Nine Weeks Backpacking Southeast Asia - Viet Nam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Malaysia
After our return to Manila but local bus to banca to bus and jeepney, we stayed in Manila a couple of days and organized for our travel to Southeast Asia. Off to the Vietnam Embassy for our Visa to enter the country. Within 24 hours visas in hand, tickets already purchased we leave Manila for Ha Noi, Vietnam. On May 12, 2013, we arrive in Vietnam at 1:00 am and no destination in mind, we happen upon some European travelers who arrange the taxi and we join them to stay at Tonkinn Hostel. Jacopo and girlfriend who were staying at Tonkin in a private room. We stayed in the dorm room with Claire and Capucine, this room slept 8 people and ensuite bathroom. After getting some sleep we headed downstairs for bread with jam and a coffee. We met Gabriella from Chile and Jess from Brasil, who joined the Claire, Capucine, Keith and Wayne to tour the olde quarter, Sword Lake, Citadel, Pagoda, and just wandered finding points of interest when we stumbled onto the Presidential Palace, Ho Chi Maoseleum. Four of us experienced bbq dinner on the street corner sitting on small plastic chairs. The chairs reminded us of small child’s set you would see in the US. We spent one more day in Ha Noi, lunch on street corner Vietnamese soup that we fell in love with and looked for during our travels. We took a motorcycle taxi to long Bien train station weaving through the streets and hanging on to the driver while being saddled with two backpacks each for our destination Hai Phong.
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| Hai Noi along the Lake, walked past a photo shoot with this beautiful Vietnamese woman in traditional clothing. |
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| Met Claire (France) , Cappucino (France), Keith, Wayne, Jessica (Brasil) and Gabrielle (Chile) |
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| Woman living on the street |
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| Tran Quoc Pagoda |
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| There were several barbers set up along this street |
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| Having barbecue on the sidewalk in the old quarter of Hai Noi |
Vietnamese travel is very easy and comfortable. This is a really beautiful country to travel in with many diverse landscapes, we arrived to Hai Phong just as the sun was setting. Upon arrival we went to Blur Moon Cafe for socola (chocolate) shake and caramel coffee while waiting for our CS (couch surfing) host, Tuan Anh VU THI. While having a burger he arrived to take us to the Phoenix Flower Festival. The streets were packed with so many people. We saw part of a Water Puppetry show, famous in this province. Anh is the organizer of this event for the department of tourism. We then met his friends for drinks and food. One of his friends sits on the Mayor's council, 3 chefs, Som, Lam and Syong work for the local TV production company. Great night learning and listening. Tried daisy wine (more like saki) and apple wine pressed from small apples. Got to our couch at 11.30 where met Frank Krueger, Filipino, who teaches English in this English learning school run by Anh’s brother. We originally were to stay in Hai Phong two days.
In the morning, we enjoyed Vietnamese coffee at Cafe Paris. We started our day looking for a sidewalk diner for Vietnamese soup but all were closed for traditional shut down in the afternoon for 2 hours. We walked towards Phoenix Flower grounds along the river on Nguyen Duc Canh. Looked at really great art and photo exhibit by local artists. While walking the grounds we found tourist booths with some interesting destinations like Ninh Binh, another destination added to our list of places to see. We just started walking throughout the city parks and green space to The City Theater. Trekking to P. Cau Dat district to Ho' An Bien (lake), Dal Lige Sy. We sat and watched the kite flying while having ice cream and cold cocoa drink at New Space Cafe. We set our sited to Chua Hang (Chula Halng) pagoda. Sun was setting when ran out of time to get back to the Phoenix Festival grounds, as we wanted to see the Water Puppet Show on Ho Tam Bac and get seats on the stairs to the river for prime viewing area. This was unbelievable to believe we were actually watching something so imbedded in Vietnamese culture surrounded by children and families in Vietnam. This show travels the globe for people to see and we were in Hai Phong, where it started. After the show we met Anh and his friends to celebrate the closing ceremonies and his birthday at a table in one food booth. We met Ha, Lam's wife, discussed her travel and education in East Germany, fascinating to hear them speak about their ties to East Germany and show our stories on life. Everyone was so interesting to speak with some spoke very good English and others tried, or we had someone translate but if one person toasted at the table everyone took a drink. The alcohol continued and the toasts were frequent. We had many laughs and so many stories. During the evening we were asked to try a local delicacy called bang da cua hai phong, famous small crab soup from Hai Phong province made by a celebrated chef in this region from Ba Ba. We were asked to stay another night and be part of a documentary for the local Hai Phong Television station on tourism. We would travel to a local commune 20km outside the City.
