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Published: October 16th 2017
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Reflecting back on the highs of our two weeks in Vietnam, the first thing that comes to mind is the friendliness and good nature of the people. At every turn we were approached by friendly locals looking to practice their English with us. Our first encounter was with a little girl of 5 who approached our table in a cafe in Danang (encouraged by her parents). We were stopped on numerous occasions in the streets by students doing their homework which involved them inviting a tourist to chat with them for a few minutes while they recorded it for their teacher. Interestingly, it wasn't just the youth learning English. In a post office in Hoi An, we happened upon an elderly lady practicing the English alphabet whilst her daughter, who was running the post office, helped her with pronunciation. Before long we were being roped in to help and having explained how we learned the alphabet in school we left to the sound of the "ABCD..." song being played on YouTube by the elderly lady.
On arrival in Vietnam, we were a little alarmed by the wet and windy weather and started wondering to ourselves if we had miscalculated their
rainy season. It was only after the locals pointed out that there was s typhoon passing through (typhoon Doksuri) that we realized that we live in our own little travel bubble. Luckily we only caught the tail end of it!
The central city of Da Nang was our first port of call primarily due to the fact that Donal badly needed to visit a reputable dentist! The dental services in Laos didn't appeal so a few Nurofen Plus tablets were taken to buy some time until we got over the border. Unfortunately, and fortunately, the recommendation of the dentist was Root Canal Treatment. Unfortunately - because it required a total of 5 dentist appointments but luckily we were able to work around the appointments quite easily. Fortunately - because dental work in Vietnam is half the price and the same quality as western countries. So much so, that many people fly in specially from Singapore and Australia for their dental work! Only Donal would be this jammy.
In between dental appointments, we travelled south to the UNESCO town of Hoi An, famed for its Ancient City and its hundreds of tailor shops (unfortunately shopping wasn't an option for
Banh Mi sandwiches
Forever in our hearts us due to our already bursting-at-the-seams backpacks). The town of Hoi An is picture perfect with its French, Japanese and Chinese inspired architecture and its yellow colour scheme covering every house in the city centre.
Whilst in Hoi An, we enjoyed a cycling tour of a local village which gave us some insight into local life. The cycling tours are ran by local university students looking to improve their English and support local communities. The tour started with a short ride on a local taxi boat across the The Bon River to the Kim Bong Village. We got to observe some local craftsmen skillfully building wooden boats and spent some time making (and eating) rice paper noodles with a family in their small local business. We also met two ladies who were weaving bamboo mats at serious speed. They invited us to give it a try and all was going well until poor Donal accidentally stood on the in progress mat and damaged it slightly!
Located only 4km from Hoi An is the vast An Bang Beach which we regularly visited by bicycle. With the crazy driving in Vietnam, this was one place Donal wasn't volunteering to rent
a scooter!
One of the other main highlights of Vietnam for us was the food. In light of its culinary reputation Mau decided to relax her strict vegetarian stance. We tried some of the local delicacies which included Banh Mi sandwiches (arguably the most amazing sandwiches we have ever eaten), Pho, Cao Lao, Bun cha and coconut cappucinos to name but a few.
From Hoi An we travelled north by overnight bus to the capital city of Hanoi, hopefully our last long distance bus journey for a while, where Donal's dental appointments continued. We visited the Hao Lo Prison which was built by French colonists to torture and oppress Vietnamese revolutionaries before later being used to hold US soldiers captured during the Vietnam War 1963 - 1974. Unfortunately the current day museum there appeared more like a propaganda establishment - highlighting at every opportunity the cruelty of the French in contrast to the favourable conditions afforded by Vietnam to it's US captured. Nevertheless, the building is well preserved and you do get a feel for what life inside the walls must have been like.
The jewel in Vietnam's crown has to be the UNESCO World Heritage Site and
one of the World's 7 Natural Wonders - Halong Bay. Home to about 2000 limestone islets, legend has it that they were formed from dragons who helped defend the Vietnamese from foreign invaders! We signed up for a 2 Day 1 Night tour on Bai Tu Long Bay, a more isolated area of Halong Bay. Unfortunately, after completing the 4 hour bus journey from Hanoi, we were informed that a storm was entering the bay and therefore no ship was allowed to dock in the bay for the night. Our options were to postpone our two day trip or to do a single day trip. With no guarantee that the weather would improve we decided to go with the latter.
We had an amazing day cruising around the islets and soaking up the natural beauty of the bay. The highlight of the day was kayaking around the massive limestone islets and a floating village. We were blessed with a breathtaking sunset as we cruised back to the harbour that evening. Given the glorious weather for our trip, we found it hard to imagine the imminent storm that was forecast for that night. But as it turns out, it arrived
as promised and we were delighted with our decision to opt for the day tour.
If we were to describe Hanoi in one word it would be 'chaotic'. The pace of life is just crazy with motorbikes flying by in every direction. It took us a week but we finally understand the rules of the road over here. A green light means a motorbike can go. But so too do red and amber ones!!
We had an amazing couple of weeks in Vietnam and were completely blown away by its people, food, natural wonders and dental services. Possibly our favourite country yet and definitely our favourite country in South East Asia thus far. It's going to be hard to beat but who knows what Indonesia has in store for us.
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