After returning from Vung Tau to Ho Chi Minh City on an early morning hydrofoil trip we barely made it to the Saigon airport in time to catch our flight but of course our Jetstar Pacific flight was delayed.  Once we got in the air the flight was only around 2 hours and touching down in North Vietnam had me thinking if Hanoi would be a repeat of Saigon which I found to be nerve racking and not very enjoyable.

After the flight landed at around 4pm I really wanted to head to Halong Bay right away.  I asked a booth about the trip to Halong Bay and the packages they offered were pretty consistent with what we actually paid.   We decided to book the 2 day excursion to Halong Bay the next morning from our hotel in Hanoi.  We easily found the legitimate taxi (so we thought) and started off for the hour or so long drive into Hanoi.

Taxi Driver Hotel Scam

I saw two things that interested me during the taxi ride from the airport.  First of all, the air was completely filled with smoke.  I couldn’t tell if it was from a celebration or just a bunch of farmers.  The date was September 20th, 2009 so if anyone reading this knows do tell.  Secondly I noticed the very large presence of foreign companies.  Almost every billboard which were plentiful were from Korean and Japanese companies.

Chalk up another victory to the Lonely Planet Guide for warning us about the taxi driver scam.  We asked the taxi driver to take us to Church Hotel which was recommended by another guide book, the Hanoi Wallpaper Guide.  The Lonely Planet warned about taxi drivers taking you to the wrong hotel, or in our case he took us to a random room above a shop.  I know the language barrier is significant, but this guy was obviously trying to make some extra bucks.  I was not surprised because of my experience with the rip-off and scam artists in Ho Chi Minh City which were also in the Lonely Planet.  This taxi driver hotel scam had me thinking again that Hanoi was going to be a repeat of Saigon.

Hanoi is Nothing Like Ho Chi Minh City!

After the taxi driver started driving to the real Church Hotel I had a chance to sit back and observe Hanoi.  It was even apparent on the highway from the airport that Hanoi was a lot more friendly than Saigon.  In Hanoi I noticed a presence of young, smiling faced people.  It seemed that every time I turned my head in Hanoi I would see an attractive 20-something girl or a beautiful 30 something woman doing her thing. I

thought Hanoi really had a small town atmosphere, especially when compared to Saigon.  Most of the streets were narrow and while the traffic was hectic, there was nowhere near the volume of Ho Chi Minh City.   We finally got to Church Hotel and incoincidentally was located right next to this big Catholic church.  We had a chance to get our rooms and relax for a little bit then it was time to head out in Hanoi for the first time.

Places to Stay in Hanoi:  Church Hotel:  -Coming soon

Paces to Stay in Hanoi:  Gia Bao Hanoi Hotel

The Lake

Hanoi is a city with many lakes but the Hoàn Kiếm Lake is seemingly right in the center of the city.  Both hotels we stayed at were located a very close walk from Hoàn Kiếm Lake.  all around the lake was a very peaceful and relaxing place even though it was surrounded by the normal swarm of motorcycle traffic.  The noise of the traffic somehow disappeared when I was walking around the lake.

During the day the lake was a place for people who were just getting off work to sit and rest for lunch and by night time it was a place for couples and friends to go and just relax.   I would estimate the circumference around the lake to be around 1.5 miles and there is plenty of shops and restaurants across the street from the lake and one restaurant actually outside alongside the lake called Hapro Bon Mua. I met a guy selling Lonely Planet guides and post cards walking around the lake.  I first gave him the usual cold shoulder but ran into him again a short while later and started talking.

He said he was a student and explained his life story and we chatted for around 3o minutes.  He told me that he knew some good karaoke places and gave me his phone number and offered to show and my friend around.  He insisted I go across the street from the lake where there was a large group dancing.  It turned out the dancing they were doing was very far from traditional Vietnamese dancing.

Looking Across Hoàn Kiếm Lake at Night

More Rip-Offs

My friend who I was traveling with told me about the Lonely Planet warning about the English speaking people around the lake, I decided not to call back the guy who I spoke with at the lake.   I can usually tell if people I meet are good natured but the Lonely Planet had been 100% so I decided to not take the risk of getting ripped off.  Unlike Saigon there were very few cyclo drivers and other annoying people on the streets trying to sell you something or provide a service.

Taxi drivers seemingly drove around the lakes multiple times for no apparent reason which lead to large taxi bills.  They even did this when we were with our Vietnamese guide who we asked to show us some night venues when he was our tour guide at Halong Bay.  We asked him to show us around since he spoke English well but his guidance led to more rip-offs as he definitely brought us to less than spectacular places because he was going to get a commission.  This wasn’t necessarily a rip-off but an annoyance nonetheless.

