Finalising.

Ok guys, I'm sorry. I think if I sit on this any longer, the bloody thing will hatch,

One night, we will gather at my place. Finalise everything that we need to finalise.

What has been booked:

1. Flight there. (~$92.08)

2. HCMC Hotel (~$20 a head a night)

What we will finalise on friday:

1. Hanoi Hotel (~$20 a head a night)

2. Flight back (~$180)

3. Sapa Hotel (~$20 a head a night)

What we need to do in Vietnam

1. Train from HCMC to Hanoi (~$120)

2. Ha Long Package (~$120)

3. Train to Sapa from Hanoi (~$40)

4. Train to Hanoi from Sapa (~$40)

Approx Average Costs = $~692 so far. May drop or rise, depending on how well we bargain there.

Blue River Hotel

Triple Room = 40USD per night
Double Room = 24USD per night
Airport Transfer = 35USD for 7 persons

Total payable:(40*2) + (24*2*2)+ (35) = 211USD

I was thinking we might as well pay an extra 1 USD. Faster, easier, safer.

Train Stuff

http://www.seat61.com/Vietnam.htm

Some good information for the train ride.

Ha Long Tour

http://www.sinhcafevn.com/Tour_Detail.asp

Hanoi Hotel Details

Hello all,

Room choices for Phoenix Hotel:

1 double bed 16.57
2 single beds 15.06
3 single beds 15.06
4 single beds 15.06

All are private en suite. So you will have your own bathrooms.

So if you wanna save money and have more people in your room for the more 'backpackerly' feel, you can choose the 4 beds one.
For the nights if I'm not around, then can split into two 3 beds one.

My assumption is the couples want a double room to themselves.

Another thing is, whether you all wanna return to the same hotel, or want to try a different one when you return from Sapa.

Updates 13/09/08

Updates as of last meeting:

Itenary Confirmed.

Travel from HCMC to Hanoi - By train, a/c sleeper 4 to a room.

HCMC Hotel - Blue River Hotel

Hanoi Hotel - Phoenix Hotel

Sapa Hotel - Sapa Rooms Boutique Hotel

Flight to HCMC - Booked.

Flight from Hanoi - Pending confirmation.

Ha Long and Sapa Tours - Booked there, will get quotes from relevant hotels.

Sapa and Ha Long Itenary

From Flowerpod:

I am lady tour guide working for Footstep Hanoi Travel Agency. I have general information of Halong Bay and Sapa as follows:
Halong Bay is with its 1969 limestone islands and 23 grottoes, this natural marvel has twice been proclaimed a national heritage site, thus remaining under the watchful eye of UNESCO.
Dau go and Thien cung in Halong bay
Dau go cave
The grotto is on Driftwood Island. Seen from afar, the entrance to the grotto appears to be blue, and has a shape similar to that of a jellyfish. After 90 steps up the island, the entrance is reached. The ceiling of the
grotto is about 25 m. Hundreds of stalactites falling down from the roof of the grotto look like a waterfall

Thien cung CaveIt is situated on the south-west side the bay, 4 km from the wharf outside of Ha Long City. The way to Thiên Cung is a perilous one, covered on both sides by thick forest. After entering a narrow gate, the grotto’s
130-meter-long girth opens up. Getting in we are more astonished in front of the very animated and splendid beauty which is made from stalactite. On the east wall of the grotto, there is a grandiose and imposing picture with characters of tales.
Going out of the Thiên Cung Grotto, we have a sensation of just watching a unique, meticulous, interesting fine-art museum which is made by nature, get out of the imagine, ability and intellect of man.
This grotto is recently discovered, one of the most beautiful grottoes in Ha Long Bay

This largest eastern island in Ha Long Bay, Cat Ba, is located 60 km from Hai Phong. Cat Ba is also the name of the archipelago of 336 different islands. The main and largest one, named Cat Ba, is 100 km2 in width. Cat Ba Island offers some of the most beautiful terrain and diverse ecosystems in Vietnam, including primeval forest, coastal mangroves, waterfalls, limestone lakes, freshwater swamps, and hot springs. Cat Ba national park is 15,200 hectares in area, 9,800 of which hectares is forest, and the other 4,200 hectares sea. The limestone mountain boasts with many interesting caves is lined with lots of fine white beaches. The mild, cool and pure climate on Cat Ba island is very conducive for resting.

