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Vietnam!!!!!
  • Shalee Gherbaz
Feb – Mar 2024

Vietnam!!!!!

Michael and I are off to Vietnam for 3, weeks!!!! Ho Chi Minh City - Hoi An - Da Nang - Hanoi - Ho Chi Minh City Read more
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  • Shalee GherbazVietnam!!!!!Traveler

    In need of carbs! Ambience at Chops!

    March 2, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ 🌧 21 °C

    Had some mini slider burgers and a margarita at Chops in Hoi An. The mini sliders were super yummy. The mayo in particular was light and zesty (I normally hate mayo) with fresh ingredients and a lovely light dough. The pizza was good also, but was lacking the "nonna" embodiment in the tomato sauce, especially given we had a god tier margarita the other day!

    Ambience of this place was great, with low-key live music and a really warm, inviting atmosphere.

    We wandered around the old town at night for one last time, slowly walking past the lanterns shops and the river. A lovely last night in Hoi An.    Read more

  • Shalee GherbazVietnam!!!!!Traveler

    Madame Bahn Mi for brunch

    March 3, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    Today is a lazy transit day! We have checked out of our hotel and left our bags there to duck out and have breakfast/lunch combo at Madame Bahn Mi before heading to do the final fitting and collect our clothes from the tailor!

    Another great Bahn Mi was had, this one had amazing flavours and they had no issues accommodating Michael's no vege needs!    Read more

  • Shalee GherbazVietnam!!!!!Traveler

    Tailoring Complete!!!!

    March 3, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    It's taken some last minute adjustments, but all of our tailoring is now completed! What a fabulous experience. 5 stars for our service girls and tailors at Tuong Tailoring. Michael is now also semi famous there as they have been showing photos of his special outfit to everyone, staff and customers alike!!!! It always gets ooohs out of whoever is in the change room hahahaha.

    They pack everything in wrapper bags for easy transit back home, so let the Tetris begin!

    For our reference, Michaels girl was Mina, and my girl was Sara.    Read more

  • Shalee GherbazVietnam!!!!!Traveler

    Jolia Hotel Da Nang

    March 3, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    We've arrived at our hotel in Da Nang, where we are staying for 2 quick nights before heading up to Northern Vietnam.

    Our hotel is pretty damn decent considering it's costing us $33 a night! We are in a great location 3 minutes walk away from My Khe Beach ⛱️⛱️, and a 10 minute drive from the airport. Our hotel also has a rooftop pool, relax area and outdoor gym that we were not at all aware of!!!!Read more

  • Shalee GherbazVietnam!!!!!Traveler

    Sweets at Paris Levain

    March 3, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    We've ducked up the road to grab some baked sweets from a Parisian Bakery. The bakery is very aesthetic, as are the pastries. Having only had a Bahn Mi all day, Michael smashed down his pastries. My eyes were a little bigger than my tummy, so I only got through halfway of mine hahaha. The highlight for me was the French Earl Grey chocolate mousse (Kay you would adore this!) which had a beautiful delicate earl Grey scent and flavour. Yummo.Read more

  • Shalee GherbazVietnam!!!!!Traveler

    Netflix and Chill

    March 3, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ 🌙 24 °C

    We had to get a HDMI cable so we could link up Michael's laptop to the TV to watch Netflix, and thoroughly enjoyed walking about the streets of Da Nang. A lot of interesting back streets and restaurants and party places.

    We felt after our walk that we needed a lazy night in to recharge for a big day ahead tomorrow, so decided to hit up the local q mart and grab a range of different Vietnamese drinks to try, and see how their instant noodles compare to ours back home. The consensus was that they are pretty damn good for less than $1.

    We have finished both seasons of Bridgerton now, ready for the third to drop in May. We are looking forward to hitting the bikes again tomorrow!    Read more

  • Shalee GherbazVietnam!!!!!Traveler

    Monkey Mountain Pass

    March 4, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    The first stop on our motorbike tour is the Monkey Mountain Pass. It's just off the coastline of Da Nang out on a small island. A heap of monkeys live here so you can come and see them.

    Riding along the coastline was gorgeous, and there was no shortage of monkeys. We kept our distance but managed to get some good snaps, and one tried to give Michael a bit of a size up and climb up his leg, but our driver shooed it away. We are both big believers in look but don't touch when we can avoid it with animals!!!!Read more

  • Shalee GherbazVietnam!!!!!Traveler

    Lady Buddha and Exotic Gardens

    March 4, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Our next stop is at the big lady Buddha and Pagoda gardens. Nanna Smith would love it here, because the whole area is full of bonsai trees and pretty ponds and statues!

