venturingvietnam2024
Venturing Vietnam 2024
A somewhat impulsive little venture to Vietnam! Starting in Ho Chi Minh City and heading North to Hanoi. Think colourful lanterns, beautiful beaches and bustling cities.
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#17 The epilogue
I think it’s tricky to put into words what Vietnam was for me. It was an adventure I was a little nervous to take, I knew the culture shock would be there for me, and I knew the comfort zone would be pushed in the hostels, heat and humidity. I knew stepping out into Ho Chu Minh City it was something I needed though. I needed to remind myself to just put one foot in front of the other and adventure a little. That just because things are different doesn’t mean they are incorrect. And part of me needed to know the privilege that I hold back home. In meeting Leo and the in seeing the Vietnamese life, this is certainly something I felt and after only two weeks, the gratitude I hold for things like working toilets, running clean water and a hot shower is beyond. And the people I met, my goodness. I really held little expectations in booking the trip. There was little research of destinations, little research of G-Adventures, it was a cost effective group travel trip and I booked it.. but the people I met, were incredible. Sonia, Libby and Connor were the exact people I needed to meet. The exact people I needed to travel with and to remind me what I bring to the group. The places we saw were incredibly beautiful and I would recommend anyone see just how stunning Vietnam is. What an epic little adventure. The travel chapter continues, and whilst I’m plenty ready for other life chapters too, I’m incredibly grateful for these memories. What a blessing it is to see this beautiful world.
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#16 The last day
It was lovely to have Lois to hang out with today. We went to the top floor of the hotel for breakfast which had lovely views and then parted ways for the morning. She went to the women’s museum and I went for a 90 minute massage - luxury! My massage was incredible, such a fancy place and it only cost me $60! We rendezvoused for lunch - at you guessed it, coffee culture! It’s just such a good spot, I think it reminds me of Melbourne cafes, a little hipster and so delicious! After lunch we wandered for smoothie and then browsed at a rooftop bar, the views were epic! A nice way to see out our time in Vietnam. From here, we went to freshen up in the hotel before heading for one last Banh Mi. We found a well rated one and boy, it did not disappoint. A little souvenir shopping from there, before some dessert at a cafe we went to on the food tour. Sticky rice with Ice Cream and a Carmel Flan with Mango. So delicious! What a day of food! We wandered the streets back to our hotel and I’m am extremely excited to return home to road rules and footpaths! In Vietnam, they do anything but walk on the footpath. I’ve seen restaurants fry food there, build fires, people park bikes, barbers do haircut’s - it’s like, let’s do anything but walk there! And then you walk on the road, where there’s lanes and zebra crossing that are truely ignored. Madness, but it is an epic place to experience. My anxieties to walk the street will definitely be 100% lower returning home. I’ll say goodbye to Lois later tonight and fly tomorrow morning! What an adventure!
Written April 3rd at 8.42pm
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#14 The G-Adventure goodbyes
Today was our last half day together, before the group travelled to Laos. After a little lay in given the seedy heads, Sonia, Libby, Connor and I went to Hanoi Coffee culture for a last super together. Amy and some of the group also later joined. I had pulled pork eggs benny style and it was amazing! We did some last minute street wandering before returning to near the hotel for a last mango smoothie together. By 2pm, the hugs were being had. A particularly sad goodbye to Sonia, we have become so close in two short weeks. It’s so lovely when personalities just match, and as we hugged goodbye, others in the group commented that this was one goodbye they didn’t want to watch. What a cherished friendship alongside Connor and Libby too. They were remaining in Hanoi until their 3.30pm pick up, so thankfully that was one less early departure. The bus departed for the airport and their flight through to Laos. I decided to have a relax before meeting Connor and Libby to say goodbye to them in the lobby later. Another beautiful friendship. They’d travelled the world for 7 months together and are wise beyond their years. I feel so lucky with our little so called, ‘Coconut Boats’ group. Named because we decided in Hoi Anh to do the coconut boats together haha. I’m confident our little group will meet again in the world somewhere. Until then. When I arrived back into my room, Lois then messaged however, asking if I was still in the twin share room and if she could stay as her accomodation had fallen through. Naturally I said yes, and was happy to have somebody to share the final day and a half with. We went to Mexican for dinner and it was incredible! We were the only two in the restaurant but with excellent reviews, it was to rave about! Home for an early night and one last day tomorrow!
