Hanoi - Halong bay - Hanoi - Sapa - Hanoi - Danang - Hoi an - Nha Trang - Mui ne - Ho Chi Minh /Saigon/
Vietnam is hughe country with chili and hot temperatures. When I arrived at the first day of my planned one month visit I hated it, when I left after four months I loved this country.As I was too lazy to plan anything just found simple map of travel through Vietnam on Facebook and tried to follow.
Only when applied for visas extension find out it would be cheaper once came from south. The difference of extension for european passport holder was three months 90 USD/130 USD, one month 55 USD/70 USD
Arrived on 7/4/14 to Hanoi which was mainly cloudy, very humid with chili nights compared with sunny & hot Bangkok where I came from.
Well the Vietnam welcome wasn't nice at all first country I didn't fell good in straight away.
I hang few days in Hanoi tried to get my old DSLR camera fixed, no success but there's few good & chap repair shops. Also GOPRO accessories is relatively cheap on a main cross roads front of lake in Old town.
I hang few days in Hanoi tried to get my old DSLR camera fixed, no success but there's few good & chap repair shops. Also GOPRO accessories is relatively cheap on a main cross roads front of lake in Old town.
Old town isn't as big and you can walk it whole in two days there's few sightseeing around and few entertainment places as The Water Puppet theater which worth to be seeing.
Hanoi wasn't as nice as too much smelly smoke from exhausts and humid made it bad. I stayed mainly in Backpackers' Hostels and went with them on the Castaway Island Trip it coast around 250USD wans't as cheap but good fun - three days two nights, slept one nite on boat one on the island, saw fish farms and Halong Bay. If you go to Halong bay please get your rubbish with you! as there is a lot of tourists and also litter. The sad thing is locals don't care about environment much yet : (
After return to Hanoi from Halong bay I took night 12 hours train to Lao Cai. When arrived to Lao Cai all the minibus drivers were ready to pick ppl as I tried to safe a bit, passed all of these and walked to the square unfortunately followed by some annoying mini bus ticket seller who was breaking my plan to ask locals how much is normal price for minibus Lao Cai -> Sapa /36km/. Finaly I've got rid of him but the local woman in shop didn't speak well english as I had problem to meet people with fluent english so many times : ( When most of buses were on the leave I sit down on main square kept refusing expensive minivan offers i told the guys: "Get me to Sapa for 50000VND" they were laughing, didn't want reduce the price, staying on their 200k or 150k Dong shauting at me that I'll go the next day up there. I just smile at them took time of to sit and in 5min one of them started dealing about the price, I finally reached my price with one condition do not tell price to others on board : D
Me on the second day of home stay in last quarter of the 4 hours steep way back to Sapa, North Vietnam. Shot taken by my guide. I've pushed myself and had break only when she wanted. First was chili and humid, that day was so hot on direct sun and the track was all all time up.
When I came from Sapa back to Hanoi I was sick and few people told me Hue doesn't worth it I skipped it and flew directly into way wormer Danang. Danang is spread city but you can walk it as well. Unfortunately I've got accomodation cross the river not as far from sea coast as was sick and had to few things on laptop stayed in Hotel. Staff from this hotel were so nice to me they weren't cooking but served me dinner first nite, I could also borrow motorcycle for free to get lunch. On this side of river was almost nobody speaking english and menu in restaurants were vietnamese only without pictures. Even that the staff and customers were very helpfull and we made it through.
Next stop after Danang city was small historical town Hoi An. There's are few cheap backpackers which fine. In the center of the town is river. You find many nice restaurants on both sides and even discotheque. It's good idea to motorbike or even bicycle as the town isn't as big the main beach is outside of the city. When I was there in April I did scuba diving as well but the dive side is remote around 1h away from the shore and water at that time was so cold (21-22 degree celsius) as I came from hot water on Koh Tao in Thailand (29-30 deg celsius).
Fish in Danang, Vietnam
Lady Buddha statue
Linh Ung Pagoda, Danang
at night
Hanoi wasn't as nice as too much smelly smoke from exhausts and humid made it bad. I stayed mainly in Backpackers' Hostels and went with them on the Castaway Island Trip it coast around 250USD wans't as cheap but good fun - three days two nights, slept one nite on boat one on the island, saw fish farms and Halong Bay. If you go to Halong bay please get your rubbish with you! as there is a lot of tourists and also litter. The sad thing is locals don't care about environment much yet : (
Mekong Delta, South Vietnam
After return to Hanoi from Halong bay I took night 12 hours train to Lao Cai. When arrived to Lao Cai all the minibus drivers were ready to pick ppl as I tried to safe a bit, passed all of these and walked to the square unfortunately followed by some annoying mini bus ticket seller who was breaking my plan to ask locals how much is normal price for minibus Lao Cai -> Sapa /36km/. Finaly I've got rid of him but the local woman in shop didn't speak well english as I had problem to meet people with fluent english so many times : ( When most of buses were on the leave I sit down on main square kept refusing expensive minivan offers i told the guys: "Get me to Sapa for 50000VND" they were laughing, didn't want reduce the price, staying on their 200k or 150k Dong shauting at me that I'll go the next day up there. I just smile at them took time of to sit and in 5min one of them started dealing about the price, I finally reached my price with one condition do not tell price to others on board : D
When I came from Sapa back to Hanoi I was sick and few people told me Hue doesn't worth it I skipped it and flew directly into way wormer Danang. Danang is spread city but you can walk it as well. Unfortunately I've got accomodation cross the river not as far from sea coast as was sick and had to few things on laptop stayed in Hotel. Staff from this hotel were so nice to me they weren't cooking but served me dinner first nite, I could also borrow motorcycle for free to get lunch. On this side of river was almost nobody speaking english and menu in restaurants were vietnamese only without pictures. Even that the staff and customers were very helpfull and we made it through.
Mekong Delta, South Vietnam
Next stop after Danang city was small historical town Hoi An. There's are few cheap backpackers which fine. In the center of the town is river. You find many nice restaurants on both sides and even discotheque. It's good idea to motorbike or even bicycle as the town isn't as big the main beach is outside of the city. When I was there in April I did scuba diving as well but the dive side is remote around 1h away from the shore and water at that time was so cold (21-22 degree celsius) as I came from hot water on Koh Tao in Thailand (29-30 deg celsius).
Lady Buddha statue
Linh Ung Pagoda, Danang
at night
Dive sites Nha trang, Vietnam
Mun Island
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