We should have just taken a taxi

Day 73 - Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) to Melbourne (Australia)

Our last flight of the trip, a bit over 8 hours flying time at an easy departure time of 11am. We were a little concerned that we were travelling with VietJet again, it did take us an hour to get through check in, immigration and security but we'd arrived early in anticipation of this so everything went smoothly.

The flight was better than we expected, the food was average and the service was basic but we knew what to expect. At least this time we were given the food we ordered, though for some reason we were given two meals.

We arrived in Melbourne just before midnight, and after collecting our luggage we went to take an Uber home, to find there was some sort of issue. No Uber-X at the normal waiting area, and a very long queue of confused people.

We eventually managed to get a more expensive Uber after 40 minutes of waiting, and noticed as we drove past the normal taxi rank that there were plenty of taxis there ... next time I think we'll get a taxi! 

The locals still call it Saigon

Day 72 - Ho Chi Minh City

We caught a Grab to the start of our 10am Ho Chi Minh walking tour and we were quite concerned about managing four hours of walking in the heat. The tour guide was very good at moving us to air conditioned buildings and standing in the shade, and fortunately after a while the sun disappeared behind the clouds.

The tour started off interestingly with information about the French, the end of the war in 1975, the communist take over and the name change from Saigon to Ho Chi Minh. The guide made it very clear that he and others would always call the city Saigon, often dropping his voice as he said "there are spies around" (not sure if he meant it or if it was just for show).

He explained about the opium poppy and even had some two year old opium wine ("happy wine") for us to taste, it was rough. He showed us around various buildings, some interesting like the CIA building where they managed to helicopter 2000 people out as the city was falling.

We spent the afternoon escaping the heat and getting packed for our flight home. We found a much better place for a tasty dinner and walked home via the craziness of Bui Vien Walking Street and the back laneways to our hotel where the locals were spending their evening in a very different world from us.

Lightning McQueen!

Day 71 - An Bang to Ho Chi Minh City

A travelling day today, every step closer to home reduces the time we need to spend flying home.

After a tasty last breakfast (fourth pho in a row!) and a farewell to our host at our nice beachside villa in An Bang we left for the airport at the very civilised checkout time of 10.45am.

Our Vietnam Airlines flight was on time and the difference in quality with our previous VietJet flights was noticeable, we even landed in Saigon early, so we were ready and waiting outside the terminal with our luggage before our driver had arrived. 

After checking in to our hotel we walked to the famous Ben Thanh  market to buy Lightning McQueen and Spiderman knock off Crocs  (no, not for us), going between stalls to see who we could haggle with to get a reasonable price. 

We then walked down the Bui Vien Walking Street which was very busy with cars and motorbikes. We stopped briefly at one of the bars for a drink before finishing the day with a bland Vietnamese dinner, disappointing after the great meals we'd had during our stay in An Bang. 

The Magic Faraway Tree

Day 70 - An Bang

Our seaside villa with the $5 cooked breakfast delivered to our veranda has really grown on us and we will be very sorry to say goodbye.

K wanted to visit the Ba Na Hills with the famous Golden Bridge held up by giant hands. Our villa host had warned us that we needed to keep an eye on the weather as there is no point going if it's foggy or raining and the weather is very different up in the hills compared to the beach. As the weather was forecast to clear after lunch we arranged for a driver to take us up and wait for us as we took the cable car up the mountain.

We were really under prepared for what we were to see. First of all the site is so huge that there are multiple cable car routes to choose from. The cable car from the base is the longest non-stop single-track cable car in the world, almost 6 kilometres long, gaining 1.4 kilometres in height and taking 25 minutes to reach the top. 

We went up until we passed through the clouds, as we got closer we could see buildings appearing in the mist, reaching this entire "land" just like the Faraway Tree. There is a French village, amusement rides, castles, Roman and Greek buildings complete with statues of the gods, and the Golden Bridge that we came to see. It was quite impressive to see something so big so far up in the mountains (and sometimes we can be hard to impress)!

