And we head into South East Asia, first stop, Vietnam

VietJet to Vietnam

With the new year it was time to leave Tokyo and head into Vietnam. We started 2023 in SouthEast Asia. A place that our dwindling dollars will stretch a little bit further. If only we had some of those dollars on us for the flight from Japan. The VietJet flight. An international airline. And it was cash only. Yes, I haven’t got this the wrong way around. In recent times, as a result of the COVID pandemic, most flights have transitioned to card payments only. A welcome move away from pesky cash. But here, in the air, between countries, our cards were of no use. And we had no Vietnamese currency. Why would we? We always pick some up on arrival. 

So, despite almost pleading with the stewards on the plane, we could get no food or drink for the next 6 hours. And, we had missed breakfast, thinking we would get it in the airport in Tokyo. That plan hadn’t worked out. Hitting the worst queue for check in I have ever experienced, once we had waited 2 and a half hours to check our bags in, we had to rush to the plane. So, if you are keeping count, this means that we had no food from last nights dinner, until we managed to get somewhere in Hanoi, Vietnam. A total of approximately, well, I was too tired to work it out.

Hungry in Hanoi

We arrived tired and very hungry, which resulted in overpaying for some street food. The smells of roast pork drifting up off the makeshift BBQ, we asked for two bahn mi. Vietnam’s finest sandwich. Walking away, devouring the sandwich, enjoying the heat of the chilli and the fragrance of the coriander, we didn’t pay too much attention to what we had paid.

We never saw the street vendor again after that night. I can only assume he retired and is living at the beach with what we paid him. We will never see that $11 again. Settling down on to a tiny blue plastic stool later in the evening, the $1.50 beers (86p) somewhat made up for it. I was reminded of a refrain I had heard previosuly from a traveller to her partner, “this is Asia, babe.”

Hanoi traffic and the art of crossing the road

Crossing the road in Hanoi is an art form. And it goes something like this. Whatever the situation with oncoming traffic, just start walking. And walk. And keep walking. For your safety, do not hesitate, or stop. It is like a form of magic. Drivers know what is ahead of them, which is you, and start adjusting accordingly. They anticipate your walking speed and drive around you. And it works. Trust me. There are even videos on YouTube explaining this. Crossing is a little easier when it is “only” a train that is due. Although we never did get to see one passing when we visited Train Street.

We were crossing the road to go and buy tissues. Victoria had a nose that seemingly refused to stop running. Tissues were required. The first pharmacy we entered, blissfully chilled from the air conditioning, came up trumps. A pack of 6. The price looked good and so we took them to the counter. However, we found out that the price was per individual pack, and so, for all 6 it would be 49000 Vietnamese Dong. We both sucked through our teeth, “ooh, I’m not sure about that”. And promptly walked out. 

There was no way we could afford $3.05. Not when we needed that same $3 (£1.73) for two beers tonight. Victoria’s nose would just have to run.

Halong Bay

Hanoi is a great place to visit. It feels welcoming. And small, despite its size. Walking around the lake. Wandering the Old Quarter. Drinking egg coffee (yes, egg coffee. It was delicious. You will just have to trust me on this one). And strolling through the French quarter, marvelling at the original architecture. That said, there is more to northern Vietnam than just Hanoi, and so we took ourselves off on a few excursions.

One that should be on everyone’s list is an over night stay in Ha Long Bay. A UNESCO World Heritage site, every hotel in Hanoi offers tours here. We chose a 1 night stay which involved a bus pick up from our hotel in the city, a few hours drive to Ha Long, and then overnight on a boat, sailing amongst some of the most amazing scenery you will ever see. Of course, this is very popular, and you won’t be the only boat cruising the waters, yet, the experience remains tranquil.

That is until later in the evening. When the ubiquitous karaoke comes out. And if you have a mob of drunken Australian backpackers on your boat, as we did, sleep is not guaranteed. I was happy to see how hungover the young travellers were the next day, with all of them missing the 6am Tai Chi session on the top deck of the boat as the sun rose.

Nimh Binh 

A little closer to Hanoi is Nimh Binh. Close enough for us to do a fabulous day trip there. A trip that did not invlove any karaoke. Just beautiful countryside and a river that winds through rice paddy fields that we got to take a boat trip on. I am not sure why we had to stay on the bus and have a separate boat trip to the rest of our fellow passengers, and I am sure they thought the same as we were driven off by ourselves, into the unknown.

After what felt like the shortest bike ride in the world, we were taken for our “included buffet lunch”. We had some experience of these infamous buffet lunches so were not surprised to see cold rice, spring rolls, and instant noodles. Augmented with plates of fruit, and a nod to Western tastes, (fries), you could quite easily lose weight if you did enough trips. 

The delicious food of Vietnam

Whilst the Vietnamese buffet lunches really are a sight to behold, it would be grossly unfair to let this cloud your judgement of Vietnamese cuisine. There are some excellent dishes to be had. You know that the National dish is pho (pronounced “fur”), but did you know there are unlimited varieties of the famous noodle soup dish? 

