Evie & Loulou's Travels: August 2014

So Louis and I take it in turns every year to select a holiday destination just to keep things fair, last year Louis announced he wanted to go to Vietnam and i had absolutely no idea where to start planning or what to expect of a country i have only ever associated with the war but wow it quite easily was one of the most interested and intriguing country we have ever visited and one that has left us desperate to go back (not something that happens often).

When i started itinerary building we only had 2 places we wanted to go to, Ha Long Bay and Hanoi with just under 17 days to fit everything in i started with Ha Long Bay i spent weeks going through itinerary upon itinerary of different cruise companies to find one that would be perfect for our trip (you would not believe how many companies have boats in Ha Long) I came across Paloma Cruises their itinerary was perfect it went to Cat Ba which is a quieter area of Ha Long bay that only a select few companies go to; it had a BBQ on the beach as well as kayaking through amazing areas, along with a visit to a floating village, it was perfect but only available half way through our trip so i had a lot of planning to do around it to make the most of our time in Vietnam.

When we arrived in Hanoi we caught another flight (with Vietnam Airlines who were fantastic) to Da Nang we arrived there late (after 2 days of flying we were not really sure who we were or what was going on) our hotel aptly named Brilliant Hotel had arranged a taxi to collect us from the airport. Da Nang was stunning all lit up it looked magical our hotel was right on the water with the most amazing view, we couldnt wait to explore it after a good nights sleep.

When we woke up the scenery could not have been more different it was dark the water looked very brown and all the building looked grey but it was so much more than what we were expecting, we had breakfast and then arranged a taxi to take us to Hai Van pass (yes we were inspired from the Top Gear episode! haha) the views were stunning Hai Van is Vietnamese for passing in the clouds, and the road winds round the mountain making it a very interesting drive (not always for the faint hearted when you see the condition of the road along with the crazy style of driving) unfortunately when we went it was very misty and the views were not as stunning as they could have been but it was still breath taking.

Once we had been to the top and back down we headed back to our hotel in Da Nang to collect our luggage and then made our way to Hoi An where we had booked a hotel for a few nights. If i could recommend one place to make sure you visit in Vietnam it would be Hoi An, it is a gorgeous little heritage town with markets, tailors and little cobbled streets i wish we had booked more time there. Most hotels in Hoi An offer a free mini bus service in to the centre and back to the hotel regularly throughout the day, if your feeling brave enough to hire a moped this is the place to do it, it is far more calm road wise than any where else we visited.

I really cant stress how beautiful this town is; we went down to the bridge one evening where it was magical everywhere was lit up, there were so many bars and restaurants doing happy hour ect and plenty of night market stalls, the atmosphere was amazing we loved it there. The next day we got a taxi to My Son Sanctuary which is a world heritage site (we got our driver to wait for us whilst we looked around) it was a shame we visited not long after a tsunami so a lot of the forests around it had been destroyed but the sanctuary its self was amazing with such a amazing story behind it we were in awe it is certainly worth a visit there though it was a long drive it was really interesting to drive through little villages and see their way of life our driver was also really informative and spoke very good english and was able to tell us so much information about the area.

After our few days in Hoi An we flew back to Hanoi ready for our trip to Ha Long Bay; we did find it harder than expected to get food and interact with people in Hanoi we didnt get to try street food because of the language barrier, but the people were extremely kind and those who did speak english would go out of their way for us, particularly at Splendid Star Suites where we stayed for one night we arrived to be informed that the room we had booked had a leak so we were taken to their sister hotel across the road where we were treated like royalty, they even looked after our suitcases whilst we went to Ha Long.

We were picked up and made the long trip to Ha Long Bay (stopping at the usual touristy places en route) we were a small group and our guide David was brilliant and kept spirits high throughout, we were informed when we were collected that we were the only 2 to have booked the 3 day 2 night trip and everyone else in our group was doing the 2 day 1 night trip at the time we did not quite understand what that would mean. When we arrived at Ha Long we had to wait for a speed boat to take us to our cruise liner, when we got on the cruise ship we were so surprised it was gorgeous the upper deck was amazing with breath taking views we were given a 5 course lunch whilst we waited for our rooms (which were very beautiful and spacious); straight after we were off to the floating village which was a amazing experience, we also stopped off at a pearl farm which was also very interesting when we got back we had a sunset party on the boat and another 5 course meal, we got a early night ready for the next day.

When we got up we had breakfast and said good bye to the other people on our boat and off we went with David for our day which involved us having a private yacht and a full team of people waiting on us alone, we counted ourselves very lucky to have this experience, we sailed across the water to a small beach which we also had entirely to ourselves it was beyond stunning, we were then taken further along the water and got to go kayaking under caves and when we returned there was again a 5 course meal just for us, after we headed back to the main boat still in awe of how lucky we had been to have the entire day to ourselves probably our favourite memory of Vietnam, we made very good friends with David the guide who became a useful person during our holiday.

I will up date the other half of our trip in a few days as it is alot of information to relay at once (and i dont want to bore you all)