For our last night in An Bang we enjoyed dinner overlooking the beach. The food here in An Bang has been excellent, with the great breakfasts and the stir-fried lemongrass and chilli it's been M's favourite food of the trip (except perhaps for the spice bag in Dublin). We could easily have spent more time here, we think we have a new favourite Asian beach holiday destination.

Terracotta world

Day 69 - An Bang

We decided we should see something of the local area rather than just hang around the beach so we caught a Grab to the Thanh Ha Pottery Village near Hoi An. They had mini terracotta replicas of famous monuments around the world, including the Sydney Opera House. There was a museum with pottery from the many different pottery villages around Vietnam, and about archaeological sites around the area where they had excavated ancient pottery. 

We then went into the old town of Hoi An and wandered the streets and bridges until we were caught in the rain. We sat it out in a coffee shop, then explored a little more as the sun came out and the temperature jumped. We decided that the beach was a better place to be in the heat so we headed back just as another downpour started.

We waited that out and before long the sun was out again, so we headed to the beach for lunch and a swim. The beach was quieter than yesterday, probably because it was overcast and there was still a chance of rain.

Bali 30 years ago?

Day 68 - An Bang

When we arrived last night it was dark, so we were greeted by a nice sea view from our window when we woke.

Breakfast was provided by the family that look after the villa, K went for bacon and eggs while M thought he'd try the pho, which was a great choice, very tasty and better than what we can get at home!

There was a little bit of rain so we waited for it to finish before we went for a walk, along the beach and towards town, passing small beach restaurants and bars with sunbeds and umbrellas, and circular fishing boats dotted along the way. 

We ended up at the place closest to our villa where we sat on a sun bed for spring rolls, pina coladas and iced coffee, very relaxing!

Our end of An Bang beach is quite under developed, giving it a chilled quiet vibe, though it gets busier and a little more touristy closer to town, which has larger restaurants, more sun beds and more tourists. One Aussie we met described it as Bali 30 years ago.

VietJet strikes again

Day 67 - Lan Ha Bay to An Bang 

We woke up early in our lovely suite while our boat cruised around the bay before breakfast. 

After our 6:45am breakfast we took a speed boat to Cát Bà Island, the largest island in the Cát Bà Archipelago. We jumped onto a local bus and travelled to Trung Trang Caves, limestone caves which were very hot inside even though it was still early in the morning. There was lots of crouching and bending required to negotiate the winding passages.

Back to the boat and it was time to pack up, followed by brunch (yes, even more food) while we waited for the speed boat to take us back to the mainland.

We had a driver ready to collect us and take us to Hanoi airport, a two a half hour drive, Part way into the trip he informed us that he would be stopping for lunch for half an hour, and we were taken to a large touristy souvenir shop, selling jewellery, pottery, and various other craft items. 

The traffic was bad as we approached the airport but we eventually made it after three and a quarter hours. We were flying VietJet however, so of course it wasn't that straight forward. It took an hour and a half for us to drop our bags off, and then our flight to Đà Nẵng was delayed an hour.

Finally arriving in Đà Nẵng we had a driver waiting for us at the airport, after a 40 minute drive we checked in to our beach side villa at An Bang beach by 9pm where we were staying for the next four nights. A little closer to home now, every flight means our final flight home will not be so long (but it's with VietJet so who knows ....?).

Upgraded!

Day 66 - Hanoi to Lan Ha Bay

We were collected in a fancy van by Orchid Cruises and joined six other tourists for the two and a half hour drive to Ha Long Bay where we would take an overnight cruise. We had booked a Classic cruise, the middle standard of their three cruise types, but on the way K received a message to say that we had been upgraded to their top of the range Premium cruise, and also that our cabin had been upgraded to their best cabin, the executive suite! It seems strange, but we've now been upgraded on cruises three times over our travelling history (this happened previously for a Nile cruise and also for Antarctica). 

We arrived at the harbour and were taken by speed boat to the main boat. There were only five cabins on board, and our suite was at the rear of the ship with a wrap around veranda, a king sized bed and a huge bathroom with a jacuzzi. 

