We started our magic travel in Hanoi, well actually we still crossed the borde over to Lao Cai but this being a little, dirty town there is really not more to say on it's behalf. We just jumped on a night train down to Hanoi after being hassled by the local moto mafia and somewhat difficult and tired of her job ticket seller! Trains in Vietnam come in different forms, we grabbed a hard sleeper which means a cabin with 6 beds, 3 bunks on each side, window and table! Pretty cool if you don't mind the locals travelling with you and they usually see it the same way! Sleeping bag is good unless you wanna catch some bed bugs and get all scratchy and reddish =)
Hanoi is a nice, tranquil city that doesn't give the buzz of metropolis at all! It used to be fishing village just a century or so back, so it has certainly risen up a few notches! There are some nice lakes with surrounding parks and some nice old, colonial french architecture there! The old town is mostly invaded by local chip shops selling all kinds of crap, but there are some lovely cafes there to sit and rest on! A great place to stay was The Drift Hostel! Run by an australian girl, it was clean, modern and a great place to meet people at! We did have some Vodka buckets on those porches haha!
We got our 30 day bus tickets and started working down the (long) country! We got to Hue as our first stop, however this being yet another city, we felt that it didn't offer us what we needed in terms of relaxing and laying back! After being thrown back and forth in directions and a crazy ticket woman trying to lure us to her office, practically stealing our tickets, we finally got on the bus to Hoi An!
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| Hoi An |
If you ever go to Vietnam, Hoi An is a must on your stop! A beautiful sea and river side town, built of old french colonial architecture, it offers some of the best food in Vietnam and tailoring for dirt cheap prices! We had each a shirt made (17$), Nick's was perfect fit but mine was just a bit badly measured and in the end left a bit big on the shoulders! Oh well, no fortune lost there and later on I got to hear some stories of really bad tailoring and down right scamming the tourists! In the end it is a bit the same everywhere, most people are just lovely but they do mostly see you as a walking wallet! Worst example is the street sellers, they'll do anything to sell you a pair of glasses for instance even though you have 2 pairs laying on the table already! It get's somewhat comic when one guy goes and 2 sec later another one comes and then on and on it goes 24/7!
We skipped Nha Trang pretty much, stayed one night as the town was just a bad copy of Phuket Thailand, dirty and full of russians! You know it's too much when the waitresses start speaking russian!!! So in the words of my good mate Nick, we got the hell out of Dodge and landed 16h later in paradise of Mui Ne!
We ended up staying a week (I left alone to Saigon before Nick) just really getting back energy, exercising and having some sweet night parties with locals and tourist at Joe's! Joe's is awesome, offering 24/7 open, free home cinema room with hundreds of films, lovely staff, live music and great vibe! Shit I think we went there pretty much every night! If not more than for at least kicking back and watching a film while eating huge baguettes and some Ice coffees!!!
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| Mui Ne |
Not much to see around though in terms of culture, this is a place for just lying on the palm tree beach. We saw the sand dunes, a bit like Sahara but yet nothing like it in terms of size, just a funny thing seeing the huge sand dunes in the middle of the green woods! Great to hire a motorbike for 7$ and jetting around....I think we did as far as 100km/h on them......mmm wackos!!!
Well I left Nick (sorry mate) a couple of days earlier for Saigon, I needed again the buzz of metropole and I had my plans for a tattoo! What can one say about Saigon, like smaller version of Bangkok...ad I love it! Neon signs virtually everywhere, skyscrapers next to old french inspired colonial buildings (talk about contrast), green luscious parks offering shadow from the 35 degree heat and a huge market selling tons of nick nacks!!!
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| Saigon |
The party seen there is huge! District 1 is main backpacker area and party area with bars and restaurants lined up! Had some crazy nights here before Nick turned up! It was easy to meet new people in the hotel and share experiences and you'd always end up going for a beer or a walk around town with some of them! You'd just sit down for a beer somewhere and suddenly start an all night conversation with the neighboring table and as time progressed there would land more and more people at the table until we all went to the next place! Dangerous though madames and monsieurs as buckets go for 2$ and contain 70% alcohol and not measured by the cl as back home!!
Got my cool (huge) dragon tattoo at Saigon Ink which seems to be the best place in town! Clean and thank god good at what they do it was an awesome experience for life!! As for now tattooing isn't so big in Vietnam as the locals (mostly elderly) consider it still dodgy and criminal to make one, so you could get half body tattoo for 200$ like petite moi!!!! If you can stand the exquisite pain that is!!
So folks, Vietnam has lots to offer whether you are budget backpacker or cozy romantic couple (think I'm gonna through up haha). Great food, awesome coffee (I'm addict), sandy beaches or mountains covered in jungle, budget shopping and island hopping! It is a same it is a country still rather closed, I'd open a hostel instantly if it would be possible as a western! Well maybe some time!!
Now it is of to Cambodia for serious culture andwonders of the world as well as some untouched islands in the south!! See ya!
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