Vietnam

Getting there and back

Saturday, July 24th: A full day of travel! Destination- Hanoi, Vietnam. As a group (Christine, Britney, and myself) we decided to stay in Northern Vietnam for the week rather than trying to do both North and South. It was a hard decision, that none of us regret. We flew from Korea to Guangzhou, China (the most ridiculous airport in the world... it is necessary for stories to be told in person) and then on to Hanoi. We arrived at 10 pm and had a car from our hostel waiting for us when we exited the airport. Little did we know it would only be the beginning of the fabulous hospitality we would receive throughout the entire week. We stayed for a total of 9 days and 8 nights! We arrived back in Korea at 10 pm on Sunday August 1st- just in time to wake up for work early the next morning!

Itinerary

On, Sunday, July 25th, we all woke up feeling great after having slept in our own individual beds; more comfortable than any of our beds in Korea. We headed downstairs for our complimentary breakfast (made to order) where we then sat down with the owner of the hostel to "plan" our week. Did I mention we only paid 15$ a night to stay at this place?

Side note: Everyone we had talked to ahead of time told us..."Don't plan your trip ahead of time! Plan it when you get there! Every hostel, hotel, restaurant, corner grocery store, and travel agency in the city is there and ready to help you!" We took that advice and ran with it. Before arriving in Hanoi, we just booked a hostel for Saturday night and the rest of the week was up in the air. It was the best decision we made the entire trip.

When we sat down with the owner of our hostel, we told her all of our thoughts, ideas, dreams, fears, etc. (you know the drill) and then listened to her ideas and advice. We ended up planning trips to completely different places than we had anticipated: the beauty of travel.

We paid for the entire week up front (dirt cheap) and our week itinerary included this:

Sunday night we left on a night train to Sapa. Our hostel provided transportation to the train station where someone escorted us right in to our correct train car. They then arranged for someone to be waiting at the other end the second we stepped off the train. We had a driver that drove us an hour up into the mountains to our final destination: Sapa. There we had a private tour guide waiting for us at our beautiful hotel up in the mountains. Our tours, meals, and sleeping accommodations were arranged, ready, and paid for. We just had to show up.

On Tuesday night our guide drove us back to the train station and once again made sure we were safe in our train car before leaving us. We took another night train back to Hanoi where our hostel arranged a driver to pick us up at 5am. We went back to the hostel where they gave us a room to shower (free of charge) and at 8 am we departed for our 3 day boat cruise in Ha Long Bay. Once again, transportation, food, sleep accommodations, and tours were already paid for. We just had to be in the right place at the right time.

On Saturday we were driven back to Hanoi. We stayed one more night in our original hostel, and then they brought us to the airport early Sunday morning to head back to Korea.

Any complaints? NONE! They took care of us like we were their own small children, it only took about 45 minutes to plan, and we didn't run into any serious problems throughout the week. Pretty slick, eh? I LOVE VIETNAM!

Highlights

Hanoi

We didn't spend a lot of time in Hanoi, as we were all interested in getting out of the city, but we loved the time we did spend there. We were in Hanoi for about 1 1/2 days total. We bought North Face backpacks, movies, art, purses, jewelry, etc. and the most money I spent on one single item was around 10 USD. We ate pho off the street, marveled at little women selling fresh flowers on the street corners, and were terrified of the motor bikes that seemed to own the city.

Pho!

Sapa

The most breathtakingly beautiful place I have ever been. When I die, it will make my top 5 most amazing places I have ever been list- I just know it. I can say with certainty that I will not travel to 5 places more incredible than Sapa in my lifetime. Sapa lies in the very north west part of Vietnam and is the home to many different hill tribes. We spent two full days trekking (about 13 km total) to the different tribal villages of the H'mong people and the Dzao people.

Ha Long Bay

We went on a 4 day 3 night tour of Ha Long Bay where we stayed one night on a boat and two nights on Cat Ba Island. We toured a cave, swam in the sea, rented motor bikes on a remote island, visited a tribal village, and spent a day relaxing in the sun on Cat Ba Island. The scenery was beautiful, we made friends from all over the world, we ate incredible food, and the heat and humidity were unlike anything I have ever experienced.

Travel Mistakes

1. We brought too much luggage

2. We didn't have the right currency to pay for our Visa on Arrival- Who would know you could only pay in US dollars? We were in VIETNAM! Why would I have US dollars? I live in Korea. Ridiculous. Big shout out to our co-worker who happened to be on the same flight and loaned us some money.

3. We didn't change our currency in the correct places at the correct times. We had no choice but to use the black market at 1am the first night we arrived to change our money- the one thing our travel guide informed us NOT to do. We definitely lost money in the process.

4. TOO much luggage.

5. Not enough sunscreen.

6. I tried my Korean ATM card one too many times....and eventually the machine ate it. I had to borrow money from Christine for half of the week!

7. I crashed a motor bike on a remote island in the middle of Ha Long Bay. I broke the bike, the only shoes I brought with me on a 3 day boat cruise, and lost part of my big toe.

8. Did I mention we brought too much stuff? We had to buy small backpacks in the middle of the week, and then we stored the rest of our stuff at our hostel in Hanoi.

9. We had one of our Korean co-workers buy us a travel guide online 2 months before we left on our trip (for once we were on top of things). After reading every inch of the book for 2 months prior to our trip- we found out during out first layover that it was the 2005 version. We compared it to the 2009 version others at the airport were using and they were completely different. FAIL. Luckily we were able to buy the latest copy for 3 dollars as soon as we got to Hanoi.

10. Christine got detained in the airport in China for having a fever. A word to the wise: never have a fever when you are traveling through China.

All in all we had a fantastic trip. Vietnam was everything we had hoped it would be and more.

“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.”

–Jawaharial Nehru