    The lady Buddha was massive, the biggest one we have seen so far.Read more

  • Shalee GherbazVietnam!!!!!Traveler

    The Cable Car to Sunworld

    March 4, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    Our final (and main stop) for the day is to visit Sunworld at Ba Na Hills. The ride here was dynamic, as we went through the Da Nang City, then through some smaller towns, and then up through the winding hills.

    To get to Sunworld, you need to travel up the mountain by cable car. I knew that this was a part of the experience, but didn't realise just how long the cable car was and how high up on the mountain we are!!!

    Michael coped through it, but looked back a few times and felt a little queasy. He's absolutely killing it with trying new things this holiday!!!

    The view up is spectacular, even on a cloudy day like today. We literally are up in the clouds.    Read more

  • Shalee GherbazVietnam!!!!!Traveler

    Sunworld in Architecture

    March 4, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Sunworld is basically like Epcot's World section, except it's all Medieval and European. It's the weirdest place. It looks gorgeous, but it's basically hotels, restaurants and gift shops hahaha. We've walked around and snuck through random alleyways, slowly letting the park unveil itself to us. Will have a few seperate posts for the park as there is some seriously weird stuff here hahahaRead more

  • Shalee GherbazVietnam!!!!!Traveler

    Buffet Lunch

    March 4, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    As part of our Sunworld ticket, we got all you can eat buffet at the four seasons restaurant. The place is huge and there's so much food.

    We had a few plates and tried bits and pieces. Anything we were not super keen on got left on the plate so we would only eat what we really enjoyed. There was some beautiful roast duck and ham that Michael loved, and I had an amazing bowl of pho and some divine braised pork, spring rolls, and wontons.

    It's not the best meal by any stretch, but for $17 each it's easily the best theme park meal we've both had! Afterwards, Michael saw these weird coin snacks    Read more

  • Shalee GherbazVietnam!!!!!Traveler

    The weirdest wax museum

    March 4, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    As part of our entry we got to get a free ticket into the wax museum. It was the scariest, funniest, weirdest wax museum. Like, the wax statues were actually terrifyingly bad, so bad it was funny. I laughed so much!Read more

  • Shalee GherbazVietnam!!!!!Traveler

    Fantasy Park (inside Sunworld)

    March 4, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    There is a games/fantasy weird park underneath the facade of sunworld that you go underground to explore. It had a bunch of Vietnamese Games, Arcade Prize Games, rides for little ones, a random drop ride like the Batman ride in Queensland, plus random themed areas like a Jurassic Park Themed Area, and a 4D and 5D Cinema. This place is utterly bizarre hahaha.

    Michael and I ended up going in the 5D Cinema, and it was a cowboy themed ride where you had to straddle a face horseback and shoot at baddies. It was so much fun we ended up going back and doing it again. The second time we did it Michael got the top score out of everyone (he secretly filmed the whole thing on his magnet camera), and I randomly got 3rd after getting 0 points for the whole first half of the ride. It was an absolute blast and easily our favourite part of the park.    Read more

  • Shalee GherbazVietnam!!!!!Traveler

    The Famous Golden Hand Bridge

    March 4, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    To get back down from Sunworld, you can go via a lower level by getting a cable car to the lower level, and there's a bunch of gardens and viewpoints. But the big drawing card that everyone goes on about on social media is the golden hands bridge. Many people only come here just for this bridge.

    Michael took one look at the bridge, which hangs over the mountains with a massive view below, and said get stuffed hahahaha. I took a look at all the tourists on the bridge trying to take selfies and said get stuffed hahahaha. Either way, the golden hands bridge was not perused.

    However! When we went to find a place for Michael to sit down for a bit, we discovered an area opposite the bridge that had a direct view of it without the crazy tourists. So we quickly grabbed some snaps, called it a day, and got the cable car back to the bottom.

    Viet, our tour driver, was waiting for us at the bottom (he napped for 4 hours whilst we were at Sunworld) and we jumped back on the bikes for the hour long trek home. The venture between Ba Na Hills and Da Nang was gorgeous, with the rolling mountainscape and a cool breeze. Then we hit peak hour in Da Nang, and all chaos broke loose. I've been on the back of bikes in India which I call the land of chaos, and this was another level. It was like being in Ho Chi Minh. Crazy! I didn't film the worst of it but you can get a bit of a gist- imagine double the amount of bikes in places! Hectic! Alas, we made it back to our hotel safe and sound.

