Category: Vietnam

While Ombeline was going to Cat Ba island for a few days, we decided to go a bit south of Hanoi to meet Romain. Indeed, he started 2 weeks ago his trip south to north from Ho Chi Minh. We then arrived around Tam Coc, also called Ha long bay on land, for a few days.

The accommodation we chose there was unique in everyway. First, it was the cheapest accommodation we had so far (5€ each), but it was also simply beautiful, with bungalows standing over a pound, against the stone of the mountain. It was located in the little village of Trang An, which wasn’t very touristic and very relaxing.

It was such a comfortable stay, that Romain decided to be sick for the whole time, so he could enjoy more the room!

The first activity we did there was to get a tour boat of UNESCO Natural World Heritage site of Tam Coc. This mountain area, surrounded by various river paths, is a beautiful and preserved place.

Our tour was 3 hours in the river, mixing open landscapes, cave crossing under the entire mountain, and temples stops on land.

The next day, over intense recommendations by Raphy’s mom, we went to another wonder hidden by these mountains : the Lying dragon mountains. After a challenging bunch of stairs to climb, we finally arrived to a crazy view over this region. With two mountains facing, you can really admire the stone stair path moving up the mountain. Although many people were visiting this place, it didn’t stop wild goats to approach the path to eat some leafs next to us !

After these two days, we unfortunately had to leave Romain here, as he was too sick for next step, Ha Giang loop…

When we arrived in Hanoi after the Philippines, Raphy had two missions : Find new hiking shoes, because the whole in the previous one was expanding day after day. It is not easy to find real brands in a size 45, even in Hanoi ! But last minute, we found a little outlet shop from this couple, who were truly passionate about hiking, and helped us choose the best option ! The second mission was to put Raphy’s computer to repair (humidity broke the keyboard and trackpad). We then decided to start with these two missions in the first two days, before Ombeline would join us.

Indeed, Ombeline arrived in Asia in late january, and was doing a trip around on the opposite way than us. We then decided to join together in Hanoi, to cross the whole Vietnam together for a month.

Our first visit has been the Prison Central. The place where political prisoners were detained by the French colonists. This was heartbreaking to see the way the population was treated for simple ideas of independence and freedom.

Together, we visited a lot of Hanoi. Although mostly the Old Quarter, we also when one day in the area with the presidential palace, the parliament and Ho Chi Minh mausoleum & house. This was interesting to discover his living quarter and the humble life he was living while at the head of Vietnam.

That evening, we booked a Water Puppet Show. It was a very unique theatrical performance, with musicians on the sides, and in the middle a pool where the puppets were dancing, moving & playing. Even though the stories were in Vietnamese, the way it was acted made it understandable and entertaining anyway.

Next day, we visited the Temple of Literature. This Confucianism temple was the ancient university where Mandarins were studying, with very strict requirements. The place was so enclosed and peaceful between gardens, water pounds and wood constructions.

Finally, on our last day, we booked a tour a bit outside the city. The first destination was a village famous for hand crafting the famous conical straw hats. There, we learnt the fabrication process of real ones (which takes about 30 hours of work !), and even tried ourselves some steps of the process.

The second step of our tour was to go to Quảng Phú Cầu, one of the last village that make incense sticks by hand. We took a journey on the step by step way to create these quality sticks, that serves to honor a dead relative, a living one, or the Buddha. With all the sticks being tainted in red, and let to dry on the streets, the view was very eye-catching.

After this day, it was time to leave Ombeline (only for a few days), and go pick-up Romain for the next adventure !