Nha Trang

Nha Trang is a slice of paradise in Vietnam . .

Nha Trang beach

We arrived early, very early, 5:30 in the morning we got off the night bus and tried to work out where on the map we had been dropped off. Once we got our barring we had to then work out how to get to our hotel which i had plotted on the map before hand. Jonny took control of the map and decided after 15 minuets of walking we were on the road i had marked, but the hotel was no where to be seen. Thankfully we quickly realised he had taken us down a road too early so we walked back on ourselves feeling tired, hot and struggling with our backpacks. We tried walking down the next road but again our hotel was no where to be seen. To make matters worse we had some guy on his motorbike following us trying to get us to stay at his hotel, we told him we had accommodation but the more wrong turns we took the less he was believing us. Finally swallowing a little bit of pride Jonny went into a cafe to ask for directions. While doing so i was eyeing up the rather tasty looking chocolate brownies they had for sale. We were happy yet slightly embarrassed to learn the hotel was 30 seconds round the next coroner. We were able to check in, shower and get a few hours of much needed sleep.

Were not ones to waste the day, so at 9.00am we were up soon and ready to explore. First stop was the cafe with the brownies and yes they were as good as they looked. While relaxing in the cute cafe, very randomly the lovely couple from Darwin we met in Halong Bay walked in and joined us for a coffee. It was really nice to hear they had continued to enjoy their adventure in Vietnam and were sad that their holiday was coming to an end. The thought of work for them within 48 hours made us realise how lucky we are, still having many months of commitment free adventure ahead of us.

Our first trip in Nha Trang was to Long Son Pagoda, it was quite a long walk in the sunshine, but we enjoy a walk and believe that its the best way to see somewhere new. The pagoda was well worth the trek, it was beautiful. It was home to 2 extremely large buddha's, one is so large it looks over the city, the size of both was actually overwhelming. Feeling rather tired we had a bite to eat and an early night in front of the tv in our room.

The chilling Buddha

The view of the city from the top

The big Buddha on the hill

On our second day we went on a 4 island trip that we booked through our hotel. We knew we didn't have much time in Nha Trang and decided a tour would be the quickest and most productive way to see everything touristy. We got taken to an aquarium which was nice. They had an outdoor section which allowed us to feed and get close to the massive turtles which was really special for us. The bays the boat stopped at were all gorgeous, we went through a fishing village similar to those in Halong Bay. It still puzzles us how the families can survive the open elements of the sea and the isolation in their floating homes. While in one of the bays the boat anchored, and we were introduced to their "floating bar" which involved a big metal hoop which had loads of floats attached. Everyone was invited to jump off the boat and swim to the bar for a free cup of wine. Needless to say i became an amazing swimmer given the incentive of free wine and managed more than a few cups of the sweet red stuff, it was very surreal bobbing in the warm sea sipping free cold wine - bliss.

Someone has their eye on Jonny

Feeding the turtles

Floating bar

In the warm sea with cold wine - yum

We were able to visit a few of the bars and restaurants during our stay in Nha Trang. There are many to chose from as Nha Trang is one of the best cities in Vietnam for nightlife. Our favourite restaurant was one where Jonny was able to chose what fish he wanted and they then cooked it fresh on the BBQ, not bad for £4. This restaurant also had some rather tasty cocktails which went down a treat.

Jonny and his chosen fish

Cocktails went down a treat

Our final day we decided to make the most of Nha Trangs biggest asset; the beach. White sand, blue sea and we were lucky enough to pick a day with blue sky and sunshine without a single cloud in sight. We could have stayed in Nha Trang another 10 nights and not got bored; it is a city with everything and its still growing. Many large posh hotels were being built on the coastline which will no doubt bring in the tourist when complete. The views from the top of these building as the sun goes down will be unbeatable.

