Hanoi: Final Days

And so it’s all coming to an end… This morning (well, late morning, if we’re being honest) we went across the road for breakfast, and to camp out and wait to catch Lee to say goodbye. A table full of us just sat there spying every exit so that she couldn’t escape (she doesn’t like goodbyes) but we caught her!

After breakfast, Katie and I got our bags and went off to our new hotel for the last few nights. It was easy enough to find, situated in a tiny side street not too far from the other hotels, and within walking distance of basically everything still. We were a bit early for check in and asked if we could just leave our bags, but as it turns out they had just finished “cleaning” our room so we could already go up. The room was small, darkish and pretty dingy, and to add to it all, there was construction happening right outside… Thanks Student Flights, I have officially learned my lesson about booking through you.

So after a bit of a laugh, and definitely a cringe (especially at the bathroom – yikes!) it was time to get our adventure on again. We hadn’t tried egg coffee yet, so off we went to find the place that everyone had been speaking about. It’s this little café up a flight of stairs, off a side street, and we sat on the balcony and had our first ever, super fresh egg coffee and what a treat it is! It was so sweet and creamy!

Needing a bit of a snack after our coffee, we stopped off at the bistro down the road from the old hotel, and had desserts. Because, desserts. I had the most divine chocolate fondant. The waiter there was awesome. He spoke English really well, and had a big chat with us about it and working in Vietnam, and groups we should join on Facebook if we want to come work here for a bit.
On the way back to the (very crappy) hotel, we stopped for some souvenir shopping as it was about time we start making sure we have gifts for everyone back home. We got a whole lot of things from the one store, and the lady there was so nice she even gave us free bookmarks with our purchases. We saw a minion at the IT store (and obviously took photos) and then went for a power nap/relax at the hotel. We had booked for water puppets for tonight, along with Gabby, Phoebe and Meg, so we went to that.

The water puppet show is a traditional Vietnamese art form. It’s very interesting, and a little strange, but also pretty cool! I’m glad it was something we did at the end of the trip, because I felt like I could relate much more with the stories and link them with experiences we’d had and things we’d seen.
We made plans for dinner with a few of the others still hanging around, and ended up in a Bar and Grill kind of place, because most people are over noodles by this time. A few more goodbyes to some of our new family (sad face), and then we headed back “home” (gross). We did however manage to get some sleep, but the room didn’t look any better when we woke up…

Next morning we woke up to a “partly sunny” forecast on Katie’s weather app, and ventured off to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. We had breakfast at the hotel (no more buffets… what will I do?) and then got a cab (which seemed like the easier/cheaper option). We got there all okay, and then stood in the line. I must say that although it is quite a long line, we did get there pretty early. Also, the line is super efficiently organised, so you do always know what’s going on and then that you will get inside. But then you get inside, and remember that not all cultures have the same concept of standing in queues as we are brought up with (in other words, don’t push) but we just went with it and had a good laugh along the way. You can’t take cameras in with you, so if you have it you have to hand it in to security at the front. Also, it is one of the few places you need to observe temple dress so shoulders and knees covered. You pretty much speed walk through the building, and have about 10 seconds to actually check out “Uncle Ho” (as he’s affectionately known by the locals) before being swiftly ushered on to continue out. It is pretty cool though (okay, and pretty weird) but definitely worth a visit if you’ve got the morning in Hanoi.

After strolling around a bit, we took a couple of photos and then decided we would walk back to the hotel. We made it fine, but it is a fair bit of a walk so only do it if you have time – as it turns out we walked over 20 000 steps this day! On the way back, we found a bunch of shops and so decided to do a little bit of clothes shopping.
Side note: the timing gets a bit off for the rest of the day here, I’m not really sure of the order things happened in haha and as I took very few photos I don’t even have those as a timeline.

What I do know, is that we ate brunch at Joma Bakery (the greatest place ever invented), and had massive sandwiches. I got a “Forever 21” dress (maybe….) from a department store, and Katie also got some pretty things. And then, the most important thing happened, and that is the chocolate buffet.