While we had lunch the boat moved from Ha Long Bay to Lan Ha Bay. The scenery was beautiful with huge islands formed from tall limestone rocks rising from the sea. There were a lot of boats (at one stage M counted 19 that he could see) but they all managed to keep a distance from each other so that it rarely felt crowded. 

While K stayed on the boat and had a massage and facial in our room, M went kayaking with the other seven passengers to see a small temple and then around some of the islands in the bay.

During happy hour we were given a cooking demonstration on making Vietnamese spring rolls, tried our hand at rolling our own, then sampled the results after they were cooked.

Dinner was another multiple course affair, with soup, entree, main and dessert, all nicely cooked and well presented. We skipped the squid fishing, deciding instead to retire to our spacious room for the evening.

Posers

Day 65 - Hanoi

Not many plans today but K wanted to check out Bát Tràng Pottery Village, a 45 minute drive from the hotel.

We visited a huge shop with a large array of impressive pots (so many pots!), then visited the 19th century multi chambered wood fired climbing dragon kiln at Lò Bầu, followed by a walk through the market where K picked up a new piece for her collection.

Back in Hanoi we went for coffee at a fancy coffee place near the cathedral, sitting on the balcony watching the girls posing for their photos ... and posing .... and posing. Social media has a lot to answer for! 

In the evening we walked down to the lake where they were preparing for the Hanoi Marathon which was to start at 3am. We visited the night market, not much there of note, it was almost just a bigger version of the large Chinese junk shops you see back home.

Good decision

Day 64 - Hanoi

Our driver picked us up at 9am, and our first stop was the Quang Phu Cau incense village an hour and a half south of Hanoi. It was set up for photos with coloured bunches of incense sticks arranged in patterns, and ladders to climb so you could get a view from on high. There was someone pushing us to buy "tickets" so we could take take photos, we'd been told by our driver that tickets weren't required, and another tourist told us the tickets were just to use the ladders, so we ignored the tout and he went off to bother someone else. A quick look here was enough for us so we hit the road for Ninh Binh.

Our original idea was to take the two hour boat trip from Tam Coc, but after K looked up the boats and found that they were just basic benches with no shade, we changed the plan so we would take the boat trip at Van Long,. This was the best decision, we had a lovely, peaceful hour long boat ride with a lady rowing us and the river practically to ourselves. The only thing we would have changed is we wished we'd brought umbrellas as there was a lack of shade.

After the boat ride we visited Hoa Lu, Vietnam's ancient capital, and explored the grounds and the historic temples.

From there it was only about 10 minutes to the Trang An river complex, which was quite a contrast from peaceful and serene Van Long. It was very crowded, people and buses everywhere, and the whole set up was like a theme park. There were hundreds of boats, as well as shops and souvenir stands (there was even a Starbucks). We were relieved that we'd taken the much more relaxing boat ride earlier. 

We were back in Hanoi by 5pm after a very enjoyable day in the country outside of the city. 

Wrong side of the tracks

Day 63 - Hanoi

No commitments today, so it was a day to catch up on some sleep, acclimatise and make plans for the next few days in Hanoi.

After breakfast we arranged with our hotel for a driver to take us to the Ninh Binh area the next day. Once that was organised we walked down to Hoàn Kiếm Lake only a couple of minutes walk away from our hotel. The area was busy, lots of young women in cream dresses, many other older women in traditional Vietnamese dress, all posing for photos.

From there we headed to the even more touristy Train Street, a narrow street with shops and cafes each side where you can sit at the edge of the train track to watch a train go by. We had no idea of the train timetable but it turns out there was one coming in about 30 minutes, so we sat, ordered a drink, and waited. It was quiet when we arrived, but as train time approached it became very busy, with more women in cream dresses posing for photos (of course). Once the train passed the street cleared very quickly.

We decided to walk along the train tracks towards the French Quarter, but it took us ages to realise that there were no steps down from the elevated train track so the only thing to do was walk all the way back again. Some kind locals told us there was no way down, of course they told us this after we'd worked that out for ourselves!

