Vietnam - Hue and Hoi An

Next stop for us in Vietnam was Hue – we met a really cool couple on the train from Hanoi to Hue – we enjoyed a few glasses of wine and playing a few card games which made the train journey go a lot easier.

Unfortunately our time in Hue was a total wash out – it did not stop raining whole time we were there – and though the city is known for its history and the old town – though we tried to look around the rain just meant it wasn’t enjoyable and so we decided to move on quicker then expected to Hoi An. 

Our highlight of Hue due to rain and cold – was the indian restaurant and the great Indian tea which went down a treat in the circumstances..

Cathedral in Hanoi

Outer wall gate of old Hue

Canons left from the war

Our bus to Hoi An was the first we’d seen of its kind..a sleeping bus and made for a much more comfy journey then the usual bus rides..

Though it did rain a little bit in Hoi An – and Ne wasn’t feeling his best. We still managed to see the town and realise why this is many peoples favorate place in Vietnam. We had booked a cooking class which got cancelled due to the rain – as the river was flooding. 

However we took that opportunity to walk around all the little shops, and 100’s of tailors – we also took a bike ride through the herb villages which was really interesting..we went through villages just outside hoi an – we saw all the different fresh produce being grown by the farmers and were able to smell the freshness in the air..

Hoi An is also home to tonnes of lil café and 0.09p beers where people just hang out and im sure if the weather was sunnier we would not wanted to move on – but as the weather wasn’t great we decided we needed some sun and booked next morning flight to Ho Chi Minh City- where we knew it was going to be Sunny..

Vietnam - Halong Bay

That bought our short trip to Sapa to an end..and we took the overnight train back to get on a tour to Halong Bay.  Again the weather wasn’t great which you can see from our picts – however we still managed to enjoy a night on a junk (boat) and one night on Cat Ba Island. We visited the ‘Amazing Cave’ and went Kayaking for a few hours.  We also visited monkey island which would have been great for swimming if the weather had been slightly warmer but unfortunately we weren’t in luck.

The boat had good food and after a few days of bad weather we decided to take the evening on the boat as time to relax – and enjoy a bottle of red wine between us and get an early night.

Our Junk

Other accommodation for local people 

A view of the islands of Halong Bay

Stalactite - holding tight from the ceiling

Stalagmites - They might reach the ceiling...

Kavs new friend!

Vietnam - Sapa

First trip for us was to Sapa - this is meant to be a beautiful countryside town with great view of the mountains and lots of lush greenery and paddy fields. However, November is not the best month to visit as we had been told before we got there as the weather is not great and it is after the harvest so you don't get to see it in the best light. However we thought we go anyway and just check it out. Taking an overnight train was an experience even though we had done these in China - this was again slightly different doing it here..

As we arrived on Sunday morning first stop for us was Bac Ha Market - really interesting but craziest market we'd seen where locals go to trade. This was nice to see as seemed tourists were there only to watch and it was locals that were buying and selling from each other. They had cattle, dogs, horses and most other types of animals being sold - as well as general things such as hair cuts and general fruit and veg plus the local tribal dresses and bags. It was quite horrible to see the treatment of the animals and kav didn't last long - but yet interesting to see...

We also did a 12k trek through a few villages in Sapa but the views were not great. It was mostly covered with fog and only really lifted for a few hours.. Due to the weather the trek was really slippery and luckily a lady leant Kav her walking stick to help her ,though we all still managed to take a few falls..

Local market selling the local clothes

Vibrant colours for the tribes people

Children's toys with bright colours

Local women 

Chillies and Chilli sauce packaged in water bottles!!!

Our guides - local women waiting for us to get ready!

Kavs walking through slodgey mud

Sapa paddy fields looking brown as harvest was done few weeks back

The fog cleared for few moment to show us the beauty of Sapa.

Mountain tops over the clouds

Vietnam - Hanoi

On arrival in Hanoi - first thing you notice is the amount of mopeds on the road. It was just crazy, seemed like a sea of mopeds on every road and every green light a traffic lights would send another wave of them. Anyone who has travelled to India can imagine how crazy the roads are there - this felt soo much worse, literally people driving in which ever direction they wanted and people crossing the roads all over the place. What we learnt was to 'just go' traffic will literally drive around you till you reach the other side.

Rule to cross the road in Hanoi

1. Look at the other side of the road and walk towards it.
2. Never stop mid road.
3. Never turn direction mid road.
4. Never look at the drivers!

Hanoi was used as our base to go on trips to Halong Bay and Sapa and while there you can enjoy all the street markets and all the different local foods on the streets.

Problem we found in Hanoi after Laos - people just didn't seem as warm as they did in Laos. Probably as Vietnam is so used to bundles of tourists coming.. but this led to starting with a totally different feeling in Vietnam then we did in Laos.

Laos – Vang Vieng

Next stop for us in Laos was Vang Vieng! The most touristy town in Laos - also the party town so looked more like we were in one of the Greek Islands like Magaloof than beautiful asian Laos - Lots of bars on the road with relaxing sofas were you can order any drink fast food whilst just showing reruns of friends and family guy all day.

Whilst waiting for Kav to get her nails done or something, I decided to wait in these chill out zones to watch family guy... My attention  got transfer to a laughing baby held by the owner woman... she saw me make the baby laugh more so she passed it over and left... 10 mins later Kav found me chilling with this kid! about 10 mins after that the woman cam back and took the kid back! 

The main reason people stop here is for a chance to go 'tubing' down a small strech of the the Mekong river - basically you plonk you bum in a tractor inner tube and float down the river for a couple of hours. However 90% of people don't make it anywhere near the end, or even on a tube - This is because there are copious bars along the river bank blaring out music and giving out free drinks to lure you in and entice you to spend your day there. They literally throw drinks tied on to rope at you while your going down the river for you to grab onto so they can reel you into their bar..

I was initially thinking I don't want to be stuck with a load of rowdy British people in the middle of Laos - which seemed to be most of the crazy people around. However it was quite a nice day having a few drinks and enjoying the all day partying... Although I have to say we did try to float down and not get stuck in bar one..

Many people we met seemed they got stuck in the place and had spent 5-10 days literally doing the same thing everyday and still loving it just as much as they did on the first day - was pretty funny!

However after a couple of days there we decided to move on to our Last stop in Laos- Vientienne. We only spent one night here not really much to do (Nehal had amazing BBQ food on the street that night...) - before we took our flight to Hanoi to start our adventure in Vietnam.