Vietnam

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted, but I have so much to share from my time in Vietnam. I ended up staying here my entire 30-day visa. I didn’t really have an idea of where to go in Vietnam after flying into Hanoi, besides Ha Giang to ride through the Ha Giang Loop. Based on recommendations from people I met while here, I ended up stopping in at 9 places. Hanoi, Ha Giang, Ha Long, Ninh Binh (Hoa Lu & Tam Coc), Phong Nha, Hue, Hoi An, Da Lat, and Ho Chi Minh City.

When I touched down in Hanoi, I took a taxi from the airport to the hostel I was staying at in Hanoi, Old Quarter View Hanoi Hostel. I arrived at night and the streets were packed and closed off for the night markets. Hanoi has a particular appeal to it. The architecture is influenced by French colonialism and the bright lighting adds a grandiose appearance. For my first meal in Vietnam, I had Pho, Chao Gio (Vietnamese fried spring rolls) and a Tiger Beer. It was a solid first meal. 

I walked through the streets of the Old Quarter after. Knock off Patagonia, North Face, and Arc’teryx clothing and gear amongst other brands are sold at all the clothing stores. I stopped in at a store and bought some warm clothing for the Ha Giang Loop adventure that began the day after I arrived in Hanoi. 

The Ha Giang Loop is a 230 mile loop through the mountains of northern Vietnam that starts in Ha Giang, Vietnam and goes up to the southern border of China. 

I booked the 4-day experience through Flipside and it was awesome. Our group for the Ha Giang Loop was small, Ella from Canada, Tom and Molly from England, Robby and Anna from the Netherlands, Anna from England, Derek from Canada, an older couple from the UK, Marta from Poland, Capucine from France, and Michael from you wouldn’t guess it, St. Paul, Minnesota. Michael drove up from Hanoi on his motorcycle that he rented and was one of two solo riders. The rest of us went with “Easy Riders”. With an Easy Rider, you sit on the backseat of a motorcycle with a local driver. 

We spent the first night getting to know each other at the lodging Flipside provided. 

We hit the road early the next morning. Right from the start, I was amazed by the varying terrain. Mountains, hills, forests, and rivers. We stopped every 20 to 30 minutes at coffee shops on the loop and the drivers would pull out a shuttlecock to juggle around. There are small restaurants on the loop that we stopped at and the local food was so fresh. The typical lunch during the loop was white rice, soup, chicken, green beans, and tofu, all prepared Vietnamese style. After lunch, we stopped in at a village and donated money to buy groceries for a local family. Included in the groceries was a live chicken, and Tom was given the honor of carrying the chicken up the rocky roads to the home in the village. The food that we bought them would last them for months. We then drove through more villages to the top of a mountain where our first homestay was. We went for a hike and came back for a great dinner. The drivers spent each night with us and we would drink “Happy Water” together. Happy Water is an alcoholic beverage and I’m not 100 percent sure what is in it but it’s definitely strong lol.  We had many rounds of Happy Water during our time on the loop and every time we threw one back, we would shout “Một, hai, ba, dô!”, which means one, two, three, drink. 

The next day, we went up to the China border for some of the best views on the entire loop. We stopped at a homestay in Dong Van that night. At the homestay was a herbal bath and sauna which was really nice after the ride. We had another great dinner provided by the homestay and went to an underground karaoke bar after. 

On the third day, we saw some more incredible views on the last bit of the loop. We also stopped in at a waterfall tucked away in the jungle. We rode back to Flipside after and had one last group dinner. 

On the final day, we rode in cars to a smaller waterfall nearby. The drivers made a fire near the waterfall and cooked fish, sausage, and squid for us. They also served us beer from a plastic jug lol. Thien, one of the drivers, invited us to his home after and we had Happy Water and tea. After Thien’s, we went to a cave and crawled and swam through a small body of water inside. We stopped in at a restaurant nearby and had one last lunch together with a karaoke session. We then went back to Flipside and I took a bus back to Hanoi.

I planned on spending a couple of days in Hanoi after getting back from the loop and met up with Robbie and Anna. We went to the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long to learn more about the history of Vietnam. Afterwards, we went to the iconic Train Street. We had a quick lunch before catching the 3:20 train passing through. After Train Street, we went to Hoan Kiem Lake to see the temple built at the center of the lake.

Before heading down south a bit to a province called Ninh Binh, I went to Ha Long Bay for a 1-day cruise. It was a misty day and at first, we could only see the peaks of the islands from the cruise ship. As we approached a cave that we stopped at, Sung Sot Cave, the mist cleared up and we could see the islands. After the cave, we hopped over to another island for a bamboo boat ride. We went through a tunnel into a larger body of water. Following the bamboo boat ride was a hike to the top of a larger island. Unfortunately, it was too misty to see anything. The cruise brought us back to shore after and I rode a bus back to Hanoi.  

I took a bus from Hanoi to Ninh Binh, which was about a 2 hour long ride. I checked into my hostel in Hoa Lu for the night. After checking in, I went to Banh Mi Gion and had the best banh mi in all of Vietnam. When I got back, I met Hendrick from Germany at the hostel and we went to Hoa Lu Old Town after walking through a local street market. Hendrick knew about Banh Mi Gion and we ended up going two more times before I left Hao Lu.

