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Vietnam

March 2018 - April 2024
An open-ended adventure by Shahnavaz Read more
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  • TravelerVietnam
    Day 1

    Good Morning Vietnam!

    March 16, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C

    (I couldn't resist!)

    We have now arrived in the long awaited Vietnam, first stop Ho Chi Minh City!! I have been so so excited!! We have decided to immerse ourselves into the Vietnamese culture a bit more and are trying to learn Vietnamese (so far we know our numbers and a few basic greetings), so we tried saying a couple of things when out and about and jeeze it's difficult. However, day 1 and we said our numbers correctly when paying for our sim card 😂

    We are also staying in a homestay which is so great!
    The mother insists on cooking for us and wants us to join her family every evening! We had a couple of hours to kill before dinner so we ventured out to get a sim card and cash. Wow... the traffic... It's absolutely crazy but with an odd sense of order. For pedestrians if there's no traffic light you just go for it and it's like the parting of the red sea. You'll have bikes just weave in and out of your path, but don't stop or you might get a bike up your ass! We wondered round the streets and found dance, outside gym, aerobics and even ballroom dancing classes in the main park. Definitely going to have to try it out.

    For dinner we headed back to the Home. She is just like an Indian mum and if your plate is slightly empty she fills it up, or if you take a minute to breathe instead of eating she thinks something is wrong. We are currently only booked for 3 nights here but think we will stay till Wed, although I might gain a couple of pounds if she carrys on feeding us like this haha If you are reading this and have friends in Vietnam please hook us up as we really want to meet locals.

    Today is St Patrick's Day and the Chiang Mai family are together once again! During the day we walked around the central area near the park, around Independence Palace, went for a coffee and then went to the War Remnants Museum. The museum was so sad. It told the story of the US and Vietnam War Times with stories from the US veterans, showed news articles from the time and incredibly detailed and graphic pictures and videos of the events that occurred.

    In particular the stories and images from the after affect of Agent Orange was shocking. Agent Orange was a powerful herbicide used by U.S. military forces during the Vietnam War to eliminate forest cover and crops so they could see the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops,who were hiding in the forests. In addition to its damaging environmental effects, the chemical has caused major health problems for many individuals who were exposed. Up to four million people in Vietnam were exposed to the chemical. The government of Vietnam says as many as 3 million people have suffered illnesses because of Agent Orange. They showed pictures of veterans, their children, their wives and 4th generation offspring that are still exposed to the chemical which damages genes resulting in deformities among the offspring. It was just inhumane to see.

    After such a heavy afternoon we walked back through the park and went home to freshen up before dinner and Paddy's Night! Dinner was once again fantastic and I was soooo full!! Yu just keeps putting more food in my plate hehe

    After dinner we went to join the family and brought Pow, staying in the homestay too, who had never experience British drinking culture. Being Irish the others were already quite a few drinks in when we joined and the Irish Pub was heaving! It was soooooooooo hot and sweaty inside with every singing and dancing! So much fun and so nice to see everyone again 😊 It was a very late night though and when I got back home I read, every Sunday morning at the Opera House they have live music, so obviously I had to go!    Read more

  • TravelerVietnam
    Day 3

    Such a great start to the day!

    March 18, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C

    Having had only 4 hours sleep I dragged Will out of bed to watch the performance. We were the only tourists there and it was a really lovely start to the day. They played a mix of classical, Disney and even New a York New York 😊 I think it was a bit too early for Will though... We are now unbelievably shattered so nap time for us!

    In the afternoon we went to get the famous Banh Mi which is a Vietnamese sandwich. We ordered 2 and they were huge!! Nowadays we just can't eat big portions mainly due to the heat but also because in restaurants they don't generally overfeed you. The sandwich got us in a bit of a food coma, but as it was 2:30pm and dinner was at 7pm we realised it might have been a mistake! Ah well it was very yummy all the same 😊 Then we walked around the city to a see the French colonial architecture of the post office, city Hall, Notre Dame Cathedral and then walked along the river to find a secret bar selling craft beer I had read about. When there we read more about the area and its actually where all the hip jazz bars and coffee shops are so I think we will be back! We tried the Cashew Cream Ale which was pretty nice and practised some more Vietnamese before walking back for dinner.

