Singapore in a day – From no expectations to mind blowing experiences

My knowledge of Singapore was non-existing, but because we procrastinated buying the flight tickets to the Maledives for too long, we had te be inventive to get there for a reasonable price. The solution : a low cost carrier from Sydney to Singapore, staying over for 2 nights and later another low cost carrier from Singapore to Male. This solution eventually costed us 30 euros less than the initial flight price of 350 euros per person. Singapore surprised us. Clean (no chewing gum sold to prevent the streets from getting stained), modern, huge buildings, beautiful parks and many architectural marvels..

That meant 2 nights in crazy expensive Singapore which is why we decided to book two nights… in a capsule hotel! It was a unique experience and our to Singapore standards small budget allowed it, so we went for it. There was much choice and we ended up choosing this boutique capsule hotel that was in the center of the city and that received tons of good reviews. In the next picture you’ll see Sanders sleeper in our 12 people mixed dorm room.

To our surprise everyone was very silent and we both slept amazingly well, especially given that we couldn’t sleep together in one bed during one of those two Singaporean nights. But sleeping alone was still a beter option than paying an additional 200 euro for a hotel night.

Next morning we got up early because we wanted to make the most of our brief stay in Singapore. We started in the Arab area where we ended up doing not so much interesting. A nice coffee in Arab street and a visit to the famous Singapore mosque. Sadly, at the time we were there it was not so beautiful, being dressed in a blue suit, as they were renovating it.

Still overcoming the unfortunate sight of the mosque, we went on with the planning and went briefly to the second largest shopping mall in the city, to visit a free art exhibition in the Ritz-Carlton Millenia where we even saw a piece of Andy Warhol, which was special but to my taste not the piece of art from their 5 million art collection I liked the most. Also no photograph of that painting, because we were actually not allowed to go on that particular floor. There was an ongoing event.. But of course we went anyways. Let me show you a pictures of another art piece.

Time to give you a meaningful tune to set the tone of the next. Click here. Gardens by the bay. Strange that I never heard anything about these gardens but maybe that was for the good as it also contributed to the impact it had on us. We received this golden tip from our host in Sydney, Tat, who was born and raised in Singapore. So we figured that he would know better than us and just went with it. We went around 5ish, like he advised and.. OH MY GOD! We got blown away!! These are not just gardens. This is a whole area consisting out of two gigantic domes and multiple smaller outdoor culture-themed gardens that were build around a set of dozen huge metal, partially overgrown, tree-like structures (yes, that’s the best description I can come up with).

The domes both had their own themes. When it was still daylight, we went to the Cloud forest dome. The name almost explains it all. The inside of this dome is a mimic of a rainforest high up in the clouds. It consisted out of vertical gardens divided in different sections, filled with exotic plants I never saw before and a huge waterfall which you could almost touch. Standing next to the waterfall and looking up it felt as if the world was raining down on you without you getting soaked. WAUW.Onwards to the next dome it already started getting dark and we thought this would be a pity because this one was the flower dome and we assumed flowers in the dark wouldn’t make much sense. Think again.. The whole place was lit up by tiny little lamps and was completely fantasy-themed. Many fairytale like structures, colorful flowers, exotic types of trees and some calm music in the background. And as if that wasn’t enough.. We were there practically alone! It ended up being one of the most romantic moments we ever had, kissing under millions of tiny starlights that only shone for us. Un – Be – Lie- va – ble.

Tired and feeling satisfied after a long day we decided to head back to our queen size capsule. It was at that moment the OCBC Rhapsody show of gardens by the bay suddenly started (we didn’t knew about a show…). Suddenly, those high tree structures in the middle started lighting up one by one and some loud epic music drew us near. It was clear to us that we were about to witness something interesting. When we arrived we were truly bewildered. The music they played was a Disney mix together with the song I linked earlier and it all just fell in place. The feeling we had at Disneyland is nothing compared to the one these gardens by the bay gave us.

(Look carefully and on the second picture you can see people walking on the skybridge between the light trees!)

Maybe you don’t remember, but I previously told you that Bangkok is my favorite big city. Well, I have to tell you now that this is no longer true. We expected nothing from this city and received more than we ever got from any other place. Our feet ended up not being able to follow our minds and after more than 9 hours of exploring and experiencing this magnificent country we decided to call it a day. Thank you, Singapore.

