Tag: Hoi An

To Vietnam: Epilogue

Hi there all,

Recently, I and three of my friends, Manas, Ankita and Ritwik, we went to the amazing country of Vietnam. Detailed accounts of the planning, travel, places we visited, food we ate, what we liked, what we didn’t are typed down in the links below:

  1. Prelude
  2. The Planning
  3. Touchdown – Ho Chi Minh City
  4. Ho Chi Minh City and onwards…
  5. Hoi An by the day!
  6. Hoi An by the night!
  7. Hoi An to Hue
  8. Hue
  9. Hue – Imperial Citadel
  10. Hanoi
  11. Ha Long Bay

You can go through each of the above links or find them all at a glance by following this tag: A week in Vietnam.

There are a few things I wanted to add which I felt is necessary to be known to all the travellers who are planning to make the trip:

  • Plan early and plan meticulously. Go through every blog, website, journal and book that you can find and gather as much information that you can get.
  • Save money for the trip. Yes, Vietnam trip can be done on a shoestring budget, you never know what extra expense you may incurr or rather what new dress shall entice you suddenly. It is always good to have a certain amount of headroom.
  • Travel insurance is a must. No arguments whatsoever.

  • Book through tickets. Cant stress this enough. Book tickets which belong to a single airline. The booking must be point to point, say from Mumbai to HCMC. In case there is a need to change flights, and the journey is in parts, please make sure you have the Visa already. It becomes very frustrating when you have the boarding passes but cannot get past the immigration to transfer the luggage to the next flight.
  • Get a local sim. You may not need the calling facility, but to have internet is a blessing. Most of the places within the country has a good network coverage and speeds are decent.
  • It is generally a better deal to withdraw cash from the ATMs in Vietnam than to trade in USD at restaurants or jewellery stores.

  • You will need to pay USD 25 as visa stamping fee at your port of entry.
  • Do not give up on the opportunity to travel in the train in this country. The trains are smaller, so are the berths. The view is scenic. I can vouch for the Da Nang to Hue.

  • The Ben Thanh market at HCMC is pricey, the food is fine though. A must visit off course, maybe just to enjoy the place. Bargain, and bargain hard. Be ready to be hear “You handsome/pretty, I give you best price…xyz dongs”.
    Despite being pricey, the collection in this place is damn impressive.
  • Try your best to transact in VNDs. Every time you transact in USD, you lose out some value.

  • Be careful of the notes. The denominations have a lot of zeros. Mostly the shopkeepers return or point out the correct denomination if you are paying excess or less.
  • The paper cut out cards are really interesting.

  • Veg food is rare. Chicken is scarce. Pork and beef galore.
  • Banh Mi is a lifesaver. Pho is bland, to a Bengali palate at least.
  • Pack carefully; for south of the country is warm and cosy, while the north is chilly and grey.

It is a beautiful country, Vietnam and I suggest you do visit it. Respond in the comments if there is any thing that you would want to enquire about.

Cheers!!

by Categories: TravellingTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 3 Comments

To Vietnam: Hoi An to Huế

By now, we were getting the hang of the country by a tiny bit, the people felt more approachable, and the beer felt much more palatable. Our next destination was the imperial city of Huế. All about the city and its sights, that ll come in the next post, but this time, let me tell you about the journey.

From Hoi An, there are two budget and recommended ways to get to Huế, take the bus or the train. You can always hire a motorbike, join a bike tour or hire a private car for the journey. This website, I Love Hue Tour is a good source of the information and one can never plan a trip without active use of Seat61. We took the comfortable way out, and booked ourselves a coupe in the soft sleeper in the SE2 train, which runs from HCMC to Ha Noi. The coach was air conditioned, and quite comfortable. Not the Indian trains’ first class type comfortable, but good enough; a bit cramped though. For a travel time of about 3 hours, we had each paid 1600 INR. We may have had a thought to grumble about the cost, but it was laid to rest within the first 15 minutes of the journey.

The sea on the eastern shore, boats Vietnam

The sea on the eastern shore, Vietnam

The entire route of the journey is through the hills, which hug the coastline. The view was amazing. The train chugs along slowly enough to take photos all the way. The aisle is generally filled with tourists and locals alike, taking in the sights and clicking away happily. I was no exception to this 🙂

The sea on the eastern shore, Vietnam

The sea on the eastern shore, Vietnam

The sea on the eastern shore, Vietnam

A hidden, secluded, virgin, beach

The views continued to keep us mesmerized, spaced with dark spells through the numerous tunnels.

