South East Asia – First stop Vietnam!! Saigon - Pho Quoc - Danang and Hoi An - english version

chicken foot summoner

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) – First impression of Vietnam

The trouble started right at the airport – which cap should we choose? Who only wants our money? Who looks a little bit trustworthy? Questions over questions! :D And we are right now in a country where only a few people speak a few words of English! :D Good luck for as that Fabio read somewhere that the cap driver with the green tie is the “best” choice. So we walked straight to a driver and jumped in! After 30 minutes we arrived in our hotel. We paid 150000 Dong that´s around 7 $ - CHEAP for us!!! :D To take a cap or having an own a car is too expensive for most Vietnamese people, therefore there are more scooters! There are 7 million people in Saigon and around 4 million own a scooter! :D There are scooters like everywhere you look and they take everything with them on this small scooter and when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING!! :D

Traffic in Saigon

Our hotel was in the middle of the city centre. Double bed with air condition, own bath room and a TV cost us only around 12 US $ (per night/per room)! :D but you could find a cheaper one!

We had Banh Mi (Baguette with meat, egg or cheese) for breakfast. It cost you between 10.000 and 20.000 Dong (0,5 – 1 US $). Not much and not amazing but still good! :) For lunch we had a snack with great coffee and for dinner we had local food from the street kitchens. We had the choice between skewers on the bbq or noodles/rice with meat. And at least we had one delicious Saigon beer! :)

Meat skewers with rice and beer for two people: ca. 140.000 Dong (ca. 6,50 US $)!!

Of course we wouldn´t miss a food massage, but it wasn´t the best one – too bad!

new polo shirt

new pair of trousers

We went to the Cho Ben Thanh Market, there is a lot to buy like shoes, bags, clothes, spices and just everything you need or not! :D Fabio bought an “Abercrombie&Fitch” polo shirt! :D actually we had to pay 250.000 Dong, but after a long decision with the sales woman she gave us the shirt for 125.000 Dong (ca. 5,80 US $) still too much for a fake brand! But it´s nice anyway! :) Marleen bought a pair of trousers! :)

Some of the sightseeing spots in Saigon are the War Museum, the Independence Palace and the Notre-Dame Basilica.

Sightseeing

Best regards to our new friends from Japan, Mai, Ayaka and Nana, we had a great time with you! Thanks for teaching us Japanese and telling us about the meaning of our names in Japanese.

Fabio: nobody can beat this beautiful man

Marleen: really cool

Pho Quoc – Vacation from holiday

our beach

After seven months we decided to take vacation from holiday! :D You don’t believe it, but traveling is exhausting! Always on the road and planning your day every single day, so many impressions, sometimes you need holidays!!

Eight days of chilling in the sun on the beach and going for a swim in the sea!

sunset on Phu Quoc

We met a lot of nice people! From Frankfurt (Germany): Anh, born in Vietnam, Nau, born in Thailand and there cute daughter Ariel! We did a day trip by cap around Phu Quoc (ca. 10 US $ per Person). First we drove to a flower plantation where they made wine and syrup. Second stop was a pearl farm – interesting how they get the pearl into the mussel! They put a piece of mussel into another mussel, it doesn´t matter what kind of shape. After around seven years the mussel will have put a coating of saliva as some kind of shield around the piece of mussel and ready is the pearl or another kind of shape! 

flower and pearl farm

pepper farm and fish habour

We didn´t stay for long at the fish farm, because of the smell, it was disgusting! :D A pepper farm, naturally they produce pepper there! ;) Another stop were the prison, it was horrible. They showed at least 30 torture practices, just awful, what the South Vietnamese did to the North Vietnamese! 

fish sauce factory and prison

Our highlight was the Sao Beach with white sand – just pretty! 

