21 days — 7 cities

Ho Chi Minh, Da Lat, Hoi An, Hue, Phong Nha, Hanoi, Ha Long Bay

Disclaimer: 3 week holiday all in one post. Get your reading pants on.

One thing to remember in Asia is that you must always have cash on you. I realized that I had no cash after I had passed all the ATMs and gone through security. This made getting my visa in Vietnam a nightmare. I had to wait 45 minutes to be “allowed” to walk to the ATM.

You should also remember to check more than a day in advance if the country you plan to visit requires you to submit paperwork for your visa before arriving. Or you will pay an extra fee to have it processed in 24 hours.

My solo trip though Vietnam was off to an eventful start.

First stop, Ho Chi Minh City, also known as Saigon.

I stayed in Saigon for 4 nights. The first few nights I stayed with Christine, I met her while working at camp a few summers ago, creeped her facebook for a year, and then messaged her to give me tips on how to teach abroad. She is the gal who connected me with my principal here in Bangkok, she is basically the bees knees.

I visited Christine’s school on Thursday afternoon and we went out and about after she got on work. She showed me around District 1, the downtown area. We went to a local brewery had some snacks, shopped around for a bit and headed to a rooftop bar.

Buy one get one cocktails! After drinking our first drink we wanted to go walk around some more. We jokingly asked the bartender if we could have our free drink to-go. Well, five minutes later we were out the door with cocktails in plastic cups.

The next day I went to find a SIM card and breakfast. They have what is called a Banh Mi. It’s a baguette with eggs, cheese, meat, onions, tomatoes, and other toppings to choose from. You can eat for any meal of the day, and even for dessert. They were many of my meals while in Vietnam, so yummy!  I found a SIM card for $5…unlimited internet, calls, and texts for a month! Best day! I’m sure the guy at the store was annoyed with the amount of times I asked if it was a for real deal or he was trying to rip me off.

That afternoon I went to the Ben Thanh market, where it is a hot commodity to be the first customer of the day. You are the lucky customer and get a “special price.” I just happened to be the first customer to every booth I stopped at, at 11:30 in the morning. Wow!

After the market I walked around the city and met up with Christine after work for some drinks.

The post office. The man in the picture is Ho Chi Minh, the prime minister and president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The photo looks like a painting but it is made from entirely from stamps.

Notre Dame Cathedral

Saigon Opera House

Local hang out. It is a bit hard to see, but the yellow says they offer free wifi!

This is Kingdom. Local bar where we were the only foreign gals. The place was covered floor to ceiling with aluminum foil. It has something to do with Christmas, but I could never figure out the real explanation.

The next day I went on a tour of the Cao Dai Temple and the Cu Chi tunnels. Our first Stop was the temple. Cao Dai is a religious movement founded in Vietnam. It is a syncretistic religion which combines elements from many of the world’s main religions.

Then we were off to the Cu Chi Tunnels. I was the only American in the van, which made for an interesting trip. The guide was an wacky dude; he would subtly bash Americans but then talk about how much he loved them. He was full of information and also sang to us a lot.

The next day I went on a tour of the Mekong Delta. We went to a bee farm, canoeing through a canal, learned to make coconut candy, ate some dodgy food, took a hammock nap, listened to local music, and became a pro at getting on/off a boat without holding onto anything.

The canoes had faces and were suppose to look like scary animals. Legend has it there use to be big animals underwater that would capsize the boats. If the boats had eyes it would scare away any enemies and the passengers on board would be safe. I was sure to pick the canoe with the biggest eyes.

Hung out with this guy and his pet python.

He put the head of that snake in his mouth. Absolutely crazy!

On thing I learned real quick… while traveling alone you cant be a sissy. As terrified as I was to climb on and off the boat, I had to act like I knew what I was doing or I would have been “that girl” and nobody wants that.

REAL SERIOUS!

::4 Fast Facts::

Adults are required to wear helmets while driving a motorbike. Children are not, because it is believed to stunt their brain growth. They do get to ride in these sweet seats though…

Vietnam has a lot of French influence, hence why their bread is so delicious.

There are are a TON more motorbikes in Saigon than in Bangkok and the taxis aren’t as aggressive. I have realized you can have road rage from the back seat.

They burry people, above ground caskets, in the rice fields. They believe the spirits will bless the fields.

Up next:: First Vietnam bus ride! 7am sleeper bus featuring 8 hours of loud Vietnamese music while headed to Da Lat!

I was able to sleep a bit on the bus and  I took another nap when I arrived in Da Lat that afternoon.  It was raining and about 60 degrees when I arrived. I had missed cold weather so much—but it was definitely colder than I expected.

