Sum up of Vietnams top to toe madness

If you don’t get a monster travel itch after reading this, you better check your pulse because you’re dead, son. Dead and boring.

The title says it all. It’s madness in Vietnam, and yes, we did it top to toe on a 3week road trip. Or should I say toe to top, depends how you look at the map.

So the story goes like this: Ho Chi Mint city (Saigon)- Mui Ne- Nha Trang- Hoi An- Hue- Hanoi- Sapa- Halong Bay- and back to Hanoi.

You can read about ‘My first impression of Vietnam’ in my previous post.

In Nha Trang majority of tourists are still Russians. However, ignoring this fact, it has a beautiful beach and surprisingly vibrant night life. Also as mentioned in ‘It’s always soup o’clock in Vietnam’ post, here I discovered my favourite ever chicken noodle soup! And to add up on top, best watermelon shakes. Double score!

Randomly walking around the centre we found a hotel for $10 per night just 50m from the main beach, which was perfect, considering our main aim to top up the tan:) I can’t say there is not much to see around, it was just one of those days when you need a break from trip advisor and traveling books. The important thing that I’ve noticed being here (and later everywhere in Vietnam), private room works out cheaper then dorms, if there are two of you. Everywhere I’ve checked, dorm beds were $5-$8/night, where private double room starts from $8. It’s just that word ‘backpackers’ gives a straight impression that it’s the cheapest place to stay. This assumption can be denied by my personal experience.

Hoi An ancient town was the city highlight. Best before sunset for pictures and most beautiful at night. Commercial but still nice and charming. Best part it has local fresh beer for 5000, which is the only beer I actually enjoy drinking:)

We also took a bus and went to see  My Son Sanctuary, which is about 40km outside Hoi An and cost $4 return by bus. Bare in mind that this doesn’t include entrance fee of $5. My advice is go in the morning as it gets super hot by midday and is nearly impossible to enjoy the walk around sanctuary.

The beach is a bit far from the main city but is beautiful and not crowded. Just catch a moto driver and negotiate it for $2 return. As it’s around 7km away but taxis still try to rip you off.

In terms of accommodation, we stayed at Hai Dang Homestay for $15 per room including breakfast. Old town was just 5min walk away, which is very convenient. Most of the backpackers stay at Sunflower hotel, which charges you $8 for a dorm bed. Again, works out more expensive if you’re traveling not on your own.

Hue. Stopped here for 2days and as pre-read visited the famous Citadel. Surprisingly you have to pay for the entry, which locals as always doesn’t have to. Why did I say surprisingly? Nothing can surprise me anymore in Asia… It was worth the money tho. Beautiful and relaxing inside. Take your snacks and drink tho as shop inside is twice as expensive and it’s nice to spend a few ours walking around the old gardens.

We stayed at Phuoc An- DMZ Hotel for $12/triple room, which is opposite beloved and best rated Backpackers Place, that charges you $7 for a dorm bed or $25 for private double room. 

Sapa. Favourite place in Vietnam so far. All the green and fresh mountain air buys my sympathy. Situated around the mountains and a beautiful lake it have it all. With endless activities and day trips you can stay here forever, or more precisely around a week. Hotel was $6/room right in a centre with an added benefit of having a hair and beauty salon/laundry/eatery/nursery on the ground floor. After all asians would be the winners of a multitasking competition in my olympics.

Motorbike rent is $4 a day and petrol costs a penny to drive around. $2 in a tank should cover 60/70km driving around the villages and mountains. Just drive around and you’ll bump into waterfalls and beautiful cliffs. Love waterfall is around 15km away and is the best one to see in dry season, as still very active.

Cat Cat village is worth a hike and climb. Breath taking views on the way there but a challenging 4km up and down path, with some wild buffalos appearing now and then. Actual village wasn’t that impressive, as locals living there trying to sell you same stuff as people in Sapa. Also you have kids approaching all the time asking for money. Makes you feel uncomfortable, considering they already charging you for the entrance to the village.

