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Postcards From Vietnam
  • Karen Long

Postcards From Vietnam

19 days exploring Vietnam by ourselves. Dragons, Lanterns, Deltas and Rice Fields, we're looking forward to it all. En savoir plus
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  • Karen LongPostcards From VietnamVoyageur

    Early morning walk.

    14 septembre, Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    I didn’t feel like we got the best view of the Hoian Old Town yesterday, so we are out for an early morning walk today. It’s Sunday so the first thing we see is the local market in full swing and it’s only 6.30. The next is the local weekly running and cycling events are also just finishing. It’s hard work exercising in this heat, they are all absolutely dripping

    The old town is beautiful this morning though. So many photo opportunities around every corner. Lots of people hire photographers here in Hoian for professional photos and Sunday must be a good day for them. We were pleased to find the Japanese covered bridge i has reopened. They’ve been restoring it for the last few years and it finally opened again last month.

    We found a nice coffee shop with roof top seating. There are no high rises in Hoian so it makes a lovely photo looking across all the old roofs. Very popular spot on a Sunday morning too.

    Passed by a leather shop on the way back to the hotel and the girl convinced us to come in for a look, well we all know how that ends up. Two new pairs of shoes, a belt and a wallet, going to pick them up this afternoon. Amazing how they can get them done that quickly. Let’s hope they all fit.    En savoir plus

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  • Karen LongPostcards From VietnamVoyageur

    An Bang Beach

    14 septembre, Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    We headed out to An Bang Beach for lunch. We’d seen a video of someones seafood lunch out here. Turns out the restaurant they went to is now demolished, doesn’t matter we found another great one. The Beach House. Seems to be run by a mother and daughter and I’m guessing the Dad is the chef. We had Scrimp, Scallops and Lobster. All of them delicious. A few drinks and desert to round out a great lunch.

    We’ve had a relaxing evening just people watching while we had a couple of drinks and waiting for my shoes and Grahams belt to be finished. Found a nice restaurant a couple of doors down from the shoe shop for a last Hoianese Feast.    En savoir plus

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  • Karen LongPostcards From VietnamVoyageur

    Easy Rider

    15 septembre, Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    We have a motorbike trip booked today from Hoian to Hue. The Easyriders are picking us up at 8 so we’re packed up early and headed out for one more Bahn Mi for breakfast.

    We have four bags, they are only small bags but I don’t know how they are going to fit on the bikes but nobody seems to think it’s a problem and when they arrive, they have them all strapped on in no time.

    It’s about a three hour ride to Hue and usually they stop at numerous places and it takes about 8 hrs to get there. We opted for only a few stops so it will be a shorter trip.

    First stop was Marble Mountain. Interesting place, a monastery on a mountain, lots of pagodas, caves and some stunning viewing points. Wow there are some step stairs there though certainly warmed us up for the rest of the trip.

    Next up was Dragon Bridge. It’s bold , bright and yes it actually breathes fire but only on weekend nights. Pretty impressive even in the daylight.

    Then
    Then on to hai van pass, great ride up the mountain, a little hairy at times just had to trust that they knew what they were doing. Keep seeing the go slow signs on the corners but nobody seemed to pay any attention to that. We stopped at the top and had a coffee, enjoyed the view and had a look at Hai Van Gate.

    Then we were off down the mountain which was even more nerve wracking for me at least. Graham and the boys were having a ball.

    Pulled over a few times on the way down for some pretty views and then we left the highway for the fishing village of Phu Loc. Lots of boats in the water but the village was deserted. Mind you it was pretty hot by now and we were ready to get off the bike so we hightailed it to Hue.

    Went for a walk into town to find some lunch. Nice little family restaurant, had some spring rolls, duck and scrimp.

    There’s a nice walk down by the river and of course we came across a nice bay so had to have a drink while waiting for the sunset. Too many clouds so the sunset didn’t happen but the drink was good.

    Graham’s internet wood friend got in touch with us and we went to meet him and his family for dinner at a tiny little hole in the wall place. Hue traditional feast. Very different to any other food we’ve had. They had a little boy who thought the food was fabulous and was hoeing in and a baby girl who was fascinated with us or suspicious it was hard to tell.    En savoir plus

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  • Karen LongPostcards From VietnamVoyageur

    Rickshaw morning.

    16 septembre, Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    Another nice walk down near the river this morning. Had another salt coffee, they are so strong here made my toes curl.

    We got a grab across to see the citadel while it was still cool. Of course we got grabbed by a Rickshaw driver as soon as we got out. I’m the citadel Is massive area so we thought it might be good to get a lift around.

    Well we saw everything except the citadel, Ho Chi Minh childhood home, the antiquities museum,an arts and craft centre, a lotus lake. But he was a good photographer and quite entertaining so it wasn’t a total waste. It’s too hot now so the citadel will have to wait for another time.

    Graham’s wood man organised for us to go and see his workshop, he’s away for the day but he sent a Grab to pick us up and his wife was there with an interpreter. There’s was lots of discussion and we finally came to a decision both of them were happy with. They took us to lunch at a local restaurant, doesn’t look much in the photo but it was really tasty. They were so busy in there doing lunches for all the office workers. The food grab boys and girls were in and out constantly.    En savoir plus

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  • Karen LongPostcards From VietnamVoyageur

    The Imperial City.

