In which Layla and Roz make it to Vietnam (10 years late) and explore Hanoi and Halong Bay

By Layla

I first planned to go to Vietnam almost ten years ago. But then Roz and I got together, she wanted a first vacation that we planned together, we went to Cambodia and I never did get to Vietnam. But a relative proximity to our new home and some lovely cheap flights courtesy of air miles finally brought us here. First stop: Hanoi. 

You hear all sorts of things about Hanoi. Mainly the massive concentration of people on mopeds, which is exactly true. There seem to be no specific road rules: any free bit of road is fine to zoom into and they roar past en masse like a school of fish surging forward on the tide, making it tricky to cross the road. The Old Quarter too lives up to expectations: it is lively and bustling, particularly with tourists, with people dining on tiny short chairs clustered around low pavement tables, with little shops selling knock-off shoes and bags. But less expectedly, it is also crammed with hipster coffeeshops, embracing my favourite design aesthetic and brimming with French patisserie. And there is a large, pretty lake with a temple in the middle, and wide, leafy walkways around the perimeter where people stroll romantically, use a hardcore-looking outside gym, sell pineapple, walk their dogs, have their kids drive battery-operated cars, and just promenade. I loved it. 

We arrived too late to do anything the first night, but the following morning we hit the road running - or rather, cycling. I'd booked us a countryside bike tour, which first involved leaping into and navigating Hanoi's surging moped wave - just a tad terrifying. Then we peered at the opera house, cycled over this beautiful old bridge designed by Mr Eiffel, navigated some more busy roads, and found ourselves in the countryside, visiting a pretty temple and cycling along narrow paths between rice paddies. Our tour guide was totally rubbish, taking us in wrong directions, and when asked, just making up facts about Hanoi... but we had a good time anyway and finished the tour in a vegan restaurant. We spent the afternoon eating French patisserie (you saw that coming, didn't you), strolling around the lake and sipping beer at a lakeside cafe. Then we had dinner and cocktails and headed home to bed, because an early start loomed the following morning. 

The Vietnam sight that features at the top of every good tourist's must-see list is Halong Bay. This is one of the natural wonders of the world, a beautiful bay crammed with thousands of tiny-but-tall islands rising out of the water, often filled with caves. And the only way to see it properly is on a boat. Our tour company (Vega: highly recommended) drove us the four long hours to the port with 12 companions, then took us all out in a little boat to board a bigger boat and our Halong adventure had begun. We ate a massive lunch while sailing past truly spectacular scenery, then headed out on kayaks for a glorious exploration of little lagoons where monkeys cavorted on near-vertical walls, and the water was turquoise, and there were crazy rock formations making cave tunnels through which we navigated our kayaks. In our case, inexpertly...

Next up was the Surprising Cave, probably the largest cave system I've ever visited (other than that terrifying black lava tunnel in Jeju, South Korea). This cave was beautiful, filled with stalactites and crazy rock formations. Our guide, who was cut from different cloth than yesterday's bike guide, described at vast length the various shapes that he/tradition could see in the various rock shapes. "What do you think this one is? You see? It's a monkey! And look at this rooster. Rub the head of the turtle. Do you see the penis rock? It's specially illuminated!" Luckily before he had a rebellion on his hands, we eventually emerged into the sunlight and returned to our boat for a spring roll-making lesson and an extravagant dinner with a vast number of courses. We washed it down with Saigon beer, then played a wee game of Scrabble and headed to bed. 

It was fun to wake up with the amazing scenery just outside our window. Which was just as well as it was an early rise to jump off at one of the islands and climb 400 stone steps to a lookout point. A great view over the really remarkable bay! Then we descended onto a beach where, even though the weather was not quite summery enough, we went for a fun (chilly) swim. Hooray! Back on the boat for a while, and we sailed to Cat Ba National Park for our next adventure: cycling, hiking and rock climbing. We rode our bikes along a pretty coastal path, through the countryside, and into a charming village where we had the obligatory stop to see them making rice wine, and chuckling inside while the gangly young backpacker boy gamely tried all proffered beverages, including one from a big jar full of dead snakes. Mmmm... 

Next, we left our bikes and headed for the hills. It was a beautiful little hike through forest and culminated in a slightly challenging rocky scramble to the top of the hill - then more rock climbing to get down the other side. By the time we'd cycled back to the boat we were ravenous. Luckily another giant meal awaited. I would happily have read my book on a lounger on the roof of the boat and watched the floating villages that we cruised past, but an hour later we were told it was time to kayak again. It was lovely but I was nearly broken. It was something of a relief to land at Cat Ba town to spend the night in a pleasant hotel. The town itself is tourist-central with a weird Vegas-inspired aesthetic, but we found somewhere pleasant for drinks and dinner to toast a great day. 

Yesterday we got back on the boat for four hours of sailing (and eating) through the beautiful Bay, then four hours of much-less-charming driving back to Hanoi. When we arrived, we did another stroll around the lovely lake, had tasty dinner in a nice restaurant, grabbed our luggage, and hopped in a taxi. Goodbye Hanoi - we were off to the airport. Next stop: Hoi An!