Fluffy pups and noisy markets - Week 13

Week 13 – Vietnam (Hoi An, Hoi Chin Minh City)

20^th  to 26^th of October

Our second week in Vietnam hold the key to some of our best travel experiences to date.

We were woken up round 3:30am by the ‘ding-dongs’ of the resident monastery in Hoi An…well, very much next door to our bedroom window!! Everybody was awake!! We sent most of the kids back to their bedroom, but one remained with us. Fortunately after a long long time of irregular dinging and donging, we all managed to snooze a bit more. The kids were all sleeping together in two single beds pushed together, and Arno and I had the luxury of our own room!

Linh of Loc Phat homestay, were the best host. Always ready with a smile, well she advised us on which of the more than 300 tailor shops to visit. If you want to read more about our visit to Be Be, you can follow this link.

So after the morning spent in the tailor shop, we went to explore the quant little village of Hoi An. Well, actually it’s not that small, but the Old Town with it’s street markets, backstreet art galleries and numerous restaurants just capture your imagination. Many moons back the town was an important harbour, but the Thu Bon River silted up in the early 19^th century and that preserved this atmospheric town form pollution and heavy traffic and prevented it from turning into an big commercial harbour. The town’s appearance dwindled a bit, until 1990, when it was given another chance through the booming tourist industry. The local economy was transformed and this town is now one of Vietnam’s wealthiest. It is a culinary mecca and world famous for it’s quality in tailor made dresses, suits and shoes.

 

Street food!!

Vietnamese Hot pot!!

We stayed in Hoi An for 4 nights/3days and enjoyed EVERY moment of it!! After some dress fitting at 6pm, we strolled down the riverfront. Now quite dark, we were taken in by the beauty of all the lit lanterns, little floating candles and peaceful atmosphere. Pitty the little girls were so tired, otherwise we would have stayed a bit longer…

At this point I just need to tell you about Loc Phat’s wonderful (included) breakfast. Served on a little terraced rooftop, we could order a three-course start to our day. Bread basket, then your choice of egg (fried, scrambled, omelet) or Vietnamese noodles/ rice or pancakes then fruit plate, with a nice white coffee and passion fruit juice on the side. If this does not set you up for the day, then I do not know what will!! The kids got very clever and on our last day they had nearly 3 Nutella pancakes each!! So you can understand why we got up super early on day 2 there. We just could not go on the bike riding trip and missing out on the feast upstairs!!

We choose the Heaven and Earth Bicycle Tours for our day out. I’ll include my Trip advisor 

review here:

‘We booked a half day family trip to visit the craft villages over on the islands. We are travelling with our 4 children, ages 3,6,9 and 10). The two older ones were given children's bikes and the two younger one's went on the back of our bikes. The 6-year old sat on a cushioned carrier (like most Vietnamese bikes has) and a children's 5-point harnessed bike seat was provided for the 4 year old. All of them were issued with a helmet. At no time we were concerned for the safety of the children on this tour. Our guide, Linh, was extremely informative and the children had many opportunities to try various crafts and even paddling a traditional basket boat. The lunch (caramelized chicken dish) was awesome. We cycled 9km on the day with plenty of stops and two ferries included. Learned about Vietnamese culture and took part in weaving a sleeping mat. Great day in the homeschool for our kids!!! We will totally recommend this tour for all ages. In our group there were a young couple and two older ladies, so a whole spectrum of age and ability! Everybody had good fun!!’

The funniest part of this whole day was Arno’s struggle to get anywhere with that basket boat. Because the boat is round and you can just reach the water on one side, you just use one ore. Now this complicates things a bit. If you paddle on one side with one ore, then the result will be what Arno experienced…you keep on going round and round!! So hopeless, that the wee old lady had to jump in with Alana, in her basket, to paddle across the stream to rescue him! For once I was the water goddess!!! The trick in paddling is, either a C-shape in front of the basket or a figure of 8. Getting into the basket require some balancing skills too. You need to give a big step, placing one food in the center of the basket. Then you need to kneel down, but remember to keep both feet in the center. Luckily they placed a lifejacket down, for us to kneel on, otherwise my knees would have hurt way more!!

