Hanoi, Halong and Hoi An

Xin Chào ngajubintharri

This morning I have a bit of downtime so I thought I'd go to a cafe (shamelessly sitting at a branch cafe to use the wi-fi) so I could relax and enjoy the ambience and the beauty that is Hoi An. But of course I'm surrounded by chatty tourists and a smoker and across the road they are cleaning the brickwork so things are not as peaceful as I would've hoped. But I love it!

Except the smoker - fuck that guy.

And did you know a pack of fags here is ~$1-2 US?

Last Wednesday I joined my Topdeck tour where I got to meet a bunch of new interesting people from around the globe - ranging all the way from Queensland right down to Victoria! OK, there are a few Kiwis, but it's mainly Aussies and it's actually really great to be surrounded by our shit accents and weird sense of humour again.

Fav sign so far 😂

I've been having a ball so far. We have tasted the best Hanoi had to offer, especially bun cha (a must have if you're in Hanoi) and of course bahn mi. Did an army jeep/motorbike tour of the city, that was very fun. Visited the mausoleum where we got to see the body of Ho Chi Min. Couldn't help but think of the time I dressed my nana for her funeral ❤

Also managed to stay up past my bed time to have fun on Beer Street in the Old Quarter. It was so busy and crowded but I didn't feel overwhelmed, probably because cheap (but tasty) beer was at hand!

And my mission for my last day in Hanoi was to try some kopi luwak, called weasel coffee here. And for those who don't know it is literally shit coffee! I may have bought a couple bags from the sweet old man...

Beer Street on Friday night

First sip of kopi luwak

We did an overnight stay at Halang Bay. Did you know King Kong was filmed there?

Amazing Cave

The last time I was in Vietnam I didn't get to Halong Bay. I was too busy sitting on the toilet in Hanoi to venture outside the bathroom let alone the city.

Halong Bay is beautiful! My writing skills are not going to be able to do it justice so just trust me when I say it's a must see for a reason. And not sure if you know, but they filmed King Kong there.

Totes wasn't stressed in the cave. You were!

We visited Amazing Cave (yep that's the name) and I was able to walk through it without too much drama. The chambers were very big and beautiful but that didn't really ease my claustrophobia, the only reason I got through without running is because for most of the walk I could see sunlight shining through the opening. Not gonna lie, I did powerwalk through the darker bits.

Then we went for a dip in the water. And we got to do a small boat ride into a lagoon where we saw and got to feed some monkeys!

I don't know what it is about monkeys but I just love them.

Oh that reminds me, King Kong was filmed in Halong Bay. Did you know that?

We were meant to do an overnight train to Danang (to get to Hoi An) but because of flooding plans had to change and we flew instead. Honestly, I think I would've preferred the 14 hour train ride over the 1 hour flight because I was sitting next to a fucking feral!

Old boy was bloody gross! Took his face mask off to cough huge wracking wet coughs, sometimes into his hand so he could generously spread his germs over the seat in front. Apparently my face was a sight to see everytime he coughed or sniffed. I would've given my left tit for a can of Glen20!

I decided the only way to deal with it was to pull my hat down over my eyes, lock my arms down on both armrests, I was in the middle seat and fucked if I was gonna let him use MY armrest (didn't stop him from trying though) and forced myself to sleep through it.

Once we got off the plane I rubbed hand sanitiser all over my arms and face.

We made it to Hoi An last night and enjoyed some cao lau (a local dish) and went to the best tailor in town. Hoi An is known for it's tailors and yours truly is getting a pretty dress made to fit. I have never had anything tailored before so I'm pretty excited.

At the tailors

Anyways I'm gonna stop writing and go in search for some bahn mi!