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Published: December 4th 2010
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After a pleasant flight, we arrived to Denanga and got a taxi to Hoi An. It is such a class place. Its laid back, busyish, lots of places to eat and full of tailors. Peter and I headed for a tailors that had been recomended. We had a look around and then one of the employees came and gave us a hand. Peter got sorted first, he chose the fabric of his new suit, chose what shirts and ties he wanted made and then was measured up. This company keeps our measurements on file and if we ever want anything made and are still the same size they will make it and ship it. Once Peter was finished, it was my turn and after a long time walking around the shop, I still had not made my mind up. We decided to leave the shop and go on the internet for a while and see what I liked! Eventually, I decided what I wanted. We headed for the tailors. I showed her what i wanted, after another long time of decisions I picked my fabric/design and I got measured. The tailor told us to be back in the morning for our
fitting. That night we went to a lovely restaurant....noticed they had Jagermeister on "tap"...haha.... Saturday, we headed back for our fittings and our outfits were made and just needed tiny alterations. They were looking well! That night we went back for the final fitting and they were both perfect. Jobs well done. I wasnt going to wear my fancy maxi dress on this trip so I have got it shipped to Ireland but Peter wanted his suit for Australia so it has been sent there! They are so cool. Probably the only time we will ever have anything tailor made just for us! We just lazed around Hoi An and pottered around and just had fun. Its such a cool place!
We got to Hue on Sunday after a 6 hour bus ride, some of the people went to do some touristy type things but Peter and I just went for lunch and walked around to get our bearings! Some people went for a Dog Speciality meal. However, our love for the ‘Tiny’ dog prevented us eating any sort of dog! Apparently it wasn’t very tasty anyway!!
Monday morning early, we went on a motorbike tour of the
city. Each person was on the back of a bike and we had lots of different stops, one being a rice museum where we saw this ancient Vietnamese woman making rice and rice flour. She showed us what the old style beds were like, how water irrigation was performed and we also learned that the fruit ‘Beetle-Nut’ which they eat gives them a high!! We stopped off for lunch at a monk/ nun monastery and had an all Veggie lunch. It was nice! Then back to the hotel for check out and to head for the train!
We arrived in Halong Bay in the early hours Tuesday after the overnight train and a 3 hour bus. We checked into the hotel, had a bite to eat and then we went with our group to the port to board our boat. After a short wait, all 16 of us got on a boat and departed for a cruise round the actual bay. Apparently there are more than 2000 islands here. It’s pretty gorgeous as you pass through. It looks like lots of mountains sprouting out of the water. We had a 7-course fresh sea-food lunch, which was pretty tasty! Then we
stopped off at one of the caves and had a walk round it. It was pretty cool! The weather unfortunately was quite cloudy which prevented us from having the spectacular views that are usually available. We got back to the port in the early evening and went to get ready for dinner that night.
Wednesday morning, early, we headed for Hanoi on a 4 hour bus. On the bus ride our tour leader talked about the history of Vietnam and gave us a brief outline of the timeline of the trouble here etc.! Peter was in his element… We arrived to Hanoi around lunch time and we went for a walk downtown. We went to KFC for some quality food for lunch. In fact we had lunch here for all 3 days!! Ha-ha… Wednesday night we went to a busy Vietnamese rooftop restaurant.
Thursday morning we went for a walking tour of Hanoi. We went to Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum and viewed his body. He was looking well as he was just back from a 3 month trip to Russia for his yearly touch-up! It was all very regimental when we entered. You had to stand a certain
way, walk a certain way, no sunglasses, cameras, no stopping. We literally had 15-20 seconds to walk through the room. I’m not convinced it’s his actual body- maybe a wax work!! We also went to the ‘Hanoi Hilton’ which is a prison built by French Colonialists. It was used to house prisoners during the war in Vietnam. It also had an American propaganda room which made out that the American Prisoners of War had a great time there! Senator John McCain was held there. We also passed the Statue of Lennin. In the afternoon we went to a Water Puppet show which was puppets on water telling various stories about Vietnam. It was good but I wouldn’t be in a rush back! Thursday we had our last meal in Little Hanoi and it was very nice indeed. Followed by a few drinks in Mao’s Red Lounge. It was good fun.
Friday Peter and I were on our own as our tour was finished. We just lay about and tried to sort out itineries for our trip in Thailand. We went for an Indian for lunch. Friday night, we headed for Fanny’s Ice-Cream parlour. On the first Friday of every
month they have an ‘All you can eat’ night. Well we had all we could eat. We probably had a scoop of every ice-cream that they made, lots of wafers and cones too!! What a place… That ended our Vietnam trip.
This morning we departed from Hanoi and got an early morning flight to Bangkok. Bangkok seems to be just another city with lots of buildings and lots of traffic. Although at this moment in time we haven’t explored that much, we will spend all day tomorrow doing touristy things!!
So all on our own now, we will travel through Thailand…hopefully it is as nice as people say!
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