With just two weeks to go until Christmas Hana and I have been trying everything we can to feel festive. We downloaded a Christmas album, watched Love Actually and planned to coat our nails in glitter at the first opportunity. However, despite our best efforts we both agreed that it's impossible to believe it's December when it's thirty degrees outside - we just needed to be cold.
Well, consider our Christmas wish granted. We arrived in Ha Noi to weather so wet and so cold that not only can I believe it's December, I'd almost believe we're at home! The days have reached highs of just sixteen degrees which for this part of the world is pretty unheard of. Whilst everyone in London is enduring conditions a few degrees colder they're not likely to be doing it in flip flops, a makeshift sarong scarf and a flimsy h&m cardigan. Had the kind Christmas fairy delivered us woolly hats and mulled wine along with our cold weather I'd be feeling a little more grateful (and a lot more warm!)
Nevertheless being the hardy Brits that we are we weren't going to let a bit of rain and cool air stop us from enjoying Ha Noi. We layered up as much as possible (even breaking the socks and sandals rule) and explored the city. A large lake sits at the centre which is beautiful to walk around but aside from that Ha Noi is much like any other Asian city - lots of high rise buildings, busy streets and terrible traffic.
What's great about it though is the tours which run from there to Ha Long Bay, a cluster of more than one thousand limestone karsts and rocks in various shapes and sizes. It's one of Vietnam's National Heritage sites and is absolutely beautiful. We boarded a small cruising boat and spent the day sailing through the bay, feeling tiny as we stared up at the cliff faces of each impressive rock.
The boat made two stops along the way. The first was at a small floating village where a handful of people live in wooden huts floating on polystyrene blocks. Most of the people in this tiny community have never been to the mainland and have spent their lives rowing no further than a few metres from their homes. There's a small school and a communal raft but certainly no shops, bars or restaurants. Sadly it will soon cease to exist at all though as the Vietnamese government plan to re-home the villagers on the mainland as part of their scheme to clean up Ha Long Bay.
The second stop on our schedule was at a natural cave on one of the larger rocks. It's known as the Rainbow Cave because of the spectrums of colour that reflect from the water when the sun shines through the cracks. There was no sun to be seen on our visit but the cave was lit with artificial coloured lights which made it look almost as beautiful as if it had been natural. As we wandered through the cave's chambers our tour guide pointed out particular rocks which have become famous for looking like various figurines. Some were rather far-fetched (we got the impression some were made up on the spot) but with a little imagination we could certainty see the fairy breast, the man's shadow, a hippo, a lion and a whole load of jellyfish. We got quite into it by the end, even making up our own - it was like cloud spotting but in stones and we had so many to choose from!
Our time is now up in Vietnam and we're flying to Thailand tomorrow. We've learned a lot in this country of history and of culture but the resounding lesson for now is simply a reinforcement of what we already knew: be bloody careful what you wish for, it might just come true. Bring on the blue skies of Bangkok!
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