As we arrived in hanoi, we realized a typhoon was on course to hit halong bay. We figured a boat cruise to halong wouldn't be too smart. Puking off a boat is not my idea of fun.
We decided to head to hoi an for a few days since matt spoke so highly of the town. We booked a jetstar ticket and took of for hoi an.
We loved hoi an as it is a small quaint village in central vietnam. The roads are narrow and many of the old buildings are UNESCO world heritage sites. It was nice to walk in the streets without thousands of mopeds to maze through. I would recommend against a tailored suit, however, even though hoi an is known for tailored clothes. Quality isn't really all that great and I'm not so sure P and A were all that satisfied with their tailored suits.
We visited My Son, Vietnam's version of angkor although much smaller and shabbier. Apparently the vc used to hang out in the mountains behind My Son so the americans bombed the ruins pretty heavily. We also hiked up the Marble Mountain which is actually closer to Denang and saw large caves with buddha statues inside as well as pagodas. A visit to an asian country is incomplete without a visit to a pagoda!
My fav part is just driving around on a moto bike and seeing the countryside! Oh forgot to mention that there was a beach near hoi an also.
After are few days of relaxing at hoi an, we headed back to the business and craziness of hanoi. We visited the temple of literature which is dedicated to teachings of confuscious (sp?). The chinese architecture reminded us of china's sphere of influence in the old days. We also went to hanoi hilton and saw where john mccain stayed as a pow. Interesting to see that the museum made the american prisoner experience resemble a resort with lots of fresh fruit like california or so they say!
We followed lonely planet's suggestion of using kangaroo cafe to book a boat tour to halong bay. Apparently hotels and hostels are sketch about prices. Neways, the halong bay boat cruise is a bit of a rip-off any way u price it. U are on the boat for a full day but u are surrounded by many many other boats and tourists the whole time. The cave u visit isn't all that exciting and even the karst mt formations are similar to guilin/yangshou. Basically, we came to the conclusion that we should have listened to cmc and gone to cat ba island on our own and done some rock climbing!
however, we def want to come back to see more of vietnam. We want to visit sapa and ho chi minh city and the rest of s. Vietnam. So many places and so little time!!
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