The only problem I found in Sapa is coffee. Trying to find a proper cappuccino is like finding Nemo…Impossible! No one has espresso machine in town but every single place has cappuccinos and lattes on their menus, made from instant coffee and hot water plus spoon stirring action. And still charging $2-$3. Biggest surprise was to find a small coffee tent in the middle of a mountains selling proper coffees from serious espresso machines. Surprise of a day!

On the way to Halong Bay met two canadians and ended up sharing a room with them, which worked out $4 each. Cheap as chips, apart from incident next morning, when manager asked us to move out immediately because he booked in a big group of people. Agham, what about us booking the room for 2nights?! And when it comes to problem solving, they immediately forget how to speak english and completely ignore you. Typical. So we ended up finding another hotel for $10/room plus AC 80,000VD. So my negative feedback goes to Nhat Anh Hotel, congratulations!

Many people take 2/3 night boat trips along the islands but they’re a bit pricey, so we decided to do just a one day trip. In Halong Bay travel shops they will mutually charged you $25/$30 excluding lunch but luckily we had a phone number of Hanoi based agent Tony, who organised the same 4h trip for $19 including lovely on boat lunch, entry to the cave and a discounted kayaks.

Hanoi. Visited three times but as a stop over point for changing buses. But it deserves a chance to prove itself worth spending days there. For me, endless little streets filled with delicious food and cheap chick boutiques played a big part in decision making to stay overnight.

It’s worth staying central, as most of monuments are around the lake area. We’ve stayed at Hanoi Harmony Hotel for $8/room but make sure you negotiate, as you’ll be surprised how much the price can change once you walk away and disagree with their first offer.

In 24hours we had unpredicted storm and an earthquake, and a power cut in the whole city. Luckily it all ended just with a few broken trees and minor tuk tuk accidents. I could actually feel the ground shaking! What can I say, traveling is full of surprises:)

Generally, I found Hanoi people quite rude and arrogant. Was in a shop looking at a dress, when lady pulled it out of my hands and shouted it’s too small for me anyway. Excuse me but it was Zara size EU 42. What she really meant was I’m a gigantic european. At least I get the best sale peaces in boutiques but thank you very much for your hospitality!

Reaching the airport bit. It’s 30km outside the town and taxi cost us $12. There are public buses as well for like $3 but takes over 2 hours to reach and doesn’t work if you have a flight early in the morning like us. If not take number 17, then change into 7. Note: we were advised that airport is not open 24/7.

Once in the airport i’ve sneaked my Osprey 44 as a hand luggage saving me checking-in costs. There is a Burger King that opened recently, with free wifi for customers. But me being cheeky, here is the wifi password: bkvietnam But if you decide to eat there, make sure you have cash in dollars or a card as exchange rate is much higher and they accept just dollars, smart arses:)

So my verdict of the day- Vietnam is the only country that actually has wifi on their buses. For real!

Town to town traveling log with expenses:

Sihanoukville (Cambodia)-> Ho Chi Mint $20, 13h (bus)

Ho Chi Mint-> Mui Ne $5, 4h (bus)

Mui Ne-> Nha Trang $$8, 6h (bus)

Nha Trang-> Hoi An $10, 11h (bus)

Hoi An-> Hue $4, 4h (bus)

Hue-> Hanoi $13, 13h (bus)

Hanoi <-> Sapa $22 (for return) 13h each way (bus)

Hanoi <-> Halong bay $10 return, 4h each way (bus)

Hanoi-> Bangkok $45, 2h (plane)

I should add that there are many things I don’t like, too. The air is incredibly polluted, and I find myself getting really irritated by some local people rudeness towards tourists when it comes to admitting they were wrong. There are other things that make it tough, but rules here prevent me from writing about them safely, so I’ll leave it at the fact that values are not always aligned. And in choosing to travel outside your town borders you have to be able to tolerate things you dislike, and also truly smile at the things you enjoy.

R.K. <3