Ho Chi Minh City

After Nha Trang, we made our way down to the most famous city in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon). This time we took a day bus instead of a night bus and it took us 12 hours to get there (Vietnam is really long and the buses are really slow and inefficient). I had really quite looked forward to Ho Chi Minh as it has a lot of history (war museum, Cu Chi tunnels etc) and it is one of the most famous cities in Asia, but in the end, I really didn't like it. There were simply too many motorbikes; more motorbikes than I have ever seen in my life and it was just impossible to go out and do anything because It was so stressful. I nearly got run over (the guy actually mounted the pavement and ploughed straight into me – I had to jump out of the way, and I was quite shaken afterwards!).

Bikers with masks on

Also, it was a really polluted city, everybody there wears masks and I can see why. It was hot, and just going out the hotel and crossing the road to the shop was exhausting. Add to this, the constant noise of horns and people constantly hassling you, along with throngs of backpackers sitting in bars and getting wasted on the dollar beers, and you have a good idea of what Ho Chi Minh was like. But enough of the bad points, there were some good things about visiting the city. We got to learn a lot about the history of the Vietnam war (or the Armerican war as they call it in Vietnam). We went to the war museum, where they have old captured American military planes on display in the car park. I found this fascinating because I've never seen real war planes I the flesh before – they had tanks, helicopters, planes and all sorts. And you could look inside them, touch them etc, there were no restrictions. Then you go in the museum and it is one of the most graphical and disturbing museums I have ever visited.

They have lots of pictures of people who were injured and killed during the war by the Americans. The images are horrific – lots of pictures and stories of mothers and children who were slaughtered by the Americans – just like the Nazis did to the Jews, in the most inhumane ways. They had one story of an American general who ordered a whole town to be pillaged and all of the women and children were murdered and beaten to death. Some kids tried to hide in a well and they found them and disembowelled them. I was just gob smacked that Americans had done this and so recently as well! I really had not realised how brutal they were and how in the wrong they were to go to war with Vietnam. 

The general in charge of that particular slaughter later went on to be come an American senator! Of course, there are those who say the museum is very biased – it only shows the Vietnam side of the story – however, you just can't argue with the pictures we saw. The worst part though, even more horrific than the room with the war photographs, was the agent orange room. The Americans sprayed the Vietnamese countryside with toxic chemicals – the most toxic known to man – called agent orange. They said it was to destroy the crops, but it was so deadly that it is still having ramifications to this day – with millions of Vietnamese now disabled or with cancer as a result. It carries on in the genes, so children and children's children will continue to have problems in years to come. The pictures were really disturbing – lots of deformed people, and one display even had real foetuses in jars. 

So yes, that was an enlightening and disturbing day.

The next day, we had a lighter day (just) and visited the cu chi tunnels – the tunnels that the Vietnamese built and hid in during the war. They were very impressive.

We all got to go inside them and they showed us all the death traps that were used to trap and kill the Americans. At the end they showed us a video talking about the brave soldiers who killed the American enemy. When we got into the tunnels, we could go as far as 300m along them, and at some points you had to lie on your back to get through because they were so small. I got out after 100m because I felt faint and claustrophobic but Jemma did the full tunnel. At the other end, they had guns that you could fire with real bullets (AK47s etc) but Jemma found it distasteful and anyway we didn't have enough money so we just watched. It was very loud.

The next day we did a final tour of the city, which took us to the Chinese quarter (just some old markets) and some temple (seen one temple, seen them all – yes I'm coming to the end of the trip now – can you tell?) and then we went back to the room and just watched TV because we had had enough of the city and couldn't bare the stress of it any more. I went and picked up 2 pizzas from pizza hut and we just ate them in the room whilst watching Desperate housewives. And that was the end to our Vietnam adventure. I was so relieved to leave Ho Ch Minh the next day and was really excited for Cambodia. Although I had really enjoyed the rest of Vietnam (especially the seaside bits), some of the people, the night buses and the traffic had stressed me out and I was ready for calm.   

Nha Trang

Nha Trang is a beach resort where lots of Vietnamese, Australians and bizarrely, Russians go on holiday. I think I saw more Russians there than I have ever seen anywhere else. There are lots of Western restaurants and bars and I really quite like the place. One one of the days, we took a really cheap boat trip out to go snorkelling. It cost us £10 and for that we got a full day out on a boat, jumping off the boat and snorkelling around the best reefs I've seen on this trip (much nicer than the Great Barrier Reef!) and we went to some lovely turquoise waters next to some rocks. 

