Vietnam

Hanoi is said to be one of the most beautiful and atmospheric cities in Vietnam. To be honest we didn’t see its beauty (e.g. compared to Hoi An). It's a nice city but not amazing. The Old Quarter is the historic heart with pulsating life and countless of motorbikes. You find local coffee shops and restaurants at every corner and it's nice to watch to chaotic street life. We toured the capital sights for 3 days.

A small temple between residential housed

Sightseeing in the Old Quarter and around

Small local market

Does anyone know these fruits? We have no clue…

Some specialties for our vegetarian friends

Who needs a badminton field if there is broad sidewalk?

Hoan Kien Lake in the middle of the city

Thats what you get for 20€ in Vietnam - 3 star hotel incl. breakfast and extremely helpfull staff

Typical café - on every corner in the Old Quarter

Need handbags or shoes?

Doing the dishes

Looks a bite weird but the outcome is delicious and my favorite food in Vietnam – Bun Bo Nam Bo (Noodle soup with different kind of lettuce, roasted peanuts, some meat and other things)

Yet another world heritage site?

Deciding which tour to take, took Eva a long time - too many choices and even more warnings about scam tours made our life as hard as it can get while traveling the world. Only a few tours met our requirements. Our lovely host Linda (Hoi An) offered us our favorite tour ("Glory Cruise") for a good price. The 3D/2N adventure started three days later.

Still a bit cautious we arrived at the harbour and were pretty amazed by our ship. It was new and luxurious. Cruising in luxury made it very easy to enjoy Halong Bay with its over 3000 majestic lime-stone islets. The weather was perfect - sunshine all day long but not too hot. Especially, the second day we were able to explore the bay without the crowds. Sally, Paul and the two of us had a whole ship for ourselves and a lot of fun while kayaking, sun-bathing and relaxing.

The whole trip was great (the research paid off) and way above our expectations:

A few of the lime-stone islets and some more impression around Halong Bay

A floating kiosk with everything you may need on a cruise: crackers, wine, cigarettes and much more

The four of us kayaking around the bay, visiting some floating villages and relaxing on a small beach

No chance of starving

Exhausted from kayaking and eating during our day trip

Eva's best friend the captain - she spent 1 hour solving his excel issues

Our luxury cruise – pretty ok for backpackers

But everything comes to an end…

It's all about tailor-made stuff!

Hoi An is an ancient town and a unique heritage site. The streets have charming lights in every tree and the whole city has an harmonious character. Not only because of its many temples, stylish restaurants and bars but also because of its grand architecture and the riverside setting it’s a must see when you are in Vietnam.

Everyone who has been to Vietnam recommended this cute little town which is also famous for its glut of tailors (more than 200). We couldn't resist and got tailor-made suits, shirts and much more. It kept us busy for almost 2 days with around 7 fittings. But we left the tailor (BeBe) with a smile and many bags. As good costumers we were allowed to have a look in their factory which is located in the back of their shop.

If not busy with fittings we were wandering along the ancient lanes, the historic perfectly preserved port and the many sights the old town had to offer. The surrounding area could be well explored with our scooter...

Colorful bowls made out of coconuts

Happy Budda is always around and loves Choco-Pies

The old Japanese covered bridge

Historic houses, pagodas, temples and much more dotted around the old town

Impressions of the city

Nice as well but completely different - the surrounding

Tailor-made bags, knifes and much more

Niels favorite Sandwiches - no idea whats all in there

Our luxory room

Outcome of 2 days of fitting

A scooter ride is not always a peace of cake...

No pick up was awaiting us at the airport. After waiting for 20 min. not many taxis were left and our options therefore very limited. A strange guy came up to us asking where we want to go several times. Our travel experience told us to be cautious denying his offer to give us a lift. Eventually, the guy knew our hotel and Phu Quoc is neither Central nor South America, so we finally gave in and accepted his offer. Due to his mad driving skills we reached the hotel in Warpspeed.

Our nice hotel was located directly at the beach. Every room had its own hammock, which we used heavily. We enjoyed most meals along the beachside or in Raghavs favorite place – surprise: an Indian restaurant. The running gag was fish sauce. Raghav and Rakshita found it in pretty much every single meal – Niels in turn found it in his breakfast pancake only – seriously, they prepared the pancake in fish sauce… The first contact with locals taught us that not everyone likes to bargain: the girls wanted to bargain for fruits. The lady responded by pushing, cursing and trying to spill dirty water over them. Completely confused they brought out in big laughter. Luckily this was the only weird experience we had with locals for the rest of our trip.

Marcus, Rakshita, Farina and Niels rented two scooters for the exploration of northern Phu Quoc while Raghav and Eva stayed at the hotel. The roads are mostly unsealed and sometimes really tough. Marcus and Rakshita rode a scooter together. While going down-hill the scooter sledded and they crashed. Rescue team 'Niels and Farina' helped them up again. Marcus had scratches along his leg, arm and a stone in his hand while Rakshita seemed to be more lucky with only some scratches on her ankle (her jeans saved her from worse).

