Last year, my brother Jord had decided to come to Asia to visit us, as well as tour around SE Asia for a month. With Amanda's encouragement, I joined him on the Viet Nam leg of the journey from Dec 10-18, 2010 before heading to Thailand for the holidays.
Our trip started with a short 1 nighter in Bangkok. We did not book anything in terms of accomodation, but we did know the general vicinity we were going to stay for the next 20 hours or so. From the airport, Bangkok has a public transit train you can take from the airport to the city...all for 50 cents!!! It was pretty convenient as the airport is a good 30 or so kms from the city center. We hopped off the train in the district that we wanted to stay and hoofed it down the road looking for a bed. I definitely should have worn shorts that day because it was hot and muggy there...jeans were not my butt crack's friend...trust me! It was just chilly when we left Macau that afternoon and was definitely not shorts weather. We finally found a room at the Bangkok Inn/massage parlour for $42/night, which turned out to be the most expensive hotel of the trip, considering we were only there for a short time. Once settled we headed out for a huge Thai feast on the street and checked out the local scene. We were up and ready to head to the airport at 4:30 am (I set the alarm without accounting for the time change, so we were actually up at 3:30!). Hanoi was the next pitstop.
Day 2 started with a bit of panic as we headed to the wrong end of the airport to board our flight, only to almost run out of time and miss our flight. The correct gate ended up being 1.5 kms away and the departure board was saying Final Boarding already. Man did we ever have to full out sprint to the gate in order to make it.....the crew was looking like they were closing the gate when they saw us sprinting from a distance and heard my container of mints clacking from afar! We had filled our exercise quota for the month on our 2nd day. Prior to the trip, I had arranged a Visa On Arrival in Viet Nam and it was a piece of cake rather than go through the "official" way. We had quick breakfast at the airport (totally awesome coffee) and quickly fell victim to the Hanoi mafia taxi scam. To make a long story short, always get a taxi at the actual taxi line rather than accept an offer from some friendly dude...basically we lost $50 US and learned a valuable lesson regarding traveling in these parts. The average monthly wage in VN is around $200 US/month so these crooks made of pretty good. We finally made it to our hotel, and once again we were winging it and didn't have a reservation, but good thing the Especen hotel had one room left for 1 night. The cost was $24/night and it was a great room, free wifi and good location in the Old Quarter.
After settling in, we toured around on foot to explore, and it was definitely safer walking than driving in Hanoi! Imagine a city's downtown with no traffic lights or rules, and that is what driving in VN is like! Drive in any lane, any direction at any time! Crossing the street is a game in itself everytime and it is all an eye opener compared to back home. Hanoi made Macau seem pretty organized and we were shocked when we initially moved here!
We decided to do a cruise on a junk at Halong Bay for 2 days/1 night and the next morning, the tour company picked us up at the hotel. Halong Bay was a 3 hr ride from Hanoi and it was 3 hrs of cheating death on those roads...single lanes, but you still passed whenever you wanted as the oncoming traffic would have to veer into the shoulder. It was CRAZY!!!! It was also 3 hrs of constant horn blowing as well. Back in Canada, we blow our horns if we're mad at another driver, in VN, the horn is used to let people know you are coming and to look out. I think it is part of their driver's training, if that exists at all!
If you ever have the chance to go to VN, Halong Bay is an absolute must! The cruise was excellent from top to bottom. We stayed on a wooden junk the entire 2 days with all food included and the scenery was breathtaking! Just check out the photos.
Each meal was at least 4 courses and the tour guide and crew were first class all the way! It was nice to get away from the noisy city and dirty air, and for $125 US you can't beat that! If you want to know who we cruised with, drop us a line and I'll forward the info.
Right after Halong, we flew south to Hoi An for 3 days, a small place packed with tourists and famous for food and tailors.This time we actually booked a hotel that seemed good and it did not disappoint! Thien Thanh hotel was excellent for $40/night with free breakfast every morning and free wifi. All we did in Hoi An was eat and get clothes made! We hit a recommended tailor (tripadvisor) and we each had some sweet gear made within 24 hours! Jord had a suit, 2 shirts, a wool coat and a pair of pants made. I opted for a wool coat, a pair of pants and 2 shirts. We were extremely pleased with the final products as they all fit like a glove! I even brought a pair of Amanda's capris and Kylisha's jeans to be copied by the tailor and they were both happy with their clothes! We also had some shoes custom made at a different place. Jord opted for a pair of Golas for $15 bucks and I chose some boot style dress shoes for $22 US. I mean you choose the style out of a magazine and they actually measure your feet and make the shoes from scratch....all within 24 hours!! Both the pairs turned out great and we were in awe in how fast they were finished.
Our hotel offered fishing from the back deck for their guests and we thought we would give it a try. Jord's future admirer showed him the ropes with the sport and he spent a good 2 hrs trying to catch one. Meanwhile a little kid caught 3 and I caught 1 while Jord was still shut out. Later that day, he decided to give it one last try for at least another hour with no bites. He was quite frustrated by the snubbing he was getting and hung up his line an tackle for good.
I don't know why I do it, but I thought I'd try the old Hoi An haircut. Note to self....do not get a haircut at a place that does not have an actual hairdressers chair!..or hairdressers! The haircut took about 1 hour and was scary to say the least, considering the lady (I refuse to call her a hairdresser) used unconventional methods to achieve the end product. In the end it wasn't too bad of a haircut, if you choose to ignore the bleeding neck I had from her using a straight razor to shave the edges..good thing I didn't get a shave as well! Upon our departure from Hoi An..Jord had an admirer that worked at the hotel and she was quite sad to see him leaving...what a stud!
After 3 nights in Hoi An we headed to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC).. me for 1 night and Jord for 3 nights. I thought the traffic in Hanoi was bad...HCMC was even worse. The streets were way wider, but that didn't mean you had more room, it meant they could cram even more traffic into the lanes. I also think the sidewalks are considered a lane in VN as we saw various vehicles (legal and makeshift) driving through foot traffic on the sidewalks! For my only evening in HCMC, we headed to the Central Market a few blocks from our hotel. The short distance actually took a while to travel as here, we had to cross 10-30 lanes of traffic going every direction imagineable. It was actually pretty fun as we would latch onto people crossing and they would do the same with us. Strength in numbers! The Central Market is a huge market selling everything...mostly fake, but everything! It was so confined and crowded that we only actually roamed through there for about 20 minutes, then made the treacherous walk back to the Nguyen Khang Hotel. On the way we stopped at Highlander Coffee Company and had a late night snack and bevvy.
The next morning was the end of my VN adventure so I could head back to Macau for a night then off to Thailand for 2 weeks over the holidays. Overall it was a great time and Jord and I never would have thought we would have been in VN together having a blast.