You might ask: Why a basket boat?

Well, during the French colonization of Vietnam in 1887, they started charging tax on boats. The locals decided to weave these huge baskets and use it as boats. When the tax collectors came round they would just pull the ‘basket’ out of the water and put it against the side of the house. ‘No boat here, Sir!’

Basket making

Another interesting thing we learned was an explanation on the difference in dates between the Vietnamese and Western world. We knew that the Chinese celebrate New Year somewhere in February every year, buy I did not know that in Vietnam they follow a complete different calendar. Each month runs according to the moon cycle, so only 28 days. Then every fourth year, instead like us, who adds on one day in February, they add on a whole extra month. Now, the added extra month is different every time! I asked somebody about 2016, but it is not officially known yet, which month will be doubled up. So different from the UK, where 2017’s school calendar was made public already!!

The Cam Nam Island, across the river form Hoi An, is a old world in itself. Here not much has changed since yester-year. We visited a boat making workshop(they still bend the wood by steaming it over an open fire), and mother-of-pearl woodcraft and inlay workshop (all by hand), a rice-wine cellar (in the pig pen!!), a basket boat making family (not many with this particular skill left in the world) and a mat weaver’s family business (daughter and grandma working together in the front room of their house). It was such a practical learning experience and that included the physical exercise cycling between rice fields and neighborhoods.

Arno asked me to add this wee bit: Never ever ever ever, when offered the opportunity to try fermented mushroom infused rice wine say yes. ‘Nough said….. (He was the only brave soul..or stupid enough..to volunteer this ‘treat’! Heeeeeeee heeeeeee!!! This was not a good day for his selfesteem!!!!)

Arno’s mountain biker’s crave was definitely not satisfied by this pedestrian 9 kilometers, so he went back for some more the following day. The kids and I planned to hit the beachfront, but the torrential rainy season storm had another type of day planned for us. Stay home and chill out! Well, the kids did their schoolwork (Maths, English and Afrikaans) and caught up with their personal dairies. We played a few games and then went for a short walk in the street (between showers). We stumble upon a lantern making workroom and watched the ladies at their craft. When the mud-man returned, he had to jump in the shower with clothes and shoes still attatched to his body!! He was mankey (‘dirty’ for you non-Scots!!). But his smile stretched from east to west!

Before the last day in Hoi An ran out, we still had one last appointment with Be Be. We had to pick up our completed outfits!! Excitement knew no bounds!! Almost everything fitted perfectly. They adjusted the straps on Nina’s dress quickly, while Arno was sorting out the shipment of his suits to our friends in Dubai. We will pick them up there on our final stop before we board the plane for Cape Town. Thanks to the Mackies!!

Ready to be shipped

Final dress fitting

We all felt very sad to leave Loc Phat. Alana and Philippa have fallen in love with the family’s two Vietnamese puppy dogs. Since before 7am on our final morning, Alana was walking around cuddling them in a wee blankey, giving them rides in the basket of a bicycle she found and lullabying them to sleep beside her at the breakfast table. Every 5 minutes she would repeat the request to bring one of them along with us…We were already inside our taxi airport bound, while she was saying a final FINAL goodbye to the pups.

Back at Danang Airport we were waiting for our flight to Dalat. This town lies closer to the mountains further south. It is higher up and we were expecting some lower temperatures. Our two nights here were spent in Villa Pink House.

Nina were so excited to hear that her ‘house’ for the night was going to be completely pink! Dalat offers many walking routes to pretty waterfalls and mountain bike tracks to your hearts contend. Unfortunately, we just did not have enough time for all of these. We decided to visit the Truc Lan Monastry, via a cable car ride.

The gardens here were such a delight and gave the children a bit of space to run around and get lost in their imagination. We also visited the Hang Nga Crazy House

for a bit of afternoon fun.

