“GOOD MORNING VIETNAM!” – Hanoi

I am writing this from the very wet city of Huè so I will try my best to remember everything as best I can !
We had a 7am flight from Bangkok – Don Muang, to Hanoi- Noi Bai so we had to be at the airport pretty early to pass through customs etc. This meant a 3am wake up to catch the 4am shuttle to the airport- I believe we paid 150baht which was a bit steep but the alternative was getting a taxi and having to pay the airport tolls which would work out to be about 150baht on their own plus the taxi charge.

We flew with AirAsia and I was surprised how long the lines were already at 5am! I also found it odd that you had to get any checked baggage X-Rayed before you could check it in? I’d never come across this before !
The flight was pretty uneventful, I think it was only about 1hr40mins so not very long in the air at all!
We had applied for the Vietnam Visa on Arrival through this website; there are quite a few websites around all with similar names but we used this one because we knew people who had successfully used it in the past. I think we paid around $24NZD for the two of us when we applied online and the approval letters came through within a day . You have to print the approval letter off which basically just lists your name and passport number along with everyone else who applied on the same day as you. You bring this letter and the filled in entry application form plus a passport size photo (we didn’t have this so they just took a photo of each of us for $1USD) to the Visa On Arrival desk which was just tucked away off to the side before Immigration. We queued for about ten minutes and then had to wait at the front for some time while a group from Korea managed to somehow push in in front of us. They then took about 15minutes to process the paperwork and then we handed over $45USD as a ‘stamping fee’ and received our visa.
-I was slightly nervous about using the online pre approval / visa on arrival service as one of the last travel agents I went to in NZ had never heard of it. She seemed very skeptical when I explained it to her and said she thought the only way in NZ to get a visa for Vietnam was to send your passport off to the Vietnam Embassy in Wellington. We had no issues with the process so I guess she must be a bit behind in the way that it works now. However I do know that the visa on arrival is only available when you arrive by air at Hanoi or HCMC, so if you are crossing a land border you would have to send your passport away.

We grabbed a couple of maps and some cash out at the airport ( Vietnam has quite a few ANZ ATMs in Hanoi and HCMC so it is worth getting an ANZ account to avoid the transaction fees you get using international ATMs with other banks) and then grabbed a taxi into the Old Quarter. We settled on 250,000VND off meter which worked out a bit cheaper then paying by meter. We were pretty shocked by the weather; we left Bangkok at 4am where it was probably only 20° but the humidity made it more like 25° and we landed in Hanoi which was very grey and only 21°. Our attire meant we looked quite out of place; we were rocking short shorts and runners while the locals had coats and jeans on.
We have found it quite hard to decide where exactly to go in each city; the cities themselves are pretty huge and there are hotels and hostels everywhere but it is hard to work out in advance where the best area will be to go. We decided on the Old Quarter as it is pretty central ( 5minutes from Hoàn Kiém Lake) and we had heard that there were lots of cheap hotels and hostels around the area of Ma May Ph.
We pretty much settled on the first place we saw, Hanoi Backpackers Downtown as it seemed pretty inviting and vibrant. We also thought that a hostel would be a good chance to meet some more people that we might see along the way heading down south in Vietnam. They didn’t have any double/twin rooms left so we had to take a double bed in a dorm room. From memory I believe it was 160,000 (=8USD ) which wasn’t terribly cheap nor overpriced . They were a really well organised place with activities each night but since we were so tired we didn’t really end up socialising too much and just went to bed relatively early.

We wandered around and found some street food which was alright, I’ve found the food in Vietnam to be somewhat bland so far, nothing has really appealed a huge amount to me . As we were sitting on upturned buckets on the side of he road eating lunch Lucky bumped into a friend from Dunedin ! Pretty crazy to think that in a city so big we could still bump into people from little old NZ!
We walked around the Hoàn Kiém Lake for a bit and then went into the temple (Ngoc Son Temple – entry was 20,000VND) which is on an island in the middle of the lake connected by a bridge. The temple itself was beautiful, quite small, but lovely architecture and artwork inside with a lot of really strong incense burning. Not the most amazing or elaborate temple I’m sure but quite a beautiful location! The bridge seemed to be the place to get the generic tourist photo, you couldn’t take a step without walking into someone’s photo! Naturally we had to get a photo as well just to prove that we were actually there !

Hoàn Kiém Lake . Our western faces seemed to attract a lot of stares . And photo requests.

There seemed to be lots of weddings going on within the Old Quarter, at first we thought they were really cute cupcake shops or something but then we realised that they were just decorated tents people put up on the street front outside a shop to have their wedding reception.

