shelleyk

Thanks guys for letting me know that someone is still reading.

The Camellia Hotel in Hue was the best hotel of the trip, a true 4 star hotel. It is located in the new city, about a 5 minute cab ride from the old city and a 10 minute walk to the river. The room was large with dark wooden floors and a small balcony overlooking the city. The bathroom was modern and contained really nice amenities. The breakfast was excellent and varied with both Asian food, including excellent pho and stir fried dishes and western food including an omelette station. (Actually most of the hotels on the tour had an omelette station at breakfast). It was nice to stay at a hotel that was up to my standards so I could recommend it.

After breakfast we visited the Thien Mu pagoda, the citiadel and the forbidden purple city. All were interesting and again I took lots of photos.

For lunch we visited the Dieu Thanh Monastery where we had an excellent vegetarioan meal consisting of 5 or 6 stir fried vegtable dishes. After lunch we had time to have a question and answer session with a 32 year old nun concerning her life as a Buddist nun. The interaction was very enjoyable as she was both informative and charming.

After lunch we returned to the hotel and had a few free hours before leaving for our next adventure. I had intended to hire a car to take me to the Emperor's Tombs, but found I needed some down time and some excersise, so I decided to walk to the river and view the activities along the river bank instead. Although I would have liked to have seen the tombs, I realize that pushing each day to the limit is not a good way for me to enjoy a trip.

At about 4;45 we left the hotel to visit the Minh Tu Orphanage which is supported by the Grand Circle Foundation. There were about 200 children and young adults at the orphanage ranging in age from 6 days old to 24 years old. We spoke to the director and founder of the orphanage about her mission, watched them feed the kids dinner (quite a site to feed 200 hungry children) and sang some songs with the kids. Although it may sound hokey, it actually was quite a moving experience. Although our group brought notebooks and pens to distribute to the kids, many decided to make an additional monetary contribution to the GC Foundation to support the orphanage.

After leaving the orphanage, we went back to town to have dinner at Phuoc Thanh restaurant. We had a delicious meal of crispy pancakes stuffed with veggies, shrimp in garlic sauce, chicken Hue, crispy noodles and veggies. Definately a very good meal.

Tomorrow we depart for Hoi An.

LowCountryIslander

shelley...

Great Report! And, I do believe our paths may have crossed! I was in Vietnam Feb. 28- March 10th with a group of 9 women traveling together. We had lunch one day at Goda in Hoi An and as we sat down there was another table with a group, as that group was leaving we found out they were an OAT tour...could that have been your group? If so, what a small world!

I've been back a week and have barely started sorting through my photos, but eventually I will get around to posting a trip report...in the meantime, I'm enjoying yours very much!

shelleyk

Our paths probably did cross as we had lunch a Goda restaurant on our first day in Hoi An. Wasn't the Vietnamese cuisine fabulous? It has now become my favorite type of ethnic food. Too bad we do not have a really good Vietnamese restaurant close to where I live.

Did you go with a tour group or did you have a travel agent plan the trip for your group?

I too have not gone through my photos. I know that I have many duplicates that will need to be deleted. I took about 1400 photos, so I have some work ahead of me. I am looking forward to reading your trip report.

LowCountryIslander

Shelley,

I was on a group tour, but a friend coordinated all the logistics, hotels, guides, restaurants, and there were just 9 of us, so although a tour, not the typical group tour.

We also spent 2 days in Siem Reap and a week in Thailand...I came home with 2400 pictures! My eyes are going bleary looking at them all!

m_bran

Shelley - I'm enjoying each installment - please keep 'em coming.

So glad the rain in Halong didn't spoil it for you.

I'm currently planning a trip for myself & friends through Tonkin. So it's been extra fun to follow along.