    Super happy we changed up our plans and got Viet our easy rider back for the day.    Read more

  • Shalee GherbazVietnam!!!!!Traveler

    Dinner at Bikini Bottom!

    March 4, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ 🌙 25 °C

    We've ducked down a few blocks to get dinner at Bikini Bottom, which is an American Diner based off SpongeBob Squarepants. The place was packed, and the menu expansive. I ended up getting a smoothie bowl with fruits, granola, berry coconut yoghurt, with a side of bacon, and Michael had Poutine fries with beef, bacon, gravy and cheese.

    Both were delicious and reasonably priced. Our drinks were great with Michael option to get boozy for a change (a baileys orea milkshake) and I had a refreshing green juice. $24 for the two of us. Can't complain!    Read more

  • Shalee GherbazVietnam!!!!!Traveler

    Sunrise at My Khe Beach

    March 5, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    Today is a transit day between Da Nang and Hanoi. Our flight has been pushed back an hour, so we don't need to be at the airport until 2.30pm.

    I've left Michael at the hotel to have a sleep in and wandered down to My Khe beach, which is about a 3 minute walk from the hotel. I arrived when the sun was rising, with lots of people out and about to take pictures. The sand here is lovely. I dipped my toes in for a bit, and then have grabbed a lazy boy and done some data annotation work. I've been doing an hour or so in the mornings, so figured this would be a nice spot to do some!Read more

  • Shalee GherbazVietnam!!!!!Traveler

    Back at Bikini Bottom for Breakfast

    March 5, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    We have ducked back down to Bikini Bottom to have a Western Brekkie. Bikini Bottom has 2 restaurants fused together. We are eating in the coffee shop side instead of the burger garden side today.

    Michael had eggs Benedict that came with seared steak strips and on an English muffin, and I had a classic bacon and eggs that also came with fruits. We shared the pancakes together. Drinks wise, Michael had a cookie dough milkshake and I had lime juice and the BEST salt coffee of the trip. I'll be sad to say goodbye to salt coffee but my endocrine system will thank me when I get home haha (although I haven't been impacted by the coffee here (horrible come downs of fatigue) in the same way I'm impacted in Australia).    Read more

  • Shalee GherbazVietnam!!!!!Traveler

    Our Last Lunch in Central Vietnam

    March 5, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    We walked up the road to a little local Vietnamese place to have some light lunch before heading to the airport. We had some spring rolls, roast pork, and mì quảng, which is a speciality soup in Da Nang with shrimp, pork, and thick rice noodles in pork bone broth. Delish, light and refreshing.

    I have tried a wide range of speciality soups whilst in Vietnam, and I have a rank so far as to my top 5 as follows:

    1. Hư Tiêu Nam Vang
    2. Cao Lau
    3. Đây Đu Không Giờ Heo
    4. Mì Quảng
    5. Phở

    Hanoi is meant to be the queen of Phở so we will find some good bowls tomorrow and test her out!!!! I'm keeping a record of the names of dishes so that I can see if any of the Vietnamese restaurants at home serve them and see how they measure up!    Read more

  • Shalee GherbazVietnam!!!!!Traveler

    JaCosmo Hotel in Hanoi

    March 5, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ 🌙 27 °C

    We have arrived in Hanoi and settled into our hotel. So much for cold weather. It's 28 and muggy, and tomorrow is 27. It does drop to low 20s later in the week so Michael might finally get some reprieve!

    Our hotel is bougie as!!!! We are on the penthouse floor, we have a jacuzzi, a cool as shower with fancy buttons, multiple lounges, a balcony, a french girl day bed, and it's all in super bougie design. Seriously quiet, the air con is great, and the Netflix works. The only downside is the bed is hard 😭😭😭 it's at least not springy like the last hard bed we had, and the pillows are to Michaels liking.

    Photos are at night so not really showing how bougie the place is. At $60 a night, this is a steal.    Read more

  • Shalee GherbazVietnam!!!!!Traveler

    Bun Cha!

    March 5, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ 🌙 26 °C

    Ducked down the road from our hotel to grab some dinner. One of Hanoi's speciality meals is Bun Cha. Bun Cha is basically like pork rissoles with vermicelli noodles, salad and a sweet broth. We ended up getting a set meal which included some regular spring rolls, crab spring rolls, and pork skewers.

