Spirited Bolder Women

Photos of my trip to South East Asia.

Halong Bay--sunsetHalong Bay

After careful analysis and much deliberation we booked a 2 night, 3 day cruise with Glory Cruise company.  We booked the trip through Awesome Travel.  Halong Bay has over 300 junks and cruise boats and about half of them have cabins for overnight trips.  The quality of the boats ranges from condemed to five star, however the price is not always indicative of the quality as with everthing else in Vietnam many uscrupulous travel agents will see you a cruise on a deluxe boat and you end up on the condemed boat.

We were fortunate as we booked with a reliable agency and we ended up on the very nice Glory Cruise.

Halong Bay is one of the seven wonder’s of the world.  It is indeed spectacular.  We visited several caves.  The first day we visited the Amazing Cave and it is really amazing.  It must have been huge to accommodate the 200 or so junks and day trip boats that descended on the site in the afteroon.  Most tours start in Hanoi at 8am and it takes about 4 hours to drive to Halong City.  From there a boat is boarded and it seems as if all the boats and junks follow the same program.  The area around the cave resembles a “Junk” parking lot.

View of Halong Bay from Glory Cruise

Junk Parking Lot--Halong Bay

Halong Bay

Room on Glory CruiseHalong Bay

Ho Chi Minh mausoleum

arrived at 4am from Hue on the overnight train.  We had a four berth A/C  class which is the best class you can book on this train.  Although the train was comfortable, sleep was interrupted as another passenger embarked at around 1 am. Although he immediately fell asleep and started snoring, we were awake.   I was surprised the train arrived in Hanoi on time at 4am so we had to wait until 7am at the train station until be could venture to find a hotel.  We were lucky and found a room in the first hotel we looked at and they let us check in at 7am.

Museum of Ethnology

We ended up spending 7 nights in Hanoi as we vetoed a trip to Sapa as the weather was becoming cold and rainy.  We did not want to endure the same weather that we will experience on our return to Victoria.

Hanoi has many museums, and sites to visit.  One of the most interesting was the Museum of Ethnology which profiles the 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam.  It has a living museum with traditional houses and depictions of living situations.  We took a local bus as the museum is 7 kilometers from the centre of Hanoi.  The bus ride to the museum was also interesting as we  were able to see areas outside the old quarter and typical tourist streets.

We also visited the historical area with the presidential buildings and the Ho
Chi Minh museum and surrounding area.  The area is reminiscent of France with its large boulevards and French architecture.

Wedding photos

Marble Mountain--working with marble

We booked the Sinh Cafe sleeping bus to take us from Hoi An to Hue.  Now known as Sinh Tourist, offers an open bus trip from Saigon to Hanoi. This is a hop on, hop off bus.  A ticket for  any part of the trip can be bought and then the smaller parts must be booked.  The fare is quite reasonable and the bus is very comfortable.  The two-tier beds in the sleeping bus are organized three across.  The beds on the outside have a window and the beds in the center do not have a view.  Blankets are provided.  The Sinh Cafe bus stopped at Marble Mountain and also at the resort of Lan Co.  Overall, the trip was four pleasant hours.  Upon arrival we sped away in a “meter” taxi to find a hotel.  We selected the very comfortable Canary Hotel near the backpacker area.

Going to Market

Hue--Imperial Palace

Hue--Imperial Palace

Hoi An old houses

Hoi An is famous for alluring old houses with distinctive architecture.  In 1999 it received UNESCO heritage designation.

I visited Hoi An in 1999 when it was a sleepy village with old houses along a riverside that was flooded.  The Hoi An I visited in 2011 was more like a Disney Movie set.  Restaurants outnumber the population.  Many of the residents must have moved to other locations as after dark their is little street life other than the tourist facilities. This is in contrast to the late night cafe culture found in Vietnam.

Quy Nhon to Hoi An

The bus trip from Quy Nhon was an event!  We have experienced long bus rides to cover small distances.  We expected another slow bus to cover the 300 kilometers.  I booked a mini bus as the larger bus companies do not stop in Hoi An.  They will drop you off at the intersection to Hoi An from the major highway.  Then it is necessary to negotiate a moto or taxi for the last 10 kilometers to Hoi An.  As I hate negotiating with taxis I opted for the mini bus which was the only direct option from Quy Hhon to Hoi An.  We were asked to arrive at 6:15, fifteen minutes before the bus departed.  The bus had only 2 other passengers when we arrived.  At 6:30 the mini bus left the bus station and for another 30 minutes the ticket seller flagged down  people before they entered the bus station in order to fill the bus.  We left around 7am with a full bus.  The bus driver was driving very fast and passing other drivers, bicycles and motos when it was not safe.  On one occasion we were the second vehicle passing on the left side.  A bus was passing a truck which we were passing the other bus.  On another occasion the driver passed on the right side where all the slower moving traffic such as bicycles were riding.  The right side is always full of bicycles.  Other times he was racing several other mini bus drivers.  We silently applauded when he was stopped by the Vietnamese Highway police.  The stop was about 20 minutes.  However, after about10 minutes of “polite” driving he then continued to drive in the same erratic fashion.  So we were happy to arrive in Hoi An and exit the mini van.