LCI - hope you'll share your trip & photos, too

rhkkmk

still reading and enjoying... no good vietamese food here in tuscany either

shelleyk

But you do have good wine which is probably enhancing your trip.

m-bran-Happy to hear you are enjoying my report. I know you will have a wonderful time in Vietnam. If we had gone independently we would have used Tonkin Travel.

jcasale

Hi Shelleyk,
I am anxiously awaiting the rest of your trip. We are planning a trip to Vietnam for next November with some friends, so I am reading with definite interest as we plan out the itinerary. We plan to take the train down to Hue and will probably add in a trip up north to Sapa or to the area around the Ban Gioc waterfall, but otherwise lots of similarities. Thanks for all of the details!
Jen

shelleyk

jcasale-Glad you appreciate the details. Sometimes it is difficult to know what details to include and what to leave out. We had wanted to visit Sapa before this tour began, but nixed it because we thought it would be too cold in Feb.

After another wonderful breakfast at Camellia Hotel we left for our transfer to Hoi An. We took the coastal route rather than going over the Hai Van pass which takes longer. The scenery over the pass is supposed to be beautiful, if you can see it. From reading many trip reports, it is often too foggy to see much. The scenery along the coastal route was pleasant and the 3 hours ride passed quickly.

When we arrived in Hoi An, we had lunch at the Goda Restaurant which was very good and checked into our hotel, the Phuoc An Hotel, located about 2 miles outside of town overlooking the river and rice fields. The rooms facing the road are reported to be noisy, but we were given a room to the rear overlooking the rice fields. The room was very nice although I can't remember details.

After a short rest, we drove into town and our guide bought tickets for entrance to several buildings in the ancient part of Hoi An. Included in our tour was the Japanese bridge, the interior of the Tan Ky house, and a Chinese Assembly hall. All were moderately interesting, but I had my own walking tour planned for the next day which I thought was even more intersting.

At 6PM we were taken to the Champa Restaurant in town for a cooking demonstration and dinner. Who knew a Vietnamese female chef could be so funny, a combination of the personality of the soup Nazi on Seinfeld and Gordon Ramsey without cursing. The hour of instruction/entertainment flew by. I helped demonstrate rolling spring rolls and was surprised that they actually looked like something I would eat.

After the demonstration we were served the dishes that the chef had demonstrated making. Everything was very tasty and the service was attentive.

The regular menu at this restaurant is a combination of Vietnmese and Italian, with an emphasis on pizza. I met a family from Australia who had been in Hoi An for 3 months, and the husband said that they like this restaurant so much that they eat here 3 times a week, They had ordered pizza. At about 9pm we returned to the hotel.

rhkkmk

pizza in HA?????????????? people give me a hard time... i still love pizza the world around

shelleyk

Bob-I have never given you a hard time about your menu choices. To each his own. But to clarify, our group had a 7 course dinner of Vietnames food including spring rolls, a marinated fish dish cooked in banana leaves, and a roast pork dish. I never did get tired of eating 3 meals a day of Vietnamese food. But if I had, the pizza did look good.

shelleyk

After an early breakfast, we left for the 1.5 hour ride to My Son where we had a guided tour of the Champa ruins and had some free time to wander. The skies were overcast and that was good because it was very warm and there is very little shade.

My Son was very interesting and atmospheric and I really enjoyed being there. Most of the ruins are truly ruins as they were partially destroyed by the bombing during the Tet offensive. But there is enough left to make the trip to the ruins worthwhile, IMO. I got a good idea of what the religious site was like in its heyday 1000 years ago and I took some good photos of the ruins.

It was then back to Hoi An for lunch at the Morning Glory Restaurant. On a trip that consisted of really good food for the most part, this was the best meal of the trip. We had the best fresh spring rolls of the trip as well as several other dishes, All of the food was flavorful without being too hot and the service was terrific.

We passed up an afternoon optional tour with the group to do our own thing in Hoi An.. We took the hotel shuttle into town at 3:30 and returned by taxi (around $2) at 10 in the evening.

First stop in town was the Cargo Club where we had delicous pastry and iced coffee, both excellent. We then walked over to the Secret Garden Restaurant to scope it out and make a reservation for the evening. I had read a lot of recommendations for this restaurant and wanted to make sure we could get a reservation..

