Vietnam

Halong bay

Due to meeting so many people, drinking too much and generally having too much fun in Vietnam this blog entry is a tad late.
We started Vietnam in the Mekong Delta, where we decided to do a tour. This was a cheap option that took us through chau doc, can tho and ben tre. The tour itself was a bit cheesy. The way that life is lived on the water there is facinating, the floating markets in particular impressed us.
From here we went on in to saigon, a crazy city with as many motorbikes as people. After a brief stint in the city it was time to hit the beach.
Mui ne was our next stop and we arrived in the rain. The beach wasnt much to look at but we had a great day out exploring the surrounding area and the amazing sand dunes.
After a scary bus ride we were in nha trang with some new friends in tow. Nha trang has a bad press as there are a lot of stories of prostitutes robbing drunk men. We actually really enjoyed it, the beach was beautiful and there was great local food. The best day here had to be our big kids day out at the vinpearl land waterpark situated on an island.
Hoi'an has be our favourite place so far on the trip. The beaches are stunning, the town is charming and the beer costs about 10 pence a glass. What more could we ask for (oh yeh amazing food). There was a group of about ten people we would eat and drink with every night here, so it was a shame when the group had to go there seperate ways.
A couple of nights in Hue and off to halong bay. In true Vietnam style the views were amazing and the people great but the tour was ofcourse terribly run.
Another winner in Vietnam was Sapa. A cool town high in the mountains surrounded by minority villages. Our first experience of these people was a very old (very drunk) h'mong lady force feeding me rice wine at 9am. Our days trekking with a local tribe woman was amazing and the views unlike anything we had ever seen.
Hanoi was our final stop. Despite the delicious cheap street food (pho or noodle soup) it is a hard city to love. Everyone is trying to rip you off and the traffic is actually insane. But then this is what vietnam is all about so what can you do but embrace it.


Vietnam Photos