We visited the Hoa Lo Prison Museum which is a couple of blocks west of the lake (entry was about 20,000VND for an adult- Vietnam seems to have student prices so remember your student id for a wee discount )
The Hao Lo Prison was used to hold over one hundred Vietnamese political prisoners, some of which were on death row, during the French invasion. Lucky and I both had very limited knowledge on Vietnamese history but we learnt a lot here. The prison also had displays on the Vietnamese/ American War as the prison was used to hold captured American pilots for a number of years. The conditions the pilots were kept in were a lot better then a majority of what most Vietnamese people were living in at that time and possibly even now. We found it interesting that the Vietnamese treated the Americans they captured so well, with the U.S. POW nick naming the prison the ‘Hanoi Hilton’ despite the fact that the Americans were destroying so much of their country and causing a huge numbers of deaths. If you have any vague interest or curiosity into Vietnamese history I could not recommend this museum enough!

Hoa Lo Prison Museum- an amazing place to learn about Vietnamese history !

In the afternoon we wandered around looking for a place to book a tour to Halong Bay the following day. Our hostel offered a Castaway tour for $80USD but you didn’t actually get to cruise around the bay unless you paid another $40 and it seemed to be more focused on keg stands then enjoying the scenery. I’m sure we would’ve had a great time but we really wanted to see the caves and actually appreciate the scenery while we were there. We figured the scenery must be amazing if it was one of the seven Natural Wonders of the World! We finally settled on booking with AST Travel through Hanoi Guesthouse on Ma May Ph because the ladies there were so helpful and it seemed like a fairly reputable place;we didn’t think they could get away with sending us on a sinking ship if they had a business to protect! The ladies there were more then happy for us to use their computers to look at flights from HCMC to Phuket even though we weren’t paying customers there!
There were travel agents everywhere in the Old Quarter so you certainly don’t have to look hard to find a place to book through but you do have to look carefully at exactly what they are offering. We paid $90USD for a one night, two day cruise of Halong Bay onboard a ‘deluxe’ boat. We had read quite a few reviews which said that it was best to pay a bit more for a better boat and you would have a much better experience. We checked out the companies listed in the Lonely Planet guide but found that they seemed to be at the more expensive end of the scale while we were looking at the idle of the price range. We could’ve supposedly paid $75USD for a deluxe cruise through another company but the man and the place offering this seemed a tad dodgy and it sounded a bit too good to be true. As the lady at the guesthouse said, these travel agents can quickly disappear as they have no real obligation to provide you with a good service but being an established business they had to be there for a long time for their customers who were booked in.
My Halong Bay experience will be in the next post if you want to read it ! Don’t worry it was amazing!

We grabbed some street food for dinner; a beef BBQ which was like a stone grill meal back home in that you cook all the meat and vegetables yourself. We crossed our fingers and hoped that the first time we got food poisoning in here would not be our own fault! There was a local night market on in the streets so we wandered around that for a but and enjoyed some of the local entertainment on offer including a street fight between a gang of three year olds. You would be surprised how entertaining it is to watch tricycle wars!

Vietnam seems to be the place to buy knock off runners, bags or NorthFace jackets! In the Old Quarter nearly every other shop is selling hundreds of varieties of Nikes or NorthFace jackets. We didn’t buy any runners here, I’m hoping they’ll still be selling them down south in HCMC so I don’t have to carry them the whole way! Also the people seem a lot more willing to haggle here compared to Thailand where they were all quite reluctant and you never felt like you had gotten a really good deal from you. In saying that we did get ripped off buying some donuts on the street. We were both pretty hangry and were looking for lunch and we didn’t hesitate when a lady offered four small donuts for 50,000VND. It’s so hard to think logically when you’re that hungry! Every time we see those donut ladies now we just laugh and politely decline .

Even one day into Vietnam I had already decided that I much preferred it to Thailand. I’m not sure if this is simply because we had only experienced Bangkok which is very busy and slightly uncomfortable in terms of heat. Vietnam seems much more authentic to me ; we sat on buckets in the street with locals eating soups with unidentifiable meats and simply walked out into insanely busy roads and everyone on motorbikes just swerves around you. Supposedly the number of motorbikes in Hanoi equates to the population of Hanoi, it certainly felt this way! The traffic is insanely busy and ridiculously loud, people are constantly honking whether it be a warning toot or simply a toot for no apparent reason!

p.s. We are heading to Hoi An very soon, does anyone have any recommendations for tailors ? T.I.A.

