After flying (flashpacker style) from Vientiene in Laos of Hanoi in Vietnam I got to Hanoi backpacker's hostel and ran into opne of the Irish boys from the slow boat who said that the Irish lot were all upstairs, so I headed up and ran into not only them but Simon and Kirsty too, and they were all heading off to Halong the next day so I had to run downstairs and book on the 'party hard' tour of Halong Bay, so the couple of days of rest and taking it easy that I'd been hoping for were well out the window!
So, up at half 6 the next morning to get packed for a 3 day booze cruise, after a week long bender, and the remnants of a fever, I wasn't feeling too great.
But after we got on the boat, went kayaking to a beach and had a few beers it was quality! Halong Bay is a huge area of Limestone karst rising out of the water, so the tour was cool ...plus the food was amazing and the boat was sweet! Me and the Irish lads ended up with a couple of massive rooms on the top deck with our own balcony which hosted the gold ticket after-party, which again consisted of Bongo's, 'We all dream of a team of Gary Breens', Oasis, Boyzone, and one hearfelt rendition of the Welsh national anthem.
It was an eclectic mix.
Day two for me consisted of staring at the floor feeling ill with a killer headache after lots to drink and little sleep. When we got to 'Castaway Island' for our second night I hit the sack and woke up just in time for a nail-bitingly close game of volleyball (21-19) and the begining of more drinking games. We'd been playing 'ring of fire' the night before, and on the second night we played 'slaps,' a game me, Evan and Tory had brought with us from working in Bucket Bar, and Big-Titty-Cowgirl -the best game ever!
Day three and we got back onto the boat, had lunch and felt very sorry for ourselves for the rest of the day. Until the evening, when we all got drunk again. Hard life, all this 'culture'.
The next day I thought I needed to do something at leat a bit cultural and went sightseeing around Hanoi, which is a pretty cool city when you get used to all the noise and scooters everywhere. The traffic here is ridiculous. It's a case of 'if there's space, go'. Crossing the road is interesting, you pretty much have to walk really slowly and the traffic just moves around you!
The city has a massive lake with two islands with old buildings on them which was impressive, as was the Ho Chi Minh Complex to the west of the city, which included a massive mausoleum to hold his embalmed corpse for all the tourists to see!
The military is everywhere in Vietnam, definitely tell its communist from that if nothing else. On the way from the city to the Ho Chi Minh Complex I walked around the huge walled military area which is surrounded by soldiers holding AK47's who stare at you as if to say 'One false move and...', so it's not the frindliest place at times.
Also, scams are everywhere. Walking around Hanoi I was asked to leave my bag outside before going into a museum-fat chance, to donate to the red cross by a woman who jumed off the back of a scooter when she saw me and got hustled out of 100,000 (3 quid) by a scooter driver. Westerners here are just walking dollar signs which can get a bit annoying at times, but apparently they're friendlier in the south -plus, I suppose agent-orange did little to help foster good white-Vietnamese relations.
Anyway, I just to Hoi-An yeaterday with the Irish boys and a scottish lad so it should be good fun here, everyone else is getting in over the next two days.
x
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