Just a very short posting to let all my readers know why there have been no postings since Nan.
We arrived yesterday in Laos and stayed in Vientiane, the capital. The hotel's Internet service was chargeable at a daily rate. I decided not to pay in the expectation I could post from Luang Prabang. Sadly, this hotel does not have Internet access in the room.
Hopefully, I will be able to post the day after tomorrow, our first night in Vietnam.
March 2nd – Day 24 – Luang Prabang
This was our last rest day of the tour. After today we will have six days of one night stops until the end in Macau.
There had been much talk about the problems of taking wooden items into China. Several people have bought wooden spirit houses, similar to our one, and no one wants a problem when entering China. So, we like others have made the decision to ship ours back to the UK using a local carrier.
As we left the hotel we saw that a couple of cars were being worked on. Paul Wignall’s Nissan had a problem with front shock absorbers, and Jingers was giving him a hand. Is this the best view we have had of Jingers since the tour started?
The G4 Range Rover of Simon Dedman has a problem with the engine management system. Paul’s car is fairly easy to deal with, but Simon’s is definitely not. Trying to find the cause of an electronic problem without the right diagnostic equipment is virtually impossible.
Eric Woolley, one of the 'mechanics' showing how much weight you can lose on a HERO event!!
Our first stop in the town was at a DHL agent who said they would charge $900 to ship the spirit house!!. We rejected that and went to the post office. They said it would cost about $200, but we had to have it crated. The post office man thought he knew where we should go,. So we got a tuk-tuk to lead us to someone who would crate the spirit house. We put the spirit house in the back of the tuk-tuk.
The driver then lead us to a furniture manufacturing unit who said they could do it by 4pm for $30. I agreed with the driver to meet us at 4pm to take the house to the post office.
All this had taken a good hour and we hadn’t been able to have a look around the town. It is situated on the Mekong River and has become a centre of back-packing and trekking holidays. The centre is a very busy place with dozens of cafes and restaurants.
We were most impressed with the town. It is quite unlike the other Laotian towns and villages we have seen, as it is very western and prosperous. We saw the main temple, that has some very beautiful mosaics on the outside of some of the smaller temple buildings.
We then had a mediocre snack lunch at a bar overlooking the Mekong. If only the food had been as good as the stunning view!
We headed back to the hotel for a swim in the hotel's magnificent pool.
We then did some packing for the next six days of the tour. We each carry two bags. One is taken in to the hotel each night and the other remains in the car, to store clothes.
As we walked to our room we passed the car park, where Simon was still trying to sort out his Range Rover. It became clear that despite all his efforts the car could not be repaired in Laos. The decision was taken to ship the car back to England and for Simon and Andrew to travel as passengers with Eric & Lynn Woolley. It was a sad ending to their SE Asia tour.
At 4pm we drove back to the furniture unit to collect the crated spirit house. When we arrived, there was our tuk-tuk driver with his tuk-tuk already loaded with the crate. Off we went to the post office, following the tuk-tuk with the crate in the back.
Half an hour later it was sent on its way to London. We gave our driver a big tip as a thank you for all his help. Wendy took this rather blurred photo of me and the driver in the post office.
In the evening we went to a French restaurant, L’Eliphant, with Alan Crisp and John Faulkner.It was a wonderful treat to have really good French food after all the local food we have had on this trip.
Tomorrow we leave Laos for Vietnam, the sixth country of the tour.
There had been much talk about the problems of taking wooden items into China. Several people have bought wooden spirit houses, similar to our one, and no one wants a problem when entering China. So, we like others have made the decision to ship ours back to the UK using a local carrier.
As we left the hotel we saw that a couple of cars were being worked on. Paul Wignall’s Nissan had a problem with front shock absorbers, and Jingers was giving him a hand. Is this the best view we have had of Jingers since the tour started?
The G4 Range Rover of Simon Dedman has a problem with the engine management system. Paul’s car is fairly easy to deal with, but Simon’s is definitely not. Trying to find the cause of an electronic problem without the right diagnostic equipment is virtually impossible.
