Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)

We took our last overnight bus ride in Vietnam and arrived in Saigon at 6am on Friday. Even at this early hour the city was buzzing with traffic and people. After a bit of a rest at our hostel, we headed out to explore. The map we have and the actual road names don't always match up, but we managed to find our way to the post office builing, which is quite impressive and beautiful inside and also past the cathedral where we took some more photos. Walking around the city is really nice, despite the traffic that is absolutely crazy. You'll sometimes see 4 or 5 people on a moped (parents and 3 kids all holding on for dear life), they use the mopeds to transport anything and everything. Yesterday we saw a guy with a fridge/freezer kind of balancing on the moped, we've seen big tv's on there and people with 10 boxes somehow strapped on as they zoom past you. It's unbelieveable!
This morning we got up bright and early to go to the Cu Chi Tunnels. It was a very interesting tour where they showed us the tunnels they made to hide and live in, weapons (how they made and used them), boobie traps they set up for the American soldiers, some craters and tanks. We also saw how they used to knot the leaves on trees to mark their whereabouts . Lastly we got to walk through one of the tunnels. This tunnel has been widened and some lights put in part of the way so that tourists can get through more easily and even still it's very claustrophobic and scary down there. It's incredibly humid and sticky above ground and underground is even worse. A few meters was enough for Colin and I, because you feel like you can't breath and like you'll never see light again.
This evening we went for another nice meal, we've really enjoyed the food in Vietnam. One annoying thing is that even when you're eating you have people coming into the restaurants trying to sell you things. Just as I got my food this evening I spotted a little girl come towards us and I had already prepared my I'm not interested face, but rather than beg me to buy something from her she came righht up to my plate with her face. I had to pull my plate away because it looked like she was going to slurp my food up. It was so weird, I wasn't sure whether to feel sorry for her or annoyed.
We leave Vietnam tomorrow morning and head to Cambodia. We've both absolutely loved our time here and definitely want to come back. It's a wonderful country, with lovely people, delicious food and so much beauty to experience and explore. Add Vietnam to your "countires to visit" list!

Nha Trang

The bus journey was a really good one... if you ask Colin, as he slept pretty much the whole way. I however didn't sleep at all as we had a dodgy bus driver that was allowing Vietnamese people without tickets on to the bus and accepting money on the hush-hush. Some of the people were drunk and were talking loud at 3am and when there weren't enough beds they slept on the floor in the aisles. Colin woke up when we got to Nha Trang and had no idea about what had happened.
It was raining when we arrived here, but after checking into our hotel, having breakfast and a little snooze it cleared up and we went for a walk along the beach and through town.
The next day was a lovely, sunny day, so we headed to the beach again hoping to swim and catch a tan. Unfortunately the sea was very rough because of the recent flooding and we just couldn't get close to the water without being swept off our feet by the huge waves. So we decided to play it safe and stay on the beach, Colin in the shade as always.
Had 2 lovely meals at a restaurant here called Lanterns, had really nice Vietnamese curry and the best calamari I've ever tasted. Definitely worth a visit if you're in Nha Trang.
That's it for this little beach town, we leave tonight and head to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City).

Hoi An

We left a rainy Hue at 8am on Saturday and after a 4 hour bus drive arrived in sunny Hoi An. We weren't quite sure we were in the right place, as there didn't seem to be much around the bus stop. Luckily it was only a 5 minute walk into the town before it livened up. We liked Hoi An after just a few minutes wandering around. The main bit of the town is right on a river and although it's not all that pretty, the buildings are beautiful and there's a really nice vibe here. On the first night we walked down all the streets and past the shops with all sorts of pretty, interesting things. The only annoying thing is that you don't feel like you can look at anything, because if you look the people think you want to buy something and then hassle you. It's so hard to be firm without being rude... Colin ignores them, I acknowledge them and politely say no, but then they only hassle me more and eventually I get annoyed from having things stuffed in my face and the people grabbing my arms to keep me at their shop. That evening we wanted to walk along the front of the river and find a nice restaurant, but the tide was so high that the road was flooded right up to the restaurants. We walked as far as we could before we had to go through the kitchen of one the restaurants and we decided to eat here. We sat right at the front, facing the river and had the water by our feet, it was lovely. The town was buzzing with music playing and people performing and singing and there were candle lanterns floating down the river. We ordered the Cau Lao, a local speciality, to share, but enjoyed it so much that we ordered a second.
Hoi An is the place to have tailormade clothes, so the next day we went to be fitted for suits. They took our measurements and asked me how long I would want my jacket. Colin was annoyed that I didn't use the obvious punchline. After this as it was such a nice day we hired some bikes and cycled to the beach. The water was glorious, warm and had nice waves. We spent a few hours just swimming and sunbathing on the beach (although Colin sat in the shade). We came back in the evening for dinner and to have our first fitting and our suits were beginning to take shape.
Woke up this morning to rain, but by the time we went to pick up our suits it had stopped. We are very pleased with the suits, the quality is great and the tailored clothes look really nice. We've spent the rest of the day just walking around, it's such a nice town to wander through.
We leave Hoi An this afternoon on yet another overnight bus to Nha Trang.