Cat Ba is also home to Ha Long cultural relics, the relics of an ancient Vietnamese culture and many archaeological relics from the new stone-age period that were found on Cat Ba.
Cat Ba is now a national park, and its primeval tropical forest ecosystem is being preserved. The island's abundant fauna includes 20 animal, 69 bird and 20 reptile and amphibian species. Animal such as boars, wild cats, porcupines, deer, and monkeys may be seen on the island.

SAPA
At an altitude of 1650m, on the side of Hoang Lien Son range, Sapa is home to several minority tribes, such as Black Hmong (Miao) and Red Dzao. Discover the natural beauty of valleys, mountains, streams, waterfalls, and the warm welcome of the ethnic people.

Trek to Cat Cat and Sin Chai villages of H'mong tribe. Enjoy the waterfall in Cat Cat and beautiful scenery along the way. Visit the first village of the black H'mong (Catcat), walk around visiting people in the village. Have lunch, then visit the hydroelectric power station built by the French in the old days. Take the paths along the valleys between mountains to get to Lao chai village. Enjoy the overall pictures of the villages among terraces. Visit the H'mong living in wooden and bamboo houses. Continue going to Ta Van village to visit the Dzay minority.
Visit Ham Rong Mountain- the Heaven of flowers. In the evening, enjoy the romantic night in Sapa- Famous Love Fair. Bus trip to visit BacHa Market. Discover BacHa Market where many different ethnic groups go shopping(every Sunday).
Next day take the road to GiangTaChai village of the Red Dzao minority via the paths between terraces and through bamboo forests. Visit silver waterfall and suspension Rattan Bridge, visit the people in the village and then cross MuongHoa River up to the mountain to visit the last village of the trek - Supan village of the H'mong. Get back to Sapa by jeep. On the way back, enjoy visiting the ancient stone circle where stones are decorated with ancient carvings.

I am a lady tour guide for Hanoi and please contact me at vinh401@gmail.com for your itinerary interest.

http://www.flowerpod.com.sg/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t1965-350.html

Hanoi Accommodation

I suggest for Hanoi, we get a good safe one cos' i THINK, it is possible for us to drop our heavier stuff there and bring what we need to Halong Bay. Something can be worked out. Haha. Plus you are staying there for quite a few nights. Would suck if the hotel sucks.

Some places you can go to make your choices:
http://www.hostelbookers.com/hostels/vietnam/hanoi/
http://www.hostelworld.com/findabed.php
trip advisor

Some hotels that seem to be quite good:
Rising Dragon Hotel
Hanoi Elegance 1, 2 and 3
Phoenix Hotel

Updates

Ok so far I have details from Huili and Meiyan about hotels in HCMC.

This sat we meetup again to confirm final details and all quirks.

Now we need to find the Hanoi hotels. :p

Sapa and Ha Long, I will find as much details as I can from this side, but it will be highly likely that we will have to settle it when we are there. Probably cheaper.

Hotel Details

Please download the file!

http://www.4shared.com/file/62331998/a94afd34/Vietnam_Ho_Chi_Minh_City.html

http://www.gigasize.com/get.php?d=0v9j9byp6gb

Blue River Hotel

Hello all, just got the reply from the lady named Thuy in charge of Blue River Hotel.

They have available rooms for the dates we want.

Official Website

24USD for a room with no windows
28USD for a room with big windows or small balcony
Airport pickup service 35USD for 15 seater

All rooms with aircon, cable tv, wifi, fridge, private bathroom and hot water shower
There are no lifts

According to many places, this hotel is highly recommended. The lady Thuy speaks good English also. We don't have to worry about nasty taxi drivers trying to trick us of our money since they have airport pickup services that can be arranged.

