Day 46: Storms and Salsa

Today was bloody miserable. I'd booked a trip to Tam Coc and Hau Lau (2 hours South of Hanoi). I was picked up at 8 when it started to piss it down. When we arrived, the weather hadn't improved any, so we all bought a poncho and wandered around the old capital for a bit. Then the fun really started with a 90 minute boat trip in torrential rain. It's a shame because the location is really beautiful with the river and the mountains. Instead we just passed boat after boat of miserable faced tourists in ponchos! By the end of it I was completely drenched and ready to go home! We were supposed to end the trip with a bike ride, but  due to the weather I'm glad that was canned! 

I got back to Hanoi around 6, had some dinner and went to the Latin Salsa festival. I arrived in time for the shows around 8:45. It took forever to get started as they seemed to invite and introduce every man and his dog on stage. Then they had some sort of bachata competition where 5 couples danced in front of judges. And then I lost count of all the performances after that. They didn't finish until 1030 so we're 

talking almost two hours to sit through until the dancing actually started. I proved to be very popular, being the only white girl with blond hair on the dance floor. I had a few really good dances though so I'm glad I went along.

I have an early flight to Hong Kong tomorrow so it's bed time.

Day 45: Sightseeing day

Today was my day exploring the city of Hanoi properly. I started off with the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. I started queuing at 0850. The line was huge but I expected it to move quickly as when you're inside you're not allowed to stop so thought it would be a steady procession. It was not. I queued for 60 minutes to see a dead body for all of 30 seconds, which I'm sure is actually made of wax. I then walked to the Temple of Literature before heading to Pho 10 (a famous Pho place) for some brunch. Obviously, I had Pho. I have to say I'm not entirely sure I get the whole hype about it. It's pretty bland noodle soup with beef at the end of the day...

Next I went to the Vietnamese Women's museum. Someone in Thailand had told me that it's actually more interesting than it sounds, and it was to be fair. It was about the lives of Vietnamese women, including their roles in society and during the war. Basically it sucks to be a woman in Vietnam as they do more of the working/earning than the men, plus they have to cook, clean and look after the children. I don't know why women ever get married here!

After a long day of walking I found myself a nice bar to spend the afternoon. This is where I discovered fraudsters had accessed my account and my cards and online banking were disabled. Which is great timing given I'm in Asia with no access to my money! Good thing I'm well connected when it comes to fraud, so luckily it was sorted out fairly quickly. Just means I have to rely on the bank of dad for the rest of my trip. What else is new?! 

Tonight I went to Minh's Family restaurant and had myself a BBQ. Nowhere near the standard I'm accustomed to at home but not many can rival my dads bbq'ing skills. I wasn't feeling too great today and can't seem to shift a headache I've had since yesterday so decided to take it easy tonight and save myself for salsa tomorrow. 

Day 43/44: Halong Bay cruise

For the past two days I've been sailing around Halong Bay. There were 16 of us on the boat. A big group of yoga practicing vegetarians from Singapore, a miserable sour faced Czech couple and their very ginger son, a nice Israeli couple on their honeymoon and 3 scrawny white pre-pubescent 18 year olds from England on a gap year. 

Halong Bay is beautiful. Luckily we had blue skies the first day, although it was much colder than I'd anticipated . Probably around 18-20 degrees. We sailed for a few hours before stopping for some kayaking. I shared a boat with one of the English lads called Luke who was nice enough, but kept talking about how he wasn't used to fending for himself and doing things such as buying food...🙄

In the evening we all had dinner then the guide switched on the karaoke machine. As if that was ever gonna happen with this bunch of boring bastards! I was hoping for a better group of people, and kept looking enviously at the party boat parked nearby with music blaring and people having fun. Instead I sat on the top deck and read my book while the youths played cards, the newly weds disappeared to their room for some honeymoon sex, and the health conscious vegetarian yoga nuts smoked fags outside, the irony clearly lost on them. God I wished I had wifi so badly! 

I went to bed fairly early as there was bugger all else to do and they had us up at 7 for breakfast the next day. After that we sailed to the Surprise Cave which was huge, and really impressive. We also had a 'cooking class' on board. I use the term lightly as it was a bowl of pre-prepares filling which we got to roll in rice paper. Then it was the gruelling 4 hour journey back to Hanoi. 

Tonight I went out for some pizza as I was sick of pork and noodles. Then I went to see a Water Puppet show. I didn't really understand what it was before I went if I'm honest, but it's a traditional art here so thought I'd check it out. I guess the clue is in the name really! Lots of puppets acting out typical Vietnamese traditions/legends. It was rather amusing, and quite clever. It was also something different to do besides sit in the pub. 