I met a gal in the hostel who invited me to dinner with her and a friend at another hostel down the road, at least we thought it was right down he road. On our walk it started pouring rain, then all the power in the entire town went out. Pitch black and so cold.

All of the hostels in Da Lat have family style dinners. The owners cook for everyone and we all sit around a big table or around a big rug and eat together. It was absolutely lovely.

I decided to do the countryside tour by van instead of motorbike because it was rainy. Our first stop was a flower farm. In Da Lat they sell for 1000 dong (about .25 cents) per flower, but when they are shipped to Saigon they sell for about 30,000 dong ($1.25)

We then visited the Kho community. There are about 150 houses in the area. Girls marry at 15 and ask the man to marry them. The man may accept or decline. Though, if he accepts the girls family must bring 5 buffalo to the mans family.

Such a sweet soul.

Next stop was definitely the most interesting of the day. Weasel coffee.

Here’s how it goes:: the weasel eats the coffee beans. The weasel then poops out the coffee beans. The coffee beans are washed, only once. Then laid out to dry. The beans are then ground up for coffee.

Apparently the enzymes in the weasels stomach are good for you, that’s why the poop beans can be washed only once. Didn’t taste to shabby, and we had a great view while we sipped weasel poo.

Then we headed to the cricket farm, something I could have lived without seeing. There were thousands. Everyone ate a cricket, except me. I may have done it with a few more sips of the rice wine they let us try. It was 30% alcohol and so serious. One baby sip was more than enough.

Headed to the silk farm. Fun facts: One cocoon can make 300 meters of silk. Silk worms are still alive in the cocoon. The worms that have died in the cocoon cannot be used for silk, but they are used as bedding for the inside of mattresses. Cocoons are boiled for 5 minutes and then put in cold water to begin spinning. After the cocoon had been used the people eat the worms. You can also put honey in the cocoon and rub it on your face, it is suppose to be good for your skin.

Happy Buddha pagoda.

Elephant waterfall. Climbed some slippery and steep cliffs to get to the top.

No time for sissys.

Crazy House was the next stop.

 

The house began construction in 1990 and the architect is still adding things on. It is set to be complete in 2020. There are tons of different staircases and secret passageways. There are even a few hotel rooms throughout the house.

Went back to the hostel for family dinner and played cards with some of the people staying there. Then we all headed to the famous 1000 Roofs Bar. Crazy maze. I wish there were better pictures but it was dark inside. The place had so many different levels and secret rooms.  It was the ultimate game of hide and seek. By far the coolest bar I’ve ever been to.

Hoi An! Hoi An! Screamed the bus driver. The bus had arrived! I grabbed breakfast with a girl I had met in Da Lat, we were trying to waste some time until we could check in our hostel.

Hoi An is a UNESCO world heritage site. Meaning the town has to follow certain rules to keep the culture and natural heritage alive.

One rule being they can’t have “hostels”. Though, there is always a way around a rule in Asia. The hostel can’t be dorm style, so all the rooms just have 2 beds. When I was checking in I met the girl that I would be rooming with, Ahi. We decided to catch the mid morning bike tour around the town.

This is part of old town, where motorbikes cannot go, it was so peaceful.

We ended the bike tour at the beach! Our guide set up a Christmas card scene on the beach and we all took photos. It was pretty hilarious watching him get everything set up perfectly.

Christmas Eve! Our hostel took a big group of us on crab fishing tour. We didn’t catch anything but our guide was a sweet lady that made us some pretty neat jewelry to wear while we fished.

We may not have caught anything but at least we looked cute trying. After we had a boat race back to the dock we had a tug of war competition. My team came out on top with one guy and three girls and we won a chocolate coin necklace. Score.

After the tour Ahi and I went for lunch at the best Banh Mi place in town. After we ate we got talked into getting manicures at a real sketch place and ended up bailing halfway through. Hoi An is famous for having heaps of tailor shops, you can literally have anything sized and made within 24 hours or less. Ahi and I were walking around trying to find a place we liked and ran into what we thought was a parade. I, of course, got super excited… but quickly realized that it was a funeral procession, not a parade. Whoops!

We had a few dressed made, I was able to bargain with the lady and get 3 dresses for $60. I picked some yellow fabric for a work dress, thank goodness I only paid $20. When I got back to Bangkok it somehow had turned from mustard yellow to lime green! The lady even assured me that it was good fabric…..apparently not. We found a shoe shop and had our feet sized for some new sandals. Went back to the hostel and had an afternoon nap, dinner with friends, lanter festival, and pub crawl round 2.