We enjoyed a traditional Vietnamese dinner, in a restaurant looking just like the ones back home. The food was fine but not as spicy as we'd hoped, and after leaving we finished up at our rooftop bar, fortunately our lift was now fully functional.

Should you travel on VietJet Air? Let me tell you a story ....

Day 62 - Almaty (Kazakhstan) to Hanoi (Vietnam)

A 5am pick up in the dark and an easy drive to the airport gave us the illusion of a cruisy day, but it wasn't to be. We arrived at the airport about 2 and a half hours before our flight but check in hadn't even started. We waited in the growing queue, we guessed (and it was later confirmed) there was a computer problem, but no information was forthcoming. This route (Almaty to Hanoi) was a new VietJet Air route, that had only been flown once before, so we thought it could be teething problems.

The flight time departure time changed from 8:10 to 9:10, and they finally started checking people in but it was very slow process as they checked people names on printed passenger lists. When it was finally our turn to check in it took about 10 minutes, we had to show proof of our tickets and our visas, once we had our boarding passes it was three hours since we'd arrived at the airport.  

We rushed through passport control to our gate then onto the plane, finding that we weren't seated together (we hadn't even though to check). K arranged a swap, then we sat in the plane for another hour while they waited for clearance from the ground crew. That eventually came and we finally took off, nearly three hours late.

Even then the problems weren't over, when it came to meal time they said they couldn't find a record of what we'd purchased, and asked for proof, which of course we couldn't get as we didn't have it printed. They did find our names eventually, against the seats we were supposed to have been sitting in when we originally booked. Of course they didn't have the meals we requested (Thai fried rice). Instead we were offered tinned shrimp or tinned fish, which came in containers that looked like cat food, and when opened also smelt like cat food.

Other than all of that, the flight was fine, and we arrived in Hanoi actually feeling OK, given all that had happened. 

We passed through immigration quickly and waited for our luggage. K's arrived within 10 minutes, M's arrived about 40 minutes after that, at around the time people were starting to panic about their luggage being missing. 

We finally walked out of the airport into the warm air and to our waiting airport transfer. We arrived at our hotel at around 9:30pm local time, thinking we'd check in then go out for a quick meal, but even that was harder than it should have been.

It turns our our hotel had lift maintenance starting at 10pm, which meant no lifts until the morning, and our room was on the 10th floor. We couldn't really go out for dinner unless we wanted to take the stairs when we returned (which we didn't). So, we thought it made sense to eat at the hotel's restaurant on the 12th floor - but then we were told the kitchen closed at 9:30pm. What to do? The hotel offered to order takeaway for us and deliver it to the rooftop terrace overlooking Hoan Kiem Lake. This was a great work around and was ultimately a nice way to finish off one of those terrible travelling days that can happen from time to time.

Sweet place you have here

Day 61 - Almaty

It was a gorgeous autumn day in Almaty, perfect for a free walking tour with a small group of only seven which made for a relaxed and chatty tour. Our guide Aiguerim (Amy for short) was excellent, starting with a brief history of Kazakhstan, beginning with the original nomadic tribes, then the invasion of the Mongols (Genghis Khan), through to USSR and independence. 

We have noticed that while a lot of people look Russian most of the population look more Asian. Amy explained that they were 80% Asian and 20% Caucasian, the main language spoken is Russian but Kazakh is also taught in schools, alongside English. 

We visited the Green Market with a variety of produce stalls, we were able to sample some horse meat (processed similar to salami), as well as different milk based products like cheeses and sweets that the nomads ate for energy while roaming the steppes.

From there we visited the Rakhat Candy Factory Outlet, a shop that sells chocolate and sweets by weight. M thought you could just have one of each type of lolly, but was told off twice by staff and other customers for mixing different sweets in the one bag, later finding out that each different type had to be weighed and priced separately. 

