Category: Vietnam

To get to Huế, we took a sleeper train from Hanoi. The trains were still pretty booked up post-Tết, so we ended up in one of the private carriages that are allowed to couple onto the main train. Theoretically, these offer a bit more luxury but in practice the compartments are not much different – the photo below left makes it look way smarter than it actually was – and the toilets are still an experience (nothing on Uzbekistan trains though, and I hope nothing else will ever match them!). It was nice for once to travel in a four-person compartment with people we actually know, particularly when they were so happy to share their cold beer. And there was actual, working WiFi!! Unheard of.

Despite a positively arctic night on the train, we all slept surprisingly well so headed straight off to sample some Huế specialities at Quán Hanh for lunch. We’d read about royal rice cakes but we had no real idea of what they were, but we soon found out as we ended up with a five-course feast! Not every course was a type of rice cake, but they were all delicious. As is par for the course in Vietnam, each dish had its own dipping sauce and special method for ‘building’ and eating it, so we needed a tutorial for each one.

The next day, we headed to the Citadel, and spent most of our time within the Imperial Enclosure, described as a “citadel within a citadel” by the Lonely Planet. Indeed, the Citadel is enclosed by a moat and fortified walls, and then a further moat and walls surround the Imperial Enclosure. This area houses the royal residences, temples, palaces and gardens of ancient Huế (so called, but probably not as ancient as you have in mind – much of it was built around 1803). A lot of it was crumbling, but in a very aesthetically-pleasing way, and there were literally thousands of bonsai trees around the site, which were incredible. We were very tempted to ‘borrow’ one but never quite agreed on a plan for how we could send this on the plane with Mum and Dad without detection (although Mum was confident, having previously brought back chairs, Christmas trees and other assorted large items in her checked luggage…)

We’d read to allow a half day around the Citadel, but we spent nearly all day there and didn’t see everything – there really was a lot. But then again, our slow pace might partly be explained by the fact that Oli and I somehow managed to persuade Dad to dress up as an emperor. Mum wasn’t feeling well and we thought this might cheer her up, and I think it did a bit! The resulting photo also got rave reviews from Katie, who described it as “the best photo I have ever seen, apart from maybe Oli’s yukata outfit“. In a chilling illustration of how quickly power can go to someone’s head, Empie (as he requested we call him) threatened to throw us all down a well later that afternoon when none of us laughed at his ‘well, well, well’ joke. You think you know someone…

Spot the difference: Empie in his palanquin (left); Emperor Khai Dinh (right)

Having survived the day despite our benign ruler’s best efforts, Oli and I headed off to try another of Huế’s famous dishes. Bún bò Huế is another noodle soup, but unlike phở, it has a richer and spicier broth, contains mixed meats (usually pork and beef) and has cylindrical rice noodles rather than flat. It’s one of my standard orders from the wonderful Pho Ta at home, so I was super excited to try it in its birthplace. It wasn’t nearly as spicy as I expected (although there were plenty of chillies available in a pot on the table to liven it up) but was still so full of flavour, with a tasty shrimp ball in the broth, which was an added bonus I’ve not tried before.

The restaurant also served us up more rice cakes, this time wrapped in banana leaves. We weren’t very hungry but had to try them, and they were satisfyingly chewy with a mystery (but very tasty) filling. We didn’t order any of this by the way, it all tends to arrive unprompted and it’s normally best just to let it happen!

The star of the show was probably the coconut jelly served as dessert, using the tender green coconut flesh as a shell. Look how beautiful they are!

By this point, we were absolutely stuffed, but we’d found an excellent craft beer joint the previous evening and couldn’t resist going to try the other half of the menu.

The next day, we headed out into the countryside to explore Huế’s collection of royal tombs, which house the mauseoleums of emperors who ruled in the Nguyễn dynasty between 1802 and 1945. We began at the tomb of Minh Mạng, which was a huge, peaceful and highly symmetrical complex of many buildings set on the banks of the Perfume River. We spent an hour exploring but I still don’t think we saw it all in this time.

