We had read lots of reviews that suggested a two night boat trip wasn’t long enough. We did two nights and three days. With one full day being full enough to see and do things on our bucket lists.

Vietnam is beautiful, the scenery is stunning and the other place that I had seen that people go to was Ninh Binh. Described as Halong Bay on land we probably didn’t do it justice as we stayed only one night here.

The boat docked in the morning, and we were told that the bus would be along to collect us. The time of the bus was not really defined but at around 1:10pm a bus arrived, and we got on. 2-3 hours later we arrived outside the hotel.

The Banana Bungalow in Tam Coc had been very reasonably priced at around 200 RMB a night. That got us a room each (with two double beds!), breakfast and a beautiful pool. If we had wanted to really travel like students there were also bunk beds in dorms that we could have stayed in.

We got to the hotel about 4pm ish and I headed straight to the pool before lounging poolside with my book. We then had dinner at the hotel and got talking to a guy from South America. He recommended we go into the town and confirmed that Grabs (taxis) weren’t hard to come by. We also made a plan for the next day to go somewhere local before heading back to Hanoi on one of the early afternoon buses.

We wandered along a fairly touristy part of Ninh Binh along the waterfront. It was covered in lit lanterns which was beautiful and any photographers dream. We looked at fine bone china pottery but did not buy, much to the owner’s disappointment. We got a taxi back and went to bed.

The next morning we decided to go a local viewpoint. We thought originally that we might do a boat tour down the river, but on seeing the Brazilian’s photos the night before, we realised the boat had no cover from the sun. Another Grab was grabbed and off we went. We had no idea what to expect from this place. Hua Lu was a viewpoint- and I hadn’t really thought it through as how one might get the view.

We all started at the bottom. Jill got some of the way up and stopped, her footwear just wasn’t up to it. I left both of them and took the left hand side route. By the time I reached the summit of my route I really didn’t want to go up further which was the right hand route.

I was hot and sweaty and more than nervous about making my way back down but as I clambered up (no railings and rocks jutting out) I saw a Mum, Dad and two children coming down. The mobile child was about 3 and then Mum had strapped to her a babe of about 6 months. That is adventurous and with admiration I told myself if this mum could with another human strapped to her, then I could. I am not sure if they went up the other side.

I had been in two minds about doing the dragon ridge until I saw people come back down the steps on their bum and I thought I know my limits. It would have been lovely to see over the other side but the people I talked to, who had done the other side had been more concerned for their safety that no one told me it was worth it to see the view!

Unbeknownst to me, Gabby had also put the pain in her foot behind her and had followed me, but at the t-junction had gone left. She had only got so far when she began meeting people coming down on their bum, so decided against going up any further. We met each other at the bottom and went to find Jill, who sensibly had found a seat in the shade and was patiently waiting for us. Both Gabby and I rehydrated ourselves and then we went for a further wander on the flat!

We left and ordered a Grab, however, nothing was forthcoming. None of us panicked, for at the entrance was a booth offering cars and drivers for hire. We knew we would be ripped off and pay over the odds for our 15 minute journey but beggars can’t be choosers. We were also all in need of more millions so an ATM was required. We got the driver to take us to an ATM and here is where he earned his money. He had to wait for all three of us to take out money from the ATM, a transaction time of about 10 minutes in all. I was the only one that struggled as I pressed one of the options that wanted me to scan a QR code rather than put in my card. Once I had waited for the machine to reset, I realised what I had done and amazingly pressed for English and became an instant millionaire again.

The hotel was kind to let us have a late checkout. I was determined to finish my book so once again reclined by the pool. We had an early lunch and then waited for the bus to pick us up to take us to the centre of Hanoi.

The bus from our hotel to Hanoi was not the “limousine” that we had been used to. The three of us piled in. Gabby and I at the back – and Jill had a seat nearer the front. We naively thought the bus wouldn’t pick any more people, but it did and I had a man sit in between Gabby and I and another woman got in and sat beside the driver. During the journey, I woke up to find the man sound asleep on my shoulder!

It wasn’t the most comfortable of journeys. We woke up to find ourselves entering the outer parts of Hanoi. And then suddenly we stopped in a little community and everyone got off apart from one foreigner who apparently was going to the airport.

Suddenly there were a lot of men around us, clamouring at us to use their taxis. We moved away from the crowd and got our phones out to find out where we were in relation to our hotel. We weren’t that far in the grand scheme of things and so a Grab was ordered. A car immediately came and we were all taken aback as we got 3 people, 2 suitcases, a rucksack and several little bags into a car that was quite small. Half an hour later or so, we arrived but it wasn’t quite where we thought the hotel should be because we had got out 6s and 9s mixed up. We got the driver to drive round the block a few times and eventually we found our hotel which was more like a building with serviced apartments.

The driver dumped us on the side of the road and we walked back to where we thought it was. There we checked in, I loved the bedroom on a mezzanine level and there was even a bath. I dumped my stuff and went down to the lake which I had seen on the drive.

And then I walked back to the hotel. Going to the lake I had passed a shopping mall. It looked new and it looked as it it should have had a Starbucks in it. This was our last day in Hanoi and I had left getting a mug to the last day. But I had Apple Mapsed the Starbucks and I knew there was one vaguely close to where we were going for dinner but something made me think that yes there should be one in this mall.

On the way back I took a detour to the mall, and sure enough I was rewarded with the sight of a Starbucks. I bought two mugs, took a few photos and left. I had just been in the 100th Vietnamese Starbucks.

After the mug purchase, we headed to Turtle Lake Brewery. It wasn’t in the old quarter but it was on the lake and had a very different vibe. Chilled. There we met Anna and Dave, Suzhou friends who are now in Vietnam. They left Suzhou for Sri Lanka in 2020 and since the summer they have made Hanoi home. Anna and Dave are Irish but the connection runs a lot deeper… we first met them in a youth hostel in Nelson, New Zealand. Eleanor had started a conversation with them and we have been friends since.

Dinner and drinks had, they departed (being a school night!) and we headed into the old quarter once again to do last minute shopping. Having got my Starbucks mugs, there was only one other thing on my shopping list – and that was Vietnamese coffee for our friends.

But this particular coffee was no where to be had. All the places were closing and because it wasn’t a weekend, there was no market. Jill bought t-shirt and then we went back to the hotel. Dave had told me I could get the coffee in one of the supermarkets which he thought was 24 hours but a trip the shop 5 minutes from the hotel was thwarted as it had closed too. Reception told me it wouldn’t open until 8am and we were leaving at 7:30am.

But… never worry. The taxi went down the road and there was the supermarket looking open. In whatever sign language and vocal noises we had in Chinese and English, the driver pulled over and I went into the shop and acquired the correct coffee. I was happy as were our friends.

Our Vietnamese adventure was over. We all had different experiences. My overwhelming feeling about Hanoi was that it was dirty. There were some beautiful parts but we definitely preferred the locations outside Hanoi. My trips beyond Hanoi and Halong Bay were definitely of the right length.

There are no more trips planned until Christmas but for right now, school is going well and we are happy with our move.