Travelling through Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

This is the final post about our journey through Vietnam which ended on the 5th February 2014. We travelled from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City - the North capital to the South capital - and stopped at Ninh Binh, Hué, Hoi An and Nha Trang along the way. We travelled the whole way by sleeper bus which turned out to be an interesting experience (see other posts)! 

The three of us had flights booked out of Ho Chi Minh City on the 5th February so, by the time we were in Nha Trang, we were running a bit short on time. We had originally planned to stop in Mui Ne but decided against it as we preferred to spend longer at our final destination rather than at the beach resort. We travelled overnight from Nha Trang to Ho Chi Minh and arrived ridiculously early in the morning (I forget the exact time). Again, not wanting to get ripped off by taxi drivers, we made our way to our hotel on foot. When we got there, however, we found that it was completely shut up - doors closed and shutter down! We ended up having to wake up the family who ran it to let us in. To be fair to them, we had booked for that night and we arrived so early that we had to pay for another so they weren't expecting us! It was also during the festival and it seemed that there were not any other guests in the hotel. 

Ho Chi Minh seemed different to anywhere else we'd been in the country, more European than the other cities. There is evidence of much more European-style and modern architecture, as well as wide roads and statues. However, there was still evidence that we were still in Asia. There were still loads of scooters. Everywhere. We walked down a more traditional market street and the Benh Thanh Market near where we were staying was full of people trying to flog fake goods for the best price.

The roundabout in front of Benh Thanh Market

Lights celebrating the new year and lots of scooters!

Market street

Meat stall

One of the things that Alex had been particularly looking forward to in Ho Chi Minh was going to visit the  Cu Chi Tunnels, a vast network of connecting tunnels from during the Vietnam War. We booked a half day trip to go out to see them having decided it would be difficult to make our own way there. It was a good thing we did, as everyone there seemed to be with a tour group and our guide was good. He had been in the Vietnam War himself and showed us his gunshot wound. However, he spent most of the day singing which didn't really fit the setting! "Hello, Ladies and Gentlemen, You come from different countries, To Vietnam on holiday, Come along and sing with me" (or something like that!). We were able to walk around the forest looking at various exhibits of weapons, a tank, underground rooms etc. as well as the gruesome traps the Vietnamese made for the enemy. There was also a shooting range where tourists could pay to fire various guns. The gunshots added to the atmosphere of the forest. Tourists were allowed to get into a replica tunnel opening for photo opportunities and crawl through one of the tunnels, which had been made bigger and had lighting installed to accommodate large Western tourists! The tunnels are definitely worth a visit.. 

Me in the entrance of the tunnels

One of the traps

A tank

Another trap

They must have been lethal!

Exploring the tunnels

Alex in the tunnels

We seemed to visit Ho Chi Minh at a good time as the flower festival was on to celebrate the new year. There were thousands of colourful flowers for people to look at, some of them in different shapes, with lots of horses to celebrate the new year.

Pretty flowers

Colourful

This was all the way down the street for at least 500m

We enjoyed wandering around the city and seeing the various sites.

Modern buildings (with Alex and Chloe)

Municipal Theatre

Statue of Ho Chi Minh in front of City Hall

Notre Dame Cathedral

Reunification Palace

On the 4th February, our last full day in Vietnam, it was my 21st birthday. We discussed various options for what to do, thinking we ought to do something special, but realised that we'd been doing so much over the three weeks that it would be nice just to have a relaxing day. We considered visiting the Mekong Delta but were sick of being herded around on organised tours by then and preferred the idea of a lie-in! After some research, we found that Ho Chi Minh had a bowling alley and some Indian restaurants so we decided it would be a day of home comforts instead. The night before, we went to a really nice Thai restaurant (in preparation for mine and Chloe's next destination!), followed by a  few bars late into the night, so a lie-in on my birthday morning was just what I needed. It was fun to go bowling, something I hadn't done in a few years, and hadn't done on my birthday for even longer! I did have a bowling birthday party for my 10th birthday though. It is often joked that the typical food of Britain is Indian and at home we enjoy our Indian takeaways and occasional meals at Indian restaurants, so it wasn't difficult to choose which cuisine I wanted to celebrate with. 

Action shot!

Results of the first game

Enjoying our Indian

Birthday girl!

The next day, I went with Alex early in the morning to get a taxi to the airport from one of the travel agents. He was setting off to fly from Ho Chi Minh, back to Hanoi. Then from Hanoi to Xiamen via Hong Kong (the same way we came). Then from Xiamen to Dubai via Hong Kong. Then from Dubai to Denmark! That's an awful lot of travelling but I'm glad he arranged it so that he could be there to celebrate my birthday. Chloe and I left later on that day. On the way to arrange our taxi, we saw a lion dancing show as part of the new year festivities. That evening we flew to Chiang Mai, Thailand, via Bangkok. It was sad that our time in Vietnam was over and that we no longer had Alex with us, but we were looking forward to our next adventure!

