Explore The World

What a great place to visit. Cheap, warm, lovely people, great beaches, interesting history, top cuisine, different culture. We had a wonderful 3 weeks pre covid visiting the South, middle and North. It is a long skinny country so suggest you splash out and fly the long distances!

Places we visited in Vietnam

Beer is always a good barometer – very drinkable.

Food was always fresh and tasty

Helle found a friend in pink

A massage – is a must

Hire a bike and just explore

Halong Bay is very touristy but quite spectacular

Sit back and take a cruise – 2 or 3 nights is definitely worth it

We love just hanging out in local markets

Not so exciting for the local marketeers

So much fresh produce – no wonder the food is great

We needed some extra cash!

We went North up to Sapa – Its an overnight bus ride from Hanoi but the seats turn into beds so great way to travel. You get a taste of rural Vietnamese life.

The girls at work in the rice fields

Helle giving a helping hand

Local Life in the country

Happy in their work

Kids have the same fun anywhere in the world

Simple living in the hills

But happy living

Back to city life in Hanoi – its bustling but fun

The local butcher shop

Seafood delight

Pineapple Vendor

People selling and preparing food everywhere

Hanoi beer – top brew

The south of Vietnam is very different. Ho Chi Min is a wonderful mix of new and old. It is chaos with motorbikes everywhere but an interesting place to spend a couple of days.

Taxi to the hotel

New and old

A local delicacy

Go explore Ho Chi Min on foot – little alleyways everywhere

Cu Chi tunnels, just North of Ho Chi Min, are very touristy but definitely worth a visit. We took the boat up the Saigon River which is the way to go, as you leave early and beat the masses of buses.

Back from the tunnels we took a small minivan which stops at a few spots to get a taste of Vietnamese cooking

A taste of rural life

Cycling in the countryside

We left Ho Chi Min for Cambodia – We decided to go by boat through the Mekong Delta and up the Mekong River. It takes around about 4 days and we would highly recommend it.

Interesting little side trip on the way

Looking across the mighty Mekong at dusk

We stopped into some cool little villages along the Mekong Delta

Living on the Mekong

They start on the Mekong from an early age

Our digs for a night on the Delta

Houses on the Mekong are all built with flooding in mind.

Below are the flood levels – 1996 was the worst recorded here

At some point we crossed the border on the river trip into Cambodia.

We had a wonderful week in Cambodia – then flew back into the middle of Vietnam to stay a few days in Hoi An. It is a quaint little historic town – cool just to hang out for a few days.

Lanterns alight in the streets at night

Our restaurant on the river at the bungalow we stayed at in Hoi An

The lovely gardens where we stayed

Everywhere we went , if there is an opportunity to hire a bike, we would take it to get out and explore the countryside.

and see what the locals get up to in their daily lives

We loved Vietnam. All three areas we spent time in were great. All were very different so ensure you make the most of your trip and go to the North, South and the middle!

Vietnam is fast becoming as busy as Thailand for tourists – so go there before it gets totally overrun.