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| A day by the river. Hoi An, Vietnam. |
After finishing work in Niseko, Japan I spent six weeks travelling through Japan, Taiwan and Vietnam. While I had travelling buddies in Japan and Taiwan; I flew solo to Vietnam and spent 3 weeks going from south to north by myself. I managed to spend all of my money (running out in Kuala Lumpur airport on a 10 hour layover), have my phone stolen by a crack addict in a hostel in Da Lat (then get it back) and be terrified for about 100% of the time.
Even now when people ask if it was worth it I'm still unsure. It was, hands down, the scariest thing I've done. Yet, I'm planning my next trip at the moment, probably not solo this time, but it definitely hasn't scared me off travelling in any way. I love the photos I have and in an extremely cliche fashion, I did meet some fun people, saw some sights and had experiences I will never forget. These photos I have are the most vibrant and colourful images of a nation that is relentless in it's explosion of sound, smell, taste and sight.
Unfortunately, due to my phone (where I take all photos) being stolen and wiped clean, I have very few photos of Vietnam before Da Lat - approximately 6 days into my trip. The photos I do have are taken from my Instagram (@iammereana - shameless plug) or Facebook which has reduced the quality of them.
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| Canal boats. Mekong Delta, Vietnam. |
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| A new road, Da Lat, Vietnam. |
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| Family home at the farm. Da Lat, Vietnam. |
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| Farm shed. Da Lat, Vietnam. |
Easy Rider is a well established motorbike guiding tour operating throughout Vietnam. I was fortunate enough to have the founder's son as my guide and he showed me the Da Lat surroundings including his family farm as pictured above.
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| Restaurant and homes. Da Lat, Vietnam. |
Colourful buildings are everywhere in Vietnam. The call for optimised space means tall and thin are the way to go. Influence from French settlers is also obvious in Da Lat and Hoi An architecture.
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| Bold buildings. Hue, Vietnam. |
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| Organising a photo. An island off Nha Trang, Vietnam. |
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| Main beach. Nha Trang, Vietnam. |
Nha Trang was a crazy place. It is known as the party capital of Vietnam with Russian tourists coming down for their sunny getaway as well as a major stop off for young backpackers and a hub for international staff too. Due to all the tourists as a target, Nha Trang also has quite a high crime rate (I did become a statistic), but it was beautiful nonetheless.
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| Bougainvillea lined streets. Hoi An, Vietnam. |
Hoi An was my favourite place in Vietnam without a doubt. The temperature was much more manageable here and the entire place felt safer and quieter. Hoi An is renowned for it's cheap and fast tailor made clothing. I was already running out of money when I got here but had an item created from the hilarious Kim who told me off for drinking my money away in Nha Trang (and not spending it in her shop).
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| A shop that appeared to exclusively sell bird cages. Hoi An, Vietnam. |
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| Mobile fruit shop. Hoi An, Vietnam. |
These two came up to me and asked for a photo. At first I thought they meant they wanted a photo with me (not unusual in Vietnam) but it transpired they wanted me to take a photo of them which then meant I should buy fruit off them - I didn't arrive yesterday ladies! (But seriously, if you'd met me on my first day you could have taken everything).
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| Canal boats. Hoi An, Vietnam. |
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| Boats in a row. Hoi An, Vietnam. |
In total I travelled over 1,700km from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi. I went via night buses, despite, somewhat unwisely, reading terrible reviews online a couple of hours before getting on my first one. I had relatively good experiences with all of my buses but it's not the funnest way to travel. I've found people only bother to write reviews when they had a bad experience...
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| Book exchange. Hoi An, Vietnam. |
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| House. Hoi An, Vietnam. |
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| Village from the bus window. Somewhere between Hoi An and Hue, Vietnam. |
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| Frangipani in the Imperial City. Hue, Vietnam. |
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| Rooftop cafe. Hanoi, Vietnam. |
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| Umbrella roof. Hanoi, Vietnam. |
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| Hang Gai (Street of Hemp). Hanoi,Vietnam. |
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| Instrument shop. Hanoi, Vietnam. |
Hanoi and Hoi An seemed to operate on a different frequency to the rest of Vietnam. Maybe it was because I was more comfortable and felt more in control by the time I rolled around to these cities but the combination of the climate, layout of the city and slightly less harassment on the streets (again maybe I was just used to it) meant I bonded with these cities a lot more. I would have liked to go further north to Sapa and Halong Bay but I had run out of money, time and patience with Vietnam.
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| Deserted Kuala Lumpur airport. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. |
I've become quite nostalgic while writing about my experience and could see the potential of returning again… Although that could just be itchy travel feet. See you soon, Vietnam?