Okay so Lee had told us about the buffet while on the boat, and said its one of her favourite things to do when she gets the chance. It’s at the Sofitel Metropole hotel, and you can’t book, you have to just show up and hope for the best. It’s a really nice hotel, so a bit of an excuse to put on a pretty dress, and then stuff your face full of chocolate – and no, I am not exaggerating. It’s certainly not the cheapest day out (our total bill came to just over 1 million VND) but it is absolutely worth it. There are lots of different chocolates, mousses, desserts, macaroons, chocolate-covered fruits, a fondue station, a crepe station, and ice cream. There are also mini sandwiches, should you wish for a break from the chocolate. My weakness were the crepes (duh), but the chocolate mousse was divine too. Actually, everything was. We all left in very serious chocolate comas. Just by the way though, the drinks are suuuuper expensive with water coming in at around 150 000 VND (almost the same price as a giant fresh juice).
We went on a mission to try find silver street, and some more jewellery like in Hoi An, but no luck. Phoebe was kind enough to let Katie and I go shower at her hotel (read: Honeymoon Suite) which we were overjoyed about. Then it was dinner time with the last few of us (we went to Yin & Yang restaurant, thanks Facebook!) where I had spring rolls and pork with coconut cream, and last minute market shopping for everyone to get their last minute souvenirs. I got a really cool kimono, and we were finding chopsticks for everyone and things like that. The goodbyes were not easy. At all.

And just like that, it was our last full day in Vietnam. Phoebs was still around, so we have all made plans for a final fancy dinner tonight. Deciding to give the (incredibly average) breakfast at the hotel we headed to Joma – obviously – for breakfast bagels and iced coffees. Knowing that we had seen so many awesome things in our brief shopping trip yesterday, we decided to give it another go and head out the way towards where we had the buffet. Except like half way back it started raining. But we would not be deterred! So onwards with rain ponchos and squidgy shoes, we did what we needed to do, eventually seeking refuge from the rain at the pizza place… The rest of the day is unknown to me. According to my notes we napped, and Katie ordered her personalised shirts, and we packed.

Katie, Phoebe and I then went to Cau Go Vietnamese restaurant (after a nice shower at Phoebe’s again haha), which overlooks the lake. Well worth the visit, especially for a last night in Vietnam and for really good Vietnamese cuisine (okay but with South African wine, because all the wine we’ve had so far has been not good). Had the most divine food, with a beautiful view, and an amazing last night with great friends.

Our final morning, we had one last breakfast at Joma, as well as taking spare bagels for the flight (haha, like we believed they’d actually make it). I had booked for a mani/pedi and then Phoebs and Katie were joining up so we could all have massages. So so cheap compared to home prices, and so so good. We went to Mido Spa, which is just next door to the Contiki hotel. Feeling super relaxed, we got our transfer to the airport, and began our flight home via Hong Kong.

Funny story by the way – I just couldn’t remember which night it happened – but Katie and I learned that our hotel we were staying at was so budget they literally patched their sheets when they got holes in. So, yeah. Don’t stay at the Hanoi Ciao hotel – thanks for nothing Student Flights…

Contiki Day 11 (Final day: Back to Hanoi)

I DON’T WANT TO LEAVE VIETNAM, EVER. Okay, I wouldn’t want to leave ever if all my other favourites could come join me here, to be fair.

But, unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. Luckily, we had a chance to go to the caves this morning before it had to end. The caves are beautiful, and I highly recommend it – especially if you’ve never been to caves before. It’s pretty cool. We had brunch on the boat, and then made our way back on our mini boat to the bus. Stopped at the silk place/rest stop again, and then back to our hotel in Hanoi.

It’s our last night all together, which is always so sad. It still amazes me how close you can get to people in just a few weeks, but I’m so grateful to have had the chance again to make new friends from all over the world and to have learnt so much from them. Lee gave us a few more tips for things to do around Hanoi if we’re hanging out a couple more days (chocolate buffet, hello…) and we booked tickets for the Water Puppets too.

Our final dinner was to be at Green Mango (like the other one we went to for drinks). The food was really good (I had fresh spring rolls, and seafood noodles), but the venue was a bit dark, and all in all I think everyone was just a bit depro it was all over. The service was also suuuuper slow, and the food is not cheap, but at least we were all together.

After dinner, Lee went off to get her tattoo with the promise that we would say goodbye to her in the morning if we didn’t see her at the bar later.  There were a couple of goodbyes at the restaurant (I’m not gonna lie, I teared up a bit) and then most of us headed off to the Hangover Bar for our last night out. Umm… I can understand why it’s called the Hangover Bar; they were selling fish bowls and all sorts of things. Not feeling 100% I gave drinking a skip, and enjoyed just being with my people, but when more party-crazy people started arriving, my vibe started dying a bit, and I just wasn’t really in the mood for that scene (oh, how things have changed haha) and yeah I really was feeling sad with all the goodbyes.
Luckily, Katie and I did get a chance to run around and make sure we got photos with everyone from the family who was there. Some of us will still be around tomorrow, so we will arrange to have dinner together somewhere then. Everyone’s sort of shifting hotels and stuff, so we’re all over the place, but luckily restaurants stay in the same areas! I took the goodbyes a lot harder this time around than in Europe, but I’m really glad I have Katie with me, and that we still have a few more days to adventure in Vietnam before we have to head home.

