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Published: February 28th 2008
Vietnam
Vietnamese flag is a country with a fascinating history. The food is amazing and different than what we've eaten in other parts of Asia.
Pho, White Rose, Vietnamese Pancakes, and many dishes that you wrap yourself in rice paper or leaf lettuce at the table are just a few examples of the foods we tried and loved.
Click here for more on Vietnamese cuisine. The main thing we noticed about Vietnam is it definitely has its own identity. It seems to really set itself apart from its neighbouring countries: Laos, Cambodia, and China.
Hanoi, Halong Bay, Ninh Binh
We arrived in
Hanoi on a one hour flight from Vientiane (complete with meal!?!) and made our way to the old quarter - a warren of streets packed tight with speeding motorbikes, honking cars, and shouting locals. It was quite a change from laidback Laos! We had a few bad experiences with people trying to rip us off early on in our visit to Hanoi, but as we spent more time there we met a lot of great people and recommend the city on a Vietnam visit. We couldn't believe how cold it was - it was about 5-10 degrees (okay, I know
Hanoi
Lady selling mandarin oranges on a busy street in the old quarter everyone in Canada is laughing at us now!) but when you don't have the right clothes and hotels and restaurants don't have heaters, it feels really cold! One thing we noticed was how locals just drop garbage in the street, which is then swept up at night. The problem with this approach is that half the day you're meant to step over garbage in a street already packed tight with motion.
In Vietnamese Hanoi means ascending dragon, and our next destination,
Halong Bay, means descending dragon. We booked the 2 day, 1 night tour and had a good time. Unfortunately the weather was overcast so it wasn't as stunning a sight as it could have been. Still the more than 3,000
karst formations were quite beautiful and worth the trip. We had a great time getting to know the people on the boat. A nice retired couple from France who talked to us for a mere ten minutes (them in broken English, us in broken French) before giving us their email addresses and phone number in France, and inviting us to stay! Also Mark and Lorraine from the UK, and Greg from Canada. They taught us a new card game and
we played it until the crew said "OK time for bed!". We opted to sleep on the boat (as opposed to the hotel) and it was COLD! There were no heaters and no extra blankets. Thankfully we decided to bring our sleeping bag at the last minute. We ended up sleeping in our one man sleeping bag like siamese twins. We also wore our toques while we slept! The following day we cruised around the bay a little more before making our way back to Hanoi.
The next day we booked a one day trip to Ninh-Binh - a beautiful area filled with more Karst formations - often called "Halong Bay on land". We could either be rowed for two hours to one sight, or ride bicycles to two sights. We opted for the bicycles, because we got to see two things, and because it was cold and we thought riding the bikes would keep us warm! It was a great time. On our tour we had a really nice Vietnamese family from Australia. Back at the bike drop off, Travis joined a group of local kids playing a game against a wall and he was so terrible at
it that the kids all burst out laughing! You had to try to flick a square piece of thin cardboard (like a piece of cereal box cut into 5 cm square) against the curb to make it fly off in the other direction. The kids could make it go 5 - 10 metres, but Travis couldn't make it bounce off at all, which made the kids explode with laughter!
Returning from Ninh Binh we met up with Lorraine and another backpacker, Igor from Poland, for dinner and drinks. After that we headed to one of the many keg beer street corner bars for a few fresh glasses of beer (called "Bia Hoi"). It's a funny scene because you sit at kindergarten sized, red and blue patio furniture, arranged on the crowded sidewalk and enjoy 20 cent glasses of beer with your friends. We stayed for a few drinks and then had to head back to our hotel to meet Lianne and Laurie - our two good friends from Canada - at the hotel.
It was hilarious when they arrived. We both hid behind the check-in counter when they walked in, bleary eyed and tired from their long plane
Ninh Binh
Biking through "Halong Bay on land". We had a great time. ride. It was about midnight. We popped up from behind the counter with glasses of beer and we were all laughing and hugging. It was so great to see them! The owners of the hotel thought it was hilarious how we startled them! We had a few drinks at the hotel before heading back to the "Family" room - a room with a king sized bed and two singles where we would all sleep. Lianne and Laurie have planned a 3 weeks trip that includes Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. We were in Japan when Lianne and Laurie finalized their plans for this trip, but we were able to rearrange our plans to meet them and we're glad it worked out!
The next day the four of us did a walking tour of Hanoi that included lunch at
KOTO (know one, teach one) which is a restaurant that instructs young Vietnamese street kids in English and Hospitality. The food was inexpensive, fantastic, and the staff of young workers were very friendly. It really is a great idea! We continued our walking tour to the
temple of literature, a few markets, the blacksmith quarter and many other interesting things.
Hoi An
Four girls prepare to float their lanterns in celebration of the full moon ceremony We had a great dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant before catching the
Water Puppet Show which we all enjoyed!
