Vietnam

VIETNAM

Well, I’m back this time around covering more places. I would be taking you all through on a trip of Vietnam. Although not the whole country, I will take you through 2 cities and some famous attractions.

This trip is kind of special because we just happened to miss the lock down due to COVID-19, we went just before that. In our local slang, we exclaim this as ‘Just missuuu’.

It was 9-day trip starting from Hanoi and ending at Hanoi, sandwiching some beautiful places in between. I will try to squeeze in all of them here.
Before I start, let me add a few info about the Visa and currency.
For an Indian passport holder, you would need apply for Visa beforehand at the Vietnam consulate. Once they send you approval letter, you need to provide this letter at the Immigration office at the airport along with a fee of $25. It may take about an hour and the stamping would be on your passport.
The currency of Vietnam is Dongs. It is better to take a few currency of VND from India. A very few forex companies provide you VND. However, USD is widely accepted in Vietnam. So if you don't get VND, you can always go for USD. All major credit/debit cards work.

Let us get started then.

Day 1:

When we reached Hanoi, it was evening already and we were too tired for any local sightseeing. We stayed in the Old Quarter locality at Hanoi which is a famous locality. It is a congested square kilometer that was closed behind massive ramparts and heavy wooden gates until well into the nineteenth century. It is also one of the business hubs especially for small-scale industry hence an ideal spot for shopping. We just roamed around a few streets in the evening and returned for a well-deserved rest.

Old quarter is a fairly conjusted area. If you are a non-veggie person, then you are in for a treat. You have shops that teach you cooking and you can cook your own meal. But if you are a vegan person, you just have to bear with the smell. Unfortunately, it was raining as we entered the locality so you can imagine what me, a vegan, would have undergone. But nevertheless, its another experience that counts.

Day 2:

We booked a day trip to Ninh Binh province. This is situated at about 95kms to the south of Hanoi. This area is famous for natural attractions, due to the limestone deposits. There are multiple places here and one day is not enough. We could see a couple of them – Xin Chao, Mua Mountains and boat ride in Ninh Binh. The weather was cool and cloudy, so we didn’t break a sweat.
The trek to Mua Mountains has about 600 steps and it was one hell of a climb. But the view from there is amazing, as we could see paddy fields on one side and mountains on the other.
Once we were back down, we went to Tam Coc cave boat ride. This is the longest boat ride I have ever been in. There are no motor boats here so its all row boats. It takes about almost 2 hours just being in the boat.

(Xin Chao – View from the top. Also called as valley of peace)

(View from Mua Mountains – top view)

(View of Tam Coc boat ride from Mua Mountains)
(Tam Coc Pagoda)

(Tam Coc boat ride)

(Row boats)

Day 3 and 4:

Again from Hanoi, we booked a 2-day tour to Halong Bay on a cruise. Halong bay is around 180kms from Hanoi and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Staying on a cruise, in the bay, is a star attraction here. Upon reaching Halong port, we have to catch a boat and reach our cruise ship and we get to stay there in the ship. There are lots of caves around here, which are again lime stone formations. We visited one of them called the Hang Sung Sot cave. This has stalactites and stalagmites formed from the limestone due to sea erosion. We also did canoeing. 
Day 4, we returned to Hanoi and did a bit of local shopping and sightseeing – visiting the famous train street and the Hoan Kiem lake.

(Marble workshops on the way to Halong)

(View of Halong bay from Hang Sung Sot cave)

(View of stalactites inside the cave)

(One of the cruises in Halong)

(Train street)

(Hoan Keim Lake)

(Marble works and handicrafts)

Day 5:
We left Hanoi to another city called Danang. Danang is an upcoming city with world class infrastructure and is an important coastal city. Its an hour and a half travel in flight from Hanoi. After the cloudy and chilly weather in Hanoi, we were welcomed with bright and sunny weather in Danang. Since we reached very early in the morning, we made a quick trip to Marble Mountains. We stayed near the My Khe beach and the mountains were just 7kms from our place. Marble mountains are so called because they are made of limestone and marble. It is a cluster of five hills with pagodas, caves, tunnels inside them. We spent the rest of the evening along the beach.


(Marble Buddha statue on marble mountains)

(Laughing Buddha statue)

(View from Marble mountains)

Day 6:

A day trip to Ba Na Hills. One of the most famous tourist attractions here in Danang. It has a French colony, pagodas, amusement park, the famous golden bridge held on 2 hands, all on a hill. And to reach the top of the hill, is by cable car which is around 5kms from the bottom to the summit. To our surprise, we were greeted with Tulip flower festival and this was the most exciting and pleasant adventure of our trip. We got to enjoy all the flavors of weather from sunny to rain to cloudy to foggy what not. This is defnitely a place worth visiting anytime.

(Golden Bridge)

(Tulip Garden)

(Another tulip garden arrangement)

(A view of the French colony)

(View from the top – cable cars can also be seen)

(Entry to the hill)

(Buddha on top of the hill)

Day 7:

Hoi An is a beach city located about 30kms from Danang. We booked 2-wheelers for easy commute. The driving here is opposite to that in India so that was a little confusing. Nevertheless, we started our journey today to Hoi An. This is also a UNESCO World Heritage site and is known to be one of the oldest ports. 

(Colorful lights on a street in Danang)

After enjoying the beach, we returned to Danang to visit another star attraction of Danang – The Dragon Bridge. The bridge is lit up every evening with different colors. On weekends, fireworks erupt from the mouth of the dragon.
One particular coffee shop that I would like to mention here - 43 Factory Coffee Roaster. The speciality is, of course different vareities of coffee, but apart from that is the seating arrangement. We can sit in a kind of an aquarium with fishes around.

(View of the Dragon Bridge)

(43 Factory Coffee Roaster)

Day 8:

We planned to visit the Son Tra peninsula but 2-wheelers are not allowed atop the hill. So we just had to stop by on the way and enjoy some beautiful views. We did some local shopping and as we had our flights back to Hanoi, we didn’t put up too long.

(Danang beach)

(View enroute to Son Tra Peninsula)

(View of Danang city)

Day 9:

And so we were back in Hanoi. This day we booked a cab to visit the Ba Vi National Park. Although called a National Park, it does not house any animals. It’s a cluster of 3 hills where pagodas are on top of hills and people come here to offer their prayers. This is one of the remote tourist attractions and you find more localites than tourists here. The weather again was pitch perfect with fog going around and the sun trying to sneak through it.

(Sun rays playing hide and seek)

(Fog chaltha hai)

Day 10:

And that’s where this trip ends – pack your bags and reach Bangalore.

One of the best trips and a country worth visiting. The people are friendly and helpful and they are proud of their history. Vietnam is famous for its coffee and marble intricate works along with the handicrafts.

The total budget came up to 65000 INR including food, accomodation, travel, internal transfers (excluding shopping), so it was definitely within budget.

If any body is interested, do contact me so that I can provide my suggestions.