Contiki Day 10: Halong Bay

Buffet breakfast time – yes another one, but no pancakes L but there were super amazing mini bread rolls with jam in the middle. Little known fact, as its pretty poorly advertised, but you can order eggs and omelettes. We just need to take overnight bags for the boat, and our normal luggage will stay behind in the hotel. Quick walk to meet the bus – upfront of the pack obvs, to ensure I got a double seat for myself as did almost everyone… We had a bit of a bus trip to get out to Halong Bay, so it was time to get comfy, and enjoy the last of the scenery of Vietnam (and sleep, because busses do that to me).

We stopped at a rest stop for snacks (pringles, hello) and were pleasantly surprised at the beautiful silk art available there, all created by hand by the disabled people who are employed by the centre. I didn’t even bother looking too much at first, other than noticing that they were super pretty, but then Katie found some that were not fully embroidered (they were just silk pictures on a blank background) which actually turned out to be affordable, so I got myself one as a gift for me. Worth a look if you are at all into art and pretty things, or want a special gift for someone at home.

We hopped back on the bus, and a bit of a drive later arrived at our boat for the night – okay, technically we arrived at our small transport boat which is took us to our boat. Life vests and safety first kids…

On board the boat we had time to relax a bit, hand our alcohol in behind the bar (because there’s a special deal made with the boat crew for this) and then had to all be in the dining area for lunch. As lunch is served family style, they don’t start bringing your food to your table until EVERYONE is sitting. Lunch was a seafood feast, complete with freshly steamed prawns (yummy!) I had a Hanoi beer (like Saigon, but from Hanoi). We had time to unpack a bit after lunch, lay around on the deck and start to appreciate the insane beauty that is Halong Bay. I can try to explain it, but I really don’t have the words (even three months later). The pictures don’t do it justice. Everyone should go there.

It was time for kayaking then, which is one of the optionals. I highly recommend this to everyone – even if you’re not a person who does kayaking, or is particularly fond of the water, find a good partner to get on the kayak with and GO. You wear a life vest the entire time (well, you’re supposed to) and as the bay is a national park, you are not allowed to swim in it. This makes the kayaking very peaceful, and we only had one pair that I know of who tipped over. Katie and I got a bit of a rhythm going and found our groove and managed to (fairly successfully) navigate the waters. There is a bit of cave you can go through and then you end up in this lake/grotto surrounded by these islands and it’s just pure magic. We even got to see the wild monkeys! Once some of the group had got bored and headed back, there were only a few of us and our boats left and the complete silence and peace was just indescribable. It was so amazing to have the sun on our bodies, and this still water around us. Not to sound dramatic or anything, but it’s like you can feel there some big secret there and the air just whistles with this knowledge it has, and maybe wants you to find out.
We slowly headed back to the boat, where we relaxed some more. A bit later in the afternoon there was the chance to go with the small boat to the beach. A few of us took this opportunity, and also hiked up the hill there. The view from the top is breathtaking, and well worth the huffing and puffing of the steps to get there (I forgot we’d be climbing to the top at that point and literally only had my bikini on and a towel around me, because, beach). Couple of super happy snaps at the top, a bit of lying around on the sand, and a quick “swim” in the sea – I really only went up to like my knees coz it wasn’t a very big swimming area – and we grudgingly made our way back to the boat. But it was sundowner time, so that sort of made up for it. (PS thanks to the Contiki family for most of these pics, as I didn’t even have my phone with me)

After sundowners, it was time to get ready for the pirate party, so off we went. A bit of dramatic eyeliner, some makeshift scars (and a bit of time spent making the boys up too) and it was party time. But first it was dinner – more amazing seafood including DEEP FRIED SQUID BALLS which were life. Fun fact – the barmen keep your alcohol for you behind the bar. You write your name/room number on it, and maybe leave a trinket on it to make it easy to spot, and you leave your livers in their hands. Their hands are not capable – their plan is to destroy your liver. Apparently the guys on the boat don’t really agree with mix, so we were basically drinking a single mix with vodka at one point… Oops…
Anyway because we’re pirates, and it was a pirate party, and it’s Contiki I won’t go into too much detail about the evening in an attempt to save some dignity, but I will say the following: I can apparently rap Eminem like a boss; Karaoke is a crazy amount of fun; partying on a boat with your new friends from around the world is probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever done; pirate puns are endless; and you may end up lying on the deck chairs wishing you never had to leave and that everyone you love could just join you there …

