Sam's Vietnam highlights

Two months into our travels and i am still loving rice, my backpack seems to be getting heavier and I have my first ever tan line. 

We have now visited all of our planned destinations in Vietnam and my favourite place is Hanoi. This is because its so cultured and has such a buzzing vibe. Closely behind is Nah Trang because the beach is the best we have seen so far and this place was really fun. Ho Chi Minh city is also a favourite as there is a lot of cool stuff to do here. 

Hue is an interesting place, somewhere i would reccomend to visit on holiday but not to stay for long. I found a stall here where the owner was selling medals found in the jungle from the war. I felt very educated as he told me all about the Vietnam war. 

Hoi An is a really pretty french town but there wasnt much to do here. The tradition here is tailor made clothes and suits so i got a maxi dress made for me. I chose the style and colour of my fabric then the woman measured me. The dress cost me 580,000 dong which is a about £13. 

Mui Ne was really relaxing and our hostel was such good value. I would say it was here where we stayed in one of our best hostels. It was right on the beach and we had a balcony. The tour we did in a jeep to the fairy stream and sand dunes was also really fun and a good day out.

My highlights of Vietnam so far are:

- jet skiing in Nah trang. 

Me and Cj, each have a £200 kitty to organise activities for each other with over the next 9 months. Its a little competition for us to see who can be the most creative with our surprises. Plus it gets us doing lots of new things. This was my first activity for Cj. 

- hanoi night life

Its the only destination where there are been a proper club and we met loads of cool people here.

- moped ride in Hoi An

Every one leaves the sunflower hotel at 1:30am to go to the club (thats really just a bar) and we get on the back of the local mopeds to get there. This was so fun and also slightly worrying as the mopeds all separate from each other and steer down very dark lanes away from the club. Turned out this was just because of the curfue.  

- Vinepearl water park in Nah Trang

- perfume river dragon boat in Hue and the grandma that lived on the boat. She loves banter.

- the selfie stick in the sand dunes in Mui ne. See the pics on Cj's blog post.

- Morning  glory (its a vegetable)

I am definitely going to find out where     to buy this at home. 

- Mekong Delta tour in Ho Chi Minh city.

Cj and i have decided that we are not big fans of these tours for tourists. They just don't feel like the best way to see a place of wonder as they are always very structured and forced. But unfortunately, unless you want to pay hundreds of pounds for someone to show you these places, its the cheapest way to see them. This tour was good as there was a lot of activities involved but we just wanted to see more of the mekong delta. We boarded a long boat and sailed to the islands surrounding the delta. We learnt how to make proper honey tea, ate some Vietnamese tropical fruits, rowed in a long boat through the small delta rivers and cycled around the coconut island where we had lunch. 

-Ho Chi Minh city walking tour

There is a city tour here that costs 200dong, we decided to use the tour route but do it ourselves for free. It was a good day and we saw some amazing things but what we didn't realise was that the tour has a coach. So we ended up walking about 10 miles around the city this day. I didn't actually mind as we saw so much more walking around but Cj wore flop flops which meant he was in pain by the end. 

This was the route

-China town and market

- war museum (this was really fascinating)

-the palace

-Notre dam cathedral

- post office (it is huge)

Tomorrow we are heading to Cambodia on a 6 hour bus journey. 

To Vung Tau or not to Vung Tau...

...that really was the question. As we near the end of our month in Vietnam, the question on our minds is if it is worth heading to Vung Tau. This coastal city is a couple of hours from Saigon, our final destination. With a few days to spare we decided to head over to the domestic tourist hot spot to see what the hype was all about.

Sadly the place didnt live up to the "googled" hype. After making the short journey from Mui Ne on another local bus we arrive in what feels like a town that time forgot. For a city there is no one here. We counted about 10 western faces in three days. A proper vietnamese experience I hear you say? Well unfortunately the place was a bit dirty. The beach is pretty much non existent with large rocks and boulders blocking any sort of beach fun.

Our first hotel was something out of a horror film. The place was abandoned so the huge corridors and grounds gave off a very eery feel. Our room unfortunately already had someone in there. A family of cockroaches made the first nights sleep quite tense. I managed to capture three of them under glasses. But ran out after this, out came the flip flop! This coupled with the dirt in the room and the midgies, who absolutely loved feasted on my legs, made our stay in this hotel very short. In the morning I cut our stay short and checked us onto a better hotel that had a sister resort and pool we could use.

With the place being a bit of a domestic tourist hotspot the prices reflected that. Food seemed to be more but didnt reflect any increase in quality.

