Final Day in Singapore

Friday 12 October

Another hot and humid day but we are determined to make the most of it!  We manage to include a Circuit around the Singapore Flyer (which provides some amazing city views),   

 a trip up the river in one of the electric “bum boats”, 

back to the Flower Dome and Cloud Dome to look through the gardens, 

high tea at Raffles Hotel, 

quick trip around Bugis St markets and back to the hotel for a shower before heading to the airport.  

 Changi airport was very busy when we arrived and it was staggering the number of people being processed through.  Before we checked through security we made a detour to the Jewel to look at the rain vortex which we hadn’t  been able to do on the way to Cambodia

This changes with the light and plays music for a few minutes each hour and the inter-terminal Sky trains briefly pass by on the rail track on the left side of the photo.

Okay... now ready for our flight home - to an anticipated 8 degrees in Dunedin (given that I haven’t even worn anything heavier than a light top for the last 3 weeks this might be a slight adjustment!)

It’s been a great trip and it is with some sadness that we farewell our wonderful travelling companion Patrice at Auckland airport as she heads off to Wellington.  But we will see her again soon :)

Singapore

Thursday 11 October

Smooth processing at Hanoi airport and head off to Singapore.  Today is spent in transit and with the loss of an hour in time change we don’t arrive until 5pm Singapore time.  Changi is an enormous airport with 4 terminals and a 5th planned (which reportedly will be as big as the other 4!) and we collect our luggage from Belt 41 (48 luggage belts in this terminal alone).  The system is very efficient however and our bags are at the belt before we are and we pretty much moved smoothly from plane to luggage collection without any delays.  The transfer to the hotel however takes much longer than expected (via a shuttle) and it is nearly 8 pm by the time we arrive!!!  Traffic is very heavy in the city centre and we spent approximately 10 minutes at one set of lights.  Everything seems much further apart than I remember (at least it seems to take a lot longer to reach places by taxi) but just as clean and orderly as 10 years ago.  

We want to get down to the Gardens by the Bay to see the light show at 8.45pm so jump in a taxi and are there with 15 minutes to spare!  The gardens are just amazing and plan to return the next day to see the Flower Dome and Cloud Dome as these have now closed.  These “Super Trees” not only have vertical planting but they also collect rainwater.

Last days in Hanoi

Tuesday 9 October

After returning to port at Halong we made our way back to Hanoi and had a short break before having our farewell dinner with the group.  Everyone has gotten along well and despite people looking forward to moving on to other parts of their journey or back home I think we will all miss seeing each other and will definitely miss our lovely guide Anh!

Our final dinner in Hanoi was delicious and we have really enjoyed the food everywhere we have been!   

Wednesday 10 October

After a relaxing breakfast at the hotel David, Patrice and I set off for a walk around the lake and a bit of last minute shopping (although this is seriously restricted by the space in our suitcases!).  Today is much cooler (29 by the time we head out I think) so is more pleasant walking.  After about 4 hours we have done our dash and head back to the hotel for a short break before going out this evening.  

We catch up with the remaining few group members who have not left today for dinner and drinks at a Skybar overlooking central Hanoi and this is a very pleasant way to end the trip!

Farewell Hanoi.

Halong Bay

Tuesday 8 October

Today is a catch up for Monday and Tuesday as we left for Ha Long Bay yesterday, stayed overnight on the boat and returned to Hanoi today.

Halong was much prettier than I imagined as although there were certainly lots of boats out and about they generally didn’t cause many problems and floated past reasonably quietly.  We travelled through the Bay for about an hour before mooring and then took the transfer boat out to various locations (e.g.  a huge cave complex in an adjacent cove, a lagoon nearby where David and Patrice went kayaking, a nearby island where some of the group went swimming.). We started the cruise with a lunch on board the boat which was both delicious and relaxing.  

We then headed to the bay itself and moored, before transferring to the cave complex which involved a hike up a reasonable set of steps into the caves, a walk through the three chambers of the cave (of varying size) and then a hike back up the steps to get out of the cave, and down again to the harbour!!  Despite the temperatures being a bit cooler and the presence of a breeze, most people looked fairly sweaty by the time they emerged.  A large monkey was present at the point where our transfer boat was located and didn’t seem too fazed by the attention he was getting.