Contiki Day 9: Hue to Hanoi

This morning we had our final Contiki-organised flight from Hue to Hanoi. Can’t believe we’re down to our last few days – it caught me by surprise again! On landing in Hue, we made our way to our bus and our first stop for the day was the Temple of Literature. Interestingly, according to Wikipedia, this is not the correct name for it, and it is in fact a Temple of Confucius (more like confusion if I’ve been calling it the wrong thing all along…)

The temple was built in 1070 and was/is home to the first Vietnamese National university. And it’s pretty. My first thought on walking in was the beautiful entrances once again. The arches and bridges are always so detailed, and the gardens are just lovely and so green! Walking through one of the courtyards, you can see hedges which are shaped like the zodiac animals (some of them took a while to recognise, but to be fair it can’t be easy to make a rat out of a bush), and other pretty trees and lanterns, and towers.

The temple is divided into a few different courtyards, each with some sort of unique focus. The one had a central pond, surrounded by the buildings and their beautiful tiled roofs (I’m a sucker for terracotta tiles). As can be expected, a fake graduation photo ceremony was taking place while we were there, so lots of excitement from the students and balloons. There are sections dedicated to alters of previous scholars and those who have graduated from the university. The one temple is the one found on the 100 000 VND note, so that was cool. As you pass through there are also a lot of different artefacts around, bonsai trees, and it was very interesting to watch people with their rituals for certain statues, such as rubbing the chest of the crane, and the head of the turtle.

From the Temple we went on to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. Katie and I plan to come back here in our last few days – apparently it is something you need to do on your visit to Vietnam. It has very specific opening times, rules, and also gets super busy, which I guess is why we don’t go with Contiki? We saw a couple of other parliament buildings and residences, and Dan engaged in a (shirtless, obviously) sit up competition with some random guy – I’m not convinced the guy even knew he was competing. Haha. Then back to the bus, to make our way to our hotel. The streets in the part of town we are staying (and where all the good stuff happens) are pretty narrow, and also super busy, so the bus cannot make its way directly to the hotel. We had to hop off the bus, grab our bags, and make a walk to the hotel itself – only about 10 minutes, and you can see how good we have all gotten at crossing streets (STICKY RICE).

The hotel is in two buildings across the street from each other. Katie and I got a room in the one across from the main foyer, and while the bathroom was pretty nice (especially the shower), the room (while not bas itself) smelled like an ashtray due to the fact that we had a window that opened onto a central opening and presumably the ashtray of the building. But, we took it in our stride as always (little did we know how we would eventually find ourselves wishing for the ashtray room in a few days’ time…) Tonight is a free night, and we had a chance to meet Lee in the foyer for a chat and for suggestions on what to do. We also have a mission for the night which is to stock up on alcohol if we want for the boat for Halong Bay, and snacks, and to get stuff for the pirate party we will be having.
Katie and I decided we wanted to have a fairly quiet night, get our stuff done and find something nice to eat, because we know that the boat party is going to be INSANE. So we started off to do this, bumped into some of the girls, all went along together and then realised we all had slightly different ideas in mind for the evening, so ended up splitting up again. Katie and I looked for some shirts and when we weren’t finding anything in the main shops that wasn’t ridiculously priced (and when I started to get a bit hangry) we made the choice to go find food. Luckily we ended up finding shirts at the flea market for next to nothing, so score one for us! (Helpful tip: consider bringing your own plain white shirt from home on Contiki (any Contiki) because turns out you always need one). Firstly, we wanted to go to the Vietnamese restaurant at the restaurant block (a massive like seven story building filled with restaurants across from the lake) but they were expensive so we decided we would go there our last night. We then decided on Korean BBQ and got as far a sitting down before remembering we would need to cook our own food, and finally giving up, and then finding refuge in the Italian restaurant (ah, pizza and pasta – my safe place). Friend date night (that’s what we were having after all; I was having serious boyfriend withdrawals haha) must involve wine so we had some wine, and each put away a pizza – they were super tasty. The view was beautiful too. We knew we wanted ice cream too (what’s date night without dessert?) but needed to find markers for the party too, so with full stomachs we made that our next mission. Turns out that finding markers is not the easiest thing to do, especially in a country where you need to use a lot of gesturing to explain what you are looking for. Eventually we found the hardware street – have I mentioned that everything in Hanoi is divided into streets basically? Statue street, shoe street, jewellery street – and found ourselves some blue and black markers. It was then time to buy snacks, alcohol (whyyyyy did we forget our bottle in Hoi An) and ice cream and then back to the hotel for the night.

