I have started searching for flights for Summer Vacation (Hello, Bali!) and this made me think back to Vietnam. I loved Vietnam and will be heading back there in February to look for a new teaching job!
Butttt I don't want to forget my first time there, so here's a few things that we did / where we went.
Hanoi
I arrived the latest out of the two girls I went on vacation with due to different vacation dates - so I arrived in the evening and the next morning we immediately went on a tour of Halong Bay.So I managed to start my trip of beautifully taking a boat tour to Halong Bay. The weather in the North of Vietnam was not that hot in January, but we were expecting this, and it was a hell of a lot warmer than Korea! We tried Hanoi Beer, went kayaking, checked out some caves and slept on the boat. Not a bad first two days!
We then made our way back to Hanoi and booked a day trip to Tam Coc. This was not advertised as much as Halong Bay - but I preferred this trip. We went on a 10km boat ride with gorgeous views, went on bike ride and had the best all you can eat buffet - the caramalised pork and goat skewers were amazing!
We then had one more day exploring Hanoi, eating Pho and walking around the city!
Where we stayed - Hanoi Downtown Backpakers (great hostel if you're looking to meet people and have a party experience. There we lots of different events on each night and drinks offers!)
We then took the overnight train to Hue!
Hue
It rained the entire time we were in Hue, but there was 'No Hue' we were going to let that dampen our holiday spirits. Yeahhh we maybe used that joke once or twiceeee. We took a Dragon Boat tour arranged by our hotel to visit lots of different temples and pagodas.
We then very surprisingly found one of our favourite bars in the place where we had gone just to visit the temples and the cultural part - Brown Eyes. Cocktails and dancing, a perfect way to end a cultural, rainy two days!
Where we stayed - Waterland Hotel. This was an excellent family run hotel, next to restaurant street (and within walking distance to Brown Eyes!)
Hoi An
Our next stop was Hoi An which I was the most excited about as we had decided to splash out on a nice hotel! Unfortunately the weather was still not great, but the hotel, town and food made up for this! The streets were just gorgeous with all the lanterns, I found the best peanut butter ice cream that I have ever eaten and we got to live in luxury for a few days. Oh, and did I mention the Breakfast Buffet!
We also totally recommend Morning Glory restaurant for the best food - it's recommended to book if you're going on a weekend but we were lucky and got a spot. Sooo good!
Where we stayed - Sunrise, Hoi An. I would 100% go back here, the best bed I have slept in in a long time, helpful staff and excellent service!
Da Lat
We then flew to the quaint little town of Da Lat, we felt a little out of place when we got on the plane and the average age of everyone was around 85...... buttt I can see why this place appealed to the oldies! Luckily, we also enjoyed it a lot. It had a different feel to the rest of Vietnam that we had visited so far, everything seemed to be much slower, and you could feel the French influence here! We stayed a little out of the main town (still within walking distance) as we wanted to stay at a cute hotel filled with rose gardens. The weather was much warmer in Da Lat.... yay!
On the first night, my friend Laura didn't feel very well, so we did't want to go out for food. The hotel was not very busy and their chef was not there, so they ordered us takeout then set up the restaurant with side salad and all the extras to make us comfortable! After a night of relaxation Laura felt much better and we could explore Da Lat.
We visited 'Crazy House' which was designed to look like a giant tree house, and you can even stay here as it's a guesthouse!
We then started walking to Linh Phuoc Pagoda which I had read about on Trip Advisor and we started following the instructions from Google Maps. 3 hours later we were still not at our destination, even though Google was showing us that we should be, and people had pointed us in the right direction. We decided to give up walking and take a taxi. BEST DECISION EVER. It was still milesssss away, and was not walkable!
Buttt it was all worth it when we got there! A beautiful mosaic pagoda and lots of cool buddah statues, including one made out of flowers!! This was definitely a hidden gem as it was so quiet there, amazing to look around.
We also checked out the markets and downtown area of Da Lat, so many cool restaurants and the lake area was nice to walk around! It's not the most going on place in Vietnam but I would go back here in a heartbeat!
Where we stayed - Terrases Des Roses - as I mentioned earlier, they went out of their way to make sure we were having a great time, and the chef at breakfast keeps cooking until you think you might actually burst! Beautiful and quiet place to stay!
Saigon
The contrast from Da Lat to Saigon was impressive. We had gone from the quiet and peaceful Da Lat to the hustle and bustle of Saigon. I fell in love with Saigon, even though it was busy and crazy - it still felt much more peaceful than being in Korea at times. Maybe it's because I was on holiday, or as the sun was shining, but I just felt really happy just being there.
Another Restaurant recommendation - Secret Garden - mmm soo good! Writing this is making me miss Vietnamese food so bad - what I would do for some lemongrass beef <3
On the second night of being in Saigon our friend Cat was coming to surprise my other friend Laura, so it felt very dramatic. After making a stupid excuse to leave the restaurant, I came back with Cat and we had a very emotional reunion!
We then had a Mekong Delta tour booked and went on another boat tour where we checked out the floating markets, coconut candy factories and held snakes!
We then had a one last night in Saigon, which ended in myself and Cat getting drunken manicures and her managing to ruin hers so terribly as I sat eating my sandwich!
Where we stayed - Luan Vu - the receptionist helped us to organise the surprise Cat visit and helped us to book our buses to Mui Ne at a competitive rate!
Mui Ne
Myself and Cat then headed on a sleeper bus to Mui Ne (we were very thankful for the sleeper bus as we were so hungover). I had originally planned to stay at this hotel by myself before I knew Cat was coming, so decided to splash out on a nice hotel - but then it made it so much better with someone to share it with. However you could tell that Mui Ne was not as touristy as Hoi An, as I paid more for the Mui Ne hotel, but the service and facilities did not compare to SunRise in Hoi An. The hotel itself was so pretty, with a huge swimming pool and it was directly on the beach. Butttt the added touches that you get expect in expensive hotels were not there, we had better service in the hostels / cheap hotels that we stayed in. The hotel did offer free wine and cheese nights though that we enjoyed very much and made it to every evening.I am going to skip over the part of the story where we hired a motorbike and managed to hit the only Harley Davidson in the whole of Vietnam.....and just talk about the cool places we visited when we were there....
The Red Sand Dunes were a short walk from our hotel, so we took a little hike up there and took a few pictures.
We also cycled into Mui Ne town as we were on the outskirts and we managed to see a Chinese Dragon performance for the New Year. I had really bad sunburn and didn't feel so great, so didn't end up celebrating the Lunar New Year - which was going to be mine and Cat's do over. Faiiiil.
The next day we then hired a motorbike and checked out the Fairy Stream - which was a very cool place to walk down, and we also rode an ostrich...as you do!
We also biked down to Phan Tiet which used to be the tourist attraction in that area of Vietmam before Mui Ne took over.
We then headed back to the hotel but decided we wanted to check out the white sand dunes before we left (looking back now, this might not have been our best idea) - it was quite far out and the road was reallllly bumpy - and not the best for the bike. We managed to have a lil look around then realised we should head back before it got realllllly dark. The next thing we know - we had a flat tire - and the rest is history.....
Where we stayed - Pandanus Resort - would I stay there again? Maybe it it wasn't so expensive, or if the customer service was at a higher lever (minus our friend Lam!). I think if I was to do this trip again I would give another hotel a chance!
After a dramatic and tense night, we then headed back to Saigon for one last night before leaving back to our own countries. And now I reallllly want to go back. See you soon Vietnam!
No comments:
Post a Comment