February 12-15, 2024
Hi friends and family,
My penultimate stop in Vietnam was Cat Ba, an island near Halong Bay, a famously beautiful archipelago in Northern Vietnam. I got into Cat Ba at 7:30am on February 12 after the worst bus experience I’ve ever had. I took my time getting on the sleeper bus the evening before because I assumed everyone would have a cabin. I was too polite, and it cost me. If I’d barged on earlier, I could’ve secured a cabin for myself with a proper, albeit small, bed and curtain, but since I was one of the last passengers on, I ended up in a terrible spot. I was in the very last row of the bus, where they put five people across, instead of the normal three because they also fill the two aisle spots. I was packed in between some Spanish guys and my shoulders were too broad and I couldn’t even fit in the seat without uncomfortably hunching my shoulders forward. I somehow managed a couple hours of sleep from 10:30pm to 12:30am, but then I was straight awake until at least 3am. The Spanish guys started yelling at the bus driver to stop because they needed to pee, which was fair because we hadn’t made any stops since the bus left just after 10. They woke a bunch of people up but the bus finally stopped. I maybe got another hour or so during the rest of the time and felt pretty gross upon arrival. It was the lowlight of the trip, but at least I have a bit of a story about these crazy sleeper buses.
I’d messaged the homestay the night before to check and make sure my timing would be alright for the Lan Ha/Halong Bay day tour boat trip I wanted to do. Thankfully, they said it was no problem and even made me a quick breakfast of noodles and eggs and let me use their bathroom to freshen up and feel like a real person again after the hellish bus ride. Shortly after 8, I was picked up for the tour on a big bus with people from neighboring hostels.
The tour was fun. The beautiful karst cliffs were quite similar to the ones I’ve seen in Thailand, but they were a little darker here, as was the water. It was stunning and not too touristy, which was nice. Apparently, the boat tours that go from Hanoi or Halong Bay are much crazier and don’t have much peace and quiet.
Our first stop was near some island, where we were able to jump off the boat and swim to it. The water was refreshing and surprisingly salty. On the island, we crawled through some tight caves and popped out in a different part of the island that hadn’t been visible from the boat.
The next stop was kayaking. The guide for our boat partnered us up and I was with this Indian guy Akshay. He was great and I loved talking with him. One question he asked that I liked was, “How are you? How’s life?”. I’d mentioned to a few backpackers that I felt like the conversations could get repetitive with questions about duration of travel, destinations, activities, and other similar topics. I think Akshay was the first person I’d met who directly asked how I was doing. I also haven’t met many Indians while traveling so it was interesting hearing about his life. Akshay and his boys were keen on getting lots of photos, too, so I was happy to get some good content out of the excursion.
We had a buffet for lunch and the food was alright, but definitely not the best I’d had in Vietnam. Still, for it to be included in the whole day trip for only 550k (~$23) was nice. During lunch, I talked with a Spanish guy and a couple from Germany and England. In the rest of the afternoon, we mostly cruised around the bay. It had gotten pretty hot out, especially in comparison to Sapa, and I spent much of the afternoon lounging on the roof deck of the boat.
We made one last stop at Monkey Beach to see some monkeys and swim around. On the way back into the harbor, we passed a community of villagers that live in houseboats on the water. It’s a really simple way of life, and cool to see that it still exists in some parts of the world. The cruise ended a little earlier than expected at 3:40 because of Tet, but I didn’t mind.
The next day, I debated whether to move my bus from Hanoi from 12:30pm to 4pm, but decided to keep it at the original time. The only other thing I would’ve done is explore the national park and do a hike, but I’d just been hiking every day in Sapa. The other more relevant reason was that I’d seen a police checkpoint in the town of Cat Ba the day before. Drivers technically need an international license to use a motorbike and the fine is $80 for not having one. Since I was on the fence about seeing the national park anyway, which probably would’ve had similar views to being in the bay, I opted not to risk getting a ticket.
I had a lazy morning in Cat Ba and walked to some beaches on the east side of the island. The nicest beaches were tucked into this resort complex and they were gorgeous. The first beach had some soccer nets and maybe a volleyball net, and it was surrounded on both sides by the dramatic limestone cliffs and had a splendid view of the bay. I kept walking and saw another beach in the resort complex that had similar views, but was much less crowded.