    All was tasty (except the regular spring rolls which didn't have a whole bunch of flavour) and we are satiated and ready to hit the hay after a long day of commuting.    Read more

  • Shalee GherbazVietnam!!!!!Traveler

    Breakfast at the Hotel

    March 6, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    This is the only hotel that we have breakfast included at. We will be using it every day except tomorrow (as we have a 5am start) to fill up. Basically they have a buffet for sides, and then you can pick a cooked dish to go with it. Michael had french toast, which was tasty but looked sad haha, and I had a banana pancake, which was delicious. I also filled up on some tasty sides such as beef and veg, bacon, chicken soup, and fried noodles. Can't complain!Read more

  • Shalee GherbazVietnam!!!!!Traveler

    The aesthetic of Hanoi

    March 6, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    We are wandering around Hanoi today by foot to taste some local foods and just get a vibe of the place. Will do a separate post for all the foods we try throughout the day.

    It's an interesting city. Very very busy, and very old. The architecture clearly has French influence, and the trees that grow around the buildings give it a unique beauty. Crossing the street is as chaotic as HCM, and I'd recommend wearing sneakers as the footpaths are often wet or very dusty! It's an adventure to explore, that's for sure.Read more

  • Shalee GherbazVietnam!!!!!Traveler
    1

    Games Arcade at AEON Japanese Mall!

    March 6, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    We've decided to head out of old town to a Japanese Shopping Mall that has a big arcade and lots of air conditioning. The arcade was awesome! Each game was between 2-3 tokens per person, and each token was $0.25 AUD! We played a heap of games together, from various shooters to motorbike racers, I did the dance mania machine, and of course we had a heap of goes at the claw machines!

    We didn't come out empty handed! Michael got 2 Naruto plushies and a teddy plus, and I got a mangosteen plushie! At the end Michael also bought a Pokemon capsule, getting Bulbasaur!

    Such a fun change of pace for our rest day!    Read more

  • Shalee GherbazVietnam!!!!!Traveler

    Some foods of Hanoi

    March 6, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Today we went about to a number of places to try some Hanoi specialties, as well as Taiwanese specialties! Here's a list, pics and thoughts on each adventure:

    1. Chicken Phở at Phở 26.
    The best phở of the trip. Light, fragrant, tasty, with high quality ingredients.

    2. Sweet Buns from Roti King (Vanilla and Matcha).
    These were not at all what we expected. They had very little filling in them. Some bits tasted like a biscuit, others a croissant. They were light and tasty though and we enjoyed them. Note: matcha in Vietnam SUCKS. Every time I've had something matcha, it's not tasted at all like matcha. This was the best matcha thing I've had, because there was ZERO matcha flavour hahaha.

    3. Egg Coffee and Egg Chocolate
    Hanoi is famous for egg coffee. I've had it, and for me it's a miss. The froth on top is tasty, but it's very very rich and sweet, and then the coffee underneath is outrageously bitter. You have to mix it a bunch and even then it's not that great. I've tried all 3 speciality Vietnamese Coffees, and Salt Coffee smashes the other 2 out of the park. In saying that, Egg Chocolate is FANTASTIC. It's a much better pairing than egg coffee as dark chocolate has a bitterness that suits the richness of the egg.

    4. This isn't a Hanoi speciality, but we went to another hidden cafe/restaurant. This time, it was NOT a tourist trap, and it lived up to the reviews. It was gorgeous. An adorable coffee shop with incredible ambience both downstairs in the broody, rich area, and upstairs amongst the plants and mini beach seats. It was a quiet and tranquil respite from the hustle bustle of the city. We ordered 2 fruit mocktails (spiced apple and mulberry, they were delish), Michael had a Baileys Chocolate (yum) and I had my iced salt coffee (equal best to Bikini Bottom in Da Nang). We spent around 90 minutes here as they had free wifi and we just wanted to chill.

    Taiwanese Food Court Food
    After our fun gaming session, we got a bunch of snacks to make up the rest of our food for the day. I loved Taiwanese food when I went in 2018, so wanted to share some faves with Michael. Here's how it faired:

    1. Taiwanese beef noodle soup.
    Delish. Michael's fave soup of the trip. Hearty, yet delicate. YUM
    2. Beef and pickle bao.
    At first I was a bit freaked out, but then after pulling it apart it tastes like an Asian version of a hamburger. Pretty tasty!
    3. Crab roe dumplings.
    Michael's fave dumplings of the trip. Scrummo.
    4. Taiwanese dough pork dumplings.
    My favourite dumplings of the trip. Eye rolling, god tier for me.
    5. Popcorn fried chicken.
    Best popcorn chicken we've had in years.

    We also had some yummy ice-cream for dessert. Michael got the cutest piglet icecream haha.

    I actually can't believe how top tier this food was given it was food court food at a shopping mall. Blown away.

    Overall, I'd say the day was another successful day for our bellies!    Read more

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