sartoric

Kathie, Ethnic Travel is a very professional outfit. At each place they had their signature woven chair covers, tablecloths and stylish crockery. The car got washed every night too.

Thanks for reading Marija !
I started talking to Hanoi Kids a few weeks ago via email from home. It's a free walking tour organisation designed largely to help uni students improve their English language skills. We wanted to visit the Vietnam Woman's Museum and have lunch, so I booked a time from 10 am to 2 pm. We were hoping for an architecture student, but got a finance student. Our Hanoi Kid was called Jade, she hopes to be an accountant.

I won't say that accountancy is the most boring profession in the world, oops, I just did...duck and run for cover.

Jade had her own agenda. We did visit the museum, which was well signed and laid out, then Hoa Lo prison. She insisted she was not hungry, we offered coffee, but she was not thirsty, so we were marched back to our hotel and abandoned at noon. The prison was interesting though. Perhaps she didn't like me correcting her on the pronunciation of island, where she sound out the "s" like is-land. Anyways, no harm done, and of course we gave a donation to the Hanoi Kids.

We spent the afternoon wandering some more around the old quarter, searching for that ideal pho. I think I'm now addicted to Vietnamese iced coffee.

crellston

If you like the iced coffee, give the "egg coffee" ago. A honou speciality. One of the best places to try it is Giang Cafe near you hotel in the Old Quarter - delicious https://accidentalnomads.com/2014/12...oi-egg-coffee/

We found Etnic to be excellent especially our guide who was able to adapt our route as we went along without a hitch. Definitely don't recall the "tablecloths and stylish crockery" maybe that a recent addition? I do remember the food at the homestays though, some of the best we had in Vietnam and, as you say, always different. Amazing the feasts they can cook up on an open fire!

BTW just read of the massive fish poisoning issue off the coast of north Vietnam. Apparently locals have been advised not to eat any form of sea fish

http://www.theguardian.com/environme...aths-pollution

Stick to chicken!

sartoric

Thanks C, we've heard about the fish poisoning, people here are blaming chemicals being released (accidentally or otherwise). There are even restaurant menus with notes posted to the front advising they are not serving ocean fish. At the moment we're in Hue, hunkered down in our aircon room, and I'm catching up on the past few days notes. According to the weather channel it is 35 C, feels like 42 C.


Our last day in Hanoi saw us aimlessly wandering, and stopping often for cool drinks.

We found the crab restaurant recommended by Crellston, it's gone out of business or moved, darn. We also searched and found the best pho place, which indeed had a long line. By now I wanted a comfy chair, so we hoofed it back to our street and ate at a trendy rooftop restaurant...it was nothing special.

Did manage to fit in some shopping for gifts, and enjoyed chatting to a British couple over a couple of beers in westerners bar street. We fended off the shoe cleaners, sunglass sellers, t-shirt sellers etc etc.

It was an early night for us, due to a ridiculously early start tomorrow.

sartoric

A long day of transiting...

We had a 3.45 am wake up call and were picked up at 4.30 to get to the airport for our 6.30 flight to Da Nang. Jeez, why did I book this ? Answer, because the later flights were full for online booking, and I didn't want to risk showing up at the airport for a last minute flight purchase that might have been okay OR NOT !
The things we do...

We arrived in Da Nang at 7.45 am found left luggage at the airport (I had read that the train station was not so safe, and after seeing it can understand why) and took a taxi to Marble Mountains (thx again for this Crellston). The taxi (our hotels suggestion was to use a green one, from the Mai Linh company) cost VND 182k and took about 20 minutes. We enjoyed another iced coffee where the business owner had great English, lots of advice about avoiding the touts and scams, and five children ! Lots of big families in Vietnam.

The Marble Mountains cost VND 15k pp to enter, plus VND 15k pp to take the elevator 5 floors to near the top. There you see temples, pagodas, a huge white Buddha and very steep uneven steps which lead to a cave. The views to the coast are probably best on a clear day, our day was hazy. We spent maybe an hour looking around and taking photos, then the tour groups arrived and we bailed.

Another green taxi took us back to Da Nang to the Cham museum, which has some fine examples of carving from that 4th / 5th century era. It also had an area cordoned off for reconstruction ("apologies for the obstacles" was the sign) and two women washing and polishing the floor of the main hall with industrial machines. So we missed a lot, and with hindsight could have missed it entirely. I should have listened to you LL.