Anh picked us up at 13.00 to drive for television shoot 20km south of Hai Phong City to meet a 67 year old weaver, Tố Xuân Hiển and communal people who made hats and wedding mats. The traditional wedding mats were cherish by many Vietnamese for sleeping and serving meals with family. Then meet self taught musical instrument maker/musician, Bui Van Vược of traditional Vietnamese instruments. He makes and plays 14 of the 21 known instruments. He started making these instruments when he was 16 years old and still making them at 70 years old. Life is so simple for these people, even without being able to communicate in English we still had the ability to share the experience fully and embrace our day in the life of these people.
The link to the documentary by Hai Phong Television for Hai Phong Tourism, this is a You Tube video: http://www.dulichhaiphong.gov.vn/diem-hen-hai-phong/108/.html start the video at 3:50 to begin our story. The title of the program is Thăm làng nghề xã Đồng Minh, huyện Vĩnh Bảo, which translates to: Visit villages Allied Commune, Vinh Bao.
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| Water Puppetry show in Hai Phong |
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| Making reed mats in Hai Phong, the day we visited the commune outside the city for Hai Phong TV |
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| Wayne took a ride with our first host to the home of the instrument maker |
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| Photo of all of us relaxing on the stoop in front of the instrument makers home, after we were taught to play one of the instruments. |
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| Keith with a small boy at the commune village. |
After extending our time in Hai Phong to 4 days, we left by high speed boat to Cat Ba island and City. We grabbed the bus from Cat Ba pier to City Harbor. Vietnamese woman continued to offer us fans, hats, postcards and food. The boat to Cat Ba is fast and efficient with many great views of water in route by boat and bus. While on the boat we met Mathieu, who was from Paris. We stayed at the Cat Ba Dream on the 5th floor overlooking Ha Lan Bay for $6.00 USD each with wifi. The vista overlooking Ha La Bay was something seen in tourist magazine. We found a restaurant we frequented for meals called Phuong Phoung along the bay walk, met Mathieu there then went back to his hotel to schedule a tour of Ha Lan Bay by long boat. The following day Mary Kent from Denver, CO and Mathieu met us for the day tour of Ha Lan Bay and D Dau Be, fish farms and kayaking, swimming and Monkey Island. The boat took us back for sunset and a cocktail with the co-owner at Cat Ba Club then dinner at Green Mango. The tour of Ha Lan Bay is a must and not as touristy as Ha La Bay which is off the mainland and north of Cat Ba island.
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| During our boat trip on the bay we were able to kayak in a lagoon. |
Next stop Ninh Binh, day 7 of our tours takes us back to Hai Phong to get the bus for our night travel, after an hour walk with backpacks in the heat, we stopped at KFC for ice cream, air conditioning and wifi. We walked to the bus station and were able to take the 19:00 to our destination, our projected arrival was 22:00. We had a list of hotels in the area from backpacker blogs we found on the internet. Upon being dropped off on the side of the road in Ninh Binh, we started to walk through this sleepy City to look for the street names for the Tam Tuy Guest House. During our search we were greeted by this very friendly older woman dressed in black, she asked us where we were staying and offered us assistance. She took us her hotel, NGOC Anh Hotel. She showed us a couple of rooms and said if we did not want to stay with her she would take us to the Tam Tuy, we elected to stay with her since she was so kind to show us around. We rented bicycles from here and toured Ninh Binh.
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| Our first bicycle ride through the countryside of Ninh Binh |
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| Casually riding along in Tam Coc |
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| Paddlers are famous for paddling with their feet on the Tam Coc. |
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| View from Hung Mua and 500+ steps later, this was so worth the bike ride and hike. |
We met a Vietnamese couple, photographer and an Asian French Canadian at the top trying to capture the sunset. They were communicating in French while the Canadian spoke to us in English. The photographer took our iPhone and camera to capture this photo.
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| Sun setting on a very peaceful evening with a spectacular view of Tam Coc. We are so lucky to be here. |
On May 19th, Sunday we rented bikes to ride around Ninh Binh. We got lost going on a new road to a new tourist location that had not opened yet. The guard directed us by pointing to the direction we came, since we were looking for Tam Coc. We rode right by Tam Coc by 12km, 6km both ways. So worth the mistake, got some awesome photos. We went past Tam Coc to Bich Dong Pagoda. An amazing pagoda in a hillside and cave, with many outlets through the cave. Then wonderful boat ride Tam Coc with this young girl operating the oars with her feet. The name Tam Coc means three caves, we turned around at the last cave and back to the rotunda area where the boats start. We had a Popsicle and water while taking a break then Pho bo for lunch. Off we went to Thai Vi temple built 1273. Monk invited us in to sit and but a fan on us. What a nice treat considering the heat and the amount of sweat from riding in the hot sun. We made the "3km" bike ride to Hung Mua, most beautiful view of Tam Coc and Ninh Binh. We met a couple at the top, who were photographing the sunset. There was a couple at the top that spoke Vietnamese and French and an Asian man from Quebec, who spoke both French and English. He loved Vietnam and shared stories with us. The Vietnamese man took our camera and took photos of us with the magnificent view behind us. The sunset as we rode through small villages back to our hotel, where we had dinner and crashed. We booked our tickets to leave tonight on sleeper bus for Hue.
