North Vietnam - Trip Report - September 2011
Sep 30th, 2011, 08:33 AM
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North Vietnam - Trip Report - September 2011
I am very bad at writing report and sharing my experiences - which I thought later - it was unfair for people who need the information and advice. So here I am, scratching my head to write about our trip in brief.
Second trip back to Vietnam, we still have so many things to explore and hopefully, we can work it out for the next trip in April, 2012. Learnt a lot of experiences on the first trip, we made the move smarter this time, book things that we needed to book, spare a few days in each places so we had time to explore the surroundings area. To finish the trip and come back safe and sound, we do have to give our thanks to Travel Sense Asia – Mrs Hien had been very helpful and given out her great knowledge about Vietnam and tips to travel in Vietnam. Also thanks to Mr Nam who took care of us and followed our schedule to make sure everything going well.
Day 1: Our itinerary started in Hanoi – instead of taking a taxi (or just because we were afraid of a taxi scams), we had a private car arranged in advance, the trip went smoothly to the hotel we stayed at the first time and were very pleased with. A strong cup of Vietnamese coffee on the street helped to wake me up. The autumn had arrived into Hanoi and created a very fresh air and breeze, a very calm feeling while we walked along the Hoan Kiem lake. A bowl of Pho Ga – Chicken Noodle was priceless to end the night. The streets seemed hectic that night, I found out later that the Full Moon festival would happen in the next couple days.
Day 2-3-4: I just couldn’t stop myself to go to Halong Bay again. I don’t think I can be bored of Halong Bay at all. Last time we went on Bhaya Boat, which was an experience for us, very relaxing trip. This time we decided to something different, so Dragon Pearl was a choice. It was the right one, sailed far away from the other boats, Dragon Pearl had an extremely advantage compared to the other boats. The cabin was small but clean and the crew was extremely helpful. One thing I regretted was I didn’t bring more snacks since they didn’t sell snacks on the boat, nor ice-cream!! We did the three day trip. The shuttle bus on the way back was a bit confusing since we didn’t know which bus we were going to take and there was no clarification from the boat’s staff so we stood there for like half an hour before we could get on a bus to get back to Hanoi.
The most rewarding after the trip in that afternoon was a massage that Hien helped me to reserve at Yakushi. Compared to Thai massage, I wouldn’t say it terrific, but to other spas and massages in Vietnam, It was GREAT! Followed by dinner at Highway 4 restaurant nearby, we tasted some grilled ostrich and locusts were fun. A not-to-miss in Highway4 was Nem Ca – catfish spring rolls and a sweet glass of apricot Son Tinh House Wine. Tonight we would be on the train to Sapa, so a glass of wine may help to sleep better on the train.
Hien escorted us to the train station, I had to say talking to this woman was one of the rare experiences while travelling, she is the one who has a very fair minded and opinions on things. Our train tonight was Sapaly Carriage. The cabin on train was pretty small with 4 bunk beds. We bought the whole thing because we wanted some privacy, so they folded up the upper 2 bunk beds – made the cabin looked much bigger. Goodbye to Hien, we settled in the cabin, looking outside the train windows and waited for it to move. Each of us was supplied with a bag of Sapaly toothbrush, comb, a bottle of water, and a few other small things. Sheets were very clean – like in the hotel. The train conductor knocked on our door twice, to check for the tickets.
Day 5-6: Sapa.
Beside the fact that Sapa was too touristy (but we are tourists anyway), I still love the place. The trek down to the villages gave me a very different look on this mountain area of Vietnam. I wanted to do something, something to give back to the community, something that I could help those kids. The tour guide – Hung was very sweet. We walked among the beautiful terraces and had lunch at the restaurant right by the stream in Ta van village.
I called Hien – Travel Sense Asia to ask if she knew any donation organization in Sapa, she pointed me to Pete – the Sapa Boutique Hotel, I joined them for another half day trip to the village nearby and give stuffs for the local kids. It was memorable time.
Day 7: Back to Hanoi very early at 5.30, we headed to the hotel to drop off our bag, and then went straight to the lake to witness the laughing Yoga that Hien talked about, so a chance for great photos could be there. It was, I had a whole bunch of lovely set of photos on Hanoi’s early morning activities. Thanks to the early train, because I wouldn’t get up that early normally. A breakfast by the lake in open air cafeteria was lovely.
