In this trip, we have traveled from the north to the south of Vietnam. We started the trip from Hanoi, flew to Danang, drove to Hoi An, flew from Hue to Saigon and flew back to Bangkok and stayed over for 2 nights.
Vietnam is a beautiful country with so much to offer. I love the central part of Vietnam, Hoi An and Hue the most because they are more serene and quiet compared to Hanoi and Saigon. Hoi An even has a nice beach, a great place for relaxation. Here is a brief introduction of each city in case you want to visit the country and some pictures for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy viewing and have fun in Vietnam! :-)
Hanoi : Hanoi is a very busy place full of motor-cyles and people ride crazily honking all the time! We went to many temples, besides the Temple of Literature (The first University in Vietnam), Ho Chih Minh mausoleum is worth mentioning, we saw his dead body lying in peace. It's amazing to see how it has been well-preserved since his death more than 40 years ago! It was a Saturday, the queue was long and we were all not allowed to bring in our phones or camera and not allowed to speak to show respect to him. His presidential palace is lovely with lake, house on stilt, one-pillar pagoda, the garden is very windy, we enjoyed the walk in there.
Buidlings here have the French influence, so they all look very quaint and colourful. We also had a great time watching the water puppet show at "Thang Long Theatre" and went to the night market nearby. The water puppets are made of wood and lacquer, they float and move on water. They can row boats, catch fish, swim, you name it....the movements are very versatile. The price is cheap too only USD3 for an-hour show, worth every buck that you spend. The theatre is full of foreign tourists.
September this year is their mi-autumn festival, they have moon-cakes like the Chinese but what is different is that it is actually an occassion to celebrate children's day. The lanterns are so colorful and people wear masks during this time. It's like Halloween + moon-cake fest + children's day.
One must try the best "Pho" (rice noodles) with beef at "Bunta" restaurant and the Vietnamese coffee. The coffee smells good and has a touch of Kahlua taste, very smooth and exquisite. We had kebab bread on the street that tasted so good and the Hanoi beer is a must try.
Hoi An : Hoi An Ancient Town is awarded the World's Heritage site. We spent whole day walking around the ancient town, took lots of pics, saw lots of nice quaint buildings, did some shopping finally :-) Had steak for lunch, really cheap only USD 2 and tasted very good at Van Loc Restaurant.
One can have shirts, dresses, shoes custom made in Hoi An at very reasonable price. A custom made shirt costs only around USD 8-15 depending on the material and a dress USD 18-60 depending on how much margin they make I suppose. I had a dress made for USD 18, the price in the Ancient town was USD 60 which I didn't make luckily.
We also went to the beach, about 3km from the Ancient Town, very long and wide beaches, the waves are strong and there are many foreigners there. Only stopped by a short while, looking at the waves made us think about Tsunami and we were talking which tree to hang on should it hit Hoi An, he he.
Hue : Hue is 2.5 hours drive from Hoi An. We went to the Imperial City, Thien Mu Pagoda and took a dragon boat ride back to the hotel. The palace is much smaller compared to the one in Beijng but still impressive.
Our stay in Vietnam has been great so far, the people are nice. There were 2 times that we left our stuff behind and the sellers went after us to return us, they are much more honest than the China Chinese, so we feel grateful and good to be in a country like that. Even they are poor, they still have dignity and not greedy.
We have coffee on every meal, it tastes so good like Kahlua. Best thing is it doesn't make my heart beat strongly and uncomfortable like the one back home. I'm addicted to Vietnamese coffee now. We had a nice lunch today, they served us Hue pancake and Vietnamese spring rolls.
Saigon (HCM) : Ho Chi Minh, a.k.a. Saigon is the capital city of Vietnam. It is a very crowded city, not much to say except the crazy traffic. However, Cu Chi tunnel was an eye-opening experience for us, it was raining hard when we were there and that made the trip even more meaningful as we got to taste the hardship of those who lived in the tunnels during the Vietnam war. War Museum, Reunification Palace and Notre Dame Catheral and China Town are some other places that one could visit while in Saigon.
