Visiting Vietnam

Vietnam had been on my bucket list for such a long time and I was excited to go with some friends. 

The visa application was online and more straightforward than I imagined it would be. Between the application and the visa being granted, it all happened in a week.

Getting There

As with travelling, a few things did go wrong and I remember saying this was one of my worst trips (the travel part) recently. I don’t remember when last I went on a trip that was this stressful! 

I arrived at the airport and was told that I could not be checked in as the airport I was meant to transit through required me to go through immigration, so I needed a transit visa. I’m not sure how we missed this when the ticket was booked, but I got rerouted on one leg and bought another ticket on the spot, and all this was happening before 6am. I was originally to leave at 6am and arrive at 11:30am, including the lay over, but the trip ended up taking the whole day. I got to my destination around 9pm.

The second person was about to leave for the airport, only to receive an e-mail notifying her that her flight was cancelled. The scramble for another ticket began; she got another ticket and arrived a day later.

The two others had it easy and arrived as planned, but had a cancelled flight on the way back. It was their last leg, so they were thankfully put on the next available flight. What a whirlwind for us all!

    Vietnam is generally safe for tourists, save for petty crime, just like anywhere else. There is heavy French influence as the country was colonised by France. Before we went, someone asked me if they were still fighting. That war ended in 1975! 

Hanoi is the capital of the country and the population is around 100 million. 

As a black person, there were a lot of stares, and there were four of us! Curiosity, shock and some who would ask to take pictures with us. I've come to terms with that after living in Asia for two years.

Exploring

        We started out in Da Nang in central Vietnam. We spent the first three nights in Mercure hotel in Sun World, Bana Hills. Standing at 1,500m above sea level, Sun World is a resort and recreational complex, with many recreational activities. The main attraction that led us there was the Golden Bridge, but we were thrilled to have other activities. The French village is indeed a mock of certain places in France, the moulin rouge red windmill, cobble stoned narrow alleys and many other things. There are games, shows, the wax museum, dinosaur place etc

You can get there by cable car from Sun World, the cable car ride is pleasant. To get into Sun World, locals and guests who stay there pay 450,000 Vietnamese dong (VND), roughly $18 while others pay 750,000 VND, roughly $33.

Back to the bridge, it is 500 feet long, is held by two hands and you are literally in the sky while you are on the bridge. It has a curved shape and goes across a mountain. The view of the landscape is stunning. There isn't more to it than it being a wonder, so don't expect to find some cultural significance.

The bridge at peak hour

The best time to visit would be early in the morning or later in the day. Guests of Sun World can access the place from 6am, the first cable car heads there at 6am and gives 30 minutes for people to enjoy the area, before it brings the next round of guests. Same happens in the evening after the public is gone from 7pm.

An early morning visit with only guests accommodated at Bana Hills

Sun World opens to the public at 8am and closes at 6:30pm, it gets quite packed with visitors. This place is serviced by cable cars and the last one goes down at a certain time, so everyone knows to respect the schedule of the cable cars.

We visited a dinosaur area

The wax museum was not the best but it was on the premises so was worth seeing.

There were a number of shows with lots of gymnastics

There were many nice spots to see and activities that would easily take up a few days, but we were there for just 3 days. 

We spent a night in Da Nang city as we wanted to check the beach out, which was a nice treat. It was the rainy season at the time of our visit and we wondered if we would be lucky. We were, as it was a hot, sunny day!

We saw another interesting bridge, the dragon bridge. This time, the bridge was over a river, river Han. The bridge is 666m long, 37.5m wide and has six lanes for traffic. 

On the day we arrived Vietnam, Vietnam’s long-serving leader, Nguyen Phu Trong, died and there were two days of mourning, so things ground to a halt. While we were in Da Nang city, there was a show at night in his honour where the dragon bridge spat fire and water. There was a large crowd and we made our way into the crowd.

When the fire part started, I could smell the fuel from the dragon.

The crowd was not boring, we were all excited and this show went on for about 15 minutes. By the time the dragon spat water, we all got drenched. We left while that was going on as there were a few rounds. 

        We continued to Hanoi, the capital of the country. Hanoi is known for it's busy streets, full of motorbikes and the trick is to keep moving forward once you get on the road. We crossed the roads like true tourists, tried local dishes and the highlight was going to the train street. 

The anticipation...

Can you tell how excited I was?!

The anticipation from everyone who was there was palpable and when the train passed, I was so excited like I won the lottery. 

I even got to catch up with an old school friend after about 14 years 😊

Thu and I

Nothing beats local knowledge. Thu gave us some tips and a driver who was superb. He got stuck with us through our time in Hanoi, haha

Our trip to Vietnam was generally laid back and overall, it was a wonderful trip, especially as I got to spend time with and catch up with the ladies.