Now we walked, and walked, then walked a bit more. It was getting hot, another iced coffee beckoned with free wifi to find a beach restaurant. There's a problem though, a chemical spill up the coast has poisoned many ocean species. Ocean seafood is not recommended right now. We settled on the riverside and got chatting to an American couple who live in Da Nang. When Mr American Ken found out about our plans for four nights in Hue, he told us there was nothing to do there, said it's boring, and it's so much better in Da Nang. Oh oh.

Our train left at 2.15 pm, the boarding process was chaotic. Despite confirmation otherwise from Baolau.vn (the booking site recommended by the brilliant Man in Seat 61) we were sat on the left hand (wrong) side of the train, and facing backwards to boot. All the other passengers were Vietnamese and either were asleep or stuck to their phones. Except that is, for the two eating machines diagonally opposite. We watched with amusement as two middle aged ladies snacked constantly for the 2.5 hour trip. I think they do this a lot, they had the rolls to prove it, and I'm not talking Royce.

Finally we arrived to Hue, and the Serene Palace hotel around 5 pm. What a lucky find and a warm welcome. We were so shagarillered that we couldn't contemplate going out, so freshened up and had dinner at the hotel. I didn't know, but the hotel restaurant is rated number 1 on TripAdvisor and deserves it's ranking. My first western meal of the trip, a tuna nicoise style salad was perfect, as was the bun heo hue (pork noodle soup) enjoyed by DH. The depth of flavours in the soup stock were amazing and these meals cost about $3 each. Im stalking the chef tomorrow and plan to invade the kitchen. We crash early.

crellston

"Mr American Ken found out about our plans for four nights in Hue, he told us there was nothing to do there, said it's boring, and it's so much better in Da Nang. Oh oh."

American Ken has been out in the sun too long! Quite the opposite, we found Da Nang boring. Even the famed China beach didn't live up to expectations. Loads to do in and around Hue, the Imperial City, the Tombs are amazing and all are very different, boat rides on the river out into the countryside and some of the best food in Vietnam.

thursdaysd

What crellston said! I enjoyed Danang in 2002 because there were hardly any tourists and I thought the Chan Museum (dusty and NOT being renovated!) was fabulous, but Hue has far more to see and far more atmosphere. As you have probably discovered.

sartoric

Yes, you're both right Crellston and thursdaysd.

Ken was wrong. Hue is charming.

It's not always a good sign when two sets of earplugs are on the bedside table of your hotel room. Sure enough, next door is a karaoke bar, across the street a motorcycle rental and repair shop, and three doors down another karaoke bar. However, the room is large enough to make a helicopter of cats to swing, and very welcome after the tiny Hanoi room. We never opened the earplugs, and never heard a sound !

Our hotel is three short blocks from Le Loi street, the main riverfront drag. Alongside Le Loi St are cool gardens with a wide and smooth paved path fronting the Perfume River making a stroll around very easy.

I didn't know about the Hue festival, a biennial event which happens to coincide with our visit. Lucky again ! There's street performers, mime artists, pantomime, Ao Dai shows, musicians, kite flying, rock concerts and many other activities set up along both sides of the river. Most of the festival attendees are Vietnamese. It's really busy, and so much fun to interact with the friendly Vietnamese people.

We entered what I thought was a photo exhibition. As we looked at the poster sized photos a young man started talking to us about the WWF attempt to save the Sao Lo. It's an endangered native species of an antelope/deer type (he called them unicorns, funny). I made a donation of a handful of small notes which turned out to be VND 13k, and got a handwritten thank you card. Before we knew it a group of a dozen teenagers were asking for and taking photos, the WWF people were in the game and taking photos too, both with their camera and ours. We were photographed patting life sized fibreglass Sao Lo, and were given a gift of two bamboo pencils in appreciation of our donation. Priceless !

We wandered to the beer festival area which also contains many food stalls, both cooked and packaged products with samples available. There was always someone with enough English willing to tell us what was what. We spotted an animal on a spit, slowly turning/browning via a man with a hand crank. DH was concerned it was dog, a kind young man told us it was horse ! No way, too small for horse, I guessed goat and the kind young man embarrassingly admitted he got the name wrong ! I think there will be roast goat in our plans for tonight.

It says a lot about us that we spent the day at a food festival and have yet to see the citadel or tombs.

Kathie

First things first - the beer festival was obviously an important attraction. And lucky you, being there for the Hue festival.

progol

What serendipity! The festival sounds like great fun - and I'm glad to hear the animal on the spit was a goat!