This is just one side of the bag

The tour also included visits to notable building and descriptions of their architecture, according to their time in history. There was the Ascension Cathedral, a wooden building that  has survived some huge earthquakes), and different types of apartments named according to the Soviet leader at the time (Stalinka, Kruschevka, and Breszhnevka). 

In the Guardsmen Park we saw the eternal flame as well as some impressive monuments to heroes from the Soviet Era. We finished the tour at the Opera House which is conveniently located right next to the apartment we're staying in.

We finished the day by revisiting a couple of places for some shopping - souvenirs for K near the Green Market, while M went back to Rakhat for more chocolate and lollies. Then it was time for an early night as we needed to get up at 4:30am the next day to be at the airport.

If you jump into that radioactive water you'll feel better!

Day 60 - Almaty

Today we'd booked a half day tour to leave the city and see some of the mountain area around Almaty.

We started off in a mini van with 20 other people and drove through the leafy outer areas of the city, with trees showing their autumn colours, to see Big Almaty Lake, changing to SUVs for the last 12 kilometres. The lake has a similar aqua blue colour to some of the rivers and lakes we'd seen in New Zealand. The lake is the source of Almaty's water and is surrounded by snow capped peaks. It was also smaller than we expected and while it was pretty, spending an hour there was a bit long. It's a very popular attraction, when we arrived it wasn't too busy but by the time we left the place was full of people taking and posing for photos. 

We then drove to Alma-Arasan Gorge to see the hot springs, which are also known as the Radon Springs since the heat source is radioactivity. We were told that the spring water is said to have some health benefits, but also that people with cancer should not visit, and that if we did go in we shouldn't stay in the water more than 20 minutes.

The walk from the car park to the hot tubs was uphill and took about 20 minutes, following the stream that flowed down from the mountain. We didn't take a dip but there were plenty of people who did, including some quite old people who struggled with the climb but were possibly hoping for some kind of healing from the water.

From there M went exploring a little further, finding a very small waterfall, and also an old Soviet era sanitorium that the old Soviet leaders used to visit. 

After the tour finished and we were back in Almaty, M went exploring, jumping on a train going in the opposite direction to where he wanted to go, but it all turned out OK as it was a very pleasant walk back thorough town to where we were staying. 

Always carry some cash

Day 59 - Astana to Almaty

It was another crisp sunny day in Astana, and we needed to get to the airport for our flight to Almaty, the old capital and the largest city in Kazakhstan, so we decided to use Yandex, a Russian app which is the Uber equivalent over here.

After trying for 15 minutes and not being able to find a driver we spoke to hotel reception, who informed us that Yandex was down but they could book a taxi for us. There was a catch though - the taxi only took cash, and we had none. So M rushed off to find an ATM, returning 15 minutes later with some cash.

We arrived at the airport about 30 minutes later than we'd planned to find that check in didn't start for another 40 minutes anyway. 

Coming in to Almaty we could see huge snow capped mountains in the distance, quite a sight. We checked in to a nice apartment near the Almaty Opera House, and ventured out to the local supermarket to do some shopping. The variety of food on the shelves was quite different to what we'd been expecting, with more of a Russian influence, and everything being in Cyrillic script made it difficult to work out what we were buying.

Later on we walked to a restaurant for dinner, finding the streets to be quite busy, there was a mix of tourists and locals, and buskers with varying degrees of talent, the worst one being the guy who just sang along very loudly to rap songs. 

Yes, we invented that

Day 58 - Astana

As we only have one full day in Astana we decided to book a private tour to make sure we caught all of the highlights while we were there. Because we weren't quite used to Kazakh time yet we arranged to be picked up at noon, when we were collected by our driver/guide, a young student from Astana. 

We visited all of the main city highlights, which had all been built within the last 25 years. It seems weird to be in such an old country that was once part of the USSR, yet everything we saw was so young and new. The place reminded of us Skopje, the capital of Northern Macedonia. 