Tiger Temple, Elephant trekking and getting stuck on a bridge ! 🐯🐘🚇

We booked a full day tour through one of the companies a few blocks away from Khao San Rd. We paid 2000baht (=80NZD) which included transport, a “buffet lunch” – see below and “all entry fees”.
We were picked up just after 7am from our hotel and taken about 100m down the road and dropped off to stand with a bunch of random people for like 40minutes while the tour guides worked out how to organise everyone into the mini vans. We finally got on a van with about 12 other people, it was a tight fit but we all had a seat, and headed out of town for nearly two hours.
They explained to us that we all had the same programme for the morning but then we would split off around lunch time and do our own activities in smaller groups as some people were going to the floating markets, elephant trekking, waterfalls etc.
We stopped off first at Kanchanaburi War Cemetery which was where Australian, Dutch and English soldiers were commemorated following their deaths which were related to building the Burma railway. To be honest I don’t know if I fully appreciated the history and significance of the site because I had virtually no knowledge on the history of these events. But none the less it was very interesting and worthwhile.

Kanchanaburi War Cemetery

We then headed a few minutes down the road to the the River Kwai. The bridge was built by the Japanese during WWII to cross the river from Burma to Thailand. When I say built by the Japanese I really mean that it was built by prisoners of war held by the Japanese. The original bridge was destroyed during the war and then subsequently rebuilt.
We had a wander around the museum which had some of the original pieces of the bridge and other items from the war. Naturally you had to pay to enter this museum, around 40baht- We came to learn “all entry fees paid” is never quite true in Thailand! There is always some hidden cost! The museum was relatively interesting but being on a busy tour we only had 40minutes to spend in the museum and visiting the bridge so we didn’t stay long and went to wander across the bridge.
They sold some amazing flower soap carvings here too for about 150baht which are a cool souvenir to take home! More authentic Thailand then the selfie stick I got!

Pretty intricate ceiling in the River Kwai museum!

As we were wandering across the bridge I heard one of the tour guides explaining that the inner narrower tracks were for the old trains but the outer wider tracks were for the trains nowadays. I didn’t realise they used the bridge but figured they must only open it for tourists when there are no scheduled trains…. But again I was wrong.

The bridge across the River Kwai

Just as we were taking some nice scenic shots of the bridge and each other we heard the distinct clacking of a train and then the horn! We looked down the bridge and a huge train was coming towards us, albeit quite slowly but a very large train which looked like it would take up most of the bridge! No one else really seemed to panicked ( perhaps they had been warned of this) and they kept walking towards the train even crossing over in front of it . We quickly shimmied across to the side of the bridge and waited for the train to pass. All was going well until it stopped in the middle of the bridge.. we then realised that we had about four minutes to get back to our tour group and it did not look like is train was going anywhere anytime soon!

There was only enough room to sidestep along past the train! Pretty freaky stuff!

So we had to sidestep along the bridge pushed between the train , now stationary thank goodness, and the bridge railings. It was a very tight squeeze in some places especially with our backpacks on! Just as we were nearly at the end of the bridge the gap narrowed even more and then the train started to move! A train attendant quickly pulled us both off the bridge in a very dramatic fashion! It was pretty insane, slightly terrifying but not too unsafe! We made it to our tour group only two minutes late!

We were then whisked off to another minivan with two other ladies and told we were now going to go to the elephant park. I realise this is very controversial as many people, understandably, feel quite strongly against places like this where animals are taken from the wild and used for a tourist attraction. I completely appreciate these peoples views but somehow I managed to justify going to these places to myself.
It was all quite rushed, Lucky and I were put on an elephant together with a ‘driver’ who took us for some walks through the fields and then took some photos for us while we sat on the elephants head!

The trek itself was only about ten or fifteen minutes and then of course the was the opportunity to buy souvenirs which we declined, it would’ve been cool but they were pretty expensive and it would probably just be something I would throw out in a few months. They asked us if we wanted to feed the elephants, naturally for a fee (~50baht) so we did that which was fun. We just fed them very green bananas , still with the skin on!

Feeding elephants! 🐘

Then we were driven about ten minutes to the river to go rafting. It was not quite what I would consider rafting, we were put into a bamboo raft with life jackets and towed by a long boat for about 300m and then let go and we drifted back down the river to the hut in the river. This was where we had our “buffet lunch” which I did not eat too much of since it was tepid warm and looked like it had been cooed three days ago. At least they had rice to fill up on !

Cruising down the river 🚣

Then we were finally off to Tiger Temple which was about 40minutes drive away still. By the time we got there it was about 3:30pm and we only had an hour to wander around. The 700baht ticket was included in the tour ( we doubled checked this when we booked) we allowed us to go down to the tiger canyon and get individual photos with some of the tigers.
We were given a brief safety explanation and then taken in by a local person who led us by the hand and then someone else came with us to take the photos . It was all very efficient, I think we each posed with about five tigers and the photo takers certainly knew how to get the money shot!

