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Hanoi
Taxi met us at the airport, transport ($10)
to the Old Quarter.
All places readily accepted either US
Dollars or Dong. The exchange rate varied from about 13,600-14,000d
to US$1. In the prices quoted in dong (d), consider 10,000d=$0.70.
The Old Quarter is very interesting, with each street specialising in a particular merchandise. Walked past the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum (his body was currently in Russia undergoing its annual embalming maintenance) and onto West Lake. Visited the Temple of Literature (entrance 12,000d) - Vietnam's first university was established here and it is a good example of traditional architecture. Saw a short musical performance in which lithophones, reed flutes, stringed instruments and gongs were being used. We hired a cyclo driver for 2 hours (40,000d) and rode all over the Old Quarter, past the Opera House and covered quite a bit of ground. Well worth going to the Water Puppet Theatre on the shores of Hoan Kiem Lake. Performances are from 6.30-7.30pm Monday, 8.00-9.00pm Tuesday-Sunday (admission $2). Each night we strolled around the lake. Quite a popular spot for the locals to gather.
Accommodation:
A to Z Queen Cafe No. 2, Hang Be
St, Old Quarter. Backpacker establishment with dorm rooms for $2-3,
we stayed in a room with AC and balcony for $12. Room really clean,
staff friendly, laundry service and tours good. Internet access available
at Queen Cafe No. 1, Hang Bac St.
Y Lan Hotel, 29 Hai Ba Trung St.
Ended up being a better room with TV for the same price! Run by a
local family, very pleasant and highly recommended.
Places to Eat:
Cyclo Bar (Duong Thanh St)
Tandoor Indian Restaurant (Hang
Be St)
Cafe 252 (252 Hang Bong St).
Coffee and pastries a treat.
Mother's Pride Malaysian (6C Pho
Phan Chu Trinh St nr Opera House). Good laksa soup.
Garden Restaurant (36 Hang Manh
St)
Halong Bay (Queen Cafe Tour - 2 days, $24 incl)
Day 1: 4 hour bus ride to Halong City, stopping at a silk and embroidery souvenir cafe on route. The proceeds of this place went to a good cause - victims of the war. Lunch stop, then we boarded our boat for a 4 hour harbor tour including a visit to Surprise Cave (Sung Sot ). Seven chambers with very impressive stalactite and stalagmite formations. Unfortunately it was raining heavily and very hazy, so not much to see on the way to Cat Ba Island (overnight at the Vien Dong Hotel).
Day 2: 4 hour boat trip back to
Halong City via a different route. The sun came out, so we were able
to sit out on the front upper deck of the boat and enjoy the beautiful
limestone karsts. Unfortunately there were no junks under sail, but
there were plenty of other boats plying the waterways. The area sort of
reminded us of Palau. Another 4 hour bus trip back to Hanoi. We found
the tour good, although it was a lot of "sitting". We would recommend
taking the 3 day option, staying on Cat Ba Island for a day's hike before
returning just to break up the trip!
Perfume Pagoda (Queen Cafe Tour, 1 day, $15 incl)
2 hour bus ride then a boat trip down the
river, very scenic. Area consists of 15 pagodas, we walked up to
the main cave pagoda (approx 45 mins). We were a little disappointed
at the greed displayed here. Two instances: There are a few kids
who accompany you on this walk with their coolers of sodas. When you stop
for lunch they are keen for you to buy your drinks from them (at 15,000d
each), then you also agree to buy them one (which they of course do not
drink). When it comes time for payment you even give them a little
extra and are greeted with a pouting mouth and words like "but that is
not enough"! We tipped the lady rowing our boat and got a similar
response! But we figured it WAS enough.
Sapa (Queen Cafe Tour - 4 days, $39 excl food)
Day 1: Departed at 5.30am and arrived about 6.30pm - long day but picturesque rural scenery en route. Passed through Lao Cai which is right on the Chinese border. Mountain pass road from there to Sapa was beautiful.
Day 2: Bus ride then trekked to the Red Dzao village (approx 5km return). The children we initially met on the roadway were hawking their wares and refused to let you take a photo unless you paid them or bought something! Further on ended up getting some good close up shots without protest! Passed by a group of Black H'mong people attending a funeral. The body was lying out in the hot sun on a platform, the rest of the people were about to have a buffalo feast and continue drinking their rice wine! Afternoon was free, we hiked up to the Radio Tower Lookout. Quite a maze of walking trails, some very narrow through the rock canyons and great views! Follow the steps leading up from the main street (beside the sign to Hong Rong Hotel). Admission fee of 7,000d.