Eric Woolley, one of the 'mechanics' showing how much weight you can lose on a HERO event!!
Our first stop in the town was at a DHL agent who said they would charge $900 to ship the spirit house!!. We rejected that and went to the post office. They said it would cost about $200, but we had to have it crated. The post office man thought he knew where we should go,. So we got a tuk-tuk to lead us to someone who would crate the spirit house. We put the spirit house in the back of the tuk-tuk.
The driver then lead us to a furniture manufacturing unit who said they could do it by 4pm for $30. I agreed with the driver to meet us at 4pm to take the house to the post office.All this had taken a good hour and we hadn’t been able to have a look around the town. It is situated on the Mekong River and has become a centre of back-packing and trekking holidays. The centre is a very busy place with dozens of cafes and restaurants.
We were most impressed with the town. It is quite unlike the other Laotian towns and villages we have seen, as it is very western and prosperous. We saw the main temple, that has some very beautiful mosaics on the outside of some of the smaller temple buildings.
We then had a mediocre snack lunch at a bar overlooking the Mekong. If only the food had been as good as the stunning view!
We headed back to the hotel for a swim in the hotel's magnificent pool.
We then did some packing for the next six days of the tour. We each carry two bags. One is taken in to the hotel each night and the other remains in the car, to store clothes. As we walked to our room we passed the car park, where Simon was still trying to sort out his Range Rover. It became clear that despite all his efforts the car could not be repaired in Laos. The decision was taken to ship the car back to England and for Simon and Andrew to travel as passengers with Eric & Lynn Woolley. It was a sad ending to their SE Asia tour.
At 4pm we drove back to the furniture unit to collect the crated spirit house. When we arrived, there was our tuk-tuk driver with his tuk-tuk already loaded with the crate. Off we went to the post office, following the tuk-tuk with the crate in the back.
Half an hour later it was sent on its way to London. We gave our driver a big tip as a thank you for all his help. Wendy took this rather blurred photo of me and the driver in the post office.
In the evening we went to a French restaurant, L’Eliphant, with Alan Crisp and John Faulkner.It was a wonderful treat to have really good French food after all the local food we have had on this trip.Tomorrow we leave Laos for Vietnam, the sixth country of the tour.
March 3rd – Day 25 – Luang Prabang, Laos to Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam
Today was one of the most marvellous driving days of the tour, with mile after mile of beautiful empty roads, twisting along through stunning scenery.
We left at 6.30am and as we drove out of the town we past lines of monks walking along the road with their bowls in which locals dropped food.
We drove about 35kms to a village on the Mekong where we took a small boat across the river to see a cave which has hundreds of Buddhas. It was a beautiful morning, with the sun rising over the river, it made for a very special trip.
As we drove on the road followed one of the Mekong tributaries. Many sections of the road had been washed away by the river, and there were numerous diversions and road works. At times it was quite difficult to negotiate our way through piles of rocks and horrendous drops to the river below. Much of the this part of the drive was reminiscent of our drive through eastern Tibet in 2004. It was a hazardous, but exciting drive, which included crossing a river on a ferry, which was powered by a small tug.
The last part of the drive to the border took us for 65 kms on the most atrocious track which had terrible potholes, ruts and diabolical dust. At times we had to ford small streams. Here is Bob Howells ploughing his way through the water.
All these hazards combined to make the 65kms seem twice as long!
The track was leading to a border control that has only recently been opened up to foreigners. We were amazed to see a modern customs building, in the middle of nowhere!Compared to most of Laos, the border buildings were palatial.
We cleared Laotian customs quite quickly and drove a couple of kilometres to the Vietnam control. They were very efficient and in a few minutes we were on our way to our hotel in Dien Bien Phu, the site of the defeat of the French in 1954 by the Viet Minh.
