Day 51
March 27, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ 🌬 33 °C
Mekong Delta > Mui Ne
After getting our final breakfast and paying for everything, we hopped on the back of some scooters and raced to the local bus station (saving us from going all the way back to Can Tho). After paying what seemed like a local fare as our hostel had booked it, we arrived back in Ho Chi Minh. We had some time to kill so we head back to the Ben Thanh Market to get some more quality knock offs. Having left my sliders behind I thought I'd try a bit harder for some crocs. Unfortunately, depsite my attempts, they only had the boring colours in my size. Anything interesting was "for women" so I said goodbye to the chance for a cheap pair of yellow, blue, or pink crocs. Alfie managed to swap his duffel for another colour, plus pick up some Patagonia bum bags. Before we knew it we were done with the market and headed across the road to a Café Amazon and chilled for a while sipping on our drinks (I went for a strawberry cheesecake frappuccino which was very very good).
We grabbed over to our bus office and waited then eventually got on a transfer bus to our real "VIP" bus. The VIP bus was pretty comfy but the seat / beds were quite narrow and didn't really allow me to sit up. Plus my seat was missing its pillow. Oh well it was still comfy, clean, and cheap so no complaints from me. By the time we arrived we were able to check in, and head out for dinner before it was time to sleep.
Pretty uneventful day overall, only ended up taking 1 picture the whole day. But in good news, I got on committee for the mountainairring at Bath next year so very hyped for that!Read more
Day 52
March 28, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 32 °C
Sand Dunes
Mui Ne is known for its sand dunes and tours are pretty standardised so we ended up booking a sunset tour through our hostel. It started at 1.30 so we had some time to kill in the morning. We grabbed a heart breakfast where I ended up having 1 and a ahalf banana pancakes as they got our order wrong and delivered us one too many. We went to go and explore the beach which was nice but the highlight would have been the various windsurfing schools. Unfortunately it was $50 per hour lesson - a bit above my budget. After that we played a little ping pong before realising we were too terrible so we ended up chilling in the pool for a while attempting to play volleyball.
We then grabbed some lunch where I went for the super authentic cheeseburger and fries which was a bit of a mission as we had really only just had breakfast. We get picked up in a bright blue jeep by our driver (who didn't speak any English) and we were on our way to the first of 4 destinations for the day.
Destination 1 was called Fairy Stream which is a shallow stream that weaves through some red and white sand. It was quite nice to walk barefoot through it. We accidently ended up in a mini zoo labelled a garden and was kind of forced to pay a small entry fee. I felt quite bad as it wasn't alot of space for the animals but we got to see some crocodiles - the biggest of which was stood so still with its mouth agape I thought it was a statue but you could just about see it's eyes moving. There were some hedgehogs, porcupines, and chickens too. We wandered back and found our driver and headed to destination number 2.
Destination 2 was more of a stop than a destination as we pulled over on the side of the road to look over the fishing village - loads and loads of concentrated fishing boats and floating tubs. After getting a picture we headed onwards.
Destination 3 was an exciting one. It was the white sand dunes. We had to pay extra to hop on the back of some quad bikes which kinda sucked as I thought we'd be cruising in the jeep across the dunes. It wasn't until I was on the back of the quad that I no longer cared how much it was as it was fucking awesome. I was solo as Alfie and Daisy shared another but I didn't mind because we absolutely zoomed up, down, and across the dunes. I held on as tight as I could thinking to myself "no wander why my insurance doesn't cover this". We made it to stop 1 which was the sandboarding spot. It was more sand sledding than boarding but I was immediately down for it. I was given a little plastic sheet with a handle, laid back and absolutely propelled down this big slope. When you hit the divots at the bottom you go tumbling off the sled into the sand but sand is luckily pretty soft. Now you had to climb back up the slope which was pretty akin to trudging up a snow slope of fresh powder. Absolutely exhausted at the top I thought to myself that I need to get fitter for the Alps. I bombed it down the slopes a total of 4 times. Go 2 and 3 I felt more in control than the last attempt and landed pretty smoothly, managing to land on my feet pretty quickly. I was still covered in sand but it wasn't until my final one where I must have hit a divot with too much speed and I ended up tumbling a fair bit ending up with sand everywhere. Sand in my nose, ears, mouth and every bit of skin - I was crunching on sand for a good while afterwards. After that it was time to head down the slope I had just been bombing down on the quads which I must admit was a little worrying but very fun. Bombing up and down some hills we stopped next to some water for a while before heading back to go to our last destination.
Destination 4 was the red sand dunes. This was more of a stop and watch the sunset kinda place but we got there about an hour before sunset so we went for a little walk first. It wasn't massive and was very close to Mui Ne so we sat along the main ridge with everyone else to watch the sunset. It was pretty cloudy but we still managed to catch some of the orange rays casting across the sky.
After our tour we swam for a little bit longer again before heading out for dinner. This time I went for some authentic spaghetti and garlic bread before we planned our next couple days and headed back.Read more
Day 53
March 29, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C
Mui Ne > Da Lat
Similar vibe to yesterday, wake up, go for swim, go for breakfast (mango pancake this time), then ride out. But this time we were checking out and heading out. Our bus was a fairly standard half sleeper half seat, fairly narrow, and slightly too short setup. What was different was that this road was bumpy as hell almost the whole way but what made up for it was the beautiful mountain views as we climbed in altitude.
We arrived slightly ahead of schedule at about 5 and decided to make the 30 minute walk to our hostel whilst it was still light. We pass through a quaint little flower garden before walking along busy roads. As we were slightly more North, further inland and at a higher altitude it meant that the weather was a lovely cool mid 20s which was a nice break from south Thailand, Cambodia, and south Vietnam - especially with our big bags.
We are greeted by a nice sign at the bottom of the elevator to our hostel, so we take it up to the 5th floor and ride up. We check in and I get shown to my dorm, whilst Alfie and Daisy are shown their room. I end up playing pool with one of the guys who worked there and he completely whooped my ass (no suprises) before we asked for some food suggestions for the evening.
We wander into the city, passing a live band playing what seemed to be an authentic Vietnamese instrument. We were about to head out until we head the distinctive start to Despacito play so we stay another song. I was super hungry at this point so I stopped for some meatball soup with bread (as suggested by the dude from earlier) and then followed it up swiftly by a folded "pizza". They were both super yummy and my folded pizza was served in what seemed to be used pieces of paper from a notepad which was quite funny. Daisy needed something vegetarian so after heading around the 2nd hand market we went to a vegetarian restaurant where I watched them struggle to ask for the bill as they were too scared to interrupt the people's own dinner. Finding this hilarious but also slightly frustrating as I wanted something from the bakery - they eventually pay and we head towards the bakery we were so excited for (having passed it earlier).
We eventually get to the awesome bakery where you grabbed your own tray and tongs before picking whatever you wanted. We all opted for 2 things each before heading back to our hostel to eat them. What was hype turned into disappointment as all of our things were either viciously moderate or a bit shit. With that we headed to bed.Read more
Day 54
March 30, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C
Canyoning
We booked onto the canyoning tour through our hostel which was $82 (ouch budget) and we were ready to see whether it was worth it. At 7.30 we headed to breakfast where I enjoyed a really nicely cooked omelette then at 8am on the dot one of our guides for the day came to collect us. His name is Na and he let us know that we were lucky enough that it was only us 3 today and the groups could usually get as big as 12. We drove over to Datanla Waterfall where we met our second guide, Harry. Both these chaps were super excited and happy and I was hyped to start canyoning. We get changed into our wet suits and given harnesses, helmets, and bouyancy vests. With that we were ready to learn to absail. Me and Alfie had done this plenty before but it was good to see that they were being safe with a backup line and not letting us clip ourselves in.
After some practice we were ready to head down to the waterfalls. A short walk later we headed to the first abseil, which was on the rock next to the waterfall. We abseiled down and fell off the end of the rope into the water below which was a very strange concept to me. I can't remember exactly the order of what we did for the rest of the day (I'm writing this a few days later oops) but there was a mix between abseiling down through waterfalls, zip lining, water sliding, and floating through a lazy river. Luckily as there was only 3 of us we had time to do some of these a couple times. Unfortunately, the cliff jump had suffered a land slide so we wouldn't be able to jump unless we fancied ourselves some broken limbs.
This lead to the penultimate event, abseiling down a 25m waterfall which meant that as you got over the edge the water would beat down on you and throw you about. The final abseil was called 'The Washing Machine" where we would abseil a bit then fall underwater, being thrown about until popping back up downstream. After all of that, we trekked back up a hill to the road to be driven back to the main area to shower and change. After that we drove back to their main offices to share a massivw family lunch with Na and Harry.
We get driven back to our accommodation and whilst Alfie and Daisy nap I go for a walk around. First I walk around a pagoda but decided not to stay long as I wasn't sure how allowed I was to wander around in my shorts. I then take a slow meander around the lake in the middle of the city, stopping every now and again to fuel my Facebook Marketplace addiction. Eventually the sun was setting and I got a Grab bike to the hostel just in time for family dinner.