Then it was back to the main boat or off to the lagoon (depending on which option you chose) followed by a BBQ dinner on board the boat.

The evening (after sun set) was finished off by a short session of Karaoke which was actually okay despite the fact that nearly everyone was reluctant to get going!!  The other boats were very quiet so we settled in for a quiet night only to have a full-on thunderstorm start up and go throughout the night.  We had a fairly continuous display of lightening and thunder boomed around the bay with periods of torrential rain followed by light rain.  The boat stayed fairly calm in the water but it was still a bit disconcerting!

With morning came a disassembling of the flotilla of boats that had moored around the same spot (we counted about 30 boats at one point) and movement to other locations or back to shore.  We came back to land about 11 am and then headed back to Hanoi.

Tonight wis our farewell dinner with the group and guide with most people heading away tomorrow at some point.  We still have a “spare” day so think we will have a fairly easy day with late brekkie, a stroll around the lake and a general explore.  We then get collected at 9.30am on Thursday morning to catch our flight to Singapore.  We have one day in Singapore before we get our flight back to Auckland.  

Hanoi Day 2

Sunday 6 October 2019

Today started at 8.30 am with visit to Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum, the presidential house that he never lived in (as he felt this separated him from the people), house 54 (where he lived from 1954 until his death in 1969), the stilt house (which was built as a surprise for him, situated on the other side of the large fish pond/lake outside house 54 and contained a bedroom and a study/office), and a reinforced house beside the stilt house where he could seek protection during the bombing of Hanoi (and where he actually died from heart disease in 1969).  House 54 and the Stilt House you could walk up and see inside but the rest were “out of bounds” and could only be photographed from the outside.  He clearly chose a simple life.               

House 54 and lake

Presidential Palace (where Ho Chi Minh never lived)  

Ho Chi Minh’s Stilt house 

Room inside Stilt house

The first part of the day involved a visit to the Mausoleum and this was heavily guarded and regulated.  No water, cameras, sunglasses, hats, no walking outside the designated lanes and no talking inside the tomb itself.  Ho Chi Minh’s body appeared remarkably well preserved given that he died 50 years ago.  There was a large number of people going through the tomb but the line moved reasonably quickly.

Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum 

Before leaving the complex we stopped at the One Pillar Pagoda which unfortunately was destroyed during the war but had been rebuilt in the 1990s (if my memory serves me correctly).  

From there we went to the Temple of Literature (the Temple of Confuscius) which was Vietnam’s first national university.  This temple is on the 100,000 Vietnamese Dong note.  It consists of 5 courtyards each dedicated to different things e.g. one was for scholars who had excelled at their studies.  Today there were a number of students gathered to celebrate finishing their secondary school years and a photographic display was on show.

Entry to 2nd Courtyard National University 

Photos showing same area before and after bombing  

Students graduating

Confucius 

Again the heat and humidity have been very high and everyone was looking hot and soaked with sweat (but the lady selling fans was doing great business!!) so it was lovely to have lunch in the cool.  We went to another KOTO restaurant and the food was excellent.  David had a Banana Flower Salad and I had a Green Papaya Salad - yummmmm.

Back to the hotel for a couple of hours down time and then out for a walk in park around the lake once the temperatures drop a little bit.

Later
Well the park walk turned out a bit noisier and interesting than just a park walk as there was a carnival on.  Vietnamese love dancing so when we first went through the area, there were lots of students doing dance routines to loud music.  There were also thousands of people taking the same stroll, street vendors, kids and adults playing games, mini-vehicles with kids driving them.  It was heart-warming to see so many people having a good time.  Although we did walk partly around the “park” (actually a lake) but most of the activity was on the wide adjoining road which was blocked off to traffic for about 3 blocks.  We carried on through some back street markets and when we circled back to the road again, the “carnival”was about to start.  This was a short but very loud and colourful procession.

 And the kids in tiny motorised vehicles - high risk to shins and calves !

Tomorrow morning its off early to Halong Bay and an overnight stay on the boat so will not have a chance to update the blog tomorrow.  Will add something on Wednesday night when we get back if we can and then its off to Singapore on Thursday morning!