From Land of Smiles to Land of Scams

So after only having one night in Saigon, we headed up to Hanoi. The one night in Saigon was pretty amazing and was a nice breath of fresh air after spending close to a week in Cambodia. Met a british guy in our hotel in Saigon that now lives in Saigon and actually runs the first insurance company for cell phones in Vietnam. It was actually just launching and he was on the news as we were talking to him. It was great to chat with him to get the lowdown on the city and he suggested a few places for drinks and nightlige. Went out for the night and ended up being a good night out in Saigon and ended up only getting a few hours sleep before catching the flight in Hanoi.

The flight to Hanoi was interesting. We took JetStar, which is a Vietnamese budget airline and somehow the three of us got lucky to get the first three seats. About 15 minutes before landing some guy heads into the bathroom and right before landing as the stewardess checks the bathroom she notices the smell of smoke. Seems to be that the guy could not wait another 20 or so minutes and had to have a few puffs of nicotine. That was a first for me, unbelievable to have the balls to smoke in the bathroom on a plane. Not sure the consequences in Vietnam, but I know back home the penalty is pretty severe. Also during landing some lady decided to just standup and walk down the aisle as we were landing with her baby. I guess, only in Vietnam.

So we had two nights in Hanoi and booked a 2 night 3 day trip to Halong Bay. The two nights were sub-par and actually a bit disappointing. Everything seems to shut down by 11:30 or so in Hanoi and finding any sort of night life in the city seemed impossible. We got suggestions from Andy (mobile insurance guy from Saigon) about restaurants and nightlife, the restaurant he suggested us to eat at was called Ibox, which also had a nightclub upstairs. Found the restaurant and after looking over the menu decided to give it a try. A bit upscale french-fusion. The hostess surprisingly forgot to tell us that we would be charged 50k doung (about 3 bucks) each for a jazz performer that would start during our dinner. Since we didn't have reservations and probably for being foreigners, they sit us right next to a speaker. The show starts with a jazz band playing a nice Duke Elington track and then the next song a flaming viet singer jumps up and sings Silent Night. Quickly the show turned for the worst as well as our experience at Ibox. The food then came and it seemed we didn't get what we ordered. I think Josh got my dish and vice versa, Louie's didn't seem right. We went along with it and the food was actually good but the singing was horrific, plus it was blaring right in our ears. As soon as we grubbed down our food, we quickly made our way to the exit after a bit of confusion with the doung as the conversion is 16k to one USD and the blaring music in our ears made the conversion difficult for some reason. After that we found the associated nightclub a few doors down and went upstairs. Once we entered we were quickly escorted to a table and told to sit down. It's been a vietnamese thing to get you into a club and sit you down, which has been alittle annoying and pretty much just a way to get you to buy a drink, something we are not really used to at a nightclub....bar girls surround you and and try to get you to order american priced drinks. The music here was just as bad as the music during dinner. They had a bunch of vietnamese girls lip syncing and dancing to some wannabe jpop and then had some corny dj come up and dance around. As all of us were not into this, we quickly left after one drink and called it a night.

For our first full day in Hanoi, we joined a tour to a some temples and for a raft ride down and through rice fields. The temples seemed like a waste of time and more like a way to just kill time. Maybe I have just been spoiled with Angkor Wat and Sukhothai in Thailand. After that we took a bus to this waterway where little old vietnames ladies row you down the waterways through the rice fields. It was nice, but due to the time of the year, the rice fields did not really exist. Fun nontheless and always an experience when Louie accompanies me. This day I felt like a real tourist following the heard, as we were packed in a bus with about 15 others from all over the world and metup with many other tourist groups at the temples and the waterways. Oh well, just a little sample of what was to come at Halong Bay.

So the last two nights, three days were spent in Halong Bay. One night sleeping on a boat in the bay and one night at Ca Bat Island. The bay is beautiful. There is supposedly over 1500 rock islands in the bay, which make it unique and a major tourist attraction. This is pretty much the only reason we came up to Hanoi and Northern Vietnam. The tour was horrible ran and not organized well at all. The food was the same over and and over for at leat 4 or 5 meals. I but disappointed but checking Halong Bay off the list has now been completed. It was pretty sad to see how polluted the bay itself was and how the vietnamese try and scam and rip off tourist for every dollar they can. As the people and Thailand and Cambodia are much more nice and may still try to get a few extra dollars from tourists, Vietnam seems a but more shrewd and not to care if they rip off a tourist cause they know more are coming. Pretty sad, as it seems that a lot of tourists have had the same experiences here...something Lonely Planet fails to mention about the country. As always, we made the best of the Halong Bay trip with beers with other travelers from the UK and Germany and also watching Rusell Peters on a laptop with a guy from Canada.

Josh unfortunately has been sick for the last 6 days with the common p** a** and belly problems. Most likely from the fish amok in Cambodia that Louie and I have been able to shake. I feel bad for him, as it was his first asia experience but he is trying to make the best of the trip. He has not eaten a whole lot over the last few days and has been sleeping a ton. Hoepfully its nothing major and can make it these last few days before heading back home on Thurs.

I am coming to the end of yet another adventurous travel experience. Actually after all of this, I am looking to coming home. I have one nigh in Bangkok and will be staying with Charles and then about 15 hours of plane rides with about 25+ hours of travel. Not looking forward to that part of the trip but definetly looking to beingback on US soil!