Varied and friendly Vietnam

The Vietnamese are incredibly friendly and hospitable, and as a tourist you are well received. My 195 cm height means giggling, pointing and begging for selfies, and we laugh along. The country offers a wealth of varied experiences, exciting architecture in French colonial style, and artistically dandered, tasty food.

We had originally planned to take a boat down the Mekong Delta from Phnom Penh, but it proved difficult to find a suitable boat. It seems that buses have taken over the traffic, and left are only expensive cruise ships. So then we just flew straight to Da Nang which is about in the middle of Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) is a noisy giant city that we decided to drop. The country is long stretched and it is difficult to cover all. To get a stress-less holiday feeling we prefer to stay a few more nights in one place, and rather take day trips from there.

Hoi An

Da Nang is the nearest airport to Hoi An, which is one of the largest tourist destination in Vietnam. Hoi An is a small town with many preserved old buildings, located at an estuary. The city is undoubtedly charming, but completely flooded with tourists. We portioned out the time in the old town, and think Hoi An was a nice place to stay for a few days. The advantage of such Lonely Planet hotsposts is that there are many offers, and by being a little selective you avoid the hordes.

We stayed in a so-called Homestay, which is the same as a bed and breakfast. It works very well, you get closer to people than in a hotel, and the service is usually very good. It has to be, because a bad review in Tripadvisor can be deadly for a place. Tripadvisor, Hotels.com etc have gained an extreme power over the tourist market when you travel individually, and whether you want to or not you look at points and reviews. We paid between USD 12 and 30 for good quality accommodation with breakfast in Cambodia and Vietnam. No cockroaches and we had well-functioning air conditioning everywhere. Some hotels were a bit shabby, but in return they had a very central location. During short stays, it is important with walking distance to the center, amenities and means of transport.

Carousel:

We stayed almost a week in Hoi An and did the usual tourist things: were on a bike ride in the countryside through countless rice fields and had cooking classes. Both were actually very good and can be recommended. It is pleasant to travel with other tourists and exchange advice and tips. February is not high season, and as the only participants in the course, we received full attention from the chef and the 4 assistants. Before the course, we stopped by the market to buy ingredients, and we bought spices and various tools for cutting vegetables. We learned that the devil is in the details, dandered the food like small artistic works of art with leaf-thin vegetable rosettes and slices. The food was yummy!

The first thing that strikes you when you take to the streets in Vietnam is the huge amount of motorcycles, the chaos in the traffic and the deafening hooting. The impassable sidewalks function partly as a shop, partly as parking for motorcycles and cars, and with stalls for all kinds of merchandise. So you are mostly relegated to walk in the street under constant danger of being hit. The traffic stays mostly on the right side of the road, except when it is more comfortable to drive on the left side. So one has to be extremely attentive at all times. When we found a quiet promenade along the river, without cars and motorcycles, it became our little breathing space in the chaos.

Hoi An offers enormous shopping opportunities, and has a dense selection of tailors. Many people order tailor-made garments for a reasonable price, and which are delivered the next day. The Vietnamese complained a lot about the cold period when we were there, but for us the temperature was like a normal Norwegian summer. We smiled a bit when we saw how they pulled on woolen hats, mittens and warm woolen scarves, and asked in amazement if we did not freeze. The city also has an incredible number of shops that sell sportswear for a tenth of what you pay at home. Whether they are fake or not is not good to determine, but if so they are very good imitations. Both seams and zippers were of solid quality, as far as we can judge. We quickly realized that sizes are a relative factor when we bought warm jackets. While Otto had to go up to 4XL, Elin had to have XL to be able to move smoothly. But as Otto says laconic, as long as you feel fit and slim, you are!

If you are going to Hoi An we would recommend Minh Phat Homestay. It is located right next to town center, but in a quiet area, has a beautiful garden and not least a wonderfully helpful host.

See: Minh Phat

Vietnamese food

Vietnamese food is incredibly varied, rich in vegetables and delicious flavors. You eat like a king for a reasonable price, and a regular dinner for two with a couple of beers costs between USD 4 and 10. We were told that the food served in tourist places is adapted to us, among other things by removing bones and skin, and that meat and fish are cut into suitable mouthfuls. When we arrived in Hoi An late at night, we were so hungry that we dumped at the first and best local “fast food restaurant”. We soon discovered that it was not intended for tourists. Balancing on small chairs of nursery size, we desperately tried to eat a tough chicken thigh with chopsticks. The chef took pity on us and came with four forks, but we had to resort to our fingers, without much luck. Plenty of fried rice filled up, so we let go of the lukewarm, dry-fried chicken.. Later we heard that chicken bones, cooked and cleaned of all meat, are a Vietnamese delicacy.

Reunion Express

Right now we are sitting on the famous “Reunion Express” between Da Nang and Huè. Although express is not quite the truth. We started at 08:00, an hour late, and are now about a third of the distance after 4 hours. The trip is supposed to take two and a half hours in total. But it must be noted that taking the train so close to Tet is a risk. We got the last two seats on an extra train. During the Vietnamese New Year celebration, everyone is going home and the traffic is huge, and Tet is only a few days away. The atmosphere on board is still good, our seatmate has duly interviewed us about our opinion of Vietnam as a holiday country, and we are glad we did not go on the hard seats.

More about Vietnam and Cambodia:

Halong Bay – Vietnam
Cambodia – Angkor Temples
Phong Nha National Park Vietnam
Hanoi Obstipation, or the dream of porridge.
Jungel trek with a fear of heights