The big exotic city – Sydney

Passion fuels the rocket, but vision—a big dream— points the rocket to its ultimate destination (Steve Jobs). Our big dream is living and working in Australia and preferably Sydney one day. After visiting this exotic city for the first time, the motivation to live and work in Australia became even greater. Because accommodation is so expensive in Sydney, we stayed with AirBnB at Tat’s lovely house in one of Sydney’s many neighborhoods called Surrey Hills, which was about a 40 minute walk from the famous city center. Our first impression was already a grand one, sitting in the Prince Albert park overlooking the sunset over the big skyscrapers of Sydney. During our stay it was late Autumn. In Sydney that doesn’t mean the sun is giving in yet and while we stayed there it still delivered us a nice 18 to 22 degrees on a daily basis, which is sometimes more than what the Belgian summer has to offer.Sydney is a city with many faces and we were only able to see a small part. Surry Hills for example has older heritage houses (like the one we stayed at) and classical architectural facades. Trendy is the keyword and so you’ll find smart looking furniture shops, cool coffee shops and cafes working around a specific concept (we for example went to one that sold fresh baked Hungarian bread named Kürtőskalács). This neighborhood, like Melbourne, as well reminded me a bit of Cape Town.On the other hand the north part of the city center gave me the feeling I was in some part of Londen with an exotic hint, with all its big buildings, great malls, fish and chipperies but also little brown pubs and cute tea houses offering high tea. We couldn’t help ourselves and had to try one of the latter. An afternoon well spend if you ask me. Walking out of the tea place we even bumped upon a street performance of some lady squeezing herself in a tiny box. Sydney is truly one of a kind. We loved strolling around the harbour and quay area looking over a gigantic cruiseship that seemed to be boarding (the one in the picture). But we also found the time to watch people getting on smaller party/dinner boats all dressed up and ready to be amazed by the free weekly Saturday fireworks, which of course we attended as well a few hours later. In our case we witnessed the spectacle from a pedestrian bridge crossing the river and it was surely the biggest one I’ve ever seen.These big boats can cruise you all around the world! I like to imagine myself sitting on one and doing more of what I love (traveling) when I grow older.The big tower bridge. You can climb it if you have about 230 AUD (160 euros). We however did not think it was worth the money and time (takes you more than 3 hours) so skipped that. And then you had the strange vulture looking birds that bullied the pigeons (and humans) in order to get food. And these creatures were everywhere..Another thing was the “healthy” snacking. This was a banana on a stick covered with chocolate and coconut. After seeing tons of people eating it, I decided to try it as well and it was sooo delicious. Yummie!We enjoyed the little time we had in Sydney, but decided that we also wanted to see it’s surroundings for a bit before heading west for South East Asia again. We rented a car and went out for a day to the blue mountains, which are located a two hours drive away from the center of Sydney. These pictures are taken at several locations overlooking endless forests and the highest peaks the area has to offer. Again an amazing day.

Now that we understand what it means to live in a city like Sydney, we will work our asses off to get back here. Getting my masters degree, gaining some relevant experience and allowing ourselves one more year in Belgium or the UK (I will talk about this new option later), once again to prepare for the big move. The last thing I’ve got to say is : See you soon Australia!

Sailing towards Whitehaven Beach – Australia

From the south of Australia, Melbourne, we flew three hours north to warmer climates in Hamilton Islands. Little did we know that we were in for the biggest beach treat ever. I mean sure, seeing the Whitsundays beaches has been a dream of me for ages, but I couldn’t imagine the perfection of this experience until the very moment I was there myself. 

Before going I assumed that wherever you stayed, you always slept ashore and could just walk to those pearl white postcard beaches. Therefor we rented a nice one bedroom apartment keeping in mind that we were still on a budget and that I missed cooking. I ended up cooking nearly every day and apparently, to Sanders irritation, even the cockatoos seemed to be delighted by my homemade meals. 

Back to the beaches. In reality the beaches I was thinking of are not some random beaches at the shoreline of Airlie or Hamilton. They are part of a huge nature reserve that is located at a few hours of sailing or cruising. At first we decided that prices for sailing were too high, but when we walked around in Airlie for a bit we noticed these huge tourpromotions everywhere. Excited as can be we ordered a last minute sailing cruise for the next day. The itinerary included going to Whitehaven beach and its well known lookout point, doing some snorkeling and even enjoying a nice cold barbecue for lunch! 