Day 42: Hanoi

The first thing I did when I arrived in Hanoi this afternoon was change into my jeans. It is  cold. I realise that back home, this temperature would have me walking the streets in my summer clothes, but I've become accustomed to a certain temperature and I don't like the fact that the sun has disappeared. Apparently it's because they just had a monsoon, and the temperature should pick up again. I hope it improves for my trip to Halong Bay tomorrow.

This afternoon I walked around the Old Quarter. Hanoi is very different to Saigon. Although the population is close to the same, it feels much smaller here. There are just as many motorbikes though, but since the streets are smaller it feels like there are far more! Hanoi is far less commercialised too, the streets are old and look and feel very run down, but that's what adds to the charm of the place. Initially I wasn't sure if I liked it, but by the end of the day I was sold. 

This afternoon I had traditional egg coffee at Cafe Giang (the most famous place to have it). It's made with egg yolks, sugar, condensed milk and coffee, so it's pretty sweet but really nice. This evening I went on a food tour (yes, another one)! It was just me plus a couple from Singapore (he was Australian and she was Chinese). They were very nice though and we had a great night trying about 7 different dishes. I liked all of them apart from one dish which was like a spring roll but with pigs ear inside. Yuck. I have all of the names written down of the things we tried, but basically a lot of pork, noodles and beef. Even though this is my third food tour in Vietnam, I'm still trying dishes I haven't had before as each region has their own delicacies.

Tomorrow morning I head to Halong Bay for a one night cruise. Looking forward to spending the night in a nicer room! My hotel is a bit dingy! 

Day 41: Hoi An food tour

I ate so much food today I still feel ill. I went on a morning walking food tour at 8am. Usually I'd do a food tour in the evening, but given I had a bicycle tour booked this afternoon I wouldn't have been back in time. The amount of food we ate between 8-11 was just ridiculous. 

It was just myself plus a family from Korea. We started off at a place called White Rose. They serve only two things: fried wontons and rice flour dumplings. This restaurant is owned by a family that has been making this food for generations, and they supply all the dumplings to all of the restaurants in the town. The group of women sit there from 7am to 9pm every day making them. Insane. We had a go at making them with the dough, which is harder than it looks. There are two types, one with shrimp paste and one with pork.  They are steamed for a few minutes then dipped in fish sauce and they taste fab! After that we went to the best Banh Mi place in town. Banh Mi is a popular Vietnamese sandwich (baguette with pork, herbs, onions and chili sauce). At this point I'm already starting to get full. Next up was the food market where we had a bowl of cao lau (noodles with pork in broth). It was nicer than the one I had last night, but I couldn't finish it. I'm severely struggling at this point.

Thankfully we took a small break from food and went to a traditional Vietnamese coffee house. I didn't know Vietnam was second only to Brazil in the production of coffee, so it's a huge culture here. They have their coffee cold with condensed milk and a block of ice. Because of the condensed milk it's quite sweet, but tastes so amazing that I asked for another. 

The last stop was to a traditional Vietnamese house where a lovely women cooked up a feast for us. We had crispy savoury pancakes with quails egg, fried spring rolls and then pork wrapped in rice paper with fish sauce. I was so full at this point but it felt rude not to eat. I would have been happy just trying one of everything but I was literally forced to keep eating more and more. Breakfast and lunch are the big meals of the day here. I kept trying to tell the girl that us westerners don't typically eat very much for breakfast, and certainly not things like pork noodles and spring rolls!  There was still dessert to eat. It was a sweet soup (sweet corn and coconut milk) and tasted far better than it looked. Finally the tour ended. At this point I've eaten more in three hours than I would over an entire two days. But it was definitely worth it.

What I needed after that was a lie down! But that wasn't really an option as I had an afternoon bicycle tour booked! This time it was only 10km as opposed to 25km so it wasn't so bad. The weather took a bit of a turn today though so it was overcast with rain showers all afternoon. The tour was really good though and really interesting. We stopped to watch local families work their trade, including production of basket boats, bamboo mats, rice wine and wood carvings. Karaoke is pretty big here so we passed lots of hang outs where groups of drunk men where singing really loudly and really badly. Vietnamese people cannot sing. At all. 

Yet again the predominant people on the tour were Australian. These guys are everywhere in Asia! There was also a younger couple who were incredibly annoying as the girl could literally not keep her hands off the guy the whole 5 hours. Can't say I blame her though, he was beautiful. What a cow.

After my Vietnamese feast this morning I was not in the slightest wanting to eat more Vietnamese food! I had worked up an appetite after the bike ride though and decided I wanted a curry. It was actually pretty good, although the poppadoms were minuscule. 