Unfortunately the hotel was not up to our usual expectations and could, at best, be given a one star rating. Adding to the general lack of exclusivity was the 'knocking shop' immediately behind the hotel which overlooked our car park! Young girls, scantily clad, called out to us as we unloaded our bags. I'm not sure if anyone took up their offers!
We left at 6.30am and as we drove out of the town we past lines of monks walking along the road with their bowls in which locals dropped food.
We drove about 35kms to a village on the Mekong where we took a small boat across the river to see a cave which has hundreds of Buddhas. It was a beautiful morning, with the sun rising over the river, it made for a very special trip.
As we drove on the road followed one of the Mekong tributaries. Many sections of the road had been washed away by the river, and there were numerous diversions and road works. At times it was quite difficult to negotiate our way through piles of rocks and horrendous drops to the river below. Much of the this part of the drive was reminiscent of our drive through eastern Tibet in 2004. It was a hazardous, but exciting drive, which included crossing a river on a ferry, which was powered by a small tug. 
The last part of the drive to the border took us for 65 kms on the most atrocious track which had terrible potholes, ruts and diabolical dust. At times we had to ford small streams. Here is Bob Howells ploughing his way through the water.
All these hazards combined to make the 65kms seem twice as long!The track was leading to a border control that has only recently been opened up to foreigners. We were amazed to see a modern customs building, in the middle of nowhere!Compared to most of Laos, the border buildings were palatial.
We cleared Laotian customs quite quickly and drove a couple of kilometres to the Vietnam control. They were very efficient and in a few minutes we were on our way to our hotel in Dien Bien Phu, the site of the defeat of the French in 1954 by the Viet Minh. Unfortunately the hotel was not up to our usual expectations and could, at best, be given a one star rating. Adding to the general lack of exclusivity was the 'knocking shop' immediately behind the hotel which overlooked our car park! Young girls, scantily clad, called out to us as we unloaded our bags. I'm not sure if anyone took up their offers!
March 4th Day 26 - Dien Bien Phu to Sapa
Before I post about today's drive through the mountains of northern Vietnam, I want to share with everyone another of these amusing notices we see when we travel. This time it was in our room at the Muong Thanh Hotel in Dien Bien Phu. The notice had all the rules that guests were advised to conform to. Rule 8 was one I haven't seen before!
We left the hotel at just after 7am and followed the road book directions around the town. Dien Bien Phu was the place where the French were defeated by the Viet Minh in 1954 and there are reminders of this great victory all around the city centre. First, we saw the bunker where General de Castries signed the surrender.
Close by was this memorial to the battle marked by a tank and a propeller.
We then drove by the memorial to the French,
and finally to the Communist forces who had died.
As we left the town we started to see women dressed in national costume. Wonderful headdresses and colourful clothes.
As we continued north we were continually reminded of our drive through China in 2004. Vast areas of green paddy fields, water buffalo and roadworks on a huge scale!
A typical scene: an old lady carrying a huge load, using a strap across her forehead.
Following Paul & Jayne Wignall through a disinfecting control post.
Our drive was now leading us up into the mountains. We had two long passes to climb, with the second the highest pass in Vietnam at 6,559ft. Both passes had sections of major roadworks which made the going quite slow at times. Diggers were grading the mountainside and falling rocks made some sections quite hazardous.
We went past one village with new houses. Apparently these have been built for the people who have been displaced by the construction of a large reservoir. The houses were amongst the best we have seen in rural Vietnam.
We rose higher and higher with wonderful views back down the mountain pass.
It was now 11am and we saw lots of school children coming out of school, dressed in lovely traditional clothes. They made a great photo.
An example of the old and the new Vietnam.
Driving through the town of Sin Ho we saw this group of woman sitting by the side of the road. The women on the left were wearing a different style of headdress to those we saw at the beginning of the drive.
Driving past David Dicey, Ahmad and Reza Fakhr having a break by the side of the road.
The mountain scenery became more and more impressive as we neared the top of the second mountain pass.
Once we had reached the top of the pass, we only had about 20 kms to go to reach Sapa.