When it came to attractions there didnt seem to many. We took full advantgae of the pool which no one else used. We hit up a vietnamese cinema, making a change to UK prices, all in with popcorn 4 quid. Bargin.

Today we are on another local bus heading to Saigon Otherwise known as Ho Chi Mi City. I've heard good things. We are both looking forward to getting back on the backpacker trail before our adventure takes us into Cambodia.

Morning in Múi Ne

I am writing this post at the crack of dawn as we wait for our bus to take us from Múi Ne to the costal town of Vung Tau. My last three posts were all written on a bus, this bus however is slightly more "local"; no aircon, seats in the aisle and a driver that speaks no English. Lucky for us its much cooler today as we woke up to a thunder storm.

So how was Múi Ne? Its by far the quietest place we have visited in Vietnam. The place is built around a small fishing village and stretch of beach. The coast line has been littered with large resorts however none were full, with tourists being quite scarce in the town. There is not much to do here other than their half day tour of the town and local area. For five dollas we rented a jeep and drove around the town stopping off at the fairy river and waterfall, fishing  village and red and white sand dunes.

We walked up the fairy river bear foot all the way to the waterfall.  Not the best we've seen as we now see ourselves becoming waterfall snobs! Still the silt river gave the old flip flop feet a good scrub!

The red and white sand dunes were huge. Mountains of sand broke up the coastal lansdscape. They created epic views down the coast, casting shadows down the road. Quad bikes zipped through the dunes as people attempted to slide down on plastic sledges. The coloir of the dubes was a rich golden and firey red the grains so small it felt like silk under foot. Safe to say the selfie stick came out for this landscape!

The fishing village floats out in the bay. Hundreds of local fishing longboats line up with the days freshest catch. The waves were quite choppy here and the coast is a good place for wind surfing.

With the local fishing village supplying the village the restaurant's on the sea front cook up some of the best fish dishes ive ever had. The taste of their grilled fish on the sea front with a view down the beach is something else.

Great place to chill out in the sleep village Mui Ne cracking food a the Saigon beers seems to be getting cheaper the further south we head!

Nha Trang with a bang...

So if you have read the last two posts you will be pleased to know the smell of food has diffused in the air con now. I am still flat out on my back and my arms are starting to ache from holding this tablet above my head.

We have just left, what I believe to be the best place we have visited in Vietnam so far, Nha Trang. The beach here is amazing. It has the softest golden sand and stretches the length of the whole city. The sea is warm yet refreshing and offers a load of water sports.  We rented jet skis here and bombed across the sea, if only we had the go pro on this day.

We are staying in a cool little hostel recommended by some people we met in a bar. At 3 quid a night its great value, and has a great location just 5 mins walk from the sea front. Oh and did I mention it has a free breakfast!

The area is famous for its mud baths and mineral spars. Being the big lad I am, I just had to try this! We spent a day in the mud and mineral pools sitting in water that was 40 degrees plus! Hot in this weather. I tried to save some dignity by having a few beers but safe to safe this was a girls dream day out.

Back in the city there are a range of night and day markets selling anything from "hello kitty" toys to crocodile handbags. There is a host of restaurants and street food outlets on the sea front. I think I've had my best value for money meal here paying 5 quid for 6 courses including beer!

We have spent a few days lounging out on the beach after some decent nights out with people in our hostel. Some of the local bars offer 50p beers and stay open for as long as you drink!

The highlight of our time in Nha Trang was a day spent on Vinpearl island. You start by getting a cable car (The world's longest over water cable car!) from the beach across to this island. The island has a water park, theme park, aquirium and private beach. All this can be bought for 20 pound! The water park was great with loads of rides including a wave pool. Our favourite was the double dingy half pipe, our weight distribution meant we flew down this ride!  The theme park was good we went on one roller coaster that sounded like it was going to break when it turned you up side down, generally holding on for dear life! In the aquirium we were able to pet sharks before chilling on the beach to dry off after an exhausting day.

All in all a great place to stay, loads to do and a cracking beach. The Russians love this place too. Almost everyone there is Russian and shops and locals have even catered for this with Russian signs in all the shop windows.

Our next stop is Mui Ne; it is a small fishing village on the beach, we only have two more stops after that before we are in Saigon and off to Cambodia.

Oi oi Hoi An

If you have read the previous post on Hue, I'm still on the same sleeper bus on route to Mui Ne. Not much has changed I'm still lying horizontal but someone has opened some funky smelling food onboard. Joys.

