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Got to the Hanoi backpackers and am waiting to check in. Liking the look of things so far Hanoi is so much more relaxed than I expected. Looking at possibly doing Ha Long bay and Sa Pa myself rather than the organised tour. Pros - longer stay, better value, non-tourist bonus', Cons - lack of crumpet, hassle.

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  • 4 weeks later...
Saigon - apocalypse now and go2 bar are both good

 

Be careful in apocalypse now with the local girls hitting on you as they are generally working girls.. Although 2 or 3 of them don't mind giving you a rub down on the dance floor for free while you are 'negotiating'.

Haha went to Apocalypse now and a hot girl wearing not a lot was literally dropped into my arms by another girl. But I'm glad I didn't remember this advice as she bought my drinks all night and we had a good laugh.

 

And yes, I did. 4 times. I didn't pay a penny (or a Dong).

 

Hoi An is awesome. Cheap as and well worth the look. Food is brilliant, drink is dirt cheap. Not even 30c US for a can of 333.

I didn't find Hoi An that cheap, most places in the North were cheaper. Suits were boss though and I picked up this number:

 

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Tunnels were good. Being on an Australian tour now I am in the Antipodes, we went to Long Tan which is an important battle for the diggers here and that was pretty special.
Was all set to go to Cu Chi tunnels and thought better check when my flight leaves tomorrow so I can plan the rest of the day and soon found I was actually due to leave in 3 hours. Gutted.

 

Beautiful people, they never say no but that doesn't necessarily mean that they mean yes. This is the conundrum of the Vietnamese people.
I heard Vietnamese people weren't that friendly before I went. A load of utter, utter, utter horseshit. The amount of times they went out of their way to help giving me; a perfect stranger, lifts to mechanics, guesthouses and hotels was humbling.

 

Although I feel this about pretty much every country I go to, I totally loved Vietnam and am desperately thinking about the best way to go back there.

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Although I feel this about pretty much every country I go to, I totally loved Vietnam and am desperately thinking about the best way to go back there.

 

I'll help you there

 

A scheduled airline flight is generally best

 

I've tried all the other ways and they suck in comparison - particularly the walking and hot air balooning

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Haha went to Apocalypse now and a hot girl wearing not a lot was literally dropped into my arms by another girl. But I'm glad I didn't remember this advice as she bought my drinks all night and we had a good laugh.

 

And yes' date=' I did. 4 times. I didn't pay a penny (or a Dong).

 

I didn't find Hoi An that cheap, most places in the North were cheaper. Suits were boss though and I picked up this number:

 

Was all set to go to Cu Chi tunnels and thought better check when my flight leaves tomorrow so I can plan the rest of the day and soon found I was actually due to leave in 3 hours. Gutted.

 

I heard Vietnamese people weren't that friendly before I went. A load of utter, utter, utter horseshit. The amount of times they went out of their way to help giving me; a perfect stranger, lifts to mechanics, guesthouses and hotels was humbling.

 

Although I feel this about pretty much every country I go to, I totally loved Vietnam and am desperately thinking about the best way to go back there.[/quote']

 

Ace. Been looking forward to hearing your tales mate.

 

So... Favourite place? Best food? Cheapest ale? Lifts to mechanics intrigues me, there's a tale there.

 

Not sure who told you Vietnamese weren't friendly, as you say, utter, utter horseshit that. I'd love to go back.

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Ace. Been looking forward to hearing your tales mate.

 

So... Favourite place? Best food? Cheapest ale? Lifts to mechanics intrigues me, there's a tale there.

 

Not sure who told you Vietnamese weren't friendly, as you say, utter, utter horseshit that. I'd love to go back.