    As it was Sunday Yu, our host, cooked up a feast!! (We really shouldn't have had dinner!) we had spring rolls wrapped in rice paper and we all genuinely thought that was the main dinner... Nope that was just the starter and we were already super full! Then out came huge bowls of chicken noodle soup. When we were half way and truly struggling to eat she asked if we wanted more, everyone said no thank you and she came round to each of us with more food! It's really lovely but myself and Will were on the floor! For dessert she served green lentils with water chestnut. It was a bit odd, but honestly we just couldn't eat anymore! So had to waste it 😔 Over dinner we sat and chatted to Pao who we met the night before also staying in the homestay. He's from the Philippines and his English is truly excellent! I wish we were better at languages. He was so lovely and really reminds me why we love travelling so much. We don't meet new people everyday but when we do they are so incredible and you create a very close bond very quickly almost like being in a family. Unfortunately he's off back to the Philippines tomorrow but I'm sure we will meet again!

    After dinner we went to Beu Vien to meet the Chiang Mai family before they all move on. Having had a crazy long day already we were pretty shattered so decided to get an uber home. When we arrived home we realised we hadn't paid so had to trek all the way back to the pub. Bit of a nightmare, especially as the total cost of the uber was the same as the drinks but hey these things happen! I think we might take it easy tomorrow 😊 Although we probably won't!    Read more

  • TravelerVietnam
    Day 4

    Eating Great Food and Exploring District

    March 19, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C

    Yesterday evening we went to the craziness of Walking Street which is basically full of tourists, bars and loud music, but we were recommended a restaurant so we decided to head over for brunch. We headed down the tiny streets off the main walking street and found a really cute coffee shop and a family run Pho stall. We are determined to get more confident in Vietnamese so we ordered our coffee and Pho in Vietnamese and sat practising. The owner said our pronunciation was spot on! Such a compliment!

    After lunch we took the local bus to explore Ben Xe Cho Lon aka Chinatown. Now this is what I wanted from a market! Fresh fruit everywhere and for super cheap!! We may have overbought but we got a pineapple, oranges, dragonfruit and rambutan. Rambutan are sooo yummy!! I'm really going to miss the fruit here, 100% better than in the UK. We wandered round the markets, saw some really lovely Chinese temples and headed back in a bit of a rush. Our plan for the evening was to go back to the house, shower, dress up, go up the Bitexo Tower, watch sunset and do the Heineken experience. But we were running very late... When we finally got there they told us they had an event happening so we couldn't go! Disaster! Ah well, as we were in the area we heard there were boutique shops and coffee shops in Old run down flats, so we went and it was like stepping into Shoreditch. You go up very dodgy run down staircases and each flat has its own hip coffee shop or boutique shop. I'm really loving Ho Chi Minh, it really is like London for its food, hidden gems, vast amounts of history and just such a cool place to live! After coffee, which I am loving here by the way, we went back home for another outstandingly yummy dinner. Met some new people in the homestay and then went for an early night before our busy day tomorrow.    Read more

  • TravelerVietnam
    1
    Day 6

    Cu Chi Tunnels and Splashing Out

    March 21, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C

    Apologies for the delay in the last couple of posts I've been getting quite ill, but here you go!

    I think I'm beginning to get ill again. My throat is completely swollen... Ah well can't let it stop our very busy day ahead! Today we visited the famous Cu Chi Tunnels,which was an underground tunnel system that the Vet Cong dug during the war to hide from the Americans. Although its a must see sight, we were a bit sceptical as we had heard various reviews of how touristy and inappropriate the tour guides and tourists are. But we did a bit of research and Dhu recommended a Agency so we went ahead. Actually we were pleasantly surprised, yes there were a lot of tourists, yes sometimes you might have to wait for another group to finish explaining before your group and yes the allowance of shooting guns is somewhat inappropriate, but our tour guide was very informative and effective in showing us everything without it feeling to rushed or busy. It was amazing how small these tunnels really were. As they were made for the Viet Cong they were very narrow burrows, impossible for large American men men to get through. Will tried one of the original holes and could barely fit! We then went to a tunnel that had been "made bigger for tourists" and crawled for about 20 metres with ups and downs but it felt much much longer. Wow if these had been extended I don't want to know how it must have felt before!

