North Vietnam

The trip to Hanoi had a surprise in store for us. The flight from Qatar was overbooked, which ment we had to stay another hour and a half in Doha, before we could go, only this time via Singapore, a detour that added in total about 5 hours to our trip, and put 250 USD each in of our pockets. A more than OK compensation for the inconvenience.

Hanoi was cold and rainy, with temperatures of 10 to 15 degrees, so I was really glad I did bring my light jacket after all. The city had a kind of special feeling to it, something I only felt in other communist countries that is hard to explain. And the poverty and the weather did its part to amplify it.

When going to our hotel from the airport, we thought we were going to get robbed at one point when the taxi turned in to a quite shady, narrow, and badly lit street. I picked up my phone and looked on google maps if we were going in the right direction. Strange enough, we were, and on maps the street was colored as a “major” one. “Ok, so if this is one of the major streets, how are the small ones?” I thought. Another strange thing was that the taxi maxed out at about 50 km/h and didnt ever go faster than that. Neither did the other cars around us, regardless that we were on the highway.

The room at our hotel was quite OK apart from the sticky yellowish fluid that dripped from the roof in the bathroom. Never mind, sleeping in a proper bed after spending 5 nights at the floor in Jiris apartment in Doha was excellent!

We went out directly to get something to eat, and got to a place just outside the hotel. The staff asked by using their hands “eating??” and we said “yes” and in came the food. I guess they just had that one thing on the menu. Food. Which in this case was some kind of rice noodles. What else?

After dinner we went to check out Hanoi by night, and after some directions from the hostel staff we got to a bar area to have the famous “just one beer then we go home”. We got to know some people at the bar and ended up in a disco on the second floor of a building. Around 1 O clock the police showed up, the music stopped, and after some negotiation, they went again, and the music resumed. I guess they were just after their fair share of the incomes. Oh yeah, and this was the first place ever I saw a guy going in to the bathroom totally drunk, to come out with the toilet ring around his neck like some kind of a trophy. The staff took it back though as soon as they noticed. What a guy..

The day after we spent roaming around town, checking the sights, and getting our refund from the Qatar office. In between we had time to stop for a vietnamese coffee, which I came to love! It had quite a different taste from the coffee I am used to, which is mostly Italian or regular Swedish. It had some kind of nut taste in it.

On thursday we took off to Ha long bay, one of the seven natural wonders of the world. I guess this list of seven wonders change depending on who you ask. A minibus pulled up in front of the hotel, and we set off towards the coast. One curious thing about the traffic in Vietnam is that at times, in a two lane road, you can find yourself trying to overcome a bus, trying to overcome another vehicle. This means three vehicles taking up all the space of the street, and more going the same direction. Then someone comes in the opposite direction…
It happened more than once that the driver had to abort his overtaking of other cars. Especially when trying to do so where the road turns, which is a particular bad idea. Furthermore, using the horn is mandatory. It is used to make people aware that you are coming their way, and that you’re not stopping for nothing. However, at times, two drivers can be equally cocky and refuse to budge, turning it into an orgy of honking, but if you have the bigger vehicle, you usually win the chicken race.

Well in Ha long bay, we took a small boat out to our vessel that was taking us on the tour, and we set off towards the big lime stone cliffs shooting out of the water. A pretty impressing sight! We had lunch at the boat, and were lucky enough to get some table company more our age, as it seemed like this was a tour more apt to older couples. After lunch we anchored and got ashore to one of the big lime stone islands and hiked through an enormous cave, and we also got the chance to paddle a kayak around the island which was an excellent way to have a look around on your own.

The day after we picked up some extra people from another boat and started the ride back to shore. One of these guys made a particular impression, slamming the door open to the cabin, tumbling in and going directly towards the bar, asking “is there anywhere around here you can get a shot of tequila?”. This was about 10 in the morning and we just finished breakfast, and this guy was totally trashed. It turned out to be a loan shark from the US, who sold his business at 28, and now had enough cash to never have to work again, or that was what he said at least. Perhaps he had the cash, but did he have the capability to take care of himself? I doubt it :) But I have to admit, fun things happened around this guy, and it was quite funny when we came ashore and Vietnamese TV interviewed him about his experience. He still looked very, very drunk.

After the bus ride back to Hanoi, we went straight for the airport after picking our stuff up at the hostel. This time in a taxi at speeds sometimes exceeding 70km/h, wow! :-)

 

 
Waiting for the bathroom with another bunch of increasingly desperate people for (what felt like) over 30 minutes. “Luckily” enough the flight was 7 hours long, so we had time. In the end, we got worried that someone might be sick in there and called one of the staff, who eventually opened the door. And the toilet was empty! :-)

First dinner in Hanoi. Noodles, what else! Then we went to another street shack and had more noodles.

Having some beers in the street, and later on ending up in a club. The girl supposedly owned 30% of it.