Christmas day! Very thankful I was surrounded by some incredible people. I met some of the greatest friends in Hoi An and I was so glad to spend Christmas with them! Our hostel had an afternoon Christmas party, BBQ, and a secret Santa gift exchange. After the party a group of us went to Christmas dinner at an Italian restaurant. I learned all about gypsies and had lots and lots of laughs.

BOXING DAY!

Team Gypsie takes on a day of motorbike driving the Ha Van Pass from Hoi An to Hue!

Ahi rode along with the guide and the rest of us drove the bikes. We had a few stops along the way. The trip took us about 8 hours and arrived in Hue after dark. Driving a motorbike at night in a busy city isn’t my favorite thing.

Hands in team gypsy, we all made it to Hue in one piece!

Last day of team Gypsy girl club! We walked around the castle for a bit and had lunch together. Ahi and I were headed to Phong Nha and Gemma was headed to Hanoi.

I knew my bus luck would end someday, All my busses through Vietnam had been so lovely, until this day.

This is how it started…..5 people and 5 massive bags crammed in 4 seats. This was the van that drove us to the big sleeper bus.

Then…the lady diagonal from me began to vomit. When I later reached for my water bottle, I realized the lady had taken it to vomit in. We got to the rest stop and I grabbed some oreos for a snack. When I got back on the bus the puking lady asked if she could have some of my oreos. Absolutely not. They bus driver then put 4 mats on the floor next to my seat and on climbed 4 guys that sat there the rest of the way. The vomit lady decided to change seats and she left her dirty puke blanket behind and the poor woman that sat there next got nice and cozy in the blanket and had no idea. EW!! Luckily for Ahi, her bus ride in the back was much less adventurous.

Phong Nha! Home to some of the best caves! Ahi and I ran into some friends we had met in Hoi An and we split up to go to different caves for the day. The first cave I went to was the Phong Nah Cave. The boat ride to the cave was about 40 minutes. We took the boat through the first cave. The boat had a convertible top.

The second cave, Tein Son, we had to climb 470 stairs to get to the top. At the turn around point in the cave there was a big platform. Our group all laid down to relax and enjoy some views. It was so so so neat, there wasn’t anyone walking around or talking. It was completely silent. I have never heard silence quite like that before. Super cool!

After the caves both groups met back up and we all rented motorbikes and drove around. I didn’t try to take pictures while driving this time, no worries.

We had some dinner and hung out with our pals at their hostel till our late night sleeper bus came to take us to Hanoi. My bus luck was back! Ahi and I got all 4 seats in the back and got decent sleep the entire ride. We were off to Hanoi!

Cold and rainy when we arrived in Hanoi. We got in at 5:45 in the morning and walked to our hostel from the bus stop. We had breakfast and were able to check into our room really early. The hostel offered a walking tour around the city, so we decided to join, in the rain. Luckily, I was able to snag a knock off north face jacket at the shop next door before we left.

Since the weather was crummy Ahi and I decided to stay in most of the day. We napped and watched movies and ventures down the street and found some yummy pizza for dinner.

The next morning we went out and did some shopping and walked around more of the city. We bought tickets for the water puppet show and went to that in the afternoon.

For New Years the hostel was having a big masquerade party. We lounged around the hostel most of the day and then ventured downstairs to decorate our masks for the evening.

New Years Day! When we finally decided to get out of bed we went to the women’s museum, the old prison and walked around the city.

The next morning Ahi and I left for Ha Long Bay! We definitely picked the worst seat on the bus. There was literally no leg room and the woman in front of me was kind enough to recline her seat. The drive was about 3 hours. We had lunch on the boat when we arrived and then headed towards Paradise Cave. It was nice, but nothing like the caves in Phang Nah.

We got back on the boat and drove around the bay. It was beautiful!!

The next morning we had an early breakfast and then went kayaking around the bay. The weather was so nice and we were able to relax on the top deck of the boat and enjoy the views on our way back to the bay.

I had issues getting out of the kayak and back onto the boat. Imagine that.

My last day in Vietnam I took a day trip to Ninh Binh, home of Ha Long bay on land. They took us on a canoe ride down the river and the guy paddled with his feet! We went for a bike ride and I  got the loudest bike, once again. We went to a fish farm and some rice fields.

    

Met back up with Ahi and Lana for our last night in Vietnam! We had dinner at our favorite pizza place and then went on the pub crawl with the hostel. Stayed out way too late, but we ended our Vietnam trip with a bang!

AND… That a a wrap!!