Day 3: Hiked to a couple of Black H'mong villages and the Cat Cat Waterfall. Good hiking grounds but the walk wasn't long enough for us (approx 8km). Beautiful mountain scenery, we really lucked out on having good weather for our treks. Not the case that afternoon .. we all opted for an outing to the Silver Waterfall (climbed up the steps on both sides) and Heavens Gate (supposedly a famous area where prisoners were kept). We all paid $3 each to do this total rip-off, underwhelming bus trip in the mist and fog!
Day 4: We walked to the market place just before 6.00am looking for bread - everyone was just getting out of bed! Long trip back to Hanoi in bad weather.
Accommodation:
Flying Banana Hotel
Auberge Hotel (preferred choice)
Places to Eat:
Chapa, Camilla and Observatory Restaurants
Auberge Hotel (great views from
the balcony)
Victoria Hotel (if you feel like
a treat, it is well worth the visit)
Ninh Binh (TF Handspan Tour - 1 day, $16; plus 2 days on our own)
Day 1: 2-3 hour bus trip from Hanoi. Visited the Hoa Lua Temple. This was the original capital of the north during the Dinh and Le Dynasties and from where the kings ruled the country. Walked up the 280 (?) steps to the Kings tomb. Had some young girls follow us the whole way wanting us to buy embroidery, drinks etc - a real hassle. We don't mind the locals trying to sell their goods, but when they won't take no for an answer and just keep on being persistent it can get very annoying! Lunch at Anh Dzung Restaurant then the boat trip to Tam Coc (Halong Bay in the Rice Fields). Beautiful scenic area almost spoiled once again by persistent women and children selling their wares. They actually take a vendor with her embroidered tablecloths with you in the boat and on the way back it is time for the "hard sell". We made it very clear that we would prefer to look at the scenery and take photos at this point! Another scam here is the boat vendors who paddle alongside and insist you buy a drink for the person rowing your boat. They of course don't drink it and sell it back to the vendor later! We bailed out of the tour and stayed in the area for the next couple of days. Accommodation at the Star Hotel ($25 - least value for the money place we stayed in country.). Dinner at the Huong Mai Restaurant - very local and no-one spoke English. ; We just pointed to the spread on the next table and had what they were having - fried goat and chicken, rice paper wrappers with all sorts of leaves, chilies and sauces.
Day 2: Hired two motorbikes and drivers and went to the Kenh Ga Floating Village (21km from Ninh Binh). Interesting 2 hour boat ride through this village to where they were quarrying the stone for cement. Boat hire was $10 which included green tea and snacks. It was really great, no hassles! The locals in this area are unique in that they row their boats with their feet! Rode on to the Cuc Phuong National Park (another 25km away). Trekked to the Cave of Early Man. Ancient remains had only been discovered here in 1966. An extensive cave that went far back into the mountainside, and we only had one flashlight for three of us! A filming crew were at the site making a movie about the war! Our next 6km return trek included the Big Tree and 1,000 Year Old Tree. Getting later than we thought, so we raced back to the Endangered Primate Rescue Centre just before it was due to close for the day. Saw a few species of gibbon and langur monkeys in captivity.
Day 3: Planned on a bicycle ride
but the weather was junky again so decided to return to Hanoi. Our
guide Kien, bought some bus tickets for us (80,000d) and assured us his
"friend" would be driving the local bus. After waiting 30 minutes
out on the street we got on one at Kien's suggestion. The driver
and ticket collector did not or would not accept our receipt and wanted
more money! We got off and started walking back to the Star Hotel.
After a short while, Kien and his friend just happened to be riding their
motorbikes towards us, they looked very surprised to see us! They
apologised profusely, flagged down a minivan going to Hanoi and paid the
driver for our passage. We will never know if that whole thing was
a scam or what exactly happened!! Our first experience on local transport
doing it alone!! Arrived back at Giap bus station in Hanoi, rode
back to Y Lan Hotel on the back of motorbikes. Getting into the "thick"
of traffic can be scary and thrilling!
Saigon
Morning flight to Saigon. Taxi ride into town should cost $5 ... we didn't know that and paid $7.