Our train entering one of the numerous tunnels, en route Hue, Vietnam

Soon we had reached plain land, and it felt very much similar to train journeys back home. Rolling fields with paddy, men and women working, etc.

Paddy fields, Vietnam

And then, all of a sudden, we were in Huế. So, we picked our bags, and hopped off!

All about Huế, coming up shortly in the next post.

Cheers!!

by Categories: TravellingTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

To Vietnam: Hoi An by the night!

After we were back, we had just crashed into our beds, tired and exhausted. We had planned to go to the beach, the An Bang beach. When we woke up, twilight was fast fading. So, we quickly got on our bicycles, and rode for about 4 kms to the beach.
We paid 30000 VND per bicycle as parking fees and went in. It was dark by then, and we could see lights of far away ships near the horizon. There were deck chairs on the beaches, and it seemed that they were free to use. We sat there for some time, and were hungry. A hour and a Banh Mi later, we were ready to leave.
As we were retrieving our bicycle, Ankita noticed that here phone was missing. She had put it in the cycle’s basket an instant earlier and now it was gone. We started searching for it desperately everywhere. Our primary suspect was the attendant, who had suddenly turned deaf and mute! We glared and growled at him, and bared our teeth, and he slithered away to a hidey hole. Ritwik followed him, came back victorious with the phone. We made a swift exit out of the area to avoid any such risks any more.

Lit up entrance to the old town, Hoi An, Vietnam

We crossed into the old town soon, and it was just wow! Lights all around, lamps, lanterns, LED lights. Best bit, no vehicles. We parked our bicycles beside the Japanese Covered Bridge and hit the streets.

Camera set on lowest ISO, long shutter exposures and deep apertures, I went about shooting.

Street with colourful lights and people, Hoi An, Vietnam

Street with colourful lights, Hoi An, Vietnam

Every other street had lamps in them lighting up the street. The shops had various happy hour offers and it was thronging with tourists and locals alike.

The Thu Bon river, now had multiple boats with tourists on board, rowing up and down. Some had the floating prayer lamps with them while some were simply enjoying the ride. Ritwik and I got interested in the long exposure opportunities while Ankita and Manas went ahead to a nearby museum.

The Bridge of Lights, An Hoi Bridge, Hoi An, Vietnam

Boats on the Thu Bon river, Hoi An, Vietnam

A lady selling the floating lamps, Hoi An, Vietnam

The Thu Bon river at night, Hoi An, Vietnam

Now, it was almost 2100h and we were hungry too. So, we crossed the river and went to the other bank, where it was as if a carnival was on. All shops were glittering with lights, live music being played, food and ale galore. And then, the street which had every kind of food imaginable.

Busy street with tourists and locals, lights, food, Hoi An, Vietnam

Lamps for sale, Hoi An, Vietnam

The other bank also gave a perfect shot of the Japanese Covered Bridge.

The Japanese Covered Bridge at Night, Hoi An, Vietnam\

Promptly at 2200h, the lights went out and the music subsided and it was the end of a long day. We lingered back to enjoy the quite and calm atmosphere of the place for some time, and shot some more photos.

The calm Thu Bon river at night, Hoi An, Vietnam

We reached back around 2330h to find the receptionist at our hotel fast asleep. Had to wake her up for the keys though, guess people sleep early in this side of the world. And, that is how our stay in Hoi An ended. Next day, we would leave Hue, via train! The journey would be something to look forward at.

Cheers!!

by Categories: TravellingTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 5 Comments

To Vietnam: Hoi An by the day!

Our flight from HCMC to Da Nang was delayed by about 4 hours, so we requested the VietJet associates on station to possibly find an alternative flight, they got us something that was just a couple of hours away. The flight was uneventful and we reached Da Nang around 2100h. Luckily, Ritwik had the foresight to book a cab beforehand, which would take us to our hotel in Hoi An. I highly recommend this. Yes, it will cost you some money, but it shall be totally worth it. We were picked up by a Ford Endevour and off we went to our hotel, the Green Apple hotel in Hoi An.

We were welcomed with a plates of fruits and fruit juices.

Fruit Platter at Hoi An

By the time we were ready to go out and eat, most of the nearby shops had shut down, so we asked the ladies in the hotel to help us out, and they pointed us out to a nearby restaurant.

Sticky Rice and sauted chicken, Hoi An

Fried Calamari, Hoi An

Chicken Ramen Noodles, Hoi An

Spicy rice and chicken fried, Hoi An

We found the food to be outright delicious. We retired, excited that we had an entire day to roam about the town the next day.

