Round the world in 7 months How will you know, if you never go?

Hoi An, Vietnam

VIETNAM | Sunday, 15 March 2009 | Views [733] | Comments [2]

Us with the Old Town in the background reflecting in the river

We are in Vietnam! On Thursday (12^th) we caught the Mekong Express Limousine Bus (it wasn’t much like a limousine) from Siem Reap to Ho Chi Minh City, with a brief stop in Phnom Penh to change buses. Overall the journey took about 14 hours, including a slightly late start, a brief stop in Phnom Penh to change buses, a bus breakdown (aircon not working, heaven forbid!), a short ferry crossing and passing thru the border into Vietnam. We got to District 1 of HCMC (aka backpacker central) around 9pm and set about finding some accommodation for the night… no problem at all, there were hundreds of places nearby! Can’t go too far wrong with US$13 a night, and the place was basic but clean. The traffic in HCMC is crazy… there are so many scooters, push bikes and cars, and traffic seems to be going every which way, but somehow things flow and we didn’t see any accidents! The horn also seems to be a crucial part of driving, it is used frequently and can mean anything from “get out of my way idiot” to “careful, don’t pull out in front of me” and many more!

The next morning we wandered around HCMC for a bit before heading to the airport to catch a short flight to Danang. Someone from the hotel picked us up and drove us the 30km to the small town of Hoi An where we are staying for the next few days. Hoi An is very cute, it was a trading port with Chinese, Japanese and European influences, and has lots of narrow laneways and some really cool architecture. At night it is beautifully lit with fairy lights and lanterns.

Today we hired bicycles and rode the 4km to the beach. Unfortunately it was blowing a gale and we ended up getting sand blasted, so we headed back to town but somehow missed the turn off (all the streets look the same!) and ended up riding thru local villages and rice paddies with local kids shouting hello when we passed by! It was a nice ride though, and we finally made it back after about 2 hours! For the rest of the day we wandered through town looking at the markets and shops, and tonight we ate yummy Cao Lau (a local speciality of noodles and pork in a broth) and rice paper rolls, and also got some great night photos of the Hoi An Old Town.

Comments

1

If you like that Ange and Abe you'll love Laos.

claire Mar 15, 2009 10:33 AM

2

Hi Abe and Ang,

If you make it as far south as Can Tho on your travels in Vietnam (4 hours south on the road from HCMC to the southern tip), let me know in advance. My bird flu project is based there and I have a Project Manager (Birgit Schauer and her husband Ian) living there, and Vietnamese postgraduate students coming down from Hanoi to work in the project. We have people going out to villages in Mekong delta frequently, and you might be able to make a village trip if you want. Birgit and Ian would also be pleased to have some English conversation, I'm sure. It is a pleasant town, much nicer than HCMC or Hanoi. Birgit was in Da Nang a couple of days ago for a meeting, but I didn't know that you were in the area.

Roger Mar 15, 2009 6:07 PM