2 weeks - Vietnam and Cambodia, or just one?

[hash tag]

Lots of deep fried uterus, dogs from the old market in Hanoi or things with snake in. Before I went, people mocked me about eating dog food and in order to avoid tummy bugs, I thought it
wise to avoid meat. That idea lasted 5 minutes. The food is delicious. A bowl of pho can be a huge great meal in itself. Vietnamese spring rolls are superb. Could not stand vermecilli.
On the whole, very tasty. Ate lots of fresh cooked street food without problems

 

[pug]

aye, well that's reddit for you. Vietnamese coffee served in the traditional way is one of the world's finest beverages, their beer is weird at first but well worth persevering with. In Hue they have speciality dishes which are truly superb and must be tried. Pho is as good a breakfast as an FEB and can be eaten three times a day if you wish, the rice porridge isn't bad at all either, although it is savoury, well worth a go for breakfast.
The only dicey thing about vietnamese food is the danger of ordering tripe by mistake, often this is due to translation 'errors' on their menus where it might say 'pork' for example but actually it's the bladder (or something) of a pig. They won't serve you dog or snake by mistake though. Vegetable dishes are generally excellent everywhere.

 

[hash tag]

We had a celebration while I was there. Vietnamese champagne, WTF. Terrible. Also home brewed hooch stuff readily available, mostly like paint stripper.
I remember people saying the coffee was good.

 

[sim667]

Good..... i fucking love coffee.

 

[pug]

They have a spirit distilled from rice wine which is indeed like paint stripper and made in backwoods stills by wronguns who kidnap wild monkeys.
The beer in their 'pubs' is really interesting like a sour cross between bitter and lager with plenty of head, generally brewed in situ.

With the coffee you might find that they try to serve you with watered down coffee as that's what they think western visitors want due to americans who like filter coffee, proper viet coffee is very much like espresso in strength but made and served with a drip filter sat on the cup, it's very chocolatey and really wants a spoon of sugar to bring that out properly, in the south if it's hot they often serve the cup in ice.

 

[IC3D]

I drunk a lot of iced coffee, sometimes with rum, ate street food constantly and got nice weed of a cigarette seller in Ho Chi Mihn.

 

[sim667]

Two more things: You can shout at me if you want over some unforeseen stereotypical western stupidity I haven't even though of.

Is there anyway I can fuck about with elephants, and is there anyway I can (very sensibly, obviously), fuck about with machine guns.

And no I do not want to RPG a cow.

 

[not-bono-ever]

yes, AK and M16 amongst others. pretty usual for tourists these days.
don't know locations as I didn't do this last time i was in nam - I will likely be there in February it seems though...

 

[sim667]

yes, AK and M16 amongst others. pretty usual for tourists these days.
don't know locations as I didn't do this last time i was in nam - I will likely be there in February it seems though...

I've heard Cu Chi.

 

[Supine]

Good..... i fucking love coffee.

Worst coffee in the world. Trust me on this!!!

 

[pug]

I never went to Cu Chi, I went to Vinh Moc, that was no ak's or m16's there though, no elephants either.

 

[planetgeli]

Got any suggestions for danang?

Yeah, if you're pressed for time skip it and go to Hoi An instead. And if you go to Hoi An, don't go to the main beach but the one slightly out of town (about a mile or two on a bike through the rice fields). Hoi An is beautiful.

Never got into Vietnamese food but many do. For me, compared to Thailand and Laos particularly, Viet food was a bit meh. Hanoi is also only one of two places I got food poisoning when travelling the world for a year (Chilean Patagonia was the other - probably the poshest restaurant we ate in the whole time too, bastards).

 

[not-bono-ever]

posted in Transport - the PP to Sihanoukville train is now a running

 

[sim667]

Getting a bit nervous, first time I've travelled such a long way on my own.

