Category Archives: Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh City
I’m not too sure what to make of Ho Chi Minh City. I heard that it was crazy and action packed but I didn’t find it too different from Hanoi. The city was originally called Saigon but was renamed Ho Chi Minh City when the North vietnamese soldiers took over the south after the american war. It’s still called Saigon by the majority of the people in the country so I’m going to call it Saigon too – it’s easier to spell. Ho Chi Minh was the founder of communism in vietnam, he was educated in France and later came back to vietnam to free the colony from french rule and so the people see him as the father of the country. While in Saigon, we stayed in the Pham Ngu Lao area of District 1 which is backpacker central. We had accomodation at this little guest house which turned out to be great. Very clean, comfortable and the staff were excellent. All for $10 a night. Continue reading
Hoi An
Hoi An was out intermediate stop on the way from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh. I’ve no idea why i picked Hoi An but the guide book said it was a nice place to visit. The trip there was an ordeal. The vietnamese trains are awful, the exact opposite of the shinkansen – they are slow, dirty and uncomfortable. Our train left Hanoi at around 7pm and was due to get to Danang at around midday of the next day. Overnight trains are generally not very comfortable and we weren’t expecting any better from this one. Our beds were in a 6-bed berth which also had an australian couple (on their way to the Isle Of Man!!!) and a bunch of vietnamese randoms. The vietnamese seem to book one bed for the entire family which is crazy. The trains are so loud that it was impossible to get sleep. At around 8am the inspector came into our berth and told us to get off the train. We assumed the next stop was Danang. It wasn’t. He had told us to get off in Hue which is 3 hours north of Danang. Bastard!! We were pissed as we had to wait 3 hours in Hue to get the next train and pay extra for the ticket. When we finally got to Danang the bus we booked wasn’t there so we had to pay extra to get a taxi to Hoi An. Very stressful stuff. But Hoi An itself turned out to be great. Continue reading
Halong Bay
Halong Bay is one of the main tourist attractions in Vietnam – it’s the image of the country that you see in the Jetstar ads. Its famous as it’s world heritage listed for the 2000 or so islands that surround the bay. We booked our tour in Hanoi with Handspan travel and left the city at around 8am. It’s a 3hour drive to the bay so you need to make sure you book a tour with a company that has decent transport – especially air-con. Along the way you get to see some of the amazing vietnamese countryside – the paddy fields, the small villages and of course thousands of motorbikes. As it was the weekend Halong Bat was packed with tourists, mainly americans. The harbour contained about 25 to 30 boats and everyone of them was sailing that day. If you prefer the quiet, then a weekday trip would probably be better. We had only booked a day trip as we were short on time but the best thing is to probably book a trip where you spend a night or two on the boat. Continue reading
Hanoi
Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam, is absolutely chaotic. A great introduction back into south-east asia but it did test my stress levels. We flew from Tokyo to Seoul and then got a connecting flight to Hanoi. First off, this was a terrible flight. The korean airlines plane was tiny, there was no leg room and the food was shockingly bad. We got into Hanoi at around 10:30 pm and got our visas at immigration. We had accommodation booked in the Old Quarter and they had emailed me to say that they were sending a driver to pick us up at the airport for free. This would help us to avoid all the touts and scams at the airport that try and lure you into another hotel. I wasn’t anticipating any issues with this arrangement but i was wrong. Continue reading