The bus ride to Hanoi was uneventful and I got in around 4pm. I was tired so I relaxed in the room for a couple hours before going to explore the city. I went to a touristy place called Train Street, where a train comes by this narrow street. It’s a bit of a process, and the owners of the establishments right on the train tracks alert everyone that the train is coming and make them move their chairs and tables as out of the way as possible in the narrow street that the train goes along. I truly was less than three feet from the passing train, which was an exciting spectacle to see. They started to close down around 10, at which point I walked around town for an hour or so and wandered around, looking at some murals.
February 14 was my last full day in Vietnam. I didn’t have much of a plan for Hanoi since I’m not really a city guy. I started the day off with breakfast at my hotel. I treated myself to a hotel because it was cheap in Vietnam and it was my last night. After a breakfast of curry, fresh fruits, bread, jam, and coffee, I went to the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum.
The experience was alright; the security guards are strict about where you can and can’t go within the complex the mausoleum is in. After walking around nearly the whole perimeter of the complex to get in, I waited another ten minutes inside before it was my group’s turn to go in. The mausoleum contains some steps up to Ho Chi Minh’s well-preserved body and that’s about it. After the mausoleum, I couldn’t figure out how to get out; everywhere seemed to be roped off except for the museum, which cost foreigners 40k VND to enter. I didn’t have interest in the museum because I needed to get back to my hotel, so I asked some employees and found out there was a hidden exit behind the mausoleum, which I used.
After packing my bags and checking out of my room, I left my luggage at the hotel and went to explore the city. After some walking, I’d built up an appetite and stopped at a banh mi place. Then I tried the first of three unique Vietnamese coffees I wanted to taste: the salt coffee. It was a very local place where nobody spoke much English and as a result I got a great price of 15k VND. My next stop was at a nicer café, where I sat on the balcony up top, read, relaxed, and drank a coconut coffee for 65k VND. This drink was much more like a Starbucks drink than the previous one. I spent a couple hours on the balcony and it was a nice spot to avoid some of the commotion and noise from the street level.
I did some self-care in the afternoon with a haircut and a hot stone massage, which was probably my best massage in Vietnam. It was slightly pricier (~$15), but still such a great deal. I thought the hot stones would be laid on my back and hurt, but the masseuse kept them moving and applied pressure on them to massage my back and arms. The stones were smooth and the massage felt nice with the extra heat.
I regrouped at the hotel for a couple hours and around 9:30 I went into the city to get dinner and got bun bo, a dish similar to pho, from a street food vendor. The food was quality, although the environment was pretty gross since there’s lots of trash on the street and some lady (maybe homeless?) was pestering me for money. Interestingly, I really didn't see very many homeless people during my time in Vietnam.
Then I went to a local café that was still open and finally tried an egg coffee, which is popular in Vietnam. The coffee didn’t have much of an eggy flavor; it was a little creamier instead, but still tasted good. The café was nice and I stayed there until about 11:15 before walking back to the hotel and calling a Grab to the airport for my flight, which had been delayed from 2:30am to 3:45am, which is definitely one of the worst times I've flown.
I was wired from having drank five coffees throughout the day, but thankfully I was starting to crash by the time my flight left and slept most of the way to Manila, in the Philippines. I had an 11-hour layover in Manila but I mostly stayed in my Airbnb since I've heard the city is hectic and congested. I wanted to find a nice spot for lunch but I couldn't find anything good so I settled for KFC, which was disappointingly similar to American KFCs.
I had a really good time in Vietnam and I met more people, both locals and fellow travelers alike, than I have in past travels. I think Vietnam is easier to meet locals than many of the places I've been because it's less touristy, and I really enjoyed connecting with some of the hosts at my homestays and hostels. The scenery in Vietnam is beautiful in a much more understated way compared to some of the places I've been, but I really appreciated it. I went on this trip wanting to make the most of my time not working, but I also was getting a little tired of traveling, so I went in with the idea that it would be my last trip for a while. It was a good one to end on and I was not disappointed. I ended up having one last hurrah about a week later when my parents came to Maui, which I'll write about in another post. Thanks so much for reading!
Comments