Thinks I did in Hanoi

Hoa Lo Prison (Hanoi Hilton)

Shopping at Cho Dong Xuan

Overall Impression

Since my less than optimally planned trip to Halong Bay cost 3 days I only had the chance to visit Hanoi for 1 full day and a couple nights.  I had the chance to stay longer I just booked my return ticket too soon.  At the time I felt it was time to head home to Bangkok but I definitely want to return to Hanoi as I missed out on a few tourist attractions as well as the city away from the lake.  Since Hanoi is close to China I’m thinking I may try to obtain a visa for mainland china and start my journey in Hanoi to see what I missed.

Go to Hanoi and Have a Seat!

Since the flight from Saigon to Hanoi was only around 2 hours I thought it would be a good idea to try to get to Halong Bay the same day.  Halong Bay is a good 4 hour van/bus ride from Hanoi so I figured if you could take the flight and then drive straight from the airport to Halong bay it would save a day of travel.  If you read about my experience with flying Jetstar Pacific Airlines you will already know a flight cancellation and the associated delays cost me at least 3 hours of travel.

For anyone reading this who wants to go to Halong Bay, there are booths selling sleeping boat tours (for fair prices) at the airport so it still may be a possibility.  The moral of the story is, if you want to get from Saigon to Halong Bay in a single day, make sure you take the earliest flight from Saigon to Hanoi and book in advance.  I never book in advance so I ended up having to spend a night in Hanoi which wasn’t a bad thing but sometimes it just feels better to get the bulk travel done all in one shot.

Booking & Bus Ride from Hanoi to Halong Bay

Halong Bay is one of Vietnam’s biggest tourist attractions so finding sleeping boat tours is very easy in Hanoi.  Most hotels and all tourist information centers had multiple types of Halong Bay excursions to offer.  Myself and a friend chose a 2 day package which included 1 night on a sleeping boat.  They told us the itinerary which included swimming, kayaking and of course sight seeing and one night sleeping on the boat.  There are also tours that include hiking.

Before you can go on the exciting nautical adventure you need to get there.   I read you can take an hour helicopter flight for around $100/hr which I would have considered due to the fact I have never been in a chopper before and it would shave 3 hours off the trip.  The all inclusive cost for our Halong Bay sleeping boat exrursion included included the 4 hour bus/van trip so why not.

The good part about van trips to excursions like this is you get to meet a lot of interesting people.  Getting stuffed like a sardine to fit 13 or so people in an extended air conditioned van or short bus gives you the opportunity to get up close and personal with your possible shipmates.  Our group included a bunch of different characters on different points of their travel which I will talk about later.  Needless to say, the 4 hour ride which stopped once for a restroom and food break allowed us to get acquainted with some interesting travelers and is a blessing in disguise.

Once we crossed the bridge we knew it wasn’t too long before we boarded our temporary home on the water.  They separated the people in the van into groups depending on whether you were on the 2 or 3 day trip which meant we lost some of our bus companions for people in another bus.  After getting off the bus it took about 30 minutes to all board a small boat to take us to the large sleeping boat.  In a couple minutes we got to the sleeping boat and set sail (not literally) for the middle of Halong  Bay where we would anchor down for the first and in our case only night in Halong Bay Vietnam.

Just Boarded Sleeping Boat, Heading for Middle of Bay

Welcome Aboard

When we first boarded our sleeping boat which was called the White Dolphin we were given choices of rooms.  I was with a friend so we shared a room which had twin beds, nice washroom, mini bar and most importantly air conditioning.  For anyone who travels alone keep in mind you will likely be sharing a room with a complete stranger.  If the thought of this bothers you, it’s probably a good idea to make prior arrangements to avoid this situation.

The White Dolphin had 3 levels.  The bottom level had all rooms.  Our room happened to be the last one on the bottom level towards the back of the boat (sorry for not using the correct nautical terms) so the water was right outside our window.  The mid level had the dining room, bar and more rooms and top level had a bunch of lounge chairs and outdoor tables and furniture.  We barely got a chance to explore the boat after we got our rooms when we were called up to the main deck for lunch.

Lunch & Conversation

Food was included not surprisingly drinks were not.  They served the first meal in 3 courses of pretty good food.  The dining room was very nice with tablecloths and the whole nine yards.  Most of the tables had 4 seats which allowed us to chat with 2 people who happened to be two friends from Australia who have been traveling the world this year.  The conversation was interesting but as soon as we were close to finished we were told that we would leave the White Dolphin via small boat to explore a large cave in 15 minutes.

