could see them implanting the “seeds” into the oysters that, hopefully, became the pearls later.  It seemed very clinical and quick, they opened the oysters and were done in a matter of seconds.  Depending on the type of oyster they are then left for a number of years to grow a pearl, then they are cracked open and the pearls, if there are any, are removed.  The oyster itself is used for meat.  I did feel a little educated but I feel they could do with some more descriptions of what is going on.

Then it was back to the boat again to be taken to the “Surprising Cave”.  This is a series of chambers, each bigger than the last, full of interesting rock formations.  Having seen many caves in the past I expected to be bored, but there were things there that I didn’t expect.  The ceiling of the cave was pock marked, like a golf ball – I have no idea how that could have formed.  The last chamber was massive and we spent about 15 minutes just walking through it.

Our last stop of the tour was a beach island.  You could choose to either relax on the beach, or climb the steps to view point at the top of the hill.  We opted for the latter and set off up the hill.  Very tiring, by the time I got to the top I was breathing hard and needed a rest, but it was worth it.  The view was incredible.  Hundreds of islands stretching in all directions with boats and floating platforms dotted in between.   I’ve never seen anything like it before and I think it’s my favourite memory of the whole time in Ha Long Bay.

Back to the boat again and we enjoyed a very good, and varied, evening meal.  It even involved a demonstration on how to make Vietnamese spring rolls, which we even got to eat!

The morning after there was just time for a quick breakfast before we got back on the boat to go back to Hanoi.

I think Ha Long Bay was the highlight of our trip to Hanoi.  The city itself is busy and crowded, it was good to get away from it to somewhere that’s calm and serene.  It’s quite expensive on a backpackers’ budget but I think it’s definitely worth the money, just don’t go for the cheapest price!

Where next?

After Ha Long Bay we are flying to our next country, the Philippines.  We will spend a few days in the capital city of Manilla.  It’s home to an ancient Spanish fort built when it was a colony, as well as quite a few old churches and a cathedral, all built in a western style.  I can’t wait to walk the old walls and try to see what’s different from back home.

Saigon now called Ho Chi Minh City is a great place to really see Vietnam for the first time. We travelled from Cambodia to Saigon via bus. The first thing you notice is the amount of motorbikes in this city…it’s chaos (but it’s an organised type). During our visit, we visited:

Cu Chi Tunnels – This extensive network of over 220km of tunnels became legendary when they played a vital role in the war against the Americans. Back then they served as functioning underground cities with kitchens, sleeping areas, fighting zones, trap doors, weapon storage rooms etc. The system is very extensive. They never got flooded because there was always one tunnel that drained into the Mekong Delta. They were also free of disease. The Vietnamese are so innovative – they had trap doors – armpit spike, souvenir trap, rolling trap, window trap – there are so many traps and all made by either using the remains of a bomb or from bamboo. It was so interesting – they even had shoes dubbed ‘Ho Chi Minh shoes’ which confused the enemy because you could not tell which direction the Viet Cong went when worn. Really interesting. You also get to go into the tunnel – only 100m is available for tourists to climb through and see what it feels like. At the end there is a shooting range where you can have a try at firing an AK47, machine gun and some others I cannot remember. 10 bullets is only around £10. It’s all controlled but man it was loud, I’m not sure earmuffs were enough.

Notre Dame Cathedral and Central Post Office – Both which were built by French colonists. The red bricks of the cathedral were all all imported from France.

Reunification Palace – This Palace has a lot of history to it and the place is still used as an office.

War Remnants Museum – Fascinating to go and understand more about the Vietnamese War with the Americans. Transcripts, exhibitions, stories and artifacts are all over the museum. Even though I may have learnt about the Vietnamese war briefly back at school, it’s not the same as being here and reading about it and seeing it yourself.

Ho Chi Minh – The city is really modern which surprised me as we came from Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where they were still building their main road into the city! The most striking thing about this city is the amount of motorbikes. Some say there are more motorbikes than people. It’s just crazy the amount of traffic and then you have to think about the cars and exactly how do they weave in and out of this mad crowd. It’s more of a organised mad chaos! Crossing the streets you just have to go for it and put your first step out there. Doing it the Western way and waiting for a gap is not going to work. So you just walk about and the motorbikes will start weaving around you. They may beep their horn but they do this all the time. There isn’t a minute in this city where is there no beeping car, bus or motorbike horns.

Transport – The bus system is also good to get around the city. We went to Chinatown and Japantown and both times we got the bus. Getting a SIM card is the first thing we always do when we enter a new city as this lets us check our position and how to get to our hostel and plan our routes around town. Most times we may well get a tour however sometimes we just go off and do it ourselves. Google maps is okay but sometimes we went to the location indicated but couldn’t find what we were looking for. It also tells you what bus numbers you can take to your destination and then when you get on the bus you keep looking at your GPS and then press the buzzer when you want to get off. Relying on the ticket seller is no use as most do not speak English. They are also incredibly cheap with journeys costing around 5000 – 7000VND per journey (18p-21p).

Food – The food is also great in this part of the city. Home to the many different types of soup noodles and then there is a mixture of Chinese foods in there it was really good. It’s so cheap as well. If you eat out on the stalls, which we did most times, it costs around 70p upwards.

The people are really friendly too. As we stayed a few nights near the Backpackers District there was a nearby park which was always full of people. We had loads of students coming upto us so they could practice their English, which is really good to see. They said lots of grammar is taught at school but the speaking and listening abilities they had were lacking so they tend to go to private sessions outside of class to do this. It might seem intimidating but all they want to do is ask questions and have a conversation.

Next time we will be on the boat floating along Halong Bay!

After the rant about Chinese visas I should probably talk about how visas should be done properly.  The process of applying for a Vietnam visa is about as painless as it can get.

The website could do with a redesign (professional criticism, can’t help myself…) and some proof reading by a native English speaker, but it is mostly understandable.

They lump together tourist and business visa information all into one place, which does complicate things, but you can mostly get what you need to know.

It’s also rather hard to work out what you need to pay as the logic is very complicated.  It worked out to be £120 for both Serena and I.

The basic process is:

1. Fill out online form
2. Get PDF of form emailed to you
3. Print of the form
4. Attach a passport photo to the form (not sure if this is needed, one of the situations where the English is not perfect)
5. Post that form along with your passports, payment (we’ll come onto this in a minute) and a self-addressed but not stamped envelope to their address using Royal Mail Special Delivery
6. Wait and hope it doesn’t get lost as you don’t hear back for a few days
7. Get your passports back with the visa!

Sounds pretty painless, and it was, but anyone that knows me knows I can’t just end there and I need to complain about something… so here goes.

Cheques (or as Americans call them checks) are pretty much the only way they accept payment.  You can’t pay online using card, you can’t post cash and you cant transfer to a bank account (unless you pay for express service).  I don’t have a cheque book.  I don’t think I’ve had one for over 10 years, so I had to ask a family member who still had one of these archaic ways of paying…

Fix that, Vietnam, and you’ll have a very good visa application service!