Flight into Vietnam and Hanoi Day One

We left Sydney at 11:30am (local time), which was 30 mins late and arrived in Bangkok at 5:20pm (local time) only to immediately once going through transit customs sprint and i mean sprint to our connecting flight to Hanoi, which was due to depart at 4:55pm! When we looked at the airport flight boards it was 'final call' so we were very lucky. Mind you the gate happened to be right down the end aswell. So a 9 hour flight having only got up twice to a full 500m sprint, legs were not feeling good. Food on the plane was disappointing (Thai Airways). We had three kids younger than five in front of us and in front of them were two babies, one of which did cry! I tried to watch Inception but it was too hard to listen to with all the commotion at the time. I ended up watching Blood Diamond and episodes of Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother.

Upon arrival in Hanoi we grabbed some Dong and jumped in a taxi, which overcharged us but we just wanted to get to our hotel, enough was enough. Checked in, room's not too bad, huge king size bed, air con, big tv (not that it matters, all Vietnamese shows, although there is ABC interestingly) and a computer with free internet. Went to a Vietnamese place for dinner, i had a lemon grass and chilli chicken dish, with a 333 beer, which only cost $1.10AUD!. Kay had a grilled chicken dish with came with little pancake looking things which were so nice.

Day One - Hanoi

Went to the Dong Xuan market where Kay bought a pair of shoes and we had a Vietnamese pancake wrapped in rice paper with herbs from a street store for breakfast. It's quite surprising how people know very little or no English, i only say this because i don't remember having too much difficulty on my previous trips to Vietnam. We were asking what was in the food for example, i gave my best shot at saying Bo (beef) and Ga (chicken), but it was not understood. We asked at one store that was selling skewed meat and the lady replied "meow meow", didn't eat that of course. Kay had Vietnamese coffee at the market while i ate fried spring rolls. Breakfast was about $2.

Got a cyclo from the market and went all around the Old Quarter and got off at Hoan Kiem Lake where we went to the temple on an island in the middle. Tried to get back to where we're staying but got lost, the map we had didn't have all the street names aswell. We ended up in an area which specialised in building materials and grabbed pho ga for lunch (50 000D or $2.50 for two phos and an iced tea). I went a bit nutso on  the chilli sauce and fresh chillis which by the end, left me with a mouth on fire. For the record i finished the soup. Finally found our way back into the right area and went back to our hotel. Going to see the water puppets tonight, before or after dinner depending on ticket availability.

We have organised our next few days. We leave for Halong Bay tomorrow morning where we will be spending the night on a junk boat. Arrive back in Hanoi wednesday around dinner time. Then we will be leaving for Sapa, train will depart around 10pm, it's an overnight train that we take 10 hours to reach Sapa. We will return Saturday morning (~5am) from Sapa and leave for Hue via plane at 2:25pm. In the morning we will visit Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum and go to the infamous Hanoi Hilton (ex-POW prison).  

Planned Itinerary

In chronological order. Only places where will be stay are listed.

Vietnam
Hanoi
Sapa
Hue
Hoi An
Nha Trang
Dalat
Ho Chi Minh City
Mekong Delta (maybe)



Cambodia
Kep
Kampot
Sianoukville
Phnom Penh
Siem Reap

Laos
Vientiane
Vang Vieng
Phonsavan (maybe)
Luang Prabang
Huay Xai (maybe)


Thailand
Chiang Rai
Chiang Mai
Bangkok

Welcome

Welcome to my blog for my trip with Kay to Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand.

Dates: 28/11/2010 - 16/2/2011

This trip has been in the works for over a year and a half, i have read Lonely Planet: South East Asia on a shoestring (2010 edition) inside out.

There are no concrete plans on this trip, it is all go with the flow, although i do have a thorough itinerary planned. If we find a place to be so good then we can stay longer, if it's bad or we did everything then we'll leave early. Simple.

The only specifics were due to the visa conditions of Vietnam and Thailand.
For Vietnam, you had to be specific with the entry and exit dates, so as a safety net we will be staying the full 30 days in Vietnam.
One would've thought that Thailand would be 30 days, it is if you arrive by plane; we will be entering Thailand overland (or water rather) from Laos, as such, it is only a 15 day visa. I think that's sufficient anyway as we are not going to the South of Thailand (save it for another time).

Planned itinerary to come...