Written April 3rd at 8.30pm
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#13 Hanoi in all its madness!
From Ha Long Bay, we made our way back toward Hanoi. Sonia made up some group fun fact trivia to bide the time on the bus. Arriving in Hanoi, felt even more chaotic that Ho Chi Minh! How that’s possible, I’m not sure. Sonia and I were roomies for one final time, excellent work Leo! Speaking of whom, Leo took us out on a quick tour of the city. 40 degrees in high humidity, she was warm!! That and the fact that the traffic here was Saigon on steroids, my ankles and lower legs feel very exposed to motorbike spikes here! Risky risky! We wandered the roadside (literally) navigating to the old Hanoi Quarter and the lake, seeing the souvenir streets and coffee shops on the way. Once there, Annika, Sonia and I went to a temple, that we paid to go in and then weren’t allowed in on accord of our clothes ‘being too sexy’ oopsie, forgot the temple clothes. We then caught a cab to Train Street. Famous for the train being centimetres from the cafes on the street, we people watched awaiting the train due at 3.20pm. We watched as the chairs filled and then people hustled upon hearing the bells sound to notify it was coming soon. Cafe owners cleared the tracks yelling at people to ensure their safety. We were lucky to see the street open, as it is naturally dangerous and on occasion has been closed as people have been hit. We were front row, but safe enough, watching it literally 50cm away was pretty exciting! From there, we went back to the hotel to freshen up for our Hanoi Street Food Tour. This was excellent! We wandered the hustle and bustle of the streets for local Phą, Mango Sticky Rice, Egg Coffee made in front of us and beers. I can finally confirm, I have drank in full my first beer in Hanoi, Vietnam. After the food tour, we went to beer street prior to dinner. It was gentle enough at this time… Dinner was Hanoi Food Culture and it was potentially my favourite meal yet! Yellow Chicken Curry with shared pork spring rolls, it was epic! It was officially our last supper. The group decided that I would give Leo a parting speech, which after my multiple bridesmaid duties, I think I did okay! After dinner, we went back to Beer Street - it was absolute chaos!!! Over stimulation at its finest. Epic experience, not one I’d want every Saturday night! We went to one pub initially, then a club of types and back to sitting on the street. At midnight, we heard cop sirens and everyone flooded indoors and started stacking chairs. In one minute flat, the street went from a hustle and bustle of madness to deserted… until the cops drove further down the street, at which point, everything returned to its prior state. Excellent liquor licensing law upkeep haha! I went home around 1am and was very happy to be seeing the back of my eyelids, busy days! Officials goodbyes tomorrow, insert tear here!
Written Tuesday April 2nd at 5.44pm
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#12 Ha Long Bay & The Secret Easter Bunny
The overnight train stopped twenty times throughout the night (surely!). I was feeling the exhaustion levels for sure the next day. When we arrived (I’m actually not sure where haha!) we then had a four hour bus drive to Ha Long Bay. It was a huge travel day for sure. On arrival at our hotel, I was pleasantly surprised to be given a single room - with a superior king bed AND the shower was amazing! Absolutely incredible. I had the nap of all naps for one hour, and woke up very disoriented with dribble on my pillow. Excellent nap signs. We then drove to the harbour for our Ha Long Bay cruise. This was a part of the trip I was looking forward to the most. We boarded and having opted to the no seafood option, we had a multiple course - as per the Vietnamese standard - lunch of spring rolls, rice, beef stirfry, chicken stirfry, fried pork, fried tofu, greens.. you name it, we were served it. Lunch was excellent, but the views were epic. Sailing toward the mountains with the oceans horizon was so pretty! We went to the top level for photos and to take it all in. We made two stops after lunch, the first being to see move caves, the second for our kayaking trip. I was hesitant to go kayaking, not many of the group were and to be honest I didn’t necessarily feel like the effort if the views were similar to the boat, but I wisely chose Elias, my ATV adventure buddy whose twenty and fit to be my paddle mate. He was chief paddler and I was chief group photographer - kidding, I did a lot of paddling also, but thanks Elias. I’m so glad I did the kayaking. There were six of us in three boats, including Libby and Connor, and it was so incredibly peaceful. We were able to sneak through caves in the mountains into secret little areas and the nature was simply beautiful. I was seriously in awe. Upon arriving back to the boat, Connor decided to put his drone up and get some footage, the video was incredible! So grateful they had the drone! We then shared a bottle of wine and relaxed on the boat trip back. It was definitely a moment of ‘oh my goodness, I’m in Vietnam in Ha Long bay with a wonderful group of people.’ Back at the marina we made our way to a rooftop bar. The views were stunning!! The cocktails also expensive, but hey! We stayed for a couple of hours soaking in the last nights together and beautiful views before heading to dinner and then a market and bed… Or did we. Connor, Libby, Sonia and I hatched a plan. Today was actually Easter Sunday, but with the Vietnamese religious culture generally not celebrating the holiday, there was little excitement and no chocolate eggs etc to be seen. We decided we would purchase chocolates and write notes and play Easter bunny. Leo then joined the plan, deciding to purchase the chocolates for us - Snickers chocolates was the best option we had. So together we smuggled them upstairs and wrote beautiful notes and left them at everyone’s doors - a day late is better than never! We were so giggly and so excited, but nobody caught us, so we were excellent bunnies! The group were so grateful Monday, they loved it!
