lincasanova

me, too, sf7307!!

aussiedreamer

ha ha ha too funny, I just re read it and it does sound like that. We actually enjoyed 'crossing' the road in Vietnam, you just have to stick to that rule, Step out & keep walking, don't run, don't stop, works 'nearly' everytime.

So glad you are enjoying, I'll try not to 'drag' it out too much longer.

yestravel

Yea, crossing the street in Hanoi and Saigon was a real adrenalin rush. In Aonang Beahc, Tahialnd a women told us its called a "leap of faith.". U go & have to have faith thatbu will make it! We're u at Caravelle at sunset? We thought the view then was lovely.
Looking forward to the rest.

lincasanova

Our son kept telling us.. "whatever you do, don't stop. They're watching you.. don't worry , but you'll really mess things up if you stop on them!!"

sf7307

We did the "keep moving" thing too, but once in Saigon, I just "drafted" the young woman in front of me, which she fortunately thought was very amusing!

lincasanova

funnily though.. in your mind there is this voice praying it all turns out OK as you focus on survival.

sf7307

"I think I can, I think I can"

aussiedreamer

<b>Hanoi</b>

After another push and shove getting off the plane (?) we waited about 10minutes for our driver to turn up. When he did he was really arrogant just took off and we guessed we were to follow, no offer of help with the bags or any niceties. This was organised through our hotel and we did mention it to them and they said he was a private contractor and they would not use him again.
It was about a 30-45minute drive into the hotel in the old town of Hanoi, so pleased we chose this location, just brilliant. We stayed at the Hanoi Diamond Elegance and it was wonderful, phew. We’d taken a bit of a chance here in that we’d got them to organise quite a few things for us, which we wouldn’t normally do. But they were terrific, so helpful and genuinely friendly and just really lovely. Our rooms were suites and woh they were really nice, talk about a lovely oasis to come back to after walking around this manic city. We pretty much just dropped our gear and took off walking towards the lake, unfortunately it was so foggy/misty/smoggy that it wasn’t great for taking photos and it was like that most of the time we were there.
Dinner was at the Green Tangerine and it was a beauty!! What a lovely restaurant and if you are staying in or near the Hanoi Elegance its really close.
We ate;
Starters -
Me - Crab, red & green peppers & tomato blazed in cognac on a Mille Teuille cake (the best entree at the table)
Stephen - Small bacon flowers & mushroom pistils (stems), 5 Vietnamese spices on a layer of sweet & sour tropical fruits (so pretty)
Sue – Tiramisu of duck liver mousse in cognac & grand marnier, layers of parmesan cheese mousse, grape & crumble in amaretto, onions in galangal & crusty bread. (just delicious)
Mains –
Me – Rack of lamb in couscous stew broth served with spicy surprise balls & a polenta made with tiny pellets of lotus seeds & raisins. (Outstanding)
The other 3 – all had the Australian imported steak with 3 kinds of butter, Jus of red & green pepper in rice alcohol and 3 kinds of mash. (They loved it)
Deserts -
We all tried a different desert with Stephen having the 5 tastes. We ate Passion fruit tart in meringue, Mousse cake with chocolate & blackcurrant shortbread biscuit, Hot mellow chocolate cake with ice cream and a chocolate conical hat.

Woh, what a meal and it was absolutely divine, but oh boy were we full.

The next day we walked to the Temple of Literature and had a good walk around, we did also go to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum only to find out it was too late to go in this day. Made our way back to the Temple of Literature and found the KOTO restaurant just across the road. We had lunch there, what a great concept, street kids learning how to cook & serve etc, the food was really nice.
Stephen had a duck breast on mash
Dave had a club sandwich
& Sue & I both had a delicious Bun bo Nam bo, yum.
We also shared some prawn cake starters and had a beer each and the total was $35, a really great experience.

The others all kept walking; I’d had enough and went back to the hotel. Dinner was at the Ly club, again a nice walking distance from hotel. I’d booked this restaurant before we’d left home, although I probably didn’t need to. It’s a lovely place, very ‘old world’ and the service was impeccable.
We ate;
Me – Asparagus Soup and the lamb rack
Stephen had the ‘5 tastes’ which was small bowls of interesting things to be wrapped in beetle leaves, very interesting.
The best part of this night was when they wheeled out a Nespresso machine and had the full selection for us to chose from, perfect end to a wonderful night.

atravelynn

Do you think your future travel plans will be shaped by this life changing journey that you enjoyed so much?

Steamed dark chocolate cake with caramelized cashew nuts, White chocolate panacotta, Fudge choc balls would change my life too.