The rain stayed away for most of the day, but once it came, we were prepared with our waterproofs! Our strategy is to wear shorts and sandals at the bottom(your feet is gona get wet anyway) and to cover up with a good waterproof jacket. We always wear our suncaps underneath the hood of the jacket, because this keeps the water out our face!! In Thomas’s case, it keeps his glasses dry at least!!These rainy season’s showers is something else. When the heavens open, it’s a bit like and ice-bucket challenge (without the ice, since it is still warm!!) but you get soaked within seconds!!

Up to this point in our journey we could book or plan our mode of transport in advance. Since the only option to get to Hoi Chin Minh City (Saigon’s new name) from Dalat, was by bus, we were now entering unknown territory. With the help of the staff of Villa Pinkhouse, we book our first bus. It was going to depart at 9:30am from the bus staion, but we were soon to realize that our ticket also includes our courtesy hotel pick up by minibus round 45min prior to departure. At this point I was still smiling, and then I got a bit confused when I heard the word ‘ sleeping-bus’ mentioned. I was still very worried until we actually boarded our ‘ sleeping bus’ to find it similar situation as your first class airliner bed-like recliner seats. We had to take our shoes off at the door of the bus, were issued with a neat little drawstring bag to place them in, then we crawled into the bus. To give you a more clear picture, I’ll go into a bit of detail!! The 3 rows of seats had 2 paths between them and were double decker! I think the bus can only take 42 passengers. At each stop every passenger could lift a pair of flip-flops from a bucket outside the door. Convenience at it’s best. (I have not seen this repeated on any other bus journey yet.) Nina and Philippa were sharing a seat and were happily playing dollies and mums ’n dad’s for the duration of this 6 hour long journey. Thomas and Alana had the luxury of reading and watching and I-pad movie…Arno and I, we just slept!!! All my doubts about this foreign concept were totally blown out of the water. I later spoke to somebody who said that she always takes the nightly sleeper bus and how comfortable it is. I now can believe her!!

The 3 nights booked into the Riverside Resort was a gift from above. What a privilege to enjoy a little bit of luxury in our serviced 2-bedroomed apartment with kitchen. The children did not leave the fantastic pool, except when the regular afternoon thunderstorms moved in. It was hard to convince them to get excited about a day of exploring HCMC’s tourist sights…even for us bigger guys, we had to do a bit of a self-motivational chat!! The compromise was that we would take the 8am courtesy river taxi from our resort to downtown, do a bit of walking about, visiting one of the cool markets, maybe the Palace and the War Remnants Museum, before returning to the pool again by 1pm. In  agreement with this suggestion, we had 4 children dressed and ready waiting at the quayside for our taxi boat at 7:45am!

We followed the Saigon River to a jetty closest to the town center. This taxi is particularly laid on to transport the expats form their little Western ‘bubble’ to their offices in the city. After a super challenging road crossing ( but we are actually getting very good at this now!!) we were wandering the streets for a while. This was the day we let all the hair down! Breakfast was enjoyed in Starbucks Coffee House (first of our trip) and later a KFC lunch followed!!!! (Also a first.) It was hot and sweltering and the energy levels of the kiddo’s were starting to run low. Arno came up with a great solution, which injected some energy…even into myself!! Each child were given 100dong(£3) to spend in the market. They could haggle prices down to hearts contend! So while Arno went Nikon shopping in another market, the kids and I got ourselves lost  (literarily and figuratively!!) inside the Ben Thanh market. 

Philippa and Alana both got a little cute back pack, Thomas got his Spain football strip (we negotiated the price so far down, that I added a few dong to get him the shorts too) and Nina got a sweet handbag and a special soft bunny!! Mama got some really nice rice bowls and a decorative plate. Souvenir shopping done for a while!! Back to the pool!!

I am referring to the children’s water affinity a lot, because this is one of the joys of this RTW adventure! After 3 months worth of exposure to pools and oceans, HCMC, is the place where Nina officially ‘let it go’!! Arno said she just gave one final glance over her shoulder before launching herself into the pool to join the other 3!! He gave her some time, but she needed none, because she was now a swimming 3 year old!! Her confidence, and also Philippa’s, who started swimming  in Hawaii, is just one of the little secondary goals I had for this journey: get my babies safe in the water!!