    After the Củ Chi Tunnels we went for lunch at a the Secret Garden restaurant, another hidden gem we read about in the hip part of town. The food was nice, but jeeze it was expensive and after having some really yummy street food for half the price I think I'd carry on with the street food!

    Having had quite an early and full on day so far we went back to the flat for a quick nap and freshen up before heading out for our posh night out to the Bitexo Tower.

    It was actually pretty cool up there. As we'd seen quite a few different parts of Ho Chi Minh it was nice to see them from so high up. We watched sunset from the top and then carried on up to begin the "Heineken Experience". It was actually a lot of fun! For only 50,000 Đồng, £1.75, on top of the entrance to the sky deck we got a tour around the Heineken museum, we got to pour and drink our own Heineken, 2 more free ones, a couple of activities including a dj set and another free bottle of Heineken with your name on it! Bargain! Oh and the highlight cheese and onion crisps (we were starving!!!). After our free drinks we headed for some cheap and cheerful Bánh mì. Yum!! We met two Australians while having our dinner and gave them a couple of tips of where we had been.

    Our final stop for the evening was Snuffbox and the Australian guys came with us. Snuffbox is a snazzy cocktail bar and it just happened to be ladies night. I got free cocktails till 10pm! Woohoo! What we thought was going to be a very expensive day turned out to actually be a lot cheaper which was great! I think the best looking cocktail was by far Will's Pirate cocktail which came in a treasure chest and when opened out came lavender scented vapour.

    Finally it was home time 😊 What a great day! Culture and cocktails, now that's the way to travel!    Read more

  • TravelerVietnam
    Day 7

    Ill and rest days

    March 22, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C

    We slept in a bit longer than normal as I was feeling very ill. I was beginning to get the flu, my body agonised when I moved it and my throat was completely swollen so we had a very slow morning and went for brunch to the small stall downstairs. The food was so yummy but unfortunately I wasn't able to enjoy it so much and had to head back to bed. To be honest I just led in bed all day as I just couldn't move. It was a shame but hey these things happen! While I was resting Will went out for a wander and read his book.

    I was soo glad to be in a homestay as when we went down for dinner my homestay mum truly looked after me giving me lots of yummy dinner and home remedies and teas.

    The next day I was feeling a bit better so after breakfast we wandered to the river and walked along until we got to the botanical garden and zoo. It was very very cheap to get in and part of me wished they had charged more. I suppose it would be OK if you had little kids... and in need of something to do in a city but honestly the zoo was quite sad. The animals had little to no room to roam around. The birds had more room than than the tigers! The botanical garden was a very very tiny part of the site, but ah well it was something to do in our last day IN HCMC. We then headed to the famous chocolatier, Marou, that supposedly do an incredible hot chocolate. Having tested I'd say the chocolate is very good, but the hot chocolate was neither hot nor thick enough for my liking. We ended the day with our usual yummy dinner with the family.    Read more

  • TravelerVietnam
    Day 9

    Can Tho

    March 24, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Well we couldn't come to Vietnam and not do the famous Mekong Delta. So in the morning we headed to Can Tho which is the larger city in the area but has access to the more quiet floating markets. I was actually surprised with how busy and city like this place was. We checked straight into the hotel and then went to find a good deal for our Mekong Delta tour. As time has taught us the best way is to always go directly to the source of the sale and miss out all middlemen. Our hotel was trying to charge 550,000 Đồng for each person, but when we went to the pier we found a guy that only charged 600 Đồng total for a private boat and the same 7 hour tour. He wrote us a ticket on the back of a blank piece of card and said 2 motorbikes will pick us up in the morning and his son will be our guide. The tickets didn't look very legit so we decided to only pay him 100 Đồng now and the rest the next day... just in case... We then wandered round for the evening and went for duck hot pot dinner on Hot Pot Alley. I think we accidentally ordered a family sized hot pot as there was soooooo much food! It came with 3 different types of noodles each with a serving for 3 or 4 people... Wups 😂 It was yummy though!