Hue

Our hostel organised a bus to pick us up and take us to the overnight bus stop to leave Ha Noi. This bus had enough space for 9 people without luggage, but somehow they managed to fit 11 of us in and our backpacks and hand luggage too... we were so squished. We had to drive off pretty quickly as the police were on the lookout.
The overnight bus wasn't as modern as the one we'd been on before, but still decent enough. This time it was mostly westeners travelling and only a few local people. We had a Spanish guy on the bus, let's call him Xavi, who had smelly feet and a stinking attitude to go with it. Xavi, who was loud and clearly used to being the alpha male, swapped beds a few times and always found something to complain about. There was a Vietnamese lady on the bed next to him whose husband was on the opposite end of the bus and at 8pm the husband came over to give her some fruit and snacks. Xavi was not happy about these people eating on the bus and said: "Eef thay waaant too eeet thay mus go owtsyde, thees ees not a F##%g paatee, huh!". Colin and I gave him a pfft and pulled out our snacks too. Xavi changed seats one more time after this.
The drive was incredibly bumpy partly because the roads aren't great, but mostly because the bus driver was driving at such a speed that we were practically being thrown out of our beds. I was awake at a few points of the journey and couldn't believe how we were driving, you have to experience it to believe it. Not to mention the horn. He was beeping every 20 seconds or so even if there was no other traffic in the way. We got stopped by the police just 15km outside of Hue. We thought this was for speeding, but it was a routine stop to search some of the passengers on board.
We arrived in Hue at 10am and were brought to our hostel. We checked in and once again Portugal wasn't on the list of countries. I think I must be the first Portuguese person to visit Vietnam. We relaxed a bit and then went for a wander round the town before heading out for dinner. It's very humid here and we feel thirsty the whole time.
When we woke up this morning it was absolutely chucking it down, so we stayed in bed till the rain stopped and had a late breakfast. Nuno and Laurie-Shaun, you'd love their coffee, they give you condensed milk in your coffee rather than regular milk and sugar. Later we walked to the Citadal and through the Imperial enclosure. It reminded us a lot of a smaller version of the Forbidden City in China, but a lot of the buildings have been destroyed and damaged because of the war and natural disasters. This means it's nowhere near as busy as the Forbidden City, which made it great for taking photos and walking around peacefully. The funniest thing here was the fish. People were feeding them little cat pellets and these fish were jumping on top of and over each other to get the food. There were about 100 of them all scrambling towards the pellets even if it meant being out of the water for a few seconds - it was like fish crowd surfing.
We leave Hue at 8am tomorrow and head to Hoi An.

Ha Long Bay

We left for Ha Long Bay at 8am on Sunday morning and after a long drive arrived at the bay around 12 and by 1pm were on the boat in the middle of the Ha Long Bay. The view from the deck of the boat was breathtaking and we lay on the sun loungers relaxing till we got to the spot we would dock for the first night. We had some lunch, the music started and the beers flowed as we were sailing. That afternoon we had the amazing experience of jumping about 8m off the boat into the sea. It was incredibly scary standing at the top, looking down and thinking about jumping into the unknown, but once you got over the fright and just did it, it was absolutely worth it. Colin and I decided to jump together, so I counted to 3 and jumped, but Colin only jumped a few seconds after me. That's right, I was the braver one... Colin couldn't bear to not do something I've done, that's the only reason he jumped too. It was fantastic and then we enjoyed a little swim before jumping again. I thought the second time would be easier, but actually standing on the boat and looking down brings the nerves back again. I would have liked to spend more time here, it was the highlight of the 3 days for me.
Our afternoon activity was kayaking to a small island for a walk up a little mountain and then to a cave. When getting out of the kayak, Colin tried to be helpful by pulling the kayak onto the sand so that I wouldn't get wet when climbing out, but I stood up just as he did this and went flying into the water. Everyone in our group found this amusing, me not so much, but as it was his birthday I couldn't get too upset.
When we got back to the boat we freshened up before dinner and drinks on the deck. Some people played drinking games downstairs, but a few of us stayed on the deck and enjoyed being outside in this beautiful place.