So my last post ended with us heading to Hoi An. The day started by catching a ride from our hostel on the back of mopeds to our bus. The buses here are pretty glam as we squeeze in the back seats with a Vietnamese family, of which the girl took a real shinning to my feat and kept slapping them throughout the journey.

After a quick four hour trip we reach the traditional French town of Hoi An. It is much smaller than Han Noi and Hue so we get a real Vietnamese town feel, with small markets and shops littered between quaint french styled houses with a yellow pastel paint finish. Not a sky scrapper in sight!

We check into our Hostel here which is renound for its party atmosphere with a pool and late night bar. It reminds me of a cheap hotel in Zante but it's clean and cheap!

Hoi An is a fairly small town, so attraction wise there isn't a huge amount to do. The beach here is by far the best attraction,  just a short moped trip away is a huge strip of golden sand and hotel resorts. The beach is littered with palm trees and the sea is warm. Sipping a beer on the beach here catching the cool sea breeze gets me over the hangovers from the night before.

The restaraunts on the sea front are some of the best in the town. The prices are so cheap considering the views from the table. Here a meal put us back about 4 quid and you get some of the best fish I've ever eaten. We found out the spring rolls here rival the ones we fell in love with in Han Noi. 

Our nights out consist of hitting up the hostel bar, which is open fairly late considering the vietnam cerfue. After that we all head out on the back of taxi mopeds across town to the only club, Infinity Bar. Pretty chilled place, but it has Premier League Football on so it quickly became a regular stopping place.

The main attraction in Hoi An is the old town and the markets. Here the traditional Vietnamese goods are sold, from freshly caught fish to tailored silk dresses and suits. The markets are set up along the river which houses several Japenese bridges which clash brilliantly with the French styled streets and messy market stalls.

It's very hard to come here and not get a tailored suit or dress. The streets are littered with silk tailors who will produce anything you want and custom design and fit it to your desires. Sam bought a Maxi dress here for a bargin price.

We have met up with a lot of friends here from our trip down south so far, however we say goodbye to a group we have been travelling with since Han Noi as they head back to the UK.

Safe to say Hoi An is a small town with a traditional vibe and amazing beach. Our next stop is via the sleeper train to a place called Nha Trang. Stay tuned as I write the next post immediately after this one.

Hey Hue, how are you?

&So its been a while since I wrote a blog post. To be fair it's been pretty full on in Vietnam. On writing this I'm actually on a bus to our 5th place on the coast (Mui Ne). Safe to say we're having an epic time with a decent mix of picturesque beaches, cheap booze and hostel parties too cultural selfies and delicious street food.

So let me cast my mind back to Hue. With sore heads, I believe my alarm didn't go off, so we rushed out of our hostel after the Ha Long bay tour to catch our night train to the old Vietnamese capital, Hue.  The trains are grand with mini rooms compromising of 4 to 6 bunk beds. The journey is fairly pleasent although not knowing which is your stop adds to the excitment when your in a mad panic packing up your bags and legging it off the train.

We arrived in Hue to a sunny and sweltering welcome we didn't have accommodation booked so checked into a hostel on the strip near the bars and restaurants.  Room was decent although we managed to break the air con so a fan only room made for a few warm nights!

We had planned to spend three nights in Hue so got right on with the itinerary. We hit up the main attractions in the area. First is the centre point of the city, the Citidel.  This is the old city castle that housed royalty and protected the centre of the city from costal attack. The castle is huge circled by a moat of lillys.

Through the centre of Hue is a river called the Perfume River. We caught a dragon boat down here all afternoon sipping on beers as we took in the local scenery and temples dotted along the rivers edge. We managed to get a free picture off the family who run the boat and she even dressed us up in traditional Vietnamese silk, safe to say it's not my strongest look. She looked pretty pissed when I told her I didn't want to buy the complete wardrobe collection.

On our boat trip we stopped off at a 5 story pogoda and temple. Some cracking views here over the city and looking up the river. It was so hot here as the breeze had dropped.  But it was great to see the monks praying.

We also met up with a few of our friends that we met in Hanoi, the nightlife here consists of a few bars and a club so we got to know these places quite well. Food is great here being close to the sea, fish was all over the menu, but I'm getting into this now and have feasted on several local dishes including basa fish, crab, and even oysters.

Finally we hit up the beach which is a short moped drive away, not as good as some of the beaches we have done as I write this but it still has warm sea and white sand. Safe to say the tan is getting there, we finally are starting to look like proper backpackers, even if I did have to shave my beard off.

Next stop is the old French town of Hoi An...

Good morning Vietnam. Sam in Hanoi!