    The next day we got up at 4:30am ready for our 5am pick-up for our Sampan. I'm now absolutely full of a cold so let's just say I was very quiet... Although slightly worried it wouldn't pay off it was actually a fantastic day. We started the trip before sun rise and watched the sun rise over the Mekong. Our Sampan pilot was a lovely lady who did not speak English and our tour guide for the day was a 10 year old boy 😁 We saw two floating markets Cai Rang and Phong Dien. Cái Rang was the larger out of the two and seemed to sell wholesale bags of fruit and veg. Phong Dien had much smaller boats which I much preferred as we could sit among the smaller boats and see the local people trading around us and we even saw a black Smith on one of the boats making knives! For breakfast we went to see a noodle workshop and ate freshly made noodle soup with our cà phê sửa ( coffee with milk, literally can't get enough of the stuff ha). When back on the boat she also gave us a whole pineapple that she had been cutting up while piloting the boat! We then visited a local village and wandered around with Han Junior who showed us various plants and fruit trees and then we floated down smaller canals with not anoyher boat in site. It was so peaceful and with the hum of the boat so relaxing that we kept nodding off! Finally we stopped at Mr Han's homestay where we were shown their fruit garden and even got to Kayak around their narrow canal. Han Junior laughed at us lots, firstly Will nearly toppled the tiny boat when getting in and we were pretty terrible at steering our way round the canal. But it was fun! We then just journeyed back down the Mekong for about an hour back to the pier. We got back around 12pm and it felt like 12am so we wandered back, over an hour, to the hotel for a well deserved nap and rest! I was feeling quite ill again so we rested for much longer than expected.

    Later in the afternoon we wandered to the lake in the middle of Can Tho to practice our Vietnamese and watch sunset. As per usual outcame all the Vietnamese of all ages to do their evening exercise wanders. It's actually really great to see. People from the age of 20-90 always come out just before sunset to socialise and exercise in little groups. While practising our Vietnamese 2 ladies came up to us and complimented us on our pronunciation and gave us a few tips on places to see and eat while in Can Tho. And I'm so glad they did as our dinner was scummy!! We had Nem Nướng, which is a plate of meat, rice noodles, salad leaves and herbs, pickles, chilli and rice paper. You take a bit of everything, wrap it in rice paper and dip it in a scummy sweet and sour peanut dip. Yum! After dinner we decided to get a grab taxi home, a bit like uber, to save me walking another hour back... we should have just walked... I'm not sure if it was because of the location or what but 4 grabs cancelled the pick-up, and before ordering the taxi we bought a 6 litre bottle of water (we just use it to top us our smaller bottles which is much cheaper and more importantly we waste a lot less plastic), which meant walking home truly would have been difficult! 20 mins later one came to pick us up... I went straight into bed!    Read more

  • TravelerVietnam
    3
    Day 10

    Ben Tre

    March 25, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 2 °C

    When we woke up we did not have a clue where our next destination was going to to be but didn't think it was time to go back up northwards to HCMC so we asked our hotel owner and he suggested Ben Tre, which is where we had also read about. So we went to the bus station and bought a ticket. We thought it was quite expensive at the time of buying but the lady insisted on its price so we paid and then waited for the bus. After getting on the bus and speaking to a local Vietnamese we found out that we had been scammed. She tried arguing with the bus driver for us but we were told we would have to go back to the lady who sold us the ticket, but that the had to leave now so couldn't let us off. We were pretty annoyed as if you can't even trust the actual bus station for selling you the correct ticket then who can you trust! Ah well its all part of the adventure I suppose! And that wasn't the end of our adventures! Once we got to the bus station in Ben Tre we realised the hotel we booked was miles out of town... next mini adventure - how the bloody hell do we get there. We looked for a taxi and it was pretty expensive, luckily the Vietnamese lady we befriended came to our rescue again. She happened to live in the direction of our hotel and said we could catch the same bus. She checked with the bus man and everything was good... Phew! What we thought was going to be a simple 2 hour bus from Can Tho to Ben Tre turned out to be a 5 hour ride on 2 buses! I suppose it could have been worse but we were starving when we arrived at the hotel! The one time I really wish we were back at the homestay in Họ Chi Minh City and the lovely mum would take pity and cook us a big dinner! By the time we went out for dinner it was dark and this little village had barely anything open, so we just went to a tiny little stall and the noodle soup was soo tasty and unlike the others we've had. This one had quite a thick meaty gravy with Pork and other questionable meats. Most of the time the meat you are eating is unknown... On our way back to the hotel a lot of the locals invited us to drink with them at first we said no but then some mechanics convinced us to join. It was great fun, it's amazing how much you can discuss with broken Vietnamese, broken English and gesturing! We told them about our travels so far and where we are thinking of heading next. They even offered to rent their personal scooters to us for half price of our hotel but they didn't have automatic ones so we kindly declined. They were so lovely.