Enjoying Nha Trang beach

Sun, Sea and Sand

The city is growing

Jonny as the sun went down

We have to mention how amazing our hotel (Truong Giang Hotel) was, it could not have been more perfectly located (once we found it). The couple who own it are without a question the loveliest Vietmanese couple we have ever met. They were so kind, welcoming and would go out of their way to ensure we felt completely at home. We have told them we will email them and stay in touch. We also want to advise anyone planning a visit to Nha Trang to consider staying here. Its value for money and their hospitality can not be beaten.

We really hope this is not the last time we see Nha Trang. Next Stop Siagon.

The beach as the sun went down

Loads a love A&J x x

Hoi An

We arrived in Hoi An early evening after a day sitting on a coach. The weather was truly awful but we were glad to be at our hotel.

Hoi An is a small town located just under half way down Vietnam on the coast. Hoi An is also the home of cheap made to measure clothing, needless to say we both took full advantage of this. Jonny found the very place that the Top Gear boys went to get there suits made. He chose the fabric to make himself a very smart 3 piece suit and 2 very lovely shirts which fit so well. I saw 2 styles of dress that were really nice, Jonny picked the fabrics and colours for each dress (as im so indecisive) and the little lady set to work. Less than 24 hours later the dresses were ready to collect. I was so pleased with the results, they were such bargains, less than £30 for them both, Jonny liked them so much on me he insisted that i buy a third and i'm not one to argue.

This little town has plenty of hand craft shops, and as the sun sets it becomes extremely beautiful. Along the river the town becomes a wash with coloured lanterns and candles flickering away. The lights reflecting off the river water made for the perfect setting as we found out one night having diner on a balcony overlooking the town.

Sadly not all of Hoi An was as smooth as it should have been. Originally we had only planned to stay for three nights. On the evening of the second night we had been for a nice meal. On returning back to the hotel we were both struck down with stomach cramps and yes you guessed it......food poisoning. Feeling truly rubbish we decided that neither of us were in a fit enough state to travel onwards so decided to stay for an extra night.

Two days later we were begining to feel a bit better so decided to head out into town where we could grab a small something to eat. While at dinner the rain started and within an hour there was about 6 inches of water on the road. Thinking this was rather cool, Jonny headed out to have a splash around in the street. As we finished dinner the rain ended and the flood water started to disperse. The following morning we had planned to just pop into town to collect Jonny's suit. As we were leaving the hotel we suddenly realised that we couldn't walk up the main street due to it now being a 3 feet deep river. The flood was like nothing we had ever seen before, the water seemed to come from no where yet it had taken over everything. Our journey to Nha Trang had to be put on hold for yet another night. Therefore our quick shopping stop over in Hoi An ended up being almost a week of being stranded for one reason or another but we can of course think of worse places to be stuck.

love A&J X X

Vietnam Weather

Just a very quick update and i am very sorry that it has come just minutes after our last update. We are now in Hoi An and have been having very bad internet signal. Hence the reason we are posting two blogs today.

We just wanted to write about how we have experienced mother nature at her absolute best over the last 24 hours. We appreciate that it is still monsoon season and we have experienced pretty much non stop rain over the last 48 hours.

Last night while we were out at dinner all of a sudden the road became slightly flooded. Thinking this was rather cool I headed out and had a splash around in the warm rain. During dinner the rain stopped. As we headed back to the hotel the little flood water that remained started to drain away.

Well this morning we have woken to complete devastation. During the night there was more rain and from talking to a local, there was too much pressure on a local dam. This has resulted the in the locals having to open the dam, which has resulted in the flooding of Hoi An.

With all of the flooding going on in Bangkok, we have been very luck not to be effected too badly so far on our trip.

I guess we have just experienced a little of what Mother Nature can produce.

