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Vietnam July 2025
  • Elisa Gatti
  • Elisa Gatti

Vietnam July 2025

We are all very excited to leave Melbourne’s winter and head over to south Vietnam and backpack around for 12 days. Read more
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  • Trip start
    July 5, 2025
    Elisa GattiVietnam July 2025Elisa Gatti

    First destination

    Jul 6–9, 2025 in Vietnam 🌬 30 °C

    We arrived into Ho Chi Minh at like 6am after a 9 hour flight with Vietjet. It was not a full flight so Brandon took advantage of 3 seats, not knowing we needed to pay for the upgrade but he was fast asleep so they didn’t wake him. Inara and I dosed in and out throughout the flight and josh was squished next to an old lady and got very little sleep.

    Getting the visa on arrival was easy. It took over an hour and half to get through passport control. The kids were getting restless but did really well keeping themselves entertained with games on whiteboard markets and hand clapping song games. (We got a SIM card while in line and was a great decision)

    As we ended up being 15 min late for our taxi we quickly got food at the airport , where the kids got yummy mango smoothies and iced coffee for josh.

    We had a three hour drive north east, through the city and to the ocean, to get to Mui Ne. The kids were very entertained with the many motorbikes and with very little traffic control. After the city we saw rural areas and lots of different plants. Dragonfruit, acacia trees, banana’s and a coconut are the ones we knew.

    Inara has been talking about Dragonfruit for weeks so we got her a whole bag (11)for $1.20 aud (20,000 dong) on the side of the road.

    We finally made it to just past the coastal fishing town of Mui Ne and made it to our hotel, APEC Mandala Ocean Resort.

    Kids were more rested than the adults , Josh being the least rested meant I took the kids to the infinity pool on level 25 (in a different tower) and then down to the pool bar, following some time on the very fast water slides.

    Tourist season is from Nov to April, so it’s a bit quiet and we pretty much had the pool to ourselves as well as the only people at dinner. We are pretty much the only non asians. Mui Ne seems to be a a weekend getaway from Saigon and is also a big kite surfing destination for Europeans. It is mostly visited by Vietnamese though.

    I had a nap while the kids had some downtime and Josh finally got to read his book, before we headed to our first Vietnamese dinner. We all enjoyed our fried rice plates while we played Phase 10.

    Downtime again and early to bed so we get a good nights sleep.    Read more

  • Elisa GattiVietnam July 2025Elisa Gatti
    View from the hotel
    View from the hotelBreakfast , dragon fruit

    Culture shock

    July 7, 2025 in Vietnam ⛅ 27 °C

    It was so nice to wake up and it was bright and the sun was shining. By 7am the three of us were up as we had a well rested night, as Brandon advised. Josh was still sleeping.

    The kids had downtime on screens which I didn’t love but it kept them quiet and really there wasn’t anything else to do yet.

    The resort we are staying at is like a complex and is 4 big towers with 25 floors., the pools in between them , little shops/cafes on the sides and a 4 storey building in the back which has the banquet hall , gym, kids area and wellness spa.

    Breakfast was a bit harder to find than I thought it would be as much of the food eaten can be both dinner and food, and well we don’t eat rice and noodles for breakfast. One of the cafes had fruit and smoothies which was a winner. There was Vietnamese tourists who helped us with the food choices.

    The morning consisted of being back in the pool. I have never seen so many people in a pool at 930 in the morning. It was packed with old people, families , all types. We were the only non asians still.

    After finally convincing them to get out of the pool, we made our way down to big hill to the beach.

    There was little market stalls where one of the old ladies tried to get josh to buy some weird food. We later found out it was called
    Bánh bột lọc and is a traditional Vietnamese dish made from tapioca flour and filled with shrimp and pork belly. Josh ended up spitting it out and it was gross.

    We had a lovely walk down the beach to the next buildings over where we had lunch. We saw locals trawling for some small shell fish that the fish farms need to feed their fish.

    Lunch seemed to be more of a night club or dinner venue due to the look of garbage all around but they served lunch and it was in the shade.

