Hello again, my blog readers!

This time I’m back again with another blog post from Vietnam ! Chao Ban (Welcome!)

Vietnam aka… the land of PHŌ. one of my favourite foods ever! Get yourselves ready cause there are gonna be loads of pictures coming up!

So when we arrived, we were greeted by our chauffeur who was gonna take us to our hotel in Vietnam ! But little did we know that my dad had prepared a little surprise cause this was the sign of what the chauffeur was holding up !

haha my dad is just the sweetest and cheesiest haha!

When we arrived, Our hotel receptionist  and my Vietnamese friend all told us that the best phō that could not be missed was at 10 Ly Quoc Su Street  and oh / my / days were they all right because it was so pho-reaking delicious ! The beef-y broth was served piping hot over vietnamese rice noodles and topped with slices of lean beef and generous helpings of chives and flavourful herbs! It was … to die for.

 

My family and I made our way to the North East side of Vietnam, to Hanoi and there was definitely way less traffic than there was in Thailand which was such a blessing cause after Manila traffic, Thai traffic, I did not want to have another country where I needed to spend 2 hours trapped in traffic before I could get home! But one thing I noticed here about the traffic that differed was that the motorbike and scooter riders were wearing masks because they needed to! cause of all the exhaust that was emitted by the traffic ! They even had huge stores that sold mountains of masks with different characters and designs !

Thankfully, instead of traffic  and busy roads and crowds, we were surrounded with bodies of water because we were spending two nights on a cruise along, or should I say Halong… hahah at  Halong Bay! 

The drive to the port at Halong Bay was about a bumpy 5 hour drive away in a tour bus which was my least favourite bit because Vietnam seems to be traffic -free but the roads are definitely bumpy which made me so motion-sick and not happy about that! But thankfully, the view at Halong Bay made up for it cause it was so breathtaking… to feast my eyes on such a sight.
The crystal emerald-like waters that sparkled as the sunlight hit it and the coolness of the water on my warm tanned skin was just how I imagined summer to be.

 

The cruise was surprisingly modern and 3-almost 4* worthy! The room was really cute as well, a comfortable double bed and yes, there was air-conditioning as well as an en-suite bathroom! The dinner area is above and meals are provided on board! and this cruise we went on called the Halong Phoenix Cruise were so generous to provided at each meal, about 7 courses of meat/seafood/vegetables and rice excluding dessert of fresh fruit and coffee/tea!

During the day, we had events planned out for us – we went kayaking in the blue waters of the deep sea and all around us, wherever we looked, were “towering limestone islands topped with rainforests”. The view was just breathtaking and pictures just don’t do it as much justice! so I urge everyone to actually add this place to your travel list cause it is definitely a place you must physically be there, so you can fully appreciate its beauty in its total form.

 

On the last day, the cruise conducted a Vietnamese spring roll tutorial for passengers on board and even shared the secret recipe with us! They turned our really delicious and I didn’t walk away with a tummy ache so that’s always a plus! hahaha

I had the loveliest time with my family and I can’t wait to be back at Halong Bay! I definitely reccommend this gorgeous place that also happens to be one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites !