Just finished Vietnam Hightlights tour-was great
Just finished Vietnam Hightlights tour-was great
Hiya, this was my second tour with Contiki-the first being Egypt which was great. There was a fantastic post earlier summarizing day by day account of the tour but couldn't find it-will add my synopsis to help you out. Our tour manager Johnny was great-planned extra excursions b/c we had lots of downtime ie before and after flights. Hotels were good and bad-hot water for 5 minutes only and a few beds hard as rock. So cold from March 21-30-overcast and rainy, most everyone got sick. Bring vitamins and cold medicine; bug spray a must-got bitten even in the cold. Here is my blow by blow account:
1. Ho Chi Minh City was all about meet and greet, paperwork, meet roommate and dinner at
BBQ house-cook your own food. Was mediocre. Night market was good-T shirts $3-$5. Pay attention to currency-they will rip you off. ($1 USD is 20,000 VND approx.) Bring earplugs-noisy. Recommend arriving 1-2 days early and partaking in Chu Chi tunnels-hotel has tours.
2. Coach tour of city-post office (set price shopping $3 T shirts) and Notre Dame church. We
also visited Vietnam War museum-so sad. Late flight so Johnny planned extra visit to traditional amusement park-deserted but water park was fun and we rented the golf cart to drive around the park before heading to airport to Nha Trang. (Restaurant outside the amusement park was cheap but terrible-if you must go, order veggies.) Swimming in bay-nice but again cold for us. Hotel exchanged money for 20,900 VND via credit card for one traveler.
3. I think was Hue-so cold, we descended on the best North Face store (Sports AC) near the hotel and bought them out (J/k) but our group photo had everyone wearing a jacket. Knock-offs but can't beat $25-$45 USD. They do not accept credit card. Better than Hanoi where you have to literally scrounge around for hours looking though racks of outdoor vendors and really only had bags and double the price. Citadel and Palace were nice. Cyclo ride was ok. Recommend buying or bringing mask so you are not tasting smog and smoke as you ride. I was literally gagging and begging my cyclo rider to take me back to hotel as I felt like I was suffocating. DMZ bar on corner was good and their Honey BBQ pork ribs were great. Best hotel and breakfast-Asia hotel. Dinner at local place run by deaf and mute owners? was ok.
4. Hoi An Save laundry for this place. Mr Giau charges cheap and let us ride his bicycles for free the first day. Small town-my favorite place as you can literally get anything made here-clothes, shoes and jewelry-all in record time approx 24-48 hrs. Going back for fittings was a pain but hotel is close and bicycles rent for $1USD a day. One guy got 2 suits and 6 shirts tailor made for $300 USD approximately (he used 2 diff tailors). Recommend space in your suitcase (bring 2-several people had to buy a 2nd) and do the cooking class option. Best restaurant in town was the same place-Morning Glory Restaurant-Mrs Vy and her family own the town; she owns 3 restaurants and Cargo Bar (pastries and coffee-they also pack lunch for day trip e.g. next day bus trip if you desire) across the way, her sister runs Yaly (main tailor in town), another sister runs a spa in town and so on. I actually bought her new cookbook ($40) and she signed my book and posed for a photo (the food was THAT GOOD).
5. Hanoi Best street food-Johnny prepares these nice maps of locations and recommendations-beware, he chooses some westernized restaurants that are pricey and not very good-methinks people from other countries must not have good cuisine to think Vietnam version of western food is so fantastic. You poor people. Ignore Johnny's plea not to be stingy-that we are visiting a poor country-I was all about the food and wasn't going to sacrifice my experience to give to charity to help disadvantaged people by eating crappy food. The extra excursion to Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum was very nice too. He is well preserved and a sight to behold. Alas, Johnny will be going back to Europe to tour but you will get Emmo or Emerson, cutie with the long tongue and nice pakage from now on.
6. Ha Long Bay Nice boat-yummy 8 course lunch and dinner mostly seafood (can opt out for non seafood or vegetarian). Don't miss the cave of wonder and the beach/viewpoint (400 steps).
Themed party on boat (always for Contiki) was fun (up til 0100am and can hear everyone puking next door afterwards). Optional kayak morning after at 0800 not a good idea as everyone was hung over and waste of money(no shows) but those who made it said it was beautiful.
7. I left the group here to stay in Ha Long Bay on Cat Ba island and go rock climbing with SloPony tours-English speaking and American prices but they are the place to go to for information. Around the corner from them or your hotel will arrange transfer back to Hanoi for only 190,000 VND or $10 USD approx. Recommend staying in Hanoi couple days extra to visit Sapa village on your own to see cultural stuff as Contiki was busy packing, bussing and flying and visiting mostly westernized areas. I don't think I missed much as the 4 hours bus ride back to Hanoi and checking in the hotel with hung over people must have been pretty sedate. Also get the hotel or guide to arrange $10 USD taxi back to airport. I overpaid for my Ho Chi Minh city taxi from airport ($35)-get the metered taxis not set price and make sure they are not aimlessly driving in circles to rack up your bill.
8. Bring you own condoms please, you horny kids-would you really trust the local pharmacy for your rubbers?
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