Ok so I haven’t done any travel posts for a while so figured it’s about time I posted up some of our piccies from my 30th big bash Vietnam trip.
What a country!!! Absolutely gorgeous in every way, the scenery, people, coastline, architecture, cuisine. And to have come so far after their horrific recent history is just incredible – not something to discuss on this silly blog though…
We totally fell in love with all the traditional markets and fishing boats we saw and couldn’t get enough of the pointy hats that everyone still wears – ‘looook, another awesome pointy-hat-shot, quick!’ was a pretty common refrain.
Starting in Mui Ne we had a couple of days relaxing on the coast – Mui Ne Hills 1 is a fantastic upmarket-budget (again, not making much sense) place to stay – Ali went kitesurfing, I went errrr sunlounger-surfing. It’s surrounded by these awesome sand dunes and desert-like oases (below) – we hired a motorbike and cruised around for a day in this scenery, sublime!
Oh my gawd, and don’t even get me started on the food – it is incredible, so fresh and healthy and full of goodness. We got totally obsessed with the pho (broths) they seem to have for pretty much every meal. Here is a picture of my husband trying to balance his bot on the tiniest chair you will ever see in your life. It was quite funny.
We travelled by train (info here) as Alistair likes to pretend he’s Paul Theroux:
Was a lot of fun though, we met cabins full of monks and Ali had old geezers slapping his butt and finding it hilarious as he walked down the train aisles – never quite sure what was going to happen. We shared a sleeper cabin with a horde of durian fruit on one particularly stinky occasion. Have you ever smelt a ripe durian? You do not want one in your cabin, believe me.
We made a brief stop in Ninh Van Bay for my birthday – see yesterday’s post for the drool-worthy deets.
And then made our way up to the gorgeous French colonial town of Hoi An. Lanterns, temples, dragons and pointy hats galore.
We hired another bike and headed out just after dawn to the My Son ruins – such an incredible journey, loved it.
Everyone was out in their fields doing their thang, or catching boats to get to work/school.
And the ruins were pretty spectacular too:
Yah yah I know, but I can’t let this post end without a few gratuitous lantern shots… I am after all the Crazy Lantern Lady.
{credits – moi, please include a link to this site}
Gorgeous no?! We really want to head back some day and do the north of the country, but for now I can’t recommend enough south and central Vietnam – if you’re heading to SE Asia for a hol, make sure you stop off!
And for more Asia travel ideas, see here, here and here for Nepal, here, here and here for Indonesia. Happy camping.
