A late start on the tour today as it’s a “Me Day”, the only scheduled event is a noodle-making lesson. I took advantage of the extra time to have an early morning walk down to the Old Town. Pretty much everything was closed up still at 7:30am and it wasn’t an especially attractive walk but … Continue reading SE Asia Day 28: Hoi An

Another rainy day ☔️. Actually this whole middle section of Vietnam will be wet for the next week. The optional activity for this afternoon is a bike ride, seeing rice paddies, and 2 boat rides so it will be interesting to see how the weather pans out. First it’s a 4 hour bus ride to … Continue reading SE Asia Day 27: Hoi An

I had a leisurely morning and met up with the group at 10:30am in the hotel lobby. Most said the overnight train was okay but sleep was limited. They weren’t able to check in to their rooms until the afternoon so we set off in a bus for a day of sightseeing. A local guide, … Continue reading SE Asia Day 26: Huê

My roommate is suffering from jet lag so she (and therefore I) went to bed early last night and consequently woke early this morning. I got up at 6am hoping for a sunrise and coffee but had to wait for both. Overcast day and the crew were busy cleaning the boat and setting up for … Continue reading SE Asia Day 25: Huê

It was a 4 hour bus ride to the very beautiful, very busy Ha Long Bay, famous for its thousands of limestone islands and islets. At the halfway point we stopped at a rest area run by a disabled group. G Adventures ethos consists of giving back to the local communities wherever they travel, especially … Continue reading SE Asia Day 24: Ha Long Bay

Woke up to 100% chance of rain all day and AQI of 222. The elements were against us. Plastic rain ponchos were handed out as the morning consisted of riding around town on the back of lady-driven motor scooters. Our first stop was Hao Lo Prison, aka “Hanoi Hilton”. Originally built by the French in … Continue reading SE Asia Day 23: Hanoi

Local readings actually say 277 but I like this emoji Not a great day to be outside so I limited myself to just a walk around the nearby lake and a bit of window shopping before checking out at 12. The new tour officially started at 2:30pm at the new hotel. Lots of introductions as … Continue reading SE Asia Day 22: Hanoi

I do a lot of my travel research in Facebook Groups and the Vietnam ones highly praised Ninh Bình as a must-see destination so I booked a full day excursion with a local agent to check it out for myself today. Google says it was the first capital of a unified Vietnam from 968-1010, has … Continue reading SE Asia Day 21: Ninh Bình

I’ve a free day to explore Hanoi as I’ve decided to take a full day tour tomorrow to Ninh Binh so here’s what I got up to…. At 8am I set out into the bustle of Old Town Hanoi looking for Train Street. First impressions: lots of trees, beeping scooters, locals setting up for their … Continue reading SE Asia Day 20: Hanoi

Transfer Day today so basically a day of waiting until it was time to head to the airport. I took an early morning walk at 7am and the cool mist was already lifting. I walked around the peninsula that is this end of the Old Town until I saw stairs that led up to the … Continue reading SE Asia Day 19: Hanoi