It's cold here this evening since it has been raining. I even had to take a cardigan out with me. Due to the shit weather I sat in one pub most of the night where I got chatting to a Brazilian. When he realised he wouldn't be getting an invite back to my hotel he quickly lost interest. So, like all Brazilians, he was beautiful, but he was a twat. The town is nowhere near as busy tonight so it's so much nicer. I realise now there was some sort of festival on last night which is why it was far busier than usual.

Everyone told me I'd love it so much here I'd want to extend my stay. I don't, I've seen it, it's time to move on. I don't get attached to places, just people, and I haven't met any great ones here. Hanoi tomorrow. I hear it's hosting a Latin festival starting 30th March. It'd be rude not to! 

Day 40: Hoi An

Well I love Hoi An just as much as everyone said I would. It's a beautiful little town, so beautiful it almost feels a little fake, like one of those make shift villages in Disneyland. The homestay I'm in is lovely, and the owners are super nice! I spent the day just wandering the streets and checking out all the shops. I ended up buying a couple of canvas paintings for the flat and can't wait to get home and put them up. Well, I can't wait to put them up, not get home....😒

For lunch I went to Morning Glory, which is probably the most famous restaurant here. I had BBQ pork with noodles and it was very yummy! Plus I had the nicest glass of white wine I've been able find in Asia. 

The town gets VERY busy in the evenings. So busy that the place starts to lose its charm a little. Streets are packed and it's hard to walk. But, it's so pretty with the hundreds of lanterns that line the streets. Apparently it's inevitable that if you come to Hoi An, you buy a lantern. I'm not sure I have the room!

Clearly I have arrived in the town at the right time, as for the next two nights there is a food festival on here! It's a charity event with 12 chefs from 12 different countries, 

using Vietnamese ingredients to create their own dishes. I didn't eat there tonight as I wanted to try Cao Lau, a speciality of Hoi An. Basically pork and noodles in a broth. Very tasty. On my way to the restaurant I walked passed Jack Whitehall and his film crew. Obviously I decided to follow them around for a bit to see what they were up to. When I started to look like a security threat I gave up and left them to it. They weren't actually filming at the time, just walking around looking for something. 

After dinner I did some bar hopping and lit a floating candle before making a wish and dropping it in the river. Rather strangely at 830, all of the street lights went off. The only light came from the little candle lanterns floating on the river and lights in restaurant windows. It was pitch dark and hard to walk around! I thought it was a power cut until an hour later when the lights came back on and I saw a sign that said "lights off to turn on the future"....whatever that means!

Day 39: Danang

This morning I took the train along the coast to Danang. The journey was really nice, with lots of lovely views of the coastline. I arrived in the city around lunchtime. My stomach hasn't been right the past couple of days so I was craving good old western shite. I found myself somewhere where I could have burger and fries! It was a nice change! I've plenty time for more Vietnamese food yet. 

I spent the afternoon wandering around the city. It's a nice place, but there's not too much to see or do here, so I'm glad I'm just here for the one night. This evening I went to Skybar36, which is the tallest sky bar in Vietnam. The views were awesome, but I wasn't use to paying western prices for a cocktail so I moved swiftly on after one drink. For dinner I had a speciality dish of Danang called Mi Quàng Gà which is a noodle dish with chicken. The chicken remained untouched. It did not look or taste like chicken and was mostly bone. But the noodles and the broth was incredibly tasty! 

Given I'm still not feeling 100% I laid off the booze and had an early night watching the sopranos on my iPad. I think I might cry as I'm down to my last episode. Wish I'd loaded more onto it. Not sure how I'll cope over the next 4 weeks without it. 

Tomorrow morning I'm going to Hoi An and I'm really excited! If you were to ask me at the start of my trip where I was most looking forward to, this would be it. I hope I'm not disappointed! 

Day 38: Húe

I like Hue. A lot. It's a nice little town and it's got a nice feel to it. My hotel is lovely. Probably the nicest room I've had so far, but still incredibly cheap. I even had swan towels on my bed. Who doesn't love towel art? That's a sign of a classy place, innit. 

After I dumped my stuff i went to a place called Hang Me Me for lunch as it crops up everywhere online. They specialise in rice cakes and only have 5 items on the menu (all rice cakes with shrimp of some kind). It was a bit different, and I wasn't sure if I liked it or not. Afterwards I walked to the Imperial Citadel where Emperors of old used to live. Although a lot of has been destroyed during the wars here, much of it has been restored and it's a really interesting place to visit with the palace and all of the various temples. Once I'd done the touristy thing I enjoyed some 70p beers at DMZ bar in town before a couple glasses of wine at Why Not (not as seedy as the one in Edinburgh). I was drunk by 4pm. 