    16 septembre, Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    We’re having another crack at the Citadel this afternoon, there are a few clouds around and it seems cooler. It’s funny but there are only a couple of Rickshaw drivers around now, and most of them are asleep.

    Just walking into the gate you can tell this place is a massive area. They had bikes for rent once we got in so we grabbed a couple of them. I’m so glad we did, this is the former site of the old capital. There’s a moat all the way around it, and ten ornate gates guarding a palace, temple,gardens and tombs. A lot of the building are open to visit and the Palace in particulate is beautiful and so ornate. It was great just to ride around and get a feel for just how big this old city was. Wouldn’t have seen nearly as much walking.

    We dropped the bikes back at the entrance and then we couldn’t get out, you have to walk half a kilometre to either the north or south exit. By this time we were hot and thirsty so we convinced the bike hire kid to run us up to the gate in his buggy. Thank goodness, seemed like a long way. Stopped for a couple of much needed beers on the way home.    En savoir plus

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  • Karen LongPostcards From VietnamVoyageur

    Floating restaurant

    16 septembre, Vietnam ⋅ 🌧 26 °C

    We went back to the floating restaurant where we’d had a drink last night. They have a beautiful upper deck with a great view of the river and the lights on the bridge.

    Some nice cocktails and beer and we had just finished our dinner and we felt a few spots of rain, next second the skies opened and it pelted down. There were guests and staff running everywhere. So funny I’ve never seen so many people trying to get down a spiral staircase. Most of the guests made it with only a bit of water damage but the staff, they were all absolutely drenched but just kept going back up to get everyone’s food and drinks

    Then nobody was in a hurry to leave they just continued the party downstairs. My God though it was so loud in there. We didn’t last long finished our drinks and luckily the rain took a break long enough for us to get home. Perfect timing.    En savoir plus

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  • Karen LongPostcards From VietnamVoyageur

    Last Day.

    17 septembre, Vietnam ⋅ 🌧 27 °C

    This is our last full day in Vietnam and we have to make our way back to Ho Chi Minh City. First we have to get this wood wrangled into something easy for the airline to handle so we whizzed over to the market to grab some dog leads to make a handle with. Of course we had to look at a few other things as well while we were there, wow they are really into the hard sell here, it was exhausting. I looked at fabric but it was all too stressful, Graham ended up with a silk shirt that I’m not sure he really wanted and then we got out of there.

    We are meeting Pham for coffee. He and Graham had a great time chatting away over google translate. I think he thinks we are going to be coming over here every year buying wood. We tried the little coffee shop across from our hotel and the coffee was strong but delicious. Only thing is they all smoke in the coffee shops here, luckily this one wasn’t too bad.

    The Grab App has been fabulous while we’ve been here. Makes it so easy to get around and no worrying about getting payment sorted it’s all done on the app. One is coming to pick us up for the airport. An afternoon in Ho Chi Minh and then we fly home.

    The flight was delayed a bit so we got in a bit later than expected. The motel picked us up from the airport and that’s about the best thing I can say for it. It is not exactly salubrious but looks clean at least, and the girls on the front desk are very helpful. They gave us directions to a local market down some tiny alleyways with motorbikes whizzing past us. We eventually found it though and oh so much more relaxed than this morning. We found some last minute bargains and souvenirs.

    The street food was just starting up as we came out of the market and of course we were hungry by now no we stopped for some Hu Tieu Nam Vang. A noodle soup with pork, prawn, octopus and tofu. So good. No beers anywhere there though so we went on the hunt for a bar which proved a little difficult to find.

    The traffic is crazy at the moment and we’d almost given up and were heading back to our luxury hotel when we found this little hole in the wall place on the main road but set back a bit thank goodness. There were a group of 5 guys there celebrating someone’s birthday and they thought it was quite amusing when we stumbled in.

    It’s a little family business with Mum and Dad doing the cooking and their two young girls running around delivering the food. The youngest one was a bit shy but fascinated with the white people.

    It was such a great way to end our trip to Vietnam. Quite a few beers later we finally made it back to the hotel.    En savoir plus

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  • Karen LongPostcards From VietnamVoyageur

    Home

    18 septembre, Australie ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Flight from Hi Chi Ming was three hours late which isn’t a good start to the travel day.

    Airports are so boring and Ho Chi Ming is about the worst of them. Everything is in American dollars for some reason and expensive.

    We had sown luck and scored an extra seat between us which is amazing and makes the trip so much more comfortable.

    We had the easiest pass through immigration but then had to wait endlessly for our bags and the wood and get through customs. Should have realised a flight from Vietnam would be high risk for customs and we could see why, we had wood to declare and my goodness you should see how much food some people want to bring in. There was times of it being chucked out in the line in front of us.

    Leaving our car at the airport was the easy option and it turned out to be an easy pick up and we were off up to Gympie to sleep for a few hours at Court and Keiran’s

    They have new puppies so we got to see them in the morning, so cute.

    Got home just after lunch. Vietnam has lived up to our expectations and more. So many memories made of another unforgettable holiday.    En savoir plus

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    Fin du voyage
    18 septembre 2025