Loving this....

sartoric

Thanks Kathie and progol. Things have gone a bit downhill.

After the festival excitement we freshened up and took a taxi to Lac Thien restaurant, as recommended by Crellston (thx again). The food was slow coming but superb when it did. The owner amused us no end, and gifted us a beer bottle opener which he carefully calibrated by screwing the bolt down, then hand signed and dated. I asked for his texta, and wrote on the wall as many have done before.

There was a lot of yelling by some of his seven adult children who were manning the floor, so we yelled a bit too which amused them. The 92 year old grandma was peeling garlic. We learnt the ages of everyone by writing on the stainless steel table with Mr Owner who is deaf. So much fun here, and dinner cost about VND 150 which included 3 beers (I said it was a long wait).

We wandered to the food part of the Hue festival looking for that roast goat. I have never seen a more crowded street, it was bedlam. A million motorcycles, and half the population of Vietnam were here...swear it's true xx.

It was great fun, until in the dark I walked into a metal sign about 30 cms high which made three holes in my shin. Bugger, I was bleeding and a bit concerned about infection. There goes the goat. A cyclo driver took us back to our hotel through manic traffic. The staff pulled out a medical kit, disinfected and dressed the wound, and gave me the necessary stuff to repeat tomorrow.

The citadel is coming up.

crellston

Ouch!!!

Glad you enjoyed Lac Thien. Sounds like the owner was on good form.

progol

Hope you are okay! That injury sounds painful but it sounds like the staff were on top of it in taking care of you. May his be a minor blip in your travels!

The Lac Thien visit sounds like great fun!

Kathie

Yipes1 I hope you are up to date on your tetanus vaccine!

Take care of yourself. Wounds can easily get infected in tropical climes.

sartoric

Crellston, he was great, a really fun time there, we recommended it to some people we shared a breakfast table with the next morning.

Progol, I'm okay, but the downhill slide did get steeper.

Kathie, my last tetanus booster was a couple of years ago, but the injury was more of a graze and its scabbing up well. Fingers crossed.

I woke up with a sore leg, and the beginnings of a head cold...oh no !

After a delicious breakfast with many choices of cooked noodles, rice, soup, eggs and fresh fruit we taxied to the Citadel. We bought a pass that gives entry to two attractions out of a choice of three for VND 280k pp. Today was Sunday, May 1 and a public holiday for international workers day. Boy it was crowded. There are electric carts that ferry tour groups around which you can't hear, they sneak up on you from behind and blast the horn. I think they do that just to see how high you can jump.

I have mixed feelings about the citadel. There were some interesting parts, some well tended gardens, reasonable signage and also some really scrappy parts, unkempt gardens etc. Most of the original structures were destroyed in the Tet offensive during the American war, a few have been restored. It looked odd that the centre area was being set up for a concert, so there were many trucks carrying chairs, speakers and other equipment.

I'd checked weather before we left the hotel at 8.30, it was supposedly 31 C, felt like 39 C, with 70% humidity. We lasted about 3 hours before the heat became unbearable. Back in the aircon of our hotel, the weather channel said temp 35 C, feels like 42. OMG. I now have a bung leg, a head cold, and a bit of heat exhaustion.

Needless to say, I didn't leave the hotel for the rest of the day. DH went out for a massage around 5.30 and had me really worried when he wasn't back at 8 pm. He did make it back shortly after and was very hot under the collar. Said he'd been hijacked by a cyclo driver and taken for a ride (in more ways then one). By then there was a wait for a table at the restaurant, so we ordered room service.

Silly me, tomorrow we push on to see a tomb and a pagoda.

sartoric

The Thien Mu pagoda, and Minh Mang tomb.

I woke up feeling a bit better, so we ventured out with a private car as suggested by our hotel. The cost for the car and driver was $30.

At 8.15 am temp 33 C, feels like 36 C we hit the pagoda. Entry is free here and it probably should be. With such an abundance of rain and cheap labour, why are the gardens so unkempt ? There was rubbish everywhere, not surprising, we were hard pressed to find the one bin in the complex. There are some stunning bonsai which must be very old.
We were accosted by a group of young women on the "photo with a westerner" hunt. All three sandwiched themselves between me and DH sweatily hugging us for their individual photos, then moved on to the next couple....bizarre.

Our two attraction pass gave us a choice out of three main sites. We chose the Minh Mang tomb, based on our receptionists advice that the other had too many steps. Indeed we drove past it and there were lots of steps.