I stayed in the Tam Coc area the remaining 3 nights in Ninh Binh, which is about 3 miles away from Hoa Lu. When I moved to Tam Coc, I rented a scooter and drove around to the near by sites. I went to Bich Dong Pagoda and went for a little hike near the pagoda. I saw some baby goats. I then went to Thung Nham Bird Valley and did some bird watching.

The next day, I went to the Lying Dragon Mountain. The mountain provides awesome aerial views of the nature in Ninh Binh. It’s a long hike up a set of stairs to a sculpture of a dragon, with small pagodas on the way up. I also went to Kenh Ga floating village. I drove in over a small bridge to one long strip with houses and small stores. A body of water full of barges and small boats resides next to the houses. While I was riding my scooter out, kids were just getting out of school and they were all waving at me. 

On my last day in Ninh Binh, I went on a boat ride along the Trang An river. The mountains looked amazing from the river. We went through a few caves and stopped at a few temples. 

Up next was Phong Nha, a roughly 10 hour bus ride south from Ninh Binh. Of all the places that I visited in Vietnam, Phong Nha had the best nature. I did a group hike through Ruc Mon Cave. Our tour guide provided us with a harness, a helmet with a flash light, and gloves. We started with a hike up the side of the mountain to one of the cave entrances. We hooked our cables to the ropes planted in the cave and navigated through the different caverns. We went down steep areas of the cave and crawled through little spaces. We also climbed down ladders to make it up and down the different depths of the cave. We made it to a large elevated base of the cave and below was a stream of water that led to the main entrance. We cliff jumped from a 16 foot cliff and floated for about 20 minutes to the entrance. On the roof of the cave are small areas of greenery where there is exposure to sunlight. The whole experience was out of this world. 

I visited another cave, Paradise Cave with Jake from England and Katrina from Switzerland. I met them on the Ruc Mon Cave tour.  We all rented scooters and drove through the villages to the cave and made some stops to appreciate the nature. Paradise Cave is massive. It stretches for about 19 miles, but the standard tour is just about a half mile long on a board walk with lights. After exploring the caves and seeing all the different stalagmite & stalactite formations, we went back to town. Jake had a bus to catch and Katrina and I decided to go to one more cave, Phong Nha Cave. Phong Nha cave can only be accessed by boat. We went on an hour long boat ride in the cave. This cave is also massive. About 5 miles long in total. We walked through a board walk area as well before taking the boat back to the dock.

After Phong Nha, I went south to Hue. The bus ride to Hue is around 4 hours long and I stayed there for just one night. I rented a 125 Honda Air Blade and drove from Hue to Hoi An. It’s about a 3.5 to 4 hour drive. 

During the drive, I rode through the Hi Van Pass, a windy 13-mile road in the mountains along the coast. It was a beautiful day, and the views were amazing. 

When I arrived in Hoi An, I met Connor and Matt from England in my dorm room. Connor, Matt and I enjoyed a couple of good nights out while I was there. 

The rest of my time in Hoi An was spent walking around the town. Hoi An Old Town has French colonial influence, similar to Hanoi, as well as Chinese and Japanese influence. It’s a unique town known as the “Yellow City” because of the yellow hued walls that make up a majority of the buildings.  

While in Hoi An, I also decided to dive further into the Vietnamese culture and took a cooking class. We made four dishes with two types of dipping sauces. Vietnamese Salad Rolls (Goi Cuon),  Southern-Style Beef Vermicelli (Bun Bo Nam Bo), Vietnamese Crepes (Banh Xeo), and Hanoi-Style Rice Noodle Soup with Beef (Pho Bo Ha Noi). For the sauces, a peanut hoisin sauce (Nuoc Leo) and Nuoc Cham, a sweet and spicy sauce.   

I also went on a tin basket boat ride. We were given straw hats and coasted along some estuaries by the South China Sea. 

I went to Da Lat next, a town in the mountains of southern Vietnam that was about a 15 hour bus ride from Hoi An. In Da Lat is Datanla Waterfall and I went on a canyoning tour. Our tour guides provided us with a wet suit, a harness and cables, a helmet, gloves and socks, and water shoes. We were given a demonstration on how to abseil down a wall. After the demonstration, we walked through the jungle to different elevation points, abseiled down three waterfalls, zip lined down to a body of water, and slid down rock beds. 

I spent my last couple of days in Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City. I went on a Cu Chi Tunnel tour. The Cu Chi Tunnels are a set of tunnels that were used by Viet Cong soldiers during the Vietnam War. We learned about all the traps that the Vietnamese set to catch American invaders, the three leveled tunnel system and how the Vietnamese lived underground. We also crawled through two different tunnels. Lastly, there was a gun range onsite and I shot an AK-47. 

I also went on a boat ride tour on the Mekong River Delta. During the tour, we tried fresh fruit and honey tea, and saw a python.

The last 4 weeks in Vietnam have been awesome. The adventure just doesn’t stop here. After traveling through Vietnam, north to south, I will be continuing my travels west to Cambodia!