We had the most terrific day on a beautiful 8 person boat! Even the weather agreed with us during the whole stay at Airlie, offering about 25-30 degrees which is not bad given that this was low season. Like I mentioned before it was all Perfection. Following pictures are from the pristine sand at the beach, the cutest little blue shell crabs that were present in tremendous quantities (more than one million on these islands and so afraid of voices that they would dug themselves in the second you opened your mouth) and the bluest, clearest water we’ve ever seen in our lives.

That was what the beaches looked like, but let me also elaborate a bit on the feeling you get while walking on them.. Because this is a nature reserve and because there are only a limited number of boats going there each day the beach was very empty (20 people tops) and very, very clean as well. There are no stalls, no garbage bins, no benches, no pathways and not even a boat dock. You get dropped of a few meters from the shore in the water by a speed boat. It feels totally deserted. The sand is so thin and clean it literally squeaks under your footsteps and the only sound you hear is that of exotic birds singing their daily song. LUSH!

After beach time and barbecue time, it was snorkeling time. Our little sailboat sailed from the beach to one of the nearby reefs. Again we were totally alone at this particular spot. Watching the reefs, corals and fish felt like watching fireworks under the sea surface. Colorful, vibrant, living and untouched. Nature as pure as it gets. 

After the sailing day, the only thing we could imagine ourselves doing was returning. This time we were on a tighter budget because we already had spend so much on the first day of sailing, so we opted for a ferry that got us to the Whitsunday Islands, no lunch or snorkeling included, for about 70 euros per person. We brought our own little picnic and enjoyed these beaches for the second and sadly last time.

Now that those trips are over we can only dream of returning one day. That next time, we will without doubt book a three day sailing cruise that also includes the great barrier reef and maximizes what we get out of our precious limited time on these beaches. Hopefully we will have obtained our diving licenses by that time. And in the meantime I can’t wait to read more stories about this squeaking little place called whiteh(e)aven. 

Roadtrippin’ in Melbourne – Australia

Not knowing what to expect, we finally went to Australia with our big dreams and small hearts. Never been further away from home and in addition to that being in the country where we would certainly like to live some day. Isn’t that exiting?!

We started looking for cheap flights into Australia about two weeks ago and came up with Melbourne. It is located in the most southern part of the country but is apparently also the second largest city in Australia..

First impressions were that it seemed a bit of a mix of the UK and Scotland, but also South Africa. We stayed with AirBnB at the area of Northcote. At first we didn’t liked the area at all, especially the area around the supermarket and the supermarket itself were highly unpleasant, but after being there for a couple of days we bought food in the city supermarkers and started to see what was special about Northcote : it was filled with all sorts of little hipster shops where you could buy old furniture and stuff, cool coffee shops and cute dining places. Also a place where a lot of young people hang out so in other words a good place too be and to stay.

The city itself was also not what we expected but in a positive way. Only a few very high buildings and a lot of churches and older buildings like in Europe. And I thought Australia was quit new.. Not quit so new as I thought I suppose.

Like you can see on the picture it is late fall in Australia and in Melbourne this means dead trees and people with hats and scarves although it is still 16 degrees outside. Not quite so cold as we are used to I guess although unfortunately the rain matched the typical Belgian weather conditions very well..

After two days in the rainy big city we decided to rent a car to do the scenic great ocean road. It is maybe not as popular as route 66 in the US, but it is super picturesque with many great sights on the way. Most tourists take their time and do the whole road in about a week. We however only had a day but chose to see a small part of it anyway. We drove about 500 kilometers in the following landscapes.

The great ocean road is not just a road. It represents the coastal region of Victoria stretching out from a small village near Melbourne towards South Australia and it was build by soldiers after world war I. Maybe we had only one day, but we surely made the most out of it and we are so glad that we have done this trip. It gave us a wider impression and perspective about all the small towns and beach villages in the South of Australia and we even came across an awesome rainforest!

Walking through it was really strange. Coming from Europe it felt like walking into a film set or even on a different planet. Everything seemed so big and different from what we know. Look at this strange fungus on the tree! Of course I couldn’t help but touch the jelly thing which luckily had no consequences for my health.

After that long long day of driving, we had some amazing Australian Angus beef waiting for us in the fridge at out apartment. That was probably the nicest and tastiest way to conclude our first part in Australia, Melbourne. We love Australia.

Is Angkor Wat the best Cambodia has to offer?