The tomb is wedged between two lakes, perfectly symmetrical and consists of a number of pavilions. It was quiet tourist wise, so easy to take photos of the structures without people. A snack bar overlooking the lake allowed another fix of iced coffee, yum. By this time it was 11 am, temp 37 C, feels like 46 C. I'm not kidding with these temps, DH uses weather.com to check this out. It was time for aircon in our hotel.

We did venture out late afternoon, the threatening thunder storm helping to lower the temperature somewhat. A little gift shopping, then dinner at Golden Rice restaurant, pork on lemongrass skewers, and crispy noodle beef.

I'm sure there's lots more to see in Hue. During cooler weather (and without my cold) we might have had more energy to explore. As it was, our three days in Hue included way too much time spent in the hotel, by necessity. The best fun was had at the festival and interacting with many Vietnamese people.
The popular tourist sites were underwhelming to me. Hue will call us back for the food, and maybe the festival !

We had two domestic flights with VietJet Air, Hanoi to Da Nang and Hue to Saigon. It's a budget airline so there's not always airbridges, which means a bus to the plane and walking up steps. On both our flights we were seated in the exit rows, so loads of leg room. On the second flight I couldn't even reach the seat in front of me !

shelleyk

Hope your leg is healing and you are feeling better. We revisited Hue in January and went out to the royal tombs, which we did not have time to see on our first trip. I enjoyed seeing them more than seeing the citadel and the pagoda. They are better kept, much quieter and IMO more visually interesting, though certainly not as historic as the citadel. BTW, we spent the day at the tombs in the rain, but to me that was much better than trying to see them in 100 degree heat. I'm looking forward to the rest of your report.

Kathie

That heat would make it difficult for me to appreciate the sights. Thanks for telling us about nit so we don't have to go - lol.

sartoric

Thanks shelleyk for your concern, the leg is healing, ....if only the head cold would go way...I'm still a snot factory.

Yes Kathie, if I choose this time of year again, Korea (as my brother suggested) would make sense.

We flew with Vietjet to Saigon, then AirAsia to Kuala Lumpar (KLIA2, the low cost carrier terminal) arriving at 15.40. I had booked a night at The Tune Hotel, DH would be flying home tonight at 23.30, and I will be going to Mandalay via Bangkok (DMK). All these flights were with AirAsia, and frankly, I like them. Sure, it's a no frills budget airline, you pay extra for luggage, food, drinks, choice of seats, but you don't have to choose these extras.

The Tune Hotel (KLIA2) was disgraceful. The first room they gave us was dirty, the second room was not even made up, the third room was just functional, although not what I'd call clean. There are no phones in the rooms, so I had to traipse down to reception through unaircondtioned corridors & elevators, getting sweatier and angrier each time. There was a cafe of sorts on the ground floor, can you believe they had run out of beer ? No, me neither. Yes, it's a Muslim country, but this is an airport hotel, so presumably plenty of non Muslims use it. It didn't help that the information desk at the airport had given us wrong information to get there, so we ended up on the street in the unbearable heat instead of the covered walkway.

DH left the hotel at 21.00 hours to catch his flight home.
I woke up at 5.00 with tiny ants in the bed crawling around on me. The bathroom was also full of ants, many were later drowned. I have some Buddhist leanings, but they don't include most insects.
The reception staff appeared to be shocked at my rant, too bad, wait until they see the review on booking.com.

I was out of the hotel by 5.20 and barely made my 6.40 flight to DMK, there is so much walking at this airport, long lines at security and few counters open at immigration. I'm glad to be out of Malaysia.
In Bangkok I had a few hours to kill, and spent them in a coffee shop with free airport wifi. The next flight DMK to Mandalay was great, the flight attendants were fun, and sang happy birthday to one of the other passenger getting the whole plane involved. This flight was operated by AirAsia Thailand, whereas all the other flights have been AirAsia Malaysia. The Thais are more my kind of people.

Next up, return to Mandalay.

thursdaysd

Thanks for the warning about the Tune. But given the price and the reviews not entirely surprising - aside from the ants!!!

Kathie

Yikes! Ants! The Tune sounds like a fine hotel to avoid.

Air Asia is very well-priced, and if you are flying point to point it works well. For me, I'm often connecting somewhere and it works not so well then, as you have to collect your luggage and go back to the the check-in desk to check in for your next flight. I heard rumors that Air Asia was gong to start transferring luggage to another Air Asia flight (at an extra charge, of course). Any sign of this?

Welcome back to Mandalay! I look forward to hearing about this part of your trip.