    We went back to the serviced apartment, had downtime, the rain came and then went into Mui Ne we are 20min from centre) . Yesterday Inara lost her brand new pierced earring and she was currently wearing my earring so it doesn’t close up , and we wanted to get her a new pair to wear. We found earrings, found Nike clothes for Brandon and found an atm.

    Easier said then done, as we navigate the loud and busy streets. The smells and the sounds were too overwhelming for Inara, so the trip into the markets was much shorter than planned as we waited for the taxi driver at a hotel.

    That night we went to a traditional Vietnamese restaurant in the complex . We actually tried to go there for breakfast but we didn’t see anything we could eat, but there was spaghetti , so we decided that would be better for dinner. There was another family in the restaurant, and the university daughter spoke English so she helped us order food, as they ran out of a lot of it. The owner forgot to order chicken. The girl enjoyed practising her English on us.

    Went back into the pool, and off to bed , as so far exhausted every night    Read more

  • Elisa GattiVietnam July 2025Elisa Gatti

    Sleeper bus adventure

    July 8, 2025 in Vietnam ⛅ 26 °C

    Our trips always have hiccups, and that’s ok, we know that and we deal with it. This one wasn’t as big as the Visa issue, but it was a hiccup.

    It was our time to leave Mui Ne and head to Nha trang. It would be interesting to see how Mui Ne develops over the next 10 years, but I definitely don’t need to go back. The sand dunes were fun but there are better sand dunes elsewhere in the world.

    We had the taxi booked, using Bin again as we knew him and it was easy. I didn’t realise that I booked the bus ride departure from Phan Tiet and not Mui Ne, so our 10 min bus ride ended up being 30 min.
    We did not get to the bus at the check in time of 9am but we were there for the departure time at 930am, just. Luckily, the bus didn’t show up on time and all was good.

    While we were driving , we noticed we were heading back to Mui Ne, and we could have taken the 12pm bus from Mui Ne, and even funnier , it stopped right in front of our hotel. We had an extra few hours of driving than needed before we hit our final destination of Nha Trang. The 4 hour bus ride turned out to be like 8 hours by the time we got to our hotel.

    Traveling not only is about what you see but who you meet. We were on a local sleeper bus, and the back of the bus was backpackers from all over. Josh sat next to a very well traveled 17 year old kid from the Ukraine. Conversation was political, educational, and Josh was in his element. The Vietnamese know a little English but we have yet to get into conversations of depth.

    From our bus we had to transfer to a smaller bus that took us into the city, as it seems most cities don’t seem to want the big buses in them. We got out of the bus, and without internet (as we used all our data for the day while on the bus) , we weaved in and out of the foot, bike and car traffic for a few streets to get to the Seaesta hotel.

    The hotel was great!    Read more

  • Elisa GattiVietnam July 2025Elisa Gatti

    Fairy stream and white sand dunes

    July 8, 2025 in Vietnam 🌬 32 °C

    Today we had our first tour and one of the reasons we chose Mui Ne.

    The morning consisted of hanging out in the kids area and game area. I thought the kids would be too old for a play centre but when you have it all to yourselves you can do whatever you want.

    There was also billiards and massage chairs. The massage chairs were definitely worth the cost of the morning. (250,000 or $15aud) and of course Inara needed to paint as well.

    Our tour guide was named Thuy (Thwee) worked for Johnny Tours. We got picked up by Thung in the pink Jeep and met the others in our group. 2 Belgian backpackers, family from Taiwan and a group from Hong Kong.

    Our first stop was Fairy Stream, where we walked for an hour in the refreshing stream. It’s a touristy spot as Brandon got to hold a snake and on the walk we saw horses walking in the stream, and a hawk with its talons tied. The fairy stream is fed by a lake 20ks away that reaches the ocean. The bottom of the stream has black bits which is titanium. There are some deep spots as well as spots that you can sink. This is the closest to quick sand feeling I have ever felt.