Thomas achieved a BIG reward for completing his first Afrikaans book: Trompie. So after the thunderclaps calmed down a bit, we raced each other to the resident coffee shop for a cookie and milkshake! He stretched this one-to-mum treat a bit by convincing me to take him to the tennis court for a bit of a play. We beat the rest of the family there, but soon we had a few ‘ball girlies’ who, fairly, requested their turn at the racket too. A few load claps and  big fat raindrops forced us to call it quits.

A wonderful retreat from hardcore travelling was so much appreciated by us all!!

7am mini-van pick up was booked. We were dropped off at the awaiting Phonm Penh bus, proper bus-bus this time, with seats!! 

Cambodia was preparing to receive this lot of globetrotters!!!

Karst and One Gold Star - Week12

Week 12 ( Vietnam – Hanoi, Cat Ba)

13^th to 20^th of October

There is nothing as exciting and hard as waking up at 4:45am on a Monday morning. Maybe one thing…getting 4 sleepy children dressed and in the car by 5am!! Well, at least we had a lovely chauffer in Marianne. Thanks again for taking us to the Beijing airport, Marianne! A travel day which included two flights, Hong Kong Airport and the 3:30pm arrival in Hanoi, Vietnam. Everything running smoothly, including our booked taxi- pick up. It is just the bestest thing to came through the ‘nothing-to-declare’ corridor finding you name being flagged about on a piece of paper: Hotel Tran welcoming Marilie Theron!!

Vietnam welcomed us!!

The 45min transfer between the Hanoi Airport and our hotel just north of the Lake… in the Old city, took us passed rice fields, some crazy moped drivers, water buffalo and peculiar looking room-wide sky scraper buildings. We’ve left China behind us and were now driving into our next experience. No English coming form our driver, but that’s the beauty of pre-book hotels and transfers…you just follow, wherever you are lead!!!

A pre-booked taxi pick up was not necessarily the way that we have travelled in the past, but to keep everybody smiling and with an extremely good exchange rate, we allow ourselves this luxury!! The biggest smile comes from Arno, who enjoys the added bonus of extra help with the luggage!! Public transport is available, but will not necessarily take us close enough to our hotel…then we need to get a taxi anyway, so we’ve decide to just go with the recommendations of our accommodations in the different locations. If our hotel organizes the transfer for us, it also saves us being cheated out of our cents by eager taxi-mafia’s and we can pay for it at the hotel. Worked well for us so far!!!

Arriving at our hotel, downtown Hanoi, we were faced with our first Vietnamese challenge – to get to the steps leading up to our hotel, which were situated on the opposite side of the road …..

 Even though it was a relatively narrow street, the mopeds and cars and bicycles came flying down it, with no particular order or direction. Luckily we had some advice given to us by an older couple we met while the panda’s were chewing their bamboo…walk relatively fast, determined and do not stop(!!), just keep walking…just keep walking till your feet were hugging the opposite pavement (if you are lucky enough to find one!!) Deep breath… I grab hold of as many children and bags as I could, looked left and right (there was really no point in this road-safety-awareness drilled into me) and then we gave our first step into this chaotic wilderness. Under my breath, without looking left or right, just focusing on where I was aiming to reach the other shore of safety, I was mumbling: “Just keep walking, do not stop, just keep walking, just keep walking.” 

Pfeew!! It worked!!! I actually brought the kids and I safely across a road in Hanoi, Vietnam. Praise God!!!! I got a new understanding of the concept of ‘organized chaos’. During our 2 night stay, I did not see any crashes, but another taxi-English-speaking driver told us that there are at least 30 every day. In Vietnam’s largest city of 10 million people, you will find more than 1 million scooters. Hanoi is definitely awarded the title of Moped capital of the world!!

After these first challenging moments, it was such a relief to be welcomed by the wonderful staff of the Hotel Tran. Our family suite on the 7^th floor was extremely clean and surprisingly quiet. A small kitchen and bathroom with washing machine (!!) made me smile. Indeed home away form home!! Over the following two days we were overwhelmed with kindness and hospitality of the staff members. So whenever you find yourself in Hanoi, this will be my recommendation for a comfortable, 20 minutes walking away form markets in Old Town, accommodation!!