Our second stop was the tomb of Khải Định, which was much smaller but still impressive for its imposing terraced site. The exterior was quite plain (well, relatively speaking…) but the interior was totally encrusted in elaborate mosaic bas-reliefs, with painted lamps and motifs on the ceiling. It was a bit like the designers of each element had never met, but had each gone all out on making their part the most highly decorated of all. Nothing really matched and I was a big fan!

Our third and final royal tomb was that of Tự Đức – well, sort of (more on that in a moment). It was another enormous complex, set on the banks of a lake.

All three tombs that we visited were beautiful and very different, and we couldn’t agree on an overall favourite between us. However, one thing we could agree on was that the story of Tự Đức’s final resting place was totally horrendous! Apparently, through fear that his tomb would be targeted by grave robbers, Tự Đức was not buried in the lavish surrounds that we had explored, but instead had a hidden tomb in an undisclosed location. All 200 of those who were involved in his actual burial were beheaded so that the secret could never be revealed! Just imagine the level of paranoia and self-absorption that could lead you to thinking this was a reasonable plan…

After a busy couple of days exploring Huế, we were ready to hop back on the Reunification Express for the short(ish) journey south to Đà Nẵng.

Our first attempt to visit Hạ Long Bay 9 years ago was sadly cancelled when a typhoon hit northern Vietnam. At the time, our reaction was to go to the pub (a Bia hơi cafe on a corner) and wait for it all to blow over. We clearly knew nothing about typhoons, as while the rest of Hanoi battened down the hatches, we kept ordering more draft beer. Spoiler alert – the rain didn’t stop and I lost a flip-flop on the swim back to the hotel.

But this time things were different, thank goodness. The sun was shining as we left Hanoi, and it stayed with us through Hạ Long Bay, and all the way to Lan Ha Bay where our ship dropped its anchor.

Honestly, I was ready to be a little disappointed by Hạ Long Bay, as we’d read a lot about how busy it can be. For this reason, we flexed our budget on a two-night cruise that went beyond where most other ships turn around, in the hope of beating the crowds. Sure enough, we weren’t the only ship cruising through the collection of stunning limestone mountains of Hạ Long Bay.

But as promised, we were alone when we reached our mooring place in Lan Ha Bay.

The ship itself exceeded all of my expectations too. My closest parallel was the incredibly shonky two-bedroom boat on which we cruised around the backwaters of Kerala in India, where the fan in Helen’s room threatened to leap off the ceiling on every rotation. Our Hạ Long Bay ship in comparison was more than a step up, maybe more like a high-jump up. In fact, our cabin was more slick than many hotels we’ve stayed in on this trip.

While the cruising itself was appropriately beautiful, it was the trips away from the boat that were most memorable.

The kayaking that ended in hysterics

Kayaking around Lan Ha Bay was probably the highlight of the trip altogether. There’s just something about quietly drifting past the limestone mountains away from the chug of an engine that made the scenery even more picturesque. That is, if you can ignore the general bickering that comes as standard in a two-person kayak. After repeatedly veering right while attempting to paddle straight, Sara and I eventually teamed up on the kayak, which we blamed for our lack of control. With a common enemy, our teamwork immediately improved.

We paddled through the bay and under a rock arch to reach a lagoon, which was completely surrounded by limestone cliffs on all sides. Here the water was even more calm, without a single wave to wobble our serene kayak.

Our guide suggested that this would be a good place for a swim, so Helen, Sara and I obliged by sliding off our kayaks and into the water. While slightly milder than the open bay, the water in the lagoon wasn’t what I’d call warm, and I was the first to clamber back into our kayak to dry off and warm up. Sara and Helen followed shortly after, leaving one lady from our group left to make the (inevitably ungainly) haul. The issue was, she made it halfway up before the giggles arrived. In an effort to help, our guide repeatedly shouted “DON’T LAUGH, DON’T LAUGH”, which unsurprisingly had the opposite effect. Now in full hysterics and with the rest of the group joining in, she managed to beach herself half on, half off the kayak, before losing all control of her limbs. Eventually, assistance arrived from some fellow kayakers, and she slid face-first into the kayak, but still unable to talk through laughter. Honestly, I don’t think I would have had the heart to recount this story if it wasn’t for how well she laughed off the whole affair as we paddled back to the ship to warm up.

