2/18-3/10: Vietnam
Vietnam. Woah. Wow.
I don’t know if it was the wicked cool friends we made, the godly street Banhmi sandwiches, or sweet motorcycling but hot damn Vietnam was magical. We followed the standard backpacker route from Ho Chi Minh City (South) up through Hanoi (North) and could have easily stayed at each of the below places twice as long. What’s convenient about Vietnam is that the backpacker footprint is super distinct which leaves the transportation and the "What should I see?/do"question very easy to figure out -- b/c there's only one route the only question to ask fellow backpackers was “You going North or South?”
Itinerary:
HCMC (2 nights)
Mui Ne (2 nights @ Mui Ne Backpacker Village)
Dalat (3 nights @ Dalat Smile)
NhaTrang (1 night @ Mozjo Inn)
Hoi An (4 nights @Loc Phat Hoi Hostel)
Hue (1 night)
Sleeper train to Hanoi (1 night)
Hanoi (2 nights @ Hanoi Downtown Backpackers)
Ha Long Bay (2 nights @ Ethnic Tours Boat)
Hanoi (1 night @Rock-something hostel)
Highlights:
- Food.food.food. Holy hell. (*heavy breathing* See pictures below)
- Ease of transportation. There was very little stress about figuring out how to get from point A to point B
- Fed some alligators- literally had a fishing line and taunted the beasts by dangling slabs of meat
- Partying all night to see the sunrise over Mui Ne’s white sand dunes (it definitely wasn’t a highlight in the moment)
- Cliff jumping off waterfalls and having the current sweep us down the rivers of Da Lat
- Drinking from the tap on our Microbrewery tour in Nha Trang (check out Louisianne brewery) and after playing beerpong against random Vietnamese ladies – Mot, Hai, Ba YO!
- Getting some super-sharp suits tailored in Hoi An for cheap
- Hoi An’s food. <- This 100% deserves it’s own highlight point
- The sweet taste of victory after motorcycling the Hoi Van to arrive at Hue +1 for no injuries!
- Kick starting Harry’s stupid broken bike to life at Elephant falls
- Eating a beating heart from a live snake. (I also ate the rest of the snake!)
- Making my own wallet through a workshop in Hanoi. TAKR wallets est. 2015
- Cruising and kayaking the weird pearl mountains of Ha Long bay
- Baiting and catching from squid from our Ha Long cruise ship
- Crafted my own wallet! TAKR 2015 Exclusive.
Lowlights:
- Being awoken by our 2 60+ year old bunk mates blasting Vietnamese techno at 5AM on the train.
- Leaving our passports in HCMC when we were a 6 hour bus ride away... Got them back eventually!
- Lots of damp stinky clothes
- Bus ride from Mui Ne to Dalat was “the worst in my life” - Chris Lee.
- Blazing heat. I’m not made for this weather (for example: Hue citadel trekking)
- Taking a shot of snake bile. Imagine every terrible tasting thing in the world and put it in a shot of yellow liquid form.
- Waking up from a 12 hour bus ride, with a sticky film of sweat and the stench of mildew
I feel like I say this for every country, but I’ll be back. Especially for Sapa & Phnom Nagh (the two places I regret missing out on)
As we crunched into our last chicken & egg Banhmi
C: “I’ll miss Vietnam”
T: sigh “I was just thinking the same thing”
