Nam … Communist ?! Socialist?! Capitalist?!

I have always wanted to visit Vietnam, not bucket list like the Northern lights ... but high on the agenda, images of pristine country sides, terraced rice paddies, bamboo hats, unusual food, cheap massages and service always with a smile, trips up the Mekong, sounds romantic eh?!

Well sadly my bubble was burst … There were elements of course that were amazing, but whilst the country is communist, run by a party calling itself socialist, capitalism has well and truly arrived.  The construction is 10 times greater than Dubai 7 years ago and the requests and expectations to tip is even greater than the states …  don’t get me wrong there are elements that are beautiful, but overall I was slightly underwhelmed.... why ?

Nam – Mekong, Can Tho and Chau Doc..

The areas around the Mekong and seeing life on the Mekong is something quite special ..  I loved My Tho .. stopped for a boat road through the local waterways including time at a local coconut candy factory, horse and buggy ride through a local village, a visit to a local restaurant where I sampled the local fruit, tea and music ..  then back to Can Tho through local Mekong waterways …  overnight Can Tho with massages … yay …  (a few random pics are here) ...

Early morning start to the Cai Rang Floating Markets … the biggest and most bustling markets on the Mekong Delta .. Buyers on the smaller boats, weave between the larger boats selling wholesale products, each of the vendors advertise what is for sale on their boats by attaching a long pole to the front of their boat and attaching the fruit and veg they are selling to it …

Saigon - eeewwww roaches ….

Oh my … a new guide picked me up from the airport … unfortunately I did not get his card …  I am dropped at Kimdo Hotel and checked in … it is still Tet and the hotel is in an amazing location, the street is closed and there is the most wonderful flower display, processions filling the streets … I check in and my guide leaves .. I am shown to my room which looks nice and tip the gent handsomely as I have no small change… I throw my bag down and open the little book that shows what is available at the hotel and local area, (I knew nothing about hotel location so was mainly looking for a map) … out ran roaches ….  OMG … I freak out … grab phone ring reception … plonk on bed .. and from under the cover …. out run roaches ….  (click here for pics related to this blog)

Halong Bay …. Phuket possibly better ...

Now my trip on Halong Bay was organised through the lovely Vietnamese lady that does my mani / pedi’s in London .. she said junk boat ..  I got a little cruise ship and a brilliant personal tour … drive through countryside, farmlands and red river, arrive at the boat where lunch was prepared and then I was shown to my room, amazing …  sailed to a floating fishing to meet the locals, travelled on the sampans to visit the pearl farms.  Afternoon swimming in clear blue waters and kayaking through coves and caves.

Early morning, with Tai Chi on the deck, and a sail past Trong cave and Trinh Nu cave, and then an amazing visit to Surprise Cave which was much, bigger, higher, deeper and spectular than I could imagine.... (click here for the Halong pics) ..  and (here for a video of Halong bay)

How long to Halong ….

Transfer to Halong … stopped along the way at Bach Ninh and saw traditional Vietnamese folk dancing on the middle of a lake which was amazing, it was a local village and the tour had it arranged just for me due to Tet ..  I could not fault it, the folk were so warm and friendly and passionate I was genuinely touched…  (little youtube vid here) …

No cars allowed so a traditional travel by horse drawn cart through country lanes and visit the Dinh Bang communal house and do temple … (vid here)

Continued on the way to Halong stopped to see the pearl farmers, marble statue carvings shop and pearl jewellery store…. Pair of silver drop pearls £20 .. outstanding value …

Checked into the Novotel  Halong, gotta say, much much better than a normal Novotel and probably the best hotel in Halong … with an infinity pool and outlooks over the bay, also next to a great strip of markets and restaurants, I spent the night just wandering the town of Halong … sampling the local delicacies of the street vendors … and a bit like Hanoi … I don’t want to know what they were !!

Hanoi - freakin’ Tet

I booked my Nam trip through a company rather than independent ..  to be honest my worldwide trip was done in two chunks .. the Americas and then the Asia leg …  after the number of hours I spent doing the first leg … and me being allergic to admin, I thought I would arrange the Vietnam leg of the trip through a company .. so I gave the destinations and a few key criteria … and received the itinerary back .. now I knew that Tet was on … so I had researched about what that would mean and how that would impact … but clearly my Vietnamese travel company had not …  one of the things I had stipulated was staying in the old quarter (which is central to everything especially on foot) …

My guide met me at the airport, mid afternoon and my first day was supposed to be transfer to hotel , only.. which is fab as I always just like to spend the first afternoon wandering the streets and checking out the locals … day two was supposed to be a full day sightseeing in Hanoi … however when my lovely guide picked me up at the airport, he told me everything that was on my list for tomorrow was closed (except Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum), due to Tet and as a result, we would have to do everything on the list (that would normally take a full day), today …  which meant 2 hours ….

all pics for this blog can be found (by clicking here)