Walked around town looking for Terry's "old haunts"! All the "girlie" bars are gone. The Rex, Continental and Caravelle Hotels have all had major renovations and were totally unrecognisable as were the surrounding streets. Both the Opera House and People's Commitee Building were very impressive. Went to the Reunification Palace where the Communist tanks crashed through the gates and unfurled a VC flag on the 4th floor balcony on 30 April 1975. Most of the Palace has been left as it was then. Terry was quite surprised to go down to the basement communications centre and recognise maps and rooms from his last visit in 1972-73. Spent some time at the War Remnants Museum, where Terry saw the photo of his battalion boarding the plane to leave Saigon in 1973. After our share of being reminded how depressing and horrific war can be, we walked to the Pho Binh Soup Shop (7 Ly Chinh Thang St, District 3). Other than our need for another bowl of Pho, this place is historically significant. The shop was the secret headquarters of the VC in Saigon and it's owner, Ngo Toai, helped plan the Tet Offensive (1968) in his own living room out the back. He was later captured and sent to the "tiger cells" prison on Con Son Island for 5 years until his release in 1975. We met him personally and shook his hand. Terry's arch enemy in 1963! We wondered how many Americans ate there, totally unaware of what plans were unfolding in the living quarters! Dont' miss the Ben Thanh Market - huge indoor market selling everything you could possibly think of! We were after coffee beans which we found at Stall No. 905, Zone 3. The cost was just over $2 per kilo and we already knew the quality was excellent! The unsalted cashew nuts at the same stall were the best we've had at $1.10 per kilo!
Riding the cyclos around is fun here too. They are a narrower version than the type in Hanoi, so we hired two sometimes!! The cost was anything from 10,000-14,000d each. The night we went to the Chau Thai Restaurant our cyclo driver got lost and took us through the "seedy hooker district" streets nearby. However, we finally found the place and when we paid him 20,000d he was so happy he waited for us! It started to rain on the way back, and he was even equipped with a poncho to cover us - we reckon he was worth every dong!!
We enjoyed a stroll along the banks of the Saigon River at night. The rooftop bars of both the Caravelle and Rex Hotels provide great places to have a drink with a view of the city lights.
Accommodation:
Hong Hoa Hotel (185/28 Pham Ngu
Lao, District 1). Best value for money yet, at $12 with TV and 2
hour free internet access per 24 hours. The staff are really friendly
too!
Places to Eat:
Restaurant 19 (19 Ngo Duc Ke St)
Tandoor Indian Restaurant (103
Vo Van St, District 3). Guess what! It was the sister restaurant
of the Tandoor in Hanoi - even had the same menu!
Chau Thai Restaurant (16 Thai Van
Lung St). We were overdue for our Thai chili fix and were not disappointed!
Heritage Restaurant (in the Xuan
Huong Hotel, 12 Thai Van Lung St) ... the best Indian curries so far.
Zen Cafe (175/6 Pham Ngu Lao St)
Cappuccino Cafe (222 De Tham St)
Dalat (3 days on our own)
Day 1: Booked the Open Bus trip to Dalat through Sinh Cafe ($6). Trip took about 9 hours including lunch.
Day 2: Rented two bicycles from the Peace 1 Hotel (64 Truong Cong Dinh St) for $2 per person. They were actually mountain bikes with gears! Terry had to make a couple of minor adjustments to his, but they were OK. Our plan was to ride out to Lat Village. When we got to the "Restricted Area, No Trespassing" sign, a guy on a motorbike stopped us and more or less told us to go back to our hotel in Dalat. Probably the most unfriendly person we had come across to date! So we reluctantly turned around and went back down the steep hill! Beautiful vegetable gardens and a good view of Lang Bian Mountain along this road. Visited the Natural Science Museum which was full of stuffed animals, beetles, insects, etc. The gardens would be gorgeous in Spring! We had lunch at the "Crazy House". It is actually the Hang Nga Guesthouse and Art Gallery, owned by Mrs Dang Viet Nga. She is the daughter of Truong Chinh (Ho Chi Minh's No. 2 man and successor). She has the reputation of being quite eccentric and the design of the guesthouse certainly confirms this! It consists of caves, giant spiderwebs made of wire, and rooms built into tree trunks. We peeked into one which was called the "ant room". A nice homely cafe with photos all over the walls, including family shots with Uncle Ho himself! Cycled out towards Thien Vuong Pagoda but the rain forced us to return early. We had had enough exercise by then any way, plenty of hills around Dalat!! The Central Market was very colorful with lots of flowers, fruits and vegetables.
