So we went to Sapa, which is north-west Vietnam, about 30km south of the Chinese border. The train journey was a bit of a nightmare, they picked us up from the agency building at 7.30pm to go the station. After going to a few other hostels and picking up a few other people they crammed the minibus full to the brim and took us to the station. They gave us all tickets to Sapa and for some reason, maybe because the tour we book was private but the best value for money. So we had to wait at the station 2 hours before the train departed in the pouring rain with our backpacks on. They let us get on the train about an hour and a half before it left but they refused to put the electricity on the train until much later, so we were sitting on a pitch black train wet from the rain, it wasn't too nice. I don't know why but they put me and Clare in separate cabins but on the same carriage. It was a nine hour journey and we had sleeper cabins which were OK, but Clare was sharing with 3 snoring Indonesian guys who ate pot noodles constantly and didn't turn their lights off all night. I was sharing with 3 Vietnamese people who couldn't speak a word of English but insisted on being on their phone late into the night. The trains are also really slow, really dirty and really bumpy. As a result, Clare and I both had a pretty shitty night sleep. We arrived in Lao Cai (about 30km from Sapa) at around 6.30am and it was raining there as well. We had a pickup arranged in another cramped minibus and had a dodgy journey up the mountains to Sapa, the roads seem like they would barely fit a car on and they wind all around the mountains but they all seem to find a way for buses to overtake each other on corners while constantly using their horn. Not the safest journey, if your vehicle fell off you would surely die but we made it eventually. Arriving at our hotel in Sapa was suprising, because we didn't know that as soon as a tourist vehicle stops you get surrounded by tribeswomen from local villages trying to sell you stuff. We were given breakfast at the hotel and were allowed to shower (outdoors) and then were split into smaller groups depending what tour you booked. So at 9am our group left the hotel, guided by a tribeswoman from the Black H'Mong tribe called Linh who taught herself English by talking to tourists and it sounded quite good. We were going on a 12km hike to a local village, through loads of rice fields, round mountains, through streams and up and down slippery slopes. The best thing about it is that all of the other women from the tribe of the tour guide follow the tour talking to you as well. They aren't paid to do it but they speak to you and help you and then at the end they try to sell you things they have made or cheap fake silver things etc. It had been raining that morning but we had no idea how hard it was going to be. It wasn't the distance or the hard work that was hard it was just so slippery and at times you were going down slopes of about 70 degrees and you and no chance of staying on your feet. Everyone was struggling though and pretty much everyone falls over which is why the women from the tribe are so amazing. They hold your hands the whole way round and carry your stuff for you, and then make you look like an idiot because the can do all of it so much better than you. Everyone's pride went out the window and we found ourselves being assisted by girls as young as 7 or 8 and women as old as 80 putting everyone to shame. The trek was good fun though, and we got some amazing photos. Sapa is quite unique in the way that it constantly has a layer of fog not too far off the ground. Even on a clear day the visibility isn't great but its really refreshing coming from somewhere like Hanoi because the air is so much cleaner and on a hot day is really hot but it often rains so its a very strange climate. Anyway, we felt obliged to buy some useless jewelery and some handmade bracelets from the women that helped us and they seemed pretty grateful, but I think most people just buy things because its nicer than just giving money for charity, but they are genuinely really helpful to have along the way. So we arrived at the homestay we had arranged for the night. It wasn't what we expected, it was more of a dorm than a homestay but it was really good fun. It was a tiny building with 10 tourists staying in. Not luxurious at all, about 10 cushions on the floor to sleep on but it had a really nice atmosphere and the food and drink was really good. The host couldn't speak English but he loved drinking the rice wine made from the fields around us so we had a really good night. Clare had a lot of rice wine and therefore got a much better night sleep than me. We had a good crowd staying with us,as well as the tour guide and they had beers and stuff so we had a late night but it was really fun. In the morning, we had to get up at about 8 for breakfast for a 9am 6km hike up to the top of a waterfall. It was the same sort of thing again, we had women from the tribe helping us and it was just as slippy as the day before, but the views from the top were amazing. You could see a Mountain called Fansipan, which is the highest peak in South East Asia, but to climb it you need to pay quite a lot more money on a different tour. After getting to the top we had to get down a really steep slope and have some lunch. and then got a minibus quite a long way back to the hotel. All our meals throughout were paid for as part of the tour so we didn't need to spend any money really in Sapa but we had to afternoon free to do whatever we wanted. Sapa is only a small town so it doesn't take long to explore, but it has a nice market, and a not so nice meat section, where we saw headless fish flapping around, and about 20 chickens in a cage that would be small for 1. The next day we had a 3 hour climb to the top a mountain, which is decorated all the way up with nice flowers and other decorations. At the top is a viewpoint where you can see all of Sapa and a lot of amazing views of other mountains and the surrounding villages and stuff. We had another afternoon for ourselves so we went out for a few drink and had a fairly early night. The last day we had arranged to do another trek up a similar mountain but we decided not to go as apparently it was more of the same sort of thing. So that evening we left Sapa and had an equally crap journey home, arriving in Hanoi at 5am in need of a good sleep.