When planning our trip, Hanoi was not really one of our destinations, but since it was our portal into Vietnam, we decided to stay here 2 nights to orientate ourselves into the Vietnamese culture and to figure out what our transport options were to get to the Cat Ba Island. We were looking for something to get us out of the hotel and decided to make the 25 minute taxi journey over to the Vietnamese Cultural and Entomology Center.

Here wee found respite in the midst of the cool garden. We could let the kids roam and explore the various exhibits of traditional tribal life, playing and exploring in the various replica huts while mum and dad had a very tasty Vietnamese coffee, before heading back to the buzz of the old quarter of Hanoi. This was our first introduction to the way they serve coffee here. A white coffee will and at your table, pretty black, but they you’ll realize the white layer at the bottom of the cup/glass. Yes, they serve their very strong coffees with condensed milk. It is pretty amazing!!

 Another world awaited us…The 5pm traffic honed our road-crossing skills. We got hustled by picture book Vietnamese double basket fruit and veggie and everything else – sellers.

Eventually we settled down at a pavement café to indulge in traditional Vietnamese ‘fermented’ meat, battered and deep fried. I am not exactly sure what kind of meat this was, but if I go by the guidebooks, they tell me it is normally pork. Sure enough, I did not care, because it was absolutely delish and the kids were racing each other to the last little dough ball. This delicacy is served with a sweet chili dip and we ordered a nice cold Hanoi beer on the side, our new favorite!!

The next day found us on our way to Cat Ba via Hai Phong with a super tooter bus. Our ticket was supposed to take us from Hanoi to Cat Ba Island/ We knew where we were headed, but it ended up quite a different process, than we imagined in getting to our planned destination!! We were ushered onto a bus to Hai Phong (2h),waited for 20 minutes somewhere on a roadside for further instruction. Then onto another bus (30minute) which took us to a wee petite water taxi, over the worst city roads I’ve ever been on. The water taxi (speedboat with around 30 seats) met us in some obscure jetty somewhere around Hai Phong. We then commence on a 30 minute open sea crossing, through some fishing houses on stilts and limestone rock towers. Once docked (we were really not sure where we were) we were led over to another bus that was waiting on us. Still not to sure if we were on another island or on Cat Ba itself, we just had to sit back and enjoy the ride. Only once I’ve noticed a wee road sign with ‘Cat Ba Town 10km’ did I know that we were not too far form our home for the next 4 nights. Big bonus, the bus dropped us off right in front of our hotel in Cat Ba. Nice!!

We were welcomed by Mr Tuan of the Duc Tuan Hotel on the the Cat Ba bay. Dragging our luggage up the 7 flights of stairs looked like a very big workout, after travelling for nearly 5 hours, with multiple luggage-changes. So you can imagine our relief when we got to the first floor and laid eye’s on the lift!! A delightful bright room awaited us. With 4 double beds, the kids were spoiled for sleeping arrangement choices!! For once Alana and Thomas had a bed to themselves!! They were overjoyed!! The first time since we’ve left Scotland, and that was now a good two months ago. When you are together, 24/7, like we’ve been lately (!!) and had to share not only bedrooms, but beds, on most nights, the luxury of having your own bed, is just the bees knees!!! We unpacked and settled down watching the sun setting over the Cat Ba bay. The most rewarding sight to a long hard exhausting day of travelling!!