We also had an amazing Vietnamese seafood buffet included in the price. There were some lovely people on the boat with us and it really was an amazing day!

The following day, we went to a mud spa which was amazing! We paid about £6 and for that, we got a day's access to a kind of spa-themepark, with various spas, pools, waterfalls etc. The best part was that we got our own private mud bath – first time I've ever had a bath in mud before and I absolutely loved it! It was so funny, and very tricky to wash off – despite the power hoses that we walked through and despite going in various pools afterwards, we still found mud in crevices for days later! Later that day, we also hired a tandem bike and cycled along the promenade  - it was hilarious. I loved Nha Trang and would recommend it to anyone who wants to go on holiday to Vietnam.

Mud spa

Night buses in Vietnam (rant!)

After taking several night buses in Vietnam, I can confir that they are the WORST way to travel over night. I NEVER want to take another Vietnamese nightbus every again in my life. They are bumpy, noisy, the driver honks his horn every 2 seconds for no apparent reason, they force you to go to the seats at the back of the bus near the stinking toilet because you are Western, the toilets are disgusting and don't lock so you have to hold them shut whilst squatting. The seats though are th worst part: they are filthy – probably never been cleaned since they were made, the curtain next to you is rotting, the seats are lying down ones, which sounds great, but its not, because they are too small, and you have a filthy little metal box at the bottom to put your bag and feet in. Then you have a grotty hard pillow, and you have to lie there, packed in, with other travellers either side and below you (we were always forced onto the top bunks so the locals could have the bottom ones and the top ones are the worst for swaying and the bus has no suspension whatsoever). It is impossible to sleep. The last night bus we took, I slept about 1 hour out of 12. I honestly can't stress enough how much I hated them and I'm so glad I never have to do another one!!

Hoi An

Hoi An - its like the HSBC adverts

Hoi An is a typical little ancient Vietnamese town, very touristy, but at the same time, quite enchanting. We spent 4 days there. At night there are lanterns lighting up all of the streets and you can have dinner overlooking the river which has lots of floating lanterns in it and women in traditional hats punting along in little boats. 

Quaint little city - perfect for exploring with a bike

One of the main features of Hoi An is that it is full of tailor shops and everywhere you walk, people are asking you to come in and have clothes made. The clothes are amazing – they basically base them on UK catalogues like Next and you can see lots of different outfits hanging up in the windows. On the first night we were having dinner in a restaurant and the waitress asked us if we wanted to go in the clothes shop nextdoor and have a look around after out meal. We couldn't really say no (she was very insistent) so we ended up in the tailor shop and consequently bought 12 new items of clothes in total. I had two traditional Vietnamese tops tailor made and a skirt. Jemma had some work clothes made. 

Jemma getting work clothes made

Our other days in Hoi An were spent either walking around the town, having one of those pedlos peddle us around the town, or cycling to the beach. 

Large group of Chinese tourists being pedalled around

The day we cycled to the beach, we saw some amazing scenery; rice paddies, traditional little houses by the river and a stunning beach. We stopped at a cafe by the beach, where we got hassled by lots of women selling stuff and had no choice once again but to buy stuff we didn't need. We had sob stories and lots of English phrases thrown at us such as 'luvly jubbly' and 'open your heart, open your wallet'.

Bike ride past rice paddies

For more pictures of Hue and Hoi An: Hoi An facebook album

Hue

Godawful night bus

After Hanoi, we took a horrible night bus down south to Hue which was an awful journey.

It was something like this:

Hue was nothing special – just a small town with a few heritage sights that we looked around in one afternoon. We also took one of those pedal taxis for the first time, where a man peddles you around town. We both got on one together. 

Getting a ride around town

Ancient city of Hue

We also had an AMAZING hostel, which was more like a hotel than a hostel. We spent a day watching TV and chilling out in the massive, luxurious room. That night we met up for dinner and drinks with one of my colleagues from work (James, a placement student). The next day we had to catch another 4 hour bus and I was so hungover I didn't think I'd make it but a tuna sandwich and chips soon perked me up.