After a nap we went out and did some research into a Halong bay trip. We checked out a few different ones, some are like piss ups and watersports tours and others are more like mini cruises but we were just looking for cheap really. Our Sapa trip was really good value compared to what everyone else paid so we decided to use the same company again. Most trips cost around 100 dollars and we book one for 2 nights for 55 dollars each so we were looking forward to going the next day. We had a fairly early start to get picked up the next day but thats where the problems started. The 'hotel pick up' they promised actually meant a man coming to our hostel and taking us on a 30 minute walk with our bags to get to his minibus on the main road. There was a whole minibus worth of people doing the same trip as us so we all had to do the same walk. We got talking to a few of the others though and it seems that everyone paid a different price. Some girls got the same trip for 40 and some people paid almost 80 dollars so we were quite pissed off already. The journey to Halong City is aboput 3 and a half hours which was OK then when we got to the port we didn't wait around long before getting on the junk (small boat). The tour organisers said that they have a policy of no more than 16 people on each tour but there were actually 20 on ours. As soon as we got on our boat (called 'The Halong Party Cruiser') we sat down for lunch. It was pretty horrendous, for us vegetarians, they only provided cabbage and rice despite telling them we are vegetarian. The tour guide said he was never told. So we had our pretty shit lunch and ordered a beer (US$2, twice the price they said it would cost when we booked it). We then went to some caves round the corner which were pretty cool but nothing too special, the Halong Bay scenery itself was more amazing, and we got some nice photos off the top of the boat. We went past a fishing village and the boat stopped and said we could go for a swim. So everyone got ready and then the tour guide said we have to pay a woman who runs a boat company 50,000 Vietnamese Dong each ($2.50) to take us to a cave where we are allowed to swim, because apparently you aren't allowed to swim in the sea for free (bellend). So everyone on the boat refused to pay so the boat left to go Kayaking. Everyone was having a go at the guide but he didn't seem to give a shit. Then we got to the Kayak place which we were told we would have an hour to kayak for free. When we got there he said if we were out for longer than 20 minutes then we get fined 50,000 VD. Another group we spoke to were told they had to rent life jackets for 20,000 VD because apparently there is a new law to protect tourists after a tourist died (probably bullshit). Anyway, our group weren't even offered life jackets, probably for the best to save us money but stupid inconsistencies anyway. The Kayaking was OK, but we had to be careful because they also told us there would be a fine if we damaged the boat or the oars. Everyone thought he was taking the piss but basically it was just one rip off after another. After Kayaking, the guide I think realised how pissed off we all were so he took us out into the open where we were allowed to swim, dive off the boat and stuff which was actually really fun. The sea was really warm and fairly clear. We had dinner (the same menu as lunch time) and then the Party Cruiser really gets going, with a full on cheesy Karaoke set with classics such as Tina Turner on it. It was quite good fun in a way and everyone had a lot to drink, the after the karaoke the cruiser becomes a Disco. Everyone had a good time, because we all made the situation a lot better by drinking lots of beer. I played a card game with the Vietnamese boat crew and had no idea how to play, there was no skill involved but I lost about a fivers worth of Vietnamese Dong to them, bastards. The bedroom was quite a good size, we had a private room but they refused to turn on the air-con unless you pay more and there weren't any fans like they advertised. The room was boiling but after quite a few beers we both slept alright. We had to wake up at 6.30 though for a pathetic breakfast of 4 disgusting slices of bread each and a small cold green egg, not sure if it was fried, scrambled or if it was a small omelette, either way it was horrible. We asked for salt and pepper but were refused for some reason. A few other boats then joined us so it was now about 3 groups merged into 1 on our small boat. We