Trevor & Jonathans Cruise & Trip to the Far East and Australia 2016

Day 20 - Sunday May 29th 2016 - Dubai, UAE to Hanoi Via Doha and Bangkok

So its past the witching hour of midnight and we are still awake. Our flight from Dubai to Doha took a grand total of 35 minutes and I have to say Qatar airways came up trumps again. We were offered all the usual first class refinements that you get when coming on board, I went for the alcohol hoping that it would knock me out a bit but we declined the evening meal. We did not bother to fully recline the seats on this leg of the journey, it just did not seem worth it to be honest but we were feeling tired so we were longing for the flatbed facility.

Transiting in Doha was no problem at all as we moved from C gates to B gates in a matter of about a twenty-minute walk. Doha airport looked stunning, iMacs everywhere, really modern and open and interesting. No time to look around here though as our transit time was only about 35 minutes and after a short wait it was time to board our second plane. Same

seats again, 2A and 2B.

On board the plane were the Syrian national football team (at least I think it was football, certainly a big team sport) all proudly wearing their countries colours, it was quite heart-warming to see something so normal happening to people of a country that is at war with itself.

We went through the safety video etc. all over again, had the free drink, declined the evening meal again and as soon as we were airborne it was earplugs in, eye mask on, flatbed position and sleep. I even managed to get my pyjamas on discreetly under the protection of my blanket, Trevor was asleep in seconds as he always is.

The next thing we know we were about an hour outside of Bangkok. I woke up, went to the bathroom got changed and came back to the seat to have a very small breakfast and coffee. Trevor awoke in the end and did the same as we watched Thailand slowly became visible beneath us. The flight from Doha to Bangkok had taken about six hours and we were hoping that we would get through the time differences with about four hours sleep.

We touched down in Bangkok, a place we love and the plane was invaded by an army of cleaners and ground staff, they hoovered around us, collected al the rubbish and went about their business, all quite bizarre.

Whilst we were on the approach to Bangkok my mind raced back to 2010, the last time we were here and the red shirts were closing down the city in protest at the the political situation here. We did not go into Bangkok that time abut diverted to Hua Hin instead. Thinking about the world trip and all the subsequent travel we have done and sitting in my business class seat it made me once again realise just how lucky we both are on our journey through life. We really do have a lot to pinch ourselves about and here we are again, on another trip of a lifetime.

The plane would be down on the ground in Bangkok for about an hour, new passengers coming on, cleaning, refuelling and then on to Hanoi and a country we have never visited before. Time for that Barcelona Football team safety video for the sixth time (Qatar airlines sponsor team).

When they came round with the offer of food this time we actually obliged. I have to say that one of the joys of flying at the front of the plane is cutlery and glass. The food was not bad either, a selection of Asian and Indian starters, really tasty. As we got closer to Hanoi the views out of the window started to get really interesting, you could make out red clay coloured rivers flowing through high rolling mountain ranges absolutely covered in every shade of green imaginable. The closer we got to Hanoi the flatter the landscape got until it looked like we were virtually at sea level. It really resembled the bulb fields around Amsterdam. A constant patchwork of every green imaginable was laid out before us only to eventually be broken by the tarmac of the runway, we made it to Vietnam.

The airport is nothing to shout about, very small and just the right amount of glass to make it look modern, we were though it very quickly indeed. As we had applied for our visas in London as we will be making multiple entries into Vietnam it was a case of a quick swipe and a stamp and we were through and soon in a taxi heading for Hanoi. Now the road journey was very interesting for many reasons, but let’s first talk about our driver. So generally there are three lanes on a motorway here it would seem but the lines of the lanes seem to mean very little. The general room of thumb seemed to be that you should drive almost bumper to bumper at speed then switch lanes just as your cars are about to kiss each other with no indication, this certainly did not take to me being a comfortable passenger and I did just to suck it up as they say and prey that we did not crash…..as we approached the city a swarm of mopeds started to fill the road and never left us as we made our way through the suburbs of Hanoi. These scooters would be carrying whole families of three or four (yes really) along with crates of beer, boxes of goods, you name it, it was on a scooter going somewhere. The taxi driver told us that there were three million scooters in Hanoi and right now it felt like they had organised a welcoming committee just for us.

