In Reply to: It was a whirlwind trip then.... posted by Back Again on Thursday, 15. April 2010 at 06:17 Bali Time:
It takes 26 hours from my home to get to Vietnam so our intention was to see as much as we could. That way we could go back at some future time to the places that we really liked. We spent 3 days in Hanoi and actually did a walking tour with a rep from Hanoi Kids. You can look them up online if you are interested. They are University students that volunteer their time showing tourists around. We spent the whole day with a lovely 22 year old student who took us to see Ho Chi Minh, the Ethnology Museum, her favorite restaurant and then spent the afternoon walking around the Old Quarter (where we also stayed). On another day we also saw the water puppet show and had a great walk around the lake.
We spent 3 nights in Hoi An and it was my favorite place. Loved the old town and did a day tour with Hoi An Eco Tours - fishing. boating, biking, farming etc.
Didn't get to Sapa so will have to save that for another trip. Talked to lots of people who were doing the same route as us, HCMC - Hanoi or vs. We didn't think it was too hectic although I would have like another day or 2 in Hoi An.
We went to the markets in HCMC, Hue, Hoi An, Nha Trang and Hanoi. Loved them all and found them to be particularily clean.
Overall we felt we really had experienced Vietnam more so than if we had just stayed in a few places. I guess each persons travelling style is different. We like to keep fairly busy but then again when you have to travel that far, it doesn't make sense to stay in one or 2 areas.