I haven't been too successful in keeping up with the blog as I had promised myself I would be. Vietnam, Cambodia and more of Thailand came and went, but I'm going to attempt to backtrack and document those weeks.
From Laos, Amy and I took a prop-plane by Lao Airlines to Hanoi.
We were conveniently greeted at Luang Prabang airport by a lady promoting a new hostel in the backpacker district - old quarter - of Hanoi. Although we were skeptical of her offer, as we are of most everybody's, we agreed to accept the $3 cab for a 45-minute ride into town. The cab took us to May De Ville Hotel with no obligation to stay, with a special offer of $18 per night, including a nice breakfast. The rate was discounted from the original $30 per night, but since we were picked up in Laos, we got this great deal. The "hostel" was really a fabulous hotel. We were more than pleased. The rooms were gorgeous, new, clean, white linens and towels, toiletries, flat-screen TV with every channel, hot showers, laptop with internet in the room, etc. It was everything you could hope for. We knew this luxury wouldn't come around often, and we cherished every moment of it. Breakfast was just as satisfying - eggs made to order, any way you want, including omelets with vegetables or cheese of your choice, fruit, toast, pastries, the works. The staff was also excellent.
We arranged our boat trip to Halong Bay through the hotel as well. It was $75 for two days and one night on the boat, including meals. The food consisted almost entirely of various fried seafood. It obviously wasn't ideal for me, so I stuck to fried rice for dinner, and some toast and fruit for breakfast.
Halong Bay was beautiful, the emerald waters were nice, and the limestone formations everywhere reminded me of Thailand's west coast islands. We went into some caves and kayaked around a floating village.
Our company was less than thrilling. There were 13 of us - myself and Amy, a cool Indian-American couple that was picked up in Luang Prabang airport with us and a Chinese family of nine that spoke no English. It definitely wasn't the party boat, and we longed to be on one as our boat sat peacefully near Cat Ba island opposite the party boats.
We didn't have great weather for our two days, but we managed alright and returned to Hanoi to finish sightseeing.
We walked around the lake, all across town and went to the Museum of Literature and to Hoa Loa Prison. In the evening, we walked through the night market and then caught a water puppet show, which was interesting and worth the $5. We didn't go to the Mausoleum as Ho Chi Minh's body had been sent to Europe for preservation a week prior. So I still have only one preserved communist leader on my list - Chairman Mao.
Next stop - Hue!
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