Back at the hotel we found cute pictures online to copy for our shirts, and Katie being the awesome artist that she is set to work on our designs. Things we learnt on date night:

• It is possible to get accidentally high on permanent marker fumes
• Number one did happen to us
• Our shirts turned out super cool
• Friends that you can have date night with are hard to come by, and when you find them you should hang on tight

HALONG BAY TOMORROW AND I CANNOT WAIT!

Contiki Day 8: Hoi An to Hue

This morning was one of the only coach transfer we had between cities, as we made our way from Hoi An to Hue. We are staying at the Asia Hotel, in the centre of the town with restaurants and bars galore around us. After checking in and welcome juices, we had some free time. Katie and I grabbed something to eat from the hotel restaurant (very average pasta) and hung out at the pool a bit with some of the others. We had a nap in our room, although Katie’s pillow apparently smelled like an old man’s armpit (I think it was at this hotel), and then we made our way downstairs for our cyclo tour (another inclusion – thanks Contiki!)

The Cyclo tour, which is essentially an adult pram powered by a grown Vietnamese man on a bicycle, took us on a pleasant 20 minute trip to the Imperial City. My cyclo cyclist (or whatever their official term is) pointed out things along the way such as the markets, the cinema, and certain bridges. Quick tip: the cyclo tour is already paid for. You can tip if you want but you don’t have to – I took a 10 000 VND out before we left so that I could just give it to him. Some of the others were “harassed” (for want of a better word) for a higher tip.

We had our group photo in front of the giant flag. Lee asked us to do some yoga poses as this was her last one (for a while, I have a feeling she’ll be back haha). The floor was so hot! Our local guide Singh took us through the Imperial City, and taught us more about the history. Apparently the king who was living there had loads of wives! We had a chance to go in to one of the temples, which is always interesting. The various histories of the various Kings were all detailed inside.

After some time, we made our way back to the bus and on to the Lady Buddha Pagoda. By this point I was tired and hot and I’d be lying if I tried to tell you anything of significance about the Pagoda. There was a beautiful view of the lake though, as well as a really cool bonsai garden. I even saw some trainee monks!

Just before dinner there was a local group who did a performance outside the hotel in the street, complete with dragons and drums. We watched that for a bit which was cool.

For dinner tonight we went to a place down the road from the hotel called Le’s Garden. They had cocktail happy hour, and another extensive menu to choose from. I had caramelised shrimp which was tasty, but a really small portion, especially considering the mojitos… We were given Jenga to play (Brian was a stickler for the rules in our one so we never got very far). It was a really fun dinner of socialising with everyone. Then we went off to a (very dodgy, DropZone-like) bar club thing called Brown Eyes. Don’t waste your money buying cocktails there – they were terrible. The music was pretty cool, but I must say I struggled with the extreme ignoring of personal space by the groups there, and the smell which was your typical drunk hot club smell. Gross. Anyway, that sort of thing isn’t really my scene anymore anyway, so I decided to go home while the night was still good. Sam and I made our way back to the hotel, which was a really funny walk where we discussed how much he was going to irritate his girlfriend when he got back to the room (SORRY SHAYLA!) and I made my way back for a nice shower before bed. Had a huge giggle with Katie when she got back (as per usual) as it turns out she went on a bit of a roundabout route coming back. Sleep time, and then in the morning off to Hanoi and our final few days!

Contiki Day 7: Hoi An

Hoi An free day and HAPPY BIRTHDAY TASHA!

While it felt like every other person in the hotel was still sleeping, Katie and I woke up early to make our way to Bien Bac – the jeweller Lee had recommended to us. We had decided on a lotus design that we wanted to get made into necklaces, which we would both get as a reminder of our trip. I could have spent all the money in the world in this shop – they had loads of beautiful ring designs, pendants, earrings and all sorts of other amazing jewellery. The gentleman in charge is so friendly and helpful. We showed him our design and he mentioned he already had a template for a lotus which he showed us and we loved! So we decided to get that. I also got a stunning knotted ring, and one with a feather design, as well as a pair of Vietnamese hat earrings for my sister. All in all, my portion came to 120 USD – every item is weighed and priced accordingly. I got my feather ring and earrings straight away but they would resize my other ring and we could fetch it and our necklaces in the evening.

It was a shopping day for us today, so we went around the market and the various stalls, and then stopped in at the cooking class restaurant to have some ice cream (passion sorbet and lemongrass for me, and coconut and green tea for Katie). We got souvenirs, scarves, tshirts, and all sorts of things, and then to escape the heat, decided to go back to the hotel for some swimming and relaxing. Katie got her dress on the way back, and it fitted! Yay!