We were delighted to meet up with some very good friends of ours touring Thailand and Vietnam. Geoffrey and Veronica Poxon, Ian and Vanessa McGowan and Charles and Ann Boughton-Leigh had travelled by overnight train from Hanoi to stay at our hotel. It was great to see them all and we ended the day with a very enjoyable meal at the hotel. They are travelling back to Hanoi tomorrow and then on to southern Vietnam. We wish them a safe onward journey.
Tomorrow we drive the 400kms to Hanoi. Just five days to go of the tour. It is amazing how quickly the time has gone.
We left the hotel at just after 7am and followed the road book directions around the town. Dien Bien Phu was the place where the French were defeated by the Viet Minh in 1954 and there are reminders of this great victory all around the city centre. First, we saw the bunker where General de Castries signed the surrender.
Close by was this memorial to the battle marked by a tank and a propeller.
We then drove by the memorial to the French,
and finally to the Communist forces who had died.
As we left the town we started to see women dressed in national costume. Wonderful headdresses and colourful clothes.
As we continued north we were continually reminded of our drive through China in 2004. Vast areas of green paddy fields, water buffalo and roadworks on a huge scale!
A typical scene: an old lady carrying a huge load, using a strap across her forehead.
Following Paul & Jayne Wignall through a disinfecting control post.
Our drive was now leading us up into the mountains. We had two long passes to climb, with the second the highest pass in Vietnam at 6,559ft. Both passes had sections of major roadworks which made the going quite slow at times. Diggers were grading the mountainside and falling rocks made some sections quite hazardous.
We went past one village with new houses. Apparently these have been built for the people who have been displaced by the construction of a large reservoir. The houses were amongst the best we have seen in rural Vietnam.
We rose higher and higher with wonderful views back down the mountain pass.
It was now 11am and we saw lots of school children coming out of school, dressed in lovely traditional clothes. They made a great photo.
An example of the old and the new Vietnam.
Driving through the town of Sin Ho we saw this group of woman sitting by the side of the road. The women on the left were wearing a different style of headdress to those we saw at the beginning of the drive.
Driving past David Dicey, Ahmad and Reza Fakhr having a break by the side of the road.
The mountain scenery became more and more impressive as we neared the top of the second mountain pass.
Once we had reached the top of the pass, we only had about 20 kms to go to reach Sapa.We were delighted to meet up with some very good friends of ours touring Thailand and Vietnam. Geoffrey and Veronica Poxon, Ian and Vanessa McGowan and Charles and Ann Boughton-Leigh had travelled by overnight train from Hanoi to stay at our hotel. It was great to see them all and we ended the day with a very enjoyable meal at the hotel. They are travelling back to Hanoi tomorrow and then on to southern Vietnam. We wish them a safe onward journey.
Tomorrow we drive the 400kms to Hanoi. Just five days to go of the tour. It is amazing how quickly the time has gone.
March 4th - Update
We have just arrived in Sapa, Vietnam, and I have an Internet connection in the room. I have now posted Days, 22, 23 & 24. In my haste to get back up to date, I posted Feb 28th - Day 22, after March 1st & March 2nd! I will try and post yesterday and today's postings this evening.
March 5th - Day 27 - Sapa to Hanoi
Today's drive was over 440kms through some of the very mountainous regions of northern Vietnam, so we left at 7.15am, in the hope that we would arrive in Hanoi at a reasonable hour.
The first 40kms of the drive was back over the highest pass in Vietnam. Within ten minutes we came across a queue of our cars waiting for a section of roadworks to be opened to traffic.
After about fifteen minutes the road was opened and we started the climb up the pass. Following Fred & Ernie Nelan in their GM Avalanche and David Dicey in Terence English's Toyota.
Once we were over the pass we came into an area of tea growing. The women who were collecting the leaves all wore the same hats.
Paddy fields were on either side of the road for miles and miles.
We stopped when we saw this group of women planting one of the paddy fields. It's back breaking work.