There wasn't alot of people, only us 3 and 2 others but the dinner was really really nice and it was good, plus meeting the 2 other people (a Canadian guy called James and a British girl called Cordelia) was nice too. Dinner lead into Happy Hour which meant a free "cocktail" which really meant a spirit and mixer. I went for the classic vodka redbull and then the karaoke started. Vietnam is known for its love of karaoke so we knew there was no avoiding it. The guy working there, Hoang, was leading the night as well as pouring our drinks and was very enthusiastically encouraging the karaoke. What ensued was countless terrible renditions of some classic karaoke songs - solos and duets.
Eventually it hit 10 and it was time for the shuttle bus into town to Maze Bar. What I thought would just be us turned out to be a packed minibus with many hostels jammed in - probably doubling the intended capacity. When we made it to the bar we had to order a drink to enter so I went for the classic Blue Lagoon. What I thought would just be a quirky little bar turned out to be one of the coolest places I had been to. The Maze Bar was actually a maze, with narrow corridors, steep staircases, crawl spaces, hidden rooms with too many floors to count and amazing decorations. I must have said "I'm so lost" about a million times before finding people again. Our ride back was at 12 so I managed to hop on the first bus back. Most people were heading towards the after party on our roof but I have become old man and headed straight for a shower then into bed.
It wasn't long before the others got back and convinced me to join them for a little bit on the roof. It turned out to be quite packed and a decent party but was a very odd experience to get out of bed straight into a party, though I didn't stay long.Read more
Day 55
March 31, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 32 °C
New Alpine Coaster
I woke up in time for a nice breakfast but as it turned out Alfie and Daisy stayed up too late to wake up in time. I had a little emergency of my own, my phone was on 1% and my portable charger had decided to stop working. Honestly I couldn't be too surprised with the water damage, sand everywhere, and me throwing my bag around without a care it shouldn't have been such a gut punch as it was. Luckily the lady at reception loaned me her phone charger and we chatted for a while whilst waiting for Alfie and Daisy to get out of bed in time for checkout.
Eventually we all paid, and had our bags packed and left at the hostel. Our plan was to go straight back to Datanla for the Alpine Coaster but they hadn't had breakfast so we had to spend a while searching for the right place then eating. Luckily we found a nice place that served these yummy egg Banh Mi and we were good to go. We got a Grab over to the park and paid for our tickets for the Datanla New Alpine Coaster - a 2400 meter track through the forest and passing waterfalls, making it the longest in Asia. This was one of the manually controlled ones so you could go as slow or as fast as you wanted. Obviously I wanted speed so I held the brake off for as long as I could before the track slowed me down by itself.
At the bottom we could hop off for a while and explore the waterfall. There was a little archery setup so I gave it a go, where I would win a bottle of wine if I hit the centre. Unfortunately I'm trash and so were the bent arrows so I had no chance. After saying hello to the massive dinosaur model (who for some reason had been given to scale testicles), we grabbed a smoothie and went for a wander back up the stairs. We could have grabbed the coaster back up but we went for an adventure instead. This turned out to be a massive mistake as without much warning the heavens opened up and rain hurtled down towards the ground. I have no idea how it went from sunny to torrential downpour in a matter of minutes but here we were sheltered under a roof with everyone else. Unlike everyone else their guides had ponchos ready for them but none of us had our ponchos on us. Wishing I had brought mine, we tried to out wait the rain. Unfortunately this lead to nothing but heavier rain. Luckily our tickets were valid for the other coaster that went up to the top so we braved the rain and made our way up. The staff looked at us very funny and I tried to protect my bag as much as I could. We got the top and ran for the entrance where I decided the best thing to do would be to leap onto the wet smooth tiles in my sliders with 0 grip. I proceeded to slip over like a cartoon and smack my back on the tiles. I was absolutely fine but definitely caused a stir with everyone at the café as it looked like I may have hurt myself.
Our next mission was to order a Grab back into town but after 5 minutes of searching, no cars were available. We weren't really sure what to do so we tried searching again and luckily a car magically appeared right outside. We ran in soaking wet, apologised for being soaking wet and made our way back to Da Lat. We made our way back into our hostel (with me being much more careful not to slip on the wet tiles) and got changed into some dry clothes. Whilst Alfie and Daisy went for some more food, I charged my phone and played some more pool again the local master - losing every game I played. I head out for some lunch too, getting some more Banh Mi with meatball soup from a local place right next to our hostel.
With that, it was time for all of us to get to our stuff and head to the bus station for our over night bus to Hoi An. It was somewhere between a 12 and 14 hour bus so we decided to pay a bit more and go for the VIP experience (an actual bed instead of the ones we had been on recently). However, when we arrived fear struck me as we weren't sure whether it was 1 bed each or between 2. We had to wait around for a while and anxiety slowly crept up. This would be the difference between a wonderful comfortable experience and me getting to know a stranger super well. As we boarded I saw some people sharing beds. Uh oh. Surely they're choosing this I tried to reason. Between the 3 of us we were shown to 2 beds. A small wave of relief struck as I wasn't sharing with anyone yet (unlike Daisy and Alfie who were squeezed together). Slowly everyone else boarded and no one else came to join me. We departed and I prayed we had no more stops to pick anyone else up. There were still some beds left so one of the staff gave us a 3rd bed so we were luckily able to all have our own private pod. Thank fuck for that.Read more
Day 56
April 1, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C
Hoi An
We arrived in Hoi An at about 6am after a very bumpy bus journey where it was a little bit difficult to get off to sleep whilst being thrown about. After some minimal sleep we had to actually get into Hoi An as we were dropped on the side of the road so we grabbed a taxi and headed into the Old Town. Initial impressions were actually very high, all of the buildings looked quite pretty and I was excited to explore. As it was so early we found a Café that was open and had some drinks whilst we waited. Luckily we were able to check in super early so we headed over to where our Homestay was and got situated. Our hosts were really nice and kept insisting that if we needed anything we could ask them but honestly what I needed was a shower and a nap. The room was super nice and modern, with a lovely shower too. After cleaning myself up, I hopped straight onto my double bed, played some Elvis and drifted off.
A short while later I jumped awake and we headed out to find some proper breakfast. We went to a little vegetarian Banh Mi place that Daisy had found and enjoyed a very cheap and tasty sandwich. Hoi An is famous for its tailoring services so that was our mission today as we had little energy and it would take some time. Some guy called Quoc from the bus company had texted me a bunch of suggestions for places out of nowhere, one of which being a tailoring place who had great reviews. We sat down at a table and was shown some Next catalogues from 2020. They were meant as inspiration so we could get an idea of what we wanted but I still thought it was hilarious - especially as this was the first time I had seen prices in pounds. They asked what I want but I wasn't too sure but I knew that I didn't want to spend too much money so I asked about a tailored shirt. Unfortunately even for cheaper materials, it was still out of my budget for something I didn't really need. It was left for Daisy to get measured for some clothes that she had wanted. Shout out to the creepy half headed mannequins.
After that we grabbed some lunch at a random place, where I ordered some local Hoi An wontons which I still don't know exactly what they were but they were very yummy. I also ordered my 3rd drink of the day - going way over my personal limit of 1 but I was tired and thirsty so I didn't care. After lunch we wandered round the quaint little streets, admiring the cute architecture before heading back to our hostel again. This time when I went for a lay down it turned into a many hour long nap and I was woken by Alfie and Daisy coming back at 9 or 10pm. A little disorientated, I quickly grabbed some food from the night market before heading back, having a shower and going to bed for real.Read more
Day 57
April 2, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C
Coconut Boats
We woke up and grabbed some breakfast from "The Banh Mi Queen" which was super yummy before heading to the tailors for another set of adjustments for Daisy's clothes. After that we had some time to kill before our coconut boat tour we had booked for 2pm. We headed to a café slightly out of town which also some kind of workout / dance studio too. It was pretty expensive but I grabbed a mixed fruit yoghurt bowl with chocolate chunks, granola, and nuts which was so so tasty but now I had effectively had 2 breakfasts and was far too full to move. It was quite crowded so we didn't really have to chance to sit there and chill as they needed the table for more people so we headed out back into the ancient town. We happened upon a cool handmade wooden ship model store which had loads of intricately made ships, with the big boy in the middle being as large as a small elephant. Very impressive.
We wandered back to our hostel to wait for our 2pm pickup. He arrived a bit early and we made the short drive over to where we were to board the little coconut boats. It was max 2 per boat with the rower so it meant I was riding solo. We were given a conical hat and a life jacket and away we went under a bridge (which definitely had something wrong with it as one end was a lot lower than the other). Once we passed through it was like we had gone to a different world. 100s of colourful coconut boats found their way going up and down the river. Larger groups of tour guides were singing their hearts out and it was a party atmosphere I really didn't expect. Little did I know what was coming. After taking an offshoot along with a heard of other boats we emerged into a small area where the speakers were blasting and there were boats spinning like a tsunami. For a little extra fee you could hop into a spinning coconut and let the dude do his magic. I decided to pass but Alfie and Daisy took the opportunity and had a nice little spin. What I thought was funny is that the rowers used their wet oars to stick money to them to pass it between boats.
After that we went a bit along to the karaoke section where they had mini floating stages where you, again, could pay a small fee to get up on stage and sing your heart out. Again, I passed but looked like alot of fun, especially in a big group. On the way back she tried to get me to row solo but I ended up just spinning us round in circles. Assumedly ashamed we ended up rowing together and she kept insisting we went faster but my shoulders were so pumped. She must have been mega jacked under her hoodie. Eventually we go back under the bridge and get back into the car and are driven back. Turns out our 2 hour experience clocked in at just about 1 hour - oh well was still fun.
I can't super remember what we did between 3pm and 6pm but I think it involved sitting on our asses in our room. Daisy had another fitting so they did that whilst I continued doing a whole lotta nothing in our room. I eventually met them for dinner and there were a few places that we wanted to check out, but they either didn't have vege options or had a queue so we went for "Good Morning Vietnam" an authentic Itallian restaurant... because everyone knows Vietnam is where you find the best Itallian food in the world. It was pretty spenny but I went for a nice little margherita. It took a while for our food to come and the smells of the restaurant were making me so so hungry but we had some bread sticks to keep us occupied. The meal itself was beautiful, I enjoyed and savoured every single bite - something I've been trying to do more with every meal recently - and by the end I was definitely full. The Itallian owner gave us some limoncello shots to finish of our meal and away we went.
On the way back we passed this really fancy chocolate shop that made its own chocolate in house and you could watch how some of it was made. Plus there were loads of tasters for their chocolate - my favourite being the ginger and lime. I didn't go for a chocolate bar I instead went for an awesome looking cookie. I decided I'd save the cookie till I got back to the hostel. We walked back and passed the river which was lit up with so many beautiful lanterns on these little boats where people were queuing to cruise on the river and release little burning paper lanterns. Alfie and Daisy decided to go for it but I headed back instead. The cookie was decent and I definitely enjoyed it but I think I built it up too much in my head.Read more
Day 58
April 3, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C
An Bang Beach
Wake up, get another Banh Mi Queen for breakfast (this time a BBQ instead of the traditional), do another fitting for Daisy's clothes then grab a taxi to the beach. I'm gonna be honest I did almost nothing except for lounge on the sunbed under the shade of the umbrella and occasionally go for a swim (the water was actually surprisingly cold when you first hopped in). We made a huge trek for lunch (about 10 meters away) and I ordered another set of the local fried wonton, this time getting them with shrimp as I think that's how you're meant to have them. They were - of course - super tasty and I tried a mixed fruit lassi (yoghurt based drink) which was - of course - super tasty. Then, back to the beach before grabbing a taxi back and picking up Daisy's final clothes which she seemed super happy with.
We head back and I shower to remove the buckets of sand from within my swim shorts, then we head out for some dinner. The most well known local cuisine isn't actually the fried wontons but these White Rose dumplings. There is exactly 1 restaurant that makes these in Hoi An and they supply any other restaurant with them every day. There is only 1 option to have them and it's a family secret recipe. So, for our last dinner here I really wanted to go to this restaurant and try them straight from the source. When we arrived their menu consisted of only 2 items, shrimp wonton and shrimp white roses. Daisy couldn't get the white rose without shrimp but she got some fried wontons. Alfie and I went for the white rose and after a little mixup I eventually got my plate. We were given some sort of chilli sauce / oil with it and they were covered in fried shallots. They were yummy but to be honest I prepared the wontons - but would definitely not complain if I were to have them again.
I fancied some dessert as the white roses weren't too filling and we happened to pass a gelato place that did a 21 flavour tasting plater. Now I am 2 things: a cheapskate and a sweet tooth and today was finally the day where my cravings out played my savings and I went for it. It was towards the end of the day so I ended up only getting 14 flavours plus sides of strawberry, mango, waffle, brownie, and chocolate sauce. Much like the way I ate my pizza yesterday I took my time, focusing on each flavour. Unfortunately I had to try and work out each one but it was still a great experience to slowly try small segments of beautiful gelato. I liked most of them, love alot of them, was okay with the coffee one but absolutely despised the durian flavoured one. The bad thing about frozen food is it tends to melt so towards the end I had to battle against the slosh forming. Unfortunately the durian leaked into the multi flavoured mixture of melted gelato and overpowered the others but I still got a good few individual tastes in before the great melting of 2024. I finished up my sides and chocolate sauce before leaving full and extremely satisfied.
I head back, and meet the other 2 at the night market before heading to bed.Read more
Day 59
April 4, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C
Ba Na Hills
After waking up and leaving about 7am we got a Grab from Hoi An over to Da Nang which took about 40 minutes. Our driver asked us what our plans were for the day and we said Ba Na Hills and he offered to take us there and back. Sweet we thought, he seemed like a nice guy and we wouldn't have to worry about finding a driver and not being able to get back. We quickly dropped our stuff off at our hostel and grabbed a quick Banh Mi for breakfast before we made the hour long drive over to Ba Na Hills.
When we arrived, our driver took us to the ticket office (possibly to get a commission?) and we were ready to rumble. After getting his WhatsApp and talking about his 70km run he did a few years ago, it was time. Ba Na Hills is a bit of a theme park but also a tourist destination - a real mix of things. First and foremost, there was a 5771 meter long cable car that took you to the top of the hill which I think is the longest in the world? We hopped in and took it the oddly quiet views over the dense jungle below. I was very excited to be honest, it felt like I was at Thorpe Park all over again.
Map ready, I studied a possible route for the day. We started in Spiritual Zone which was filled with nice little temples, pagodas, and even a tea room. What really sealed the deal was the robot who's sole purpose was to hit a big ass bell every now and again. What a job. Plus the pagoda gave a nice view over the French Village. The French Village was kind of at the centre of the whole park, and by French Village what they really mean is imagine you're inside Lord Farquad's Castle from Shrek and boom you're there. Still though, the stone buildings were really nice and very aesthetic. We managed to catch the tail end of a show in the centre of the plaza which was a bunch of people in tight black leather dancing around with whips to the beat of different songs (no its not what it sounds like).
Within the French Village was Fantasy Park! This was the entirely indoors theme park type thing. Themed entirely like the inside of a volcano, there were 3 floors and the centre was a drop tower and a rock climbing wall with a large glass dome shining light down from above. We decided to work our way top down so that we wouldn't miss anything. Honestly it was all pretty gimmicky but still alot of fun. Highlights include a journey through Jurassic Park, a 4D movie, a 5D movie, a spinning swing thing, and bumper carts. And then we got hungry so we had a break from the action and went to find the least overpriced food we could find. I settled for an expensive BBQ chicken pizza which was pretty good, plus I got some nice views over a fancy fountain and a medieval style market. Righto back to the intense action of Fantasy Park. There wasn't alot left to do so me and Alfie got on the central drop tower, looking over the rock climbing wall (which you had to pay for so we skipped that one). We also enjoyed a whole load of free arcade kind of games (think the type you'd find in a bowling alley) then queued for the final ride "Journey to the Centre of the World". After 30 minutes and a brief appreciation of Josh Hutcherson, we were let down by a shitty shooter ride.
After Fantasy Park we moved on to the next section, towards the Palace. This bit was a lot less busy but had some very cool looking castles as well as some very awesome looking rock carvings. Well they weren't really carvings so rock sculptures made to look like carvings? I'm not sure but they were super bad ass. After a non successful breaking and entering attempt into a castle, we hopped on a cable car down to the next section. This was where the "main attraction" was - the thing that most people came to see - the golden bridge. A golden bridge suspended by 2 massive hands. It was also where everyone liked to get their main character pictures and videos which is always funny to watch. It was quite cool and I've seen pictures where the bridge is enveloped in fog which gives a really cool mystical aura. The other areas in this section were also super nice, lots of nice sculptures, structures, gardens, as well as a big white Buddha that looked over the mountains. It was also around sunset now and we got some really nice views of the castles in the distance.
After that, we texted our driver that we were heading down and hopped on the cable car back down to where we started. We passed some nicely lit walkways and found our driver and headed back to our hostel. After that we went out for some food - where I had some very fancy looking dumplings (gold leaf on top!?) as well as something else that was new that I can't remember the name for. We headed back via a shop where I brought a dark chocolate tolberone for only like £2 then we went for a swim on the rooftop pool overlooking the lit city.Read more
Day 60
April 5, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C
Hue
After getting some breakfast we rented a couple scooters from our hostel as today we were planning on driving to Hue. Now we weren't really that fussed about going to Hue but the journey involved a mountain ride through the Hai Van Pass. After heading out we started to get some beautiful views over the beach and sea next to us down from the mountain pass. I didn't take any photos but as Daisy was on the back of Alfie's scooter she managed to get some.
It wasn't long before we were ascending into the mist and for most the ride we were enveloped in a very eerie feeling fog that honestly reminded me of North Wales. The pass unfortunately didn't last very long but it was quite a nice ride. What wasn't a nice ride was the main road from the end of the pass to Hue. Don't get me wrong there wasn't anything wrong in particular but it was a long straight road with not alot of views. What was quite cool is the alternative Vietnam and Communist flag that lined the central divider for what must have been kilometers upon kilometers.
When we arrived we didn't really know what we were doing so we found somewhere for lunch. That was closed so we wandered about until we found somewhere that was open where we enjoyed a very average meal. After that we headed towards the Ancient City, one of Hue's biggest attraction. There were a few different options with different sights and tombs but we weren't really too fussed so we paid for out parking, I grabbed a lovely blueberry smoothie and we headed in. The whole grounds were quite nice but if I'm being honest I was so hot that I kind of just lounged about most of the day, moving a bit before sitting down for a while again. It was a nice mix of ancient buildings, and nice gardens, which if I were an artist would be a great subject for a painting.
We didn't want to drive back in the dark so we headed out around 4 and made our way back. The flag road was just as long but the pass went by quicker as we weren't stopping for views as much. We got back into town just as it got dark, returned our scooters and went out for some dinner. Alfie and Daisy got an early night whilst I spent hours until early in the morning obsessing about different tents on Marketplace (still addicted).Read more
Day 61
April 6, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C
Da Nang > Phong Nha
Very uneventful day. We woke up, packed our stuff and checked out. We wandered about and found some Banh Mi, before having some time to kill so we found a little café by the river and I had what was called a "custard shake". Curious to if it had anything to do with English custard I had to try it. It definitely wasn't custard and I have no idea what it was but it was very okay, with some chunks of coconut in there to keep me occupied.
We trekked back to the hostel to pick up our bags then headed to the bus station. Our bus was scheduled at 2 and we ended up waiting on some miniature seats for another 50 minutes for our bus to actually turn up. Atleast it turned up though. We picked our seats and got ready to settle in for a long journey. Turns out settling in was not in the plan as when we arrived at Hue, we had to change bus with only a quick stop allowed for the bathroom. We boarded our new bus which was pretty much similar but had a toilet on board. Great I thought to myself. That was until the first person flushed the toilet and created what can only be described as a gas chamber choking us with the scent on their shit. And then every single time someone flushed after that, it'd leave a sickening aroma in the air for about 5 minutes. I got a bit of rest but managed to run out of my daily allowance for data. Somehow I burned througy 5GB in 24 hours. Then I remembered I was up till 3am the night before and must have been on my data the whole time... oops. Luckily I had some music downloaded and spent the rest of the time making packing lists - how exciting.
We stopped at a rest stop for a little while and got some very questionable food before hopping back on and eventually arriving. We got picked up from the road by our hostel - with Alfie giving them "bright yellow shorts" as a description to look out for. When we arrived we were all quite tired so headed to bed fairly quickly.Read more
Day 62
April 7, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C
Phong Nha
We decided we would take today easy and get a feel for the place as all of the cave tours were quite expensive and we weren't really sure what we wanted to see and if we even needed a cave tour to do it. So after a nice simple breakfast we headed rented a couple scooters and headed out. Whenever you rented a scooter it was always a gamble on how good the scooter would be. Sometimes they're pristine - which honestly is a bit worrying as you know they'll charge your ass for any little scratch. But usually somethings wrong with it. In this case, my bike had no working speedo which actually doesn't make all that difference especially when you're out of a city as there is no speed limit and if there was I certainly wasn't gonna reach it. Alfie's and Daisy's bike ended up without any working lights or fuel meter which I would say is are both fairly important. But, between the 2 of us we just about had a working bike.
There's a little loop that goes around some of the local sites so we thought that we would go round and stop where we wanted. Our first stop was the duck stop. It's kind of hard to describe what the duck stop is but there is ALOT of ducks. When we arrived we got given some sandals to change into then our group is taken into a pen with more ducks than you can count. We stood in line whilst we had food thrown at our feet then the ducks would waddle over and peck the food from our feet which was such a weird sensation as you expect then to bite but they don't. Then we all had a go waddling around with the ducks with an army of loyal waddlers right behind. Then was the finale which was really weird. We sat on a bench and put our feet together and the handler dropped food inbetween our feet and on our lap so we had a bunch of beaks pekking around. Again, my mind told me it would hurt but in all honestly it was a very odd tickling sensation as they nibbled the soles of your feet. All I can say is that no one could stop themselves from laughing.
After that, we had signed up to see Donald Trump... the buffalo. He used to be used for hard labour in the fields and now lived a peaceful life. However, he didn't have alot of room to wander freely and the person offered for us to ride him. We declined as we weren't really sure how ethical it was and decided to pet him instead. Included in our entry ticket was also food, where we were given egg pancakes and vegetables to wrap in rice paper. Overall it was super nice and I wish there were more of it.
Our next stop was a nature reserve but when we got there it was clear that I had been shut for a while and no one was there so we decided against exploring and on to the next stop which was the Botanic Garden. The Botanic Garden wasn't really much of a Garden as you might expect by the name but it was still a nice walk through the jungle. A couple of spots we stopped at were the swimming hole (very mundane), the waterfall (pretty but the swimming was still quite mundane) and the viewpoint (good but the trees covered most of the view). By the end we were pretty hungry so we stopped at the restaurant outside and enjoyed some surprisingly cheap yummy food and drink. They had this winter melon flavoured tea which tasted exactly like you had left a Nice biscuit in a cup of tea too long. It was very odd but kind of nice at the same time.
We didn't have too much time to stop anywhere else after that so we decided just to ride the rest of the loop and head back before it got dark as riding in the dark without working headlights seemed to be quite high on the list of Darwin Awards. It was very nice driving through the valleys, past the rivers, and under the cliffs - rivalling the Hai Van Pass we had done a few days earlier.
We had signed up for the family dinner so we chilled for a while before realising that there was neither family nor dinner waiting for us. A little bit confused we ended up having to go to the other building a few minutes away which we never knew existed where a much more bustling hostel laid. We were chucked at the end of the table and served some lovely food. After some good grub and an interesting chat with a Dutch man where it was revealed everything I knew about eating and drinking were wrong. We wandered to the shop for some snacks before heading back and chilling before hitting the hay.Read more
Day 63
April 8, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C
Phong Nha > Tam Coc
We had decided on Paradise Cave as our cave of choice as it seemed to be the most accessible without a guide. After breakfast we headed out. The drive, again, was super scenic and it took us over this sketchy bridge which rattled as we drove over each lose metal plate. When we arrived we paid for parking, paid for entry then hopped into a golf buggy to the cave entrance. This cave was bloody humongous and was 31km long - the longest in the national park. Throughout the whole cave was a wooden walkway and lights making the whole cavern glow. The pathway didn't stretch very far into the 31km but for the small section we ventured through it was mighty impressive with such interesting rock structures. The only drawback of all the lights meant taking pictures became hard as it was often too bright. After our little adventure we made our way back and decided to grab some food from the restaurant at the entrance. It had started to get a little bit rainy so I moved our scooters under cover and whipped out my poncho that I had been carrying about for 2 months without any use (though it would have been super handy when we did the Alpine Coaster).
The food was actually really good - though I am a sucker for fried noodles. It seems that the light rain showed no sign of easing as the whole sky became a fog of dismal grey - akin to 90% of winter in the UK, although I now realise it's definitely spring and may soon be nicer weather back home than here as rainy season approaches fast. We decided to head back to our homestay to avoid being caught out in any potential rain. After getting dangerously close to running out of fuel, I topped up and we scurried back home in our ponchos - really completing my astronaut look with my helmet.
Our bus wasn't till half 9 and it was only 3 so we had some time to kill - so we went to a café nearby our hostel to chill for a while. I ended up going for a smoothie bowl even though I wasn't hungry atall and Daisy and I spent far too long building pyramids from playing cards. Daisy was so much better and faster than me but I managed to capture a picture of the exact moment her 5 tall pyramid collapsed as she placed her final card. We play some cards games too but eventually we're highly encouraged to pay and leave as they were shutting.
We chill at our hostel for a bit before I go and grab some snacks for the journey and then we grab some dinner - even though none of us were that hungry - because we knew we would be on the bus otherwise. We go a close by vegan restaurant and I had some Korean sushi rolls called kimbap which were tasty and plentiful which sushi usually isn't. Unable to get a grab we walked to the pickup point where in some stroke of luck we were welcomed onto a luxury bus even though we definitely booked the cheap uncomfortable bus. Confused as to how we had won the transport lottery - we definitely didn't mention the possible mixup and enjoyed the journey.
Well I say enjoyed the journey. I certainly did, it was the most comfortable bus we had been on so far and I watched some great YouTube before having a decent nap. We ended up arriving 3 hours before we were meant to at 3.30am where I had come to learn that Alfie and Daisy had had a horrible journey and both been very sick multiple times - suffering from food poisoning. It was too early to start the day anyway and they were both needing somewhere to stay so I went on the search for a place that was open. This was a physical search by the way, I wandered around various hostels, homestays, and hotels until I found an open reception. Little tip, when places put "24 hour reception" in their description they are lying to you 80% of the time. I eventually found a place and through Google translate communicated what we needed. I ended up with my very first private room in the entire trip and the others ended up with 2 double beds. It was about 5 or 6am by the time i had figured this out, collected keys, picked up my bags, showed Alfie and Daisy to their room, showered, then I promptly went to bed as the sun rose.Read more
Day 64
April 9, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C
Mua Cave & Ninh Binh
After waking up at midday from a very late arrival last night I wasn't in a very big rush to get going - especially as I was chilling in my very own room which was glorious to wake up in. The host was nice enough to make me breakfast at 12.30pm where I had a decent omelette in a baguette with a very not decent mango juice. He was nice enough also to give me a map of all the nearby attractions and their prices which came in super useful. I rented a scooter and decided on Mua Cave as my first stop - which is ironically not known not for its cave but its staircase up the mountain.
After a short scenic ride through the countryside, I headed down the road towards the entrance. I had read warnings about the pushy non official parking people but I didn't expect them to stand right in the middle of the road almost not even letting you pass to try and rip you off. I paid for my real parking and my real entrance ticket and wandered into the grounds. The first thing I checked out was this nice little koi pond that went under a small stone bridge. I ventured further and walked round the flower field. It was clear I had come in the wrong season as pictures showed a beautiful field of blooming flowers but I found a lightly flooded field of lily pads. Still, it was really nice especially with the surrounding mountains and made me excited to have my own garden one day (God I'm really starting to become an old man).
I wandered around more and found a little lake with a lone pink flamingo pedal boat that was looking a bit worse for wear and I got my first view of the flag lined stone stairway leading up the mountain. I peaked into Mua Cave but it seemed fairly small and unimpressive, plus the floor was flooded so didn't really want to commit to soaking wet shoes for the whole day. I then started my ascent of the stone steps. It was fairly busy and it's always a nice ego boost to cruise past most people but I decided to take it slow and take in the views. This was a great benefit of being solo is you can spend as much time as you want doing whatever you want. It was pretty foggy and cloudy but it was still a phenomenal view of the surrounding limestone cliffs rising up from the green paddies. Plus there was a nice view of the river that snakes through the land.
There were 2 different peaks at the top, one with a stupa on top, and another slightly higher with a pagoda and a stone dragon. The taller one was alot more popular and you could walk around the long dragon - with many people queuing to get a picture ontop of it. Walking down the body of the dragon was a fairly risky scramble with only a small chain to stop a very painful way down the side of the cliff and it amazed me to see how bold some not so able footed people were being and it blew my mind there weren't more accidents here especially when it was wet. Depsite the business I have never wanted to be able to paint landscapes more than I did in that moment.
I made my way back down and went and got some Banh Mi from the restaurant on site. This was the first Banh Mi I had ever had where the bread had been toasted and was warm. It was closer than ever to being a yummier and cheaper Subway. So good! Having some time left before sunset, I made my way to Nimh Binh city as I thought I should check it out before leaving. I decided on a couple pagodas after a very quick choice on Google Maps, just needing to find my way into the city before being able to explore more. Turns out this was a great choice and I parked up then wandered over. I crossed a beautiful bridge with some colour lanterns overhead and my love of lanterns only grew more as I walked around the little quaint "mountain" finding a small temple on top before stumbling onto a coffee shop that was half built into the side of the rock.
I then wandered out into the lake to check out the 2 huge pagodas built inline with one another and admired the beautiful carvings on the inside brick, the golden decorations on the high ceiling, and the religious statues sat in the centre. Honestly, it can be a little difficult to keep up with whether these temples are Hindu or Buddhist as there are plenty of both all over Vietnam so I'm probably using all of the wrong terminology. As the sunset the pagodas and lanterns really started to light up and show their true beauty over the lake which was lined in small wooden row boats, each with their own lanterns. I sat on the river side for a while just admiring where I was, knowing that it can be all too easy for me to quickly move on and forget how nice these places are. I walked around the adjacent ancient town for a little - finding a pick and mix shop so naturally I had to buy some sweets (they had mini chocolate eggs!!)
After getting some more fuel I headed back to my hotel as driving at night is never too confidence inspiring on a scooter. I ended up heading out to a restaurant close by and ordered a beer to sip on whilst I waited for my appetite to come back after eating far too many of my sweets already. I then ordered some goat and rice which was one of the local foods. It was decent but definitely not my favourite meat - the seasoning was good though. I wandered back - grabbing an ice cream before showering and watching some YouTube in my very own room (I'm still not over the levels of joy having a hotel room is bringing me).Read more
Day 65
April 10, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C
Trang An & Tam Coc > Hanoi
After obligatory morning routine (breakfast + checkout) I headed over to the departure area for the boat tours, parked up and headed to the ticket office. Along with the Mua Cave thing I did yesterday, this boat tour is one of the must do's around Ninh Binh. There were the choice of 4 routes of varying length and sites but after some online research I went for the most popular route - route number 3.
The boats were for people of groups of 4 so I had to wait a little bit to get paired with a group and I ended up being grouped with the 3 Californians who were behind me in the queue. I think they were all about 30 and working all over - and I was glad to be on the same boat as them especially as one of them spoke Vietnamese so they could easily talk with our boat guide.
We cruised along the river on our hand rowed boat (which is so much more relaxing than the deafening rumble of a diesel engine) through the beautiful landscapes. We had a few different stops along the way including a few temples and a few caves. The "highlight" would have been the 1km long narrow cave where we had to dodge stalactites as we slowly meandered through. We fed some fish as well which they went absolutely crazy for and also passed through the 'famous' set of Kong Skull Island where Kong left a bloody handprint (I've not seen it so I wouldn't know).
After the great trip I headed back into town to grab some lunch and quite last minute book my ticket to Hanoi. The guy at the hotel was a bit annoyed at me for not booking my bus ticket through him but to be honest he was a bit confusing with the language barrier so I went with old trusty 12Go. I said goodbye to Alfie and Daisy as they were staying another night and went to the pickup point for my journey to Hanoi. The journey was fine but I ended up changing bus twice for a grand total of 3 busses in only a 3 hour journey.
When I arrived in Hanoi I checked into my 16 bed dorm (quite a step down from the previous 2 nights), then went out for a wander and some food. It was quite easy to get a feel for the old quarter especially as I was right in the centre of the touristy zone and that feel was busy and hectic. I end up using Michellin Guide to find somewhere to eat but in an embarrassing turn of events I accidently end up eating opposite where I had aimed to, in a slightly dodgy looking place. Feeling like an idiot I prepared to eat a mediocre meal. In reality I ended up having a super yummy Bun Cha (a grilled pork soup with a side of noodles for dipping) and have absolutely no regrets about my fuck up.
On my wander back I grabbed some water and got offered a scooter taxi, a shoe shine, marijuana, and a prostitute in that order all within 30 seconds. I opted for some cheap cookies from the local shop instead and went back to my hostel to snack before bed.Read more
Day 66
April 11, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C
Hanoi
I woke up bright and early if bright and early meant midday and slowly gathered myself for some breakfast - well I guess lunch. I wasn't too hard on myself as I knew I needed good rest to not end up exhausted. Plus I was in absolutely no rush. I went to a small Banh Mi place closeby and as always it was super yummy. I kind of wanted to spend today exploring, and as most of the things are in the old quarter and walkable I could just wander about.
My first stop was the Hoan Kiem Lake in the middle of town. I seem to have a bit of a habit of finding the closest lake in a city and walking around it but how could I not especially when there was a floating pagoda right in the middle. Unfortunately though it was super busy and filled with people trying to clean your shoes (honestly mine could use a scrub but I'd rather not), and sell you stuff (I met a nice guy who "wanted to practice his English" but ended up wanting to sell me bracelets to fund his travels).
Hanoi is famous for its train street but during the week there are only trains during the night so I'd have to wait until later but in the mean time I could go along the track for a little bit and find the Street Murals - artwork confined to the arches under the railway. They each had their own style as well as a sign explaining their significance - really cool! I then followed the train track down (in the wrong direction initially) until I got to the Long Bien Bridge - a fairly historically significant bridge joining the 2 sides of Hanoi together over the river. I ventured through a very local housing estate to try and get a good view. I didn't get a good view of the bridge but I got a great glimpse into the lives of the kids playing in the park, playing badminton in the street, and 8 year olds riding scooters. I ended up going to a rooftop café and whilst I still didn't get a great view of the bridge I got a pretty decent view of the city.
The train was "scheduled" through train street at 7 but they're famously late or cancelled but I wanted to get a good seat and chill for a while so I ended up getting there about 6.30 and found a trackside seat with a good looking smoothie. I also grabbed some doughnut pieces off a street vendor to snack on and then patiently waited. The street itself was really nice, with lights and decorations. The first train ended up not coming so I waited for the 8.30 one. When it was close, sirens went off and the café owners went into crowd control making sure no one was to take an unplanned and painful train ride. Unfortunately as it was dark and the train had its lights on I didn't get any fantastic pictures so I just stood there and took in the train passing inches from my face. Once it cleared, people clappes then life returned to normal for the cafés and everyone quickly went on their way.
Today I was determined to eat at the Michellin place I had went for yesterday so I turned up at the right place and had a look at the menu. This place specialised in sea food and they had so many choices and I'm sure they were lovely but weren't quite as budget as I hoped. I ended up going for some black shrimp noodles and a couple oysters. It was honestly fine but I don't think I'm a massive sea food guy especially for the price. I wandered back and called it a night.Read more
Day 67
April 12, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 32 °C
Hanoi
I went for some breakfast at a popular Banh Mi place called "Banh Mi 25". I tried going yesterday but there was a big queue as it was lunch time but I was slightly earlier so managed to avoid the crowds. The Banh Mi was good of course but I don't think it was any better than any other Banh Mi place so I'm not sure why it's so popular. Yesterday at the train street a couple suggested I visited the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum where Ho Chi Minh is embalmed. Thinking it would be pretty cool to see such a prominent figure, I ordered a grab and headed over there. After finding the entrance I realised I had forgot that I needed to wear trousers so I had to go back to the hostel then back to the mausoleum. Somewhat unluckily it seemed that 5 busses full of tourists had arrived just before I got back and now instead of a zero length queue I had to wait about for a while. Atleast on the ride over I got go wear some funky looking goggles so not a total loss.
Eventually I passed through security and had a little walk around the grounds first. The first stop was the Ho Chi Minh Museum which was a cool looking building but seemed very closed. After that, I had a look round the 1 pillar pagoda which had a line of tourists waiting to check it out. I then went for the mausoleum which was grand and majestic but turns out you can only go inside before 11am which was a bit of a shame. Afterwards I was able to pay a little bit more to walk around the grounds of the Presidential Palace as well as the home of Ho Chi Minh. The buildings were painted a beautiful yellow and you also got to see the small collection of beautiful cars that he owned in his garage, sat right next to a quaint lake.
Afte that I got my 4th Grab of the day and headed back into town for the Note Cafe - a popular café where every surface is filled with post it notes where guests can write or draw whatever they want. I didn't expect it to be as colourful inside as it was - yet again beautiful in its own way. I ordered an egg coffee and a slice of cheesecake as I had gone this whole time without trying the famous Vietnamese egg coffee. As someone who thinks coffee is fine - this was also just fine. Also, the waiter who was Vietnamese had a very cockney accent and used so much British slang I couldn't tell if he was doing it to be funny but it turns out he has a lot of English friends and that's the accent that he picked up. After leaving a few notes of my own, I headed our and ran some errands around town as I needed to top up on some essentials.
Hanoi is known for its water puppet show and it was fairly inexpensive so I thought I'd book an 8pm showing. I showed up, and paid a little extra for an English audio guide, then sat down and got ready for the show. The show tells a story of Vietnamese history and culture through the use of live musicians and a central water pool where there were various puppets doing there thing. It's quite hard to describe it but it was cool to hear the history and story of Hanoi and the mythical creatures through such a unique medium. Plus the music was really cool as they were playing instruments I had never seen before.
Afterwards, I grabbed some dinner at a random restaurant where I was lucky enough to be sitting near a busker playing saxophone. He played some awesome renditions of popular songs and before I could go up to him and say how much I enjoyed it, he left as quickly as he came.Read more
Day 68
April 13, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C
Hanoi > Cat Ba
The day started fairly uneventful, I checked out and grabbed some Banh Mi for breakfast and grabbed a smoothie as I waited around for my bus to Cat Ba. I grabbed my bag from my hostel then headed over to the office to get picked up. As I get given my little goodie bag for the trip I see Alfie and Daisy walk in. Turns out we both booked the same bus to Cat Ba without eachother knowing. The journey wasn't too long, we arrived to a boat terminal, got a short boat to the island then hopped on another bus to our accommodations. I booked a hostel slightly out of the town so I was dropped off first. After checking in, I rented a scooter as I wanted to make the most of the daylight that I had left.
There's 1 main road across the island so I continued on that road in the opposite direction to which I came as it seemed to pass through the mountains and end up on the coast. It was an absolutely lovely drive and I ended up arriving at a lake which honestly took my breath away. I parked my bike up and admired my peaceful surroundings for a while, before calling my dad to show him the view. After that I continued to the end of the road and sat on the pier to watch the sunset over the islands, this time calling my mum to show her this view.
It was starting to get dark so I started going back but the sun had set quicker than I thought so I ended up driving back in complete darkness as there were no street lights for 95% of the drive. Plus, there were loads of bugs in the air so I had to half wear my sunglasses to stop myself from being blinded by the lens and blinded by bugs - a very uncomfortable drive to be honest, I was glad to be back.
The restaurant close by to my hostel was having a live music event so I wandered over and sat with a couple of guys as there weren't any free tables. These guys turned out to be really nice and invited me to play cards with them. One was from Spain and one was from Netherlands but they both worked in the same city together so were on vacation together. I ordered some noodles and a beer, and we all sat chatting and listening to the music. The music was definitely questionable with varying levels of skill but the last guy to perform, a Geordie, was really talented on the guitar and decent at signing too. We ended the night with a few games of pool before I called it a night.Read more
Day 69
April 14, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C
Lan Ha Bay
I woke up nice and early for some breakfast from my hostel then rode over to the tour office for 8.15am ready for the tour. Ha Long Bay is a super famous area of its 1000s of limestone towers in the ocean but is super touristic and busy. Having suffered from a not very fun boat tour in the Phi Phi Islands that was incredibly busy, I went for a tour of Lan Ha Bay instead as it was very similar, closer to Cat Ba, and a lot less busy. A family at my hostel heavily suggested this tour so I booked it last night and was ready for the day. Unfortunately when I was asked to pay I realised I had left my money belt at my hostel and couldn't pay. Luckily, he said I could pay later and I got ready to get on the boat.
It was a fairly busy boat but there was enough room for most of us on the top deck so we could watch the scenery as we went past - although the seats weren't very comfortable. We cruised at a very slow speed which was great as it let us take in the view and the boat was fairly quiet unlike some of the other boats we had been on. I'll let the pictures speak for the beauty of the place, nomatter which way you looked you had a great view. We cruised past some nice little floating fishing villages before we stopped for a swim. As it was low tide, some small beaches around the islands would appear. Once we stopped I heard a massive splash and I realised that people were jumping off the top of the boat into the water. Hell yeah I thought and it wasn't long before I was in my trunks on the edge of the boat ready to jump. It wasn't as warm as Thaialnd was but definitely not cold, so I swam over to the little island - where I ended up cutting my knees on the jagged rock. I swam back to the boat and jumped maybe 4 or 5 times, and I had a great time each jump.
Our next stop was for kayaking. We land at a little floating boat station with a few other boats and we queue up. I was riding solo so got paired up with a tall aussie bloke called Douggy. This was great as he powered us along the water and all I had to do was steer. We went through this cave into a larger opening and kept paddling till we got to another cave where the water was too low to get through. We parked up and carefully treaded through the muddy and sharp cave until we popped out into a fairly busy lake. Douggy also happened to have some beers with him, so beers in hand we treaded into the water and went for a swim to the other side and back. We had to be back at the main boat for 12.30 and it was now 12.15 so not wanting to miss our only way back we went back through the cave and hopped back in the boats ready to power our way onwards.
The first cave we had paddled through now happened to be a major issue as the tide had started to ride so there was a fairly strong current pushing everyone who wanted to escape back the way they came. Boats were going sideways, people were hitting eachother with paddles, and chaos was underway. Douggy and I prepared for our battle against the sea, found our gap and paddled as fast and hard as we could. Weiving through stragglers and pushing off the sides, we managed to make our way through to the other side. Fully pumped, the battle wasn't over as we still had to make it back to our boat. Mighty exhausted we eventually made it back just in time for lunch. This was perfect timing as we had worked up quite an appetite. A family dinner style feast was had and of course it was yummy, it never isn't.
It was then half of us were moved to another boat as some people had to be dropped off early. This was a great bit of news as it meant we had more space and we had lucked out with much comfier seats on the top deck. I chatted with a couple couples (literally everyone is travelling as a couple) on our way to Monkey Island. After spotting a majestic crow on our boat we arrive at the island and it was now that I realised that me cleaning my sunglasses for the whole journey with a purple towel had dyed my white sunglasses purple. Definitely not intended but I think it looks funky.
We hopped off the boat down a sketchy ramp and after accidently leaving someone on the boat as they were in the toilet, we made our way up to the viewpoint. Passing monkeys, I wasn't too phased as I had seen quite alot already but everyone else was pretty fascinated but these ones were definitely much more aggressive as one tried to fight me for olmy Fanta. Our hike turned into a scramble and then turned into a climb but ended with a pretty glorious view of the island and the bay. We made our way down and back onto the boat and this was where the true tragedy of the day had struck. My Hoka trail runners that I had been wearing religiously across Asia had slowly been wearing away but the scrambling was the final straw as the sole started falling off. Determined to save them as I needed atleast another month of use, I hatched a plan for the evening.
We got back and I rode back to my hostel and my first question was where I could buy super glue. Luckily, the restaurant closeby had exactly what I needed and for cheap too. My next question was if I could borrow a brush from my hostel. The dude at reception went out back and brought the perfect tool for the job with him. Needing to clean my shoes before I went for a repair (they hadn't been cleaned since I owned them) I hopped in the shower armed with my brush and my laundry detergent. After some intense dismantling and elbow grease, they started looking alot better. The water was still running brown so I left them under the shower whilst I showered myself and eventually there was no more evidence of dirt. After my shower, I gave the rubber soles a bit of a dry and went to town super glueing every bit of loose sole.
This post has already gone on far too long but I ended up meeting up with Douggy, a couple Canadians, and a Chinese dude for dinner and a drink in the evening before heading to a club/bar thing for a little while before I had decided I have had enough so decided to head home. Having not been in the town before, it being dark, and there not being a phone holder on my bike, I ended up getting lost repeatedly before finally getting my directions right and getting back.Read more
Day 70
April 15, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C
Cat Ba
After appreciating the fantastic work I did bringing my shoes back to life, I got ready and headed out for a quick Banh Mi before heading towards the National Park on the island. It was the same road that I drove on to the pier when I arrived but I was gonna be stopping off on the way.
My first stop was unplanned and was to 'Hospital Cave' which as the name suggests, was a military hospital set up inside a cave during the Vietnamese War. They had set up each room to have mannequins dressed as they would have been so you really got a feel for the people that spent 10 years living in the cave. There were 3 floors in total but the bottom floor had all the different rooms like the kitchen, security room, dining room, bedroom, radio room, and of course a couple infirmary rooms. It was quite a short visit but definitely nice to see, and funnily reminded me of the War Tunnels at Dover but on a smaller scale.
Next up I arrived at the actual National Park. There was a cave and a hike but I decided to skip the cave and head straight for the hike. Parking up and paying the entrance, there were quite well mapped trails through the woods that lead to some gorgeous views over the National Park. It was fairly busy but I took a while to sit down at each spot to take in the views. I had also decided to run through the trails (one because I like running) but also to test how my shoes were holding up. And just like the hands at the golden bridge, they were holding up perfectly. After some precarious scrambling, I ran back down and grabbed a cold drink at the café at the bottom before moving on.
My next stop was even more unplanned, and I almost passed the sign for this random cave. I drove past the ticket office with no one in sight and made my way up the stairs into this cave. This was a super creepy experience as there was no one else about and being in a vast cave by yourself is a very eerie feeling. It also wasn't as built up for tourists as others were - this had lights but only some worked and the creepiest bit was where I turned the corner to see a long dark passage with a flickering light - just like in a horror movie. If this was a horror movie this is where you'd shout at the guy on screen to stop being stupid and not go into the creepy looking cave. Being stupid, I used my phone's flashlight to venture onwards before getting a bit freaked and turning around. A guy was waiting for me at the entrance and I ended up buying another ticket and headed out.
On the edge of the beautiful lake that I went to a couple days ago, there was a wooden walkway that skirted around the edge. I didn't have enough time before to check it out but now I did. Parking up, I wandered over the flag lined bridge and made it to a small peaceful temple sat overlooking the lake. I grabbed a chair and chilled for a while overlooking the lake and the road. People came and went but the thing that made me leave was the unbelievable amount of bites I was getting - SO ITCHY.
I rode into Cat Ba town for dinner, driving a different way along the coast back. I decided on a Korean place as I fancied a bit of a mix up and ordered some stuff that I could not tell you what it was called. What it was, was yummy, filling, and relatively cheap so I was a happy boy. After dinner I grabbed a KitKat ice cream and headed back for some sleep.Read more
Day 71
April 16, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C
Cat Ba > Hanoi
I had a quick breakfast before packing up and hopping on the bus to Hanoi. The bus itself was fine but in doing some research about the border crossing into Laos it turns out I might need to get a VISA from Hanoi first. This would be fine, infact it would be perfect if it wasn't for the fact that it was Laos New Year and the embassy was shut till the 19th, and then it was closed on weekends too. So now it meant I would have to come back to Hanoi for a 3rd time to get a VISA, costing me more travel money and more time.
When I arrived in Hanoi I had a few errands to run so quickly got some more money from the ATM, exchanged some money into USD for Laos, went to the Post Office, and renewed my SIM card (annoyingly it was 30 days minimum). After that I was feeling pretty accomplished so I checked into the same hostel as I was in before as the beds were actually really decent. I ended up grabbing some food and drink before heading to the Laos Embassy just to check it was shut and the person I messaged who was in the same predicament as me hadn't gotten their days mixed. Unfortunately, it was indeed shut so I wandered over to a lake to chill for a while. A Vietnamese woman ended up sitting next to me and we chatted in basic English for a while before she had to go but it makes me appreciate the effort that people go to in order to speak my language.
For dinner, I wanted to try the famous Bun Cha restaurant that Obama and Anthony Bourdain ate at. I got there and it was busy but I could sit down straight away as I was riding solo, and I ordered "Combo Obama" from the menu which was a special bun cha, a fried seafood roll and a Hanoi beer all for less than 4 pounds. I also think the restaurant is on the Michellin Guide which is insane to think I can eat here for so cheap. The food was good of course, but the best bit was all the pictures of Obama eating there all over the wall, as well as the glass box upstairs filled with the exact cutlery that they both used.
After that, I grabbed some snacks and headed back to the hostel where I met a lovely Manchester lass who I ended up talking to for a few hours (instead of my planned movie night) before I went to bed and she went out for a drink with some friends.Read more
Day 72
April 17, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C
Hanoi > Cao Bang
So it turns out that this hostel (that I had stayed at for a few nights before) provides FREE BREAKFAST. And I didn't know this until today as Megan let me know last night. I'm not sure if I'm fuming because I missed out on breakfast or glad that I atleast got one free one.
I then walked over to the bus office and checked in, before grabbing a quick Banh Mi as I didn't want to get on the bus and get hungry. The bus was pretty long - it left at 11 and didn't arrive till half 5 and oh my God my ass was sore. I'm not sure if it was the seats or what but I was so uncomfortable that I ended up putting my blanket under me for a last resort of padding. Depsite the discomfort I powered on and decided to be responsible and finally book my flight home. It's a little worrying knowing that I'm not even in the same county as my flight but I can officially confirm I'll be home at 6.40pm on the 17th May - exactly 1 month away (if I make the flight). I also enquired to 2 hostels about booking the Ha Giang Loop. It's safe to say I felt pretty prepared for once which is a new feeling for me.
I ended up booking the same hostel as the other 2 people on my bus as they also wanted to do the Cao Bang Loop and said that they that this one rented bikes so I didn't bother checking anywhere else. The hostel was actually really nice and I ended up meeting a few people and heading to dinner with them in town. We chose a random place and the waitress said that one of the plates was her special so I just ordered it without even looking. What came was a whole plate of meat in a broth with 2 pieces of bread. It was absolutely delicious and I am so glad I went with what she suggested. I had to dip from the meal early and head back to the hostel as my uni was hosting a teams call about module choices for my final year. I didn't want to leave anything too late and miss out on the modules I wanted so a long 2 and a half hours later I ended up calling my friend Mann and talking about the choices before I made my final decision and submitted.
Whilst I was sitting on the balcony on the phone, out of nowhere a huge thunder storm came our of nowhere and the rain poured as heavy as the wind blew, and there were bursts of lighting every few seconds for over an hour. I tried capturing some of the lighting but my phone is nowhere near good enough but I don't think I'll ever get bored of seeing the electricity dance across the sky. With that, it ended up being quite a real life back at home productive day and I was excited to start the 3 day loop tomorrow.Read more
Day 73
April 18, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C
Cao Bang Loop Day 1
After getting a nice waffle, fruit, and honey combo for breakfast I renter a scooter from my homestay. I went with a little 110cc automatic but I probably should have went for a semi as it would have been cheaper and I would have plenty of time to practice. Depsite it being on the expensive side, it was definitely worth it as it was the nicest bike I had rented in Vietnam - even the mirrors were good. Plus, I got a brand new full face helmet with a nice clear visor. I would have bet my life nothing would go wrong with this scooter so I was filled with confidence which is always a good sign at the start of a 3 day solo motorcycle loop. The owner, Lin, showed me the whole route on a map and pointed out exactly where I should stay and what I should do each day. With my notes written, bike revving, and bag packed I headed out.
My first stop was of course the petrol station to fill up but after that I was cruising through the beautiful Northern Vietnam. Being on a scooter is so much nicer than being in a car as you actually feel like you're a part of your surroundings rather than in your own little world in a car or bus. I ventured through the Ma Phuc Pass which gave an incredible start to my adventure. All the stops in Cao Bang seemed to be sign posted as part of UNESCO which was really useful, and there was a nice information sign at each place to explain what was going on.
My first stop was at the Incense Village. There were 3 small villages not for from eachother that all specialised in a very specific thing. The Incense Village was quite cool as you could just smell the aroma of incense in the air, but I must have gotten unlucky with the day I came as there wasn't any incense out and about being made, I think this is because it needs sun to dry and there was too much of a risk of rain - especially with the thunder storms last night. I watched some locals all come together to build a new house or building then went off to the next village.
The Paper Village was up next, and I happened upon this nice lady's paper factory. She showed me some paper products she had made, as well as showed me how to paste the paper on the wall so that it could dry. My pasting was horrible on my first try but went better on the 2nd. Afterwards she invited me inside for some tea and some happy water (11am is way too early for spirits). She didn't speak English so we communicated through Google Translate but it was clear it had some limitations as some messages made absolutely no sense. She was kind enough to make me some food which was made from vegetables she had grown herself as well as meat she had raised herself, telling me that she wanted to be as self sufficient as she could be as she was poor. She showed me some pictures of her family and after paying her 5x what she wanted for a beautiful hand made paper fan (which was still not much money to me) as a way of saying thank you, she wished me good luck and good health and I went on.
I had spent a couple hours there so didn't have loads of time to stop in other places as I wanted to get to Ban Gioc before sunset. I stopped off at the final village, the Forging Village, which was pretty cool as just riding through you could see their products. Mostly, it was various knives and cleavers which were "known for their quality and durability and not their looks" but honestly if I didn't have to carry round a cleaver for another month then take it on a plane, I would have loved to get one as I'm sure it would have done wonders in the kitchen.