Vietnam is a beautiful country with so much to offer. I love the central part of Vietnam, Hoi An and Hue the most because they are more serene and quiet compared to Hanoi and Saigon. Hoi An even has a nice beach, a great place for relaxation. Here is a brief introduction of each city in case you want to visit the country and some pictures for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy viewing and have fun in Vietnam! :-)
Hanoi : Hanoi is a very busy place full of motor-cyles and people ride crazily honking all the time! We went to many temples, besides the Temple of Literature (The first University in Vietnam), Ho Chih Minh mausoleum is worth mentioning, we saw his dead body lying in peace. It's amazing to see how it has been well-preserved since his death more than 40 years ago! It was a Saturday, the queue was long and we were all not allowed to bring in our phones or camera and not allowed to speak to show respect to him. His presidential palace is lovely with lake, house on stilt, one-pillar pagoda, the garden is very windy, we enjoyed the walk in there.
Buidlings here have the French influence, so they all look very quaint and colourful. We also had a great time watching the water puppet show at "Thang Long Theatre" and went to the night market nearby. The water puppets are made of wood and lacquer, they float and move on water. They can row boats, catch fish, swim, you name it....the movements are very versatile. The price is cheap too only USD3 for an-hour show, worth every buck that you spend. The theatre is full of foreign tourists.
September this year is their mi-autumn festival, they have moon-cakes like the Chinese but what is different is that it is actually an occassion to celebrate children's day. The lanterns are so colorful and people wear masks during this time. It's like Halloween + moon-cake fest + children's day.
One must try the best "Pho" (rice noodles) with beef at "Bunta" restaurant and the Vietnamese coffee. The coffee smells good and has a touch of Kahlua taste, very smooth and exquisite. We had kebab bread on the street that tasted so good and the Hanoi beer is a must try.
Hoi An : Hoi An Ancient Town is awarded the World's Heritage site. We spent whole day walking around the ancient town, took lots of pics, saw lots of nice quaint buildings, did some shopping finally :-) Had steak for lunch, really cheap only USD 2 and tasted very good at Van Loc Restaurant.
One can have shirts, dresses, shoes custom made in Hoi An at very reasonable price. A custom made shirt costs only around USD 8-15 depending on the material and a dress USD 18-60 depending on how much margin they make I suppose. I had a dress made for USD 18, the price in the Ancient town was USD 60 which I didn't make luckily.
We also went to the beach, about 3km from the Ancient Town, very long and wide beaches, the waves are strong and there are many foreigners there. Only stopped by a short while, looking at the waves made us think about Tsunami and we were talking which tree to hang on should it hit Hoi An, he he.
Hue : Hue is 2.5 hours drive from Hoi An. We went to the Imperial City, Thien Mu Pagoda and took a dragon boat ride back to the hotel. The palace is much smaller compared to the one in Beijng but still impressive.
Our stay in Vietnam has been great so far, the people are nice. There were 2 times that we left our stuff behind and the sellers went after us to return us, they are much more honest than the China Chinese, so we feel grateful and good to be in a country like that. Even they are poor, they still have dignity and not greedy.
We have coffee on every meal, it tastes so good like Kahlua. Best thing is it doesn't make my heart beat strongly and uncomfortable like the one back home. I'm addicted to Vietnamese coffee now. We had a nice lunch today, they served us Hue pancake and Vietnamese spring rolls.
Saigon (HCM) : Ho Chi Minh, a.k.a. Saigon is the capital city of Vietnam. It is a very crowded city, not much to say except the crazy traffic. However, Cu Chi tunnel was an eye-opening experience for us, it was raining hard when we were there and that made the trip even more meaningful as we got to taste the hardship of those who lived in the tunnels during the Vietnam war. War Museum, Reunification Palace and Notre Dame Catheral and China Town are some other places that one could visit while in Saigon.
To view pictures my travel pictures of all these wonderful places in Vietnam, here is the link. Enjoy! ;-)
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