We had heard great things about Vietnam and it certainly didn’t disappoint! Although, we weren’t quite prepared for the humidity… I’ve definitely been a frizzy lizzy!
Our first stop was Hanoi and we were expecting a busy city, but not one with four million motorbikes! Crossing a road turned out to be quite the challenge..
Thanks to Trump and Kim Jong-un’s meeting in the city a couple of weeks earlier, school trips had been postponed and it was sod’s law that they took place during our stay, so we ended up queueing for the sites with thousands of little children.
Experiencing the communist society in Hanoi was eye opening, especially when we went to Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum. It seemed like a toy town, it was all so contrived, we weren’t sure how much of it was genuine and how much was for show. We opted against queueing up to see his body and instead ventured to a water puppet show for an evening’s entertainment, but the traditional Vietnamese puppets and the show in general left Luke and I a little confused and struggling to contain our laughter!
The ‘traditional’ water puppet show!
After venturing out of Hanoi to the ancient capital for a cycle through the paddy fields, and a boat trip along the river, we took our first overnight train to the north of the country. It felt like our first ‘backpacker’ experience as we shared a cabin- my sleep talking confused our Vietnamese roommates, but a couple of drinks soon settled us in for the night!
Bunk beds on the sleeper train!
We arrived in Sapa early in the morning and could barely see anything as the fog was so heavy, we thought it would lift but it stayed with us during our two day stint here, so our hikes were slightly blighted by it, but the scenery was amazing and was a real-life geography lesson, Dad would have been in his element!
Our views after a hike….
I didn’t try a traditional dress, but this girl did!
We went up mountain and down dale in Sapa and saw how the local people lived; their lives were so much slower than our London lives…we were tempted to extend our stay here but I had done more than enough steps and my Fitbit was in agreement!
From Sapa we went to the North East of the country towards Halong Bay and once again we had our old-friend fog along for the ride! We had booked to do a cruise around the bay for a couple of days and while it was incredibly impressive and a lot of fun (thanks to some raucous Australians) the weather meant that our summer wardrobe left us ill-equipped. After a morning of kayaking around the bay, in and out of caves, Luke and I realised that any hopes of competing in water sports at Tokyo 2020 were slim- we couldn’t keep time and our paddling was far from synchronised! The wet weather meant that our afternoon was indoors and after a cookery class (Luke now makes some mean spring rolls!) we over indulged in happy hour with the booze-loving Australians and paid for it the next day when we had to endure an hour on a rickety speedboat. Thankfully we were fully functioning when we had to bike ride around a small island in the rain, but we were less than impressed when we were presented ‘snake wine’!
Our next few stops followed the coast towards the south of the country and the weather got better and better, meaning the freckles were out in full force. By the time we got down to Hoi An, the temperature was mid-30s and we were grateful for a beach break! The old town was impressive and rich in history, we also ventured out to the marble mountains where the Vietnamese hid from the Americans during the war- Luke managed to climb through the openings, but I was dressed in a summery dress and didn’t want to scare anyone!
Nothing could prepare us for ‘Sun World’ and there were times where we weren’t sure if we were in France or Vietnam!! The theme park is meant to be a ‘French settlement’, way up in the mountains outside of Hoi An, but it certainly had an Asian influence!
We got into the swing of the Asian/French themed bars, rides and arcades but we caused our tour guide a bit of a shock when we suggested that the dancers in the theme park weren’t ‘quite’ performing a traditional French number….. although it was certainly something that wouldn’t been out of place in Eurovision!
To our surprise, the impressive ‘Golden Hands’ bridge was also up in the mountains by the theme park- the drop the other side of the bridge wasn’t for the faint-hearted!
Our penultimate stop in Vietnam was Ho Chi Min City (formerly Saigon) and it was crazy! It was far busier and bigger than Hanoi, but there was an exciting buzz around it. After wandering around the many markets, we embarked on a historical tour of the city which was eye opening and harrowing.
The museum dedicated to the Vietnam war had originally been labelled the ‘American crime museum’ but when Americans were allowed back to the country in 1995 they renamed it ‘the war remnants museum’- it was brutal, harrowing and heartbreaking to see the atrocities that occurred, we also managed to visit the Ambassador’s Palace (made famous by the image of the soldiers queuing to jump into the helicopter at the end of the war).
After learning about life during the war and the way the country suffered, we went out to the Cu Chi tunnels in rural Saigon to see the settlements that they built underground to escape from the Americans. They were pretty damn brave getting down there! We managed to get into a tunnel that stretched 100m in length under the soldiers’ path and felt claustrophobic and scared- that had even been extended for tourists sake! I managed to squeeze into an original opening, but couldn’t bring myself to close the lid!
Squeezing into an original tunnel
Climbing into the underground shelter
Our final stop was the Mekong Delta where we visited floating villages and markets while enjoying some of the freshest pineapple! We embraced the boat culture with gusto, even donning the traditional hats- but as Londoners, we couldn’t escape rush hour and we were nose to bumper with what felt like the rest of Vietnam…. but on a waterway!
Rush hour on the Mekong delta
If you’ve made it to the end of this we’re impressed!
Next on the agenda is Cambodia for a few days and the temperature looks to be creeping up towards 40 degrees – I’ll, no doubt, get really freckly while Luke turns 40 shades darker!
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