Extra day question
Those of you who have visited - would you recommend adding the gift of time day in the beginning (in Hanoi) or at the end (in Bangkok)? I'll be on my own (solo traveler). Opinions welcomed. Thanks!
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Those of you who have visited - would you recommend adding the gift of time day in the beginning (in Hanoi) or at the end (in Bangkok)? I'll be on my own (solo traveler). Opinions welcomed. Thanks!
Comments
You might have to add an additional day at the beginning (Hanoi) but take a side trip for a night on Ha Long Bay. The companies who run the Junks (ships) will arrange to pick you up at the airport or the hotel and take you to Ha Long. Then spend a night on one of the junks in the bay. They will arrange to take you back to your hotel in Hanoi after the trip.
You can take a private junk or a room on a larger junk.
It's not very expensive, even for a private junk.
Hi Mike - So you're suggesting I add the gift of time up front and take a side trip on my own before the tour starts? The photos I see online of Ha Long Bay look beautiful! I'm kind of surprised it's not included in the tour. Not to sound weird, but is this safe for a solo woman who doesn't speak a word of Vietnamese? If so, Cool! Thanks!
I'm going to take the Tauck Vietnam tour in 2024. I contacted Indochina-junk and got information from them. They write perfect English, so I assume they also speak it.
My general attitude towards things like this is that the people running the businesses, and the people in the town, don't want any hint of a problem for tourists. You can google to see if there are any reports of problems in that area.
I'm looking forward to going back. This will be my second trip to Vietnam - my first was in 1970.
We loved Bangkok and stayed an extra night there…but we also went in a day early to do Halong Bay…the one day trip. Great trip…beautiful properties!
You might also try to contact any other people on that particular tour to see if they want to do the Ha Long Bay Junk. If it's a small number, you could get a private junk for just your group.
I plan to get a private junk for two when my wife and I go.
That's so cool Mike! My husband was in Vietnam/Thailand in the late 60's in the Air Force. I was really hoping he would join me on this trip, but alas, he's just not a traveler, so I'm on my own. Thanks again for your comments and suggestions!
Nancy - you know I value your insights - okay it's settled, I'll add the gift of time day to the front end of the trip and arrange for a Ha Long Bay Junk. Thanks guys!
MikeHenderson - Welcome back! If I remember correctly you were on another trip with Regent's. How did you enjoy it?
We were in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand in January 2015 and my favorite country was Vietnam.
Yes, I just came back from a Regent trip to Norway and the Baltic. It was a nice trip and a great ship - the Splendor. I blog all our trips - you can see this one here.
DrVon - you may have to add a day beyond your GoT in order to do Ha Long Bay. See what works.
Mike, I have read your blogs and loved them. Where can I find the most recent one to Norway and the Baltic? Also, how would you compare Regents to Silversea?
Thank you!
DrVon. We we got Halong Bay as part of the Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos tour. Tauck does not go to Laos anymore. If you search the forum for Halong bay, there are lots of suggestions of companies that go there. I also suggest going earlier than a day and certainly if you want to go to Halong. The drive to Halong from Hanoi is quite a long way but it’s so fascinating watching life go by on that trip, four and five people to a scooter and carrying all sorts of baggage, love chickens hanging out of car trunks and things like that.
I’ve not been to Thailand yet. Of cousin Mr B has been and found himself on a temple tour with Sophia Loren …but that’s another story.
Noreen - I don't think it would be appropriate to discuss another company's tours/cruises on the forum. I'll send you a private message.
Mike - Thank you!
DrVon Hi.
At the beginning, Hanoi is beautiful and it has a lot to offer.- you should hire a day tour guide or get a Viator Tour that will take you around to see other sites not included in Tauck's tour. I would contact the hotel concierge before you get there, they will have everything taken care for you.
Halong Bay is beautiful- but a little far out from Hanoi, about 2-3 hours drive if I remember well, but worth seeing. Hanoi is pretty safe, no issues about traveling on your own, I did it solo too, had a great time.
Bangkok is a little more challenging for a female solo traveler and Tauck does cover the top sights.
The Sofitel Hanoi has an amazing Spa.- you can book ahead for your treatment on arrival day, you'll be like new. Love all the hotels on these tour.
The most dangerous thing to do in Hanoi...is trying to cross the streets with hundreds of scooters going non-stop...it can be daunting!
Nancy, when I was there with Tauck .. the TD set up a ride on the scooters for us, a group of 7(women) single solo travelers from the hotel to the restaurant it was amazing! then the rest of the group wanted to do the same
))
A friend of mine who winters in Vietnam got hit by one of those scooters a few years ago. Broke his shoulder, requiring surgery there (then more surgery when he got home)!
