BACKPACKERS GUIDE TO VIETNAM

Lovely overview from my son about his trip to Vietnam (minus the snake meal) – assuming he interviewed extensively before summing up the overall view of life post the war….

VIETNAM

After a gruesome 30 hour bus journey from Vang Vieng we finally arrived into our first city in Vietnam, Hanoi. Vietnam was one of the coolest places I’ve ever been to, not only because of the wonderful sites to see but also because in some places you can quite clearly see the effects of the Vietnam War but everyone is still friendly and the whole country seems to have bounced back onto their feet and carried on with their lives.

Hanoi

Easily my favourite place I visited in Vietnam, this beautiful city had lively nightlife, great food, a buzzing atmosphere and some amazing sites to offer.

Accommodation

My favourite hostel throughout the whole of my trip was in Hanoi. It was called Hanoi Backpacker’s – Ma May. It was an extremely big hostel, with 7 floors, always full to the brim and just had everything you wanted in a hostel. With cheap nice food being served all day, fantastic A/C dorms, a 5th floor with free computers, TV, balcony and pool table, great layout, the best showers I’ve had since I’ve been in Asia and a fantastic atmosphere left us astounded at this hostel in Hanoi.

Food

Some of the weirdest but nicest food was eaten in Vietnam. Hanoi Backpacker’s had a trip that they ran to a snake village every night which we decided to do on our second night in the city. It was 15 dollars but completely worth it as you were given an 8 course snake meal with rice whisky shots between each course.

Not only was it 8 courses but you were also given the opportunity to eat a snake’s heart, not from a plate but from a live snake! The two Vietnamese men picked up the snake, slit it open, found its heart and you had to rip the heart out of the snake using your mouth while it was still alive. You would then take a shot of snake blood and washed that down with a shot of rice whisky.

Things to do

Another trip that Hanoi Backpackers had to offer was the Halong Bay boat trip. When we first saw this trip, we took one look at the price and instantly said no because for Asia it is very expensive. But two of us were drawn into going on the trip by what everyone had to say about it. People would come back to Hanoi Backpackers after just finishing the trip and say that it was the best thing they’d every done and they met some of the coolest people ever blah blah and so this sold it to us and therefore 160 dollars down, my friend and I were on a coach on the way to Halong Bay.

This was a 2 night, 3 day trip and consisted of a day of kayaking, jumping off the boat, visiting some caves around Halong Bay and also a floating village. Followed by a night of intense drinking games, some hilarious dares being done and a fantastic nights sleep in one of the nicest rooms I’d every stayed in, but it was on a boat!

The next day we were taken to a Castaway Island about an hour from our first nights sleep and dropped there at around 9 in the morning. We had a day full of activities including rock climbing, tubing, beach volleyball, wake boarding, table tennis, badminton and just lying on the beach and looking at your surroundings and thinking, ‘Wow..this is why it is one of the wonders of the world..’

I forgot to mention that the food on this trip was INCREDIBLE and everyday we were given a feast for breakfast, lunch and dinner and ate some amazing fresh seafood and some lovely vietnamese dishes. Our last evening was spent on the Castaway island and again was just a total piss up and everyone had a really good laugh and again played some cool drinking games followed by a nights sleep in a beach hut with the view of Halong Bay surrounding you…


Hue and Hoi An

These two small towns along the east coast of Vietnam were heavily bombed during the war, especially Hue which suffered dramatically. We were running out of time and therefore only spent one night in Hue and the day in Hoi An but I would’ve definitely loved to have spent a bit more time in each town to really see what it had to offer.

In Hue, we stayed at another backpackers hostel called Hue Backpackers, the same company that ran the hostel in Hanoi and again it did not fail us. Much smaller than the hostel in Hanoi, it still had some really nice dorms and some amazing food to keep us to keep us satisfied.

Nha Trang

This beachside town gave us a lovely week to spend chilling and sun burning by the sea. We stayed in a hotel called ‘Blue Star’ which seemed extremely proud to be classed as 2 star as it seemed to display it everywhere inside and outside the hotel. It was relatively cheap and gave us private rooms with A/C meaning we could take a break from the dorms for a while.

We spent the days taking a 2 minute walk to the beach and chilling there and the evenings we spent in the lively beach bars and clubs in the town. Our favourite activity in Nha Trang was visiting the well known theme park – VINPEARL. You took a cable car across the sea to an island where there were theme park rides, water park rides, a huge free arcade and just large amounts of fun. The day was topped off at the end by an animal show which had monkeys and dogs riding bikes..unbelievable.

Ho Chi Minh City

This large city reminded me a lot of Bangkok. It was so busy and seemed to have a buzz about it that reminded me of the capital of Thailand.

We visited many of the war museums in Ho Chi Minh City and also the Cu Chi tunnels which located several military campaigns during the Vietnam War and were used as hideout points during combat.

The place to stay in Ho Chi Minh City is called Pham Ngu Lao which is an area full of backpackers and cheap accommodation as well as amazing street food and bars and clubs for those of you who want a good night out.