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Vietnam!!!!!Vietnam!!!!!
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Vietnam!!!!!

February - March 2024
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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  • TravelerVietnam!!!!!
    Day 4

    Boost!

    February 27 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 35 °C

    We ventured into a shopping mall for some air conditioning (another 36 degree day today) and came across a Boost juice!!!!! It even had an Australian sign on it, so we had to get one. Also, boosts here are like $4 instead of $10 LOL. Grabbed some donuts and ice creams whilst we were as I needed sugar as a pick me up from the heaviness of the War Museum.Read more

  • TravelerVietnam!!!!!
    Day 4

    Late lunch at Secret Garden

    February 27 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 34 °C

    This place was recommended by our tour guide, and also gets rave reviews online. It is a restaurant five floors up in a random building that you have to go down an alley to get to. The food looks lovely and does taste quite nice (with the exception of my beef salad which had a salad that tasted super meh), but for $750k ($67 AUD).... Nah mate.

    You expect in District 1 for things to be a bit pricey but this was clearly tourist pricing, and the restaurant was full of foreigners so that explained a lot. Also the service was really average. Most of the workers were on their phones the entire time and not attentive to patrons at all.

    So yeah... Maybe I'm a little jaded because breakfast was like $8 this morning hahahahaha also I hate tourist traps LOL.    Read more

  • TravelerVietnam!!!!!
    Day 4

    This afternoon/evenings events

    February 27 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    It absolutely piss bucketed on our way home from District 1. We just got in the Grab Taxi before it started to pummel. It's a good thing we adjusted our plans because it rained like this for hours. We spent the rest of the afternoon watching Bridgerton (our TV connects to Netflix and Michael has never seen it and has become entranced hahaha) before heading out for dinner around the corner at a very local hole in the wall restaurant called Bun Bo Vy Da Xua.

     It was absolutely packed with locals and literally only had one thing available on its menu. We had no idea what we were getting into, all we knew was that it was some sort of beef soup. It was absolutely delish. Packed with flavour, and cheap! $13 for 2 meals and 2 drinks. That's more like it!!!!

    Did a quick stop at Circle K (the local convenience store over here) and grabbed a few snackies to finish off the night watching the season 1 finale of Bridgerton before having an early night as we fly out to Hoi An tomorrow!    Read more

  • TravelerVietnam!!!!!
    Day 5

    Bahn Mi!

    February 28 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    We are checking out of our hotel in HCM this morning to head to Hoi An in central Vietnam. Figured I would nab down before we checked out and grab some local street grub for breakfast. I had seen these carts around our area and knew we had to give it a try. Luckily the lady understood me and allowed me to build a custom Bahn Mi with just herbs, sauces and meat. I had the normal one but forgot to ask with no chilli, so had to scrape some out when I got back to the hotel.

    Gotta say, the bread here hits different. It's so good. Also, $1.50 AUD each. Michael and I loved them (even though mine buuuurned hahahaha) Absolute slay of a meal.    Read more

  • TravelerVietnam!!!!!
    Day 5

    Square Villa Resort - Hoi An!

    February 28 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    We flew from HCM to Da Nang this morning and were collected by our hotel shuttle car to arrive into Hoi An this afternoon.

    Our hotel is nestled right in the thick of Hoi An, and I've kind of splashed out and gotten a deluxe room that's basically a his and hers suite 😍😍😍

    Two bedrooms two bathrooms, two air conditioners, two TVs, a heap of nooks to relax in, heaps of storage, plenty of Powerpoints, a bar fridge, a huge vanity mirror and set up for me to get ready, and the cutest little iron.

    There's no elevator so it's all stairs, but they have a luggage pulley!!!! So no having to cart luggage up and down, but still get a good glute workout every day.

    Only downside is that for Michael, the pillows are a little soft and the toilets are a little close to the wall to comfortably relax on 🤣🤣🤣. The pillows from our last hotel were amazing, too bad we couldn't cart them everywhere. Alas, you cannot have it all!

    We are off to eat, then off the tailors to start the process of getting our custom made clothing 😍😍    Read more

  • TravelerVietnam!!!!!
    Day 5

    Burger House for lunch

    February 28 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    We ducked literally across the road from our hotel to have a very late lunch at Burger House, which is a tiny mom and pop restaurant that has American Burgers as well as Vietnamese food. Michael was very keen for a burger and I went for a dish called Cao Lau.

    My noodles were the best noodles of the trip so far. The flavour was STACKED. Only 7 ingredients- sliced pork, pork crackle, bean shoots, herbs, lettuce, the most unique rice noodles, and a ridiculously rich broth. It was unreal. They give you chilli and soy to add but it was so good on its own I didn't touch it. And only 40k ($2.40 AUD) that is just.... Yum.

