Sapa

Well we’ve had a wonderful day hiking from Cat Cat to Ta Van near Sapa. Lovely guide from Cat Cat who was really interesting and informative. Up in the hills so vistas amazing. Rice and corn harvest in progress. Lots of tourists dressed up in beautiful local dress posing for selfies but we soon were just a hards few groups... 14 km later was really pleased to see our transport and make our way back on recovering roads - land slips- to Sapa and the swimming pool. Just off for an explore.





Our lovely guide and her friend. 

Hanoi - images

Overnight train to Lao Cai only 1 km from the Chinese border. Then a van to Sapa. Not many interesting pictures yet so some images for you from Hanoi yesterday: 

Man making wooden stamps from photographs.

Pre wedding photos and other general busyness...

Ha Long Bay

Set off to Ha Long Bay yesterday morning. Limited internet but back in Hanoi for a few hours now before going on the overnight train and our Sapa experience. Ha Long Bay is amazing. Had beautiful weather yesterday so swam near an island we’d tendered to. Walked through the cave and there was the beach. Very warm very salty water so floated well. No photos of that though. Lol!!

Without trying I managed to win the pre dinner entertainment- spring roll rolling (without looking). Not stiff competition though. 👍🏻😀
This morning we had an amazing limestone cave visit on another island before heading back to port. As you can see - lots of water traffic about. 

Hanoi

Well, it’s cooled off to a modest 27 this evening. Has been 37 and even the locals are melting. Staying right in the centre of the old city so very busy and lots going on. Narrow streets etc but a big lake nearby - a glorious green hue. We walked around and stooged mainly whilst ducking into places for a bit of cool. Tickets to the water puppet theatre in the evening - an interesting piece of Vietnamese historical arty culture. If you are interested in seeing more look at YouTube- Hanoi lotus water puppets. 

This was our evening dinner view as the sun was setting. Beautiful lights that a photo just doesn’t do justice to. 

Looking back towards the general direction of our hotel. 

Hoi An #6

A vintage Vespa guided ( and piloted - although we reckon we could do this ourselves, just not on the roads...) afternoon adventure for our last day in lovely Hoi An. Fun times again!! Our guides were on time so we saddled up and off. Helmets on first of course. 
We were off to headquarters first - not too far away- to meet the other 2 in our party then the 4 bikes were off- through farmland on raised concrete roads - flood proof - villages, visits to a rice cake maker, weaver,  and piggery/rice wine brewer. We also had a visit to an afternoon fish market, market garden and a traditional lunch out in the fields in a shade building. 

Rice cake makers husband and grand child:

Rug weaver and his wife - he and the rice wine brewer were both land mine victims so earning a living is difficult - the Vespa adventures team help with supporting them in return for our visits. 

How about this for a wobbly bridge? Photo from half way along. The bikes went around on a weir and stopbank. This used to be the only access to the island we visited. Rocky!! Has 44 gallon drums as floats, some supports and timber lashed on. Not so good for the girl with jandals who was accompanying us. 😂 

Hoi An #5

It’s reasonably flat around here so we decided to take a trip to the Ban An Hills to get a bit of perspective.... coach ride then long steep gondola and then this...
Golden Hands bridge - build as a tourist attraction. Quite amazing and of course .. well populated. Keep your elbows out!!

View out towards Da Nang to the right of the bay. 

Peacock garden was one of many.

Hoi An #4

Just a few pics from our adventures...
This man stopped to pose for me- a light load of sleeping mats...

Nets on the river. They drop them and turn the light on in the evening but catches are down so more fish for fish paste and river crabs. 

Pasta drying in the market. 

My favourite ‘galloping gourmet’

Hoi An #3

Another great experience - taxi into town, walk around the markets with our guide learning about the foods and natural medicines of Vietnam, then off to our island cooking school. Made rice paste for pancakes and then 4 different delicious dishes. A doggie bag for diner later on. Totally delicious food!!

Hoi An #2

Our modest 😀 accommodation... only 2 minutes walk past the pool to the beach. What a lovely haven. Cooler out of the pool or sea but lovely to have a daily ‘dunk’. 


We have a third floor room. Reliable air conditioning and very comfy bed!!

Hoi An

Arrived at our lovely beach resort 5 minutes drive from Hoi An early morning and as our room was unavailable we hopped on the courtesy shuttle and headed off for an adventure. A slow (very hot and humid) wander through the shop lined streets led us to the river and restaurants. Lovely vistas. 

This is one of the instillations/ religious or art pieces along the waterside. 

One of the brilliant shops we found made amazing ships all fully rigged. The sails could be dropped for shipping and we watched a couple of girls wiring on packing one for shipping. Quite fantastic. 

Local water taxis for island trips. We are on another Delta here. 

Ho Chi Minh #2

War Museum time. An interesting afternoon as we took ourselves off down the street to visit the War Monuments Museum. Quite a sobering display re the Vietnam War (they call it the American War) and it’s effects on the country including the continuing effects of Agent Orange. This added some context to yesterday’s trip to the tunnels. Road crossing fun again too. Lots of kids going by on small kids chairs in front of their parents on the scooters. Helmets mandatory here as are seatbelts in your busses.

These ladies had set up a waffle business outside. French style breads very common. Baguettes for breakfast on every street corner. 

NZ involvement in Vietnam.

Love the topiary trees. This just outside the museum. We have another day pottering here tomorrow then off to Hoi An on Friday. 

Ho Chi Minh City

This morning we had a shopping tour in the city locals still prefer to all Saigon. We visited 3 lovely shops and an amazing embroidery gallery before the markets and a coffee shop. Superb morning. Great choices to view and maybe make some special wee purchases.  Loved the bikes with bamboo construction. Pictured is a folding one. 

This can only give a glimpse of the extreme skill of the embroiderer. Wow!!

Cross the street like ‘sticky rice’ and be sure to watch out for motorbikes on the pavement. Sometimes taking a shortcut around a corner, the wrong way down a one way street or avoiding a traffic jam. Lol!!

Cu Chi Tunnel

Disembarked our lovely vessel this morning. 
Thoroughly enjoyed our cruise. So much to see and do. Onboard entertainment, food etc amazing!! Travel Marvel really go the extra mile. 

And then we were off for a drive north to the Cu Chi tunnel complex. Enjoyed this visit although some of the booby traps were rather gruesome. I managed a tunnel adventure also. Don’t know how they lived down there soooo long. Wow!!