    The next day we hired a scooter and went to Phung Island aka Phoenix Island well known for their Coconut Candy Factory. To get to the island we had to hire a boat. And here the adventures begin for the day... So we got to the pier and we were told it would cost 50,000 Đồng each. We knew this was a scam but we said we would pay half now and then we could see how much others paid after. So we got to the island which was nice and we wandered around, tried some coconut candy which actually tasted like peanuts, we cycled around the edge of the island and then got back on our boat to return. A few locals also got on with us and we asked them how much they paid and they confirmed it should only be 20,000 đồng each. Our pilot was yelling at the locals as she realised we knew she had scammed us. When we got off the boat she went ballistic. A Vietnamese girl was trying to help but gave up after a while so we just walked to our scooter to get out of the situation. To be honest we knew we were right as even the security guards didn't get involved. She followed us and stood next to the scooter to stop us going. To be honest in most situations we would just pay to get out of it but after being scammed yesterday as well we were getting a bit tired of it so we put the key in the bike and began turning it to move it out the way. She then sat on it and took our key. We shouted robber at her and to be honest the next bit was a bit of a blur but Will tried grabbing the key back and the lady tried pushing him off. (This lady was tiny so she knew she could never win this situation). She threw the key into a tiny cafe, Will leapt for his life onto a tiny chair, slipped and ended up toppling over another scooter. The lady ran off as she thought she'd hurt him and the cafe lady couldn't stop laughing at the whole situation. Honestly I wish I had filmed it! Luckily no one was hurt so in the end we could all just laugh about it. We quickly jumped on our scooter and cycled off!! We went to see another coconut factory on the mainland and also sat there for a while to calm down!! In the afternoon we just rode around the mainland and headed to the main town late afternoon where we heard they have a good night market. When we parked up we checked our lights and annoyingly they were barely working and cut out the bike so we had a coffee, did some Vietnamese and headed back to our village before dark. For dinner we tried Bún riêu and summer rolls and it was yummy! Then we headed to the mechanics shop again for our agreed beer session. Yesterday they wouldn't let us buy a single beer so this time we came with our personalised Heineken bottles as gifts. They loved them! We told them all about the fiasco from earlier and they were so nice and told us a lot of Vietnamese assume that all Westerners are rich and so scam them out of a lot of money. They told us to always threaten to get the police and they will generally go away. Anyway we were able to have a good laugh and it was a nice end to our stay in Ben Tre.

    The next morning we decided to book a homestay about an hour away as we heard the owner was lovely and spoke English, so we wanted to use the time to get some advice on things to do in the area and also practise our Vietnamese. We stayed there two nights and finally got to go shopping at the local market and cook our own fresh food. We even cooked for Tri on the second night. Tri was so lovely he was always checking to see if he could help, in the evening he taught us some Vietnamese and told us all about his life and how he remembers the war etc

    Today is Thursday 29th March and we decided to move on to Vung Tau which is a small beach town with a couple of hills at the south of Vietnam. Tri took us all the way to the Bus station (about 30 min ride by scooter) so he could make sure we get the right bus and aren't scammed! So off to Vung Tau we go!    Read more