The Tigers were IndoChinese Tigers which were ‘rescued’ and cared for by the park

Tiger Temple is an actual temple so you have to cover your shoulders and knees like at normal temples. They don’t tell you this when booking but we know someone who had been caught out last time they went so luckily we knew in advance. You also can’t wear red, orange or pink because it can ‘excite’ the Buffaloes and they could charge you!

We decided to make the most of being there so paid to do the ‘Tiger Exercise’. I think it was an extra 500baht from memory so not cheap but we figured that it was something we would probably only ever do once. Basically it happened once the rest of the park had closed and everyone else had left; they build a cage for you to stand in made from metal gates and then the tigers are unchained and encouraged to play and fight in the water just in front of you. It was pretty cool watching them all play fighting and chase objects the trainers put in front of them but it did get a little boring after half an hour.

Tigers really are just big cats ! 🐱🐯

We then headed back to Bangkok from TT which took over three hours so we were pretty exhausted by the time we got back! We had a quick swim and shower and packed up our stuff ready for our 7am flight the next day to Hanoi.

Bangkok- “For the King!”

We woke up pretty early on the 4th from the jet lag and decided to go explore the area we were staying in. Our hotel was in the middle of a rural area next to some swamps and patty fields. We got a lot of stares walking through the dirt streets, everyone was heading to work or school on their scooters! We found some convenience shops nearby and grabbed some food and things that we had forgotten.
We headed back to the hotel and passed what I thought was an amazing temple but I guess it was just a local neighbourhood temple and probably nothing terribly special to the local people.

Local backstreet temple ?!

We headed into Bangkok City; we decided to head for Khao San- completely unoriginal but we thought it was worth experiencing and would be pretty handy to find tours and bargains! We decided to find our own way into Bangkok- our hotel offered a taxi into Khao San but for 750baht which we thought was pretty steep! So we dragged our bags down the backstreets and over a couple of bridges to go to the main road area we found earlier. A lovely local Thai lady on a pink Hello Kitty scooter pulled over and in very broken English offered to help us get a taxi. We were a bit skeptical but it turns out she was just being friendly and said “Welcome to Thailand!” . The taxi driver told us 500 baht but we agreed on 400baht which we thought was a good price… However when we got to Khao San the meter only read 230baht but of course we had to pay the full 400baht. Even though we had read everywhere to never go off meter we still though it was a good idea *sigh* . Never mind lesson learnt ! Always use the meter!

We found a place a couple of blocks away from Khao San – Amarin Inn, which in hindsight wasn’t actually that bad but after one night felt like what one would call a …shithole. We paid 600baht for one night for a twin room – it was clean enough but the bathroom was pretty tiny ( I had to sit sideways on the toilet or my knees wouldn’t fit against the wall) and it was super noisy !

We didn’t do too much that day, just wandered around and grabbed a couple of token knockoffs- some Birkenstocks and Raybans. We decided to head back for a quick nap before dinner but ended up going to sleep at 4pm and not waking up until like 8am the next day..
We were both pretty tired and I had slept pretty badly so we decided to find somewhere a bit nicer for the next few nights before we headed to Vietnam.
We settled on D&D Inn on Khao San Rd. We paid 1200baht for a deluxe double room; there were no standards left and we decided to splurge a little just for the next two nights! It was very clean and tidy, pretty quiet considering where it is in the centre of Khao San and had an amazing rooftop pool!

Trying to cool down in the hot, humid weather!

We also booked a tour that day to go to Tiger Temple and the elephant park. We booked away from Khao San and managed to get a slightly better price for a full day trip – 2000baht. All of the tour operators offered the same programmes but some wee more willing to haggle with you. I think the tour itself must cost so much and then the rest is commission they earn so basically when you haggle for a lower price they are losing out on their commission.

Catching a Tuk-tuk around town! We fell for the 5baht Tuk-tuk scam ; it actually worked in our favour since we got a cheaper price for our tour when we went further away from Khao San! The tuk-tuk driver earns fuel coupons each time he brings people to each of the offices.

Being the 5th of December it was also the King’s Birthday! The monarchy is a huge thing in Thailand- there are huge images outside all government buildings and it very disrespectful to stand on the Thai notes since they have the King on them! We tried to find some yellow tops to buy but no one really seemed keen to haggle! So we just stuck to our singlets and shorts and watched some of the celebrations and speeches nearby. The locals were very helpful, giving us candles to light and helping us make holders for them!

We meet some other boys travelling and had a few Chang beers with them that night. English, Irish, Swiss, Spanish, Australian and Kiwis!

We tried scorpion and maggots that night as well! Lucky wasn’t so keen on hers and pawned it off to some baby who’s mum was more than happy for us to fed it!