I hope you all had a peaceful Christmas filled with tasty food and a very pleasant, cheerful new year!
I, for one, really needed some rest during the Christmas days so I flew down south to Ho Chi Minh City to see some sun. My friend stays down there so I stayed with her. The apartment and the area were super nice and the weather was ideal. I arrived there during the Christmas eve, enjoyed the drive through the city to the apartment.
We spent Christmas evening inside, chilling and having some beers and sushi. Later we left for the local party street to play some pool! Ho Chi Minh is the biggest city in Vietnam with 8 million residents. The city is huge, wide spread and the streets are always busy. Ho Chi Minh is a popular tourist location filled with western people. Compared to Hai Phong the gap between westerners and the Vietnamese is definitely wider. Most of the local Vietnamese people know some English but don't really seem interested in making friends with the westerners. Especially during Christmas the touristy atmosphere was dominant; plenty of half naked people acting like idiots after drinking too much, something you rarely see in Hai Phong.
I slept like a baby in Ho Chi Minh. My friends hosted a Christmas dinner during the actual Christmas day; they ordered some roasted chickens and spent the morning preparing the food. The Christmas party was a great success; we had 20 people joining us, food was yummy and everyone was in good Christmas spirits. Later we toured around the city, stopped at some local places for drinks and enjoyed the little festivities around.
All of my friends were working or busy on Saturday so I headed to The Rex hotel to spend a day at their rooftop pool. I was blessed with a boiling hot weather for the entire four days so there was no better way of spending the day. After I had roasted myself enough I wondered around the city and the shops. As a very tall person I have really struggled to find clothes and shoes in my size. Ho Chi Minh definitely has a wider selection than Hai Phong so I had big expectations to find something suitable for myself. I did manage to find myself some yummy food, a few clothes and some souvenirs for my family. I don't really trust the post here so some research on sending the package must happen.
Ho Chi Minh is a pleasant, vibrant city full of choices and different cultures. I would highly recommend it to every tourists who wants to enjoy some sun and a lot of entertainment. I am more than happy to work in a more local, communal city but the trip down south was great and very necessary to my mental health - started to feel a bit crazy already in Hai Phong. Sometimes a person just needs a break from the daily life.
I was looking to spend new years in Hoi An after I realised the bus journey to Sapa would take too long for me to make it there before midnight, but unfortunately, the flights were too pricey for those days. I had to move onto plan B; headed to Hanoi after work on Thursday. I was on my way to the bus stop when my TA's mother drove past me and offered me a ride, she is such a sweetheart even though we don't really speak the same language! We ended up chasing the bus down the street trying to make it stop again for me, I did make it ! Luckily, some of my friends were on the same bus so the 2,5 h ride up to Hanoi was rather pleasant.
Vietnamese people will definitely make sure that they receive every penny from their work. The bus had at least 60 people on it.
Made it my hotel nicely, dropped my bags there and headed to my colleagues hostel with a new friend from my hotel. Hanoi was super busy, we stayed at a very popular hostel area so the streets were packed with all sorts of people. The atmosphere was great and we had a big group of people. Originally we wanted to head to the lakeside to see some fireworks but later decided to head to Hanoi Rock City club instead. The club was quite unique; quite a big roofless drug hole that serves fancy cocktails in its downstairs. Midnight came around quickly, unfortunately, there were no fireworks but the night was good anyway. We ended up staying up for ages with a bunch of people from our hostel.
Friday was spent touring around Hanoi, stopping at every cute coffee place we came across and some secret ones. We walked around the lake, got a rickshaw ride and sat on some gorgeous rooftops.
Rooftop cafe overlooking the lake
Lantern lounge with some yummy falafels
Lakeside strolls.
After strolling around the city for hours we retreated to our hotel to enjoy some chess and red wine. I also managed to learn some Vietnamese games.
We spent the following day in the same manner; strolling around the streets, eating and hunting things from our shopping lists. I managed to find myself a cute lantern from the lantern street along with stamps and stickers for my classes. The last few weeks had worn me out so much I decided to head home that evening instead to have a peaceful evening by myself.
Christmas and new years were both lovely, couldn't be happier to be able to explore Vietnam and to see other cities.
Happy 2016 for everyone !
Mira
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