It was an early start the next morning to get to a deserted island where we would spend the day and night. After an early lunch on the island we were free to spend the day as we liked. The ocean was calling our names, so we swam most of the day and played some volleyball on the beach. For dinner we had a BBQ followed by drinks again. That night we slept under a thatched roof open shelter with the sound of the waves rocking us to sleep.

In the morning it was back on the boat for lunch and then the journey back to Ha Noi. The scenery was amazing as you can see from the photos below and a visit here is something we'd definitely recommend. We'd both love to come back some day!

Ha Noi

We arrived at Ha Noi station at 5am and caught a cab to our hostel. We could only check in at midday, but had a really nice breakfast while waiting. We went for a bit of a wander through the city, but as soon as we got to our room we showered and had a snooze. In the evening we walked around again and enjoyed the city sights and the people. Ha Noi seems like a really nice place, the people are friendly and we've had quite a lot of Vietnamese children talk to us in good English. The traffic here is constantly flowing and there's a nice buzz in the city, lots of people gathered together on the pavements eating and playing games. The old part of the city is really interesting, you can definitely see the French influence here.
The next morning we got up feeling all refreshed and keen to be outside again as the weather was beautiful. We were walking along a lake in the middle of the city and Colin got stopped by a Vietnamese guy. He told us that his and his girlfriend's first anniversary was coming up and he was making a video for her telling her how much he loved her. He wanted Colin to read a message to her. This didn't freak us out as much as you'd think as we've got used to random requests like this, although this is the strangest so far. Needless to say, Colin didn't do it.
That night we had a really nice meal at a restaurant that had a separate part of the menu with dishes from France and other European countries, but also a Boerewors dish (South African sausage), which was quite expensive. We opted for Vietnamese food of course and had a delicious chicken curry in a coconut sauce. We ate every bit and went back there another night as well.
It's been really nice walking around this city where we've not been hassled to buy anything and felt free to just look, to see friendly faces and talk to locals and to take in a very interesting city. Also, we've found some really good deals like 6 GBP for a genuine photocopied South East Asia Lonely planet and at a restaurant there was a "buy 3 get 1" offer.

We booked a Ha Long Bay tour for Colin's birthday which was for 3 days and 2 nights.
We leave Ha Noi this afternoon for Hue having really enjoyed our time here.

Vietnam here we come

We left Hong Kong still feeling very jet lagged and made our way across the border back into China to get an overnight bus to Nanning. But as before, with every journey we take comes a story... or two. The bus was fine, definitely more comfortable than a plane as you have a bed and duvet although the bed was only about 1.6m long, fine for me but meant Colin had to sleep very scrunched up. Luckily we were still tired from the flight so slept okay.
On our bus we had a couple in their 40's and as soon as the bus departed, the woman sat on the man's bed and they spent the first 20 minutes whispering to each other, laughing and kissing. Then they got ready for bed, leaned over and kissed each other again a few times. When they lay down I thought they were done, but the next 20 minutes they did the whole "I plant a kiss on my fingers and transfer to you and then you do the same" and so forth. Once that stopped they would occasionally open their eyes, peep at each other and laugh. The lovey dovey couple eventually stopped and slept. The morning routine was just as "sweet". They each took a bread roll and fed each other and with the water, the lady sipped and squirted some in the man's mouth. It was so bizarre to see them acting like this on a bus full of people watching them. My theory is that their love was once forbidden, so now there's no holding back for them.
Our bus arrived quite early in Nanning and after buying train tickets we had most of the day left to explore the city. Only problem was there wasn't much to see and we were still quite tired so we spent a lot of time in the waiting room.
The next part of our journey to Vietnam was an overnight train from Nanning to Ha Noi. We had a few hours at the borders and a slight problem with my passport. The Chinese officials had a list of countries and Portugal wasn't on there. I had three people ask where I'm from and they didn't recognise Portugal at all. I repeated myself a few times to each person and then they'd say the word Portugal after me in a really funny accent and with a confused expression on their face. I was preparing for my Cristiano Ronaldo impressions, but thankfully didn't need them as eventually they figured it out from reading my Chinese visa.
Got to Ha Noi station at 5am.

Back to Travelling

After the wedding and a relaxing week in South Africa we're back to travelling and back in Hong Kong for 1 day. Tonight we get a sleeper bus to Nanning so we can be in Vietnam by the weekend.
We've now managed to upload some photos which we're adding to previous posts. Check them out if you get a chance.