Blog Posts

I will write more about the war of Vietnam in later posts. In short, the North and South were very divided, and the South wasn’t even Vietnam originally. The North was communist and the South didn’t want to come under the same restrictions. They asked soviet union and USA for help to keep it that way, as we know that didn’t work out well for anyone but we will come back to the war.

Interestingly, Vietnam is only 8% Catholic and 8% Buddhism, and the rest are actual atheist. Which surprised me after all the Asian, Malaysian, and Indonesian countries I’ve been to.

After the war and the country was united as one, the government changed the way they wanted to run the country in 1986 and started selling the land to local people to benefit the economy. I’d made a note from our guide that Central Vietnam has more jasmine rice fields, whereas the North has more sticky rice. North has lycee, central and south for mangosteen.

Today, we visited two caves within Phong Nha.

Paradise Cave
Paradise Cave is in the Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park. It was discovered by explorers from the British Cave Research Association in 2005 that found the cave and took 5 years to build the road and wooden platform. Its a limestone cave and 31km in length. They estimate it took 35-40 million years for the cave to form and a 1m of stalactites and stalagmites takes 1 million years to form.
When they join, they are called a column.

There were multiple colours in the cave:

• Red is due to iron
• Yellow is due to Cooper
• Green is due to moss
• White is from the calcium
• Black is when a tree above ground reacts to the limestone.

It was about 22’c in the cave, and collapsed parts have made good airflo, especially nearer the end of the cave we were able to walk in. Though they did have CO2 monitors at that end of the cave just in case.

When arriving on the bus, we got buggies further up the mountain before our hike up to the entrance of the cave. Once we entered the cave, it was 268 steps down (I counted on the way up). There was then a wooden platform to follow through the cave. Was very impressive!

Phong Nha Cave

Second cave we visited we had to get a boat too. We went into the cave and up the end and then we got off near the entrance and there was part we could walk through. The boat trip felt slightly awkward in the cave as the route in was against the current and the two ladies manning out boat were struggling and kept hitting the wall and pushing off from the sides of the cave, did noticed most of the boats were struggling in that direction as well! But the way out was with the current, so it was a lot smoother.

After arriving from Vinh, we walked to lunch and had a cheeky pizza (I know not very Vietnamese, lol). I then had a massage (of course), but with a difference.. I chose a local blind massage. It is run by a blind couple. The husband did my massage, and it was very firm! There were points on my arms and lower back. I was struggling with the pain but endured it. After a full body massage, he finished with hot stones on my back and legs! I had a sore back from the bus, so even though I had new pains from the massage, that pain in my back was gone!

We had a walk around the village and had a tra. The sign below shows how much the village flooded in 2010! I also managed to slip down the curb today and landed on my knee! Was a graze but also a nice bruise, too.

Back to Ninh Binh today, which I went to before the tour started, but lucky for me, this was a different boat and river route. Though it was a shame not to see them rowing with their feet, which is what they do to on Tam Coc. We visited Trang An, and it was 4 to a boat!

We got off the boat on to see a temple.

Back in the bus and onwards to Vinh just to sleep with a lunch stop on the way. Not the nicest hotel, must admit, been really surprised at the quality of hotels on this Vietnam tour.

Time for the penultimate tour of this long journey and one of the countries I was most looking forward to!

Instantly missing thailand after the week I’ve already had in Hanoi and the ease or 7/11!

We meet the group tonight, 18 people, so a full one. As expected, I was the oldest, and the nationality mix is 7 x Germans, 1 x Dutch, 6 x Auzzies, and 4 x English (including me).

We went for dinner as a group and then some of us went to Beer Street. Which was so busy! So many bars full of people sat on the tiny chairs and stools!

We started the day with our CEO taking us on a walk that ended with a traditional egg coffee or for me egg chocolate!

Hoa Lo Prison Relic

Not all of the prison remains, but from what we could see, the conditions would have been crammed, uncomfortable, and dirty. A lot of the POWs from the Vietnam War were held at this prison, and as the local man from the Jeep tour had mentioned, they got information out of the American pilots to use against the US.

We then walked back to the lake and had lunch. Passed a couple of things on the way!

Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre

Vietnam has a tradition of water puppets, here in Hanoi they have a theatre and kept this tradition alive. It’s very impressive the amount of work that goes into the show and maintaining the puppets they use.

Train street

Even though I’d been to one area of train street in the daytime and rain, it’s quite another to experience it in the night time! The police are trying to limit access due to an accident earlier this year when a Korean tourist got hit by the train while taking a photo. They open the line at 9 pm, and you go in and sit at a cafe and order a drink and then watch as the train comes past ,sat safely in your seat next to the track. As I found when I previously saw the train before its petty fast! Train Street was really pretty with all the laterns at night.

Finally, a sunny day in Hanoi, so decided it was a good day to do the hop on hop off bus and see the sights. Saw a couple of them on the Jeep tour, but it was raining, and this way, I can decide which I want to stop at.