We spent another day on bicycle touring to Hua Lu. Got so hot bicycling to Trang An and Hua Lu. No shade on the road, we baked in the sun but we always carried a couple of litters of water. The water was even hot in the backpack. Got to Hua Lu biked through the City and back out to the road we believe we were on the night before. We stopped and found Den Liet Sy Temple. Back to the Hotel by 4.30. EXHAUSTED!!! Another fun day with things seen. We get on the sleeper bus in the far end of the bus with large area for the two of us to spread out on the upper level, while a Russian couple were set in the bottom bunk. During out travel through the night someone threw a stone or brick at the back window smashing it. Glass shot all over us, especially Keith since he was sleeping close to the window. The bus stopped to tap the window and clean as best we could, getting the glass up. During the stop two guys from the UK started talking to us.
We had prearranged place to stay in Hue’ with Honza, a Czech bio-engineer doing waste water analysis tests. He had several people staying in his two story apartment with two of the air conditioned rooms taken. Two girls were in the one on the second floor and he had the one on the first. We rented scooters for the day from Holiday Diamond and toured with Max and Chris. A woman named Roury approached us while we were sitting on bikes and taking photos of the ruins. She said she would take us to the tombs we were looking for, she escorted us along a river path to one of the sites then invited us to her home. We had tea with her, while she told about her father collaborating with Americans then a prisoner until he died in solitary. She discussed how poor they were as farmers, owned 5 acres of land. Her children are 17 and 15 attending school. We left her home then traveled to the Pagoda, great views and beautiful area. Went out to lunch, Bon bo Hue' for lunch then drove around the Citadel. Sat on the street to see parade for Buddha's birthday near Citadel, started 7.03 and was over by 7.18. Made back to meet Chris and Max, parade was back near them, verified 72 floats. Great time meeting some monks near the corner and sharing the photos, they laughed with excitement watching the video and giggled when they noticed the float from their temple. The following day we toured the Imperial City. Really impressive reconstruction of the ruins damaged which occurred during WWII and Vietnam Nam conflict in 1968. Beautiful City and grounds. We trekked into areas not reconstructed finding original artifacts from 1800’s, a fantastic to time but another heat scorcher. Got to Holiday Diamond Hotel in time for Pineapple juice and see the Brits. Hopped on first bus for Hoi An for the Lantern Festival, which is a 2.5 hour bus ride south. We found out about that morning from Roseanne, another couchsurfer that was staying with Honza.
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| Banks of the Perfume River from motorcycle |
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| Keith, Roury and Chris |
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| Tea in Roury's home along the banks of the Perfume River |
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| Traffic in Hue' before the parade event |
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| Buddha's Birthday Parade |
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| Buddha's birthday celebrations with 72 floats representing all the temples in Hue' |
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Inside the Imperial Citadel
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As we continue our way south through Vietnam we have been lucky to see special events and festivals along the way. The Lantern Festival fell on Buddha’s birthday and the full moon. While traveling to Hoi An the topography changes to mountains and sea shore. We entered the longest tunnel in Vietnam to go to Da Nang then Hoi An. We found a place to stay, private room on the third floor with a shared bathroom at Hoa My. We walked to the river for a amazing cultural evening with Buddha's Birthday celebration and Lantern Festival celebrating the Full Moon. The energy was infectious. Watching the lanterns float downstream was beautiful. Walked down to the end and found the Anh restaurant for a really good food. Then walked around towards Japanese covered bridge and old quarter. Booked tour for sunrise to My Son. We took the bus to My Son (UNESCO) and the sun rose as we crossed the bridge not at the site. Great ruins of Hindu temples, unfortunately bombed in 1969 during the Vietnam Conflict. While in Hoi An we received an email from our couchsurfing host from Hai Phong of the THP taping aired from Hai Phong TV of our visit to the commune. Really well done and fun.
We spent a good deal of time exploring this rustic UNESCO city by the sea for a couple of days. Rented bikes and went to the beach where we found this really nice restaurant,Myle Restaurant with free beach chair with purchase of food. So relaxing, we could stay here a couple of months. This is Paradise! We will come back to Hoi An one day and spend more time on her beaches while overlooking Nha Trang.