  • TravelerVietnam
    Day 14

    Vung Tau

    March 29, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Today we decided to go to the Southport of Vietnam, Vũng Tàu. Tri was so lovely and took us all the way to the bus station again so that we didn't have to wait to hail a bus on the main road. We jumped on the next bus and to be honest we just did our Vietnamese the whole way so it was a pretty nondescript journey. I feel like I need to apologise to my readers as I don't think our journeys are half as crazy as Laos!! I must say it is nice to just relax on a bus instead of fearing for my life 😂

    We booked a luxury room for vùng tàu as it was pretty cheap, so thought why not! The room had 2 double beds, a mini bar (of course we didn't take anything from it), a separate shower and toilet cubicle (honestly you have no idea how luxurious that is, being able to go to to the toilet without it being soaked is an amazing feeling!), AC and a balcony!! Ah living the dream! That evening we just wandered down towards the beach, ate crab noodle soup and headed back to practise more Vietnamese and watch Friends 😊 (Will has never seen it so when he was ill at the beginning of our travels he started watching it).

    The next day we hired a scooter to sight see everything in in vung tau and I mean everything. First stop was to get some Banh Khot. You get a plate of crispy egg pancake filled with prawns, a huge plate of salad leaves, herbs, veg and a sweet fish sauce dip. You then roll the ingredients into the lettuce leaves and dunk it in the sauce. Its delicious!! It was a very very filling breakfast but amazing! We then headed to the lighthouse on top of "small mountain". It was a fun drive up the winding mountain and although it was a bit cloudy it had a nice view.

    We then headed to "big mountain" where we were hoping 6o get a much nicer view of the island. We drove all the way to to the top, it was pretty rough terrain, to find a huge gate for the theme park. Bit annoying... but spirits still high we decided to try the other side of the mountain. We were able to see a couple of viewpoints along the way but had the same problem at the very top. It seems the entire top of the mountain is dedicated purely for a theme park and a super expensive one to get in too.

    On our way down we grabbed a Bánh mì for lunch and headed down the tiniest little alley to the shoreline to watch the fishing boats. The alley was full of locals eating their lunch or sitting outside socialising. All the kids came up to us and watched to say hello and say the few words they could. On our way back to the bike I saw Bánh xèo! I've been looking for this everywhere so we had a second lunch 😂 We practised our Vietnamese by ordering the Bánh xèo, asking how much it was, asking where can I get coffee, I even understood their replies! We were very excited and they were very impressed 😊 Banh xéo is a big coconut pancake filled with prawns and bean sprouts. You then wrap small bits of this with salad in rice paper a bit like a summer roll and dip into a chilli pickle. We were so so full but sooo happy.

    We then carried on seeing the sights including climbing up 700 steps to the top of a hill to see a cross and nearly dying. The one must see in In Vung Tau is the Jesus at the top of 837 steps. When dying on our way to to the top of the Cross we realised we were running out of time before Jesus closed so we sprinted down and rode back to small mountain to see the huge statue of Jesus. Just our luck... It was closed for Good Friday! To be honest I don't think I would have made it up another 800 steps... We finished the day going to a recommended ice cream place (it was absolutely terrible and grainy and unbelievably overpriced) and finished the evening with Tốt Lon, noodle soup and planning our next destination Mũi Ne.

    In the morning we went for breakfast at the same Banh Khot restaurant and then jumped on the bus to Mui Ne.    Read more

  • TravelerVietnam
    Day 17

    Mũi Nè

    April 1, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    So as we splashed out a bit on a hotel in In Vung Tau we spent half the price for our place in Mũi Ne and wow, it was really good!! We basically had a studio apartment to ourselves with a cooker and fridge. Unfortunately Mũi Ne is the Blackpool of Vietnam and as we arrived quite late it was near impossible to buy fresh fish and veg without it being completely overpriced. When we arrived we looked up what to do... Here was the first line of a blog "There's not a huge amount of tourism worthy things happening in this area if you aren't a committed Russian sun bather, or pot smoking kite surfer, and there aren't many places not littered with trash unfortunately, as you will have observed if you've made it this far in Vietnam." A tad bit annoyed that we didn't do a bit more research beforehand we decided to venture out and find some dinner. The whole town is an absolute rip off for really low quality food. After eating such yummy food so far we were super disappointed but we ate for eating sake and then tried to find some fruit for breakfast. There were a couple of fruit stalls and each one of them had a huge markup on the price. So we just went back to the flat quite disappointed to practise our Vietnamese and plan for our next 2 days in Mũi Ne. Everything we read had quite bad reviews and complained about tourism ruining the beautiful sites and litter being everywhere. We decided to just get on with it and do the site seeing anyway.