Written late Tuesday April 2nd at 5.14pm
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#11 The cave exploration
I feel like the titles of these blogs are becoming increasingly basic, apologies to my future self. Todays activity was the soul reason for being in the smaller town, we went cave exploring. Many expected wetsuits and wading through cave waters, but I’m glad that wasn’t the case to be honest. We caught a bus for an hour out to the mountains and the hiked up about 600m to the cave entrance. The views were pretty up near the top. The coolness from the cave could be felt nearing the top. The cave is actually 31km in length but the staircase and boardwalk only lasted for approximately 200m, which was far enough into the mountain side for me anyway. The cave was super interesting and the temperature was super pleasant. We wandered through the area before heading back on the bus to lunch. Lunch was very authentic in the town, the smell in the restaurant was quite overwhelming at first, but lunch was good! From lunch, we caught the boats toward the second cave. This cave was 30mins by boat, then the boat turned into a rowboat and went inside the cave for further exploring - as this cave had a river of sorts through it. Part of me was pretty keen to turn around and go back out, apparently we rowed about 1km in - which was stressing me out if I’m honest! In a boat, so far into a mountain was playing on my mind! We hopped out closer to the main entrance and again walked through the cave upward and then out to the entrance and out. After taking the boat trip back, we freshened up in the hostel reading for our third and final overnight train.. where the blog is written tonight! Fingers crossed for a good nights sleep, its very tricky on ye old train!
Written Saturday March 30th at 8.35pm
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#10 The guided tour
Thankfully the head was fine after Karaoke and it was so lovely to have a little lay in time 9am then head down to breakfast. Lemon and sugar pancake! After breakfast, we caught a grab to the Citadel. It was one of those days, where it was predominately a travel day, we only had two hours of exploring and I genuinely didn’t mind what we did. Thankfully, Connor assumed organising duty and we just followed his lead - quite literally at the attraction. We generally had no idea what we were visiting - we also didn’t get a tour guide, and there were no boards in English to explain. Connor then decided to get the American flag up on his phone and pretend to be our tour leader, giving us ‘his version’ of the tour. This included the ‘west entrance bridge to concentrate the people through the main entrance’ and the ‘canyons, used predominately for defence.’ It was a very amusing and I’m assuming inaccurate representation of the site, and to be quite honest, I still have no clue what it actually was. In my eyes, there were lots of templates and buildings and arch ways, and the land was huge and it was literally like a maze. It was also 36 degrees in humidity and hot! We wandered to the main palace area (which on reflection makes me remember a royal family lived in this thing). Then we needed to make our way to the exit, only to get lost. We found the main entrance flag and speed walked there, only to be told the exit was on the side.. seriously, this citadel thing was huge! We had burgers for lunch, where the ordering was definitely lost in translation but they were still good! On the bus for the afternoon and we made the four hour journey toward Phong Nah, ready for caving tomorrow. Dinner was together and we wandered the town for a little while before an early night. Sonia and I finally got to be roomies, and I got a double bed! Happy days. The shower was cold though. Can’t win them all!
Written Saturday 30th March 8.03pm
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