A lovely sunny day welcomed us and provided Arno and I with the rare opportunity of an early morning run…first he then I!! We decided to visit the Hospital Cave. This cave served as a secret, bomb-proof hospital during the American War and as a safe house for Viet Cong leaders. Built between 1963 and 1965 (with assistance from China), this incredibly well-constructed three-story engineering work was in constant use until 1975. The cave is about 10km north of Cat Ba Town on the road to the national park entrance. Read more

Mr Tuan sorted us out with a 7-seater and driver, we agreed on a price and off we went. While we were exploring the cave our driver waited for us, drinking tea!! We decided against using a guide, because not many of these guides use too much understandable English. Unfortunately the ‘guide’/caretaker was a bit miffed with us and did not even open the back door of the cave to us. We had to climbed all the steps back down! We just had a wee laugh about it, once realized that we could have left the caves via a different iron-bolted door at the back. Luckily some self-exploration round the back took us into the most awesome butterfly mecca.  The girlies were in their element, trying to capture these shy animals to admire their beauty. We saw some zebra-striped ones and some huge black and purple lovelies.

The kids took a fancy going for dinner at the Good Bar/ Noble House Restaurant. With a Western and Vietnam menu everybody was happy. (We went there for 3 out of our 4 nights on Cat Ba.) The two main reasons really, why they insisted on us going there EVERY night, were because they could read the menu in English and a lovely couple we’ve met on our journey over to Cat Ba was having their dinner there too. Thank you so much Dara and Sue for listening to all their wee tales, helping us with lugging the bags around and providing the boat-building beach entertainment!! I just loved loved loved the fresh seafood they served here. The most juiciest and tender squid I’ve ever eaten. I was thinking so much of my daddy, who really loves his squid (calamari). They prepare it in the Vietnamese way, with a lot of sweet and sour and spicy flavors stir fried swiftly together with some lemongrass, peppers and a carrot or two. Absolutely something to write about!!

The Good Bar is also home to our chosen outdoor pursuits outfitter: Asia Outdoors  After evaluating options, we decided to go on a full day kayaking boat trip. Initially Arno was interested in using them for some “Deep Water Solo” (rope-less rock climbing, with the option to let go and fall into the deep clear water – one of the few places in the world to offer this adrenaline sport.)

Back to our visit of the Hospital Cave. We ask our driver to drop us off at Cat Ba beach 1. There is also a beach 2 and 3, but we opt for the first one. Welcoming warm South Chinese Seas together with a nearly empty beach, was just adding to our island adventure.

Dawn broke, overcast skies and we had to get ourselves prepared mentally for a potentially VERY wet kayaking expedition. Upside, once you are wet, no rain can make you more wet. So we were ready for some water adventures. Since we started to plan our trip and I laid eyes on the beautiful bizarre karst landscape, formed when soluble rocks dissolve, I was fascinated. I was looking forward to get a bit up close and personal with these beauties.  Read some more about the Cat Ba karst landscape here. 

Our party size for the day were 20 tourists and the two guides. After a short bus ride to Ha Lan Bay, we boarded our floating home for the day.. The boat sailed through some magnificent floating villages to reach our first stop. Asia Oudoors specializes in tailor made day trips to multi-day multi-activity excursions in lesser know lesser touristy bays. 

We were paired up for our kayaks, given some life jackets, but these were just accessories. According our guides, most people just use them as back rests! Not the hottest day of the year, we actually opted to wear ours as a heat source and insisted on the kids wearing theirs for obvious safety reasons!! I really should have taken another one with me…my coccyx came out second, after sitting for a whole day on a VERY hard uncomfortable kayak seat. Alana and Thomas shared ores with the two guides, Andrea and Grant, both originally from Canada, just doing a bit of short term money saving work on the water. No certificates were required when they applied for the jobs, just a natural way with people and a love for ..I guess kayaking??!! Nina in with me and Ph in with Arno. A hard day’s muscle work ahead for Arno and I!!

Not for one moment did we not feel safe in the hands of our experienced guides. They knew exactly where to take us, which direction to paddle in the choppy waves (which accompanied the light and later more heavier shower) First excitement of the day was to maneuvered our kayaks through, or shall I say underneath a very low gap between ocean and rock, to steer us into a wonderfully hidden calm lagoon.

We got the opportunity to jump out of the kayaks into the see-through water. Needless to say, Alana did not need any encouragement, with Nina short on her heels. Well, all of the Theron’s grabbed the swimming-in-the-rain opportunity. Nina and Philippa were absolutely delighted with their floatation devices!! What proved to be a bit more challenging than getting out of the kayak into the water, was getting back inside the kayak without capsizing the thing!! With a bit of help even I managed safely back inside!!