Ahhhh  vietnam, i love youuuu. 

We arrived in Vietnam on the 8th august, so 5 days ago. We have only been to Hanoi and Ha long bay so far and already it's my favourite country we've visited. I think coming from China where there isn't really a backpackers vibe and a huge cultural difference makes Vietnam a breath of fresh air, which is why we have fallen in love with it here so quickly. It's nice to have western toilets, fresh air and no spitting. The Vietnamese are lovely people and i love that they still wear their straw cone hats and carry their fruit on balance baskets (called a yoke). We did have one hiccup whilst in our taxi from the airport to our hostel. Our taxi driver was  pulled over whilst driving on the high way, a man dressed in what looked like a builders onesie asked the driver to get out and they disappeared somewhere behind us for about 20mins. Having been in the country only an hour and sitting in a taxi on the side of the road, with out the driver, we were safe to say 'scared for our lives'. Luckily this is apparently a routine check so the driver came back and we drove off. 

Hanoi is the capital and its a tiny city so you can walk everywhere. Tiny lanes filled with shops, restaurants and hotels surround a big lake. The lake is very picturesque with a cute bridge into the middle to get to a temple. 

We are staying in Hanoi backpackers hostel (down town), which is actually the central spot to begin the partying in Hanoi. Vietnam actually has an 11pm curfue so bars and clubs close at this time. But the hostel organise 'pub crawls' every night which basically means we move to the next open club once the bar closes. The chinese whisper is that the clubs pay the police to stay open after 11pm. The vibe in this hostel is very lively and it's pretty much just westerners (a lot of british) that stay here.

We arrived at the hostel from the airport in the evening and we decided to join the pub crawl. It's good to get involved straight away as we talked to so many other travellers giving us advice and ideas for our trip. 

The first day was spent exploring Hanoi and learning how to scooter dodge. Everyone travels by mopeds/scooters here so there are zillions on the tiny streets. I don't think they have a high way code so they'll weave in and out to get past people, fruit stands and cars. It can be scary if you make a bad move but the Vietnamese are very skilled in dodging people.

On our third night here we went quite big which wasnt planned as we had to be up at 6:30 the next morning. 4 new roomies from England moved into our dorm and we all decided to do the pub crawl. As we were at the hostel bar so early in the evening we took full advantage at being first in line for the free shots they do every hour. Cj got particularly drunk and couldn't keep quiet whilst we were eating street food at the end of the night. When the police drive past in their army trucks the street food restaurants turn off the lights so they look closed, trying to get Cj to be quiet was a challenge. Luckily he probably wasn't the loudest as there was a few westerners outside the club.

My alarm went off at 6:30 the next morning and i was up and ready to get breakfast at 7am. Cj felt rough (yes, he finally got a hangover) and lost a flip flop which was unlucky as we were going on a trip to Ha long bay and this is a boat party where flip flops were needed, Haha.

Ha long bay is one of the prettiest sights i have ever seen. The mythical story is that whilst Vietnam were being invaded the jade emperor sent a  dragon to Ha long bay to drop emeralds from the mother dragons mouth into the sea, the emeralds grew into mountains (a defence wall) which crashed all of the invaders ships and Vietnam won the war. There was 50 of us all together on the castaway trip which was 2 boats. We were all together for the day and night so we all got to know each other. The food provided by the boat owners was delicious and the kayaking around the bay was so fun. We rowed in and out of caves and the views of the bay were amazing (unfortunately we have no pictures as we were in the kayaks) 

The evening on the boat kicked off with a drinking game. It was a more active version of ring of fire. You basically pick a card, and that card means you have to do something, we all decided that card 8 was the worst as it meant stupid/sexy dancing on a chair in front of everyone until the next card 8 is picked. Cj was first to get this card and managed to pick it twice. There was a lot of swapping clothes, and lots of cards that meant drink. After the drinking game we all jumped over to the other boat for the disco. This was a good laugh and didn't end until about 4am. 

We returned to Hanoi the next afternoon and checked into a hotel which actually worked out the same price as the hostel dorms (sooo cheap). We decided to go for a hotel room as we were absolutely shattered and had about 5 hours sleep over the last 2 nights. We ended up sleeping through our alarm and woke up 20mins before check out. Gaahhh!!!

And now, i am on the top bunk of a 12 hour sleeper train on my way to Hue which is our next stop. We should arrive at 10:45am tomorrow morning.

Hanoi has been fun, but i think i want to see a bit more of Vietnam's culture, 

which Hue should offer as its a bit more relaxed then Hanoi.