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Vietnam

November - December 2022
A 29-day adventure by Myaways Read more
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  • TravelerVietnam
    Day 2

    Hanoi

    November 8, 2022 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Beautiful start of our journey in Hanoi to warm up and get used to the basics (learning Vietnamese: bia (bier is always so easy),learn the currency (finally we are millionaires 😁), try the street food (but can't remember the names). 2 days strolling around and checking some spots.
    Temples, temples, temples, ho chi min
    mausoleum, eggcaffee at the trainstreet, BBQ on the walkway and in between some cold Bias.
    Catching the Bus at 6 in the morning for our
    next stop Sapa. Probably the coldest place in Vietnam but beautiful mountain landscape and all the rice fields to hike around.    Read more

  • TravelerVietnam
    1
    Day 4

    Sapa

    November 10, 2022 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Sapa this lovely town in the northern mountains of Vietnam. After a not so comfy busride we arrived bit tired and after a short rest we went out for exploring the town. Spreading over the sides of the mountains and the neighbouring valley, it has a lot of steep streets which are covered with mayestic buildings from the french colonial time, unique built Homestays and eco lodges and of course plenty of restaurants and souvenir shops, all of them start shining with hundreds of lampions and and all sorts of LEDs at night time.
    While strolling around you will for sure meet the local women trying to sell their handicrafts. They come from sorounding villages where several ethnic minorities live with their own culture, tradition and language. If you don't wanna buy something, they will still invite you to their village and home to stay with them and get to know the different livestyles.
    I didn't took the chance for a villagestay but asked her if she knows a guide for the nearby Mount Fansipan (which was my main reason for Sapa) and luckily her brother was one. So we exchanged numbers. Ai (the womens name) pulled out her phone and showed me her whatsapp QR Code which baffeld me and with humble respect I scanned her code to check the details later the evening.
    Back at the hotel I got the confirmation for the next day and so I went to bed full of anticipation.    Read more

  • TravelerVietnam
    1
    Day 5

    Mount Fansipan - Hike

    November 11, 2022 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Mountains.. I just love them all and especially the high peaks of each country. Therefore the Fansipan (Phan Xi Pang) with 3143m as the highest mountain Vietnams and Indochinas I had to conquer.
    Unfortunately the Fansipan is not allowed to hike on your own so I organized a guide. I decided for the 2days tour although it could be done in one day but than you won't get the sunrise which is always a magical moment giving me goosebumps.
    My guide Mi Ching picked me up at my hotel with his bike and we drove to the closeby village Sin Chai to start the track.
    After 5 hours of steep uphill crambling, some thousands stairsteps and only a short lunchbreak we arrived at the highcamp at 2800 meters where some other fellow hikers already had arrived, sitting, chatting and waiting for the dinner their guides already had started to prepare. Mi Ching joined into cooking and me into chatting.
    You always meet interesting people with lot of good stories on a mountain and so we enjoyed a nice evening, had delicious and way to many dishes for dinner (our guides from 17-45 years all were excellent cooks) and went to bed at 7pm to get up at 3am for the last rush to the summit and the sunrise.
    Unfortunately falling and staying asleep so early, even after a strenuous day, with wind shaking the metaldoors and too cool temperatures for too shitty sleepingbags wasn't so easy..
    After some hours sleepy slumber the alarms went off and it was time to go get what we all were waiting for. This was enough to forget how tired we still were (the coffee also helped a bit) and after again a too big of a pot of noodles we started to climb the last 300 meters with our flashlights under a clear stary sky and almost full moon. Actually again a lot of stairsteps and couple of times up an down until we finally came out in front of the cablecarstation. Yes - a cable car, there's nothing worse to kill a summit (maybe in 50 years I'm happy about them), so it had to be destiny the cable car was closed for maintenance.
    Combined with the best weather which was totally untypical for this time of the year (normally it's 0°,covered in clouds, windy afk and probably rain if not even snow - thanks climate change?)
    I already started smiling while heading for the last stairsteps.. This time for real.
    ---continues with summit ---    Read more

  • TravelerVietnam
    1
    Day 6

    Mount Fansipan - Summit

    November 12, 2022 in Vietnam ⋅ 🌙 11 °C

    With the flashlight just lightning up small areas, the whole beauty of this top of a mountain was still a surprise waiting for me after sunrise while I dragged myself up to the top over - guess - stairs again.
    The last steps when you see there is nothing more to come and when you finally made it...it's...you just have to do it yourself.
    Oh and not forget to mention the other feeling when you start looking around and the unshier beauty of mountainridges and peaks, overflown by a sea of clouds, unfolds all around you to the horizon and you just don't know where to look first.
    Luckily my guide and me were the first so we enjoyed this moment for almost half an hour until Jack, a super nice british guy from Singapore, arrived and we both standing there together just stunned and baffled.
    I set up my cam and we started making pictures... A lot.. Until the others arrived and the sunrise was close.
    The ten of us standing and waiting for the first sunrays.
    This magical moment when this shining ball slips over the horizon and starts covering everything with a shower of golden light, unveiling even more hidden wonders.
    Clouds slowly starting to melt under the warmth and power of the sun and you're just standing, smiling, soaking up as much as you can until you find the strength for a cut, to remember that you have to go down again.. All the way.. Now...
    Fansipan actually is quite perfect for this which doesn't make it easier, because after the summit and the sunrise you can start exploring the rest of the mountaintop with it's huge (at least for a mountaintop) monuments and temples.
    But pictures telling more than all the words not coming into my mind...
    This was one of the most spectacular summit experiences I was lucky to be allowed to have.
    Nothing can stay for ever, so after another half an hour or so strolling around, taking more pictures and our guides slowly starting walking ahead we had to go down again.
    All in one go with a short lunch break we went down and arrived back at the hotel 6 hours later.
    I thanked Mi Ching from all of my heart and he went off on his bike.
    Mount Fansipan - Check    Read more