Our hostel suite

Dinner with James and his friend

Sapa – Hill Tribes right in the North of Vietnam

Our nice hostel in Hanoi packed us off on our night train to Sapa. When I say packed us off, I mean they literally carried all of our bags, put us in a taxi, got someone to meet us at the train station and then put us on the train! The night train was our first train in Vietnam and it was a lot higher quality than Thailand. Comfy bunk beds and a cabin of four. We shared with two Vietnamese men, one of which had tissue stuffed up his nose. I slept ok, the train was still as shaky as those in Thailand but not as loud but the air con was far too strong and I shivered the whole night. I woke up with a sore throat and running nose, no prizes for guessing who I got it off.

Night train

Our train arrived at 6am and we were met by a minibus that took us along some winding country roads into the mountains of Sapa. The scenery was out of this world. Layers and layers of Rice paddies, greenery, blue skies... it was stunning. I was very tired though. We got to our hotel and they gave us breakfast (egg and bread) and then we checked into our room, had a shower and had about an hour to get ready before our trek. We were both so exhausted! Anyway, we got ready and our guide met us downstairs in the lobby (a little tribal woman with a gold tooth) and then took us out into the town with 4 French boys and 3 Malaysians. As we began walking along the road towards the mountains, a group of hysterical tribal women began following us (we had seen this group earlier when our minibus pulled into the hotel, they were all screaming and running after the minibus). The group consisted of about 20 women, all carrying baskets on their backs, and being naïve and new to the ways of Vietnam, we had no idea why they were following us. 

The women who followed us

Then they started talking to us and asking us questions 'How long you been here? Where you from?' and we got chatting to them. I naively assumed they just wanted to practice their English, but it was a very stupid assumption to make; why would a group of 20 women follow us on a 4 hour trek in the mountains just to speak English? Anyway, the trek went on, and we clambered through and across rice paddies, those ones that are like steps and lead all the way down the mountain. It had been raining earlier and it was extremely muddy and slippery, to the point where EVERYONE in the group fell over at some point. Jemma actually slipped off the edge of one of the rice tiers and jumped into the one below, submerging herself up to her knees in water. She was very lucky she didn't go head first and soak her whole body. 

The rice steps - Jemma slipped & fell from one level to the one below

We were all so muddy, having slipped on our bums so much. I slipped down a steep hill at one point and just gave up and slid down the rest of it on my bum because I couldn't stand back up in the mud. It was kind of fun though. And all the long, the women were there to help us, holding our hands to stop us from falling, catching us when we slipped. How lovely the Vietnamese tribes are we thought! What a great authentic experience we are having, trekking with a tribe in the outer reaches of rural Vietnam. 

Stunning Scenery

And then we came to the cafe in the mountains where we to have lunch and what happened next can only be described as a swarming attack. The women were all over us, in our faces, 4 women to a person, shouting at us for us to buy what was in their baskets. 'Please buy from me, my baby needs food' 'buy me I helped you' 'buy present, buy for my village, I need money'. The 8 of us were sat around these little tables and we had no escape. The tour guide disappeared and our lunch would not come until we had all bought something. I wouldn't mind, because the women had helped us a lot during the walk, but the prices they were asking for were so unreasonable and they wouldn't budge on them at all. We ended up buying two purses that we didn't even like/ want/ need! 

French boys being hassled

Then the food came, and then after that, the tour guide, who we hadn't seen for the whole of the trek, reappeared and announced it was time to move onto the next village, at which point the first tribe of women scurried away, and we were joined by a new 'tribe' of women, dressed slightly differently, in different colours who swarmed around us and each one latched onto a different person. 'Where you from? How long you been here? I from new tribe, different tribe, poorer than that other tribe. How old are you? Do you have brothers or sisters?' We walked through a small village that was scattered with 'home stays'. The French boys were doing a home stay, we weren't, and when we saw the home stays, which were actually just concrete hostels that had been put up in the middle of a village and had nothing homely about them whatsoever, we were glad we weren't staying there. We were especially glad, when we saw a minibus pull up to take us back to the main town of Sapa. We literally had to run into the bus and tell the women 'no we don't have any money left on us!!!' They chased us and I shoved the equivalent of about 40p into their hand and jumped on the bus. They weren't happy, and shouted at us they wanted more, but thankfully the bus drove off, and I was so relieved to get away. The countryside had been so stunning, breathtaking, like nothing I have seen before, and I had been so enchanted in the beginning to be getting an 'authentic Vietnamese experience' but the women just ruined the whole thing completely for me and I would never want to go back.