    After the Fairy stream we then went to a fishing village, and then to the white sand dunes followed by the red sand dunes. At the white sand dunes the kids ate sand as the kids did some sand sliding and we got to ride ATVs (with a driver)

    Inara had enough of the white sand as she had sand in her ears, face and everywhere and wanted to stop. Luckily they didn’t want more sand all over them and passed on sand sliding.

    The kids had a fun time riding in the back of the jeep and by the end Brandon was commentating the “race” with the other jeeps.

    Dinner that night was random items we would eat , popcorn chicken, 2 min noodles and pizza with most toppings picked off. The pizza bread was beautiful and soft.    Read more

  • Elisa GattiVietnam July 2025Elisa Gatti

    Island hoping

    Jul 11–12, 2025 in Vietnam ⛅ 30 °C

    As we had a free day, and then food tour, we had a better feel of the city. Today was a full day of fun in the sun, as we hopped on to the Finding Nemo boat with approx 70 other tourists.

    Our day was as hosted by a very loud and crazy Vietnamese local who kept wanting to be bob Marley :). He made the party boat what it was and was able to get everyone dancing (other than the Chinese family with little kids, who probably should not have been on that boat).

    We had a few stops. First one snorkeling where we saw coral, starfish, Angelfish, and other fish. The coral first wasn’t the greatest but the closer to the island, it got a bit better. The sea was very salty. The water was not still.

    The next stop was a stop to slide into the water and relax. The Spanish group was very much enjoying themselves with getting shots of free cocktail, which started off coke and rum, and by the end was a somewhat sweet red Vietnamese wine.

    Our final stop was two hours or so on a white sandy beach, catering for tourists. Brandon and Inara pulled their $ together and will always remember parasailing together in Vietnam.

    This was our first time we have seen Australians and more than one or two white tourists. We met a lovely family from Sydney (Trent, Angela and Sia) Inara and Sia spent all day together and I think it filled both of their buckets to have a play with someone of same language and age.

    It was a long day in the sun, drinking cold beer, feeling the wind on your face and breathing in the salty air. We headed back to our awesome hotel, had a rest and continued the evening with some western Italian food (best pizza base) , massage and hair styling.    Read more

  • Elisa GattiVietnam July 2025Elisa Gatti

    Once in a lifetime experience

    Jul 12–13, 2025 in Vietnam ☁️ 23 °C

    When I was planning the trip I wanted to go from A to B as many different modes we could. I already booked our first mode of transfer from airport to Mui Ne as a private tour and then I had a VIP sleeper bus from Dalat to Saigon already booked. I couldn’t get us a train ride as it didn’t work into our itinerary. Why not do something amazing and ride for the next few hours on a motorbike?

    The four of us, each with our own motorbike driver, drove from very hot beachy Nha Trang to 1500 meters high into the town of Dalat in the Alpine highlands.

    I had the main driver Viet, who runs the Dalat office of Easyrider. Josh was driven around by Chien who had lots of information about the locals and the Buddhist temples. Inara was very well taken care of by Hieu and Brandon and Lam were a great team. It was a an amazing experience and we all felt safe throughout the approx 150km ride.

    Our first stop was a fishing village at the edge of Nha Trang before where we saw the fish and seafood coming in and being cleaned, dried, packed to be sold.

    We stopped at a house that makes rice paper rolls, stopped in a minority village which was visited by catholic missionaries. We got to see a look into how they lived. We stopped and had a rest while we took in the beauty of rice fields. We stopped and saw how a waterfall gave a small village electricity. The bike drove us through unpaved and narrow roads a normal transport couldn’t take us. As we moved higher into altitude you could feel the air getting cooler. Inara very much enjoyed getting out of the heat.

    Our final destination was Dalat, a town which was set up by the French to escape Saigon due to the heat. Dalat, just like Melbourne, can experience 4 seasons in a day. It’s a approx 620,000 people and is the most visited destination for locals. It is becoming more popular among international tourists. The hills are lined with housing that reflects the European history.

    On top of our once in a lifetime experience , we then were welcomed to our cute little homestay, which did not have any of the glamour of the last two hotels but an experience on its own, staying in a Vietnamese house.    Read more

    Trip end
    July 17, 2025