Next day at Hoi An began with us gorging on enormous quantities of bacon, sausages, eggs, boiled chicken, bread, jam and butter; not forgetting the juices and coffee, all in the amazing buffet breakfast at the hotel. We began the day trip by getting ourselves cycles from the hotel. The cycles were free to use, and all you had to do was ensure that at the end of the day, you brought them back in one piece.
Now, in Hoi An, there is an old town area, which has the typical french charm to it. There are some old houses which are preserved in their original conditions, community halls and assembly halls, etc, strewn all about the place.

We travelled on bicycles, Hoi An

Buildings with french influences, Hoi An

Buildings with french influences, Hoi An

To enter these, you shall need a ticket. On a single ticket, there are 5 tiny slips of paper, which are torn away as and when you enter these ticketed places. There are a total of 11 such places within the Old Town area. Also, the area is marked walking and cycling only.

Boat on the Thu Bon river, Hoi An

A street in the old town, Hoi An

We went to the Cantonese Assembly Hall, the covered Japanese Bridge and the Cam Pho Communal House during the day.

Cam Pho Communal House, Hoi An

The Japanese Covered Bridge, Hoi An

Cantonese Assembly Hall carvings, Hoi An

Murals at the Cantonese Assembly Hall, Hoi An

These places were quite fine, in my opinion, but not exactly spell binding sorts. Yes, the work done on the murals and the sculptures are quite artistic, yet I didn’t feel them to be absolutely amazing.

Instead, what I did like was the An Hoi Bridge, which bridges the Thu Bon river.

An Hoi bridge, Hoi An

This river is also known as the bridge of lights.

There were these heads, made of plants, up for sale. Found them a tiny bit creepy!

Weird artefacts on the streets, Hoi An

Hawkers were highly enthusiastic about selling a flying object, which resembled a bird. It was powered by a twisted rubber band and once released would flap its wings and fly.

Flying objects, Hoi An

We also got ourselves some pop up cards. These greeting cards come in various themes and tones. Choose your favourite and always bargain.

Pop up Cards, Hoi An

By this time, it was past noon and we felt hungry. So, after roaming aimlessly for sometime within the Old Town area, we crossed to the other side and found a place where the sign board signed the presence of cheap beer; and egg coffee.

Spring rolls, Hoi An

We made peace with beer, spring rolls and egg coffee. The spring rolls are different from what we have here. These were not fried, and the covering was made of thin rice film.

Egg Coffee, Hoi An

The egg coffee was a different matter all together. Rich strong coffee, sweetened using condensed milk and sugar, with an egg added to it, while it was piping hot, and then served. It was very filling, and very sweet. Had to tick it off the checklist, done that.
Then, we were on our way back to take a bit of rest. Later we would go out again, to the beach, and then we had plans to come back to the night market.

 

by Categories: TravellingTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 5 Comments

To Vietnam: Prelude

India, land of dreams and dreamers. We dream about everything. From having a perfectly cooked rice for dinner to achieving pin point accuracy in missile hits, we have dreamt it all, and collectively, have achieved them all. On an individual level, going on foreign trips using your own hard earned money is a dream that every person harbours over here. I also had the dream. And now, that I have achieved it, I want more.

It all began sometime in September 2017, when me and my fellow colleague, Ankita, found ourselves in a crowded cafe discussing the possible countries to visit. Our first point of consideration was exchange rates, how much does 100 INR translate into?. Not the brightest way to make choices, but it did get us rolling. Then we compared the easiest thing available to compare against, beer price. That gave us a realistic idea of the places we might choose for our visit.
We concentrated on the south east asia, simply because the travel is not the biggest expense here. Touring within Europe might be cheap, but getting to the starting point of the tour is the maximum share holder in the entire expenses. Here, we did not have similar problems.
We wanted to visit a country which has not yet become a tourist hotspot amongst us. Cambodia and Vietnam were the contenders, and we chose to go to Vietnam. We called up two other friends of ours, Ritwik and Manas, and they were ready for the trip immediately. So, we decided, that in on 1st of April, 2018, we shall meet at Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

I intend to be as detailed as my memory serves throughout the series. I shall talk about the flights we took, hotels we booked, places we visited, what we ate, what I liked, what I didn’t and there shall be photos. The posts shall be long and opinionated. So, strap in, for the series shall be a long one, and I hope to keep the posts regular.

Cheers!!

by Categories: TravellingTags: , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment