3 things i have learn about Vietnam:
1. There are NO traffic laws/rules. You can literally drive where every you want. Stuck in a traffic jam? Dont worry, just drive down the pavement.
2. Vietnamese girls are "scared of the sun". Even in 35 degree heat they will be wearing a jacket a trousers as they dont want to tan.
3. The iced coffee is the best coffee ive ever tasted, and costs about 40p.
We arrived in Hanoi airport having no clue where we were going. We picked a random hostel from Hostel World and asked a cab driver to take us there. Ive never seen people drive like they do here. There were mopeds everywhere, driving down the wrong side of the motor way with their children just holding on at the front, cows laying in the road and im pretty sure i saw someone having a nap while driving. Our taxi driver was fun. He had a happy hardcore club remix of "Hey Mambo" on full blast which got slightly tiering after the 4th time it was played.
There are approxinatle 4 million motorbikes in Hanoi. Crossing the road in the city was an experience in itself. The advice we were given was to take a deep breath and just go for it. We arrived at the hostel only to find it was closed for refurbishment. So i left the girls in a coffee shop and went on the hunt for somewhere to stay. The local people are so friendly, one woman even offered a room in her house. 2 hostels later we finally found somewhere to stay (with free beer). Winning.
The following day we went on a walking tour.
I loved Hanoi, it was very unwesternised, i didnt see 1 starbucks! The city was made up of tiny streets wich were crammed with local people sat on the floor selling everything from their front door. You cant walk on the pavement as the mopeds are parked everwhere which means you just have to walk in the road amoung the 4 million beeping motorbikes.
At the end of the tour we went to a roof top coffee shop which was really cute. There was lots of plants growing through the walls and tiny exotic birds they had as pets. I tried the egg milk coffee, it is literally coffee with egg in it. Sounds digusting but was actually pretty good.
After a few days in Hanoi we took a 4 hour bus joutney to Halong Bay. The bus had seen better days, there was no aircon and packed with a group of excitable vietnames friends who enjoyed taking pictures of us and laughing.
Halong bay was beautiful, i have never seen anything like it before. Huge limestone rocks towering out of the water. We visted a cave and a floating village, me and hattie took a boat with one of the locals around the limestones, it was so quiet and peacful. After a swim we had dinner and stayed a night on a boat. The vietnames group turned out to be right party animals, drinking games, necking back the beers and doing an allnighter!
The next day we got off the boat at Cát Bà island which is the largest of the 336 islands at Halong Bay. We were picked up by bus and headed to the national park to hike up Ngu Lam mountain. Our tour guide was known as "monkey man" which became apparent while we were walking as he kept swinging on branches and leaping onto rocks. It took us about an hour to get to the top and the views were amazing. Monkey man freaked me out by leaping around and standing on 1 leg next to a sheer drop!
Next we got a small boat from Ben Beo to Nam Cat island. It took about 30 minutes, the island was surrounded by huge cliff with around 20 wooden huts on the beach. It was an experience being in total islolation from any mainland.
The following day we headed back to Hanoi to plan the next part of our journey. We booked the 5 stop sleeper bus which would take us to Hue, Hoi An, Nha Trang, Mui Ne and finally Ho Chi Minh City.
My first though when getting on the night bus - what the hell am i doing! There are about 40 beds crammed onto a coach, not made for anyone over 4ft tall and driven by (in Dans words) someone thats just come out of a mental institute. But after a few sleeping pills and 14 hours of swerving through traffic we made it to Hue in 1 peice.
We rented mopeds and drove around the city, visited a temple and then got caught in rush hour which was manic but fun. I feel like once you've driven a moped in Vietnam, you can pretty much do anything. We arranged to stay in Hue for 1 night and went out to explore the nightlife. The following day Me and Hannah rented mopeds and drove to Hoi An (we weren't ready to face to bus again just yet). So after finding a local resturant which did the best breakfast we headed to Hoi An with our tourguides Moon and Noal. On the way we stopped at a place called Elephant Springs which was beautiful. We swam in the crystal clear waters and slid down the waterfalls which was so refreshing and needed after driving in the heat! Next we stopped to take photos at Lang Co Lagoon in Lap An. The scenery here is unreal. Our tourguides Noal and Moon then took us to a resturant called Be Than which is apprently famous for its seafood. Everything was so fresh, you could pick what you wanted to eat while it was still alive. After eating, the next part of the tour was the mountain roads. I wasnt looking forward to this part but actually it was alot easier and quieter than I expected. We stopped at the top of the moutain at Hài Vân Pass which is the boarder between Dà Nãng and Thùa Thiên-Huê Province. There was an old look out post from the war at the top and the views were breathtaking.
We passed through Dà Nãng which was beautiful. We didnt get a chance to stop here but I would like to come back a visit. Moon said it is one of the best citys to live in in Vietnam and it is known for having many bridges. One of the briges has a giant dragon across it which breaths fire every evening. We then passed Marble Mountain, which is literally a mountain in the middle of the city. We didnt get time to stop here as it was getting dark and after 10 hours and 180km on a moped we were getting pretty tired.
We arrived in Hoi An around 6 and met the girls. We were told that Hoi An was the Magaluf of Vietnam, they werent wrong. The old town was really pretty but after all you can drink for 100,000 dong (£3) things can get messy! There were hundreds of shops around the town were you could get custome made clothing made in less than 24 hours.
Next was a 10 hour night bus to Nha Trang where we stayed for 1 night. This is a holiday destination for Russians. It was strange seening non vietnamese people running shops and bars here. Apparently it is considered to be one of the worlds most beautiful bays but i wouldnt agree with that. Halong bay wins over Nha Trang 100 times over!
I was finding the more south we travelled the more touisty the towns were, and more people would try and rip us off! Which was a shame because most of the people we have met here have been lovely.
Our last stop before HCMC was Mui Ne, it was super chilled here with so many fresh seafood resturants. Me and Hattie rented mopeds and drove to the sand dunes which were pretty impressive. We couldnt figure out how to opens the seats on out peds so had to get help from a 5 year old child... Embarrassing. It was nice to chill out for a few days but i was looking forward to getting back to a city.
Were now in Ho Chi Ming City aka Saigon. There is alot happening here, the atmophere is buzzing and the streets come to life at night. The markets are cammed with "designer" shoes, bags, clothes, sunglasses and everything else. So much you can barely walk through it.
Were all hanging today so sat in the chill out room in the hostel feeling sorry for ourselves... The guy on reception is a massive queen who i am literally in love with! I might have to put him in my backpack and bring him with us 💗Im going to go find the war museam and have a wonder round soon.
I love Vietnam and the communty of people, will definatly be back here soon :)
Next stop Cambodia!!Baca lagi