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This is briefly my itinerary:-
Day 1 - Arrival in HCMC (Kuching-KL-HCMC)
Day 2 - Cao Dai Temple & Cu Chi Tunnel
Day 3 - HCMC city tour
Day 4 - HCMC to Hanoi (by plane)
Day 5 - Halong Bay Day Trip
Day 6 - Hanoi City Tour
Day 7 - Going home (Hanoi-KL-Kuching)
I just covered the basic things, but i haven't seen Perfume Pagoda, Sapa, Hue & Hoi An.....! May need additional 1 week to go all these places.
Food is great, nice & simple, similar to Chinese food. Love the Pho Bo (beef noodle soup). Vietnamese spring roll isn't as good as i thought (probably it is just the restaurant that i dined in, the dipping sauce is terrible!). Prefer the fried version.
Traffic is horrible there. It's very challenging to cross the road, but i found an easy way by following close to the local. Or you just simply walk slowly (when there is no big cars). The bicycle/cyclo/motorbike will avoid you and will find their way round you. The motorists are all very impatient. Road courtesy doesn't exist at all. Motorbikes are everywhere!
Vietnamese people are ok. Speak a bit
of English, some know Mandarin. But as they thought all tourists are very rich, they try sell all kinds of things to you, at higher prices. Just be careful when buying things through your hotel - be it tours or souvenirs. Their prices are usually very much higher. Better if can make comparisons with a few shops.
The buildings are all very narrow. It's just about 3-4m width! There are many extension works going around to the existing old building. I was wonder whether they do any structural checks or not.
Stayed in Pham Ngu Lao area in HCMC, a backpacker area. Cheap hotels, cheap food, etc. Most tour agents & souvenir shops can be found here. Dong Khoi is much 'posh' area with international hotels & retail shops, and also exquisite restaurants. It just about 20min walk from Pham Ngu Lao.
Old quarter in Hanoi is a very interesting place. We spent the nights there. Old shops (many still doing their businesss/daily lives same as many years ago here), narrow streets and alleys, lots & lots & lots of cars/motorbikes/bicycle/cyclo, and tourists. I was totally lost when i first arrived there (and it was raining). There
are so many cross roads. Luckily there are enough road signs for us to find our way round.
We took a plane from HCMC to Hanoi. It's 2-hour flight, and it was delayed for 2 hours! They told us the pilot had flown for too many hours (i think there's a limit of flying hour a day for a pilot) and they need time to find another pilot. Uh!
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