The Temple of Literature

One of the stops I spent some time at was the temple of literature, Vietnam’s first national university, from 1076 to 1779.

The Huc Bridge

The Huc Bridge, also known as the “Red Bridge” is over 150 years old with the Ngoc Son Temple on the island it leads to.

Decided to have a nice chilled day at my hotel and did a lot of reading, watching tv, and importantly napping!

In the evening, I decided I wanted a sit-down meal, not street food or buffet, which is what I’d had on the cruise. I found found this Viet Restaurant close to my hotel and it looked really nice.

I hadn’t realised it was a restaurant in a hotel and up on the 8th floor. No matter, I ordered the deep-fried pillows, which came with pork and mushrooms in pastry. Was a large portion and super yummy!

For main, I had Vietnamese steak with egg and chips. Honestly, it’s the best steak I’ve had since Argentina! It had pepper sauce and was delicious!

It’s time for my luxury 5-star cruise on Ha Long Bay. If you remember from the post when I arrived at the hotel, the manager recommended a different cruise to the one I had booked. So I’m now on the Rosy Cruise!

Was picked up in a luxury van, I was the first one and the seats even had massage function.

Took about 2.5 hours to get there, and then we had to wait for the smaller boat to take us to the cruise.

People of Ha Long Bay
There are 30,000 people living on halong Bay, either on floating islands or fishing boats. They have different traditions and cultures here to the mainland, but they are Vietnamese. One of the main differences is that women have the power here. If they marry, they will take the women’s surname and move to the women’s home/boat. Children honour their mother here above all else. They have a floating school and floating hospital on the bay, and people don’t tend to leave the bay. They stay here their whole life. Only big medical operations would take them to the main land.

The islands are not inhabitants by people, but they have a few animals, such as goats, snakes, monkeys, and sea hawks. They are made of limestone and are single columns, even if they look joined. The sea with the bay is calm as it has the mountains protected it from the harsh sea. The water in the bay is a mix of fresh and salt water, which means certain fish, dophins, and sharks don’t really come into the bay anymore. It means that with the seaweed, there are a lot of oyster farming here.

Really liked my room, massive bathtub, comfy bed, and my own balcony as well.

The amazing views from the first day…

Meet a wonderful and friendly indian mum and son from Australia, Amit, and Shaloni. Spent most of the cruise with them!
We were also joined at dinner by a lovely couple from Belgium!
Learnt a new way to screenshot on my phone! I’m not sure why I didn’t know they spoke French in Belgium. lol I feel very uneducated sometimes, but I will make up for it as Belgium is on the list, lol

Ended up having 5 cocktails lol

It would have been rude not to have a bubble bath, so that’s what I did!

Second day views…

There was no sunset as it was too cloudy so I decided I’d wake up at 5.30am to see the sunrise! I was the first on deck and to my disappointment, there wasn’t really a sunrise either. It just got light!

We went on the smaller boat to take bamboo boats around Bright Cave. Was lovely views, we saw monkeys in the trees and of course supporting the local people.

Last views as the cruise made its way back. Really enjoyed the trip!

Wss picked up in a Soviet-era GAZ-69 jeep. The only bad thing was that today wasn’t great weather! But that was not going to stop the fun, and we were provided rain ponchos! The temperature really dropped today as well, and I was actually cold in my shorts! It’s definitely been a while!

We started with lunch, instead of going to multiple places we went to the Hidden Gem Cafe, where they gave us a range of food! The cafe was really quint with lots of recycled and upcycled items. The chairs were from tyres and lights from bottles.

– Starter – deep fried spring rolls, Vietnamese fresh rolls, Bánh mì, papaya salad
– Main – rainbow noodles – mi ngu sac
– Pudding – egg chocolate custard
Ca phe trung (northern dish) and sticky rice wine shot

The first stop was the French railway bridge that was made in 1899 and has had parts rebuild due to past bombings. Only bikes and people are allowed on this bridge. Historically, the French used these tracks and rode to move goods in and out of Hanio. They changed the direction of the traffic to drive on the left due to balance issues, this has remained to this day.

We drove around the city, down lots of side roads and markets.

We stopped at Ho Chi Minhs mausoleum (didn’t go inside). His body is on display in a glass cabinet like a mummy. This was against his wishes, which was to be cremated, and his ashes spread between northern, central, and southern Vietnam. The government had other plans for his body, which all people in Vietnam have to visit at least once!

Train Street

The next stop was Train Street, unlike in Thailand, where they have a market and loads of cafes. There are only a couple open now due to two Korean tourists dying a couple of years ago. With the speed the train travels, I am not surprised. The one in Thailand was a lot slower! Check out the video on insta of it coming past me!

Local stop

We visited one of the local houses and got to see just how small they are. Back in the time of the King, they paid a tax only on the width of the property. This is why the properties are tall and narrow but deep.