Favourite place? Tough fucking call. I guess that would be a region which is the little known Ha Giang region. In Sapa, we rented 2 50 year old fully manual Minsk motorbikes, notoriously difficult to get the knack of and fix based on a couple hours experience on an automatic in my case. The region is filled with mountainous roads often with large potholes and there were also busy highways to Hanoi on the route. Rarely do westerners venture into this region - we went 5 days without seeing a westerner or speaking English with anyone other than each other. The only thing worse than my Vietnamese was my mechanical knowledge. It ended up being one of the best stupid decisions in my life, saw some stunning scenery, met the friendliest warmest people you could imagine, including feeling like a celebrity when we met a Mountain tribe. We'd drive for 4-6 hours a day stopping off for unbelievable views to have lunch in. Whenever we ran into trouble, a local would give us lifts to guesthouses or hotels in the moonlight, help fix the motorbikes or when they couldn't tow me using a radio wire to the local mechanics for a $5 fix.

 

Best food? Went to some great restaurants in Hanoi and Saigon, especially in Hanoi where they served me rice served in a pineapple. But nothing beat our 2x tofu noodle soup with large beer for 40,000 dong/$2:

 

535465_10151460558091001_369855974_n.jpg

 

Some more pics:

 

Tribe loving bikes and my mate's dreads

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Giving badges to little tribal girls working on the side of a mountain

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Time for a swim

66666_10151463338441001_1502090859_n.jpg

 

Lunch

485355_10151468099211001_981321870_n.jpg

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I wish I was Remmie.

 

I would love to go to Vietnam, may favourite film genre is the Vietnam War and I have also been reading up quite a bit about the campaigns recently. Want to delve a little more into the history of the place, and also Cambodia.

 

Some amazing memories taking place there Rem. I wish I was there experiencing as awesome a place right now.

 

Leg End!

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Thanks guys, the bit where we went off-roading up a mountain and found that Mountain tribe - I think I'll remember that for the rest of my life. Unbelievable it was, they were so curious, kind and friendly. Tried to get me hammered on rice wine as well the scamps, shame I couldn't take them up on it as I had to drive.

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Amazing Rem, there's not enough rep in the world, made up you enjoyed Sapa and got bikes too.

 

I wasn't there long enough, but I'd like to go back and get bikes, every person I've spoke to who has got bikes there has told me unbelievable stories about fixes by the locals, including one guy who whistled his missus out of the house, got a knife, cut off part of the sleeve she was wearing, cut a leaf off a tree and wrapped the leaf around the spark plug and lead and tied it up with the piece of sleeve. It got about him about 100km he said. Awesome.

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Amazing Rem, there's not enough rep in the world, made up you enjoyed Sapa and got bikes too.

 

I wasn't there long enough, but I'd like to go back and get bikes, every person I've spoke to who has got bikes there has told me unbelievable stories about fixes by the locals, including one guy who whistled his missus out of the house, got a knife, cut off part of the sleeve she was wearing, cut a leaf off a tree and wrapped the leaf around the spark plug and lead and tied it up with the piece of sleeve. It got about him about 100km he said. Awesome.

Love it, great stuff. Not long until Mexico now, right?

 

I love these stories

Where next, Remmie?

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  • 1 year later...

Tough call on the minimum shout, I was only there about 2 weeks, got loads done, but it does mean I get to go back and do things I missed.

HCMC, Hue, Hanoi, Halong bay and Sapa.

 

I missed Nha Trang, Danang, Hoi an; for shame.

 

You'll need about £500.

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Cheers Bitch, my mate flys out the 10th and comes back the 31st, I can either do the lot with him or part of it.

 

He won't be spending a load of money on hotels but he won't be holding back when he's out there, I'm thinking two grand to include flights and have a money no problem attitude should be enough?

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You can stay in decent digs for Fuck all over there. Food is well cheap and all. You won't need much to live well.

 

As for times, as Rich has alluded to, there is plenty to do and see and even a month might not be enough time to see it all. I did 3 weeks but that included almost a week in Na Trang, as I felt I deserved a bit of a holiday. Tough work backpacking like. But 3 weeks felt like I was rushing things and there was plenty I never go to see. Like a few more days in Hanoi. Fucking boss place.

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Are you flying in and out of Hanoi col?

 

My advice, if it were possible would be to fly into Saigon and out of Hanoi. Then hot foot it between the 2. That way you won't spend anytime backtrackin and you'll have more chance of seeing all the boss shit.

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