Northern Vietnam

The last of our Southeast Asian travels (for now) consisted of northern Vietnam. Or more precisely Tam Coc (near Ninh Binh), the Cat Ba Island with Lan Ha Bay and Halong Bay and lastly Hanoi - the capital of Vietnam.

Tam Coc is often referred to as "Halong Bay on land", and that actually describes it pretty well. There's a beautiful lanscape of lush, green ricefields and huge limestone cliffs that just seem to rise randomly up from the earth.

After seeing the cliffs on land, we moved on to see them in the sea. From Cat Ba island we took a boat tour and went cruising on beautiful Lan Ha Bay. While the cliffs had been beautiful on land, they were even more majestic in the sea.

Included in our boat tour was a kayaking trip through some caves and lagoons on Halong Bay. Both Halong and Lan ha bay are practically the same, but since they belong to two different vietnamese provinces they have two different names.

Hey Moomin!

Before catchig a flight out of Vietnam, we still had one day to explore Hanoi (we would have had more days if we hadn't been sick). Here's some of our highlights:

The old quarters with a lot of nice shops and restaurants:

Coffee with whipped eggwhite on top (tasted like italian marengue, really yummy!):

Worlds cheapest beer: Bia Hoi - daily brewed fresh draft beer. we payed only 2500 dong per glass, which means 0,10 €.

That's it! Now we say goodbye to Southeast Asia for a while! Maybe we'll see you again in a few months!

Hoi An & Hue

Hoi An and Hue - two towns in central Vietnam known for their historic sights, both UNESCO World Heritage Sights.

Hoi An is an old port, and it used to be the busiest one in Vietnam. Here ships from all over the world came to trade goods. Today Hoi An old town is a beautiful place filled with old houses and hundreds of paper lanterns that lit up at night. The only thing that slightly spoils the atmosphere is all the touristy souvenir shops all over the place.

The old Japanese Covered Bridge (originally from the 16th century) is one of the top sights in Hoi An.

On our way up north to Hue we passed by the amazing landscapes of Hai Van Pass by train. Perhaps the most beautiful train route we've seen! As always, pictures doesn't do it justice.

In Hue we visited the old imperial citadel, the former residence of the emperor. Here he held his auditions and important ceremonies. It was in use until 1945 but was unfortunately badly bombed during the French and American wars.

Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City

The former capital of Southern Vietnam was next on our list of destinations. Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon is a huge city with a lot of interesting to offer but unfortunately we both got sick the same day we arrived in the city. So we had to skip most of the things we had wanted to see and stay in bed and rest instead. Here are some of the things we had time and energy for, though:

The Reunification Palace, the place were the Vietnam war ended when troops from the north entered the palace. Shortly after that the palace was turned into a museum.

The church of Notre Dame, somehow quite similar to it's sister in Paris...

The Bitexco Financial Tower. Here we had lunch on the 50th floor while admiring the spectacular views over the city.

Can Tho

Good morning Vietnam!

Since we have a flight to catch in two weeks it was time to leave Cambodia behind and hop over to Vietnam. Our first stop was the vast Mekong delta and it's biggest city Can Tho. The city was bigger than we thought but still very nice and friendly. The architecture was a nice mix between new and old and they had a lovely riverside boulevard.

The main reason for coming here was however the Mekong Delta with it's floating markets. We booked a 7 hour tour through our hostel. Since the markets are at their best early in the morning we woke up at 4.45 in the morning to head out on the river. Our first stop was Cai Rang, the biggest floating market in the area. This is only for re-sellers so it was filled with big ships selling fruits and vegetables. Here we also got a nice cup of Vietnamese coffee.

Then we had a quick visit at a rice noodle factory were we saw the whole process for making noodles and also got the chance to try some of the stages ourselves.

The second floating market was called Phong Dien and this was a very small and cosy one where the locals went to shop.

Then we were off slowly cruising through the lovely countryside and the beautiful small canals with water coconuts hanging over the sides. Perfect ending for our trip following the Mekong down from northern Laos.

Since we got up so early in the morning, we still had almost the whole day left to explore the city after tour. So we walked around the streets, were gazed at by locals and ended up visiting the busy Can Tho market in the evening. Here they ha lots and lots of colourful, fresh produce, everything from seafood to fruits and herbs. And everything lined up on both sides of the street, easily accessible by motorbike.