Sao Beach

On the evening we went out for dinner and had Hot Pot with crabs and prawns, a feast! :)

Hot Pot

crab

Hot Pot: A pot with stock is standing on a gas cooker in the middle of the table. Now you put the vegetable and fish or meat in the boiling water and ready is the Hot Pot! :)

We met Michael from Lucerne on the beach. We spend the time on the beach with him and had dinner on the local food stores. We ate spring rolls, sausages, fish balls and had a 333 beer or a delicious sugar cane with honey! :)

local street food with Michael

On our last days we met Jan and his father Marian, of course they are from Germany as well! :) Thank you for the funny evening when we played King Mau! :)

Danang – first impressions of driving a scooter :)

That was our first time that we rented a scooter. Grab a helmet and let´s go! :) In the beginning the roads were empty, but after a while it started getting crowded! A big roundabout, crossing the bridge and right now, we were standing in the middle of a big turmoil in Danang! That was big fun and Fabio was a really good driver! :)

one day on a scooter

Our first stop was „Bread of life“. We had a big pancake breakfast there! :D Yummy!!

pancake with bacon and eggs

banana pancake

Afterwards we drove through the city. We took a look at a small temple. There were different Buddhas. The best one was the big golden Buddha! :D

Next stop were the Marble Mountains. Marble Mountain is a sightseeing spot and a small village. In the village you can buy everything build from marble – they have things for everyone! :) Of course we didn´t buy anything! We walked straight to the Marble Mountains where the caves with the prayer halls were. We saw three caves, but the best one was the biggest one. The cave was around 30 meters high and there were a big Buddha and a small prayer hall in the cave.  AMAZING!!!

Marble Mountains

prayer hall in the cave

dinner

In the evening we drove back to the city and had a delicious and –  again –  cheap dinner! We had noodle soup with chicken and chicken rice for only 5 US $! :)

Hoi An – Fresh beer for 0,15 US $ (Vietnam's version of a microbrew)

We took the bus from Danang to Hoi An. We were told that the bus would straight go to Hoi An, but of course, that wasn´t the truth! :D After only 10 minutes’ ride the bus stopped at a big marble factory! Everybody had to leave the bus, so we walked around there. Of course also didn´t buy anything in the factory! :D It was so boring, that we had a great idea having fun with the sales woman. You should know, that all the sales people have to follow you once you enter a store in case you want to buy something. So, we were followed by a sales woman, but we didn´t just walked around, NO, we walked around a column and she did the same!! :D after a few seconds she realized what we did, stopped and started laughing!! :D And the other sales women and us as well! :D That was fun!! Finally after 30 minutes we continued the journey!

Finally after one hour we arrived in our Hotel in Hoi An. The name of the hotel was “Moc Vien Homestay”, a lovely family, where the daughters managed everything, because they had the better English. :) We had a great room and the old town (Ancient Town) was only 10 minutes away by foot. The city is part of the World Heritage, therefore actually you have to pay for all temples and other sightseeing spots, even when you merely want to cross the bridge! We didn´t pay for this, because in the beginning we didn´t know that we had to pay – good for us, otherwise we had to pay 120.000 Dong (6 US $) FOR CROSSING THE BRIDGE – ONLY CROSSING!!!

on the bridge

For lunch we had local specialities, like Wonton and Cao Lau. We strongly recommend these both dishes, especially the wonton! :)

Wonton and Cao Lau (local specialities)

We already met Mike from Canada in Danang. He is traveling with his wife Leslie and they stayed in the same hotel as us. Mike got himself a tailor made suit in Hoi An and had to drive there every day for the fittings. Before we left Danang we made an appointment for the day in Hoi An and then we had some beers. Fresh beer for 5000 Dong (ca. 0,25 US $)!! Thanks to Mike and Leslie for this funny afternoon! Maybe we will meet you again in Germany or Canada! See you later and enjoy your trip!! :)

Marleen, Mike, Leslie and Fabio

Hoi An is popular for his tailor made clothes and shoes. We thought about getting a suit or something, but in the end only Marleen got some tailor made shoes (24 Dollar). We are wondering how long they will last! :D We bought some nice lamps for our living room back home! But how we get them to Germany we don´t know yet! :D

On our last evening we went out for dinner to a vegetarian restaurant. They had the best deal for fresh beer, only 3000 Dong (0,15 US $)!! There we met Bärbel from Berlin and Anneros and Kathrin from Munich. Together we had some cocktails and a few beers! Thanks to all of them for the amusing evening! ;)

Fabio and Rob

fresh beer for 0,15 US $