When we were in Hanoi, our TD set up scooter rides for our entire group and we had a blast restaurant and bar hopping one evening. We weren’t driving, we sat behind our riders. We did the same thing in Hoi An, drove through the countryside, stopping at a home and weaving mats and another to make flatbread and the last to sample hooch and finally at a farm to eat produce.
That explains this photo.
No way I'd ride one of those in that traffic. You must have a death wish! 😂
Here is my blog…
We rode scooters in Saigon, not Hanoi
HO CHI MIN CITY/SAIGON 25th February 2018
We have spent the last two days in Saigon/Ho Chi Min City. It can be called either and generally depends on the age of the person referring to it. A crazy modern city of officially 9 million people,it really is nearer 12 million and they all appear to be riding motor bikes. A lot of the city was destroyed in the Vietnam War with only a few French Colonial building remaining including the lovely Post Office and Cathedral.
On our way there via plane and bus, we visited Cu Chi tunnels where the the Viet Cong hid from the south. I just went through one short tunnel and a hospital room, it was very chilling. S….. went into a longer tunnel. They are very narrow and also you have to bend very low to go through.
We are staying in an Intercontinental hotel and it is luxurious. During free time yesterday we both had a treatments. You can’t be bashful. My therapist gave my entire body a salt scrub before a massage, yes my entire body, I thought she would run out of product on my body! S…’s female just watched on as he took his gown off. Great massages and half the price of comparable resorts elsewhere.
Later, we went on another Vespa Scooter adventure at night through the city, amongst thousands of scooters and cars. We visited two restaurants and a Bohemian type bar/club which we entered down a back alley through a falling down type building, up a spiral staircase to a third floor where there was a small group of people sitting on sofas with makeshift coffee tables. We saw three amazing singers each singing songs, some in Vietnamese, some in English. Their voices were incredible and we thought they were trained singers, but they were just passionate amateurs. There was an accompanying piano player and a young man playing an electric violin, I could have stayed all night drinking and eating delicious coconut ice cream, but we moved on to another bar where there was live rock music too. We got back to our hotel around 11pm. Are we cool or not!
British I'm glad to hear you did the scooters too, they are so much fun.
Yes, you are cool
Back in the late 60's and early 70's there was motorbike theft that would occur in Saigon. Western women would use purses with shoulder straps and would always carry the purse towards a companion. But sometimes they forgot.
If she forgot, this is what often happened. Two young Vietnamese men would be on a motorbike - we called them "Cowboys". The guy driving the bike would approach the woman from the rear and zoom very close to her. The guy on the back of the bike would grab the purse strap and try to yank if off the woman's shoulder. This often resulted in a tug of war, which the cowboys sometime won, or the woman sometimes won. Unfortunately, sometime the woman was pulled to the ground and injured.
The other motorbike theft was of watches. GI's would drive a vehicle with the window open and their arm resting on the windowsill. The cowboys would zoom past the car and the back guy would hook his fingers under the watch, breaking the watch band. They would replace the band and sell the watch to some other GI.
A non-related story is that some GIs stationed in Saigon would meet a Vietnamese girl in a bar and, after a few visits, the girl would suggest that they get an apartment and live together. She would, at his expense, furnish the apartment and he would provide electronics (such as a stereo). Everything would be wonderful for a few weeks to a month, but one day, he'd come home and the apartment would be BARE. While he was at work, she and her friends had cleaned the place out.
To be fair, the opposite also happened. The girl may have stuck with the GI, hoping to marry him and get a ticket the US. Then, one day he wouldn't come home. He had left Vietnam and never said a word to her.
Just a side note, the lowest paid GI was fabulously wealthy compared to the average Vietnamese.
British you are quite the adventuress, good for you.
Mike, who would flag your story! Really!
I have a lot of stories from my time in Vietnam. I recently wrote my life story for my family, which included many stories from that time. But I don't think they were very interested.
I’m currently collaborating with a writer who is doing a book on the Naval Air War in Vietnam during a certain period. We will see what develops.
Okay, one more Vietnam story. On a cruise that I just got back from, I met William (Bill) Shankel. Bill was an A4 pilot that was shot down over Hanoi in 1965. He spent seven (miserable) years in the Hanoi Hilton and was released in 1973. Upon release, he went to medical school and became a physician, specializing in general surgery. Very impressive fellow. You can verify his story at
https://www.pownetwork.org/bios/s/s095.htm
http://veterantributes.org/TributeDetail.php?recordID=1042, and
https://valor.militarytimes.com/hero/23878
He also was awarded the Silver Star.
For a different POW, look up the story behind the photograph "Burst of Joy".
Mike, I’m sure we could exchange some stories … probably not in this venue. I was involved there until after ‘the end’. I ran a refugee camp in Guam … what a trip that was. And, shortly before the ‘fall’ I was in Saigon staying at the “Gray House”. Long time ago.