Also discovered having made such an effort to detox etc for Dubai, apparently someone smoked a J in the same room as me when I fell asleep after a club night the other night

 

[IC3D]

Vietnam is very chilled and friendly compared to Thailand I had no hassles at all, have fun and don't worry about Dubai either

 

[IC3D]

There are 30,000 Dong to the pound roughly, you'll never get your head round it so just trust people to give you the correct change it's more relaxing. You can't do anything with it after you leave so make sure you spend it all.

 

[sim667]

Whats the best thing to do to try and minimise jet lag? I'm very confused about the change in time zones I'm going through....

I know its about 6 hours ahead, and I'm taking off at mid day ish on wednesday.

 

[IC3D]

Smoke a joint when you transfer in Dubai

 

[not-bono-ever]

I find heavy drinking helps if you arrive in the evening- what time does you arrive in Hanoi ?

Dubai has plenty of couches where you can have a lie down for an hour or two to take the edge off the trip. Alos, if you have several hours in an airport and the same carrier is covering both legs, , find out whether the airline will stump up for a freebie meal and drink - the big boys often do

 

[sim667]

I find heavy drinking helps if you arrive in the evening- what time does you arrive in Hanoi ?

Dubai has plenty of couches where you can have a lie down for an hour or two to take the edge off the trip. Alos, if you have several hours in an airport and the same carrier is covering both legs, , find out whether the airline will stump up for a freebie meal and drink - the big boys often do

I've got a 2 hour stop in dubai, so Im guessing by the time I've made it out of security and back through security for the next flight, ill barely have any time to do anything.

 

[pug]

You never know they might bump you off the flight so that someone rich can have your seat and leave you hanging about till the next days flight.

 

[sim667]

You never know they might bump you off the flight so that someone rich can have your seat and leave you hanging about till the next days flight.

They'll have to pay me loads...

 

[pesh]

I've got a 2 hour stop in dubai, so Im guessing by the time I've made it out of security and back through security for the next flight, ill barely have any time to do anything.

i dont remember ever having to go through security when transferring in Dubai. i just remember it being massive, shit and the only redeeming feature was the Irish pub you can smoke in.

 

[sim667]

i dont remember ever having to go through security when transferring in Dubai. i just remember it being massive, shit and the only redeeming feature was the Irish pub you can smoke in.

When was that? I heard you had to go through security getting off the plane, and then through security to get the next flight, which seems really silly to me.

 

[pesh]

I've done it 2 or 3 times, most recently a couple of years ago though, definitely don't remember additional security checks, you're staying airside after all...

 

[sim667]

I've done it 2 or 3 times, most recently a couple of years ago though, definitely don't remember additional security checks, you're staying airside after all...

I hope so.

 

[not-bono-ever]

i did it a few times in the past few months. I don't recall any checks for transiters

 

[sim667]

i did it a few times in the past few months. I don't recall any checks for transiters

hmmm..... strange..... when I googled it said there was, which I found weird as I arrive and leave from the same terminal

Ill update when I get to the other end.

 

[sim667]

hmmm..... strange..... when I googled it said there was, which I found weird as I arrive and leave from the same terminal

Ill update when I get to the other end.

So yeah security just once getting off the flight and onto the next

 

[sim667]

Enjoying Hanoi so far, people being in your face has got on my nerves a little, but that's in and around the backpacker areas of the city. Otherwise the Vietnamese have been friendly, a bit pushy occasionally, but always cheery. They don't seem to have a sense of personal space would be one of my observations.

My freind got chatting to a lovely fella today, we bought a drink, and then were showered with bananas, passion fruit, types of sticky rice in A4 paper and some kind of sticky pudding thing in banana leaves (I think called banh gai), which was delicious.

Made it round a few places in Hanoi, but the girls I've met have been to 3 countries already and I think are feeling a little travel weary, so there's been a bit of chilling going on, and our hostels have pissed us around a bit.

Of on an overnight Halong Bay tour tomorrow.

Random unidentifiable foods