Trying Freedom

Thanks to Vietnam’s visa on arrival only allowing me 15 days in the country I had already done a fair bit of research about what to do while I was there, to make sure I make the most of it.

After arriving on a late flight I headed out first thing in the morning on a tour of nearby Ninh Binh, which my hotel had arranged for me before I arrived, I had no idea exactly what it included but I just asked for a Ninh Binh tour and decided the rest would work itself out.

There ended up being 2 activities in total, the first was to see Chùa Am Tiên, a Buddhist lakeside temple, and then on to my personal favourite, the Trang An tour, kayaking along a river which has to be the best way to see the area, despite it being filled with boats.

We even had a bonus stop at the Unicorn Temple thrown in on our way back, I wouldn’t rush here to visit but it made for a good photo.

It did however mean we have to wait out a monsoon underneath the temple entrance for about 30 minutes.

The trip as a whole was genuinely beautiful, and to get this experience after only a 2-hour mini-bus journey is even more incredible, it felt like a completely different world to the hustle and bustle of Hanoi.

I do have to say though there is definitely a certain charm to the city, walking around the old quarter you see countless streets with a unique style I hadn’t seen anywhere else so far.

The Canton Assembly Hall is well worth a visit too.

However, as with the central areas of most of the cities I’ve visited so far, they are super busy and mostly hostel accommodation, as you found out in the last blog I’m veering away from that so I chose to stay in an area called Westlake – expat central.

Only 15 minutes away by a Grab taxi I’d highly recommend it to anyone, there’s a huge amount of options for good food, bars, and accommodation.

With just over a week left, the original plan was to ride a motorbike around the Ha Giang loop and then take a cruise around Ha Long Bay, but thanks to a typhoon making its way down from Taiwan (which was already causing people to be evacuated from those areas) I figured that probably wasn’t the best option and decided to wait out the storms and bad weather in Hanoi.

Original intentions were good but unfortunately will have to wait until next time.

Next stop, Siargao, the Philippines.