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Published: October 4th 2009
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Chaos (HCMC)
A junction in HCMC, took a while to cross this one! Vietnam Calling!! So excited to be in another new country, after speeding through Thailand and Cambodia in only 8 days we were Vietnam bound! To get from Sihanoukville to Ho Chi Minh City we had to pass back through Phnom Penh, the total journey time was 12 hours but it went quite quickly. I thought I would hate the long journeys but I actually find myself enjoying watching the world go by outside my window. So many times I wanted to stop and get a great photo or talk to the kids playing on the roadside, maybe next time I'll go by bike 😊
Ho Chi Minh City Finally we reached HCMC just after dark when the town was starting to light up. We stayed in a really sweet guesthouse owned by an old Vietnamese lady right in the center of the city, she was was so welcoming and we felt comfortable straight away. A night time stroll led us to some
amazing art galleries, the pieces were recreated by local artists but still so, so beautiful, I wanted to buy so many but my budget and my backpack wouldn't allow me 😞 We spent only one day
Art (HCMC)
Amazing painting collection (studio and gallery) in the city, walking, walking, more walking and eating some tasty frozen yogurt. We also learned that in Vietnam, no one will stop to let you cross the road, you have to just walk and drivers move around you, pretty scary stuff! HCMC was lively, lots of travelers everywhere, the perfect place to meet new people but we didn't have time to stick around...next stop...
Dalat Sinh Cafe delivered us safely, although 3 hours late to the mountain town of DaLat. A friend in Siem Reap advised us to use Sinh Cafe to book our travels through Vietnam, the company helps a lot by providing tours and transportation through the most popular towns in Vietnam. The road from HCMC to Dalat was not for the faint hearted, I had to close my eyes on more than one occassion! Seriously felt like we would fall off the side of the mountain as we passed other huge buses on the tiny, winding roads. DaLat was chilly in comparison to everywhere we had been so far, glad I brought some layers with me...we weren't feeling so great so headed to bed early for some beauty sleep. I went on my first
Us in DaLat
Pretty landscape in the mountains. motorbike ride on our first day, still can't believe I agreed to go but I'm happy I did! We headed with our bike riders to the local food market and then to the cable cars, something about hanging so high in the sky and the aerial views makes me smile 😊 The views from the top were breathtaking, such a contrast to the city, a nice breath of fresh air. We saw some young monks by the temple all lined up and ready to go to school, I wonder if they are used to being so popular with tourists?
Nha Trang How lucky to be visiting Nha Trang whilst the Sea Festival was on!? We thought we might not find a place to stay because of the festivities but we lucked out and bargained for a really nice room at the Perfume Grass Inn. We didn't waste any time getting to the beach where we sipped on our fresh coconuts and watched the boats go by with their colourful flags and streamers. Nha Trang wasn't as nice as we were told, the beach was quite dirty and there were loads of the usual people trying to sell fruit
and souvenirs, we werent really about to relax so we left and headed back to the hotel. The Veranda restaurant located near the beach made us happy that night, if it was in the west it would have been expensive but we both ate for $12. Day 2 and we're at Sinh Cafe again, we booked a boat tour with them for about $15 including lunch, snorkeling and a floating bar! I love being on a boat so this day was perfect for me even though I got a hideous sunburn :P We met a really friendly Belgian couple who we stuck with for the entire day because they were the only other non-Vietnamese people on the boat! All in all it was fun, relaxing day. Time for the sleeper bus to Hoi An, I think its going to be a looooong night 😞
Hoi An Ok so the night bus wasn't
too bad, for me anyway because I got the window seat! If you are taking a sleeper bus we would suggest not sitting in the middle at the back as their is nothing dividing you between the other sleepers and you might find yourself sleeping on
Paradise
On route to Hoi An a stranger! So anyways, Hoi An...a tiny little lady approached as and told us of this amazing, beautiful hotel that we needed to stay in, she was so adamant that we go with her and it was only '5 minutes away' so we followed. 5, 10, 15, 20...so she lied! We fiiiinally got there ages later, extremely tired after walking with all our stuff. The hotel was nice, but at the same time creepy, we were put in the basement that was so so dark that you couldn't see the end of the hallway. There was a pool though, and a gym (everything was broken) so we were satisfied. A venture into the town made us realize Hoi An was a dangerous place for 2 girls to be...there were loads and loads of shops!!!! Its a town where everyone seems to be a tailor, we ended up treating ourselves to 2 pairs of tailor-made sandals at $7 each and tailor-made evening gowns for $25. As far as food goes, there's a food market with stalls selling dishes at a reasonable price for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I really liked Hoi An, the streets were quaint and pretty and the old
Hoi An Boats
Tourist boats on the river, view from our cute cafe. dirt roads were quite. Would definitely go back 😊
Hue We had to drive through Danang to get to the small town of Hue, where we would sleep for one night before the long journey to Hanoi. There isn't a lot to do in Hue unless you want to visit the historical sites, some of which have earned a place in the UNESCO's World Heritage Sites. We took a trip on a giant bike thingy..I don't know what to call it, to the Citadal and the Perfume River. Inside the citadel (back in the day) was forbidden to anyone other than emperors and consubines and people close enough to be given permission. We didn't go inside because there was an entry fee and we needed to save our pennies 😊 The day in Hue was over and we were ready for another night on the sleeper bus, 14 hours to Hanoi!
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