went to quite a big island called Cat Ba, where we would be staying that night. A bus took us all to a mountain which we had an hour and a half to get up and down again. Me and Clare made it to the top after many struggles and my flip flops broke which didn't make it any easier. Anyway, after all that hard work the view at the top was pretty boring, and in hindsight, we probably would have been better off having a beer at the bottom and would have saved myself a pair of flip-flops. My emergency backup pair were Clare's other ones which were about 4 sizes too small for me, resulting in very cut up feet and blisters, lovely. The bus then took us to the hotel we were staying at, which to be fair was really nice. It was two star but in England would have probably been more. We had a reasonable meal there then went down to get picked up to go a an island called Monkey Island. Our tour guide then said we hadn't paid for the monkey island part of the trip (which we had) then tried to get us to pay 7 dollars to take part in it (which is more expensive than the going rate anyway). We got him to make some calls and then he came back and rudely said "get on the bus then". We got another small boat to monkey island and were given an hour to spend there. Apparently the monkeys can be hard to find so we just stayed on the beach and had a swim instead, was really nice and relaxing. Apparently, the Lonely Planet says that it doesn't recommend this trip because too many tourists get bitten by the monkeys. After about half an hour in the sea, a small group of 5 monkeys and a baby one came down to where we had left our bags. A few people started gathering round to take photos of them, I think its quite rare for them to come all the way down to the beach. They started picking people's things up, and then picked up our bag with the camera in, but I think it was too heavy for it so it didn't take it away. I had to clap at them to try to get them away but they just ignored me to honest, and hissed at me, so I backed down like a girl. We got some good photos of them drinking cans of red bull and chasing a man into the sea trying to bite him which was quite funny, then the monkeys all made their way back to the trees. When we got back from Monkey island we went out for a few drinks before going back for dinner (same food again) and then went back out into the town area with some of the other people on the tour. We had quite a good night, went out for a few drinks and stuff. Met some funny Chinese guys who love the English, and insist on having a 'Cheers' at the end of every sentence. By the end of the night they were calling me brother, and they say that 'Clare is very beautiful'. They were quite good fun and we ended up getting back to the hotel at around 1.30am. Again, we had to get up early for breakfast and then we got picked up from the hotel back to the boat and got a pretty swift boat back to Halong city and then a bus back to Hanoi. Overall a good fun trip but completely different to what they advertised so we were quite pissed off. When I asked for a receipt the tour guide said if he gave it back he would leave me in the sea. Brilliant.
Back in Hanoi we went to complain, hoping for some sort of solution, but not really expecting. The staff were bastards, rude to us and the manager was an idiot. In the end they gave us compensation of 3 dollars each, was pretty pathetic, but we were really angry with them but oh well. If anyone is thinking of using 'Sinh Cafe' to book a tour, never do it, bunch of idiots.
Moving on, we booked our tickets for a jump on/jump off bus down the coats using 5 stops to leave on the 4th October. We went and spent our 'compensation money' on a vegetable hot pot and a couple of beers, then stayed up quite late talking to a few people at our hostel, one of them being the sister of Laura White (apparently a girl who got the final stages of X Factor in 2008). So today we are leaving Hanoi to go to Hue on a sleeper bus which should be interesting. Hanoi has been good fun overall. It is currently celebrating 1000 years as being the capital which means from 1st to 10th of October is celebrations everywhere, stages and good lighting all over the town. Shame we have to miss the finale on the 10th but we don't want to be here too long, its not that big and we feel like we have done enough here. So we will update this again in a week or so, probably somewhere down the coast of Vietnam.
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