Day 8: The trip with Bloom Ventures was amazing! Microfinance is all it is about and we visited the locals’ house, had lunch, talked to them and see what we could do to make it different in the village. We had a fun field trip out of Hanoi, it is outstanding, we highly recommend Bloom ventures and hope they will be more success in the future with their plans. Until today I still receive updates from the borrowers and how she is doing.
Day 9-14: Our free days in Hanoi, we walked every corner in the old quarter, tried a lot of street foods, made a few new local friends and were invited to their house for dinner. It was cosy as we were family members.
Here is the list of the Hanoi restaurants we dined in:
- Highway 4 restaurant : 31 Xuan Dieu st. Love it.
- Ngon Restaurant in 26 Tran Hung Dao st. Huge menu and you should walk around first and bring the menu with you to know what the name of the dishes were. Grilled squids, green mango with seafood salad, banh hoi nem nuong cuon banh trang (Hue’s dish and one type of roll it yourself fresh spring rolls), banana sweet soup for dessert was highly recommended.
- Green Mango in 24 Hang Quat st.: quite classy, decent prices and great food, international flavour. Love their Singapore chicken.
- Nam Phuong restaurant: Phan Chu Trinh. Nothing really impressed me much. They had traditional music performance on the night we were there.
- Dieu’s cuisine: this small restaurant tucked in the small road on the way go into Sheraton Hotel on Xuan Dieu. Vietnamese home-style cooking and we had a brief talk with Dieu – the young owner. It’s worth to try!
Anyone who wants the list street foods we tried, let me know, I will look up in my papers for the name and direct you to the place.
Goodbye Vietnam, and hopefully, see you in April 2012.
Second trip back to Vietnam, we still have so many things to explore and hopefully, we can work it out for the next trip in April, 2012. Learnt a lot of experiences on the first trip, we made the move smarter this time, book things that we needed to book, spare a few days in each places so we had time to explore the surroundings area. To finish the trip and come back safe and sound, we do have to give our thanks to Travel Sense Asia – Mrs Hien had been very helpful and given out her great knowledge about Vietnam and tips to travel in Vietnam. Also thanks to Mr Nam who took care of us and followed our schedule to make sure everything going well.
Day 1: Our itinerary started in Hanoi – instead of taking a taxi (or just because we were afraid of a taxi scams), we had a private car arranged in advance, the trip went smoothly to the hotel we stayed at the first time and were very pleased with. A strong cup of Vietnamese coffee on the street helped to wake me up. The autumn had arrived into Hanoi and created a very fresh air and breeze, a very calm feeling while we walked along the Hoan Kiem lake. A bowl of Pho Ga – Chicken Noodle was priceless to end the night. The streets seemed hectic that night, I found out later that the Full Moon festival would happen in the next couple days.
Day 2-3-4: I just couldn’t stop myself to go to Halong Bay again. I don’t think I can be bored of Halong Bay at all. Last time we went on Bhaya Boat, which was an experience for us, very relaxing trip. This time we decided to something different, so Dragon Pearl was a choice. It was the right one, sailed far away from the other boats, Dragon Pearl had an extremely advantage compared to the other boats. The cabin was small but clean and the crew was extremely helpful. One thing I regretted was I didn’t bring more snacks since they didn’t sell snacks on the boat, nor ice-cream!! We did the three day trip. The shuttle bus on the way back was a bit confusing since we didn’t know which bus we were going to take and there was no clarification from the boat’s staff so we stood there for like half an hour before we could get on a bus to get back to Hanoi.
The most rewarding after the trip in that afternoon was a massage that Hien helped me to reserve at Yakushi. Compared to Thai massage, I wouldn’t say it terrific, but to other spas and massages in Vietnam, It was GREAT! Followed by dinner at Highway 4 restaurant nearby, we tasted some grilled ostrich and locusts were fun. A not-to-miss in Highway4 was Nem Ca – catfish spring rolls and a sweet glass of apricot Son Tinh House Wine. Tonight we would be on the train to Sapa, so a glass of wine may help to sleep better on the train.
