Vietnam - the north

Right, so having finished our travels through China we headed to probably the place we were both most excited about, Vietnam! We had both heard countless good things about the country in terms of its people and its natural landscapes from other travellers that it really had set a high bar for it to live up to. Happily, this wasn't to be a problem...

First crossing into Vietnam the first thing you noticed was the intense heat, which for the first time, wasn't coupled with crippling humidity, a factor already putting it in favour over China! The journey was smooth enough through the border, it was all done in about 2 hours which was mainly due to Asia's seemingly enforced no queing rule with every 'que' simply being a free for all which can be annoying.

After all the formalities were dealt with we arrived into Hanoi. Hanoi is a hugely bustling City with narrow streets, countless shops and restaurants all swarming with what would become a familiar sight of endless mopeds darting through the roads. We headed straight for some lunch having checked in, choosing an innocuous place with cheap meals, about 2gbp for a full meal and drinks! This turned out to be my best meal so far. It was simply named 'fish in a clay pot' which i later discovered was a mid section of barracuda which was marinaded in the most incredible sauce ever created, one of the few meals where every bite seemed a surprise to how nice it was! Later that night we headed to a English pub for the England vs Germany game which doesnt really need talking about (bad times) but we did meet a great group of English guys and girls out for one of the guys birthdays which we ended up going along with and had a great night. We also got talked into (quite easily) joining them on one of the Ha Long Bay junk boat tours the next day which meant our stay in Hanoi was very short lived but with few things to do and the heat unrelenting, a boat trip was too tempting.

So with our stay in Hanoi abruptly ending we headed on to Ha long Bay via a grizzly 4 hour minibus ride with 8 of us nursing our hangovers all along the way. Getting onto the boat was a bit more of an effort than needed, our guide getting the wrong jetty a couple of times before finally remembering where he was. The junk boats were near enough all the same in their appearance, though the more expensive ones were noticeably a bit more elaborate but ours was comfortable enough. Moving out through the Bay it was instantly the most amazing panoramic views you're likely to see, the limestone peaks stretching off endlessly behind one another and all around us. The views didnt cease and would have easily been worth the money spent for the tour just to see but after cruising for a few hours we pulled up to a floating fishing village which was amazing to think existed, there were banks, schools and shops all floating in their quaint quiet lifestyle, there were even a few dogs there looking very out of place! Here we boarded a local boat to take us cave swimming though it wasn't at all what we expected. Rowing through a low ceiling through a mountain the 'cave' was actually a circular enclosure about 50m in diameter with limestone cliffs towering about 100ft all around us giving the place a very eery calm though coupled with outstanding beauty. It was like something from 'the Beach' which with a group of nice young backpackers was a dodgy realisation!! We all dived off the boat and swam around for a good 30mins but we could have stayed for hours, it was paradise.
We set off again through the Bay eventually stopping at around 5pm in the middle of a group of peaks where we were finally allowed to jump off the boat! We spent around an hour throwing ourselves off the boat in various ways (including a 20ft cannonball/face plant from myself) and coaxing the more reserved to give it a go, it was pretty awesome! So being suitably bruised and with salt water now making up around 50% of my body weight we dried off and chilled on the top deck with a few beers while watching a stunning sunset behind the peaks over our dinner.
We spent the rest of the evening watching the moon rise while a distant storm rolling with lightning lit up the horizon with huge bolts thhttp://www.travellerspoint.com/my_blogeditentry.cfm?blogid=22207&entryid=210004ough it happily never approached us. We spent the rest of the night sleeping on the top deck under the stars which were the clearest Ive seen before eventually falling asleep. It was quite a day to say the least!
The next day had us up at 6am for kayaking around the bay which was horribly early and was in all honesty quite boring. After we did enough kayaking we ventured back to the boat for our journey back to the mainland which allowed us on last experience of the Bay, a place I will return to without a doubt. That night we stayed in Ha Long City for some recovery where we decided to head to Ninh Binh as we had a few extra days. It turned out to be our best decision yet!

Set somewhere in between Hanoi and Ha Long to the south sits the small town of Ninh Binh. Having only really given it a quick read in the lonely planet we didnt really hold any big expectations. With the town being much more reserved than the previous 2 stops we decided to give the mopeds a go for the day. We each got a fairly new automatic moped which the hotel owner kindly gave us along with a 20 minute crash course in how to drive it and how to handle the roads. The literal rule of the road is the bigger vehicle wins and nothing else but we soon learned the seemingly mad roads were actually an organised chaos once amongst the throngs of traffic with everyone carefully minding everyone else but never really stopping so you have to be constantly alert. After getting off the main road iot quietened down considerably and we were really enjoying the ride. We headed over to a river called tam coc where you lazily coasted down its waters surrounded by lush greens all around, along with peaks rising up near and far, including a few you went straight through (It must be one determined river!) and to top it off the rowers used theyre feet and Im still not sure why! It was definitely a pleasant beauty we didnt expect but very happy we saw. After that we spent a few hours getting lost in tiny villages and even ended up riding along a slightly dodgy dirt track between a couple of paddy fields which was great fun! For such a simple day it was amazingly fun, the adrenaline our first moped experience definitely contributing!