I arrived into Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) around lunchtime of the 27th July. Excited to meet my friend and experience a different culture and obviously try the Vietnamese cuisine!
On attempting to get a ‘Grab’ which apart from this occasion works fantastically just like DiDi or Uber, we could not find the driver among the multitude of cars. So, we hailed a taxi, a firm that was suggested by our hostel company. Vinasun. The taxi driver was pleasant enough, however, on leaving the taxi he gave the impression of being nervous and was confusing us with the price and also reaching into my purse (stupidly should not have allowed this) I realised after, a feeling came over me that something wasn’t right. The taxi driver had stolen 500,000 dong from me in the confusion. ANYWAY. Needless to say; I was in a pretty bad mood. We then entered our hostel and were greeted by our rooms still being cleaned. It just wasn’t my day!
However, we didn’t have long in Saigon and we needed to make the most of the place! We got ourselves a map and wandered around the place. It was very pleasant, although I did find myself wondering what was truly Vietnamese… Like Cambodia, I was yearning to learn the history of Vietnam. Ambling through the city, (although lovely as it is) there was a mismatch of modern and old. But it did feel characterless. This is just my opinion and maybe I didn’t spend long enough to get a better feel for the city.
Day two we headed to Củ Chi Tunnels. I am so glad we did this tour! Honestly, the guide we had gave us a wealth of knowledge on Vietnam’s history, he was genuine and honest. From what I heard and observed the Vietnamese are extremely resilient people in times of adversity. Having been ruled by numerous countries and having to fight countless wars, Vietnam has rebuilt itself. From beginning to end I thoroughly enjoyed the tour and would say it’s a must see in Ho Chi Minh. We paid a little extra to come back on the boat and loved it too.
As previously stated, I was so ready to try the Vietnamese food but… Unfortunately found most of it quite underwhelming. Although we did have quite a nice meal in a local vegetarian restaurant. Maybe we were just unlucky or didn’t try hard enough to seek out the right places… Nonetheless, we had a good time in Ho Chi Minh and were flying to Phu Quoc the next day!
Phu Quoc, the large island at the bottom of Vietnam overall was a great place to visit. It wasn’t necessarily what I expected. Having read about the national park on the island I thought there would be less development than there was, but I was mistaken! Phu Quoc is very much a tourist hub! There are many great places to see but wouldn’t recommend staying any longer than three nights.
The weather was on our side and we crammed as many activities in as we could. Our hostel (9 Station Hostel) was also fantastic – like a hotel! We ventured to the local beach and to our dismay, were disappointed. It was littered with rubbish and the sea wasn’t suitable for swimming. Deflated, we went back to the hostel and asked them what we could do! They suggested mopeds, but honestly, having known some friends have a rough accident and witnessing another crash in Sihanoukville I was feeling perturbed. Instead, we hopped on the ‘hop on hop off’ bus tour of the island and it was such a good shout! We visited the lovely Sao Beach, visited the Pagoda and local fishing village. A fantastic day all around. We ended the night in Saigon Eatery; a little expensive, but the coconut gin and tonics were delectable.
The next day we took the bus then the cable car to the southern islands. The longest non-stop three rope cable car in the world! The sights were breath taking, but I couldn’t help wondering what the locals thought of the cable car and the developers of Sunworld. Once on the final island, marketed as a resort with numerous activities; we quickly realised that this place was incomplete. Nothing was properly up and running, there was cafes and restaurants, plus a beach with sea you couldn’t swim in.
The feel of Phu Quoc was that there was just constant construction everywhere. It was quite astounding. After the cable car we got a taxi to a waterfall on the bus route and it was lovely! Once we got back, we went to the night market which was a hive of activity, we tried some local snacks and ice cream. Yum. For our final day in Phu Quoc we took a boat trip to the southern islands, there weather was good, the sea not so calm… The best thing about this trip was the food! It was wholesome and simple and just what we needed. A great day all in all.
After Phu Quoc we flew to Hanoi and booked a car to straight to Ha Long Bay. When we arrived, I was… Surprised to say the least. Like Phu Quoc, this place was under a vast amount of development. I genuinely question whether there was demand for construction taking place here. The Aroma Hostel is a good hostel but in terms of places to eat nearby, it is very limited. We had a delicious meal at the seafood recommended by the hostel, but it was like a ghost town, apocalyptic. A typhoon was also due the whole time we were there! Fantastic. We decided to ride the storm out and believe this was the right decision, but we were really scraping the barrel for things to do whilst waiting for the weather to turn so we could see the bay via boat. Karaoke on the night we got there, then the following day we searched for food and hiked up Poem Mountain. Now this place is a not so hidden gem, however, we were given the address by a friend in Phu Quoc. It’s a lady’s back garden, you pay her 100,000 dong and she let you climb over a precarious rock and fence. The views are incredible, but it’s a 40-minute trek and quite dangerous really. A trip to the cinema was the thing to do with the constant rain and the following day was spent wandering to the beach and museum, we also got the green light for the boat to the following day and it did not disappoint.
Having stayed longer than expected in Phu Quoc we only had two nights and one full day in Hanoi. If I was to go back to Vietnam I think I would visit here again, the food was much better than in Ha Long Bay and the Old Quarter was definitely the place to stop, albeit not in the hostel that we did – it was very basic, although breakfast was okay. We managed to get quite a lot done in the day walking around, visiting the Ancient House and the lake as well as viewing the water puppet show and relaxing on Train Street. It was a lovely area.
(Above is the infamous egg coffee and Train Street) Overall, it was a fun non-stop trip of Vietnam, crammed full of activities and sights!
Written 09/08/19
Beans on toast blog 