Day 3: Did an 18km trek with Action Dalat (now located at 73 Truong Cong Dinh St). Vien and Diep were our local guides. Commenced the trek at Tiger Cave Waterfall, then to Bo Village (home of the minority hill tribe called Chill). Only one man was there, the rest of the people had walked to a nearby village to vote in the People's Committee election the day before. He invited us into his house, where we sat on the family "bed" and enjoyed some bananas. He had many sacks of coffee beans ready to sell. A 2 hectare plantation can earn them as much as $4000 per year - quite a profitable business! We walked up and down trails, over two suspension bridges and through various plantations until we had completed our circuit late in the afternoon. Not a difficult trek, but tiring. Diep was in the South Vietnamese Army from 1973-75. He had excellent English skills and was very informative. Cost was $18 per person and well worth it. On the way home, we stopped at the Chua Linh Puoc Chinese Pagoda. Very decorative (Terry would say "tacky"), with a full sized dragon made from beer bottle pieces and tiles. They were also constructing a huge bell (8 tons) made from bronze. Thousands of people had donated personal gold rings and necklaces towards the project. That night we had dinner at the Thuy Ta Restaurant (built up on pilings in the Xuan Huong Lake). Definitely not recommended - the lemon grass chicken had pork joint bones in it)!!
Accommodation:
Villa Hoang Hau (8A Ho Tung Mau
St), just south of Xuan Huong Lake. $20 for a huge room with a view
over the rooftops!
Places to Eat:
Thanh Thanh Restaurant (4 Tang
Bat Ho St)
Vung Tau (3 days on our own)
Day 1: Booked our Hydrofoil passage to Vung Tau at the Vina Express Office (6A Nguyen Tat Thanh St). The Hydrofoil now leaves from the other side of the Ben Nghe Channel. The journey takes about 75 minutes and costs $10. Booked into the Hai Dang Hotel (194 DL Tran Phu, Mulberry Beach). Located about 3km out of town and cost $20. Walked into town and found the Han IL Korean Restaurant. The king prawns were really good.
Day 2: Hired a motorbike from the place across the street from the Rex Hotel ($10 per day, bicycles available too). Rode all around the peninsular checking out the beaches, lighthouse and Ben Da fishing village. Terry spent some time here on R&R during the war, but once again the place had dramatically changed and he did not recognise much of it. Dinner at the Bamboo Seafood Restaurant. The lobsters were a bit disappointing, so our hunger for good seafood was not completely satisfied! New hotels were being constructed and old ones being renovated, so this is obviously a very busy vacation destination in the peak season!
Day 3: Local mini bus back to Saigon.
They depart every 30 minutes or so from the petrol station next to the
Cathedral on Duong Thong Nhat Street. Journey takes around 2 hours
and costs $4. We were relieved that we sat in the front seat with
the driver. They really packed them into the back like sardines,
picking up more people on the way! Only a few misses on the trip,
including a cement mixer on a hand cart that was pushed out onto the road
in front of us; an elderly handicapped man on a motor scooter/tricycle
going a bit too slow for his own good. At one stage the driver opened
the door and knocked a little girl off her bicycle - luckily she was not
hurt! We applied the brakes many times!!! I guess we were continually
amazed how the traffic seemed to flow with very few accidents! May
be we just didn't see them happen!! Mini bus dropped us off near
the Continental Hotel.
Mekong Delta (Tomateco Tour, 3 days $23 excl food; plus 3 days on our own).
Day 1: Travelled to the Xeo Quyt Viet Cong Base at Cao Lanh and then onto Chau Doc for the night. We were just in time to do the sunset climb on Sam Mountain. On the way down from Sam Mountain we visited the Cavern Pagoda and were invited to stay and see the monks performing their daily bible reading. Dinner at Truong Van Restaurant then Long took us to a karoke bar where he and Terry sang and drank snake wine! It cost 26,000d to hire a private room and use the karoke equipment for 30 minutes. Unfortunately the numeral 9 on the remote control did not work, so the song selection was very limited!