Hien escorted us to the train station, I had to say talking to this woman was one of the rare experiences while travelling, she is the one who has a very fair minded and opinions on things. Our train tonight was Sapaly Carriage. The cabin on train was pretty small with 4 bunk beds. We bought the whole thing because we wanted some privacy, so they folded up the upper 2 bunk beds – made the cabin looked much bigger. Goodbye to Hien, we settled in the cabin, looking outside the train windows and waited for it to move. Each of us was supplied with a bag of Sapaly toothbrush, comb, a bottle of water, and a few other small things. Sheets were very clean – like in the hotel. The train conductor knocked on our door twice, to check for the tickets.
Day 5-6: Sapa.
Beside the fact that Sapa was too touristy (but we are tourists anyway), I still love the place. The trek down to the villages gave me a very different look on this mountain area of Vietnam. I wanted to do something, something to give back to the community, something that I could help those kids. The tour guide – Hung was very sweet. We walked among the beautiful terraces and had lunch at the restaurant right by the stream in Ta van village.
I called Hien – Travel Sense Asia to ask if she knew any donation organization in Sapa, she pointed me to Pete – the Sapa Boutique Hotel, I joined them for another half day trip to the village nearby and give stuffs for the local kids. It was memorable time.
Day 7: Back to Hanoi very early at 5.30, we headed to the hotel to drop off our bag, and then went straight to the lake to witness the laughing Yoga that Hien talked about, so a chance for great photos could be there. It was, I had a whole bunch of lovely set of photos on Hanoi’s early morning activities. Thanks to the early train, because I wouldn’t get up that early normally. A breakfast by the lake in open air cafeteria was lovely.
Day 8: The trip with Bloom Ventures was amazing! Microfinance is all it is about and we visited the locals’ house, had lunch, talked to them and see what we could do to make it different in the village. We had a fun field trip out of Hanoi, it is outstanding, we highly recommend Bloom ventures and hope they will be more success in the future with their plans. Until today I still receive updates from the borrowers and how she is doing.
Day 9-14: Our free days in Hanoi, we walked every corner in the old quarter, tried a lot of street foods, made a few new local friends and were invited to their house for dinner. It was cosy as we were family members.
Here is the list of the Hanoi restaurants we dined in:
- Highway 4 restaurant : 31 Xuan Dieu st. Love it.
- Ngon Restaurant in 26 Tran Hung Dao st. Huge menu and you should walk around first and bring the menu with you to know what the name of the dishes were. Grilled squids, green mango with seafood salad, banh hoi nem nuong cuon banh trang (Hue’s dish and one type of roll it yourself fresh spring rolls), banana sweet soup for dessert was highly recommended.
- Green Mango in 24 Hang Quat st.: quite classy, decent prices and great food, international flavour. Love their Singapore chicken.
- Nam Phuong restaurant: Phan Chu Trinh. Nothing really impressed me much. They had traditional music performance on the night we were there.
- Dieu’s cuisine: this small restaurant tucked in the small road on the way go into Sheraton Hotel on Xuan Dieu. Vietnamese home-style cooking and we had a brief talk with Dieu – the young owner. It’s worth to try!
Anyone who wants the list street foods we tried, let me know, I will look up in my papers for the name and direct you to the place.
Goodbye Vietnam, and hopefully, see you in April 2012.
Sep 30th, 2011, 10:29 AM
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Catladyva,
I read your trip report & enjoyed it. I leave for Vietnam in 3 weeks and I am trying to plan a 4 day trip to the Ha Giang area. In order to do this I am speaking w/ many tour companies with varying results. What did you think of Travel Sense Asia? Did you have a good experience with them? Any suggestions with dealing with the tour companies?
Thanks!
I read your trip report & enjoyed it. I leave for Vietnam in 3 weeks and I am trying to plan a 4 day trip to the Ha Giang area. In order to do this I am speaking w/ many tour companies with varying results. What did you think of Travel Sense Asia? Did you have a good experience with them? Any suggestions with dealing with the tour companies?
Thanks!
