Arrived in Ho Chi Minh Airport, I went straight to Phu Quoc Island, where my little vacation was about to start.
Phu Quoc Island was really just relaxing. Beautiful sandy beaches, cocktails and amazing sea food. You could hire a scooter to go around, but I was just happy to walk from A to B and have a calmer pace.
Back on the road and the real start of the road trip from Ho Chi Minh to Hanoi. As I mentioned, the real highlights of this trip were the floating markets and Hue, for the rest was just long travelling and waiting hours via Bus and Train. Another reason why I will definitely spend more time for the next visit and probably go with a bike. The night before the floating market trip on the Hau River, I found a fisherman on shore who was just packing up his gear and boat. I asked him with very little English and a good amount of hand gestures, if he could take me the next morning to the floating markets. Agreed on price and time, the next morning he was there waiting for me to start the day. Lots of impressions. Most of the boats people live on them, you can see how they hang their clothes, do dishes and have some pets on board. To be recognisable on the market of 100’s of boats, most of them had a long stick with a fruit or vegetable on top of it, to showcase their good they were selling. Smaller boats of private people or even restaurants would cruise around and buy what they needed. Some other smaller boats with take-away soup were also trying to sell their food for a good breakfast (which I ate then). This trip ended with a beautiful sunrise and a full belly.
Back on the road, a bigger main stop was Hue. Big in culture, architecture and history. So, I tackled the war museum and the imperial citadel by foot. Very impressive how these people won several wars against bigger nations such as France or USA just to name a few… the left behind war machines, equipment and even their cells where the war prisoners were captured by the Vietnamese, are all full of extended information about all of the historic events. Spent most of my days exploring by foot all these architectural beauties, but to be able to visit the emperor tombs you needed to go by tour…. which I avoided and rented instead a scooter and bought tickets at the entrance. The first tombs I visited were full of tourists, had an easier access and were very well maintained. Those sculptures in front of the entrance are guardians of the respective fallen emperors. But the tomb I was interested in was bit further away and not so easy to find…. so, one lady vendor in front of the first tomb entrance, showed me the way. I followed her on my scooter until we reached this hidden tomb of the first emperor and empress. Surrounded by the jungle, a bit off the beaten track and not a single person visiting it. 2 guards were there and I had to pay them a small fee to let me in there, were I had the pleasure to have a little private tour up until to the tombs itself. Definitely made my day and had a little adventure behind me.
Vietnam - Việt Nam
In 2017 I visited Vietnam for around 2 weeks. Starting point was Ho Chi Minh and travelled around the coast to Hanoi mainly via Bus and Train. It’s definitely a country I would like to visit longer next time, because there is so much culture and culinary diversity to taste and explore, that 2 weeks don’t do its justice.
The high lights of this trip where the Cai Rang floating market on the Hau River, the beautiful Island Phu Quoc and Hue, the cultural hub for ancient emperor’s tombs, imperial citadel, historic war museum and the list goes on.