A lot of the food is regional. Such as Bun Cha in Hanoi. Pork with rice. In Hoi An they have Cao Lau, a pork noodle dish. And everywhere they have the delicious baguettes that I mentioned above, Bahn Mi. What we did find was that these were of varying quality. And our favourite ones were the ones bought off street vendors. Simple fillings of pork, cucumber, coriander and chillies. Yum. And now we know what these should cost.

I mentioned egg coffee earlier. And yes, I pulled a face too. Then I tried it. Oh my, it is delicious. Strong, bitter coffee slowly coming through the sweet, whipped egg yolk. My mouth is watering as I write. If egg coffee is not your thing, try coffee on its own. Vietnam is the world’s second largest exporter of coffee and the options blew me away. From the traditional Vietnamese coffee pot, to some of the best espresso based coffees I have had, and I have had a lot, living in Australia.

Happy in Hoi An

Leaving Hanoi we headed south. Opting to eschew spending 17 hours on an overnight bus with smelly backpackers, we flew. Call us decadent but a 1 hour flight suited us just fine, thank you very much. 

Hoi An was really busy, and this doesn’t surprise me. The place, hugging the river, is beautiful. And so busy, which after 2 years of COVID must be a blessed relief for the locals. Much of their livelihood relies on tourism. Large numbers of tourists also leads to lots of easy going hassling from street vendors and tuk tuk drivers. If you have travelled in Asia you will be smiling now at the memory. 

“Tuk tuk, sir?”, is a common refrain. Very common. A short walk to town can have you fending off dozens of over eager drivers. And if I see another fancy unfolding greeting card I may scream. Crawling spiderman? Flying bird? Over priced coconut? It does get a little tiresome. Do people actually buy these things?

Visiting Golden Bridge in the Ba Na Hills

Set by the riverside, with glorious old French houses lining the streets Hoi An is a delight. Great cafes and restaurants. And when you want to venture further afield take a day trip to the Ba Na hills near Da Nang. A short 1 hour drive from Hoi An is a strange theme park. On the top of a hill. There is a Mercure hotel and loads of amusements that seem incrogruous with the area. To get there you take the worlds longest cable car. In fact you take two of them. And they are very high. 

At the top you get to see Golden Bridge. Which really is worth seeing. In fact, this was the sole reason we were on the trip. There are no options for a half day so we were in, boots and all, to the full day. Golden Bridge opened in June 2018 and I guess will already be one of the most Instagrammed spots on the planet. Go on. Check. Type “hand bridge” into Insta. I’ll wait. 

Impressive isn’t it? And I’m sure it is even more impressive on a clear day. Being the time of year that we visited, we had fog and mist. Still. We managed to get a few shots to join the millions already on social media. 

Ho Chi Minh

Our final stop in Vietnam was Ho Chi Minh city. Previously known as Saigon, it was renamed after the revered former leader of Vietnam in 1975. So revered in fact that the Vietnamese don’t want to say goodbye to him. So, the body of Ho Chi Minh now lies, fully embalmed, on open view in a mausoleum in Hanoi. That itself is worth a visit. 

Back in the land of the living, HCM city is a vast urban sprawl. If we thought the traffic in Hanoi was bad, HCM was on steroids. There are approximately 7 million scooters and moter bikes. And don’t you know it. They drive both ways down one way streets. Zip in and out of cars without a thought. And, if the traffic lights are red, they mount the curb and just drive down the pavement, cutting the lights out altogether. You really need your wits about you just walking down the street.

Escaping the sprawling city for the day we had a trip down to the Mekong River. Visiting some small islands down there and meeting locals who live a much simpler life. Growing and exporting coconuts is big business down in the Mekong region and we got to try fresh coconuts and also the candy that they make from it. 

Eating rat in the Mekong Delta

We also got to try other, more exotic foods. I had my first taste of rat. Very reminiscent of the guinea pig that I once had in Peru. Not something I would want to eat every day. Or, ever again. The rat, or the guinea pig. Victoria declined the offer of a rodent lunch and we both had a shot of “happy wine”. Very strong rice wine fermented with a whole menagerie of reptiles. Snakes and lizards galore in the bottle. The shot wasn’t that bad. I am just not sure why I have started growing scales on my body.

In two weeks we had seen a lot of Vietnam. The cities. The countryside. And the very friendly, very smiley Vietnamese people. It is a country that is easy to travel around and somewhere you are always made to feel welcome. Considering the history of this country, and the terrors of the Vietnam/American War in the 1960s, it has rebounded in a very positive way. Walking through the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh is a very sobering experience. Reading of the atrocities caused by the USA through use of Agent Orange brings tears to the eyes. Generations have suffered, and continue to suffer. With a heavy heart we take a moment to be grateful for the lives we have been fortunate to have lived.

Cambodia beckons

Vietnam is a country we would have loved to have stayed longer. However, our visa had only one day left, there is a story there too, but for another day, and so we were booked on a bus out. We were leaving Vietnam, crossing the land border on our way to Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia. Just a seven, which turned into nine, hour journey between us.