Oct 1st, 2011, 10:35 PM
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Trockia,
I hope the moonsoon season will be over at the northern of vietnam by the time you will go. You should check with Travel Sense to see what they recommend. My experiences with them were all great, they were the most helpful and honest travel agent I have dealt with. For the last two trips, they handled the accommodation, airport transfers and all our day trips. We were all happy with their services. Actually, I felt very thankful to find them among all of other agencies.
The reason I wanted to come back next year around April also because I wanted to go to Ha Giang and Travel Sense Asia said it was the most beautiful time of the year for Ha Giang, plus there was a love market (once a year only). I want to eye-witness that. So let me know how your trip going so I can learn some experiences from you! Keep me up-to-date please.
I hope the moonsoon season will be over at the northern of vietnam by the time you will go. You should check with Travel Sense to see what they recommend. My experiences with them were all great, they were the most helpful and honest travel agent I have dealt with. For the last two trips, they handled the accommodation, airport transfers and all our day trips. We were all happy with their services. Actually, I felt very thankful to find them among all of other agencies.
The reason I wanted to come back next year around April also because I wanted to go to Ha Giang and Travel Sense Asia said it was the most beautiful time of the year for Ha Giang, plus there was a love market (once a year only). I want to eye-witness that. So let me know how your trip going so I can learn some experiences from you! Keep me up-to-date please.
Oct 9th, 2011, 11:00 PM
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Seems like you'd a great time! Just how touristy is Sapa, though? I'm thinking of doing a similar trip to Vietnam, and as I don't have enough time I have to choose between Sapa and the Phong Nha Caves ._.
Oct 10th, 2011, 11:09 AM
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Roonn, When you plan to go? It is hard to choose which - Sapa and Phong Nha caves.
I found that if you are going to be more on adventure side, I would recommend Phong Nha caves since not many people has been there and explore the cave hard cores.
Sapa is quite touristy, but in the end, we are tourists right?
It's still a lovely town though, just about 45 minutes out of town, you wont feel it anymore. We went to the pass (direction to Dien Bien Phu - passed the silver waterfall), the scenery is beautiful there though the road is under construction.
Also weather & season can be a strong factor for you to choose where to go.
I found that if you are going to be more on adventure side, I would recommend Phong Nha caves since not many people has been there and explore the cave hard cores.
Sapa is quite touristy, but in the end, we are tourists right?
It's still a lovely town though, just about 45 minutes out of town, you wont feel it anymore. We went to the pass (direction to Dien Bien Phu - passed the silver waterfall), the scenery is beautiful there though the road is under construction.
Also weather & season can be a strong factor for you to choose where to go.
Oct 10th, 2011, 11:14 AM
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we stayed in Hanoi Imperial Hotel (booked through travel sense asia) - right on a corner of a busy cafe street, I actually enjoyed it a lot to have a local coffee on the street after a bowl of pho. Just a few steps from hoan kiem lake, which i found extremely convenient !
The first time we stayed in Tirant hotel, very nice and new hotel with very very decent price. meant to stay there for 2nd time but Travel sense asia gave me advice to stay in hanoi imperial instead because the other one having the construction going on next to them. But definitely will stay in Tirant again one day.
That will be a long while to talk about street foods. I am going to post another report on street foods, so keep in touch and i can give you more information.
The first time we stayed in Tirant hotel, very nice and new hotel with very very decent price. meant to stay there for 2nd time but Travel sense asia gave me advice to stay in hanoi imperial instead because the other one having the construction going on next to them. But definitely will stay in Tirant again one day.
That will be a long while to talk about street foods. I am going to post another report on street foods, so keep in touch and i can give you more information.
Oct 10th, 2011, 04:37 PM
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Catladyva, I plan to go around end October/ early November this year! The thing is, if I leave out Phong Nha caves, I could fly direct from Hanoi to HCMC, saving me a lot of transit time, and my trip is just 11ish days so time is of a concern!
I do agree that we are tourists though, and sometimes we should just "knock ourselves out"
I do agree that we are tourists though, and sometimes we should just "knock ourselves out"
Oct 17th, 2011, 12:07 AM
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Roonn, around 11 days? Check the weather since this time of the year a lot of typhoons coming into the center of vietnam. you wont want to be stucked there. and get thing organized, since we want to come back for business in November but cant do a side trip because rooms in Hoi An are fully booked 