Lion dancing in the street

The lion

Travelling through Vietnam - Nha Trang

After our travelling in Hanoi, Ninh Binh, Hué and Hoi An, we were looking forward to going somewhere a bit different, a break from visiting cultural and historical buildings! However, the 11-hour journey to get there was not very pleasant. We were the only foreigners on a bus packed full of Vietnamese people. It seemed they had put an extra bus on for the Tet festival as it was starting very soon. 

The main issue with the bus was that it didn't have a working toilet and that the driver didn't like to stop. In fact, it was like this on all the buses we travelled on after Ninh Binh. A perfectly acceptable toilet stop seemed to be stopping on the side of the road somewhere, which may have been fine for any males desperately needing to go but not for the ladies! There was one actual toilet stop in the whole 11 hours. On the way to Hoi An, I tried to get off the bus at a station in Da Nang to use the loo but there was a queue and I turned around to see the bus doors closing. I went back to the bus and banged on the door. I told the driver what I wanted to do but he refused to wait and said that I would have to wait until Nha Trang. A similar thing happened when ladies wanted to go to the toilet on the way to Ho Chi Minh later on in the journey and tried to get off at Mui Ne. There were also no stops for food on the Hoi An - Nha Trang journey like there had been on previous buses we'd taken.

It was a relief to finally arrive in Nha Trang and find our hotel. We dumped our stuff in our rooms and quickly went out to get some food as we were really hungry from not eating during the journey. We grabbed a banh mi each from a street seller. This became our favourite street food in Vietnam. It is basically a sandwich made with French-style bread. Vietnam was a French colony, the French introduced the baguette in the country.The filling can be various different kinds of meat with salad such as cucumber. Usually very tasty and cheap! Living in China, we didn't get very much bread, so it was nice to be able to get bread so easily. We then went to a Western-style bar to eat pizza. We thought we deserved a treat! We then went to a travel agent to book a tour. During the festival all tours stopped running so we decided to book one for the next day, the last day before the holiday. We chose to do the 4 island tour which began early the next morning.

So, the next day we were up bright and early waiting outside the travel agent for the bus to take us to the tour. The 4 island tour is a boat trip that goes to "4 islands" off the coast of Nha Trang. What they don't tell you is that you actually only visit 2, one of which you have to pay to enter, and the other you have to pay to visit the aquarium on it. Despite this, we had a really enjoyable day. It was a "party boat" and our guide was great. He was a man probably in his late 50s - early 60s but who thought he was still 21! Such a character. He made sure that everyone was having a good time as he handed out the beers (at a price, of course). 

Alex and Chloe with their life jackets on, ready to go

The first island was the aquarium island. Some of the group paid an entrance fee and had a look around while the rest of us stayed on the boat. We had decided that we weren't that interested in going to see some fish and pay yet more money! The second island was where we went snorkelling. I had never been snorkelling before and enjoyed it once we got into it. Unfortunately there weren't very many fish to see though.

Chloe and I on the roof of the boat at the first island

Snorkelling at island no. 2

The third island was where we stopped for lunch. We all moved to the sides of the boat and the benches, where many of us had been sitting, were transferred into one long table which was covered by a table cloth. The food was then dished out, a feast of Vietnamese delicacies including spring rolls and rice. It was one of the best meals we received as part of a tour package. This was then followed by entertainment. "Vietnam's best boyband" performed, consisting of the tour company workers, one of them dressed as a lady boy. They also got people from different countries to go up to the front a sing a typical song from where they were from. All a bit of a laugh! The last activity at island 3 was a floating bar. A barman with some disgusting orange liquid containing alcohol went out into the water and we were provided rubber rings to go out as well and drink. Probably not great health and safety...

Lunch

"The best boyband in Vietnam"

Lady boy of Nha Trang

Floating bar (minus the bar, that's to the right somewhere)

The 4th island was as uneventful as the first as you had to pay to enter the island. It looked like what you were paying for was to sit in a sun lounger by the beach so, again, we decided to stay on the boat. When the others came back, it was time for the boat to return to Nha Trang. There were lots of nice views along the way. 

Floating village

On the way back to Nha Trang

That evening we went to find the travel office and book our bus to Mui Ne. We also booked to go to the mud spa the next day but we found out, after much confusion with the non-English-speaking hotel receptionist, that the our day trip had been cancelled. We went out that morning anyway to see if we could go with another tour operator and thankfully found somewhere who could do it. The mud spas are famous in Nha Trang and it was nice to have a day of relaxation for a change. We had a really enjoyable day showering in mineral water, bathing in the mud (which is supposed to be good for your skin), bathing in mineral water and swimming in the mineral water pools. 

Bath time!

The mud made you float

Mineral water shower

Waterfall

That evening was the start of the Tet festival so we went out for a few drinks to celebrate. There were fireworks down by the beach to celebrate the occasion. 

After much thinking, we decided that we neither had the time nor the money to justify going to Mui Ne. We had originally planned to spend 12 hours there but when we looked to find somewhere to stay, it was all out of our budget. We asked the bus company if we could change our journey to go all the way through to Ho Chi Minh instead. They agreed but made us pay a fee which seemed strange as it was the same bus doing the whole journey! 