We have made so many connections on this trip and continue to be amazed how much Vietnam has to offer to travelers. The country and the people of wonderful, friendly and very helpful even with the language barrier at times. We have not been disappointed in our choice to start here first in our Southeast Asia trip. The only mistake we made was not giving more time to tour this country but have left more for us to come back to see.
Hoi An Lantern Festival fell on the Full Moon and Buddha's Birthday celebration. The City was amazing with so much activity and people. The energy was infectious. Watching the lanterns float downstream was beautiful.
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| My Son (UNSECO) site of Hindu Temples and ruins. |
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| Wayne at My Son |
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| My Son |
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| Japanese covered bridge in Old Town (UNESCO) |
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| Women selling flowers and vegetables from the side of the road. |
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| We biked to beach and found great place Myle Restaurant free beach chair with purchase of food. So relaxing, we could stay here a couple of months. This is Paradise. |
We left Hoi An for our next adventure staying off grid on a farm in Da Lat. We will stay with Le Huang an energetic 26 year old, who is full of life and very proud of his newly built farm that is off grid. He was new to couchsurfing and met us with his father at the bus station. We hopped on their motorcycles with both of us wearing backpacks front and back while trying to hold on while they took us up mountains and curves to the farm. We drove down a very steep dirt track to the farm, a humble farmhouse with trenched out mountain side exposing wondrous color of red clay. We helped him fertilize and feed the plants. He made us a meal over a small barbecue in a small area in the house. We spent one night on the farm and then spent a day and night at Le Huang’s family home. We had another experience of a life time, we spent dinner with his family and extended relatives, who were visiting from Nha Trang. Huang took us to the City of Da Lat showing us many places most travelers would not see, including going to a cricket farm and having deep fried crickets. We sat on mats on the floor, reminiscent of the mats we watched being made in Hai Phong. We were so lucky to have had a traditional Vietnamese meal and share in conversation with the entire family while Huang translated for us. We shared the THP TV show with them and they were as delighted with it as we were.
View from the bus from Nha Trang, where we stopped to change buses to Da Lat. We were climbing in elevation from the sea coast to the mountains inland. The views and vistas were great then came the waterfalls.
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| Water falls were all along the road side while we continued our climb to Da Lat. |
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| Huang Le on his farm with us helping him to hoe in the fertilizer to the plants. |
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| The farm we stayed on while off grid for the day and overnight |
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| Huang Le made us dinner on the farm. |
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| Dinner the first night on the farm. |
After leaving Da Lat at 12:15 a.m. with excitement in our step to the next destination we leave Huang Le an his family. We have one more stop in Vietnam, we are hosted by Marianne in her new apartment in Ho Chi Minh City (Sai Gon). We met Marianne and her friend, Rebekka both were originally from Germany and working in Vietnam. Marianne had just moved into the apartment recently, so we helped her move furniture around the living room area the first day we arrived. We went off for lunch after arriving. We went to a small local restaurant for Pho Ga (a local soup with chicken) on Dong Ky.
We spent the second day relaxing with our host then went out shopping with her for dishes. We did end up buying pastries too. We then set off for the pagoda and independence palace while Marianne went in to work for a couple of hours. We played a game of backgammon then off to dinner at a restaurant called Lemongrass that served Vietnamese cuisine. We were entertained by a girl playing live music. The food was outstanding and a must visit when visiting HCMC. We laughed at the bill since our meal and desert came to $1,500,000 dong. We walked off some of our food and stopped at Marianne's favorite place for music, Jazz n' Art Club for live jazz music.
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| Marianne, Keith, Rebekka and Wayne out for an incredible evening |
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| 1,500,000 dong for dinner |
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| Jazz n' Art Club for live jazz music |
On May 31st, Friday had breakfast, more sharing stories and experiences. Marianne went to work. while she was gone Keithand I moved furniture from bedrooms so she could have the master bedroom. Marianne arrived while we were mid-point moving. Met Rebekka at Nga? Restaurant then to German bakery (Schneider's 27 Han Thuyen Street District 1, HCMC) purchased bread and pastries, then Au Parc for homemade double chocolate ice cream. Sitting outside overlooking the park felt like Europe not HCMC. Walked over to Ga Sai Gon took photos.Back to the apartment, decided to stay another night in HCMC. Dinner, beer and wine, exchanged music and photos.
Sadly and happily on June 1st, we leave HCMC for our next destination. We had breakfast with Marianne then packed to leave for Phnom Penh by Mekong Express. With deep sorrow in our hearts we left behind some really awesome people we consider very dear friends in HCMC but with a great amount of adventures ahead we had a skip in our walks and smiles on our faces.
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| Marianne, Wayne, Keith and Rebekka |
We made some great connections and friends along the road in Viet Nam. This is a place we would love to come back to and spend more time here. Thank you to all our hosts and companions we traveled with during our journey in Viet Nam.
Wayne & Keith
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