We then took a leisurely walk around town, taking photos of what we had missed the previous day, and wound up at the riverfront near the public market. Sinced DH's back was bothering him, I left him sitting on a bench overlooking the river and I went off to view the covered market, which I had read was one of the best in Vietnam. I agree that this and the main market in Dalat are not to be missed sights.

I spent over an hour strolling through the market which had different sections selling produce, flowers, noodles, meat live fish. ect. Observing and photographing life and the daily commercial interaction of people was facinating and fun. I could have spent moret time there as I love viewing and photographing markets, but I wanted to get back to check on DH, who while I was gone was having his own interaction with a local man who was trying to sell him a boat ride on the river. My husband said it was not high pressure. Just a fun interaction between 2 people who speak and understand little of each other's language.

By the time I got back to the river front at 5:30, it was rush hour in Hoi An. Students and workers were arriving at the dock in droves on their bicycles. They were there to take their local ferries back to their island homes. It was amazing to watch the man in charge pack each ferry boat so tightly with people and bicycles that it looked like every inch of space was taken. As one ferry filled up and pulled away from the dock another arrived and the loading process began again. We watched this for quite a while as we found this process amazing and entertaining.

When rush hour was over and darkness was descending the lanterns in Hoi An are lit and wandering the streets with the lanterns glowing is a magical experience. At about 7:30, we strolled over to the Secret Garden eagerly anticipating a great meal.

Unfortuately, the meal was a disappointment. Maybe it was because I had read such great things about the restaurant, but probably it was partially because we had such an outstanding lunch at Morning Glory. In any case we ordered 4 items off the menu and each was very bland. The outdoor setting in the garden was nice, and the service was adequate, but the meal lacked any real flavor. Obviously from my experience, I would say Morning Glory is a much better choice for lunch or dinner in Hoi An..

After dinner we stolled around for a while, hoping that we would become hungry enough for a return trip to the Cargo Club for dessert, but since that did not happen by 9:30, we decided to take a cab back to the hotel as we had a 6am wake up call for our morning flight to Danang.

shelleyk

Correct-Our flight today was to Nha Trang, not Danang. On the way to the airport for our flight, we stopped at China Beach for a photo op.

After arriving in Nha Trang, we were taken to a rural village which specialized in basket weaving, where we had lunch at the village chiefs home and had an opportunity to ask questions of the village chief's wife. The Qand A session was supposed to be with the village chief, but he was called to the district office of the Communist Party to confer with some higher ups about a local matter concerning the village. The Q and A period gave us some insight into the political structure of Vietnam, how the local villages are governed, the types of problems that are endemic to this local village (drugs, alcohol, abuse to name a few) and how the problems are dealt with. This info was eye opening and informative and certainly was not the type of information I could have gleaned had I travelled independently.

After lunch and the Q and A session, we went to several of the homes where whole families from age 6 years to 89 years of age were engaged in basket weaving. We were given a demonstration of the craft from the splitting of the bamboo for the reeds, to the weaving of the baskets, to the final firing of some of the baskets to make them watertight.

At around 5PM we checked into the Summer Hotel in Nha Trang. This was the by far the worst hotel of the trip-mediocre breakfasts and a breakfast dining room that was too small to accomodate us and the other large tour group which arrived at breakfast at the same time we did , one very slow elevator for the whole hotel which did not work at times, and noise from renovations going on within the hotel. To be fair, the hotel did have some positives -a large, very clean room and the hotel's location 2 blocks from the beachfront promenade and a five minute walk to many restaurants and cafes.

The next day we took a boat ride out to an island where just about everyone is a fisherman. We viewed a fish sauce processing set up in someone's home, as well as a local market. After our stroll through the island town, we reboarded our boat and were taken to Mieu island, to a very pretty, private beach club for lunch and several hours of relaxation.. The sea breeze was refreshing and the comfy lounge chairs where just what I needed and I zoned out for several hours of some much needed down time.