After sobering up ever so slightly after a shower, it was time for dinner. I went to a traditional Vietnamese place called Hanh where I had Nem Lui, which is pork in rice paper with peanut sauce. It sounded a lot better than it was. I found the sauce quite watery and bland. The food in Hue has not been as good as Saigon. 

After dinner I went for a drink in a bar nearby. I was approached by a young Vietnamese girl who asked if I would go over and talk English with her student. 90 mins later and I'd taught them all the swear words I know. They were all super sweet and kept asking me why I didn't have a boyfriend as I was so beautiful. I told them if they ever visited Scotland they'd understand.

I then went to meet a guy called Kirk who I was chatting to on tinder. He's a policeman in London and very cute. He was travelling with his friend Az who was equally as nice. Through them I met a bunch of great folk at their hostel and we all ended up drinking and dancing the night away until 2am. This is where I learnt that Vietnamese men are very very handsy! Random nights out are always the best. Not looking forward to getting up in 6 hours for my train to Danang...

Day 37: Mekong delta

Today I went on a full day tour to the Mekong  delta. We visited a town where they make rice paper, tried some honey tea and visited a place where they make coconut candy (which is amazing by the way). To get from one place to the next we got to sail in little wooden boats, complete with Vietnamese style hats, down the Mekong river which was really cool. As usual with these tours, I did find certain places geared towards tourist and not as 'authentic' as they claim. But it was still a good day out. 

This evening I went to a rooftop bar for a glass of wine before dinner. The restaurant I originally planned to try was chockablock so I ended up somewhere called Propoganda and it was actually really good! Yet again I found myself sat next to some loud, obese American woman at dinner. She polished off 15 spring rolls for starter (pretty sure it was a sharing platter) before inhaling BBQ pork ribs. I'd love to see her try and fit down the Cu Chi tunnels! I went for BBQ pork noodles and it was delicious. 

Looking forward to head to Hue tomorrow. I do like this city, but will be nice to go somewhere smaller and quainter; and with less motorbikes.

Day 36: Cu Chi tunnels and Motorobike Foodie tour

This morning I went on a half day trip to the Cu Chi tunnels, which is about an hour and a half drive north of Saigon. The 250km network of tunnels were used by Vietnamese soldiers during the war, with some as deep as 10 metres underground. 

I thought the tour was quite poorly organised. The group size was far too big, so a lot of the time you could barely understand what the guide was saying or see anything unless you were willing to elbow your way to the front. He also skipped through the stops fairly quickly. Still, it was a fascinating place. The entry to the tunnels themselves were small covered holes in the ground, big enough for the tiny Vietnamese, but too small for fat ass Americans. We got to go down into a section of the tunnels and travel around 100m, which was enough! The heat down there is unbearable, and if you're claustrophobic then it's best avoided as the  tunnels are so small and narrow that you often have to crawl.

When I got back to the city, I had the most amazing lunch at a place called Bun cha. It was literally heaven in a bowl. I had noodles in a broth with beef and pork patties, with a spring roll for dipping.

I then spent the next few hours exploring the city. I have the crossing the street lark totally nailed now and it actually feels kind of exciting. Although you still need to pick your moment to cross, the bikes somehow do just avoid you. I felt a bit like Jesus. On my tour of the city I stopped at Notre Dame Basilica, the Post Office building and finally spent some time looking around the War Remnants  museum.

Tonight I had the most amaaaaaazing night! I  went on a motorbike foodie tour of the city run by XO company, which is a tour with all female motorbike drivers. I was picked up at 530 by my guide, Moon, before whizzing off to our first stop to meet the other 10 people on the tour. All the guides were so friendly, but I totally lucked out with mine! She was the Vietnamese version of me, we had so much in common. We talked boys, films, tv shows, and we sang Abba songs while we drove from stop to
stop. Being on the back of a motorbike feels soooo much safer than being a pedestrian here, and I loved every minute of it! We also got to see districts of the city I would never have seen. The proper Saigon that tourists never see. And the city is so much quieter when you get out of the touristy areas. 

I also tried lots of foods I wouldn't normally have, including crab claws, clams and barbecued goat. The frog made a reappearance and I loved it just as much as the first time. I tried everything that was put in front of me, but the only thing I didn't like was Balut (fertilised duck egg). The thing still bad feathers, and veins! The thought of it is turning my stomach.

One of the guys in our group had done the tour 4 times already. I can't blame him. I would literally do this tour all over again tomorrow night, I can't rate it highly enough. The tour manager took lots of photos of us throughout the night, so will upload some when they're emailed in the next few days.