Vietnam

We went to Vietnam and Cambodia in May 2018 using an English passport. A cousin living in England ordered the tour and I joined. It was a sightseeing tour, so we moved a few times by plane. I do not recommend Vietnam Airlines very much☺. But again, not to blame them, maybe we were just unlucky. On one of the flights, the plane went into a free fall down I don't know how many meters. But it was a huge adrenaline rush, one thinks that his last minute has come. After a while, when the kidneys flushed out more cortisol than ever before, the situation returned to normal. 

The travel agency booked us at least 4-star hotels in the two biggest cities – the capital Hanoi in the north and Ho Chi Minh City in the south of the country. 

Walking around Hanoi for the first time can be quite intimidating for an inexperienced traveler. Will he be shocked at what he spent his vacation money on? Why? If you are not used to poor Asian countries, it is quite a scary sight. However, I had experience from other countries, e.g. from the Philippines, so dirty and smelly streets, street vendors, a bunch of cables overhead, or completely confusing traffic when you have no idea when you can enter the road and cross to the other side, didn't surprise me that much. However, the cousin, who was in the Asian country for the first time, was horrified. The travel agency pictures showed beautiful, breathtaking beaches and the first destination we set foot in was Hanoi. Our hotel was located in a not particularly attractive part of the city for tourists. I would definitely recommend European travelers to visit other sights of Vietnam.

If we were to organize the trip on our own, Hanoi would not be my choice. If it were possible, I would completely skip it. I would rather go to Vietnam because of the natural beauty, beaches, temples. So we started in Hanoi and were supposed to spend a few days here. 

We started by walking the streets of Hanoi. The motorcycle exhausts were so smelly and the air was so polluted that it was impossible to breathe properly, so we voluntarily bought masks at the pharmacy and wore them. If we had known then that covid would come, we would have bought a proper supply.

Fotka: Elektrické vedenie v hlavnom meste Hanoj Takto bola elektrika bežne ťahaná na uliciach.

Photo: A walk around Hanoi.

Teta mi to nasilu vopchala do rúk… bolo to poriadne ťažké. Samozrejme, potom som si ešte musela kúpiť predražené banány. Lebo ma odfotila, tak predsa nemôžem odísť bez banánov. 

We continued with an optional trip - a boat on Ha Long Bay. Ha Long Bay is probably the most famous touristic place in Vietnam. It consists of 3000 islands. We also spent the night on the boat and caught sea monsters at night.

Photo: Ha Long Bay

A few days later we moved to Ho Chi Minh City. I found this city much more beautiful and modern than Hanoi. There are also monuments from the war in both cities. 

But I was still of the opinion that cities are not what I traveled so many kilometers for, so I suggested a trip to the island. 

We headed to the island of Phu Quoc, which was described on the Internet as one of the most beautiful in the world. The water was really amazing! The beach was somewhere beautifully cleaned so that idyllic photos could be taken.  Well, a few meters further, where the beach ended, there was a place for garbage. You just have to take it as Vietnam is not one of the most civilized countries and obviously not one of the cleanest either. Anyway, we had a great time here!

Photo: the Phu Quoc beach

Photo: Swing

I've always wanted to make a photo like this And voila! I also moved after that.

On the way by car, we saw the temple by chance, so we went to take a picture of it. It was the Ho Quoc Pagoda, which is part of the Truc Lam Zen Temple. It is located on a hill and is accessed by a series of stairs. A huge Buddha statue oversees everything. It was possible to go in, so we went. I must say this temple complex was beautiful! And it grew, new temples were under construction. But what was absolutely the best, rarely in the world did I feel such positive and peaceful energy as in this temple complex. It was really a force. Moreover, there was almost no one there except us From the temples there was a wonderful view of the sea. Simply, completely great! Just at the time we were there, it was slowly getting dark and the monks were praying and chanting there. It also added a wonderful atmosphere.

Photo: temple

And this is how karma is said to work… so if someone wastes water, they will be born in a desert area in their next life, if someone spends wisely, they will have good luck in business, etc.

We left after dark We didn't want to leave because of the peace we felt there.

We spent a few days on the island in a beautiful resort with a private beach. Since it was the off-season, there were fewer peoplej  There was no one in the pool except us. Evenings in the pool under the night sky were breathtaking!

We had other experiences in Vietnam. We enjoyed a fantastic drink on the roof of a skyscraper. 

Or one day we suddenly had a monsoon and the streets were completely flooded in a matter of seconds. Fortunately, we were moving on the bus at that time, so we didn't get wet We didn't get wet once during our trip