Here I am just listing the highlights of Vietnam. We spent 11 days here starting in Hanoi and ending up in Ho Chi Minh City also known as Saigon.
It was a quick trip trying to pack in as much as we could of Vietnam but we just couldn't get our head around how much the money was worth. We still had the exchange rate of Indonesia in our heads. Getting confused with that and the money in Singapore, we gave up trying to figure out the costs of things.
Our first stop was Hanoi, we grabbed a taxi with Charlotte and Dawn as our hostels were close to one another's. We also decided to do a food tour that evening. It was such a great way to see the city, learn facts and taste local foods. We each had our own driver on mopeds. My driver, Snow, was super friendly and we chatted all night about the city, her studies and traditions to name a few. We ate some amazing Bun Cha (rice noodles with a bowl of pork and meatballs in sauce) and Kem xoi (a yummy green rice and ice cream dessert). We learnt many facts about the city but feeling tired we thanked them and made our way back to the hostel. We also wished Charlotte and Dawn a great trip around Vietnam.
In Hanoi we also visited the Vietnamese Woman's Museum where we learnt about Vietnamese weddings and the roles woman played in the war.
We got stopped once by a teacher and her students as the children wanted to practice their English with us.
We watched a Water Puppet Show, the longest running show in the world, by the Guinness World Record.
Visited the Hoa Lo Prison, this was used during the war were they gained freedom from the French. At the time this was the largest prison in Indochina.
We travelled through Vietnam on the train...another post will be up soon explaining our train experiences in Vietnam.
Next place we visited was Da Nang, on our first day we hired a motorbike and wanted to visit Hoi An...after the first 5 minutes driving around we both decided that it was too far to drive on a vehicle we didn't trust so we changed plans and visited the sights of the city.
We visited the church, the Museum of Sculptures, Dragon Bridge, Tran Thi Ly Bridge and the Military Museum. We couldn't find the ticket office so we thought it was free to visit but once we had finished and were looking at the tanks in the garden a man called us over...we had to pay him. Then it was time to leave but the bike was nowhere to be found, it was not where we had left it! Went back to the ticket man and he had it tucked away. Joaquín nearly panicked that someone had stolen it!
The next day was our trip to Hoi An, we boarded the bus to get there. Once we had arrived we walked into the town but hired bicycles on the way in so we could fit in all we want to see in that day. We packed in the Fukian Assembly Hall, the Japanese Covered Bridge, the Old House of Phung Hung, the gemstone museum, a few other buildings before finishing the day at the Museum. It was then back to drop the bikes off and head to the bus station.
That night we got another train...read later post for our experience!
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