The Cave & Swimming

We were all shuttled to a big cave which was famous for having several rock formations which looked like objects from a lion to Buddha to the infamous pink genitals!  After the boat landed there was a decent hike up a bunch of stairs to get to the entrance of the cave.  By that time I was very hot and sweating profusely but it came as a relief to find out it had to have been 10 degrees cooler in the cave.

It was unexpected and surprising to me that the first thing we saw upon entering the cave was this very obvious pink penis with scrotum.  Our guide spent a good 5 minutes talking about this pink penis and seemed genuinely excited to talk about the pink phallus which I think was lit up for show.

The rest of the cave wasn’t nearly exciting as the pink phallus.  There was a basic 10 minute walk looping around the cave and then it was time for pictures.  After leaving the cave there are some great picture opportunities which allowed me to take the one at the top of this post.  After leaving the cave everyone got the chance to go to a nearby beach and swim, swim of of the boat or stay on the boat and relax which is what I did.   Most of the people in our tour opted to swim on the beach while a couple others were content to jump off the top deck of the boat.  Everyone seemed like they burned a lot of energy swimming and after I took a nap it was beginning to get dark…

I Told you our Guide was Excited!

Continue to Halong Bay Part II:

]]> http://tourismpicks.com/2009/10/15/places-to-visit-from-hanoi-halong-bay-part1/feed/ 6 http://tourismpicks.com/2009/09/30/saigon-ho-chi-minh-city-vietnam/ http://tourismpicks.com/2009/09/30/saigon-ho-chi-minh-city-vietnam/#comments Wed, 30 Sep 2009 08:16:39 +0000 Mike Behnken http://travel.askthetrainer.com/?p=440

Saigon

From Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City (officially),  formerly known as Saigon is a quick and painless hour flight east on AirAsia.  I was told to expect the unexpected and I would further this advice for anyone else visiting Saigon.

I have lived in Bangkok for the past 6 months and have got used to the Thai lifestyle, people and general flow of the city so if you have never lived in Thailand or been to Bangkok your experience may be vastly different but that’s precisely the reason why there are tens of thousands of travel blogs.

Getting There & First Impression

Since I like to be thorough I created a whole blog entry devoted to Getting to Saigon Vietnam from Bangkok Thailand.  As the plane was making its final descent I could see the snaking river and city approach just like in every Vietnam war movie.  I figured that the taxi from the airport would be relatively quick which it was.

Traffic out of a Horror Movie

The first thing any n0n-native to Vietnam will inevitably notice about Saigon is the insane amount of motorbikes and seemingly chaotic traffic.  There are motorbikes with 1-4 people and various odd shaped items (i.e. refrigerators, tires, stacks of packages, etc.) swarming around every street and intersection in multiple directions.

If you though sheer volume of traffic is bad, compound that with the fact that many of the vehicles in the street are honking their horns every few seconds and you may find being anywhere in Saigon nerve-racking as I did from the outset. There could be an entire blog devoted  solely on Saigon’s traffic but it is worth mentioning that the traffic makes any US city and even Bangkok seem like a rural suburb.  When there is a traffic jam in most cities, most of the traffic (cars & trucks) are stopped and there is very little movement but in Saigon motorcycles, mopeds, bicycles, cyclos and other forms of transportation are jockeying for position which is like navigating a maze.

Midday Traffic from Reunification Palace

Crossing the Street

Simply crossing the street is a seemingly perilous adventure when you first set foot on the streets of Saigon.  Crossing the average street with a traffic brew consisting of motorcycles and mopeds zooming everywhere along with the occasional car and bus is actually a lot easier to deal with than you may first think.

To make crossing the street in Saigon easier keep in mind that most of the traffic is moving less than 30 miles per hour and they’re more aware than most western drivers on their cell phones listening to the radio because they have to.  If you want to cross the street simply go for it!  Walk slowly and most importantly DO NOT STOP as it will confuse the drivers and actually make it more dangerous for you.  The traffic amazingly flows like water around pedestrians.

Money

Even though most American and European travelers will initially get a kick about their astronomical bank account balance while in Vietnam as 100,000 Vietnamese Dong is around $5.60USD the exchange from Vietnamese Dong to American Dollars is very annoying.  When your not constantly chopping  off zeros and work with the 500,000 and 100,000 Dong bills you are having to worry about mistaking a 100,000 dong bill for a 10,000 dong bill while in a rush.

