Vietnam experience

Vietnam has been amazing. Although we were disappointed we didn't get to do the Halong Bay trip due to the weather we still made the most of our 12 days exploring the country. Flying into the capital, getting bikes down to the south, cooking traditional dishes, learning about the war and ending with drinks at a rooftop bar in Ho Chi Minh, I think I have fallen in love with this place. The people have all been friendly and I would definitely love to come back. (Although the roads are pretty mental at times! 🙈)

 

 

 

 

 

From Hoi An to Ho Chi Minh

After an amazing couple of days in Hoi An it was time to leave and head to the city of Saigon/ Ho Chi Minh. We took the hour long plane ride on Wednesday and headed to our hostel. After checking in we went out to explore the streets of Ho Chi Minh and have a few drinks with a friend we met in Thailand. 

Thursday we got up early as we wanted to walk to the war museum which took half an hour and the museum closes at 12pm to 1:30pm everyday. The museum itself was very informative, especially as we felt we hardly knew anything about the Vietnam war with the French/Americans. 

 

 

 

We also found the street food market so we popped in for lunch which was really good! 

In the evening we went to Chill Skybar to see the city at night. The views were amazing (pictures don't do it justice). Cocktails were yummy so we had a couple before heading back to the street we were on last night to have a dance and few more (cheaper) drinks. 

 

 

 

 

Hoi An Eco Coconut tour

On Sunday we decided to book ourselves onto a cooking course that was recommended to me by friends from work. We first went to the central market in Hoi An to look at the local fresh produce and pick up some ingredients for cooking with later. Then we headed out onto the river to see how the locals fish and try it out ourselves. We got into coconut boats to then head over to the restaurant for our cooking experience. We made 4 dishes- spring rolls, papaya salad, Banh Xeo (rice pancake with fresh salad) and Pork in clay pot with steamed rice. The flavours were incredible and the ingredients we used was so fresh. The food was amazing! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top Gear adventure

On Saturday we got up early in Hue to meet our motorbike drivers for the day and start our Top Gear adventure from Hue to Hoi An. We left Hue just after 9am and drove for about an hour and a half before stopping at a little house on the side of the road. After a quick 10 minute break we got back on the bikes driving past Phu Vang fishing village and Tam Giang Lagoon and headed for a waterfall to cool down in the fresh water. After this we made our way up the legendary Hoi Van pass seeing the beautiful views of Lang Co and we stopped at the top for an ice cream and to explore the old lookout turrets used by the French and American soldiers during the war. Then we started making our descent down the mountain heading for Da Nang. On the way down we stopped for some lunch at a local restaurant on the side of the road again. The views were incredible overlooking Da Nang and the sea. After this we made our way through Da Nang having a quick stop at the beach and carrying on through to Hoi An. It was an incredible day and experience. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hoi An Eco Coconut tour

Today we decided to book ourselves onto a cooking course that was recommended to me by friends from work. 

Last day in Hanoi

Today we had a lie in and didn't leave our hotel until 12pm (we can be lazy we are on holiday right?!). So we grabbed some lunch (skipped breakfast) and then headed to one of the hostels here in Hanoi to book our Top Gear motorcycle tour. We are doing this on Saturday and cannot wait! You get a driver for the day and explore little villages on the way from Hue to Hoi An for $40. After this we headed back down to the small lake close to where we are staying and sat in the sun for a bit (about 5 minutes until the heat became unbearable) and made our way back to the hotel to relax and pack our bags. We had dinner booked at a restaurant called Pizza 4ps. It was incredible! Here are some pictures of the yummy food. 

Tomorrow we have a flight booked to Hue where our adventure continues. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 2 exploring

Day 2 of exploring and we decided to walk just under half an hour to the west lake in Hanoi. I won't lie after we navigated our way there we were all pretty unimpressed. The lake itself was quite green and murky and had hundreds of dead fish in. We wanted to rent bicycles and cycle round it but couldn't find any shops that to rent bicycles from. We still thought it would be good exercise so we walked around the smaller one of two (the other lake was massive).

We grabbed dinner at a local small restaurant near to where we are staying which was yummy and then headed out to one of the party hostels in Hanoi to have a boogie as it was ladies night (would be rude not to right. Slightly sore heads this morning... oops).

 

 

 

Hanoi adventures

We had a trip booked for 2 nights/3 days to Halong Bay (which is the must do trip when you are in Hanoi) but unfortunately it had to be cancelled due to bad weather which was really disappointing but ones of those things you can't control. Because we had the trip planned we had already booked our flight from Hanoi to Hue for this Friday so we have to stay here until then. 

So on Tuesday we went exploring around our local area and found this cute little lake which we walked around and managed to find the theatre for the water puppet shows so booked tickets for 8pm that evening. The puppet show was good, I wish I could of understood and followed the stories a bit better though. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Travel travel travel

We left Pai on Friday and made the 3 hour journey back to Chiang Mai for one night. Then on Saturday we had our overnight train back to Bangkok which took 14 hours, arriving at 6:30am Sunday morning. We had one night booked at a hotel near the airport so it was it was easy for us to get back there for our flight to Hanoi, Vietnam the next day. 

When we arrived at the airport it was like deja zu as we were told by the check in lady that we needed to show her proof we were leaving Vietnam within 14 days as she wouldn't let us check in until we could prove this. So another mad dash to an Internet cafe and we managed to book a bus journey from Ho Chi Minh to Phnom Penh, Cambodia (which we were planning to do anyway) and we finally checked in. We were reading the night before about whether we needed to book anything and everyone said something different so we thought we would chance it and learnt from our mistake. Next time make sure we can prove we are leaving the country! 

The flight only took 1 hour 40 minutes and we had arrived. Driving from the airport to our hotel was an experience to say the least. The roads out here are mental. Like no joke scary. There are so many mopeds around and cars it's hard to know who has priorty as everyone just seems to go for it.

And we thought the car journey was bad. Once we checked in to our hotel we thought we would explore the area and it's pretty mental trying to walk the streets too. Mopeds seem to come from left, right and centre here. Anyway, first night we went for some dinner and then had a few drinks in some bars before making our way to a backpack hostel where everyone seems to go.