One of my great achievements : Ankor Wat. While most people stay in Cambodia for a brief moment to see the temple site of Ankor Wat, we decided to stay for a longer period to get a deeper impression of Cambodia.

After five days in Thailand, we went from Bangkok to Siem Reap with a bus. First we were a bit afraid that it would suck to sit in a bus for 6 hours but in hindsight we loved it! It was a really comfortable bus which merely costed us 25 euros, we witnessed how Thailand changed into Cambodia and felt how one culture flowed   into the other, and on top of that it was a special experience walking across the border by foot. When we arrived, we even discovered that there was a taxi ride by tuk tuk included in the bus ticket! Great experience!

We opted for a cheap hotel first because we thought we would be tired after the long bus ride but also because we wanted to see the temples by sunrise so we figured that we wouldn’t be much in the hotel anyway. We didn’t expect anything but this hotel was so lovely that we were almost disappointed that we only booked there for four nights. We only payed about 23 euros a day, breakfast and friendly staff included!

Time for Ankor Wat now! Ankor Wat had been on my bucket list for quit some time and I wasn’t at all been let down by it. We rented a private tour for two days with Mr. Tom, a tour guide that took us on his tuk tuk and explained about the interesting history of all temples. The complex is HUGE! There is so much to see and do. You can ride tuk tuks, elephants, go with an hot air balloon for fifteen minutes over the complex, eat in all sorts of stalls, get souvenirs from the locals and so on.

Very touristy but still something to put on your bucket list! Some of the temples are more than 1000 years old and (after some reconstructions) unbelievably beautiful.

Let me show you the number of tourists waiting for sunrise :

Our perspective of the sunrise was a busy one but that didn’t mean it was less beautiful. Ravishing would be an appropriate description of the place. It was very interesting to see al the Asian people pushing each other away in order to get the best picture. Therefor we believe that the next picture suited the Ankor sunrise best, taken by an Asian girl struggling in the crowd.

Apart from Ankor Wat itself, there are lots of other temples which definitely need more than a day to all be explored thoroughly. Our favorite temple after Angkor Wat was the one used in the movie Tomb Raider with the +300 year old tree. But I will let the pictures do the talking for me.

After Ankor Wat it was time to sit by the pool at our luxury hotel which costed us about 7 euros more but was worth the extra money, providing us with all the luxury we could ever desire for that amount of money.

Enjoying overly cheap cocktails (2 dollars), massages (2 dollars), manicures and pedicures (3 dollars) while eating amazing Cambodian food. I usually don’t like curry at all but this ones were truly marvelous. They taste sweet from coconut milk in combination with again.. Garlic! So good that I looked up some recipes online to try a khmer curry at home in a month!

And about home.. Home will be Belgium again for at least another year! Or so is at least the current plan. We miss our friends and family very much and Sander decided that he is going to start a business for himself while I will focus on my exams and on finding a job that gives me satisfaction and relevant experience to be able later work on (management-)projects in other countries. We don’t know for sure where we’ll base ourselves but Ghent seems to be the prime candidate at the moment.

To conclude : I never heard much about Cambodia (apart from Angkor Wat) before we left on this trip, but it definitely stole my heart in only 8 days. Everything is cheap, people are friendly, food is wonderful with lots of worldly influences and Angkor Wat is ravishing. So remember, if you ever find yourself in the neighborhood of Bangkok or Ho Chi Minh, it is only a 6 hour bus ride away.

Hello from Bangkok – Thailand anew

“Thailand again? But haven’t you already been there a few years ago?” This is the reaction most people have when I tell them we’re going to Thailand.. Again. But it was on the route and we loved it so much last time that we decided to go to Bangkok again. Whoehoew! We had already seen all the temples last time (we had 9 days in Bangkok) and that is why we came up with the following list. Bangkok take two:

We only completed half of the above list by the time I took the picture. But a few days later, we eventually managed to do almost all of it and it left us with the feeling that it was wonderful to have been able to spend five days in Bangkok anew. To date, we did not found any city that is comparable with the feeling and atmosphere we found in Bangkok. Twice. In addition, it is without doubt our favorite big city in the world!

But allow me to tell you what it is we love so much about Thailand and especially Bangkok. Firstly, we love the modern and funky touch Bangkok gives to the Asian feeling, and this shows in everything you see, even in the graffiti art or the pink taxis you see in the streets. Not to mention the many astonishing temples that are situated in between the skyscrapers. 