After that there were a few more stops listed but either I couldn't find it (The Magic Stne) or they weren't much (Little Ban Gioc & The Chestnut Tree). With the Magic Stone I tried to follow signs but the roads got so bad and the directions got so loose I gave up hope. Little Ban Gioc was just a nice river, and I stopped for an orange juice there. And the Chestnut Tree was meant to be this grand important tree from when the French came over and brought chestnut trees with them but either I couldn't find the right tree or the tree that was next to the plaque had been felled in the storm last night... whoops.
I quickly checked in to my homestay before heading out again to the temple that was right next to the Ban Gioc waterfalls. Lin suggested to go here for sunset so I parked at the bottom and trecked up the hill into this temple that had a wonderful vantage over the Ban Gioc waterfalls (which were at low flow at the moment) and the mountains. I trekked slightly off the beaten path to this little hut further up the hill and that's where I sat and watched the sun set over the mountains for one of the best sunsets of my travels so far.
I drove back to the homestay about 15 minutes away as I didn't want to be out in the proper dark and eventually had some dinner with a French couple before showering and heading to bed in my own little private room (for the same price as the shared room?).Read more
Day 74
April 19, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C
Cao Bang Loop Day 2
I'm about a week behind writing these so my recollection may not be all there.
After a terrible night sleep from being woken up by the roosters (which I didn't mind) then being kept awake by the rattling of footsteps through the thinly constructed walls and floor (which I did mind) I mustered myself out of bed not super ready to attack the day. Although, being able to open the shutters in my room and look out at the fields was quite nice. I had a quick breakfast of pancakes and fruit then checked out and headed towards the cave.
The cave was right by the waterfall but I had to kill some time before the dam at the waterfall opened at 11. The cave was okay. It was pretty decently sized but honestly I've been in quite a few caves now and I'm a little bit over them. After a brief run through I headed towards the waterfall, stopping at the Stone Village where all the houses felt very small European village. After a quick drink and a walk around I finally headed to the Ban Gioc waterfalls.
I parked up at a considerably more busy carpark than yesterday, paid for my entry and wandered in. Apparently it's the 4th biggest waterfall on an international border which is a very specific but nonetheless cool fact. It was also a big tourist hot spot as the waterfall is only "good" between 11 and 2 so everyone comes in those times. People were selling pictures riding horses whilst wearing cowboy hats. Definitely not my vibe but when I got to the waterfall I found a bench and sat for a while, watching the boats do circles in the water. When the dam opened it revealed even more to the waterfall around to the side too. Eventually I felt I had taken in the waterfall and got ready to do a bit of walking around when I saw a half fenced off pathway leading up towards the waterfall, and then a minute later I see a couple people making their way down. I asked them what's up there and they say that after about 15 minutes and a bit of a climb there's a nice little view away from the people and the boats. Perfect.
I made my way around the fence and in about 5 minutes I reached a bit of a dead end with not a super view and not the walk through the field that the couple said there was. A bit confused I turned around and found my way onto the path they were talking about. They warned me to remember my way back which was good advice as the path was pretty feint and quite diverging. Eventually I got to where I assume they were talking about and scurried a bit too close to the massive drop and waterfall below me but got a nice view out of it. Not wanting to forget the way I came (plus very hungry) I made my way back only getting a little lost and headed out.
I got some Pho across the road from the entrance and followed it with some ice cream before getting on my way as I had some kilometers to cover and it was well past lunch time. Something about the roads on the loop is that generally they were in really good condition but there were so many animals in the road. Whether that was dogs, chickens, buffalo, cows, or goats something was always laying in the street or ready to jump out and it made it quite a challenge to dodge anything with a death wish. Luckily there isn't much traffic except for the fairly frequent farmer walking a small herd of buffalo down the road (which I honestly couldn't tell you why).
After a while I made my way to a walking track that was meant to give a good view at the top. I parked up and had to walk behind this dudes house in this tiny village but then I got to the path that lead up. Feeling springy I jogged up this one till I got to a nice rock with a perfect seat for the view down the valley. Thinking that was it, I sat for a bit admiring the view before realising that the path continued and I was curious where it took me as I thought I was already at the "spot". Have you ever heard the phrase "Curiosity killed the cat"? Well I certainly felt like the cat. As I wandered up the path it was becoming clearer and clearer that this was becoming less and less trodden (but still fairly obvious) as people assumedly turned back. Unfortunately, my curiosity wouldn't let me stop going and I just *HAD* to see where the path lead. I kept venturing for maybe 30 minutes deeper into the jungle, with seemingly no end to this path. I then realised I had no phone signal and no one knew where I was if something were to happen, so being quite sweaty and dirty from battling through the jungle I turned back and followed the path back. Unfortunately, the path had split in 2 directions and I wasn't super sure the way I came as most things looked like trees and there wasn't many markers. Knowing I wasn't lost but just a bit confused, I made my way up one of the tracks to see if it led to anywhere recognisable. I ran into a disappearing track and small herd of cattle blocking the way so I decided to head back the other route. Eventually it led back to where I recognised and even though I was never off the track, I still got a bit panicked I'd end up lost so you can say I learnt my lesson. I got back down completely sweaty and headed out.
After no more official stops, I made it to where my homestay would be that night. I had to ride down this bumpy dirt and gravel track which required some good evasive techniques but eventually I ended up at 1 last stop a minute from my homestay. The stunning "Angel Eye Mountain" is a limestone karst with a cave going all the way through meaning you can see the sky through it. Plus it stands tall in a wonderful lush green plains below it. I got there just at sunset as well which meant 2 great sunsets 2 days in a row, lucky lucky me!
I checked in to a relatively expensive but super nice homestay and got ready to chill for the evening. They had about 5 or 6 dogs that were very excitable and great to play with, running around like crazy. It wasn't until I met a small curly hair little dude that my heart melted as all he wanted was to cuddle up to me. Turns out his name was Sam! It was really meant to be. I had some dinner, with little Sam sleeping on my lap then went for a shower before cuddling up to Sam again whilst I watched some Netflix (Castaway is a pretty good movie). Overall it was a really nice evening except for the stupidly low wooden beam in the bedroom which I hit my head against not once but twice, sending me to the floor on the 2nd time and leaving behind a bump right on top of my head.Read more
Day 75
April 20, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C
Cao Bang Loop Day 3
Righto let's try and knock this one out fast as I'm still many days behind.
Breakfast? Check. Another cuddle with cute little Sam and a very heartbreaking goodbye? Check. The coolest parrot in the world that waddled up to me and wanted me to stroke it? Check (yeah I know right this place was awesome and I didn't want to leave). There was really only 1 stop today so I wasn't in a very big rush, so I waited for the rain in the morning to pass before heading out as I couldn't be assed to get wet.
I made my way back along the sketchy track but now it was filled with mud and puddles of water - which just required even more of my unmatched skill to maneuvere (I say riding an automatic 110cc).
Honestly for the first leg of the journey, this was the best quality driving I had done so far. It was absolutely stunning and I had to keep stopping to get a picture of the luscious green landscapes.
I arrived at Pac Bo cave which is famous for where Ho Chi Minh returned to Vietnam from China for the first time in 30 years in 1941 and stayed for a few weeks. And, it is at one end of the "Ho Chi Minh Road" that stretches almost the whole length of the country. It's a popular spot that Vietnamese people will take the time to visit atleast once in their lives. When I arrived it was fairly quiet and I hopped on an electric buggy from the car park to the area.
Not really knowing where I was going, I followed the path along the stunning turquoise water known as "Lenin Creek" and up along the first pathway off the main loop. None of the signs were in English so I did my best to translate them but it meant I didn't super know what was going on. I reached a little hut which I thought was where Ho Chi Minh lived but apparently he lived in the cave so I'm not super sure who's hut it was. Behind the hut, the path continued and having not learnt from yesterday I decided to keep going as I wanted to see where it went. Another sweaty climb uphill resulted in a dwindling path so I cut my losses early and headed back the way I came.
It seems whilst I was off gallivanting in the forest, everyone in Vietnam had arrived to this 1 place. It was a Saturday but it seemed that every school also decided to make their school trip here aswell. It was safe to say I may have been the only white dude in hundreds of Vietnamese people - so I definitely got a good few curious looks and a lot of enthusiastic hellos. I had a gander at the famous cave, with his bed / workstation and a cooking pot. Down by the creek, there was a spot where he would fish as well as a rock that he would use as a table. Becoming super exhausted I grabbed a cold drink of sugarcane juice by the exit and left to find some lunch.
I drove down the road for a bit before stopping in the first place I could find with food. It was completely empty and the food was sitting there so I decided to go vegetarian for the meal, not wanting to risk any food poisoning. The rest of the ride back wasn't very scenic and mainly took me through towns until I arrived back into Cao Bang.
I had oficially survived my 3 day adventure and hopped in the shower before going for dinner. I loved my dinner so much my first night here I decided to go back and order the exact same thing (and finish watching Castaway) before heading to bed.Read more
TravelerCongratulations kiddo!
TravelerMy social sec 🫡 Will be sure to drop in next year:))
TravelerYou better