Day 73 - Halong Bay/Hanoi
Friday, October 22, 2010
Wednesday 20th October
The sun crept through my window shortly after 6am, waking me from my deep slumber. I showered and join the rest of the gang at breakfast at 7:30am, enjoying the eggs and toast.
The girls had booked on for a 2 night cruise, whilst the rest of us were only staying for 1, so they were dropped at a nearby pier for a short trek and transferral to another boat, whilst the rest of us enjoyed the sun on the boat's roof. After some bad weather in Vietnam for the past few days, due to a typhoon, the day was perfect - brilliant blue skies and a scorching sun. I sprayed sunscreen on about 4 times whilst I laid out, knowing how bad my skin can burn - luckily, it didn't turn out too bad. I pestered the boys with questions about Canada - my most burning question being, "What shoes do you wear in the snow?" (They said as the streets are shovelled and the paths salted every day, 'normal' shoes are fine to wear.)
We were all keen to return to Hanoi though, grateful we'd only booked the one night cruise, and docked at 11am. We were ushered into a large restaurant packed with other tour groups, and had a smorgasboard of food before we departed on our mini-van, back to Hanoi.
Arriving back in Hanoi at 4pm, I arranged to meet up with Abi at 7pm for dinner at a restaurant she'd recommended. I returned to my hotel and asked them to book accommodation and transfers for me in Sapa, as the train station was about 45 minutes from Sapa, as I'd heard the scene could be quite chaotic (especially at 6am in the morning when you've been on a train overnight). I then left my bags there whilst I went for a walk through the city - first stop being an ATM, as after paying for the Sapa accommodation I had only 20c left on me!
I purchased some snacks for the train and a few really cool 'paper cut out' cards (the Eiffel Tower would pop-up when you open the card). Walking through the markets, I felt fingers on my bag and quickly turned to discover a Vietnamese girl trying to undo the zip on my backpack. I didn't normally take my backpack out with me whilst walking, and my valuables were tucked away either on my body or at the bottom of the bag so there was no danger (she'd only opened it about 5cm when I'd turned), but I was struck by her audacity on the busy road. I wasn't sure what to do - grab her? Yell? I ended up just staring at her and walking off.
I met up with Abi at 'Five' restaurant at 7pm, and was stoked to have pasta and bread for dinner (the food on the boat had been ok but not hearty - vegetables and eggs, rather than complex carbohydrates). We even treated ourselves to dessert - chocolate mousse for Abi and chocolate cake for me.
She was on the 9pm train to Sapa, whereras I was on the 9:50pm train (although we'd worked out we were on the same train on Saturday night), so she took a cab to the train station at 8pm. I returned to my hotel but, with nothing to do, decided I might as well head to the train station as well. I ran into her almost as soon as I arrived - it turned out her train had been cancelled, and she was now on the same train as me. As her cabin had already been assigned, we went to the train attendants and asked if I could be placed in the same cabin as her, which we were able to do.
As the train was already on the platform, we set out to board it. By the platform, a man asked for our tickets and then asked us to follow him, so we did. He lead us on board a train and we were both astounded - the cabins were packed with whole families of Vietnamese, with the men all chain smoking. Abi and I looked at each other - we had to put up with this for 10 hours? (I thought Indian trains were supposed to be bad!) The man spoke with the people in our cabin, and soon shuffled us off the train - he'd taken us to the wrong train! (To say we were relieved was an understatement ...)
Eventually, we were taken to the right train, and we were stoked to find it clean, smoke free, and full of other Westerners. As we sunk onto the beds, the man stood in the doorway. "$10", he demanded. Abi and I looked at each other - we'd thought this man was a railway official, but he was a random who was trying to score money! Being a Vietnam ex-pat, Abi was shocked at his demand, as she explained the average Vietnamese wage is only $2.50 a day. We were refused, and turned back to each other, making conversation. The man refused to leave, and started to reduce his demand - "$5" - "$2". "He can stand there as long as he wants", said Abi, "We're not giving him any money".
After standing there for five minutes, surely knowing we weren't giving him any money, the man then leaned in to the cabin and kicked me! Abi stood up straight away and started yelling at the man. He held his hands up to his face, as if he thought she was about to fight him, and then ran off the train. "Are you ok?", asked Abi. I was fine - more shocked at the man's audacity! Abi went to the cabin nearby where a burly Western man was located, telling him of the situation and asking him to keep a look out. She was sure he wouldn't come back, but it was better to be on the safe side.
I was a little shaken up - not that I'd really felt in any danger, as I was on a train full of people, but just at the audacity of the man. Combined with the girl I'd caught trying to open my bag, Vietnam wasn't getting a good reputation. Abi called her boyfriend shortly after to tell him of what had happened. He confirmed the best thing to have done was yell, as Vietnamese people can't handle that, and told her he wouldn't have fought. As she told the story out loud, I started to laugh - what else can you do? I was relieved when the other two bunks in our cabin were filled by a Western couple, and we locked the doors after them, drifting off to sleep as soon as the train started to move.