The hike to the summit

The following day we were up bright and early to get a different perspective on the region – from above. We took a small boat to Cát Bà, the largest island located right in the middle of Hạ Long Bay, and hopped onto a minibus from the shore to take us into Cát Bà National Park.

From here, we began the trek up through the rainforest to the Tháp quan sát viewpoint. The weather was mercifully cloudy and the thick canopy of trees ensured we were protected from the sun through any breaks in the cloud. The hike really wasn’t far, but the steep gradient rewarded our efforts with panoramic views over the island’s hundreds of peaks.

In the afternoon, we explored Trung Trang Cave via a 300m route through the mountain, past countless stalactites and stalagmites, some of which were even large enough to meet in the middle. At times the path was pretty tight, with no shortage of rock for me to hit my head on. The air inside the cave was uncomfortably warm and humid, in a stark contrast to the (relatively) cool winter air outside.

We spent the rest of the day recovering from the exertion on Cat Co 3 Beach – a stunning strip of sand at the foot of the Hôtel Perle d’Orient Cat Ba. While it wasn’t quite the weather for sunbathing, it did make a very peaceful spot for a quiet nap.

The cycle to Viet Hai Village

On the final day of our cruise we cycled 4 km inland across Cat Ba island to reach Viet Hai village. The path was almost entirely very well paved, apart from a short detour through rice fields, which was slightly rougher but even more beautiful.

I was surprised to learn that Viet Hai is actually a fishing village, despite being situated a few kilometres from the sea. This is primarily because Viet Hai is surrounded by mountains and therefore the village isn’t connected to any other towns by road. As a result, all goods must travel by sea and along the same path along which we’d just cycled.

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With all the activities, our cruise felt like it came to an end all too soon. I think we were expecting to spend a bit more time gently chugging through the bay and less time exercising, but it was probably for the best given how much we ate at the incredible buffet dinners.

Following our cruise, we returned to Hanoi in order to catch an overnight sleeper train to Huế, the ancient capital of Vietnam and home to the famously spicy noodle soup.

It turns out that we can’t get enough of New Year festivities, so we arrived in Hanoi just in time for Tết – not exactly our best move. It’s a big deal in Vietnam, roughly equivalent to how we treat Christmas in the UK, but celebrations continue for SIX DAYS! During this time, most businesses close and transport is either fully booked or not running at all. By the time that we noticed (okay full disclosure – Dad noticed, as he and Mum were joining us for another couple of weeks of travel), it was too late to change our plans, so we found ourselves a comfortable apartment in the Old Quarter and prepared for a few days of hibernation.

Oli and I landed from Tokyo on the eve of the Lunar New Year and met up with Mum and Dad who had arrived from London earlier in the day. We were busy catching up when all hell broke loose – in what was to be one of many massive contrasts to Japan, it turns out that Vietnamese New Year celebrations involve a phenomenal number of EXTREMELY loud fireworks! We headed out to our terrace to watch and tried not to dive for cover as the whole city seemed to erupt with explosions. What a welcome!

The next day, we headed out for a walk and expected to find the streets pretty deserted, as we had read. While they were certainly quieter than usual (crossing the road wasn’t quite such a near-death experience as we’ve experienced previously), there were still plenty of people out and about. In much of the old town, it seemed that Western tourists like us far outnumbered locals. However, at the Ngoc Son temple, which sits on an island in Hoàn Kiếm lake, it was a different story – the whole area was buzzing with local families who were dressed up in beautiful clothes and taking group photographs. There was a real carnival atmosphere and it was lovely to just wander and observe.

We might not have had a near-death experience crossing any roads, but we certainly did have one trying to cross a square near the lake, where all of the children of Hanoi were out in force driving tiny cars with reckless abandon. Some of them were driven by their parents (using remote controls), but this didn’t much seem to help matters! It was properly happy chaos, though, and thankfully none of us were seriously run over.

