I've revisited Vietnam again, this time wih my friend, Low. Since this trip was quite an adventure, I've decided to write in diary format.
25/12/2015 - Took 9.30am flight to SGN and arrive around 11am. Temperature was really hot. 30 Degrees Celsius. Lunch at Burger King and kept our Luggages in locker room in the International Airport. Also bought 2 SIM cards for our phones, each costs about VND200k.
Took the 152 bus at Column 12 to Ben Thanh Market, as suggested by one of the Locker room staffs. Visited Post Office, Notre Dam, Independance Palace, District 1, Dinner at McDonalds. Love the garlic-chilli sauce here.
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| Post Office |
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| Tank in Independence Palace |
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| Conference Hall in Independence Palace |
Headed back to the Ben Thanh Market, hoping to take the bus back to Airport. Offered by a few motorcyclists as transport but we refused. Took a cab back to Airport finally as the last bus 152 was so early, 6pm. Had an argument over the Jetstar as it rescheduled from 2200 to 1530 in the email sent today. When we reach the airport at around 7pm, We've been given seats for 12am flight! What makes me even more frustated was that one of the supervisors asked me, "Can you speak English?". I should have answered, "Can you understand English?", but I didn't. Low said it's ok, we will lodge a complaint. Finally we've got seats for the 2130 flight. Low had Business class seat.
Reached Hanoi around 11.30pm and BC family homestay dorm around 12am and wow, Temperature was awesome.. around 13-14 C here. Met a backpacker who was a lawyer from Hawaii. Had supper, Meecup at CircleK nearby and planned some trips to Halong Bay and Tam Coc. Their staffs, Sam and Daisy helped us booked the trips we wanted.
There was a watercut that night, and we were given 3x500ml bottles of water for cleanup.
End of Day 1
26/12/2015 - Had Pho Ga for the first time as breakfast at one of the local stalls suggested by Daisy. After strolling around the Hoen Kiem lake, we had an egg coffee in Ma May street. After that we went to the Opera House, French Quarter. Lunch at Lotteria, beside Puppet show theatre. Low watched Puppet show alone at 3pm while i walked back to BC for my neck warmer. In the meantime had Vietnamese espresso at Oriberry Cafe near the St. Joseph's Catherdral. The dorm was locked when we came back. So I called up BC hotline, and this is how we met Luxia, the cute travel expert. We had Xoi Yen for dinner after the puppet show.
Rushed to train station and took Tulico soft berth to Sapa. Met 2 Thais, one of them was Tiew, an ex Maybank Thailand accountant.
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| Seats and tables were so low! |
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| Turtle in the Temple at Hoen Kiem Lake |
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| Burning Jossticks at the Turtle Temple |
27/12/2015 - Reached Lao Cai around 6am. Took 1 hour bus to Sapa. Reached Pinocchio Hotel and had breakfast at Paradise View Restaurant. Temp was 8C. Went up to the church in Sapa, while Low went back to the hotel. Waited quite a long time for 12pm check-in. Lunch at same place. Headed to Cat Cat Village till evening. Followed a group of ppl as day was getting dark on the way back. Didn't know they had their motorcycles parked at one of the huts. Took a taxi back and stopped at a local restaurant, which was famous for hotpot we didn't know. We had some barbecues there. Waiters were too busy serving others on the hotpot. After waiting for quite some time, we were given a menu. Out of frustration, we ordered no more after. Headed back to the hotel.
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| Raining at Sapa, near our Pinocchio Hotel |
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| Waterfalls in Cat Cat Village |
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| Man-made WaterFalls at Cat Cat Village |
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| Creative Figurines made of Bamboo Roots |
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| Villagers of Cat Cat Village |
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| You will see a lot of villagers around you, selling these. |
28/12/2015 - Breakfast at Pinocchio. They've arranged a vnd400k taxi to bring us to the Silver Waterfalls and the Peak. We didn't even know when we reach the Peak as the driver does not know English at all. What a waste. Had lunch at Paradise View again. This time they arranged their friend Dao, on a private car to bring us to Ta Phin village. It is better this time, as he knows English quite well. Unfortunately, upon reaching his village, i slipped and fell to the ground. Also, my DSLR lens got frosted, so I can only use my actioncam to capture. He took us quite a number of places, including walking across padi fields and the abandoned monastery. I paid him vnd500k+100k tips. Had hotpot for dinner, finally at Paradise View again and headed all the way back to Hanoi with sleeper bus.
