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Published: September 3rd 2007
Well it’s been a while since our last blog which is down to being too busy traveling, travelblog being down for a while and also having problems with our memory cards. Fortunately the problems have now been solved so we will now try and catch up.
So we’ll start where the last blog finished which was flying to Hanoi.
Altogether we had 3 nights in Hanoi and we actually found it pretty hard work as it’s a very hectic city and we didn’t find the people very helpful. We still had a good time and particularly liked the 2000 dong (6p) a glass beer that you get on the streets. The only catch is that you have to watch out that they don’t pour you a glass from the slops bucket which did almost happen to us!! We didn’t have the best of meals in Hanoi and even though we’ve heard about it we were quite surprised to see Dog on the menu and also things like Snakes head and pigs heart- tasty!!!
We only had one semi-big night in Hanoi because it was cut short by the police coming in the bar with guns telling us all to
go home. The reason for this was because Vietnam had just made the second stage of the Asia cup so all of the Vietnamese were parading the streets on Mopeds flying the flag and hooting their horns! It was very entertaining to watch, a shame that the police had to spoil all the fun.
After Hanoi we went to Ha Long bay. Sonny, Helen (English girl we met in Chiang Mai) and I met an Irish couple inquiring about the tour so we all got together and managed to get a really good price- US$33 for 2 days/3 nights tour which includes accommodation and food etc. Ha Long Bay itself is really beautiful but it was just too touristy. Our boat was one of many. Also at times we did feel like we were being treated like school children, “now you swim”, “now you eat” etc etc. It wasn’t all bad though because there was an alright crowd on the boat and we had one good night, that is before we were told to go to bed!!!
When we traveled down south it did get a lot better. We only spent one night in Hue so we can’t
really comment too much. We then moved onto Hoi An which was by far our favorite place in Vietnam. We only planed to spend 3 nights but ended up having 6 days there because we loved it so much. It reminded us of Luang Prabang but on a larger scale and a bit more of a night life.
We spent the days riding on our hired bikes and swimming in our pool (we splashed out and spent US$10 per night staying in a posh hotel). We also spent a bit of time at the tailors- there’s loads of tailor shops in Hoi An and it’s just so tempting not to go crazy! Sonny got 3 shirts made for him for $5 each and I got a dress which I’ve only worn once but nice to have something feminine in my backpack! On Helen's Birthday we went fishing with a local family for a couple of dollars each. Half way through the trip we decided it was beer O’clock as it was after 12pm and after all it was Helen's Birthday. It also made fishing a lot more enjoyable because none of us caught anything. The family lived in a shack
on the river. They were really nice and friendly, it was nice to see where our money was going rather than give it to a big tour company. All in all it was good day.
The evenings in Hoi An were mainly spent eating lovely and cheap seafood and drinking in our favorite bars called Tam Tams and King Kong's. One evening we had a dry night and did a cookery class for $5 each. Just the three of us did it and were quite suppressed that the class was actually in the middle of a packed restaurant. When we got used to people staring at us we really enjoyed it and had a good laugh- we got to eat everything we made and was gorgeous.
Sadly we had to move on from Hoi An and went to Nha Trang. Nha Trang wasn’t as good as what we’d thought it would be mainly because the beach was packed full of people. The nights life was good though but one night we were nearly victims of a common Vietnam scam. Sonny and I were both on the back a motorbike being taken to a club. The driver of Sonny’s motor
bike stopped and a Vietnamese woman got on the back and put her hand straight down Sonny’s private area in the hope that it would distract him whilst she took his wallet! Thankfully Sonny had already heard about this scam and he kept hold of his wallet and she didn’t get away with anything. She also tried to get me by giving me a big kiss- I looked around and there was another woman right behind me about to get into my bag- very dodgy!
We did a full day sight seeing tour which was really good. The guy at reception told us about it and handed us a leaflet. The next morning we went down and expected a tour bus to pick us which the leaflet had stated but instead the guy at reception was there with his mate and were both on their motorbikes. Once they assured us that everything was the same as the leaflet we popped on the back and they took us on our tour. We really enjoyed it and it was good that we could say how long we wanted to stay in each place. We went to an aquarium, saw a few
big Buddhas, temples and we also went to the mud baths. We had great fun- we had a tub to ourselves and then had a mud massage and went in the not tubs. The only problem was that it would had been nice to finish it off with a swim in a cold pool but the only ones they had were 38 degrees Celsius and the weather that day was around the same temperature. The tour was finished at the markets but didn’t buy anything as we’d already gone crazy in Hoi An.
The next stop was Da Lat. We left Helen behind as she was doing a diving course. The climate in Da Lat was perfect as it’s high in the mountains the sun was still shining but we didn’t have that sometimes unbearable humidity that you got in the rest of Vietnam. We only had 1 full day in Da Lat so we did an easy riders tour which we’ve heard a lot of good things about. Our tour guide was called Rot and was a bit of a character. I was on the back of a motor bike and Sonny had his own. He took us
around some of the sites of Da Lat but we were mostly outside Da Lat showing us the farms and waterfalls.
After Da Lat we went to Mui Ne. First day it rained heavily so we couldn’t do much. So the next day before we caught a bus we again hoped on the bike of a motorbike and we managed to do most of the sites- fishing village, red canyon which was quite impressive but I think will probably be ruined in a few years as people were climbing all over it.
Our last destination in Vietnam was Saigon which we spent 4 nights. It’s a big city but we enjoyed it a lot more than Hanoi. We did a lot of shopping in the markets (more room in our backpacks after sending a box off in Hoi An) and eating, drinking and socailising with people we keep bumping into on our travels. We also met up with Helen so 2 became 3 once more. We did one full day of seeing the sights. The 3 of us went on a tour to Cu Chi Tunnels. It was really fascination to see the tunnels and to imagine how
they survived in such a small space. We went in the tunnels that were built bigger for westerners but even so it was very claustrophobic and a big relieve when the tunnel came to an end. After the tunnels we went to the war museum- it was really interesting but quite depressing after a while.
Our 3 weeks in Vietnam came to an end when we got on a bus to Phnom Penh. We were sad to leave Vietnam as we got quite attached after in the end but it’s always good to move on.
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Betty
non-member comment
Good to catch up with you
Hi, this is Betty, Beryl's friend and workmate. It's so good to hear about your travels again. You seem to be having wonderful experiences. Keep the pictures coming. Look forward to the next blog. Take care x