My travel buddy in Vietnam actually tipped both bellboys who brought his bags up 200,000 dong ($11)  each mistaking the 100,000 dong bills for 10,000 dong bills.  The large sums can drive anyone bad at math insane especially when certain cash registers and taxis chop off zeros automatically on their screens which further confuse things.

To my surprise, unlike Thailand, the American dollar was widely accepted in Vietnam.  For anyone heading to Thailand after Vietnam, make sure you get rid of all your Dong before you leave Vietnam as exchanging Vietnamese Dong was almost impossible in Bangkok.

Things to Do

Regardless of what you think of Saigon neither you nor anyone can call it a boring city.  It is enormous and there is an endless list of things to do in and around Saigon.  I spent almost the entire time in District 1 and there are over 11 districts.  Saigon will always be a good starting point if you plant to visit anywhere else  in Vietnam. How much time you spend in Saigon depends on what your interests are.  Here are a few things which I did and wish I did.

Eat

If you love Vietnamese food and French food, Saigon has the best of both worlds.  You can get everything from a bowl of Vietnamese noodle soup called pho (pronounced Fuh) or a Vietnamese sandwich on a street stall for under $1USD to dining at trendy and/or fine dining restaurants.

Bibi Restaurant

Places to See

Saigon was at center stage for one of the more infamous wars in the history of mankind and there are many places you can visit to learn more about the Vietnamese side of the Vietnam War.  To learn about the guided tours in and around Saigon you can find tourist information centers spread conveniently throughout district 1 which is likely where you will be staying.   From museums to historic sites, Saigon has a lot to offer within the city limits as well as within a few hour air conditioned bus trip.  Unfortunately I was in expat hang-out / party mode so I missed some great parts of Saigon but here is what I had a chance to experience:

Reunification Palace

Cu Chi Tunnels

Vung Tau

War Remnants Museum – I regretfully missed out on the War Remnants museum.  After visiting the Reunification Palace and seeing some of the photos I wasn’t really feeling like seeing more death, destruction and propaganda but if I ever find myself in Saigon I will definitely check it out.

Places to Stay

Saigon was surprisingly expensive for mid-range lodging, compared to Bangkok for lodging, at least in District 1 where I was staying.

Elios Hotel

Shopping

Living in Bangkok which is one of the best places to shop in the world I really had no business buying things common in Bangkok in Saigon but forgetting some necessary items required me to do some shopping.  Shopping in Saigon is only half of the story as if you don’t bargain, you WILL pay several times the expected sale price.  You can read more about the bargaining process in the entry about Benh Thanh market.

Behn Thanh Market

The People

I consider the best part about international travel to experience the people of a nation.  I have said it before I totally 100% disagree than the “real people” of any country exist in the rural parts because the cities are what makes any country tick.  Again, my view of Saigon may be influenced by the fact that I’m used to Thailand but in Saigon I got the feeling that people were just not happy.   It seemed everywhere you went people were trying to hustle you, yelling at you or grabbing at you.

Tips & Warnings

Besides the brief history lessons, I’m not the biggest fan of Lonely Planet books as I tend to like talking to people to get recommendations but the Lonely Planet provided the most useful piece of advice for your time in Saigon.

The advice is if you are approached by any person on the street, DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE THEIR EXISTENCE!  It may be rude and sound rude but if you even look in their direction let alone say no, the cyclo drivers and shoe polishers will follow you for blocks.

Case in point, I gave a shoe polisher 10,000 dong (50 cents USD) because I thought it would get rid of him and it encouraged him to start brushing, gluing, scraping and literally chewing the glue off my shoes which happened to be 5 year old $30 dollar shoes I got at Ross in San Francisco.   His attention attracted about 5 other shoe polisher guys over and I was quickly feeling uncomfortable.  When he got done he asked for 600,000 dong ($33).  I started to walk away but I remember him using a rusty knife to scrape the glue off my shoes and I could picture this kid stabbing me in the back.  He followed me down Pham Ngu Lao and I went in my hotel.  I literally left my hotel 5-6 hours later and he was still waiting.

Overall Summary

I have talked to numerous travelers as well as expats who live and/or have lived in Saigon for numerous years and have received mixed opinions.  For me, the best thing about visiting Saigon, was leaving Saigon as I had a much better time when I found myself in places which were less nerve racking for me.  Regardless of my opinion and the opinions of others, out of all the places I have been I think the statement “You will either Love it or Hate it” applies to Saigon more than any other city.