The sun crept through my window shortly after 6am, waking me from my deep slumber. I showered and join the rest of the gang at breakfast at 7:30am, enjoying the eggs and toast.
The girls had booked on for a 2 night cruise, whilst the rest of us were only staying for 1, so they were dropped at a nearby pier for a short trek and transferral to another boat, whilst the rest of us enjoyed the sun on the boat's roof. After some bad weather in Vietnam for the past few days, due to a typhoon, the day was perfect - brilliant blue skies and a scorching sun. I sprayed sunscreen on about 4 times whilst I laid out, knowing how bad my skin can burn - luckily, it didn't turn out too bad. I pestered the boys with questions about Canada - my most burning question being, "What shoes do you wear in the snow?" (They said as the streets are shovelled and the paths salted every day, 'normal' shoes are fine to wear.)
We were all keen to return to Hanoi though, grateful we'd only booked the one night cruise, and docked at 11am. We were ushered into a large restaurant packed with other tour groups, and had a smorgasboard of food before we departed on our mini-van, back to Hanoi.
Arriving back in Hanoi at 4pm, I arranged to meet up with Abi at 7pm for dinner at a restaurant she'd recommended. I returned to my hotel and asked them to book accommodation and transfers for me in Sapa, as the train station was about 45 minutes from Sapa, as I'd heard the scene could be quite chaotic (especially at 6am in the morning when you've been on a train overnight). I then left my bags there whilst I went for a walk through the city - first stop being an ATM, as after paying for the Sapa accommodation I had only 20c left on me!
I purchased some snacks for the train and a few really cool 'paper cut out' cards (the Eiffel Tower would pop-up when you open the card). Walking through the markets, I felt fingers on my bag and quickly turned to discover a Vietnamese girl trying to undo the zip on my backpack. I didn't normally take my backpack out with me whilst walking, and my valuables were tucked away either on my body or at the bottom of the bag so there was no danger (she'd only opened it about 5cm when I'd turned), but I was struck by her audacity on the busy road. I wasn't sure what to do - grab her? Yell? I ended up just staring at her and walking off.
I met up with Abi at 'Five' restaurant at 7pm, and was stoked to have pasta and bread for dinner (the food on the boat had been ok but not hearty - vegetables and eggs, rather than complex carbohydrates). We even treated ourselves to dessert - chocolate mousse for Abi and chocolate cake for me.
She was on the 9pm train to Sapa, whereras I was on the 9:50pm train (although we'd worked out we were on the same train on Saturday night), so she took a cab to the train station at 8pm. I returned to my hotel but, with nothing to do, decided I might as well head to the train station as well. I ran into her almost as soon as I arrived - it turned out her train had been cancelled, and she was now on the same train as me. As her cabin had already been assigned, we went to the train attendants and asked if I could be placed in the same cabin as her, which we were able to do.
As the train was already on the platform, we set out to board it. By the platform, a man asked for our tickets and then asked us to follow him, so we did. He lead us on board a train and we were both astounded - the cabins were packed with whole families of Vietnamese, with the men all chain smoking. Abi and I looked at each other - we had to put up with this for 10 hours? (I thought Indian trains were supposed to be bad!) The man spoke with the people in our cabin, and soon shuffled us off the train - he'd taken us to the wrong train! (To say we were relieved was an understatement ...)
Eventually, we were taken to the right train, and we were stoked to find it clean, smoke free, and full of other Westerners. As we sunk onto the beds, the man stood in the doorway. "$10", he demanded. Abi and I looked at each other - we'd thought this man was a railway official, but he was a random who was trying to score money! Being a Vietnam ex-pat, Abi was shocked at his demand, as she explained the average Vietnamese wage is only $2.50 a day. We were refused, and turned back to each other, making conversation. The man refused to leave, and started to reduce his demand - "$5" - "$2". "He can stand there as long as he wants", said Abi, "We're not giving him any money".
After standing there for five minutes, surely knowing we weren't giving him any money, the man then leaned in to the cabin and kicked me! Abi stood up straight away and started yelling at the man. He held his hands up to his face, as if he thought she was about to fight him, and then ran off the train. "Are you ok?", asked Abi. I was fine - more shocked at the man's audacity! Abi went to the cabin nearby where a burly Western man was located, telling him of the situation and asking him to keep a look out. She was sure he wouldn't come back, but it was better to be on the safe side.
I was a little shaken up - not that I'd really felt in any danger, as I was on a train full of people, but just at the audacity of the man. Combined with the girl I'd caught trying to open my bag, Vietnam wasn't getting a good reputation. Abi called her boyfriend shortly after to tell him of what had happened. He confirmed the best thing to have done was yell, as Vietnamese people can't handle that, and told her he wouldn't have fought. As she told the story out loud, I started to laugh - what else can you do? I was relieved when the other two bunks in our cabin were filled by a Western couple, and we locked the doors after them, drifting off to sleep as soon as the train started to move.
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