Once back at the hotel, we had a chat with Mark and learned that he, Shane and Sam were planning to go to the beach, so we decided to join (after a nap, obviously). The five of us got a taxi (you could bike ride but it was so hot…) and went off to the beach. Now, if you want to sit on the loungers on the sand, you have to pay. Or you can agree to eat at one of the restaurants, and they let you sit for free, so that is what we did. We spent a wonderful few hours just relaxing on loungers, people watching, and learning more about each others countries.

It was time to head back so that Katie and I could fetch our jewellery, and we could freshen up before family dinner for Tasha’s birthday. Katie bought a beautiful skirt from one the tailors which fit her absolutely perfectly! We went for drinks at the green mango, dinner at another place, and then to another chilled bar for some drinks. I headed home early (on the back of Lee’s bicycle – thanks Lee) and caught up with some people from home, before going to sleep. I was feeling a bit homesick today I think, even though everything was so beautiful and I am having a wonderful time. But it comes with having people you love at home, but also loving what you’re doing at the moment I guess…

Contiki Day 6: Nha Trang to Hoi An

Super duper early wake up this morning to leave by 4am for the airport and our flight to Hoi An. Because brekkie is included today, but we were obviously up too early for it, we were given take-away breakfast packs. We checked in at the airport and just hung out waiting for the flight which was another quick one. Once we had landed, we got on our bus, and then had to take it to a transfer station to get a smaller shuttle, because the roads are too small in Hoi An for a big bus. Those who didn’t want to come to the temple changed to the shuttle and went to the hotel, while those of us who had signed up for the My Son temple, stayed on the bus and went there.

I wish it hadn’t been so hot (it got to about 42 degrees that day) because I do feel like it sort of impacted everyone’s (mine included) experience of the temples, but they were still fascinating. Built way back when, using a method still not fully known, many of them were bombed during the war so some are gone, some are half standing, and there are bomb craters all over the place. A few are still intact, which is amazing. The attention to detail in the design was really cool to see, and there are so many of them it’s quite interesting to see. Having said that, if you are not interested in history or temples, rather choose not to do it.

After My Son, it was back onto the bus (aircon, yay!) and to the transfer stop, to make our way to the hotel. The hotel is awesome and we got a pool side room, with a massive super king bed, and a 3/4 bed. Lucky me got the big bed! We had a bit of time to kill before meeting up for the bike ride, so we hung out at the pool, and then went to the convenience store across the way to get waters. Our new local guide, How (sorry I’m not sure of his spelling…) was so kind, and bought those of us with him ice cold cokes to welcome us to Vietnam and thank us for coming. Some of the others had ordered food which was taking forever, so we split into two and agreed to meet at the Banh Mi shop (apparently highly rated by some travel guy as the best sandwiches in Vietnam). We went and got our bikes, and then made our way over there. Now cycling here was slightly different to in the Mekong as it is much busier, but I survived! I had a pulled pork sandwich and oh my soul it was amazing. Everyone was standing around eating their sandwiches with these loving looks in their eyes.

Once the rest of the group had joined and made their way into sandwich heaven, our bike ride took us into the Old Town. It’s so beautiful in the Old Town, and the best part is that during certain times in the day it gets closed to cars and scooters and becomes a walking/cycling town. There’s a lot of Chinese, Japanese and French influence in the town, which makes each section quite unique. We saw some of the old bridges, and then stopped at the old house where we had tea and learnt more about life in Hoi An. As the town is right on the river, it floods sometimes, and the locals have to move all their belongings onto the top floors of their houses for some time. We learnt a bit more about the Chinese Zodiac signs, and our birth years (I am year of the monkey) and what they mean.

We continued on through the town, to the place everyone was probably looking most forward to – Yaly. This is a dream, and I wish I had thought more (and budgeted more) so that I could have had something made. Basically Yaly is a tailor, with an insane amount of incredibly talented people working there, to get your custom clothing made for you in less than 24 hours. Every person who got something done there was so super impressed with it, and with the service, and I can’t wait to see the pics of them wearing some of their new clothes. 

It was so hot, so Katie and I decided to go back to the hotel and hang out at the pool, and then do our shopping and everything the next day. It was a great plan. We dropped our bikes off, and then stopped to look in at the clothing store owned by the lady who also runs the spa at the hotel. Probably one of the funniest shopping experiences ever, she offered to alter a dress to fit Katie, and showed us just how un-embarrassed the Vietnamese shop owners are at having westerners basically strip down in their store to try stuff on. It was a good laugh.

We had the ME Time cooking class tonight – also highly recommended! We learnt to make Hoi An pancakes, special spring rolls, BBQ chicken skewers, and papaya salad. It’s the first cooking class I’ve ever done, and it was really fun. We got to eat all the food, and also got the recipes – bonus, because I really want to try make some of it at home.

