Explore Central Vietnam: Old Town of Hoi An

Previous:  Ho Chi Minh and Hue to Danang

Hoi An appealed to me simply because it is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  We did not make plans for Hoi An except for hotel reservations and scanned through trip advisor on where to eat. Our flight out of Hoi An was moved 10 hours later, to our advantage, we have more time to spare.  A day and a half to spend in Hoi An was just right.  Although the town is small, there are too many alleys and nooks to look into, restaurants to try out and activities to do.

view of the riverside

Northern Vietnam: Hanoi

After a chaotic experience with the locals, we arrived Hanoi with much angst.  We shall never get fooled by any locals was our game.  Upon arrival at Hanoi airport, we were met by soliciting taxi drivers for a fixed taxi fare.  We walked past them and found a seemingly nice taxi driver who was willing to take us to the city on a meter.  We took the risk and thought, we cannot forgive ourselves if we get into a trap again.  Luckily, there are a few good men.  Shortly, we found our hotel for the night, Indochina Queen booked through agoda.  The receptionist was a good looking tall fair Vietnamese guy.  That's a rare find in Vietnam!  He came out and helped out with our bags and made sure we had no issues with the taxi driver.  He was very accommodating and I was particularly fond of him saying "certainly" in British accent each time we asked for something.

Just like in Ho Chi Minh, the facade of the hotel was narrow.  The room was spacious and well equipped.  Arriving close to midnight, we had to hurry and pack an overnight bag for our much awaited trip to Halong Bay.  The hotel gladly stored our luggage overnight while we were out in Halong Bay at no extra fee.

After settling in, from an overnight trip at Halong Bay with Indochina Sails, we went to see the water puppet show at the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre at 8pm for 40,000 dong.  The theater was a few blocks away from the hotel and the receptionist advised us just to walk to get there.  The show wasn't a must see, but knowing that it was brought around the world gave us a reason to see it for ourselves.

the puppeteer came out for the finale

We walked around Hoan Kiem Lake with numerous dating couples and locals dancing in the night and finally found Fanny's Ice Cream Parlos.  The presentation was definitely fantastic, the taste was so so.

Fanny's Ice Cream Parlor

I love the weather in Hanoi.  Day 2 was allotted for a day tour around Hanoi's historic spot - Ho Chi Minh mausoleum and it's adjacent presidential palace and museum.

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

Ho Chi Minh's modest house

We also visited the temple of literature.  It was obviously, of Confucian influence with chinese characters all over.  The Vietnamese Museum of History was not for me, we killed time lounging at the museum, since there was not much people here, it was definitely cozy for some cheezy conversation.  The cafe next door also was a great place to hangout with, serving some good opera cake.

Temple of Literature

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the Vietnamese Museum of History

Since we've practically covered the important sites in Hanoi for a short time, we went back to the area of Hoan Kiem Lake.  Checked out those that I normally find in travel blogs of Hanoi and took a shot of Huc Bridge, vietnamese ladies holding hands in costume and some old vietnamese locals playing chinese chess.  Ah, these shots completes my stay in Vietnam. :D

numerous dating couple at Hoan Kiem Lake

Vietnamese Ladies in costume

old Vietnamese playing chinese chess at Ngo Soc Temple grounds

the Huc Bridge leading to Ngo Soc Temple

rickshaw ride around the old quarter

Northern Vietnam: Indochina Sails Luxury Cruise at Halong Bay

Halong Bay is a UNESCO world heritage site at Quang Ninh Province.

Initially, one of my travel buddy wasn't up to the idea of staying overnight because of unfortunate recent events of tourists drowning due to a sinking junk and suggested to do a day trip instead. A day trip to Halong Bay is possible but might be too taxing since it takes more than 2 hours (per way) to get there from Hanoi.  As for me, a trip to Vietnam isn't complete without an overnight stay in a junk in Halong Bay so I had to convince my peer and spent hours to google for options, read reviews, and checked the age of the junk!

Tripadvisor's top picks are the Red Dragon Junk and Paloma Cruise while travel blogger Ironwulf suggests the Aloha Junk through Handspan Travel Adventure.  Handspan is a reputable travel agency in Hanoi and they offer bookings in several types of junk. It is recommended to take packaged or guided tours if you are going to visit Halong Bay. Doing it on your own would be more costly and you would run a risk of encountering some frauds.

For $167 per person, we arranged with Handspan to be booked with luxury cruise Indochina Sails for 2D/1N.


Included in the package:
• Accommodation on Indochina Sails Junk
• Welcome drinks
• Meals as specified in the program:  lunch buffet, plated dinner, morning tea, brunch; (beverage excluded)
• Travel in an appropriate air-conditioned vehicle with an experienced driver to/from Handspan Office in Hanoi  (they do not offer hotel pick-up)
• The services of an experienced English-speaking guide (or French upon request)
• Entrance fees
• VAT and other taxes

OUR ITINERARY:

Explore Vietnam: Central Vietnam - Hue to Hoi An via Danang

Previous: Exploring Ho Chi Minh

We took the budget airline Jetstar from Ho Chi Minh to Hue;  the fare was just a third compared to their flagship airline Vietnam Airlines.  However, these two airlines share the same terminal.  Passengers go through a long line of security check in most terminals across Vietnam.

On this leg, we prebooked a two day tour with Handspan that will take us from Hue to Hoi An via Danang for $161 per person with superior accommodation. Handspan was recommended by blogger ironwulf. They had a pre-arrange itinerary for Hue to Hoi An, however, it was customized according to our schedule and preference.  Details were arranged through email communication.  Maybe because of language barrier, it took a couple of exchanges before they could get it right.  When details were ironed out, they asked for credit card information and sent us a link to prepay the tour online.  It is their policy that prepayment is required before they can guarantee the booking.

ITINERARY 

Explore Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh

Ho Chi Minh (formerly Saigon) is the entry point to Vietnam from Manila, Philippines.  Looking at every traveller's album to Ho Chi Minh almost always covers a trip to Cu Chi Tunnels boasting how tiny the tunnels were,  a story to be told on how they outwitted the Americans during the war.  However, it doesn't appeal much to me and to my travel buddies.  So we set out an itinerary to explore Vietnam sans Cu Chi Tunnels.

On board Cebu Pacific, we arrived in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam almost midnight.  Since we could not find any money changer selling Vietnamese Currency: Dong, back home, we had to exchange at the airport in Ho Chi Minh. 100 US dollars is equivalent to 20800 Dong.

Since we did not arrange for airport transfers and the airport taxi counter was already close, we had to proceed outside and find a taxi.  Several taxi drivers were offering their service for $10, $15, $25...  knowing that taxi drivers in Vietnam are notorious, we had to walk further and look for reputable taxi operators (as advised by wikipedia) like Vinasun and Mailinh.  The taxi at the airport seems territorial since only the brand Saigon Tourist were able to park at the loading bay.  We found one Mailinh taxi at the parking lot, and so we approached the driver.  At first he was hesitant and pointed out to the taxi waiting at the bay; but we insisted we wanted his brand of taxi, and he agreed to take us from the airport to district 1 for $8 on his Innova.  We were expecting $5 based on online reviews, maybe it has already increased; the $10 initial offer was actually reasonable.  The city center is just 20 minutes away from the airport.

view from our room