Tony and Petra's Travels: Oh my Buddha!

We arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam 2 weeks ago on a bus from Nanning, China. The boarder crossing went smooth although we found out that visa exemption for Scandinavians isn't that great as it only allows 2 weeks in the country. Because of this we have been very busy seeing as much as possible and so it is now in Cambodia that we are writing this blog post.

Hanoi was a welcome break after the craziness of China. Was nice being able to read signs in our own alphabet again. Good food seemed to be everywhere and some of the streets at night turn into 'illegal' bars where a beer will cost 5000VMD (approx 20 cents!!). Good times.

Street food was amazing. Especially Spring rolls

A trip to Ha Long bay was a must do activity in Northern Vietnam and so we booked a 3 day 2 night trip with one night on a boat and one on an island. At $99 with all food included, i don't think there was a cheaper tour out there. With this in mind we were surprised at the quality of the boat accommodation. Amazing was the only word and the same for the food. Got to make our own spring rolls and everything! It was definitely not peak season so the bay seemed quiet which was amazing and we truly got a breathtaking look at this amazing bay. The lack of sun seeming made no difference to our opinion, truly stunning.

Luxury living on the boat in Ha Long Bay

This place is stunning. Even with cloudy weather

The night spent in a bamboo hut on one of the islands just meant this trip got even better. Had our own private beach as well.

Bamboo hut island accommodation

After a brief stop back in Hanoi we took our first sleeper bus down to Hoi An. A quick word on the 'sleeper' busses; they are great if you are the height of a child, but 12 hours being cramped is no fun. Additionally the drivers love blasting the horn every 5 seconds and playing awful vietnamese music over the loudspeakers, probably to keep himself awake on his 12 hour shift! Hoi An was noticeably more touristy and warmer than anywhere we have been in the last month and we just spent a day going round the old town market area which admittedly was pretty nice to walk around. Not much else to say about this place except its the area to come if you want a tailored suit, they are everywhere. Was quite strange for us seeing so many westerners after coming down from China.

Colourful Hoi An Streets

Having a stroll in Old Town

Fruit and food stalls everywhere

Initially we booked a bus from Hoi An to Nha Trang however in true vietnamese fashion they 'lost' our booking and we didn't find out until we were standing at the pickup point. Ended up on a 2am train instead from Da Nang ($10 taxi away) which they deemed as suitable compensation. After the trains in china this was no problem and we actually got some sleep for once.

Nha Trang is clearly the package holiday hotspot of Vietnam. The beach was OK at best and the town is perfect for 18 year olds who want to get wasted every night. Not really the place to go if you are after a more vietnamese experience. Coincidentally the only think we found to do here was go on an all day 'booze' cruise although there wasn't any booze on the boat. It stopped off at probably the worst beaches on this planet and not much else happened. The only thing that saved it was the awesome people we met on the boat, totally made the day worth it.

One of the best bits of the boat in Nha Trang, the floating bar

Booze Cruise lunch. (notice the 5 year old). Shots all round!!

Desperate to leave this place we went down the coast to Mui Ne. Arriving at 3am we had to hop on the back of 2 scooters with all our bags and drive about searching for our place. This place was such a contrast to Nha Trang, being a quiet little resort town next to a fishing village (this is the place to get sea food). A much more chilled out vibe was just what was needed. Unfortunately with one of our visas running out we only had 1 day here and so going to see the famous sand dunes was the obvious choice as this is what brings people to this place. We met up with 3 friends we met in Nha Trang and took a jeep tour to the dunes. $5 each was a pretty good deal for 4-5hours. Having never seen sand dunes before we were pretty impressed although if you have been to the sahara I guess that this would not be the case. You have to watch out for the scammers trying to make you pay to go into the dunes. You dont need to pay! Just tell the driver to carry on and tell the scammers to get lost.

Fishing village at Mui Ne

Stunning White Dunes

Our Canadian friend Kait on an Ostrich. Not sure the bird was fully game for this...

Sunset on the Red Dunes

Opportunities to relax by a pool need to be taken

Mui Ne had some interesting street food available. Yum!

And just like that Mui Ne was being left behind and we were on another cramped sleeper bus to Saigon (or Ho Chi Minh City). This place was so hot and humid and was pretty much the same deal as Hanoi. Mopeds and scooters everywhere and tons of amazing places to eat whether you want cheap or expensive. We went to hit the markets and found out that buying on the street sidewalk is much cheaper than indoor markets where they won't take less than $10 for anything, which is ridiculous considering it is all a load of fake knock-off crap anyway.

Saigon. Too many bikes maybe

The one must do thing here is a visit to the Cu Chi Tunnels that were used by the Vietcong during the War. You get to crawl through some of the tunnels although they have been widened for westerners (they are still pretty tight). There is also an opportunity to turn up and fire 10 bullets out of a selection of various assault rifles and machine guns for $1 per bullet. This opportunity obviously could not be passed up.