  • TravelerVietnam
    Day 7

    Cat Ba

    November 13, 2022 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Cat Ba as the biggest Island of those 2000 islands in Halong Bay was our low budget choice for exploring this UNESCO world heritage site instead of hopping on one of those fancy luxury multi-day cruise ships everyone else is doing.
    Arrived in the morning with actually the first raindrops we had so far in Vietnam (drizzling for maybe 20mins), had another delicious egg coffee while waiting for our room to get ready.
    After short rest we were stood on our balcony and saw a Hotel burning to ashes in the far.
    Weird start for Cat Ba.. Shit happens.
    Got out, catched some food and jumped on scooters to go for exploring the surroundings. After some beautiful viewpoints, bit of worldwar history and speeding through the countryside we got back had a nice dinner and booked our daycruise for 20 bugs for the next day.    Read more

  • TravelerVietnam
    1
    Day 8

    Ha Long Bay

    November 14, 2022 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    A lot of islands and limestone rocks a bit similar to Puketh or Krabi in Thailand just way bigger. Besides of some small beaches hidden between the towering rocks and some caves to kayak through to discover more hidden bays, there are also the floating villages where they farm different seafoods.
    Our boat went off in the morning with a bunch of different and how we found out later some super nice people with really interesting stories to share. We were cruising around and had stops for swimming and kayaking. Everything in a big group around 30 people which I normally try to avoid while exploring scenic naturesites but with these people we had lot of fun and good talks.. And they weren't too noisy like some other partyboats we saw.
    Enjoying this beautiful trip while trying not to get burned to much wasn't easy and in the end didn't work out well... Was glowing like a crab in the evening.
    All in all absolutely worth the money and IMHO (and what I heard from others) enough to experience this unique part of the world. 3 days cruises would be a bit repeating and probably fits better for some romantic or luxury people.    Read more

  • TravelerVietnam
    Day 10

    Tam Coc - Trang An

    November 16, 2022 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    We thought Ninh Binh is the place to go but luckily our Bus dropped us in Tam Coc close by.
    Arrived during one of the heaviest poor downs I had for a while we sat down in a nice restaurant and waited a while until we could walk the 200 meters to our Homestay without getting drenched.
    Little Tam Coc turned out to be the best choice for a base for the surrounding ToDos which are quite a few. Besides the different temples there is this network of rivers winding through rice fields and mountains and carved their way through several caves.
    Easiest and most fun way is always a scooter in Vietnam so we crapped 3 and took off with two other fellow travelers. Visiting the old capital of Vietnam "Hoa Lu" which wasn't as impressive as expected. More of a small temple and some left over ruins and a nice viewpoint. Still nice to visit and the rides around here are always a joy.
    Next stop was Trang An (Funfact: Kong - Skull Island was filmed here).
    You basically jump on a boat with 4 people and get rowed around through some caves to visit temples. We helped paddling and enjoyed the ride and silence of these hidden spots which are only reachable by boat.
    For sunset we went to the Mua Caves (like everyone else 😏). Actually not so cavy and more hilly with a couple of steps to climb rewarding you with again a scenic view.
    The top was packed to the last centimeter and everyone were sitting on the spicky rocks to wait for the sun to drop.
    Back in Tam Coc we strolled around looking for Dinner (nice Pizza in the end, didn't had some western food for a while) and later dropped dead into bed after this long day.
    Scooter riding is actually quite exhausting after some KMs.    Read more

  • TravelerVietnam
    Day 11

    Bai Dinh Pagode

    November 17, 2022 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Vietnams biggest buddhist temple complex. Just WOW.
    Planned to stay 2 hours...took us almost 4 😅 there is nothing what's not stunning and massive.
    The new and big part of the complex was just recently built from 2003-2010 and some constructions are still ongoing.
    Most impressive temple I ever saw.    Read more

  • TravelerVietnam
    1
    Day 13

    Paradise Cave

    November 19, 2022 in Vietnam ⋅ 🌧 24 °C

    There are some of the most beautiful caves in the world located around Phong Nha. Also the biggest cave - Son Doong - is here, but sadly almost impossible to visit (3000$ and years of waiting list)
    So I picked the paradise cave and went for a 4 hours adventure expedition.
    The Cave is 34 km long in total and you can cross the boarder to Laos underground but only 7kms are open for public.
    The first Kilometer is prepared with a wooden walkway and colourfull LEDs you can walk without guide and at the end we went down some steps and started venturing into the pitch black. Crossing streams and puddles, sliding over muddy steps and trying to light up these huge halls with the biggest stalactites/-mites I ever saw.
    After a while we came to the end of the track and went for a quite refreshing swim in the underground lake. Had some nice lunch and stumbled all the way back while taking pictures as much as possible.
    Had a lot of fun with the group and our guide. Thanks for this unique experience.    Read more

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