"sf7307on May 5, 12 at 10:54am
Aussie, when you said you stood on a traffic island for an hour, I though you were going to say you couldn't get across the street LOL!"

That's what I thought because it happened to me once. Being too afraid to cross a street is a humbling experience.

I'm going to need my first pair of prescription glasses soon. It appears a trip to Cambodia may be a cost effective way to make this purchase. Thank you for the hint.

You mention photos of the items carried by motorbike. Will these or others be posted? And will you be cooking Cambodian and Vietnamese at home now?

Thanks for the report.

Doh

That's a great trip report, thanks

aussiedreamer

atravelynn, not sure if it will shape future plans, maybe. I haven't had a chance to organise photos but yes eventually. (I do wish it was easier to post photos on this site ) I was a little 'over' asian food when we got home and its Autumn/Fall here but I will certainly be making a lot more Vietnamese inspired salads next summer.

<b>Hanoi Day 2</b>

We were more organised this morning to go to the mausoleum, Sue & I headed off in a cab about 9am, so glad we did this. The line took about 40minutes to wind its way from the entrance to the mausoleum itself. I didn’t actually have this on my list of things to do but Sue really wanted to so I said I would go with her, one of the real highlights. I was pleasantly surprised about how tastefully it’s done, we were given very strict instructions on how to behave and we were watched very closely. Once you enter the mausoleum, you are really only in there for probably under one minute; they really keep the ‘procession’ moving. When we exited we hadn’t planned on visiting the Royal Palace or the Stilt House and gardens but as it happened, it was actually easier to exit that way. And we really enjoyed all of it, be aware though that the pushing in line and jostling for position can get a little tedious, both in the line and around the Stilt House.

We met the guys back at the main roundabout in the Old Quarter, which was a wonderful place for meeting, people watching and coffee/beer, spent the afternoon wandering around the wonderful shops. Dinner was at the Green Mango, which was one that was on the hotels recommended list and it was very good and again, a nice easy walk from the hotel. Walking to the restaurants each night was half the fun, I’m sure all of Hanoi cooks their dinner on the street, it’s amazing to watch. We were never ‘brave’ enough to try street food as the hygiene looked a little ‘suspect’ but oh dear the food looked and smelled amazing. The Green Mango is a really lovely restaurant, great staff, terrific menu and I must say they make a pretty mean “John Collins”!

We ate:
Me – the yummiest crab and grapefruit salad & Crisp skin chicken with a salad and a beautiful broth for dipping the chicken in.
Stephen & Sue both had Green curry and said it was delicious
Dave had fish.
All the food was presented beautifully and was absolutely YUM.

<b>Halong Bay</b>

To go or not to go seems to be the question, for me I felt we should go but in hindsight could’ve done without it. This was organised through our hotel and we got to leave most of our luggage there in storage, the car was there nice and early to collect us for the very long (3.5 hour) very boring drive to meet the boat. Again we stopped off for the obligatory souvenir shopping but again you kinda need a bathroom stop anyway, finally made it to the reception area for our boat, Paradise Luxury, and after a short time boarded. Lovely boat, really nice room c/w balcony, unfortunately it was cloudy/misty the whole time and I’m sure on a clear day it would be magnificent. We did a one night cruise which for us, was plenty but once on board its all very ‘rushed’, considering we didn’t board ‘till lunch time (ps, lunch was really nice) and we were off the boat again by 9am. We did three excursions, the first was to the Dau Go Caves which we all enjoyed, then to Ti Top Island which has a small Beach and a Pagoda at the top which you can climb too and the last excursion was before breakfast the next to a lovely grotto. So as you can see its pretty full on, we really enjoyed sitting on the deck with a cocktail watching the ‘sunset’ (what we could see through the clouds) and enjoying the view. It poured rain that second day and made for a pretty miserable time getting off the boat.

To top it off, our driver was 1.5hours late and one of our bags ‘disappeared’, so after much angst the driver turned up and the bag was found on one of the buses that had left over an hour ago. They ‘dropped’ our bag off at the souvenir stop and we collected it from there, needless to say we were very happy to arrive back at our hotel. We were leaving for Sapa this night so the hotel very kindly gave us a room at no charge to use ‘till it was time to leave, very handy for the repacking for the train journey and two nights in Sapa. We had room service for dinner and got ready for our first ever over night train trip!!

yestravel

Continuing to enjoy your TR.

Did u also c the Ho Museum? The lines for the Mausoleum were always very long so we ended up skipping it, but thought the museum quite a trip.