I watched this woman planting individual rice plants into the water filled paddy field.
The fields are often quite small and in the valleys they rise in terraces up the valley sides creating wonderful patterns.
As we moved on we saw these two young girls in traditional dress.
What about this for a load on a scooter!
Pigs being transported by scooter. Not much animal welfare in evidence here in SE Asia.
After nearly 8 hours of driving we came to the outskirts of Hanoi. We were driving along one of the levee roads to avoid Hanoi's notorious traffic. It was very run down and reminiscent of parts of China and India we have visited.
We arrived at the Intercontinental at 4.30pm, a drive of over 9 hours.
In the evening we had an organised meal at a restaurant in the centre of the city. Tomorrow morning we will visit the old centre, before driving north to Ha Long Bay and a night on a junk.
A statistic for those interested. Today we passed the 5,000 mile mark of the tour. We have nearly 1,000 miles to go.
Finally Eric Woolley gave me this photo of him, his wife Lynn, Simon Dedman and Andrew Reynolds all wearing the pith helmets they bought in Sapa and doing the Vietconga!
The first 40kms of the drive was back over the highest pass in Vietnam. Within ten minutes we came across a queue of our cars waiting for a section of roadworks to be opened to traffic.
After about fifteen minutes the road was opened and we started the climb up the pass. Following Fred & Ernie Nelan in their GM Avalanche and David Dicey in Terence English's Toyota.
Once we were over the pass we came into an area of tea growing. The women who were collecting the leaves all wore the same hats.
Paddy fields were on either side of the road for miles and miles. 
We stopped when we saw this group of women planting one of the paddy fields. It's back breaking work.
I watched this woman planting individual rice plants into the water filled paddy field.
The fields are often quite small and in the valleys they rise in terraces up the valley sides creating wonderful patterns.As we moved on we saw these two young girls in traditional dress.
What about this for a load on a scooter!
Pigs being transported by scooter. Not much animal welfare in evidence here in SE Asia.
After nearly 8 hours of driving we came to the outskirts of Hanoi. We were driving along one of the levee roads to avoid Hanoi's notorious traffic. It was very run down and reminiscent of parts of China and India we have visited.
We arrived at the Intercontinental at 4.30pm, a drive of over 9 hours.In the evening we had an organised meal at a restaurant in the centre of the city. Tomorrow morning we will visit the old centre, before driving north to Ha Long Bay and a night on a junk.
A statistic for those interested. Today we passed the 5,000 mile mark of the tour. We have nearly 1,000 miles to go.
Finally Eric Woolley gave me this photo of him, his wife Lynn, Simon Dedman and Andrew Reynolds all wearing the pith helmets they bought in Sapa and doing the Vietconga!
March 6th - An explanation
Some time ago I 'complained' that we weren't spending more than one night in two capitals, Vientiane and Hanoi. I now know why this happened.
Wendy and I had a chat with John Brown at breakfast yesterday before we left Sapa, and raised this with him. Here is his answer. Originally, the tour was not going into Vietnam because the authorities very rarely allow foreign cars into the country. Added to this is their reluctance to allow RH drive cars to use their roads. (Seeing how diabolical the driving standards are here, I cannot imagine why this should be a problem for them!) As a result of this, the tour was going to skirt Vietnam by going north from Laos into China and then, more or less due east, to Macau. Then, due to the efforts of the travel company, Diethelm, the tour was allowed in to Vietnam. This meant that the time we had in the country was limited to the extra days we would have had in China, skirting Vietnam. This meant only one night in Hanoi was possible.
Vientiane was a different situation. The border crossing into Laos was meant to close at 5pm and John did not think that it was possible for everyone to get to the border by 5pm. So, the day was planned to finish on the Thai side of the border, not in Vientiane. It was then discovered that the border would remain open till 10pm, on payment of an overtime fee! When he learnt this, he changed the overnight stay to Vientiane. The result being, we did at least have a reasonable chance to see the city.