Back at our place Niels cleaned all wounds while Eva got the stone out of Marcus hand. The stone was actually quite big (size of a big pea). Not sure if the wound was really clean Niels and Marcus went to a so-called hospital. For only 3 € Marcus got treated including a local anesthetic (because he was screaming like a little baby) and antibiotics. The doctor advised Niels to take pictures of Meggis while cleaning the hole in his hand. However, out of respect and decency those pictures can't be published here 😉 What an experience!

Raghav and Rakshita had to leave the same day so that Rakshita could get a proper check-up at home. As it turned out Rakshita wasn't lucky afterall. Her bone had a small crack and the next weeks a cast was part of her fashion style.

Besides that little happening we had a great time together and look forward to met up again. But without scooter trips 😉

Our Scooter gang

Farina enjoying Coco Loco 

Impressions from our first scooter tour around the island

Christmas trees look somehow different in Vietnam

Before the accident ...

... and after

Relaxing on the Island-hopping tour and enjoying the scenery

Local transport

Snacks on the tour (mussels and sea urchins) followed by even more snacks on the local market

Life is good - getting a massage on the beach

Our bungalow

The most beautiful beach on the island

Time to say goodbye

One Australian, one Indian, one American, two Germans and us - our planned NYE celebrations group. As it turned out you can add two more Indians and a loooot of Vietnamese 😉

Rob, Eva and I were supposed to leave Langkawi at 11 a.m. and arrive in Ho-Chi-Minh-City at around 3.30 p.m. local time. It was not before 9:00 p.m. we finally were able to meet with Maggis and Farina who were waiting for us at the airport by that time... At least we were able to enjoy one more pizza at our favorite place at KLIA2 (stop-over) because of the delay.

When the five of us finally managed to find a taxi we expected the worst. While driving the meter was jumping in 10.000th every second the car stopped (26.000 Dong =~ 1 €). Another 100.000 were added every km we went. By the time we arrived at our hotel the total amount came up to 1.8 million (~69€ for 8 kms).  Ready to start the arguing, I asked for the price - 160.000 Dong?!? Well seems like meters work different in other parts of the world 😉

Our room / suite / apartment was nicer than expected: two bedrooms, spacious living room (huge dining table and a chill-out area), two fully equipped bathrooms and a kitchen. It immediately felt like the apartment in the TV show "friends".

The moment we touched ground in Vietnam something wierd happend to Rob: he got active, he started planning, he searched for information in the net. As it turned out he badly wanted to visit the Chu-Chi tunnels. Thanks to Rob we went there right away the next day. It was quite an experience. We are not taking any sides, we are no historians but living in those tunnels must have been hell. They are so small I couldn't fit in there. We had the chance to squeeze in one of those holes !oppressive! Also we "walked" down a tunnel, as I read later on it was prepared for tourists - however I nearly got stuck.

The same day Raghav and Rakshita arrived. Following the "Friends" mentality we took it easy that evening and chilled in our apartment. The following day the girls prepared for NYE, meaning they went shopping. Raghav and me met with two friends of Raghav and went to the national war museum. A propaganda palace - but well there are always two sides of a coin. Mainly military equipment (parts of shot down B-52 bombers and there like) as well as pictures of wounded and crippled Vietnamese are shown. The whole thing is rather depressing and left a lot of open questions as the history itself is nearly left out completely. While Raghav did some more sightseeing with his friends I went home to get myself ready for the big night. First thing I saw was a miserable Rob and a sleeping Meggis (who was supposed to take care of the evening planning).

Exhausted from the major shopping trip the girls came back. The evening planning was made (not by Meggis) and we headed out for dinner. Because of Robs misarble condition the team decided to celebrate the countdown at our roof-top with a great view over the city. As soon as the new year started we went for some serious partying in the gossip-club. On the way we got to learn how a real traffic jam looks like. Round about 500 meters away from the club it was impossible to go any further by car – but also walking was quite and exercise: climbing over dozens of motorbikes and squeezing trough non existing gaps. Everyone was in a good mood therefore the whole thing was great fun and the locals were pretty impressed by the way foreigners make their way! Finally arriving at the Club a bouncer lead us to a private table and a great night with a lot of fun started – no more details given 😉

The next day we followed the "Friends" mentality again and chillaxed in our apartment, only leaving it to get some food.

On our way to the New Years Eve Party

Our beloved apartment

Learning about the Chu Chi tunnels which were used by Viet Cong soldiers as hiding spots during the Vietnam War on our private tour including the its crazy traps they used

Niels going down in one of the tunnels

Sightseeing in Backpacker area (with great paintings and souvenirs)

Ben Than Market

Notre Dame Cathedral with its 40m-high towers could also be in the Normandy

Impressions of the city

Daily traffic in the city

Celebrating the countdown on our roof-top

New Years traffic jam – climbing over dozens of scooters to get to our party place

New Years party in the Gossip

Welcoming the New Year with a day full of chillaxing in our apartment

Having a drink in the skybar at 48^th floor of the Bitexco Financial Tower