The next few days were spent watching Hanoi come back to life. Many of the best restaurants and street food stalls were closed at first, but we always managed to find something to eat. As things started to reopen, we finally sat down (on tiny plastic stools, of course) to a bowl of steaming phở at an incredibly popular stall near our apartment – some proper street food at last! Phở is Vietnam’s national dish and probably its best known food export, a light beef noodle soup topped with fresh spring onions, coriander, lime and chilli. The northern Vietnamese version is for purists, as it keeps the focus on the broth and doesn’t contain any additional hoi sin sauce, shellfish or beansprouts (all of which can sometimes be found in southern versions). Delicious!

Mum and Dad didn’t join us for that meal, partly because Dad was determined that there was no way we were getting him to sit down on one of the tiny stools (or that there was no way we were getting him up if he did sit down)! But he soon succumbed in order to try a Bánh mì, which is essentially a baguette (hinting at Vietnam’s history with the French) filled with meat and salad and some added Vietnamese flair, such as pickled vegetables, coriander, chilli and fish sauce. Oli describes it as probably the world’s best fusion food, and I think he might just be right.

Another culinary highlight in Hanoi was at Bún Bò Nam Bộ Bách Phương, where you place an order using my favourite method: holding up the number of fingers to represent how many portions you’d like. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I do love it when a restaurant does one thing and does it well! Even if it didn’t taste so delicious, Bún bò Nam Bộ is still one of our favourites because it has the greatest name ever and just rolls off the tongue. It literally translates as ‘beef noodles of the south’, but slightly confusingly is most associated with Hanoi (which is in the north). Anyway, it’s a classic Vietnamese combo of cool (but not fridge-cold) vermicelli noodles, seasoned stir-fried beef, plenty of salad leaves, fresh herbs and pickled carrot, and topped with peanuts and crispy fried shallots. It arrives with a separate pot of fish sauce, which you pour over your bowl and mix everything up together. The result is so much more than the sum of its parts – and the taste definitely belies its simple appearance.

I’m still totally convinced that Vietnamese food has the best balance of healthiness and deliciousness of anywhere in the world. Even so, we’d been eating rather a lot of it, so it was time for some exercise. The number one activity on Dad’s list for their trip was to do some cycling, although I rather think he had in mind cycling through the peaceful paddy fields of Central Vietnam, rather than what we had planned – a lively cycle around the West Lake. We’d read that this 18km route was a pretty peaceful cycle, for Hanoi. And indeed, the roads were probably pretty quiet for Hanoi, but it was still total chaos! Our bikes probably didn’t help matters – with some creativity, I think we might just about have been able to build one roadworthy bike from the four we hired! Still, it was a great way to see an area of the city we’d not previously visited and thankfully we all lived to tell the tale.

We didn’t visit many of the classic Hanoi sights this time, partly because of Tết closures. However, we were all keen to visit ‘Train Street’, as it is known. Although we saw the railway tracks running through impossibly narrow gaps between houses on our last visit, I don’t think Train Street as it is now (a row of bars and cafes run by residents so that mad tourists like us can watch trains pass within arm’s length) really existed in 2014. I would normally consider wandering around on train tracks a terrible idea – and of course it is, but somehow it seems okay when the local children and dogs are outside their houses playing around the tracks. There are actually several ‘Train Streets’, each with a distinct character. We really enjoyed walking up and down the one south of the station, which has more local life (and more passing trains)…

..but it was the one north of the station where we watched two trains steam through en route to Sapa, a nervewracking but exhilerating experience. Although the whole area has become quite commercialised (something we normally try to avoid, with varying levels of success), I actually quite liked the idea that local residents had been able to transform their fortunes from living in what must have been quite a noisy and inconvenient location into a lucrative business opportunity.

We really enjoyed our extended stay in Hanoi during Tết. Next up, we’ll finally visit Halong Bay, after a pesky typhoon in 2014 thwarted our plans.