I think this gives an idea of the problems JB and his team have to overcome to stage an event like this.
Wendy and I had a chat with John Brown at breakfast yesterday before we left Sapa, and raised this with him. Here is his answer. Originally, the tour was not going into Vietnam because the authorities very rarely allow foreign cars into the country. Added to this is their reluctance to allow RH drive cars to use their roads. (Seeing how diabolical the driving standards are here, I cannot imagine why this should be a problem for them!) As a result of this, the tour was going to skirt Vietnam by going north from Laos into China and then, more or less due east, to Macau. Then, due to the efforts of the travel company, Diethelm, the tour was allowed in to Vietnam. This meant that the time we had in the country was limited to the extra days we would have had in China, skirting Vietnam. This meant only one night in Hanoi was possible.
Vientiane was a different situation. The border crossing into Laos was meant to close at 5pm and John did not think that it was possible for everyone to get to the border by 5pm. So, the day was planned to finish on the Thai side of the border, not in Vientiane. It was then discovered that the border would remain open till 10pm, on payment of an overtime fee! When he learnt this, he changed the overnight stay to Vientiane. The result being, we did at least have a reasonable chance to see the city.
I think this gives an idea of the problems JB and his team have to overcome to stage an event like this.
March 6th - Posting update
I've just realised that tonight's stay on the junk in Ha Long Bay will mean there will be no posting this evening. Then, tomorrow we drive into China to Behai, and the next day we deliver the cars to the shippers outside Macau. That means we will have to do all the final packing and organising of the car for its shipping to the States in Behai. The upshot is that there simply won't be time for me to post from Behai.
Whatever happens I hope to be able to do a brief update of the last three days when we get to Macau and then put complete postings on when we get back to the UK.
Whatever happens I hope to be able to do a brief update of the last three days when we get to Macau and then put complete postings on when we get back to the UK.
March 7th - Thanks
Just arrived in Behai, China. Too late to post all the events of the past two days, but will hopefully do so when we are in Macau tomorrow evening.
Just want to say a big thank you to everyone who has posted such complimentary comments. It has made all the effort worthwhile. A big thank you to Peter from Angmering and Brian from Sydenham, London for their comments in the last day or so. I have published both comments for everyone to read.
Just want to say a big thank you to everyone who has posted such complimentary comments. It has made all the effort worthwhile. A big thank you to Peter from Angmering and Brian from Sydenham, London for their comments in the last day or so. I have published both comments for everyone to read.
March 6th - Day 28 - Hanoi to Ha Long Bay
We were up reasonably early so that we could arrange a short tour of the Old Town and central part of Hanoi. The hotel laid on a car and driver, who spoke very little English, but who proceeded to take us to all the principal sights in Hanoi. Below are some of the places we went to.
First, the presidential residence. It seemed rather grand for a communist country!
We then drove past Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum, where an army of leaf sweepers were at work. All identically dressed and wearing the trade mark Vietnamese coolie hat.
Ho Chi Minh's body is embalmed in the mausoleum, which is a very impressive, gaunt looking structure, reminiscent of Lenin's tomb in the Kremlin. Apparently, there are only three leaders embalmed in their own mausoleum: Lenin, Mao, and Ho Chi Minh. We have now visited all three.
Two guards, in immaculately dressed white uniforms, guard the entrance doors.
As we drove around motorbikes and scooters come at you from all sides. How they don't hit each other, or you, I'm not sure.
We came to the Old Town, with its very narrow streets and market stalls. This is a typical sight, a market trader laden down with goods.
In the main market area, every type of vegetable was on sale, mostly sold from piles on the ground.
The central lake in the background and scooters everywhere.
Our drive round the city took about two hours and then we headed back to the hotel to pack and drive the 150kms to Ha Long Bay, a World Heritage Site.
