Hanoi

We spent 3 days in Malaysia, in Kuala Lumpur to be precise, then we took a flight to Hanoi. We think we'll be back in KL later during our trip in Malaysia, we'll post about it at that time.

Our arrival in Vietnam had been challenging as we had to avoid all the touts (taxis, rogue buses) and find the public bus service well hidden behind a highway... But it was only an appetizer... It's when we came into Hanoi city centre that we understood what a real mess was! The city is constantly buzzing: engine noises, horns, people shooting, and all sort of noises that made us dizzy...

Here are a few photos from Hanoi:

What a good mom, she got a helmet for herself!

Despite the noise, life goes on as usual...

We didn't visit a lot of things in Hanoi, we just hung around in the city centre and didn't like it so much... Maybe because of the constant roaring of their motobikes?!?

Hoan Kiem lake, right in the middle of the old quarter

We took advantage of being in Hanoi to get a few things done: a haircut for Etienne and the last Hepatitis A & B vaccination shot for Aurore.

Halong Bay and Cat Ba island

We had to go through a travel agency to get to the famous Halong Bay. It would have been more expensive and difficult to organize this by ourself. Prices and information are not easy to get in Vietnam, unless you pay the tourist price for them!

We booked a boat trip which pleased us despite the level of service, quality and organisation which decreased constantly during the trip (the last bus driver didn't want to drop us at our hotel, unlike other tourists, we had to insist for quite some time to get what we paid for... Not unusual in Vietnam by the way...). We met Francois and Claire during this trip, two French Canadian travelling for 5 months accross Asia and Eastern Europe. We'll come and see you in February! ;)

Halong Bay:

♫ chabadabada chabadabada ♪ tududu ♫ chabadabada chabadabada ♫

We spent a day on Cat Ba island, we liked it a lot and it was the first beach we could lie on since we've left. :) We also went for a hike in a national park with Nancy and Sam. two americans who were the only ones brave enough to follow us! :) The terrain was pretty rough, going through the jungle: Aurore was Jane and Etienne Tarzan, at least for two hours! :D

Tarzan at the summit

A local barber in the street

1st beach: We Like!

Sadistic punishment: first, sweep the beach and after that you'll count the sand rocks...

Ninh Binh

We headed to what they call the "inland Halong Bay", in Tam Coc and Trang An. We spent a few days exploring this amazing landscape by bike, taking Ninh Binh as our base. There's not much to see in Ninh Binh itself but we had a very good guesthouse with amaaaaaazing food!

One of the many communist propaganda display

Trang An

All the kids said "Hello" to us and asked where we were from. We even spent half an hour discussing with 3 of them, magical time!

Tam Coc

Hue

The more we're going south, the more we feel the heat. Hue really felt hot and humid...

We did a boat trip on the Perfume River. It was a very good day: a boat for us two, Capucine and Stephane (a French couple from Lyon we met in Ninh Binh). We travelled several days more or less with them as we had the same itinerary.

Our captain was Tam, his mother was our cook, and there even was a small sailor, Tam's niece. We stopped in multiple places to visit temples, pagodas and royal tombs.

Thien Mu Pagoda

Our cook and her granddaughter

Stephane, Capucine & Etienne

One of Hue's citadel gate

Hoi An

Seaside! :) We spent three days in this town. Our typical day was first a small bike ride to the beach, lie on the beach for a few hours, then stop in a nearby restaurant to have their delicious food (we loved the food so much that we took a cooking class!), followed by a digestive nap beside the hotel swimming pool and finally get on our bikes again to wander in Hoi An old quarter.

We enjoyed this stay very much, and we would really recommend stopping by Hoi An if you ever go to Vietnam as it's really affordable and so nice!

The beach where we roasted

Beautiful restaurant with delightful food and a lovely scenery

Hoi An Japanese bridge with a model posing, just for us obviously!

Hoi An old quarter

E.T. in action

Our very first fried spring rolls, we're so proud! ;)

Mojito and Pinacolada buckets with fellow travellers

Dalat

After about 17 hours in a bus, we finally arrived in Dalat, in the central Vietnamese mountains. Brrr it's cold, it's only 25°C... (Hehe we're thinking of you in Dublin :D)

We enjoyed the fresh air of Dalat, its mountain scenery and its wine! Dalat's wine is fairly good and we could satisfy our French obligations with this delicious nectar... ;)

We visited a strange house which looked like it could have been built by Gaudi. Aurore really loved it and felt like Alice in Wonderland (there even was a rabbit following her, apparently... :D)

Hang Nga crazy house

We rented our first Asian "motobike", which really is a scooter. We went to see a waterfall and a temple before being stopped by the rain and a flat tire... 

CHiPs

Datanla falls, nothing spectacular but it's worth getting there...

...just for the bobsled ride :)

Special coffee blend: coffee beans are fed to a kind of weasel and the droppings are collected to create this special blend! Etienne loves it, Aurore not so much :)

Ho Chi Minh (Saigon)

Back in a big city... No surprise: there are motorbikes and tourists everywhere. Not our cup of tea (or "weasel coffee" for some). After only 20 min walking in the streets, Etienne got hit by a motorbike in the leg... Nothing bad, just a big bruise. The driver didn't fall and didn't stop! The bastard was driving the wrong way in a one way street...

You really have to stay vigilant when in Vietnam, at all time... Anyway, we visited the Art Museum of Saigon and wander in the small streets, but we didn't like the city very much...

Saigon city hall

Safety above all!

Just to get an idea of the traffic:

We spent 3 weeks in Vietnam, it really is a country to visit as it's cheap and there's a lot of different lanscapes to see. Yes, you will be harassed by street sellers and tourist agents but you'll very soon forget about it.

We regret to have spent so much time in Hanoi and to have missed Mui Ne (supposedly beautiful red and white sand dunes on the seaside)... No worries, it'll give us an excuse to go back there! :P