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Sat 20
th August – Wednesday 31
st August
Vietnam was the last leg of our journey before hanging up our boots and taking on our next adventure of life in Oz. Keen to get cracking, we wasted no time in booking ourselves seats on the very first departure out of Pnomh Penh the morning after arriving back from our tropical paradise. The bus took us over the border without fuss (our pre-arranged visas worked a treat!), and into the big, busy, noisy, steaming concrete jungle which is Ho Chi Minh City.
Our first impressions didn't improve as within seconds of stepping off the bus, we were mobbed by hawkers offering us ‘tourist advice’ and 'very special accommodation for you Mr and Mrs'. We had batted off many a hawker on the Asian leg of our travels so far but these guys were experts and getting rid of them was like trying to swat a cockroach - no matter how many times you landed a blow, they got back off the ropes and came at you again.....
The heat and humidity were sapping and after going 12 rounds with the hawkers on the 200m walk to our hostel, we were
Nha Trang, Vietnam
Palm fringed beach....awesome!zonked. However, a timely monsoon style downpour gave us the perfect excuse to recharge with a power nap before attempting to see the best of what HCMC had to offer. I'm not sure we ever found it! Perhaps coming here immediately after a few days of pure relaxation on the remote paradise of Koh Rong Saloem, meant that we failed to see through the city's brash facade, as we previously have in other cities along our path. So we decided to cut our losses and pursue more good times on the coast, booking ourselves on the overnight sleeper train to Nha Trang.
Our luck was in and we somehow managed to land ourselves a private cabin (we still don't know how) and a comfortable night's sleep. We arrived just after 6am as the sun was rising but with our booked accommodation still fully shut up for the night, we weren’t able to check into our room straight away. I like to think that everything happens for a reason and as we sat on the beach watching some locals doing tai chi in the sand with the sun rising behind them, I think we both knew what the reason was
Nha Trang, Vietnam
Will this one do? Catching lunch at the floating fish markets this time. Heading for the coast had been the right call, and that holiday feeling had returned.
The beach was long and dotted with palm trees and up market cafes (relative to most places in Vietnam) but despite being a hot spot for tourists, it also had a really nice feel to it. For us, it was a great place for more beach time and relaxation and we took full advantage, taking to the waves on a jetski, hurtling over them with speed and screams of joy! Great fun! The day was topped of with a lovely Vietnamese meal, where we discovered just how surprisingly cheap this place is.
The next day we set off on a '4 islands boat tour' along with about 15 Koreans, 10 Chinese, 20 Vietnamese and two non-English speaking Germans. Our record of landing top quality tour groups continued! We did some snorkelling in the clear waters, visited a local aquarium (so we could actually see the fish we were supposed to have seen whilst snorkelling!) and stopped off at a floating seafood market/restaurant - a very unique and culturally different experience.
Held out in the middle of the water on floating
barrels, was a grid of planks holding together deep nets full of different types of fish, crabs and squid kept alive and ready for sale. We watched on while a lady, clearly of wealth amongst the tourists on our tour, pointed towards the fish she was interested in and a boy with goggles on dived in and caught each one she wanted. After returning the fifth different fish to the net, it's fair to say the little lad was getting a bit breathless, and not to mentioned pissed off!
After finally finding a fish that was up to standard, the restaurant kicked into gear - one blow of the 'priest' rendered the fish down and out, the head was then publicly lopped off and scales were sprayed everywhere in a flurry before four different steaming hot fish dishes were served to the lady and her family for them to tuck into on the floating deck. All that was left was for the spectators amongst us to return to our boat for a full spread of local cuisine - delicious.
As we cruised back to the mainland, the worrying sound of a microphone crackling came through the speakers and
everyone except us two started clapping....it was karaoke time! Following a heroes welcome as we arrived on stage after our purposely slow walk from the back of the boat to milk the applause, we got well and truly stuck into a rendition of Waltzing Matilda, cheered on by the exciteable crowd. We even threw in a few knees ups and some special dance moves for our fans - they loved it! Oh well, if things don't work out in Oz, we know we've got careers as musicians ready and waiting in Nha Trang.