Day 2: Up early to do a 2 hour boat trip. This included the floating houses with their fish feeding nets suspended beneath and visiting a Cham community. Here we visited the Mubarak Mosque and were even allowed inside! The prayer rugs on the floor were beautiful. Prayers are held 5 times a day, so obviously you must time your visit outside these times unless you are a Muslim of course! The children study the Koran at the school next door. After leaving Chau Doc we went to Tuc Dup Hill and an incense making factory in Long Xuyen. Next stop was the Thot Not Stork Sanctuary. A short boat ride brought us to the viewing platforms where we saw both black and white storks nesting in the tree tops! Arrived late in Can Tho - overnight at the Xa My Khanh Tourist Resort (12km from town). We tried the fried elephant fish for dinner - delicious! Terry bargained hard for a bottle of Johnny Walker Red Label Whiskey. He thought he got a good deal, until he opened it and discovered it was snake wine!!
Day 3: Up early again for a 3 hour boat trip. Motored through the Phong Dien Floating Market, which was quite colorful. Walked through a village where the kids just wanted to hold your hand and giggle! Visited a rice husking mill then onto the Cai Rang Floating Market. "Another" pagoda was on the itinerary, but "everyone" opted to give it a miss! We were all "pagoda'd out" and tired! The tour was very comprehensive and interesting, we were really glad we decided to do part of the Mekong Delta this way! However, time to bail out and take in the surroundings at our own pace! In the afternoon we walked around Can Tho and had a shoe shine (3,000d per person). We got up from a bench seat near the river and Terry left his backpack behind. It was such a nice surprise to find a lady racing after us to let us know what we had done! She would not take the reward we offered!
Day 4: Hired a motorbike from Dai Nam Guesthouse (44 Vo Thi Sau St) for 3 days at $6 per day. Headed off to Soc Trang to see the stunning Cambodian Kh'leng Pagoda. Tried to return to Can Tho via My Phuoc and Long My, but ended up having to backtrack to Soc Trang. There were two reasons for this - the secondary road was too rough and we got lost!! We had to stop somewhere (?) and have the chain guard repaired and we think we turned around from Huynh Huu Nghia village!
Day 5: The ferry crossing between Can Tho and Vinh Long cost 3,000d. They carry quite a load, and it was fun to join in the "rush" to board. We stayed at the Truong An Tourist Resort (4km out of Vinh Long towards Sa Dec). It was $35 for a very spacious room including satellite TV complete with HBO movies!! Our circuit ride from Sa Dec went via the flower nurseries, Lap Vo and Lai Vung. Lots of scenic wetlands, huge fish nets and monkey bridges. Lunches were in small village cafes. We decided that if there is no menu and no-one speaks English, then you are going to get good local food!!
Day 6: The trip to Tra Vinh included a side trip to Cai Nhum. Beautiful rice paddys and rural scenes all day! Returned to Can Tho late that afternoon.
Day 7: Up early (6am) and rode out to the Cai Rang Bridge. I got some good photos of the boats going to the floating market. Stopped at the noodle factory on our way back out to the Xa My Khanh Tourist Resort. We had to pay 5,000d to park the bike while we had a drink. When we were ready to leave we couldn't find the ticket! Big fuss, we had to retrace our steps back to the table where we found it on the floor - phew!! I wonder if they would have impounded the bike if we didn't find it!! Had some Pho at the Thuy Pho shop then returned the bike. Met up with the Tomateco Tour Group at their lunch stop (Thien Hoa Restaurant) and travelled back with them to Saigon. Checked back into the Hong Hoa hotel and collected our laundry from our previous visit.
Accommodation in Can Tho:
Doan 30 Can Tho Hotel (80A Nguyen
Trai Street). Room with balcony and river view was $10. We
returned to the hotel later that afternoon to find they had put up some
scaffolding right outside our room - so much for the river view!!
It ended up being a very noisy place to stay.
Ninh Kieu Hotel (2 Hai Ba Trung
St). Room with river view cost $35 and it was quiet!!
Places to Eat in Can Tho:
Nam Bo Restaurant (50 Hai Ba Trung
St). Great view over the Central Market from the balcony seats.
The spicy prawn soup and bass fillet was excellent.
Thien Hoa Restaurant (Hai Ba Trung
St, next to the Can Tho Tourist Office).
Travelled to Cebu and took a taxi
to the boat. Glad to be back "home" but all in all a great experience!
P.S. We used the Lonely Planet
guide to Vietnam and found it extremely useful.
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