We visited a lot of grand buildings and monuments, including the Opera House, Baiterek Tower, Khan Shatyr (the biggest tent in the world, which houses a shopping and entertainment centre), Ak Orda Presidential Palace, the pyramid shaped Palace of Peace and Reconciliation, and the Astana Grand Mosque, which is the fifth largest mosque in the world by capacity. All building were new and modern, in fact what we saw of the whole city was spotless, reminiscent of somewhere like Singapore.

Our guide was surprised to learn that the flat white originated in Australia (yes Kiwi's, we know you like to claim it), it's pretty interesting that we had a couple of decent flat whites in a place like Kazakhstan, but we couldn't find a decent coffee at all in France! 

After the tour finished we went for a walk, ending up at Khan Shatyr where it was getting busy, as there were lots of families about on this pleasant Sunday. The day had been sunny and bright at 12 degrees, but as the afternoon progressed it got colder, heading towards a forecast minimum of -2. 

We finished the day with a meal at our nice hotel, which included horse meat on their menu. M considered that it might be worth a try and seriously pondered it for a short time, before chickening out and ordering grilled chicken (yeah, pun intended).

Very nice

Day 57 - Istanbul (Turkey) to Astana (Kazakhstan)

Pretty much just a travelling day today. Around 10:30am we were driven to the airport, we checked in to our flight to Kazakhstan, and after a five hour flight we landed in Astana, the capital, around 9pm.

Walking from the airport into the open air to our taxi we could feel the cold, it was only about 4 degrees, but clear and still. On the way to our hotel we passed futuristic looking buildings, all lit up in neon, and huge monuments, including a massive mosque, and full size replicas of Russian spacecraft.

It was dark but because of three hour time difference with France it didn't feel late. However it was too cold outside and Astana is too spread out to easily walk anywhere at night, so we settled for a drink and snack in the hotel restaurant before turning in.  

Let's try that again

Day 56 - Bordeaux (France) to Istanbul (Turkey)

Time to say goodbye to France after three weeks, we've probably visited a few too many "Most Beautiful Villages in France" and are well and truly ready to travel somewhere new. It will also be good to go to a place with less smoking at restaurants, however we are sorry to say goodbye to the friendliness of the French.

Our early start for our flight to Istanbul was made very easy by a direct tram to the airport with the stop only a few minutes walk from our apartment.

Bordeaux airport is definitely not glamorous and the smiling patrolling police passing with the nozzle of the machine gun about six inches away from K was a little confronting. However the staff at the airport, including immigration were very personable and friendly.

The flight was a little over three hours, and as we were landing at Istanbul airport we felt the wheels touch the runaway, then the went nose up and we were accelerating upwards again. There was chattering throughout the cabin as people wondered what was happening. Eventually the pilot made an announcement, that due to flight conditions we have to go around again and it's totally normal". It didn't feel normal to us though, it was another 20 minutes or so before we finally landed, with another 15 minutes or so from there while the plane taxied around the massive Istanbul airport to find a parking spot.

Our next flight isn't until tomorrow afternoon so rather than stay at the airport we decided to try a cheap hotel in the small seaside town of Karabarun on the Black Sea, a 20 minute drive from the airport. We went for a walk along the nice promenade, there were families and locals enjoying the sunny afternoon, though the beach was quite dirty with a lot of washed up plastic. It looks like there's a bit of development underway, as the promenade isn't quite finished, presumably the proximity to the new airport has given the area a boost.

Rained out

Day 55 - Bordeaux

Heavy rain and a chill in the air put a dampener on things today. We spent some time preparing for our departure from France the next day, and finalising some plans for the rest of the trip.

The rain lifted around lunch time so we headed out to get some food, but it started again just as we returned to our apartment. 

Later in the afternoon the rain stopped so M went shopping and also did some exploring, only to be caught in heavy downpours a couple of times, sheltering in doorways to keep dry.  

By around 6 it seemed the rain had eased enough to venture out again so we sat at a bistro by the Cathédrale Saint-André de Bordeaux not far from our apartment. 

Today's rain was quite a contrast to the 20 or so days of almost perfect weather we'd had up to now, perhaps we've timed our departure almost perfectly.