Travel Diary: Vietnam

This is my second time round coming to this country that is landscape and cultural rich. Land of endless mountains and greens, filled with friendly and helpful locals that will lit you up with a smile.

Starting from the south city of Ho Chih Min City this time, right up to the old quarters of Hanoi. Locations by locations, we travelled locally from sleeper buses to sleeper trains. Whenever we stopped by any sleepovers, renting of bike has always been a temptation when one wants to get around to see the things we want to see. One thing to note when getting to places of interest, you would need to get a proper transport to get there and those are all not within reach (by walking).

The journey kick started with a night bus to Da Lat. I can say that it is a little bit disco fancy...

Then arriving city center on the high lands, Da Lat, a place filled with a big local market place surrounded by beautiful landscapes and nice chill-out cafes.

interesting looking plant I chanced upon.

We did what the locals did to get to place in a scooter. A place like these.

Next we had a little bumpy local bus ride down to Da Nang and an hour of local bus to the ancient city of Hoi An. A little tip about taking the local bus between Da Nang and Hoi An, do give them a little bargain to pay like a local. For our case we were charged 50,000VND per pax initially, then we put on a tough front to push down to local rates (20,000VND per pax + 10,000VND for your luggage).

Here we are, the Ancient City of Hoi An. A lovely little town.

 The UNESCO Japanese bridge flocked with tourist, almost ended with another name, 

like maybe "international bridge".

No worries for shortage of cash when they have ancient ATMs.

Another long sleeper bus journey to another UNESCO site over at Ninh Binh. This place has a small simple town, filled with magnificent landscape. Some said this place is like a real life Ha Long Bay on land. I will leave the images to tell.

Well, that definitely made us wanting to find out more about the genuine place, the real wonder of Ha Long Bay. Islands and islands of lime stones floating above the sea.

Once we are done with the slacking and all the eatings on the cruise, we are all geared up to challenge the mountain. We then took a night train up to another highland, Sapa Town. In this Journey, we decided to trek along with the local Hmong wonder women from Sapa Sisters.

 and yes, comes along with the local cuisine of Sapa Hmong delicacies.

Last but not least before we bid our farewell to this beautiful place. we settle ourselves down at the Old Quarters of Hanoi. A lively corner where the elderly gathers and bicycles & scooters roams around to make a living. Beautiful memories we have brought home with.

Gear used:

Canon 5D Mark III
Canon 24-70 F/2.8
Canon 50L F/1.2
Canon 70-200 F/4