On our last day we hired scooters and went out to a beach an expat lady had told us about. It is called Long Beach in English and is about 20km south of Nha Trang. I have to say, I wasn't very keen on the idea of the scooters, it just seemed that we were too exposed to the other traffic. Clearly not a biker girl! It was a good way to get around and see the area though and Alex and Chloe enjoyed it! Long Beach was definitely worth going to. It was quiet with few people but probably won't be 20 years or so down the line once it's been developed. It's beautiful. We had some lunch at the only western restaurant (so that we could use their toilets!) and relaxed in the deck chairs and hammocks. It was a lovely day and great end to our time in Nha Trang. That evening we took our final bus ride to Ho Chi Minh.

Chloe on her bike

Just some passing traffic

Beautiful view

It's a hard life

Enjoying the deck chair!

Long Beach

Long Beach

Travelling through Vietnam - Hoi An

I had been really looking forward to going to Hoi An as I had heard good things from fellow travellers, some saying that it was their favourite place in Vietnam. When I was there, I could certainly see the appeal. It isn't a big city like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh and it isn't a beach resort like Nha Trang and, I imagine, Mui Ne. It is actually a quaint town full of old Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese buildings and history. The town is also famous for tailors, something we only found out when we arrived, as the lady at our hotel spent a long time talking to us about it when we checked in.

After settling into our rooms, we went out for some food and a bit of a wander and finally understood why Hoi An is famous for tailors - there are so many of them! When I had first heard about the tailors, I wasn't too bothered about them and didn't plan to get anything. However, a dress caught my eye outside Kimmy Custom Tailor. This shop had been one of the ones recommended to us by the lady at the hotel so we decided to go in. It was a long, simple, but elegant evening gown in a turquoise/teal colour. We had a look through their various catalogues on their laptops but this dress was still my favourite. Chloe and Alex convinced me that I should get it as, at the time, I still needed another outfit for my cousin's wedding in Nepal. In the end I didn't wear it for that, but the plan is to wear it for part two of the wedding in the UK in August!

One of the workers took my measurements and asked me how long I wanted it. I then got to choose the fabrics and colours, I kept the top fabric the same but chose a darker colour to go underneath. The lady suggested I might want the back changing as the original was very fussy. I'm glad she did this because I actually hadn't looked at the back at all and was much happier with the simple halter neck alternative. The service was very professional despite there being quite a lot of customers. My dress cost 60$ which I thought was a good price for a dress tailored to my measurements. Alex also got some trousers made. They were both ready the next day after a fitting. Alex's fit perfectly first time but my dress was a little bit long so they took it up for me.

My beautiful dress

Dress fitting

Back of the dress (apologies for the bra straps!)

Before picking up our clothes, we went to the bus company to book our next bus. We had hoped to get a night bus to Nha Trang and have two full days in Hoi An, but, unfortunately, the bus was booked and we ended up having to choose the bus early the next morning instead, only giving us a day in the city. After checking that we could get our clothes in time, we set off for the ancient city. However, it seems that in Hoi An it is very easy to get distracted by various clothes shops. Chloe and I ended up purchasing "travellers' pants" and Alex got a couple of tank tops from one of these shops.

Finally, it was time to wander around the ancient town. You have to buy a ticket which allows you to visit a certain number of each type of place but not everything. This is plenty as we found that once you'd been to one assembly hall or old house, they were all quite similar. The ticket also allows you entry to the museums but we only went to the Hoi An history museum which was more like a small exhibition. It seemed clear that the town was a shoppers' paradise and it was very difficult to refrain from buying more things!

Hoi An streets

Lots of lanterns!

Some of the most famous buildings in Hoi An are the Chinese assembly halls so we decided to go to one of these first. It wasn't difficult to choose as there is a Fujian one there, the province Xiamen is in.

Entrance to the Fujian assembly hall

Mosquito coils

Dragon fountain

Inside the assembly hall

一帆风顺 - "Plain Sailing". This idiom was in my Chinese textbook!

We also went to the Cantonese assembly hall towards the end of our wander around town as we still had spare ticket stubs left. This was also very nice and had a garden at the back as well as the front. Both were very ornate with lots of detail.

Cantonese assembly hall

Inside the assembly hall

Back garden

We also decided to visit one of the old houses and opted for the one we'd been told was "most famous". Once there, a lady told us about the house which was very interesting. Apparently the house had stayed in one family for many many generations and that they still lived there upstairs but let tourists visit downstairs. The house had experienced problems with flooding and there were marks on the wall showing how high the water had got in different years. One year it had flooded almost up to the ceiling!

The character 百 - hundred - made from birds

Lines showing the water level during different years of flooding

Inside the house

Another one of the most famous attractions in Hoi An is the Japanese Covered Bridge. We walked along by the harbour to get there. Hoi An used to be a big trade port but nowadays the boats are more for tourism.

Boats in Hoi An harbour

Hoi An harbour

Japanese covered bridge

That evening we had a nice meal after an equally enjoyable day. It was a shame that we couldn't spend longer there but I think we would have ended up with very heavy suitcases if we did!