Village

Just wow

But far too much hassle off the various tribes

We got back to the hotel that afternoon and went straight to sleep. I felt so ill, fluey and my nose wouldn't stop running. It was the worst cold I've ever had in my life. I dragged myself out of bed for dinner, where we had a lovely meal and got chatting to a Chilean and Israeli about politics, but then I had to go to bed early because I felt so rough and couldn't breathe because my nose was so blocked. I had the most sleepless night of the whole trip, literally could not breathe and went through about two toilet rolls from blowing my nose every two seconds. We were supposed to go on a second trek the next day, but I was too ill, and Jemma couldn't be bothered with the women hassling her, so we stayed in the room and I slept whilst she watched films. She went out to get me some medication and I took it and it knocked me out. Then we had dinner, before getting on the night train again, back to Hanoi. I wore extra layers this time, in preparation for the freezing air con, which was a mistake, because the air con in our carriage was broken and I sweated the whole night long. At least I was sweating the cold out though. When we got back to Hanoi at 6am, the guy from our hostel came to collect us, with a brolley to shelter us from the rain, and we checked into our hostel and slept for the whole morning.

Halong Bay

Our Halong Bay group on the deck

Halong bay is that place you see on all the pictures. I think its been in a few films, incliding James Bond, which makes it quite recognisable around the world. So we decided to do a boat trip there, and booked a 2 day, one night cruise on a luxury boat around Halong Bay including all meals, kayaking, a tour of the caves there and karaoke on the boat. We were very lucky to be placed with an extremely nice group of people. We got into a minibus with a load of other travellers in the morning, and it took 3 hours to drive there. On the way they stopped for a break at this art place for tourists where disabled people make art. We got to Halong bay and they dropped us off right outside our boat and we sat down for lunch with our new boatmates. 

Our room on board

They were all so nice. 2 German sisters who had lived in Mallorca most of their lives, 2 Aussie/Indian/Sri Lankan medics who were really funny and 3 students from Britain who were all studying Chinese and living in China. We all got on like a house on fire which made the trip what it was. We set off through the stunning scenery on the boat and then we stopped at some magnificent caves (the best caves I've ever seen), where we went for a tour round inside and then we all got to kayak around that area. Then we went to a beach with a mountain on it, where some people swam and some climbed up the mountain. I climbed up the mountain because the water was filthy. 

Halong bay is stunning and a world Heritage sight, but my god the water is polluted. I climbed the mountain and got bitten to death by mozzies but the view at the top was stunning. When we came back down, Jemma and the German girl ran in the sea to cool off. After this, we all got back on the boat, showered and had dinner (really nice Vietnamese food like curried veg, rice and spring rolls – Vietnam does the best spring rolls). And then after dinner, a few people went to bed, but a lot of us stayed up and got really hyper doing karaoke.

Karaoke

Vietnamese Karaoke

 I didn't drink any alcohol but I felt like I had. The tour guide was trying to make everyone drink this strong Vietnamese rice wine but it was foul so I didn't drink any. Those who did got quite drunk. After the karaoke, a few of us went up on deck on the deck chairs and put the world to rights under the stars.

The next day was a beautiful sunny day and it was very hot. We sailed amongst all of the stunning fjords and mountains and it was breathtaking – some of the best scenery I've seen in my life. It looked a lot like Milford sound in New Zealand but better and bigger, and for the same price we paid for a day trip in New Zealand we got a 2 day boat cruise in Vietnam. 

Scene from James Bond

After a morning of cruising, we ended the day at and oyster farm, where they showed us how they make pearls, and then it was back into the minibus with our new friends, where we laughed all the way back (especially with this one guy Gareth from Nottingham who was so funny). And on the way we stopped for lunch in a restaurant, that was air-conditioned and I felt like I'd gone to heaven because the bus we were on was really bouncy, rickety and the weather outside was boiling.  

Stunning scenery

More photos on facebook: Halong Bay photos