Nuestra primera experiencia de "Sleeping bus" fue inolvidable, 25 horas en un autobus sin asientos, al menos no asientos normales sino semejante a camas con respaldo movible, podrá sonar agradable pero durate el día no lo es tanto. Un Vietnamita durmió en el pasillo en medio de nosotros, fue raro pero fue una divertida bienvenida a Vietnam.
25 hours on the ironically named "sleeping bus" was a new experience for us. Instead of the reclining seats in most long distance buses, these buses have a type of bed where your feet go into a little plastic box. 2 levels of 3 beds side by side are crammed in, with a little space between each one where they squeezed in more people, which meant we had a (thankfully) very thin Vietnamese guy sleeping between us the whole journey! I don't think they had people like me in mind when they designed these buses as if you're over 5 foot 7 you won't fit! All this said, it was actually quite funny and a good preparation for the crazy place that is Vietnam!
Hanoi (14/08/14)
Ruido, Motocicletas, gente, caos y armonía. Cruzar la calle los primeros días es atemorizante pero para el fin de la semana eramos expertos, camina despacio y ellos se moverán. Las luces de los semáforos, las aceras y las señales de tránsito son inexistentes, el beep beep de las motos que te esquivan por centrímetros, carros, carretas de comida y gente, es una sinfonia.
Hanoi is completely hectic, its narrow streets filled with millions of scooters and motorbikes. Its hard to walk the streets as every square centimeter if pavement is used for parking bikes or selling things, so you walk with the bikes most of the time. After a few days we developed the art of crossing the street, just close your eyes and walk slowly and they will avoid you! They say that they are born on their bikes, and after seeing a few people managing to sleep on their's, its believable!
The lake in the centre of the city provided some much needed peace and quiet.
It didn't take us long to find out the best 2 things to do in Vietnam, the first is eat, the food is amazing.
Una de las razones por la que amamos Vietnam es su comida, mini rodajas de carne de puerco con noodles, Bun Cha. Hanoi fue el inicio de usar mini sillas para comer, pobre de Iain lo ví sufrir durante nuestra estancia en Vietnam.
The second reason is the beer, a glass of the local draft "Bia Hoi" costs about 10p (maybe the cheapest anywhere?) At this cost it would have been rude not to! It takes a couple of beers to make the child sized plastic chairs comfortable.
La segunda razón es su cerveza, refrescante y barata.
Caminamos y visitamos algunos sitios que nos parecieron interesantes, lo mas cercano a nuestro hogar ya que caminar no es tan fácil en el calor y tráfico de Hanoi.
Halong bay (17/09/13)
El tour a Halong Bay fue espectacular. En la bahía hay mas de 1900 islas, navegar en estas aguas es una experiencia sin igual, el paisaje es hermoso, místico. Lamentablemente no pudimos capturar la belleza de este lugar en nuestras fotos, aún estamos utilizando el iPhone como cámara.
We treated ourselves to a cruise of Halong Bay. Almost 2000 little islands sticking out the sea, hiding secret lagoons, caves and lots of little monkeys. The best way to see these up close was to explore by kayak. After a hard days kayaking our hosts treated us to some Karaoke!
Just a shame after our camera got broken that our pictures were all taken on an old phone, it doesn't really do it justice.
The "amazing" cave
La cueva esta llena de turistas pero aún así me pareció impresionante.
As its name suggests, it was an amazing cave. Us and the other 800 tourists they squeezed in all agreed!
Estalactitas (arriba) y estalagmitas (abajo).
Pesca fallida
Night fishing for squid......the squid won!
Kayak en Halong Bay
Hue (20/08/13)
Nos enamoramos de las ruinas de la ciudad imperial, pasamos horas y horas explorando este lugar. Paz y tranquilidad, raro en Vietnam.
We spent hours exploring the ancient Imperial City of what was once the capital city. A truely beautiful and peaceful place.