Hoi An
The four of us took the overnight train from Hanoi to Danang. It was pretty comfortable and a smooth ride. We arrived in Danang and grabbed a taxi (about 25 minutes) to Hoi An. All four of us really like Hoi An. It reminded us a little of the charm of Luang Prabang. A big attraction in this city is custom tailoring, there are dozens of shops all offering to custom tailor virtually any clothing you can imagine. Laurie had planned to get a few things made, but as she was picking out her fabrics and getting measured, the rest of us found ourselves doing the same thing! Oops! Next thing we knew Travis was getting fitted for a 3 piece suit and two French cuff shirts! Michelle was getting fitted for a winter coat, a business suit, and a few shirts. We won't report what Lianne and Laurie bought to protect them from the wrath of their husbands! When you compare the quality and price of the items, it really is a good deal, and it's tough to stop
Hoi An
Cyclo riders waiting for the next tourists to bike around the city ordering more. It's a slippery slope!
We ran into Mark, Greg, and Igor on seperate occasions - the town is quite small and pedestrian so you end up seeing a lot of the people you've seen in previous cities. Of course they had some tailoring done as well! The four of us had a few drinks with Igor.
One of the nights we noticed many locals were out walking around the streets and were playing games set up on the side of the road in the old town. We realized it was a full moon festival, that is held every month in Hoi An. One of the main customs of the festival is to float colourful paper lanterns down the river. It was a beautiful sight.
The next day we rented bikes and biked about 6 Km out to Cua Dao Beach. This beach was at the southern part of a string of beaches that make up the area of China Beach. This is where US soldiers in the Vietnam War (known as the American War in Vietnam) went for rest and relaxation. It was a beautiful beach, but a little cold! We enjoyed some messy, but
Hoi An
Good friends, good drinks! fresh, crabs and shrimps before heading back to Hoi An on our bikes. We had some last minute tailoring to sort out and then we were on our way back to Danang to catch our flight to Ho Chi Minh City.
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) is formerly known as Saigon - but still called that by many locals. We arrived at about 11pm and traipsed around Bui Vien looking for a place to stay. After about five full hotels we found a place and went to bed. In the morning we got up early and joined a trip to
Cu Chi Tunnels. It is a complex tunnel system built by the Viet Cong during the war to hide in during combat. It is almost impossible for us to imagine anyone living down here for several years - we spent 5 minutes walking through and by the end we were feeling claustrophobic in the sweltering heat. The tour was very interesting and we learned a lot about the war by speaking to our guide who was a war veteran. Also interesting is the (from what we saw) lack of animosity between Vietnamese people who fought on opposite sides of
Ho Chi Minh City
Acoustic nightclub. This band was excellent, playing covers from the early 90's by bands like Guns N' Roses, Ugly Kid Joe, Mr. Big! It was hilarious, and the crowd loved it. the war, considering the war really wasn't all that long ago.
In the afternoon we visited the War Remnants Museum which was a little gruesome in its recounting of the Vietnam war crimes. However, it was a good reminder of how many innocent people and civillians died in the war and continue to die in senseless wars around the world.
We took a cyclo ride (human-powered bicycle rickshaws) back to our hotel to rest for a little bit before we met up with Laurie's Vietnamese friends from IBM, and some of their friends: Lin, Ai, and Duc from Vietnam, and Peter from the Netherlands. They recommended a great place for dinner (we could tell it was good because all the locals ate there!) and then we met up with them at a bar after dinner. They were so nice and showed us a great time in HCMC.
Mekong Delta
We decided to take a two-day trip to the Cambodian border, travelling through the
Mekong Delta. The first day started with a four-hour bus ride, then 20 minute-boat ride to an island where we saw some rice paper and puffed rice being made. Then another boat ride to
Mekong Delta
Beautiful child plays with the hammock lunch. We continued on the boat after lunch and then we travelled back to land and got back on the bus! We arrived at the border town of Chau Doc at about 7pm. The four of us grabbed a quick and delicious dinner, played some cards and went to bed. The day started at 6:30am so we were pretty tired!
Day two was much more enjoyable. We started out the day on small wooden boats, powered by tiny (but strong!) Vietnamese women (and a few men) - standing rowers. We paddled through the mangroves to see a floating village and stopped onland to visit a local muslim
Cham village and mosque. The scenery was beautiful and we had great weather. We crossed the border with no problems and then we were back on another boat for about 2 hours - this one not so enjoyable, it was very hot and uncomfortable. Finally we made it to land and then 13 of us crammed into a mini van for the final 2 hour drive to Phnom Penh. The good thing about being so close to our travel-mates is we got to know each other pretty well and most of us
Mekong Delta
Crossing the Vietnam-Cambodia border. ended up going out for dinner and drinks that night! We had a lot of laughs with everybody: one guy was from New Zealand, there were four girls travelling together from Ireland and another Irish girl travelling on her own, plus the four of us! We all accidentally had too many Angkor beers!
So, we've arrived in Cambodia and so far we are really enjoying it here. The people are friendly and the cities are interesting. It's extremely hot and humid (but we're not complaining after our week in frigid Hoi An - at least here we don't have to sleep in all of our clothes and a wool hat!).
We have just bid farewell to Lianne and Laurie 😞. They will continue on to Thailand and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. We've had a blast with them and it's been great travelling with them for the past 11 days.
When we get a chance we will send along our Cambodian adventures!
Thanks for reading!
love, Michelle and Travis
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