29/12/2015 - Reached Hanoi at 4am and searched for the other new BC homestay for half an hour. Had breakfast at V+ Banh Mi. Cheap and nice burger stall. Finally reached, surprisingly no one there, so we done some cleanups while waiting for the trip to Halong Bay. Met Luxia back at the BC hotel. Discussed the next trip to Tam Coc and day tour in Hue. V+ was closed so we had Banh Trung for dinner nearby. Went pasar malam and saw some happening events here. Few motorcyclists had offered some "Happy ending massage", but we just ignored them.
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| I like the Toothpicks at V+ burger stall. so thin and unique. |
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| The Rower yawning all the way while waiting for the passengers |
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| Fountain in Halong Bay cave |
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| Their dining tables and chairs are so low. |
30/12/2015 - Day Trip in Tam Coc. Had buffet lunch together with an old japanese couple, who does not speak much. Also met a Mandarin-speaking rower along the boat ride. The tour bus dropped us at a hotel in Ninh Binh where we waited for the bus to Hue at 8.30pm. Had dinner at Lotteria in Ninh Binh city.
31/12/2015 - Our bus was stopped in between Hanoi and Hue as some smuggling issue without permit has occured, causing delays on our day tour in Hue. We called Luxia and the coordinator and our day tour has been split into 2 sessions, afternoon and the next morning session. After checking into the Sport hotel, we were brought to the restaurant for lunch by the 2 coordinators. I could still remember her English pronunciation as she said "MEET the bus", where we misunderstood as "MISSED the bus".
As we had much time waiting for them to fetch us to the restaurant, we tried to book a flight from Danang to Saigon, a room in Danang and a room in Saigon suggested by Low's friend, Andreas. However, we regretted for not booking the flight offered by the hotel Travel agency earlier as it seems cheaper through eDreams.com, as later eDreams reported it was unsuccessful. When we called up the hotel later and asked her to book again, the price had increased to USD74 instead of USD62. Damn eDreams.com for wasting our money and time i wrote to them.
Buffet lunch were fantastic. After the Citidel and the Pagoda visit, the tour guide got angry, as some tourists were late. Had dinner just opposite our hotel as suggested by TripAdvisor - Golden Rice Restaurant. Not bad the food. After taking a nap at the hotel, we thought we could see some New Year fireworks but to our tdisappointment, there were no fireworks here. However, There were some countdown occurs at most of the bars and pubs nearby.
01/12/2015 - Continue our half-day tour to the Minh Mang and Khai Dinh tomb. After that to some live Martial Arts show and incense village where they show us how incense were made. I bought myself a pack of incense and regretted the very nice holder which only costs VND100k. Last tomb visited was Tu Doc when Low suddenly realized the bus to Danang ETA was 1.15pm and not 2pm. Quickly, we took a taxi back to the hotel. The sleeper bus reaches Danang around 4pm. We've made a mistake that we should have bought the ticket straight to Hoi Ann. Anyway, the taxi we booked from Danang to Hoi Ann after checking in to the Pearl Sea Hotels costs around VND 500k for 5 hours. On the way back from Hoi Ann we asked the taxi to bring us around the Dragon Bridge at Danang before going back to the hotel. Wonderful!
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| Traditional House in one of the lots, Hoi Ann |
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| You will see a lot of these lamp posts in Hoi Ann |
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| Dragon bridge in Danang |
02/12/2015 - Banh Mi Breakfast at hotel before going to Airport. Saw the incense holder again at the airport. this time doubles the price of the village - vnd 200k. Still did not buy. Thought can get it in Saigon. Reached Saigon Airport around 11am. Searching for the Khai Nguyen hotel took quite a long time. There was a mistake in Agoda's stated address. Should be District 1 instead of District 2.
So Andreas brought us around the Saigon Markets, searching for some bags and clothes, and to the Chinatown in the evening. Low was attracted to a Northface long pants, which costs only VND370K, while I was attracted to the VND350k 7 mil Crumpler. Dinner at the Banh Xeo restaurant as suggested by TripAdvisor and it was very nice. After the beer near his place, we were back to Khai Nguyen. There was a large advertisements board stated VND15k-17k per hour in which Andreas told us that's for prostitutes. Just before we went to bed, we could hear some girls laughing next door.
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| Market in Saigon |
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| Awesome Yogurt of Banh Xeo restaurant.. so smooth and nice! |
03/12/2015 - Had breakfast nearby in which Low said the char siew was very nice. On the way back to the hotel, we came across a statue, Thich Quang Duc. According to wikipedia, Thich burnt himself to death protesting the persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government led by Ngo Dinh Diem. At the airport, I searched the incense holder again, hoping to find one. Unfortunately, there is none other than the one made of wood, only the made of marbles, which costs USD30.
And so, we were back to KL again with regrets without buying anything back. Maybe next trip as the flight to SGN was quite cheap.
