VIETNAM

29th of Nov - 12th Dec 2010

Hanoi


We left Luang Prabang on the 29th of November, a bit scepticle about flying with Laos Airlines but it ended up being a pleasant flight, we even got a free meal and it was only an hour flight! When we got off the plane in Hanoi we immediatley noticed the different in temperature, it was only about 20 degrees and we both felt cold! It took us ages to get through passport control, we were greeted by a man from our guesthouse when we got through customs and he gave us a lift to our guesthouse. It took us about 45 minutes to get to our guesthouse, the traffic is like nothing you have seen before! There seems to be hardly any traffic lights anywhere in the city and drivers just seem to beep every 5 seconds! Apparantley there are just as many motorbikes as people in Hanoi, its chaos! We arrived at "Hanoi Guesthouse" and were welcomed by the happiest woman in Hanoi! She sat us down and gave us some water and bananas! She had upgraded us to the family room, which had a balcony, a double and single bed and a tv, we were made up! Morgan wasn't feeling very well so we just went to get some tea and then came back!

     Our room

ummm!

Halong Bay

The next day I wasn't feeling too good so we just stayed in our room and watched 8 Mile, Bear Grylls, and 90210! The following day we had booked a trip to Halong Bay! We got picked up from our guesthouse at 8am, it took 4 hours to get to the coast. We sat next to a typical American - Ray from Arizona, who later told us how he was going to marry his Vietnamese girlfriend who didn't seem that interested in him and didn't speak the whole time we were on the trip. Our tour guide was called "Lucky" he had a funny accent - part Vietnamese, part American and part Austrailian! When we got to our boat he said we had been upgraded to a better boat, another bonus there! We had also managed to fluke the family room again, so ours was bigger then everyone elses! We had lunch then set off to the dragon cave, which was amazing inside! The views from the top of the cave were also amazing!

Halong Bay

View from one of the caves

After the tour of the cave we went kayaking around Halong Bay which was cool! Old women in little row boats came up to us and tried to sell us things! After that we went back to the boat, we had an amazing 7 course dinner! The next day we sailed for another 3 hours around Halong Bay, Lucky was telling us what rocks meant what as some of them have meanings.

On deck

Hue

We arrived back at our guesthouse at 4.30pm and then got an overnight bus to Hue at 6pm. The bus was surprisingly quite nice, it was clean and the seats reclined. After 14 hours on the bus we finally arrived in Hue, we got off the bus and this man walked us to his guesthouse which was also very nice so we decided to stay for a night. We had a shower then went for some breakfast at "Cafe on thu wheels", we booked a motor bike tour through them for that day. We left for the motorbike tour at 11am, we went around Citadel, the war musuems and some other temples and religious places. We got to see how the monks pray and got to see war bunkers from the war in 1975. We really enjoyed going on the motorbikes around the city as you get a feel for what its really like to drive on the chaotic roads!

 Morgan loving it!

If only he was Justin Bobby!

Bunkers from the 1975 war were located here

Hoi An

The following morning we had booked a bus to Hoi An. We left at 8.30am and got there about 1pm. We checked into "An Phu Hotel", it had a swimming pool but we didn't get to use it because it rained most of the time we were there! We went for a walk around the town, every other shop seemed to be a tailors! I ended up buying a lot of clothes from Hoi An because when it rained the only thing to do was to eat or shop! Morgan got a pair of tailored shorts and trousers and i got 2 tailored dresses and 2 pair of hareem trousers. It took them less then 24 hours to make all 4 items! Morgan had to stop me from buying more because its so cheap and they can make you anything, all you need to show them is a picture! Definately a place to come back to!

Hoi An

Nha Trang

After getting the overnight bus we arrived in Nha Trang about 7am. We checked into "Thang Bom" guesthouse. I didn't get much sleep on the bus because the driver kept beeping his horne and then they woke me up at 1am because the air-con stopped working and the vent was above my bed! It was probably the worst journey for me! We went back to bed when we checked into the hostel for a few hours then wondered around the town in the afternoon. This place had so many nice bars and restaurants, it was probably my favourite place to eat in Vietnam because every meal we ate was amazing!

                                                      Pool                                                   

  

The next day we went on a boat trip to visit a few islands around Nha Trang. We visited an aquarium and then we got to jump off the boat into the sea for free "cocktails". We had the option to go snorkelling but the equimpment wasn't the best and looked dirty so we didn't really want to put our mouths round the snorkel! The entertainment on the boat was comical, according to the people who worked on the boat the band were the best boy band in Vietnam. They were called "Funky Monkey Boyband". They were actually quite good! One of the tour guides dressed up as a lady boy and pulled out some funny dance moves. We have no pictures of the day because Morgan left the cameras in our room and i nearly had a mini heart attack because I thought we had left them somewhere else!

The next day it was really hot so we went to the beach and then sat round a pool which was just next to the beach. It only cost us a £1 to rent out the sunbeds, the pool/bar/restaurant was really posh and the sunbeds were so comfy. We ordered chicken dippers and chips when happy hour was on because it was the cheapest thing on the menu and they were the best chicken dippers and chips i have ever had!

Ho Chi Minh City

After a uncomfortable 11 hour bus ride we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City. It is very similar to Hanoi, traffic everywhere and lots of people everywhere. I liked Ho Chi Minh City better though, it's got a better vibe and it is more prettier then Hanoi. The backpacker district is also a lot better as there are nicer places to eat and better bars.

The following day we booked a tour to the Cu Chi Tunnels. Our tour guide was a war veteran who was an officer for the American side. He told us some interesting things about the war and about his family. When we were on the tour we got see the tunnel network, the traps the Vietnamese set, concealed look outs in the ground and some of the armour they stole from the Americans. We got to walk through a section of one of the tunnels, I had to leave at the first exit because it was very claustrophobic. Im normally ok with small spaces but I panicked and wanted to get out as soon as possible. We tried tapioca, which is one of the things they survived on during the war. At the end of the tour we our tour guide told us that our coach had a flat tyre so we had to wait around for an hour while they got it fixed, I ended up falling asleep in a hammock so it wasn't that bad of a wait!

 Look out tunnel - Morgs could just about fit in

                                                                                 Trap

Next stop Cambodia!