Secondly, we love how Bangkok accepts other cultures within it’s city as if it is the most natural thing to do. There are many religions (like the Indian temple in the picture below) that found their own place in the city. Apart from religion, you can also find many interesting fusion kitchens. And what about floors or entire buildings consisting out of restaurants, shops, bars and more all based on for example the Japanese culture, while the next building might offer the same setup but this time draped in an Indonesian style. 

 This mixture gives you the opportunity to find the best of every culture in this city and this is exactly how we found out about this place called Yunomori Onsen. It was the best spa we EVER had, without doubt, so we went twice! Let me tell you a bit more about it. Onsen is the Japanese bathing culture. This place offered onsen unlimited for exactly 10 euros a person including towels, robes and everything you could possibly need. Normally, onsen are done naked, but because we were not in Japan, I got some sort of cover up in the form of a black bra and briefs. I couldn’t take pictures because bathing is a private affair, but you can click here if you want to see some pictures of this beautiful onsen.

Next to bathing in a great design, they also offered amazing Japanese food and snacks and a whole range of massages done by professionals for merely 10 euros an hour. I recall that the best massage I ever had was the Thai massage I had last time we were in Thailand, so I went again (and again a second time) for it was even better than during our previous stay!

So what is a Thai style massage? It is not the sort of massage during which you fall asleep and it reminds me a bit of yoga. They work your whole body stretching it, massaging it and cracking all kinds of bones.. I especially like how they crack my back and neck. I know nothing that really compares to it! Afterwards you feel as if you have been given an entirely new body.

Let me go back to the red line in my story. So we had a modern vibe and a culture mix. Well, thirdly, we love Thai food! The dishes we enjoyed the most last time, we tried again this time. And I also discovered something else that I will try to make myself one day, namely the mango with the sticky rice (sweet, salt and crunchy flavored rice). Of course I won’t be able to find the same juicy mangoes in Europe that you can find in Asia, but it will still be worth the effort.

And then there is the street food. Seems unhygienic at first, but when you look closer and inspect the food, you’ll see what is fresh and what is not. Another way to decide if it’s good is by checking how many Thai people are eating at a certain stall. We found two amazing places near Chinatown (yet another vibrant area) that offered fresh seafood.

I ordered these gigantic Tiger Prawns with tamarinde sauce, a famous spicy garlicy Thai sauce which is also a bit sweet.  So all the good stuff combined in one.

Last but not least, there is the Thai culture with the greatest markets that sell overly cheap amazing things. We went to the chatuchak weekend market which has 15.000 stalls. Such a pity we don’t have spare space in our bags.. Otherwise, we would have gone crazy buying all sorts of things. In stead we bought some interesting Thai snacks, such as the following coconut/savory ice cream (this one gave me a stomach ache, but it was totally worth trying all the foods the Bangkok streets had to offer).

And lastly let me not forget to mention how friendly the Thai people are and how beautiful their Budist culture and temples are.

Make sure you don’t miss this amazing city when you are in the neighborhood or perhaps on a transfer flight on to another place. This city can possibly conquer your heart like it did with ours. Hope the urge to see Bangkok again is fulfilled for a little while. We’ll see how long it lasts, but to tell the truth, secretly I’m already looking forward to next time!

A little bit of Europe in Asia : Ho Chi Minh

After almost a month in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh was our last destination. It felt like walking in a city which was weird combination of an older European (French concession) and Asian city. Add a hint of modernism to the mix and you get something like the picture below.

Unfortunately, I was sick for four days which made it impossible to hop from one tourbus to the next. Apart from that it was also about 40 degrees which made it impossible to walk for more than 500 meter without sweating like a pig. Two good reasons why we didn’t do that much.

We discovered that Ho Chi Minh is quite a trendy city filled with hipster bars that offer great food and beverages for even better prices. So we found ourselves hopping from one great bar to the next finding cool downs in between our walks in the city.

We didn’t find the city itself that alluring, maybe because we were templed-out and the markets start to look quite alike after being almost a month in Vietnam. We did however find different ways to amuse ourselves. For example a Vietnamese food massage which was absolutely lovely, learning a lot more about the vietnamese war in the War Remnants Museum. And last but not least, we enjoyed the AO show!

