As is always the case, I was suffering a bout of travel envy upon hearing about my friend Lauren’s month-long adventure in Asia. She was going to Indonesia and Cambodia with a friend from the UK, before continuing on to do a tour of Vietnam. Despite verging on bankruptcy from my trip around the world six months earlier, I couldn’t let the opportunity to explore Vietnam pass. I convinced Lauren to let me crash (part of) her trip, and got to organising an itinerary that would allow us to take in as much of the country as possible. 
We had just over three weeks to explore Vietnam and after much deliberating we decided to make our way from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi.
From what I had read the south tended to be more crazy hectic, while northern parts of the country had a more relaxed air about them. What’s more we’d be squeezing in a cruise on Ha Long Bay and thought that’d be a good way to relax at the end of our trip before heading home to work.
In two weeks we managed to spend a few days in both Hanoi and HCMC – with day trips to the Cu Chi Tunnels, Mekong Delta and Tam Coc.
We spent an afternoon and evening cruising around the UNESCO listed Ha Long Bay, a couple of days in Hoi An and a rainy day looking around Hue.
| January | ||
|---|---|---|
| Saturday | 10th | 1235-1730 fly from Sydney to Manila |
| Sunday | 11th | 2250-0020 fly from Manila to HCMC |
| Monday | 12th | HCMC |
| Tuesday | 13th | HCMC |
| Wednesday | 14th | HCMC |
| Thursday | 15th | Nha Trang |
| Friday | 16th | Nha Trang |
| Saturday | 17th | Hoi An |
| Sunday | 18th | Hoi An |
| Monday | 19th | Hue |
| Tuesday | 20th | Hanoi |
| Wednesday | 21st | Hanoi |
| Thursday | 22nd | Hanoi |
| Friday | 23rd | Ha Long Bay |
| Saturday | 24th | Hanoi |
| Sunday | 25th | 0900-1315 fly from Hanoi to Kuala Lumpur |
| Monday | 26th | Kuala Lumpur |
| Tuesday | 27th | 0910 - 2020 fly from Kuala Lumpur to Sydney |
Before even getting to Vietnam I nabbed cheap flights on Cebu Pacific – a low-cost airline that had recently started flights to and from Australia. The flights transfer through Manila and so I figured it’d be a good opportunity to go and check out the Philippines’ capital.
More budget flights on the way home – this time with AirAsia – mean another stop over – this time in Kuala Lumpur. Lauren hadn’t been before so we decided to stay a couple of days to explore.