    In the morning we got up at 5am to begin a mini adventure using local buses to Tacu Mountain. The town of Tacu was about 1.5 hours away, but there was no single bus that goes there so we used our broken Vietnamese and made it all the way there. Actually, I say broken Vietnamese but actually between the two of us we are actually getting quite good with our phrase structure and pronunciation! When we arrived we were starving so went to the nearest cafe and tried Bánh Mi op là, bread and eggs. We'll ya can't really go wrong and it was pretty cheap so all was good. It was about 9:15am and we began the hike up. It was already very warm so we were absolutely soaked in sweat in about 2 seconds. Honestly it's just vile how much one person can sweat here haha On the way up we saw a monkey, lots of butterflies and some interesting birds (not quite sure what they were) and unfortunately heaps of litter in parts. Fortunately it didn't ruin our trip! At the top was the largest reclining Buddha in South East Asia.

    The way down was super hot and felt like it went on forever, but we eventually got down and bought a well deserved ice-cream whole waiting for our bus back. And what fun we had... One bus went straight past us and didn't stop, the next bus stopped but said he's not picking up passengers, finally after over an hour a 3rd bus came and we were on our way to Phẩm Theit which was the main town where all the locals lived near Mũi Ne, famous for being a seafood town.

    We arrived in Phần Thiet just after 3pm and could have died of hunger so we headed straight for the sea food restaurants and the place was absolutely barron! Nothing looked open and barely any people were around. We've realised that in most of these smaller towns everything shuts between 2-4:30ish to get ready for the evening. So we wandered around the streets and headed to Coop Mart in hope we could get something from the supermarket. We aimlessly walked around and came away with nothing. Things were getting desperate... Luckily we had walked around for so long that places were now starting to open and we went to a small street selling lots of goodies! First we went for Bánh cảnh cảnh chả cá and it was the busiest tiny place on the street. So we happily sat and ate our fish soup. We then headed next door for a cà phê and wandered further down the street where we found a husband and wife making bánh tráng. Well we decided we didn't want the horrid food we had last night so might as well eat more! So we tried these too. That wasn't the end of it! We carried on and found a lady cooking Bánh xèo so we shared a plate of that too! We were so so full!! But it was our linner, so we didn't feel too bad hehe We then ventured back to Mũi Ne, bought some rip off fruit from the fruit stall and watched friends before having an early night.    Read more

  • TravelerVietnam
    Day 18

    Doing the tourist thing...

    April 2, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Today, my expectations are super low. A thing to do in Mũi Ne are the white and red sand dunes, but as they are quite far out and the police are quite strict in the town when it comes to bike hire the only real way of doing it is with a tour. So we bit the bullet and booked it. So we started at 4:30am to watch sunrise at the white sand dunes. We got there a bit too late but the site was OK and obviously quite hard to walk on! We then went to the red sand dunes, which I was pleasantly surprised with. In all the reviews it said it had just become a dumping yard for litter and yes there was some but I think the reviews must have been quite old as it wasn't half as bad as what we have seen in some places! We then headed to a local fishing market and then finally to Fairy stream. Fairy stream was a pleasant walk down the center of a stream with canyons towering on both sides. Maybe I set my expectations so low that I was actually pleasantly surprised that the whole tour was actually OK! The best thing was that we got back at 8:30am, booked our bus for 11am to Ho Chi Minh City and was able to spend an hour or so fresh in up and eating our yummy fruit.

    We are now on a sleeper bus to Ho Chi Minh and as its during the day it's a bit odd to be lying down the whole way... Ah well back to our Vietnam mum get some yummy dinner!!    Read more

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