Saigon / Ho Chi Minh City

Another long train journey (around 17hours) took us from Dalat to Saigon (AKA Ho Chi Minh City). The train seemed a bit smoother this time although I got even less sleep thanks to a horrible little urchin in the next cabin who cried every hour, on the hour and the parent kindly took him outside into the corridor for us all to enjoy. Saigon is incredibly hot and busy, but good fun. We stayed in a high rise place without much Vietnamese character, but we were just grateful for the air con, smooth running, and rooftop pool.

That evening we met up with Shaun and Gail's friends Jasmine and Thomas for dinner that night which was good so they could show us around a bit. The roads are famous for being packed with motorbikes but nothing quite prepares you for it and it's quite stressful trying to cross the road!

The next day we visited the cathedral and the fantastic post office which is in a really impressive building. We had an amazing lunch at a vegetarian restaurant which Gail pointed out - it was a great little place with white walls, bamboo trees and little ponds - a real haven within the busy city. We also went to the War Remnants Museum which was of course extremely distressing so didn't spend too much time there.

There wasn't much else to see in Saigon really, so on our last day we made the most of the great weather (as Shaun pointed out when we said we were SO HOT: "you won't be tomorrow" thanks Shaun) and enjoyed the rooftop pool. We went back to the veggie restaurant for a final Vietnamese meal and it did not disappoint. The Kumquat mojitos and delicious noodles were a great way to end our trip.

It was very sad to leave Vietnam and say goodbye to Shaun and Gail, but I am so happy we got to spend those 2 amazing weeks with them. I just wish I could have continued on to Cambodia with them too!

Hoi An

A taxi took us to Hoi An on Tuesday. It was an interesting drive, from racing along straight roads at 70mph to crawling up mountains at 1mph as the tiny engine of the car struggled with all our weight. We drove through the rather uninspiring city of Denang, and 45 minutes later arrived in the beautiful town of Hoi An. Since we would be there for 4 nights we treated ourselves to a hotel with a swimming pool. It must have reached over 35 degrees most days so we were really glad we did. 

Hoi An old quarter is so pretty. It's full of old but perfectly preserved colonial buildings, and all businesses are required by law to hang lanterns outside so through all the back streets and along the river the brightly coloured lights make Hoi An a really special place especially in the evening. 

The food is also incredible. Every day we had Banh Mi for lunch at the same place. Josie had recommended these from when she was here a few years ago, and Shaun had them all the time for lunch in London so we knew we had to try them here. There are no words to describe just how good this sandwich is. It's a warm crispy special type of baguette, filled with chicken or pork, topped with chilli sauce, fresh spring onion salad and home made mayonnaise. It's got to be one of the best sandwiches in the world, hence why we had it every day and I am craving one as I write this! (If anyone is going to Hoi An I will tell you the name of the place to get them!). Our days were spent eating good food, chilling by the pool, doing a bit of shopping, and wondering around the town occasionally stopping for fresh beers (at around 26p a pint even I was drinking it) when it got too hot. 

Not only do they do the best sandwich in the world, we possibly had the best manicure/pedicure in the world too - my nails look so good Shaun thought they were fake! 

Hoi An is famous for its tailors, so as soon as we arrived we asked our hotel to recommend a good one and went to check it out. Me, Mum and Gail decided to get blazers made and it was great fun. (Shaun refused to get anything made because he didn't "need" anything but also he'd had things made when he came 10 years ago). We picked our colours and fabrics (of course I went for a bright colour and one of the most expensive inner linings because I wanted purple stripes) and then they took our measurements. Just to make sure we got what we wanted, I gave them my blazer from Zara and asked them to copy the style. We paid about £30 for each jacket, and were told to return the next day to have a fitting. We were all quite nervous on the way there the next day, and I had resigned myself to the fact that they probably just made the same style of garment for everybody but just in their individual measurements….so you can imagine I was delighted when presented with my jacket which was absolutely perfect and everything I wanted! I love it. Mum and Gail were also really happy with theirs. 

On our last day in Hoi An we were enjoying our final Banh Mi whilst there appeared to be a lot going on in the road outside. It turned out to be what we could only image was the Slowest Bike Race in the World. The aim of the race was to be the last one to cross the finish line, and was one of the most ridiculous and funny things I have ever seen! This is just a short video but you can see how silly it is!