The gentleman’s home we visited was 80 years old. He told us a bit about his life, including that he had 5 children, 5 grandchildren, and 2 great grandchildren.
He looks after the great grand children and plays them instruments, he gave us a few demos on the different instruments he had next to him.
He had been a teacher and then a soldier. In the local prison, they had about 600 US pilots as POWs, mainly the US, as they had sent 197 x B52 to drop bombs in North Vietnam. He had said the bombing had lasted 12 days and nights. The US came just as Vietnam got independence from France, so they were vulnerable. They got info from POW pilots to try and use on USA. After the war, it took 2 years to unite the North and South.
He mentioned they had to move Ho Chin Minh’s body 4 times to keep it safe.

Local markets

The markets included both live stock and meat and fruits, and we even went through a black market that had everything you would end to build your own bike!

Today was my first tour in Hanoi. Hanoi has 10 million people and 7 million motorcycles in Hanoi alone! Each person normally has a motorcycle. There doesn’t seem to be any rules for the roads at all! Even when there are 3 lanes, there is not a designated slow or fast. Instead, people just weave in and out of all 3 lanes with the objective of going a bit faster! Don’t understand how there are not more accidents. I had to close my eyes on more than a few occasions to stop myself grasping loudly, lol.

Incense Village – Quảng Phú Cầu
The bamboo to make the incense is brought from central Vietnam. Tonnes a day! The first part of the process is to soak the bamboo in muddy water. This can happen for up to 3 months. The reason they do this is to change the smell of the bamboo and remove any insect or future ones being attracted to it. Once they are dried, they will cut them into smaller pieces by hand, removing the green outer layer.

Once cut into the small sticks, we know incense to be either by hand or machine they then dye half the stick and leave in the sun to dry.
The next part of the process is adding the scented mix to the non dyed end. We saw this being done by machine, but previously, it was done by hand. This will be a mix of wood shavings from cutting the bamboo and herbs/spice. The one we saw was cinnamon and cloves.

We visited many different families to see them working on different parts of the incense creation. It is a real skill, and some of these women can cut so fast and actuate with a machete.

Then, I had the most colourful photo shoot of the trip and their were a student camera crew there and they asked if I would go on camera to say why I came and encourage other tourists to come. Might be on the local news, lol

Lunch

Boat ride – Tam Coc
Ha Long Bay on land is what the nickname of this place is, and it didn’t disappoint. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the best weather, but that added to the experience in a way. The rowers use their feet to row the boats, I’ve never seen anything like it, but I suppose it does make sense as our legs tend to be stronger than our arms.
We went under 3 caves and passed lilies, with beautiful views and some very heavy rain!

First king’s temple – Hoa Lu temple of the Dinh  & Le Dynasties
The last stop on the tour was the first king of Vietnams temple. This used to be the capital but was moved by boat in 1946 to Hanoi. When you go into the temple, you have a high step to pass over. The reason for this is you would automatically bend down when you bring your second leg through, and therefore, you are bowing to the king regardless if you meant to.

I’d already sorted my visa online but was shocked how easy immigration was coming into Vietnam. They didn’t ask me any questions at all, and I was out quicker than most of the flights I’ve been on. The first thing that hits you here is the traffic and the fact there doesn’t seem to be any rules of the road at all! Sooo many bikes, more than Thailand, but seems to be a lot more helmets, so that’s a good sign.

Arrived at my hotel, I’m staying at the Hanoi Royal Palace Hotel 2, which is a 3 star. The manager of this hotel has gone over and beyond and is making this stay so much more. When I arrived, he asked if we could go over my plans for while I’m in Hanoi so he could either make suggestions or help me change them. The incense village and jeep tour he said was a great plan. He was slightly worried about the Halong bay cruise, as there are so many cowboy companies (and i knew this and tired to read the reviews to find a better one) but what worried him is there was no name of the boat so you couldn’t even look it up. For the money I’d paid, he said he could get me a suite on a 5 star luxury cruise and showed brochure (which looked amazing) for the same price. So I cancelled my other one and got refunded in full and booked with him! Even if he is getting commission for doing it, at least I know what I’m getting now! I’m so excited for that trip!!

He also suggested a street food tour, which left an hour after I arrived. Was a great way to settle into this very busy, manic city!

Hanoi Street Food Tour

We tried 6 dishes, I liked all of them bar the blackbean pudding, which was just weird!

Pho – a Vietnamese soup dish consisting of broth, rice noodles, herbs, and meat (usually beef, sometimes chicken). It was tradionally served at breakfast but now all day for tourists.

Bánh cuốn – Vietnamese steam rice, originating from Northern Vietnam. It is also a traditional breakfast as it’s not simple to make at home. Main ingredients include rice batter, ground pork, wood ear mushrooms, and fried shallots.

Bánh mì is a short baguette, split lengthwise and filled with savoury ingredients, including bbq chicken and pork pate.

Pho Tron – Beef noodle soup with young mango, carrots, bean sprouts, and soy sauce.

Chè đỗ đen – Hot sweet black bean pudding (served with coconut, which I removed)

Sữa Chua mit – Yoghurt with jackfruit

Our guide Jerry was lovely and showed us how to cross the road, which is terrifying!