Like u we couldn't decide about Halong Bay. In the end figured we would give it a try and I'm glad we did. We had it misty which wasn't perfect weather, but rain would have been awful. Did u arrive back at the shore at 9 am? Do you think that was due to the weather?

Nice of the Elegance Hotel to give u a room. I loved that Hotel -- the staff was wonderful.

aussiedreamer

Hi yestravel, we did go 'to' the museum but didn't end up going in. The lines were long for the Mausoleum but seemed to move quite quickly. As for Halong Bay we were back having breakfast after the short excursion , at 9am while we were sailing back to shore. Can't say enough nice things about the Elegance Hotel.
Thanks for following

aussiedreamer

<b>Sapa & Bac Ha</b>

We headed off to the train station in two cabs; there was the four of us, one other guest also catching the train and one of the lovely young doormen from the hotel. He came with us to organise the tickets and help us board, we were so impressed, he did it all really, then made sure we were in our correct cabins and even waited ‘till the train left and waved us off. How’s that for service?

I had been a bit apprehensive about the train, I’d read some really bad reviews so wasn’t expecting too much. I loved it, the cabins were small but just fine and we’d booked and paid for a four berth cabin each which I highly recommend. I couldn’t imagine sharing that space with two other adults especially if they were strangers. There was a lovely French woman in the cabin next to us who hadn’t ‘realized’ she’d be sharing, with two strapping lads from Melbourne and a local tour guide. She looked horrified, we tried to make light of it as it was really quite funny, but we think she sat on her bunk all night ;-) . So we stood by the windows for a while watching Hanoi disappear into the night, had a drink with the others then decided to try and sleep. For me the toilet was probably always going to be an issue but I’d figured as long as there ‘was’ a toilet I’d be right. Oh dear lord, it was fine when we first got on but on needing to visit it through the night, I was horrified. So much so that I couldn’t use it and walked to the other end of our carriage to see if that toilet was any better, it was, slightly better but still pretty horrific. I just don’t understand how mature adults, I must say our carriage appeared to mostly filled with Europeans, can make such a disgraceful mess in a shared toilet. It was so bad by the morning that we just held on ‘till we got there and as for using the basin opposite to clean our teeth, no way. We used bottled water and an empty beer can!!

Stephen and I slept surprisingly well, probably not a deep sleep but certainly not a bad one. David and Sue weren’t so lucky and were awake all night. The train seems to stop a lot during the night at small stations along the way; I’d love to do this trip during the day. Our hotel in Sapa, Chapa Gardens (more on that later) had organised a driver to meet us and take us up to Bac Ha for the market. To our lovely surprise we also had a guide, who was an absolute darling, her name was Thi (sp?) and she was about 30 years old with perfect English. She’d never been to school but had learnt English from tourists, just amazing. She took us to a local café for coffee and a bathroom stop and then we loaded into a van and off we went. It was a couple of hours up to Bac Ha and can I just say the driver was on a suicide mission, he was terrible, poor Thi was really frightened too, which didn’t help alleviate our fears. On the way back down we all asked him to slow down and be careful, we’re pretty sure this just made him worse.

The drive up to Bac Ha was pretty incredible, the scenery was beautiful, even through the cloud that was really thick. Unfortunately it was raining when we arrived but we still had a great look around the market. I have to say it’s the first market we’ve been too that was a little too overwhelming. We were okay in the craft section and even in the food part but when we got to the livestock section we’d had enough. Intensely confronting is the best way for me to describe it. I had known that we would see some things that culturally would be hard for us but I didn’t realise how upsetting it would be. Stephen & I opted to leave the market and wander around town; the others didn’t last much longer. But we have some amazing photos of the beautiful people and their amazing clothing.

As we’d left the markets a bit sooner than expected Thi asked if we’d like to go visit a local village on the way back. It was terrific, the weather had cleared as we arrived we had a great walk around and were invited into a couple of the homes. Just amazing so eye opening, someone at home asked me if there seemed to be a lot of poverty, I didn’t see it as poverty, I saw it as ‘primitive’, they seem to have everything they need and also seem incredibly happy and very welcoming. I managed to slip over on the way in, as it was incredibly muddy, which gave us all a laugh!!