As we drove out of Hanoi we saw numerous examples of the rather strange Vietnamese housing style. They build two, three, four and five story houses that are very narrow and often stand on their own. In the majority of cases only the front is painted, with the
sides left with bare cement. Definitely not my style of architecture!The drive to Ha Long Bay will be forever remembered because of the diabolical driving, by both car and truck drivers. Vehicles overtake directly at you, forcing you to swerve out of their way. How we never saw any accidents I will never know.
We arrived at Ha Long Bay to board our junk at about 3pm. HERO had organised for the whole group to be taken by three junks out into Ha Long Bay, for one night. There were about fifteen of us on our junk. We were taken by a small tender to the junk from the jetty.
One of the three junks with the 4x4xplore banner on the side.
Ha Long Bay is an incredible place. Hundreds of karst islands jut out of the water, as far as they eye can see.
Unfortunately for us, the weather was very overcast and we didn't see Ha Long at its best. Added to this was the fact that since we have been in the Hanoi area it has become quite cold, with the temperature down to as low as 12 degrees. Wendy in her anorak, to keep out the cold wind, with Inez Pritz, cruising through the islands.
We reached our destination as it was getting dark. There were many other junks anchored nearby, which made for a pretty photo, with their lights and the dark shapes of the islands behind them.
In the evening we were all taken by tenders to an island with a cave for a candle lit dinner, with traditional music and dancers. It was great fun, apart from the cold wind that blew through the cave. How the weather has changed since those days in Thailand!
Tomorrow we leave Vietnam for China, the last country we visit on the tour.
First, the presidential residence. It seemed rather grand for a communist country!
We then drove past Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum, where an army of leaf sweepers were at work. All identically dressed and wearing the trade mark Vietnamese coolie hat.
Ho Chi Minh's body is embalmed in the mausoleum, which is a very impressive, gaunt looking structure, reminiscent of Lenin's tomb in the Kremlin. Apparently, there are only three leaders embalmed in their own mausoleum: Lenin, Mao, and Ho Chi Minh. We have now visited all three.
Two guards, in immaculately dressed white uniforms, guard the entrance doors.
As we drove around motorbikes and scooters come at you from all sides. How they don't hit each other, or you, I'm not sure.
We came to the Old Town, with its very narrow streets and market stalls. This is a typical sight, a market trader laden down with goods.
In the main market area, every type of vegetable was on sale, mostly sold from piles on the ground.
The central lake in the background and scooters everywhere.
Our drive round the city took about two hours and then we headed back to the hotel to pack and drive the 150kms to Ha Long Bay, a World Heritage Site.As we drove out of Hanoi we saw numerous examples of the rather strange Vietnamese housing style. They build two, three, four and five story houses that are very narrow and often stand on their own. In the majority of cases only the front is painted, with the
sides left with bare cement. Definitely not my style of architecture!The drive to Ha Long Bay will be forever remembered because of the diabolical driving, by both car and truck drivers. Vehicles overtake directly at you, forcing you to swerve out of their way. How we never saw any accidents I will never know.We arrived at Ha Long Bay to board our junk at about 3pm. HERO had organised for the whole group to be taken by three junks out into Ha Long Bay, for one night. There were about fifteen of us on our junk. We were taken by a small tender to the junk from the jetty.
One of the three junks with the 4x4xplore banner on the side.
Ha Long Bay is an incredible place. Hundreds of karst islands jut out of the water, as far as they eye can see.
Unfortunately for us, the weather was very overcast and we didn't see Ha Long at its best. Added to this was the fact that since we have been in the Hanoi area it has become quite cold, with the temperature down to as low as 12 degrees. Wendy in her anorak, to keep out the cold wind, with Inez Pritz, cruising through the islands.
We reached our destination as it was getting dark. There were many other junks anchored nearby, which made for a pretty photo, with their lights and the dark shapes of the islands behind them.
In the evening we were all taken by tenders to an island with a cave for a candle lit dinner, with traditional music and dancers. It was great fun, apart from the cold wind that blew through the cave. How the weather has changed since those days in Thailand!Tomorrow we leave Vietnam for China, the last country we visit on the tour.
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