Hue

To get to Hue from Hanoi we had to catch a 12 hour sleeper train. All was going well and we booked our tickets in plenty of time. On arriving at Hanoi Train Station we presented our tickets to the guard and were told what platform we needed to head to. Once at the platform we found out what carriage we required and found our bunks. Mistake number one: I had accidently booked us hard sleepers rather than soft sleepers, so instantly we knew we were going to be in for a long night. We found that we were sharing our carriage with two older, local Vietnamese ladies. They turned out to be the rudest and possibly most disgusting people we have ever had the pleasure of meeting.....but that's a different story. To be fair the journey was not that bad and we managed to get plenty of sleep.

On arriving at Hue we were met at the station by the owner of the hotel, where we would be staying. She was the most lovely lady and organised us a taxi to get back to the hotel. On arrival at the hotel we were taken straight to our rooms. We were only paying £6 a night including breakfast so we were not expecting a lot. It has to be said that the room was very clean, light and airy and we settled in very quickly.

Having had a walk around town and carried out some research we decided the best way to see the tourist spots was through a organised tour. This we managed to sort through the hotel.
The day of the tour started well when the alarm went off at 6.30am. I turned the alarm off and managed to fall back asleep only to wake again at 8.05am. We were meant to meet the bus at 8.00am. Opps. Jumping out of bed, throwing some clothes on and running down the drive to meet the bus, we just about made it. Five minutes later we both realised that neither of us had bought any money for the day. Off the bus i got a sprinted back to the hotel to organise some things that we may need for the day trip. Ten minutes later i was back on the bus and we were off.

The first stop on the tour was the Citadel which is home to the third Emperor and one of the fiercest battles to take place in the American / Vietnam War. We learnt about how the Emperor used to live here and how he handed power over to Ho Chin Mi, before moving to France in 1948.
We then moved on to a local Vietnamese house which was occupied by a Minister of the Emperor and learned some basics about Feng-Shui. We also visited several Pagodas which were occupied by Monks and the basics of Buddhism was taught to us. Since being in Asia we have learnt so much about the religion and how peaceful it can be. A Pagoda is basically a Vietnamese temple. At the end of the day we had a nice trip in a dragon boat down the river where we were dropped off back in Hue.

It was lovely to see some of the local sights but unfortunately we were both feeling quite ill so the full potential was not taken from the day. Hue is a lovely little town and it was nice to be out of the craziness of the Hanoi.

Halong Bay

Our weekend in Halong Bay started with a very early start, i mean, were now set in a life where we go to bed when we want and get up when we like so when the alarm went off at 6:30 it was uncomfortable. Still we were excited so were able to drag our bums out of bed and check out of our hotel. We were met in reception by a Vietnamese guy with the biggest smile we have ever seen; he introduced himself as Tony. We soon noticed Tony referred to himself as the third person which was actually very humbling. He took us to the mini bus where we were met with 10 other people who all introduced themselves and straight away we knew we were with a friendly brunch, and we were in for a good time.

The minibus was a 4 hour journey, but listening to a bit of the Beatles helped make the hours fly. We were being entertained by the crazy driving of our bus driver and every other driver on the road. We soon realised the crazy driving doesn't just exist in the city, they drive like maniac's on the highways as well. Playing chicken with oncoming arctic lorries just to overtake one more bus. There were a few moments when everyone on the bus let out a sigh of relieve as we flew past a few near misses.

As we got closer to the bay the sky seemed to get bluer, the sun felt brighter and the city smog disappeared. The view out to the bay was a real wow moment.

Halong Bay

We were soon on bored our gorgeous boat Imperial Junk being served a massive lunch of fresh fish, rice, salad, chicken stir-fry, watermelon . . . the food just kept coming. After lunch we were shown to our rooms. We were the only pair given a room on the upper deck, we thought it was a bit strange but Tony came and whispered "Tony give you free upgrade, sshhhhhh". Cabins sorted, we started cruising through the bay while drinking a few beers, and enjoying the truly breathtaking views.