For dinner, we decided to go the Sailing Club, a few blocks walk from our hotel. The restaurant has indoor seating as well as outdoor seating, which is what we chose. Dining while watching the huge waves roll ashore was a treat. The ambience was great, but the food was just ok. We ordered cashew chicken in a half pineapple which was bland, and a Vietnamese fish stew which was good, but also could have used more seasoning. The stew was loaded with local fish, shrimp,and clams, had a rich broth and was served over noodles. The 2 dishes along with a large water and beer came to $21.

After dinner, we walked along the seaside promenade for a while before finding a bakery/ coffee shop for chocolate cake. The cake was adequate, but certainly did not compare to the deserts at the Cargo Club in Hoi An.

Tomorrow we drive to Dalat.

yestravel

Thank you for your great TR. We're going to VN this winter so gathering all the research I can.

shelleyk

You are welcome. Glad to know this TR might be helpful in planning your trip.

I have not had time to finish this TR. The rest of the report will cover 2 wonderful days in Dalat, 2 days in HCMC, which I really enjoyed, and one day in the Mekong Delta.

Hope to get this finished soon.

shelleyk

We were up early, had breakfast and departed Nha Trang for Dalat at 7:30am. Dalat is one place I would not have chosen to visit on a DIY tour because of the logisitics of getting there, but I am happy to have had the opportunity to get there with OAT. After a 4 hour drive on part bad roads, part modern highway, and some scenic mountain views with a stop in a rural village, we arrived in Dalat. Dalat is a mountain village used by residents of HCMC as a respite from the heat. It was used by the French when they occupied VN for the same reason and because of that there is a French influence to some of the architecture in and around Dalat. We stayed at the Dalat Du Parc, a very nice former summer residence

Jeniekrag

Vietnam is an amazing place to visit and i can get this by reading your forum. It felt nice knowing about each and every place that you have mentioned. So nice of you for sharing your experience and would like to read more and more. It's been a great experience to know all.

shelleyk

sorry-a very nice property. The rooms were very large and recently redone. The lobby was beautiful and the service was excellent. As an added bonus, the breakfasts were wonderful and the croissants and baguettes were delicious.

When we arrived we had a very good lunch at Trong Dong restaurant where the owner said he had the best farm raised venison in Dalat. The venison dish was excellent as well as the other 5 courses we consumed.

Then it was off to the Truc Lam Zen Buddist Pagoda which was a mountain top pagoda reached by cable car. The ride up was fun, the views were excellent, and the pagoda grounds were beautiful, covered in flowers, trees and interesting Chinese influenced buildings. This complex is fairly new, but was still worth seeing if one is in Dalat. It was then back to the hotel to get ready for our home hosted dinner.

The group was divided into 2 with 8 people going to one home and 8 going to the second home. It is an intersting way to see where and how a middle class family lives. The food was not great, and as a matter of fact, some people in our group had stomach problems after this meal. However, the opportunity to interact with the college age nephew of the hostess and listening to his plan/hope of opening a restaurant in Dalat, was very interesting and entertaining and we had a very enjoyable evening.

HappyTrvlr

This is so helpful as we're heading to Vietnam in October.

shelleyk

The next day an agricultural tour of the area (flower growing green houses, silk production facility, etc.) was scheduled for the morning. We passed on this in order to sleep late and go to the central market which my guidebook said is one of the best in VN.

After a delicious breakfast in the hotel restaurant that had a French bistro/cafe feel to it, we asked the front desk to call us a Mai Linh taxi to go to the central market. I had heard such horror stories about inflated cab prices and rip offs in VN that any time I took a cab I made sure it was a Mai Linh cab and that worked out very well. After a short ride we arrived at Dalat central market, and what a fabulous market it was.

Since Dalat is an agricultural area, there were stalls upon stalls of the freshest, most beautifully displayed fruits and vegtables, a fresh fish area where live fish were squirming in and jumping out of large basins, a fresh meat area where women were cutting up and selling meat, a grocery area selling tea, coffee and sundry other items, a flower market, a