Probando las especialidades de Hue, Banh Khoai pancakes con camarón y salsa de cacahuate, yum!
Crispy pancakes with prawns are the local speciality of Hue in a cafe where all the waitresses were deaf (I assume they still are)
Thien Mu Pagoda
Hoi An (24/08/13)
Encontramos gente amigable y comida excelente en este pequeño pueblo. Hoi An tiene buena vibra, pasamos los días junto al rio, y disfrutamos de un pequeño recorrido en bicicleta para ir a la playa.
A really pretty riverside town with a unspoiled quiet beach a bike ride away. I like Hoi An a lot and ate some of the best food we have had anywhere.
Japanese covered bridge
Cafe 43, la mejor comida que hemos probado y la cerveza mas barata la encontramos aquí (2 MXP)
Thank you cafe 43, if anyone that reads this ever goes to Hoi An, you have to eat here! And yes, they had Bia Hoi too!
Banh Beach
Nha Trang (28/08/13)
Nuestra estancia en Nha Trang fue corta, nos consentimos con aire acondicionado y TV para recuperarnos de nuestros largos viajes en autobus. La ciudad ofrece bellas playas y buena comida.
Not the the county's most exciting destination, but we couldn't complain with good food, a nice beach and probably the nicest hotel room we'd had in 7 months!
Pork omelette baguette, our daily healthy breakfast
Confieso que amo la comida con Tofu. A Mexican choosing tofu, something is wrong!!!
The big white Buddha, try and guess why they call it that!
Ho Chi Minh City/ Saigon (31/08/13)
Sin planearlo nos hospedamos en el corazón del área turística, encontramos comida deliciosa, amamos su café y su gente agradable.
Vietnam es un país que nunca imaginé iba a disfrutar tanto, sus peculiaridades lo hacen especial. Gente durmiendo en el asiento de sus motos, sus pequeñas sillas, el beep beep de las motos, el caos, es como estar en una película.
Arriving early in the morning we passed hundreds of locals doing their work outs in the park as well as dance classes and badminton. All of this at 5am in the parks and on the streets. This would not be a unique experience as we found out that most Vietnamese are very early risers and try and avoid the sun.
Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon as the locals still call it, isn't the capital, but is the biggest. Apparently there are 6 million motorbikes here. It feels true when you walk about!
A few of the 6,000,000 scooters
Drinking Bia Hoi
The independence palace
Notre Dame Catedral
Religion Cao Dai (influencia católica, budista, Taoista y confucionismo)
Jade emperor pagoda
Turtle power!
La tercera razón es su gente, conocimos personas muy agradables, como Khanh por medio de CS.
We found the people to be very friendly, including our new couch surfing friend.
Yo no soy una persona que ama el café pero el café de Vietnam es de lo mejor.
Vietnamese coffee is some of the best in the world.
Probando nuestra nueva cámara / playing with our new camera!
Ese bigote que esta de moda desde hace tanto
The staff from Baba's Indian restaurant. You don't have to have a moustache to work there, but it helps.
The friendly staff at our favourite local bar/restaurant and crazy John " this isn't real, it's a movie" from NY
The Cu chi tunnels
Es un lugar que te deja sin palabras, gente vivía dentro de estos tuneles durante la guerra.
During the wars, the people of the Cu Chi area lived in miles of tiny tunnels below the ground. A few minutes spent in some tunnels that had been made larger for us fat tourists was very claustrophobic so almost unimaginable what it was like for them.
Boobie trap
War remenants museum
Impactante saber que somos capaces de semejantes atrocidades con nuestra propia especie, el museo es sobre la guerra, al salir del museo me sentí afortunada por todo lo que tengo.
Shocking and upsetting images of the wars here, very sad.
10,000 Buddhas
En el festejo de la independencia de Vietnam
2 de Septiembre
We were lucky to be there to join in the independence day celebrations and see a concert and fireworks display. The concert was very "Eurovision"