We were staying at the Hilton Opera Hanoi, so called as it is right next door to the opera house that looks like it could easily have been transported from the streets of Paris. The French actually once settled here and stylised much of the old town the place that we are staying in. Based on what we saw of Hanoi on the way through we are definitely staying in one of the nicer parts of town (that we have seen so far). The fact that there is a Prada store right opposite the hotel gives you some idea of the area we are in.

So it was time to explore a little and try and find some energy as we were now in jet lag territory and were surviving on about five hours sleep and little food. We went downstairs to the hotel reception and sat and had coffee and cake to look over the maps etc. that the check in desk had supplied us. We had to go out tonight as it was the last of the night markets tonight and if we did not hit the streets of Hanoi tonight we would be gone before there return.

Hanoi is CRAZY, getting across the road is a real feat in itself and as we had just arrived and not adjusted our senses just yet it seemed like an impossible task. You really just have to put yourself out there and walk and let the cars and the millions of scooters pass you by, swerve either side of you and get across. It’s not a comfortable feeling at all when you first get here especially coming from the glitz and glamour of Dubai to this chaos, it was blowing our minds more than just a bit.

The hotel recommended two restaurants to us that were close by and we found one of them purely by chance rather than design, Tonight the Hanoi opera café had the pleasure of our company and to keep with the theme we settled on the Hanoi fixed menu for two complete with a G&T for me and a local beer for Trev. The food was delicious, we had crabmeat soup followed the most delicious three types of spring roll followed by a beef dish with rice, all yummy and we got dessert thrown in.

The restaurant itself was inside one of the many colonial buildings that line the pavements in this side of town, you really can see the French influence.

It was humid out and we had actually left the hotel in a thunder storm, not fork lightning but sheet, the type that illuminates all the cloud in the sky, luckily for us it was not raining but we had bought a brolly just in case.

After dinner we headed out deeper into Hanoi and the direction of the street markets and more chaos and confusion. There is a lake in the middle of the old town here that all roads seem to lead to and in this lake is a pagoda and temple very much in the classical Chinese style complete with a very ornate bridge to get to it. You can hardly walk on the pavements here due to the sheer volume of scooters parked along them blocking your way so we ended up walking on the edge of the roads most of the way until we got some sanctuary around the lake. This was a real baptism of fire and I think Trevor was struggling with the chaos, the sounds, the traffic and the sheer pace of everything around here…

We passed hugely packed town squares where countless children played on roller skates and scooters and hover boards. There seemed to be a roaring trade in renting out the various toys to kids, never seen that before. The town square where this was taken place was surrounded by trees and these trees were vertically covered in fairy lights in white and blue. The lights were virtually dripping with colour and it was very beautiful to see.

At the top of the lake we finally made it to the street markets. These are not like the street markets of Hong Kong or Thailand that we had seen before as they are not selling fake after fake but they feel very similar. The streets were lined with food sellers, clothes sellers, shoe sellers all at the very low end of the market place. It was mobbed round here, a real stampeded of people all trying to get through, all looking at what was on offer. There would be trays of live crabs, fruits of every description and the occasional fake good but the main thing was the absolute volume of people all trying to find space for themselves.

We walked the whole length of the street market before doubling back on a much quieter (at first) parallel side street back towards the lake. This led us down to what must be the main party area as suddenly we were in overcrowded streets full of party goers with boom boxes blasting distorted music in to the streets, all far too much when your feeling jet lagged and tired so when we found a way out of this area we were both bowing down to our middle agedness and glad we found some sanctuary on quieter streets.

We made it back to the hotel and found the bar and both ordered a double gin and tonic to recover from it all, what an onslaught, what a shift in gear, all too much for the first night to be honest.

We took another gin up to bed just to chill and that was our day. It was a long one, a hectic one but we survived. We are

both so tired so sleeping tonight is not going to be a problem at all…..night all. Well the hell are we going to see on the crazy streets of Hanoi tomorrow???