Katie and I realised that we had forgotten to go to the silver shop earlier (they make custom jewellery, and this is what we were so excited for and I can’t believe we forgot) so we left dinner to run over there and check if they were still open. They weren’t but we decided to go first thing in the morning – Lee spoke to him so he would be expecting us.

We wandered back to the Old Town to have a look at the night market and take some photos (so so beautiful at night!), and then headed back to the hotel for the night, and a good sleep.

Contiki Day 5: Nha Trang

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PHOEBE!

Another buffet breakfast (how will I go back to normal boring breakfasts after this??) and this one is by the pool. Today is our ME time optional boat cruise with snorkeling – and if you do no other optionals on this trip, you must do this (okay, you must actually do all of them). Our day was spent on board the Funky Monkey boat, with the best crew ever. Funky Monkey himself is hilarious, and they look after you so well they whole day (although my parents might argue that beer at 9am isn’t looking after us…)

There would be three stops today on the boat. Water and lunch is included, but beers and soft drinks are extra. Good times guaranteed.

So it wouldn’t make sense to start a boat cruise without blaring Lonely Island’s “I’m on a boat” and that is exactly what they did. Followed the rest of the day by a super cool and up-to-date playlist. Our first island stop was our snorkeling stop. You’re allowed to jump off the top of the boat (which I did but I wish someone had a picture of it) and then we were given snorkels and goggles, and could spend our time looking at the fish, the reef, and the Chinese people who were scuba diving with a chaperone underneath us. Once you got tired of snorkeling (or more accurately, of trying to breath through the snorkel) you could request a tube, and even a cold beer, and just float around in the water.

Our next stop was for lunch and entertainment. We had the most massive spread of food to eat, including soup, noodles, rice, spring rolls, and bread (so much leftover) and then the entertainment by the greatest boy band ever to exist began. We were stopped next to two other boats who also joined in for the entertainment section of the day. The Funky Monkey band, complete with bikini-wearing gorilla, sang us a few songs, and then gave each country who was represented a chance to introduce themselves through song. There was Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, UK, USA, Russia (one of my personal favourite performances), China, Vietnam, and us obviously. We had to sing Waka Waka. I would have to give the award for best performance from our group to the USA, mostly as a result of Marks epic Backstreet Boys rendition.

After performance excitement had calmed down, it was happy hour time. But this happy hour is special, because it’s on a floating bar. So basically, everyone grabs a tube, gets in the water, and attempts to hook their feet onto the bar. If you can’t, you hook onto whoever is closest to you. And then they give you petrol (at least, I imagine thats what petrol tastes like). The star phrases of the day came from our barman, who liked to chant things like “up the bum, don’t tell mum”, and the groups favourite “up the bum, no babies”. I will take this moment to say that I have absolutely no idea why this was a thing, or why it was so funny (possibly as a result of the petrol) but either way, a floating bar is something everyone should experience at some point.

Then it was time for our final stop. By now the weather was cooling down a bit, so only some of us braved the water, before heading back up to the deck to chill.

Once back, a few of us went swimming in the hotel pool. Katie and I had a nap (yay, naps!) and then off to the Sailing Club for dinner again. I mean, why mess with a good thing? I had prawn and bacon pasta because, I hate to admit this, I needed a break from Vietnamese food. Then some of us took our chocolate fondants for dessert down to the bean bags, where we enjoyed them because they were really good (and missed our boyfriends because the couple in front of us was too cute). Took a stroll through the market on the way back to the hotel, and then it was an early night for us. Tomorrow morning we are up at 4 to leave for the airport….

PS: I have no photos from the boat now, but once the others have their photos up I will update (thanks family, by the way).

Contiki Day 4: Ho Chi Minh to Nha Trang

After another fantastic buffet breakfast (I ate my body weight in pancakes), we all met in the foyer to head off on the city tour, and then to the airport. But before we left the foyer, we were witness to our first traffic accident in Vietnam when someone on a scooter drove into the trolley that had been used to get our bags across the road (does that make us partly responsible?) Luckily the guy seemed to be okay, and then we were off.

Our first stop was the Reunification Palace. We didn’t go inside, but just had a chance to take some photos from outside the gates. We then had a stroll to the post office and the Notre Dame Cathedral, with a bit of time to go inside, take photos, and buy some souvenirs. I got magnets and postcards, and Katie and I both got fans, as the heat was not letting up at all.

Following this, we headed to the War Museum. This was something that was really eye opening for me, and where I really started to understand how badly the war affected the country and the people (although you can never fully understand this I think). It’s a really well designed museum, so take your time going through it. There’s lots of photographs to look at which are beautifully put together into a display. It was quite an emotional walk through for many of the group. It is important to remember that there are three sides to every story though, and this shows just one side of that.