It is a show directed by Tuan Le, a man that also directed one of the great shows of Cirque Du Soleil, and it was truly marvelous. On top of that, it played in the operahouse of Ho Chi Minh which is famous for it’s history but also as astonishing as the show itself. Pictures were not allowed during the show, but I did managed to take a sneak peak for you to see. Below you’ll find that picture of the theater which also depicted the main attributes of the show : a lot of bamboo sticks and a bunch of huge bamboo baskets, which were used and combined in many acrobatic ways.

Short story even shorter : it was lovely to be in Ho Chi Minh, but it was also time to move on to the next country is search for some totally new experiences and impressions. Thailand time!!

Meet paradise : Hoi An

Hoi An has it all. This little town in the center of Vietnam is a window to a different time because of its history and colorful old buildings. Next to that you’ll find lots of heritage sites, traditions that are a mixture of several countries and cultures, stunning beaches, bright green rice fields, secret recipes that are carried onwards from one generation to the next and most of all, the most friendly people you’ll ever meet.  I think I can say for us both that this will be the highlight of traveling for 23 days in Vietnam although we still visit Ho Chi Minh for a couple of days. We stayed four nights at Lila Homestay which was located about two kilometers from the beach and two kilometers from the old town of Hoi An. A fist we thought that meant a lot of walking, but our lovely hosts provided us with free bikes which approximated everything within 10 minutes of cycling through amazing landscapes just like the one below.

Hoi An is also located near a clean and not overcrowded beach. We decided that we wanted some luxury time and so we cycled over to one of the big resorts and payed them a bit for some towels, beach beds, access to their swimming pools, showers and beds on the beach. This was us being smart with the budget, staying in a cheap Homestay yet still enjoying the luxury of a big resort without paying a crazy amount of money for it.  

Because there are a lot of tiny rivers, there are a lot of little Islands on Hoi An that are reachable by bridges. One of these islands was transformed into a organic herbal/vegetable farm. On this big farmland every family that lives there has a small piece of land to grow greens that they can sell on one of the many markets that are organized daily at Hoi An. One afternoon, we learned how local farmers fertilize their lands (with a sort of weed that grows in the rivers surrounding the island) and how they maintain their organic crops.

After gardening and getting a little tour around the Tra Que Herbal Village, we got pampered with a delicious smelling hot herbal foot bath made from herbs in the garden.

After that, there was also a cooking class. We found this place by stumbling upon the house of a family that offered to show us the gardening (the grandfather and grandmother showed uw how to do it). Afterwards their son (he is a chef in one of the big resorts) and daughter in law demonstrated us how to cook some of the famous dishes that Hoi An is known for, using vegetables freshly plucked from their garden. 

The following are the ingredients that we used for the four dishes we cooked.

The salad you see below is the starter we prepared ourselves which tasted very fresh (mint), sweet (several sauces) and spicy (garlic, chilipeper ).

The best thing about this place is probably the old town of Hoi An itself. Like I said before, it is like stepping through a time window. It has such a rich culture because of the trading history it has with Japan, China and Indonesia. We mainly noticed the Japanese influence by the cutlery in the restaurants, the souvenirs, how the people behaved and how some of the buildings had that specific Japanese atmosphere to them. But you can also notice it somewhat more obvious : there is a Japanese styled bridge which they conveniently call “the Japanese bridge”.

But don’t be mistaken, it certainly still feels as if you are walking into a Vietnamese town where the scents of good smelling Vietnamese street food captivate you, the colors of Hoi An’s famous silken lanterns strike you and the beauty of the people that keep on smiling all the time make you fall in love with it.

This is just one example of lanterns. When you go by night to Hoi An, the whole town lits up. If you want you can do a wish as well by buying one of the little candle lanterns (like the ones the boy in the second picture is selling) that someone will put on the floating river for you.

Although it takes you a few night trains from either Ho Chi Minh or Hanoi to get to the center of Vietnam, make sure you don’t miss it because it is different from all other destinations in Vietnam in a very positive way. We were there for four nights but we could’ve stayed for 10 days without getting bored. Maybe you can also fly directly to Da Nang from one of the major cities if you don’t feel like sleeping on trains and/or are limited in time.

All I can wish for today is that I will be able to go back to Hoi An one day.

Passing through Hue

A lot of visitors in Hue are only there for a brief moment, passing through on their way to Da Nang, Hoi An and other destinations in the middle of Vietnam. Although the streets of Hue are interesting, they were not our kind of streets. During the day these streets were filled with tourist busses that made a stop on one of its major heritage sites. At night, they were bustling with energetic young people drinking cheap cocktails to fuel them for all nighters.