    Michael really enjoyed his burger as well which came in at 110k ($6.80 AUD), lovely soft bread and beautiful textures (again, the bread here SLAPS). A thoroughly delish meal to satiate us both 😍😍

    Also, the owner came and took some photos for us and I got a selfie. So cute!    Read more

  • TravelerVietnam!!!!!
    Day 5

    Tuong Tailor - getting the works!

    February 28 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Something Michael and I were both really wanting to do was get custom clothing made here in Vietnam. Well... We are getting custom clothing! I'm getting 4 dresses (to cover 3 wedding events and one just for me), 2 linen pants for work, 2 leather bum bags (one in khaki Green, one plum/burgundy), and Michael is getting a full cosplay outfit (suit, shirt and long coat), a 3 piece formal suit with shirt, a leather jacket, Woolen double breasted winter coat, and a leather satchel.

    Don't even ask me the pricing 🙈🙉🙊it's about 1/3 of what you would pay if you had it done in Australia, let's put it that way! Will need to buy a new suitcase and add another check in luggage to all our flights. But YOLO! This is why we hustle so hard at home to save money so that we can splash on the things really important to us and experience these special moments.    Read more

  • TravelerVietnam!!!!!
    Day 5

    Wandering through Hoi An at night

    February 28 in Vietnam ⋅ 🌙 24 °C

    We spent almost 2 and a half hours at the tailors getting all our fabrics picked, measured, and choosing our styles and getting things costed, so we perused the streets of Hoi An. A few observations below.

    - It really is beautiful here. The aesthetic of the lanterns and the river and the lights are just stunning. Everywhere you look is pretty. My phone cannot capture how pretty it actually is from an architectural and visual colour aesthetic POV

    - This is a VERY touristy place. Tourists everywhere. And the Vietnamese get to work. Haggled multiple times walking to the tailors and walking home of people pushing you to go to their shop/their restaurant/ buy their toys/food. Ew ew ew. Didn't experience any of this in HCM but let's just say I'll be keeping a close eye on my belongings.

    - Avoid using 500k bills as much as possible here to avoid the money scam (the 500k bills and the 20k bills are both blue and look very similar, so a lot of scammers will claim you only gave them a 20k bill instead of a 500k and fight you over it) Solution- carry only 100k and 50k bills.

    - The pricing seems to wildly vary here when it comes to food. Some things are super cheap, and others are very inflated to the Western Market. I'll be looking to see where the whities eat vs the locals and scurrying off to the local joints wherever possible. I'm a tourist snob. Judge me all you like 🤣🤣🤣

    - If you came here to have a romantic boat ride by yourself and get a cute Instagram pic... Forget it! HUNDREDS of boats on the river packed in. Still really pretty, and Michael and I will definitely do it, but gotta keep the expectations down on earth because the reality is every man and his dog is getting on a boat.

    - I think this is a beautiful place by night, but it's definitely not somewhere that feels authentically Vietnamese as it's clearly been designed as a tourist town. It will be fascinating to explore the old town tomorrow during the day and see the cultural side of the city, not just the touristy elements.

    These are my first impressions. Let's see if I fall in love over the next few days. She really is a beauty, but does she have the heart. I'll keep you posted.    Read more

  • TravelerVietnam!!!!!
    Day 5

    Dinner in Hoi An Centre

    February 28 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Had dinner at a dumplings place in the middle of Hoi An after wandering around a bit more. There's a whole strip that is clearly all about drinking and partying, and a night market that was immensely busy so we gave it a miss for the night and will return another time when we both have our Loops.

    Dinner was OK. Michael got mixed meat dumplings and I had pork and prawn fried rice, and we shared some duck. The smoothies were delish though. I haven't been let down by a smoothie yet and they are all decently priced. Tourist tax for the food though. Ew. I'll go hang out with the lady across the road tomorrow and have her food again me thinks hahahahaha.

    We also nabbed a banana and Nutella crepe on the way home, which was a lovely finish to the evening, where we will watch some Bridgerton and then hit the hay.    Read more

  • TravelerVietnam!!!!!
    Day 6

    Breakfast with the locals

    February 29 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    We have our guided walking tour of old town today, so needed to grab a quick bite for breakfast. Grabbed some takeaway bubble teas at a fraction of the Aussie price ($2 each). I had guava with aloe vera and Michael had a strawberry snow. Yummo! Huge range at the place so definitely will be back.

    Breakfast was at a hole in the wall joint on the classic plastic stools with the spit buckets and everything. Full of locals. Michael had a fish and crab soup that had the most beautiful broth, and I had chicken fried rice that was tasty but needed to add some soy and some of Michaels broth to really elevate it. Can't complain though at roughly $2 per meal!!!!!    Read more

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