We soon decided that being mobbed everywhere we went by adoring fans was just too much to take, so we hopped on another overnight train to take us further up the coast to Hoi An. Unfortunately no private cabin awaited us this time, just the top two beds of triple bunks above four members of a noisy Vietnamese family. The combined effects of the whole family gathering for breakfast in our cabin at 4.30am, trying to sit up in bed and hitting your head on the ceiling numerous times and a 3 hour delay certainly made for a memorable journey.
On arrival, we soon forgot
Hoi An, Vietnam
Budgies challenge... DONE! about the train ride as Hoi An was an immediate love. Nestled on the banks of the Thu Bon river, this old market town is full of character with old bridges linking the old from the new, cobblestone streets leading down narrow alleys and dusty streets full of local traders specialising in textiles, arts and crafts. The food's pretty special too - it's a real gem. Hoi An instantly felt like a place you could stop in for days and just enjoy being there, quite like Luang Prabang in Laos, so we did just that.
In between fittings for a few summer suits and dresses at one of the local tailors, we swam in the hotel pool, browsed the thousands of market stalls, wandered the lantern lit streets at night and enjoyed the yummy local food. We even found time for Chris to take on the final Marky Mark challenge.....a day at a tropical beach in budgie smugglers! It's fair to say the locals loved this just as much as our karaoke (another career idea?)!
Before waving goodbye to the timeless Hoi An, we took a day trip to My Son, a set of historical ruins from the
Hoi An, Vietnam
My Son ruins.... Cham Empire who ruled central Vietnam between c200 - c1700AD. The ruins themselves were interesting (albeit a little underwhelming having visited the temples of Angkor) but there was a really spectacular dancing show and the ride back down the river for lunch and a stop at a wood carving store with some friendly travellers made for a nice day out.
We were now down to the last few days of our six month adventure and as we stepped off our flight from Hoi An to Hanoi, we knew that the next plane we would get on would be headed Down Under!
Whilst checking out Hanoi was high on our list of priorities, there was really only one reason we had ventured this far north in Vietnam - the magical Halong Bay. We had booked our trip in advance, so set about the day wandering the action packed streets of Hanoi, trying to avoid being run over by one of thousands of scooters that fly through the streets at high speed! Hanoi really felt like the Vietnam we had imagined - locals wearing the traditional conical hats wandering the streets selling baskets of fruit and vegetables, people eating on
Hanoi, Vietnam
Traditional water puppet theatre band pavement cafes, the air filled with the smell of pho (noodle soup) and scooters everywhere. In fact, there are so many scooters parked on the pavements, that you have to walk on the road....amongst the scooters! Carnage. After a nice leidurely stroll around the central lake and a final trip to some markets that day, we headed to a traditional water puppet show in the evening. Unfortunately, as you'd expect being in Vietnam, the show is in Vietnamese, so for us it was effectively a funny hour spent watching puppets dance around in the water to some groovy Vietnamese tunes!
On to the UNESCO World listed heritage site of Halong Bay with its thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various shapes and sizes. What an amazing place, seriously breath taking! We boarded our junk (an ancient Chinese sailing boat) along with four other people (two French, a German and a very stereotypically brash American - we'd given up hoping for good tour group!) and set off on our three day cruise of the bay.
The days spent in Halong Bay were a nice mixture of activity and relaxation. In between visits to the impressive Sung Sot caves,
Halong Bay, Vietnam
View from the top of Ti Top Island climbing to the peak of Ti Top Island for 360 degree views, kayaking between floating houses, wandering the coastline of Cat Ba Island and going on a bike ride on one of the islands, were periods of just relaxing with a book in the sunshine on the top deck of our junk as it cruised along. The views are endless in Halong Bay and the total silence that descends with darkness is tangible, it's an unbelievably calm and tranquil place - one of the highlights of our entire trip and arguably the perfect way to bring our travels to a close.....
It's been one hell of an adventure!
C and K xx
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