Hanoi to Haiphong

Haiphong is the third largest city in Vietnam and is approximately 100km east of Hanoi. We opted for the train route which takes about two and a half hours. The tickets are 30,000 dong and can be bought before you take the train. The trains leave from Long Bien station and we headed off at 9.30am. Our aim was to explore Haiphong and the nearby Do Son beach then spend the night before taking an early train back to Hanoi.
The seats on the train were wooden and not the best place to get some shut eye and it didn’t take too long before they were causing some sore bums. Celine managed some sleep while I tried to keep awake, reading a local paper (in english). The dark green train had about seven carriages and never reached fast speed as we went along countryside villages and rice fields.

When we got off the train we were bombarded. There are much fewer tourists in Haiphong, and fewer tourists means fewer targets: everyone wanted to sell us their services, from motortaxis to Sans Soucis, the bush bike taxis, to people selling maps or hotel rooms.
We walked off towards the main stretch of town to find a hotel and a motorbike to rent. The streets were wider and there was much less traffic than in Hanoi. The big difference was the pollution, or lack thereof. It was nice to be able to breathe.

We found a hotel on Dien Bien Pho Street for US $17 and organised a motorbike rental from a nice helpful guy missing his front teeth. With our newly aquired motorbike, we drove around town a bit and then took the 20km ride out to Do Son beach. Do Son is a seaside resort with one of only a few casinos in Vietnam. The highway was great, so wide and clear with few other motorbikes. Once off the highway, we followed the windy coastal roads,sea to our left and hills to our right. We stopped at an outside seafood restaurant looking out over the water and enjoyed tiger prawns "steemed in beer".. or that's what the menu said, but have a look at Celine's post about the menu... I'm not sure it can be trusted...

We sat on the beach having a drink and watching kids play and catch jellyfish. It was a great afternoon. It was quiet and peaceful and relaxing: adjectives we don't make use of so much in Hanoi...

We drove back to Haiphong in the early evening and had our first real experience of being conned (see next post). It put a damper on the evening but be managed to find a great place to eat on the street a couple of hours later, and tried to put that behind us. We had BBQ beef and the local beer and watched as a street karaoke passed by and locals sat next to us started singing loudly in the microphone. Gold. The street was lively and colourful, a stark contrast to the suggestions of Lonely Planet... The whole area listed in the Lonely Planet seemed desolate, dark and uninteresting as opposed to many other areas in town. In short if you are heading to Haiphong leave the Lonely Planet guide at home.

We had the option for first class travel on the way back to Hanoi and we decided to splurge. The ticket was 45,000 ($3) dong per person which gave us soft comfortable chairs and air conditioning. It was just what we needed. Apart from the local’s antics, who found it imperative to shout on their phones while we were trying to sleep, we had a good trip back to Hanoi Celine slept almost the whole trip!

Dan parle de notre week end a Haiphong, je ne traduis pas mot pour mot parce que j'ai écrit un post très similaire. Il dit que le train était rustique (voir ci dessous la photo de la gare d'Hanoi): moi j'ai très bien réussi a dormir sur les sièges en bois, mais pas lui :) Il a admiré les vieux champetres de rizieres et villages. Le trajet dure environ deux heures, et coute €1.20. Dan explique que des notre arrivée a la gare d'Haiphong on a été attaqués par la population locale cherchant a nous vendre leur services: il y a moins de touristes a Haiphong donc moins de cibles! Les gens savent a quelle heure le train arrive et s'attroupent en l'attendant. Alors si des "touristes" comme nous sortent du train, c'est la fete!
On a trouvé un petit hotel sympa, dans le quartier recommendé par Lonely Planet (version Australienne du Guide du Routard). Le gentil monsieur de l'hotel, avec son sourire édenté, nous a aidé a trouver une moto a louer et nous sommes partis direction la plage pour une apres midi! Mais Do Son Beach je vous ai raconté dans mon post a moi....
En début de soiree, nous avons rendu la moto puis avons passé un sale quart d’heure a s’engueuler avec le loueur de moto malfrat qui nous a piqué des sous. Apres ca, on n’avait plus trop envie de faire quoi que ce soit, mais on s’est forcé a sortir diner, et on ne l’a pas regretté : on a trouvé une avenue animée et colorée (au contraire du quartier que Lonely Planet recommendait : sombre et desert…) et nous sommes assis dans un petit restau de rue qui servait du bœuf barbecue : avec un petit barbecue individuel par table, une assiette de boeuf cru et oignons et une salade de concombre en accompagnement. Super ambiance : on a trouvé nos premiers play boys vietnamiens, trois beau gosses en t-shirt moulants qui branchaient toutes les filles et me faisaient des clin d’œil, mdr ! Ils m’ont demandé mon prénom, et juste quand je pensais avoir un ticket, m’ont annoncé que Dan était très beau. Bon. Apparemment ce n’est pas moi qui les intéressait. Puis un karaoké portable a fait son apparition et les gens ont interrompu leur diner pour aller pousser la chansonette. Soirée bien sympa, au final !Pour le retour, le lendemain matin, on a fait de grosses dépenses : €2.00 pour un ticket de premiere classe, dans un wagon presque désert (a part pour deux Vietnamiennes qui avaient decidé de hurler dans leur portable pendant qu’on essayait de dormir), sièges moelleux et clim !! Je peux vous dire que ca valait le coup : j’ai dormi tout le long, et cette fois Dan aussi :)