Hoi An Market

Hoi An Temple

Hoi An Buildings

Quy Nhon Beach--view from balcony

The trip from Nha Trang to Quy Nhon was breathtaking.  On one side the sea loomed, and on the other side steep mountain shrugged the shoulder of the road.  This must have been a new road, but all the heavy trucks have torn up the pavement so it is in poor repair.  We quickly found our hotel and for 360,000 dong enjoyed this view from our balcony.  We loved Quy Nhon and would have liked to stay extra days especially after finding a great local popular restaurant on the water front.  We tried sea food hot pot and also a new beef dish with sesame seeds.  This was the real food which we had been missing at the beginning of the trip.  At a local Vietnamese restaurant a case of beer is brought to the table.  You pay for the beer you drink.  And many of the cases were near empty at the end of the meal.  Vietnamese love their beer and just like anywhere else in the world the brand loyalty is also strong.

Quy Nhon Beach--small boats

Sun Downer from hotel next to our hotel

Hotel in Nha Trang

 We really were surprised with Nha Trang.  We had expected it to be very busy and touristy based on the fact that it has over 200 hotels and a population of 300,000.  As you can see from the photo, we stayed in a wonderful room on the 9th floor with a view of the ocean.  And all this for $20.00 (including breakfast). We rented bicycles for one day and cycled to all the sites including the Cham Towers.  The traffic can be a bit hectic.  On one other day we took a snorkeling tour and visited three snorkeling sites.  It was fun to snorkle around the coral and tropical fish.  The other surprise was the number of Russians who were staying in Nha Trang as evidenced by all the signs in Cyrilic.  Menus included caviar and beets! 

Nha Trang Beach

Cham Towers--Nha Trang

Hotel in Dalat

The four hour bus ride from Dalat to Nha Trang was spell binding.  The road seemed to be in fairly good condition, but the elevation and the rock slides and wash outs provided some challenges for any road builder, let alone the bus driver.  Our eyes were peeled to the road until we arrived in the bright sunshine of this popular beach town.  The beach does go on for kilometers and it is beautiful

Nhat Trang boasts almost 300 hotels, but it seems as if most of them are almost empty.  Tourism is slow this year in South East Asia.  Hotel and restaurants (and beaches) which should be enjoying the start of the tourist season are off to a slow start.  It is blamed on the World economy as well as flooding in parts of Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

The surprise for me was all the signs in Cyrillic.  Nha Trang has attracted a following from Russia.  This is the only place in Vietnam that has such a large Russian infusion.

Train in Dalat

Pagoda at the end of the train rideCrazy House--Dalat

Crazy House--Dalat

We enjoyed the 7 hour bus ride from Saigon to Dalat with the comfortable Phuong Trang bus company.  A bonus was the bus company includes a ride to your hotel as well as pick up from your hotel.

We enjoyed a day of bright sunshine as we wandered around the lake side town.  We visited the crazy house and took a  ride on the 7 kilometer stretch of train which ends up at a colorful pagoda.  Miles of plastic (greenhouses) stretched over the horizon.  This area has a similar climate to home (Victoria) and so it is able to grow fruit and vegetables which are not available in other places.

Pagoda at the end of the train ride

It took almost 2 hours to exit the populous city of Saigon.  We then enjoyed views of small villages, rice fields and then the climb to the hill station of Dalat.  Cool air and bright skies welcomed us from the balcony of our hotel.  After several weeks of hot and sweaty weather we were pleased to breathe cool and clean mountain air.

Train in Dalat

Hotel in Dalat

Reunification Palace

Saigon has sprouted high rise buildings, trendy cafes and shopping malls since my last visit in 1999 Two of the sites we visted were the Reunification Palace and the War Remnants Museum.  Both places provide a historical perspective of the “American” was from the Vietnamese persepective.  The Reunification Palace was the headquarters for South Vietnam.  Now it is open when it is not used for offical receptions.  The War remnants museum is also known as the Chinese and American “War Crimes” museum shows the brutally of war, more specifically the war in Vietnam.

Most travellers stay in the Pham Nhu Lao  area which makes for a 800 meter by 800 meter backpacker ghetto.  Venture beyond the 800 meters on an side and you will find regular Saigon city life.  Also, hotels and restaurants are expanding beyond the area and the experience is more mixed in that local people are living next to the hotel and restaurants. 

We booked our train tickets from Hue to Hanoi from the train ticket office on Pham Ngu Lao street and also our bus tickets to Dalat from the Phuong Trang bus office next to the coffee shop at the corner of Pham Ngu Lao and De Tham.