Vietnam

My life motto is 'have money, will travel' and this year, I've been blessed to be able to step foot in foreign soil and discover what other countries have to offer. There is something exciting in being in an unfamiliar environment, exploring new cultures, tasting new food and seeing the world with a fresh pair of eyes. There is so much out there, and as cliche as it might sound, travel is the only thing you buy which makes you richer.

Whenever I travel, the very first resource I go to for tips will always be blogs and since friends have been asking for recommendations, this blog will serve to chronicle the adventures I've been on. 

During my birthday week in May this year, three friends and I took a week long trip to Hanoi, Vietnam. We navigated from Hanoi to Halong Bay, onwards to Sapa and back to Hanoi. 

Try vietnamese coffee
Eat by the roadside
Do visit Sapa and do a homestay! 

Hanoi - Old Quarters 
For the first night, we stayed at New Vision Hotel and spent the afternoon wandering around this new town. What was striking was the number of motorbikes on the road, and after the end of the trip, we were all pretty good at navigating through the traffic. 








Tip: Tony, the manager of Sinh Cafe (116 Hang Bac Street) helped us to book our train tickets and hotel accommodations at Sapa.  



Halong Bay

We went on a 2D1N cruise at Halong Bay and it was just lovely to be out at sea. The lack of internet connectivity was a welcomed, refreshing change as we spent the night lying on the deck, seeking out for shooting stars and having heart to heart talks. 



We visited Sung Sot cave which was also called Surprising cave. The funnest part of this cave expedition was trying to look for rocks which resembled animals. 





We climbed up what seemed like thousands of steps and was greeted with a view like this. It was breathtaking. 





The view was breathtaking, we climbed up what seemed like thousands of steps and was greeted with a view like this. 

Sapa 
Sapa was my favourite part of the trip. We took a nine hour Harry Potter style sleeper train which was surprisingly comfortable. 

Tip: Book a bus ticket from Lao Cai to Sapa from your travel agent prior to arriving at Lao Cai instead of booking when you arrive. The touting was bad, we heard the locals charging tourists an exorbitant prices just for a 40 minutes trip up the mountains to Sapa.
  




View of Sapa from our accomodation which we found out we were cheated after we checked with our travel agent back in Hanoi. We paid for a way nicer hotel, but when we arrived at Sapa, the middle man who arranged for the trip told us that was our hotel when it wasn't. 

Tip: Check and double confirm on the hotel name with the travel agent you book with. If in doubt, call the travel agent for clarification. 



We rented a motor bike and hired a tour guide to bring us around the area. Visited Silver Waterfall and Golden Stream of Love waterfalls, had lunch under a make shift roadside tent and just taking in the greenery.







Ta Phin 

Friends have shared that one of their best experience in Vietnam was going for a home stay, and we did just that. We biked a short distance to this village called Ta Phin and stayed with a lovely lady named Ta May and her family which consisted of her husband and her teenage son. 



The house we stayed in 



Our sleeping quarters













After Sapa, we headed back to Hanoi and stayed one night at the French Quarters which was skippable in my opinion. Or perhaps we've seen a more beautiful part of Hanoi that the city life simply did not appeal to us anymore. 

Would I go back to Hanoi? Definitely.