Vietnam: Halong Bay & Sapa

Vietnam is an interesting country, full of motorbikes, with motorbikes ferrying the whole family of four, sometimes all without helmet.

Everytime I go, at least one local will ask "Are you Vietnamese?" in either English or Vietnamese.
Many Vietnamese tell me I look Vietnamese.. and I am not sure whether this is a good thing or not, to look local in their country. Maybe I should learn Vietnamese to get by and not stop at just "Xin Chào" (Hello) and "cảm ơn" (Thank you).

And I realised this (Applicable to Laos and Cambodia too) :
You have to say "Discount" and "How much"? when bargaining because these two are basically the only words they understand besides the English numbers.. "Cheaper" does not work..

And if you want to call them, u can call them "Madame" by pronouncing it in the French way.. not "Madam" in the British or Singaporean way.. "auntie" doesn't work also..


Food in Vietnamese is of course tasty and delicious.. and this time I have to go to Halong Bay and Sapa, which I missed the last time.

These two places are really touristy, but that's the must-go for tourists and besides, I'm a tourist :)

Halong Bay:




I spent two days one night on the Junk boat.. which was ok... I think the best thing there is

1. The beautiful sunset


2. Enjoying delicious Vietnamese coffee while relaxing and admiring the peaceful scenery

And then we head on to Sapa..
It was an 8 hours overnight train which was rather shaky and noisy.. it would be advisable to wear a pair of ear plugs..
Beds were relatively clean but toilets were not.. it depends on your luck..

And in Sapa we have to trek the 12km muddy paddy fields which were made worse when it was raining.. the tour guide brought a bunch of Hmong local ladies to help us.. and after the end of the trip, they wanted us to help them back by purchasing something from them at an exorbitant price.. I bought a small pouch at $12sgd. Wah..  but I am thankful for them for helping me through the rough and unstable muddy soil and waters..



Sapa is really beautiful but touristy at the same time.. I can see that they depend highly on the tourism industry as the rice only harvest once a year.. and is only enough to feed the people in Sapa..