All too soon it was time to return to the boat for a delicious lunch prepared by the boat crew. Some interesting after lunch chat with an Israeli traveler helped me to keep the seasickness at bay. Man. I was happy to be back in my little kayak!! Afternoon brought in more clear skies and it actually started to heat up a bit.

Photo bombed!!

We made a little sneaky trip into the Cat Ba National Marine Park. Some more lagoons followed, a landing on a deserted beach, some swimming there and another squeeze through a little water and rock tunnel.

I was absolutely gutted when I heard the guides were talking about heading back over to the boat. One by one we had to line our kayaks up with the boat and were helped on deck. I was shocked to realized it was just before 4:30pm. By the time we were dropped off at the Good Bar we’ve made some new friends, had interesting conversations, explored a wonder of the natural world, traveled the seven seas and gathered another few family memories!! One of my best days of this RTW adventure.

Our last day only left one box to tick, we had to go for a little jungle trekking to one of the highest peaks in the Cat Ba National Park. This park is home to the only 69 Langur monkeys left in the world. Between consoling Thomas that we were making too much noise for a snake to approach us AND negotiating the clambering over sharp rocks with a 3 and 6 year old, there was not too much time left to look for these specimens. We did actually see one of the giant big squirrels while kayaking, so at least we can use that as our claim to fame of spotting endangered wildlife in Cat Ba!!

All too soon a BIG travel day was lying ahead of us again, but we still had a few hours on Sunday morning to explore the market. My haggling skills are starting to pay off and I purchased a sweet little miniature porcelain tea-set. (My skills in packing and wrapping is increasing along side my collection of little memorabilia too!!) Philippa, Nina and I had a wee wander through some back alleys in the old town and we were rewarded with a wee sneak peek into the lives of the locals. Everybody’s doors were left open, no one used tables to have their mid-morning noodle soup, but sitting on polished tiled floors.

One room apartments were quite common, and the locals were running out of their front rooms (only rooms) when they noticed us in the street to come and greet us. The older ladies were calling their children and grandchildren to come to meet us. Was so sweet!! Philippa actually asked me later to go back there, but time was running out. At no time did we feel vulnerable.

There was an option of getting a hydrofoil straight form Cat Ba Bay, but we were advised against it, since it is quite notorious for breaking down, and we really did not want to miss our flight form Hai Phong!! So we opt for our former way of travel.

Mr Tuan organized our bus pick up, straight in front of the hotel. He even blessed the children with drinks for the road. Please go and stay with him, if ever in Cat Ba. He was so kind and helpful to us!! A message was also passed onto the various staff of the local bus company, that we needed to get to the airport. So off we went at 12:30pm by bus to the other side of the island, rust bucket ferry awaited upon us, a few scooters and their owners and us and our luggage!!

Bus awaited us on mainland Vietnam and here it got interesting. As we entered Hai Phong, we noticed our bus driver slowed down and started shouting to somebody outside…bus still in motion.. Then a sudden stop and with wild gestures, we realized he needed us to get off. Now we noticed that he has organized a wee taxi for us. Ok, when I say wee, I really meant it! It was the size of a Kia. Only one back pack fitted in the boot, we pilled the other bags onto the font seat and then squashed ourselves and the left over hand luggage onto the back seat. This gave a squash and a squeeze a new meaning!! We arrived at the very small airport 2 hours prior to departure, so in control and relaxed! The 55min flight took us to Danang Airport where we were welcomed by our taxi arranged through the accommodation. Another 45 minutes to the town of Hoi An, this time enough space for each of us in the taxi to stretch out and have a snooze! We arrived at Loc Phat Homestay by 7:30pm. If your calculations are the same as mine, within 7hours we’ve used six different types of transport and we were hanging about an airport for two hours! Praise God for great travelling experiences like this!!

All in one week.

Next time I’ll elaborate on my favorite travel destination so far: Hoi An, Vietnam.