When we arrived in Sapa it was so foggy, very eerie but wonderful, our hotel was in the main tourist street, up some steep stairs, what a haven, just a lovely small boutique hotel with a great little restaurant c/w an open fire and also a small lounge area. The rooms were a good size, we had a room with a small balcony which was nice, my only complaint is that the bed was nearly level to the floor; kind of futon like, the old knees struggled getting up in the morning ;-). We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around this great town, there are some awesome markets and we were surprised to find NorthFace clothing everywhere, which came in handy later! We also discovered the wonderful Sapa Rooms, this was our favourite place in Sapa, the best coffee in Vietnam and the food was amazing, really beautiful food, cannot recommend this place enough and the free internet was handy too. Make sure you go to Sapa Rooms for at least one meal while in Sapa, and it was to be our coffee stop each day, more than once a day too. Dinner was back at our hotel by the open fire where our shoes were drying, and it was a really nice meal, very home cooked. We all had tomato soup for starters, Stephen & I both had Coq au Vin and the others had meatballs, very hearty food, not amazing but very adequate.

Next we walk to Cat Cat……….

yestravel

The train ride was a trip. bathrooms were pretty bad. we had Vietnamese in our car. Interesting comments on the Bac Ha market. Good tomato soup at your hotel-had it for lunch one very chilly afternoon. and yes the food at Sapa rooms was wondeful. We ate there twice.

aprillilacs

Your train description is pretty spot-on in terms of our experience, though the bathrooms weren't as bad in our car (Fanxipan express). We only did one way (Sapa to Hanoi) because we had done a 5-day driving trip through the Northwest to get to Sapa. I thought the train trip was really fun. And our drive down the mountain from Sapa to the train station was as hair-raising as you describe. The driver (a local) was going like the literal bat out of Hell around those corners. I contemplated how pleased our kids were going to be with their inheritance since we wouldn't have an opportunity to spend it all on travel as we had been planning to do.

We stayed near Sapa Rooms and kept meaning to stop in there but never did. Guess we missed out on a lovely experience! Didn't make it to Bac Ha market either but hit several markets in Sapa and of course were thronged by the women and girls selling their wares on the street. We'd visited a lot of markets already in our 3 months of traveling and kind of hit the market wall. Never thought that would happen!

I'm really enjoying your lengthy report.

aussiedreamer

Thanks aprillilacs........sorry for the delay.

My eldest daughter was in a terrible car accident, she's fine now but very shaken and bruised.

I'll get back to this asap, I'm too close to the end not to finish it.

jamikins

Oh no!! I hope she is ok!! Loving your report!

aussiedreamer

Thanks jamikins, she is fine but very shaken up. They were coming home from a wedding, 5 of them in the car and a guy ran a red light. Could've been so much worse!

<b>Last two days in Sapa</b>


Started our day by heading to the Sapa Rooms for coffee, then back to hotel for breakfast, which was okay but not special. The day had cleared from rain on our walk to coffee to a lovely warm sunny day, so we headed off for Cat Cat. What a great walk, great views thoroughly enjoyed every second of it, lots of things to buy along the way and the waterfall and bridge were terrific. We got a little way up the hill on the way back and there was the option to jump on the back of a motor bike, so off I went. Such fun, the others walked all the way but I really enjoyed the ride up. Met back up at the Sapa Rooms (which is on the road to Cat Cat) and had a wonderful lunch of spring rolls and wontons and some of the yummiest juices. We spent the afternoon shopping for ski jackets, we are heading to Austria for Christmas this year and the bargains were too good to pass up on. We spent hours choosing and haggling it was a lot of fun, we’d decided the day before which shop we’d buy from and the lady was just lovely, we must’ve tried on every jacket in the store. But for $250 we got 4 ski jackets, 3 sets of thermals, 2 pairs of waterproof pants, 1 pair of ski pants and 1 pair of hiking boots. Couldn’t have been happier, we even went back the next day and got two more pairs of shoes! Dinner was at the steak place next door but doesn’t really deserve a mention, barely okay!

We decided that we would have breakfast back at the Sapa Rooms (told you it was good) as our hotel breakfast wasn’t great and we knew the coffee was great at Sapa Rooms and I have to say the breakfast was amazing!!!! We spent the day walking all over Sapa, in and out of shops and markets before our horrible drive back to Lao Cai for our train ride back to Hanoi. The guy was worse than the first one, this time going so slow and tapping his breaks every two seconds and got lost looking for the station, we were very happy to get out of that car. Filled in some time having a drink and bought some baguettes and fruit for dinner on the train, getting the tickets was very easy, just exchanged our vouchers at the office. Settled in on the train and although we didn’t sleep quite as well, it was still a great trip back. So lovely to see our friend from the hotel waiting for us when we arrived in Hanoi, unfortunately as it was only 5am our rooms were not ready. But the hotel gave us use of two spa rooms to shower and relax. Love this hotel, amazing service!

Nearly done, last day in Hanoi before the flights home.

yestravel

Still enjoying your TR. we bought a jacket also. Do u think they r real North Face? I couldn't tell.