Good Morning Vietnam

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Good Morning Vietnam!

I’m currently on a 12 hour bus Journey From Hoi An to Nha Trang so what better time to blog about my escapades in Vietnam so far.

From Singapore I flew to Hanoi In Northern Vietnam as I intend to go south and across the border to Cambodia. Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam during rush hour the traffic is horrendous. I spent a few days in Hanoi ‘acclimatising taking full advantage of the 25,000 Dong beers- the Equivalent of 80p which is a stark contrast to my drink a few days earlier in Singapore. I did manage to see some sites as the hostel I stopped at organised a free walking tour. The tour was led by a local Vietnamese girl who was studying English. It was her first time running a tour and she was extremely nervous, her little voice couldn’t up compete with the traffic. We visited the main lake and St Josephs Cathedral aswell as the markets and Ho Chi Mins Memorial ( more on that later)

Hanoi has some amazing food which I was well acquainted with due to my inspections in Sydney which has a large Vietnamese population. The main street food is pho (prounounced fur), a soup dish with noodles, beef and vegetables and also Ban Me, a crusty bread roll with pate, pork salad and coriander. Vietnam was occupied by the French for a number of years so there is some French influence in their cuisine.

Next on the list was Ha Long Bay, a 6 hour bus-boat-bus- boat combination took us to our own private island. I booked this trip through the hostel and knowing that the tour was going to be full of 18-25 year olds I should have known the en-slaught that was to await me. Ha long bay itself is a series of around 250 islands that are listed as a UNESCO heritage site and is absolutely stunning. There I did some rock climbing, kayaking and also consumed vast quantities of Bababa .( 333) The party atmosphere on the island was a bit much for me and I was glad to leave ad spent some alone and sober time. Jeese I must be getting old.

After the crazy castaways tour, the next stop Sapa, a village high in the mountains of Vietnam. For some strange reason I decided it would be wise to catch a night bus directly after 6 hours of train bus from halong bay. Tired and confused we made our way to our hostel to sleep for a few hours. Later on that day we had a walk around Cat Cat village and went on a small walk to look at a some waterfalls. Sa Pa is very cold but very hilly the view from my room was pretty impressive.

Jaan, a german that I’m now travelling with decided it was we attempt to go up Mt Fansipan- Indochinas highest mountain. The weather was foul and when we were getting up to the top I couldn’t see more than 6 feet away , but through 11 hours of solid waking through mud, climbing up cliffs ( and falling off them and getting bruises) we finally completed it, and got a medal and certificate to show for it. It was really funny, I slipped off a step and tore a new hole in my shorts, and after few more slips it ended up being more like a skirt. The locals who passed me on the mountain, some wearing flip flops going 20 times as fast as I thought it was hilarious to see my shorts flapping away.

A much needed shower was taken and I was in bed for 9pm that evening, completely exhausted. The next day we caught the bus back to Hanoi, stopped another evening in Hanoi and then a night train down to hue. The night train is so much more comfortable then the night bus, the motion of the train lulls you to sleep.

In Hue we checked out the pagoda and went on a long drive to the DMZ ( DE-militirised zone.) We must have driven around 100k to look at quite mundian things. This is a bridge, this is a plane. We then rented out motoribikes and rode along the famous hi Van Pass which featured recently in top gear. Unfortuantley our group was plagues by two punctures and a breakdown. My engine cut out along a really busy stretch of road as i was going downhill. Luckily Jaan gave me a push to the nearest garage about 1.5k away.

In Hoi An i got a tailored suit for 70 pounds and rented out a pushbike and took it easy on the beach, exploring the french colonial buildings.

More Vietnamese escapades to follow…. Apologies for the lack of pictures, my phone was stolen from my room in Phu Quoc.

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