Our boat

Our upgrade

One of many amazing views on the boat as we went through the bay

Our first stop on the cruise was to a cave set in one of the islets in the bay. The caves name literally translated to English is 'The Surprising Cave', and it certainly doesn't lie. On entering the cave you enter a rather large section. Thinking this is big and rather spectacular we moved on down a narrow opening, just to enter a much larger section, which is even bigger and more spectacular. The pattern just kept repeating its self.

just one part if the cave

Can you tell what these rocks are in the shape of? Jonny could tell, Amber thought they looked like rocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . Its a Tourtoise??

After the cave we took part in some kayaking around the bay and visited a local floating village. It was interesting to learn how many of the people in the village will only touch land when they take the fish that they catch at sea to the amilland market. It was also interesting to see how the village cope with simple every day activities such as gaining fresh water, electricity and education for their children.

The floating village - home to about 20 families

This was followed by a quick dip in the see which was like having a warm bath. The bay was so warm it was hard to think that we were swimming in the sea. After a quick shower and dressing for dinner we were met by yet another banquet of food and dinned with wine and beer under the stars. With other boats around us it was quite a magical evening in the bay.

The following morning started with another early morning alarm call but we didn't mind as we wanted to make the most of the day. Breakfast was served on the deck of the boat as the sun was rising. We were taken to a smaller boat as the big boat we were on was not registered to enter the waters in which we were heading to. It was weird that this was the case considering we were always in Vietnamese waters. The 'border' was manned by army, police and had doctors for the people on the floating and isolated villages to use if they ever need medical help, as they don't always need to go back to the main land. Our new boat took us to CatBa island which is the biggest island in Halong Bay. There, we were given a bicycle and started a 45 to 60 min bike ride through forests, a cave and round mountains. The views on the way were again amazing and it was interesting to see all the rice production that took place on the island. We arrived at a very cute isolated and self sufficient village. All the locals seemed very happy to see us and we were happy to see their cafe as we were desperate for a drink after cycling in the heat.

Jonny riding in the beautiful bay

Our group on their bikes

Amber riding through the beautiful bay

Riding into the village

After a bike ride back to the boat, we were then taken to our island, where we would be spending our final night. Words cant really describe the wow we felt as we saw our bungalows sitting on the beach, in the bay of our very own island. We were served yet another massive lunch and were then told to make ourselves at home. We were excited at the thought of waking up to these amazing views, it was just so beautiful. We wasted no time and threw on our swimming costumes and headed to the sea. We started walking out, we walked and walked and the water was still only up to our ankles, we managed to walk to another little island the sea was out so far, we couldn't believe how fast and far the sea had left the bay. With the tide going out it meant that we couldn't swim, but we were able to see some amazing wildlife, we saw so many starfish and crabs, some tiny some huge, it really was a whole new world for us. In the evening a lovely buffet dinner was served on the beach which was most picturesque. The night was finished with many beers in the beautiful setting with great company.

The view of our island from the boat - the raftto get to the bay was so unsecure but well worth it

Our island

2 of 100s of starfish in the bay

Jonny as the tide went out and sun went down

Not a bad way to wake up

The final morning we woke early to the sound of the sea. We had an early 7.00am breakfast but we were used to this now. The tide had come in and fully swamped the bay. It was incredible, the beach we had walked out to had completely disappeared under a few meters of water. We were so sad to leave the private island. We boarded our boat and enjoyed a nice cruise back to Halong City where the tour ended. At lunch in the city we all clubbed together and all put in a couple of Dollars each for Tony as a thank you for such an amazing trip. In total there could not have been more than about $40 - $60 but Tony seemed totally lost for words.

Us with the fantastic Tony

We have had the most amazing time and if anyone gets the chance to visit Halong Bay we can strongly recommend it. We have met some fantastic people on the cruise and have swapped details with them. We are hoping that we will be able to meet up with them later on in our trip.

Some of our lovely group x

Still loving every moment, Vietnam has redeemed itself after Hanoi,

love Amz and Jonny x