It was now time to leave bustling and chaotic Ho Chi Minh City, and head to Nha Trang. We flew with Vietnam Airlines, and it was a flight of under and hour. To kill some time we had lunch at the airport – I had terriyaki chicken with noodles. Katie has an interesting experience with ordering chicken noodles, but instead getting seafood, which the waitress didn’t believe even when she saw a mussel haha.

After landing, we had a short bus ride to the hotel. Quick change into clothes for the mud baths and then off we went again. The pool complex is really cool – we went in the hot mineral pool first, because it closed earlier than everything else. After spending an hour in amazing steamy water, it was time for mud! So basically you and a couple of others climb into an empty jacuzzi type structure, and they start pouring cool (as in temperature) mud in through a pipe. It fills up almost completely, and then you just chill in the mud, covering yourself with it and generally just thinking how strange it is that you’re lying in mud… They take a group photo afterwards which can be bought separately (I did get it) and then you can go rinse off in the showers. Following this, you walk though some really fun warm water sprays, and then hop into a really warm smaller pool (think jacuzzi, minus the bubbles). We had a bit of a laugh in the pool, trying to teach Brooke, Shayla, Sam, and Shane to say “ja” instead of yeah. It was pretty successful. Both Katie and I had started to notice our accents getting a bit weird after spending too much time with Australians (although I love them anyway).

The spa was starting to close, so we packed up, got dressed, and headed back onto the bus to go back to the hotel. Family dinner will be at the Sailing Club tonight. This was probably my favourite restaurant the whole trip because its right on the beach (which is my happy place, as if I wasn’t happy enough already). We had a long table on the sand. There is vodka jam jar happy hour. There were sangria jam jars (soooo yummy). I had seafood fried rice for dinner and it was divine. All the food looked so good. It’s a lovely venue with swings around, a bar on the beach, pretty lights, and then the best part – bean bags on the beach, and a bonfire. There was also a dance floor which opened up (go Gabby ;)) and that was really fun! It became Phoebe’s birthday while on the dance floor, and tomorrow we have our boat cruise.

Contiki Day 3: Mekong Delta to Ho Chi Minh

Waking up this morning was a bit tough after too much fun last night, but we got omelettes and fresh French loaf (with Melrose cheese) for brekkie. Once everyone was packed up and assembled, we had a quick walk back to the boat, which took is back to the bus. We stopped at the same rest stop as yesterday, and Katie and I got hot dogs to snack on.

Our next stop of the day was the Cu Chi tunnels. This was one of the major underground tunnels during the Vietnam/American War (read more at
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%E1%BB%A7_Chi_tunnels) and we were fortunate enough to be able to go on a tour. Luan took us around, and gave us some insight into the tunnel system and how the people lived there during the war. There was a chance to go into one of the tunnels (with an entrance already slightly widened) and crawl through the tunnels – I got in the entrance, but didn’t crawl all the way through that one. The entrance was super small and so dark; I can’t imagine having to live in that. We saw some of the booby traps that they used to use, as well as some of the bomb craters. There was a chance to shoot at the shooting range if we wanted – I chose to fire 10 rounds of the AK47, and I can honestly say that I wouldn’t recommend my shooting skills if a target actually needs to be hit… One of the next tunnels had actually been enlarged more so that they are a bit easier to crouch through for Western people (we tend to be much taller and broader than the Vietnamese) and I did that with a bunch of the others. There are a few exit options along the way, but we did the full length. While it is enlarged, it certainly gave me a feel of how it must have been to be down in the tunnels.

It was then back on the bus, and back to the hotel in Ho Chi Minh City where we would meet the last members of our family – Gabby, Z, Brittany and Jenna 🙂 We also to the ABC Bakery down the road from the hotel – Katie tried her first Vietnamese coffee, and we got some pastries.

We went for family dinner at a restaurant called Nebs. I had the Nebs house cocktail – a yummy blend of vodka, soda and lemongrass, and seafood spring rolls and seafood noodles to eat.

After a very satisfying dinner, most of the group went to the Chill sky bar – the top floor of the building Katie and I went to the other day. So just a note here, you need to be a bit dressed up for Chill – no slops, and no vests. If they do not think you are dressed appropriately, they will not let you in. You can, however, hire a lot of things there to make your outfit more suitable.

The view from up there was breathtaking before, but even more so at night. I had a Bellini because champagne on top of a skyscraper is always the best idea. The drinks are not cheap at all, but the view makes it all worth it. They have a DJ, and the atmosphere is electric. There was dancing, and mingling, and lots of photo taking, before eventually making the decision to go back home to bed.