Alternative to Train HCMC to Hanoi

http://www.sinhcafevn.com/

Check this out!

Bus trips from HCMC to Da Lat to Nha Trang to Hoi Anh to Hue to Hanoi.

Mmmmmmm.

Minimum Time Damage: 2 nights sleeping overnight on bus. One Night in Dalat.

But fun factor much better than 24 hour train ride ya?

Ha-Long Bay

http://www.flowerpod.com.sg/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t1965-50.html

Near the end, there is a section:

Halong Bay-Cat Ba island
About tours:
Halong Bay-Cat Ba island 3 days 2 nights is quite alright
I went with the travel agent Ocean Tours for US$65 (booked thru the hostel). For this package, there is a limit to max 16 travellers for the group. I was lucky that my group in total had only 6 travellers... so the junk was like a private junk to us... not crowded at all. What i heard is that the other cheaper package has no limit to the no. of pax travelling in the group and they would visit only 1 cave instead of 2 caves.

We stayed 1 night on junk and another night in a hotel (yup, this is a proper hotel room if you are wondering) at Cat Ba Island. 1st night was to visit the 2 caves - Sung Sot and Me Cung Caves and sleep over in the junk. (there would be women rowing their little boats trying to sell you some food and drinks, it would be much cheaper to buy then from them, e.g. dalat wine for 1 big bottle is around 30,000 dong. Interesting right, vietnam also produce red and white wine and vodka too If I remember correctly. Btw, the tour package exclude drinks, so pls remember to pack some drinks for yourself 1st as the drink on board is really expensive!

I would say the promised seafood lunch and dinner for the 1st night was dissappointing. It was like sotong balls, fish, french fries, cucumber salad, vegetables (you call that seafood).

the 2nd day was much better, it was really seafood food bbq on a mini beach after kayaking. however it was only 1 portion for each - 1 big prawn, 1 mini lobster alike, bbq pork, salad, 1 shellfish (cant figure what type of shellfish is it, not mussels.. but nice). The food was bbq but the boat captain, who incidently is the chef.

btw, there is an option between kayaking and trekking. Kayaking was really good. There were 2 travellers who took the trekking say there was nothing much. They had to walk 5 Km, trek 5Km and walk back 5Km. That was really tiring and not much sightings.

Kayaking was much more fun, when we get to kayak thru caves and around the islands. The water was pretty calm too so it was quite alright.. although kayaking was like 4hours long.. (still tiring though it could be made worst if its choppy water)

After which, we head to Cat Ba Island. It was already near sun setting. So we only had the time to take a good shower and head straight for dinner. Seafood Dinner was good too.

There wasn't much for us to see around Cat Ba Island as it was already nightfall. If you have a little more time, maybe you could extend 1 more day there and explore. One of the travellers in our group decided to extend 1 more day, and our group was down to 5 travellers the next day when we depart.

Day 3 was really a cruise back to halong city. there was suppose to be a swimming stop enroute, but i suppose the guide saw that none of us were really interested and decided to cruise all the way back.

Updates - A Summary

Who?
8 of us so far. Can increase, best in groups of 4 or 2.

What?
Vietnam Trip with the Guys, 2 years delayed.

Where?
Ho Chi Minh City (3d2n), HCMC to Hanoi Sleeper Train (2d1n), Ha Long Bay (3d2n), Sapa (2d1n), Hanoi (2d1n).

When?
14th Dec to 25th Dec (full trip).
14th Dec to 21st Dec (Leave after Ha Long)

Why?
Why not?

Accommodation for first 2 nights in HCM

Hello all,

I have narrowed it down to three places:

1. Blue River Hotel (link)
2. Du Vuong Hotel (link)
3. Luan Vu Guest House (link)

My initial choice was Bich Duyen Hotel. Wonderful reviews, but no more vacancies!

All three others are with quite good reviews and probably less than 2o SGD per night. Links bring you to Trip Advisor. You can do your own mini research to see which one you prefer :)