8:30-9:30pm that night was Earth Hour, where the whole of Hoi An (and supposedly the rest of the world I guess) turned out their lights to save power for an hour. Unfortunately we had to leave for the train station so we missed it in the old quarter, but on the other hand there were thousands of people making their way there so perhaps we made a lucky escape. Everywhere else they turned out the main lights and used candles so it looked very pretty. I was really sad to leave Hoi An and would love to come back again one day.

Hanoi to Huế

Back in Hanoi we enjoyed hot showers and plenty of Vietnamese coffee to warm up, although unfortunately it was still raining of course. We went to visit Ho Chi Minh in his embalmed state which was a strange experience - queuing for about an hour then being rushed through to see him lying there. It was very interesting, although I later read that he actually wanted to be cremated so he'd probably be horrified to see all these visitors!

Later we watched a water puppet show which was surprisingly entertaining, particularly the live traditional Vietnamese music being performed at the side of the stage. 

That night we headed to the train station to travel down further South to Huế, and hopefully warmer weather. We travelled first class (of course) so there were just the 4 of us in a sleeper cabin. It was pretty noisy and rickety but good fun overall. We watched a film on Shaun's laptop to pass the time, at which point we had a mouse come and join us, followed by a long sleepless night for me and Gail (most of you will know that if the train had de-railed Shaun and Mum would sleep through it). 13 hours later we arrived in Huế and thankfully it was warm and sunny! Famous for being the birthplace of poets and artists (not sure if that's still the case now), the quiet and friendly town made a nice change. We visited the Citadel and its various historical buildings, and wondered the backstreets across the river. Really enjoying the food, and I'm even starting to get a taste for the local beer! 

Ha Long Bay

Ha Long Bay is about 3 hours away from Hanoi. We got a minibus there, then got on our boat at the port. Could not believe how cold it was! Feels a bit like England. We have nice little cabins on the boat, and all meals included. It was just such a shame the weather was so awful, because I can imagine it would be absolutely incredible to see this place in the sun instead of murky and damp drizzly weather. I am used to that now anyway, so got on with it and enjoyed it.

The caves were brilliant - all the stalagmites and stalactites just fascinating and the whole thing was just huge. Rather than explaining the science behind the creation of the interesting rock formations, our guide chose to tell us which animal each rock looked like, but that was fine.

Next we went up a small mountain/hill where there's a nice view over the bay, followed by a slippery walk back down.

Once back aboard the boat there was the option to go kayaking which I had initially wanted to do, but by this point it was rainy and cold and one look at the wet kyak with a big puddle of water in the seat made the decision to stay on the boat and try to warm up pretty easy. Dinner was great - lots of fresh prawns and squid (they do squid fishing off the boat at night). There was a bit of a storm at night, and just the night before they had to move everyone into hotels because the weather was so bad, but luckily it wasn't too bad for us. The only problem was Shaun and Gail had to move rooms at about 3am because they had water pouring through their smoke detector. 

Breakfast was dire, then we had a look around a pearl farm which was interesting. The morning was spent making our way back to the port and having lunch at 10:30am...The weather was getting even worse when we got back, so we were glad to head back to Hanoi where we hoped to get warm and dry.

London to Hanoi

Gatwick airport: sat aboard Vietnam Airlines flight due to take off at 12pm. Nobody voicing their concern about the possibility of vanishing en route but everybody thinking it. At 12pm all flight attendants disappear, and incredibly loud noises are coming from the engines. It's also very hot on the plane which was highly unusual. Despite all the noise and delayed departure we were not told anything by anybody, and at 12:20 the plane just went and took off. Gathered it was all ok then! Flight was perfectly good, and due some problem there was no tea or coffee, so as compensation they offered unlimited wine which was fine with most passengers! (the ladies behind us took full advantage and got quite silly). We landed in Ho Chi Minh City the next morning and went straight to the domestic airport to get the 2 hour flight to Hanoi where we were due to meet Shaun and Gail. We boarded what looked like exactly the same plane that we'd just flown in on, and then landed in Hanoi. My friend Josh lives in Hanoi so he had booked a guesthouse for the 4 of us in the city's old quarter, and that's where we met up with Shaun and Gail. They're both looking well - tanned, slim and more blonde! The weather is quite rubbish, very grey and humid.  That evening we went for a look around, learning how to cross the roads (which Shaun and Gail have become very good at - it basically involves walking into the mental road full of motorbikes and a few cars and holding up your hand in the "stop" signal and amazingly it works so far!). Later on we met up with my friend Josh who took us out for the famous food of Hanoi called Pho, only when we got to the place it was shut down, so we had some other noodle soup which was delicious.