 

This is what to do if you spot a fire.

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The real thing, and the fake thing.. :-)

 

A normal street in Hanoi

More street life. Bicycles were still very common here as a means of transport

Some Vietnamese coffee. You can almost see how good it is!

Thank you Qatar for paying for most of our adventures in Vietnam!

Juan Carlos doing his best to cross the street

Downtown Hanoi.

Hitching a ride with mr moto!

This was unexptected. While walking along, watching the artists at a street, I noticed that this guy shop at the same supermarket as I do. But in Sweden! Take a look at the bag in the bottom left corner from ICA Maxi, probably some tourist left it here.

More motorbikes…

Contest - Who’s the heavyweight champion? :-)

 
Becoming a multi millionare in Vietnam is quite easy!

 
Finally in Ha long bay.

The view from the cave we visited

 
We went kayaking.. :-)

A vietnamese coffee on the boat. The metal container holds the coffee, which is where you put the hot water and then let it pour down by adding some sort of metal weight on top of it. Otherwise it just floats around in the hot water.

One of the islands we visited

A view from the top

 
People came up along side the boat wanting to sell stuff.

Ha long bay by night

 
Aboard the boat

 
Our table buddies at the boat.

 
Reptiles, anyone?

Doha and Dune Bashing

There’s unfinished construction everywhere. It felt like the whole city was under construction.

Old mixed with new. The old city and the diplomatic quarter, where virtually half of the buildings where empty or under construction


This is from the museum of islamic art. Free entrance for everyone to 4 stories full of artefacts.
   
After the museum, some shawarma and a drink youghurt. 6 Riyals (1,2 euros)
  

We made some friends in Katara :-)


The Souk Wakif at night, a big traditional market full of all sorts of goods. Animals, spices, … you name it!

We had dinner at a moroccan restaurant. I ordered a menu, and got enough food for 3 persons. 
  
The pearl of Qatar. A big luxury place still under construction. A big circular harbour full with yatches and exclusive residential buildings around it with luxury boutiques at the bottom. To top it up, there were Bose speakers hidden in the bushes playing some nice background music.


In the afternoon we went to the desert for some dune bashing. Before going out in the desert, we deflated the tyres of the car and got a pause to meet some of the desert locals.


The Qatari desert. Note how steep the slope is!!
 
With arabic music at full volume our driver took us through the dunes at speeds up to 90 km/h, sliding down 50-55 degree slopes, driving from the bottom up to the crest, jumping up over it.. All this while sometimes talking on the phone simultaneously. It was a GREAT experience!!

Our crazy and very happy driver Ibrahim.


Two happy faces in the silver lounge at Doha airport. We got denied boarding and instead of Doha-Bangkok-Hanoi we had to do Doha-Singapore-Hanoi. An extra 4 hours of enjoyment at 30.000 feet :-) They gave us some compensation though, 250 dollars, which will have us living as kings in Vietnam.

Qatar

When going to Qatar, make sure you have a VISA card that works. Otherwise you can’t pay the entry visa, and you can’t get in to the country. My VISA card didn’t work. Until I realized that the regional block was on. Luckily the bank application on the phone was able to unblock it. :-)

 
I’ve never really been to the middle east before, so it felt really cool to follow the plane over places like Jordan and Iraq.

Jiri, who did the kitesurf instructor training with me in Thailand, picked me up at the airport, and the day after we went out to Zekreet, a spot just opposite the country of Doha, to kite.

We were the second car to get to the spot! Wind at 22 knots and temperature around 16 degrees.

 
Jiri jumping a bit.

A french guy came a bit later and pulled massive 8-10 meter jumps pretty close to the shore

 

    
I didn’t bring any wetsuit, and the water was freezing cold, so while I waited for someone to show up at the beach with an extra wetsuit I took a walk in to the closest village. Some camels standing around in the sandstorm, an abandoned house and some inhabited. Take a look at the tree that is this vital and green regardless of the tough environment.

 

Just outside the village there was a hill that you could go up to overlook the whole place. I went up there, gazed at the empty desert, and when I walked over to the ledge, what is hidden there below..? A whole camel farm!

This is what the Qatari desert look like in strong winds.

 
The day was complete by a visit to “spicy or not spicy chicken”. The locals favourite after-kite place. Great food :-)

 

After a good nights sleep, and being woken up for prayers at 5 O’clock we went to Al Mafja, on the northern tip of the country to kite.

This was an EXCELLENT spot! Lots of flat water, space and clear water with coral sand.

There was an abandoned village just near it. Lots of buildings just left in favour for the owners new places. If you looked hard, you cound find some left stuff as well, as this tape with arabic music.

 

 
After a long day of kiteing, we fired up the grill with a copule of other kiters and watched the sunset on the beach. The arabic sausage we got our hands on in the supermarket was one of the best one I have grilled for ages.