For the short period we were in Hue, we opted for cocktails, good food and the imperial city. Perhaps going to a great restaurant was on top of our to do list after being in a place like Ninh Binh that seemed to lack eatable food.. After searching the internet for the best place (we wanted cheap and good), we chose a restaurant called “Golden Rice” and it turned out to be one of the best meals we had in Vietnam. I order the caramelized chicken which was sweet, spicy and garlicy. But let’s not talk food all day.. We visited the Imperial City in Hue. The locals seem to call it “The Citadel” or “The forbidden city of Vietnam” referring to the forbidden city in Beijing. Alas, it is nothing like it. Less grand, not as overwhelming and not so well maintained. That is at least my opinion after standing at the gates of the true Forbidden City one month earlier. If you however linger a while at this location, you see it’s own beauty and originality. No need to compare it with something it’s not. It’s on the UNESCO world heritage list for a reason and the the citadel possesses great parts of the rich Vietnamese history together with bits and pieces of it’s impressive architecture, like the red hallway below.But most of all it was a place full of color and full of remnants of former empires.  Although we probably wouldn’t return to Hue, there is much more to see (tombs). We just didn’t found sufficient time and energy to do more since spending two nights out of four on a train proved to be more exhausting than we could even imagine. As a result we skittled away one entire day sleeping. Oh well, it was very satisfying to say the least. Now we will be able to be awake at our next destination, Hoi An!

Too much – Ninh Binh

Let us advice you to avoid going for an overnight stay in Ninh Binh and not to make the same mistake as we did. Why? Ninh Binh is just a little town that is literally of the beaten tracks for tourists.

There are a few hotels but they all seem very basic and still will cost you around 25 euros a night for a decent one. You might like the idea of a non-touristy place, like I initially did, but when you arrive you will see that also means not a lot of proper options to eat. With not much options I mean two semi-decent places if you don’t fancy street food.  You can find those two okay restaurants on Tripadvisor, but they are far away from each other so you’ll end up being close either to one or the other. And before I forget to mention : the motorbikes are quit expensive in Ninh Binh as well (15 euros a day).

Let me tell you a bit about the activities nearby. There is Tam Coc and the viewpoint over Tam Coc. Two things that are worth making a stop in Ninh Binh. But.. You can easily go to Ninh Binh from Hanoi in the early morning, be there around 10, finish visiting Tam Coc (which costs 20 euros for two persons by the way) at 12, eat at the one restaurant of the two which is closest to Tam Coc, then visit the viewpoint in the afternoon and finish your day at a slow pace around 6 p.m. eat something and take the train back to Hanoi or the night train further south.

A dragon at the viewpoint on top of one of the mountains surrounding Tam Coc :

The best view you can get over Tam Coc : 

In hindsight that is what we should have done as well.. Of course we visited Tam Coc and the viewpoint. But what happened apart from those two activities is :

– Eating the worst meal in months at our hotel on the first night we were there. It consisted out of a very mushy and soggy burger that was obviously re-heated in the microwave and some fried tofu which was probably fried in old oil and tasted somewhat burned.

– Renting the worst bikes ever, hurting our asses during cycling, ending up driving in total darkness because there were no street lights and because the bicycles did not had any lights installed.

– Relaxing in the room and planning ahead for the next months using an Internet connection with a speed matching that of a baby turtle.

– Eating in Lotteria – which is a Korean burger joint, comparable to McDonalds – not once, not twice, but trice. We did that because after trying the cocktails in the “okay” restaurants nearby on night one, we discovered that there were a lot of rats lingering around and the place had a nasty smell to it.

– Getting soaked all the time because it wouldn’t stop raining for three whole days but we also didn’t want to be in the room all the time.

So may I present you Tam Coc in the rain. It was fine and is probably better when the sun is shining, but it didn’t took our breaths away like Halong Bay did a week before.So why did we book for two nights in Ninh Binh? Well. I loved to see Tam Coc but was quite tired from sleeping badly on the night trains and we didn’t find much of the necessary rest I was looking for in Sapa, because there was so much to see and do. It was therefor that we decided to book a hotel for two nights in Ninh Binh, as it was again a night train away from the previous location.

Hopefully people will read this and won’t make the same mistake as us. Another night train trip got us to Hue which seems to be an ancient city bursting with things to see and do. Time to go out for some exploring!