Things To Do in Hanoi

Our second last stop in Vietnam was the northern city of Hanoi.  We stayed in the "old quarter" where it was much more historic and chaotic than some of the other 'districts', but also where most of the budget accommodation was located.  We spent nearly 4 days in Hanoi, doing a bit of exploring but also quite a bit of 'administrative' stuff, like organising our upcoming trip to Halong Bay (=1 day), some shopping (=half day), packing and shipping off a box of stuff home (=half day), and going to the police station (=half-day--more on that later!).  The girls were also both sick with colds on our first day there too, so they mostly stayed in bed that day too.  While we discovered that Hanoi had quite a bit to do, especially for families unfortunately we didn't get a chance to do many of them--but it did look promising though!  Here's some of what was on offer and what we did do:

Row, Row, Row Your Boat....To Tam Coc

We read about Tam Coc in our Lonely Planet guide—it described it as “Halong Bay on the rice paddies...(it) gives Halong Bay a run for its money”.  With a description like that, we just had to put it in our itinerary!  And it didn’t disappoint—we found it simply breath-taking and it epitomised Vietnam as we’d envisioned it.

Of Ancient Palaces and Eternal Resting Places: Hue

The 5^th stop on our journey northward was Hue.  An easy 4.5hr bus ride from Hoi An, it’s located inland on the banks of the Perfume River in the Central Vietnam, just south of the former border between North and South Vietnam prior to unification.  We were tempted to give Hue a miss on our busy itinerary, but after our 2.5 days here we’re glad we didn’t.

Mountains of Marble, Silk Lanterns and China Beach: Hoi An

Rolling into Hoi An just after dawn, the small city of approximately 122,000 people was already awake with activity.  Noticeably the traffic was lighter, the streets smaller but also the architecture, for which Hoi An is renowned, was distinct from elsewhere in Vietnam that we’ve experienced thus far.  We emerged from our 12hr overnight bus from Nha Trang around 7am the next morning, had a quick tour of the old city while riding on the back of a couple of moto drivers looking for accommodation, then after a relaxing morning by the pool and an afternoon nap to catch up on a patchy night’s sleep, we set out to explore the city.

  

Doing the Funky Monkey in Nha Trang

Our friends from Melbourne, Phil and Ron, said that when we are in Nha Trang, we must take one of the ‘Four Island Tours’, so on one of our 3 days there we did just that.  It turned out to be great advice and we had a really fun day out on the water.  And it salvaged our otherwise less than impressed opinion of Nha Trang.

Fresh Mountain Air in Dalat

City of Dalat

In the short time that we've been in Vietnam, we are really encountering a variety of landscapes and topographies.  'Variety' is actually putting it mildly.  From the sand dunes in Mui Ne, we headed for Dalat, approximately 4hrs drive away in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. It is a very popular place for the 'cityfolk' of HCMC to escape to to take in the cooler temps as it's set at an elevation of 1450m above sea level.  It was about 22 degrees by day and 20 degrees at night--we actually had to pull the light jackets and long pants out.  It was a very refreshing change and once again, had lots on offer to do.

Riding Sand Dunes and Ostriches in Mui Ne

Our first stop on our 'Open Tour' ticket was Mui Ne, about 200km and a 5hr journey northeast of HCMC on the South China Sea.  The Lonely Planet's review of it said that it was 'arguably the best all-around beach in Vietnam'.  Yet the few people we met who had visited Mui Ne said that it was only a worthwhile stop if you were into windsurfing as it is always windy there.  In any case, with a write-up like that and given how much we love beaches we had to see for ourselves.  And were we ever glad we did.