I'll be leaving for Vietnam soon. I have 10 official vacation days this winter, and I planned to take it over the Chinese Lunar New Year, giving me 3 extra "free" vacation days. I'll be in southern to south-central Vietnam for a total of 18 days!
I'm flying down to Ho Chi Minh City with Amanda, and Christina will join us a day later. The rooms are so cheap, Amanda and I decided to splurge on a $10 each hotel room rather than stay in a $5 each dorm room for the first night. However, when we're all together, we'll just stay in hostels.
We each have ideas of what we want to do, but nothing set in stone other than the first two days. We'll be staying in HCMC for a few days. I can't wait to explore and see all the French architecture! Oh, and dodge lots of motorbikes.
We want to do a few tours when we're there- The Mekong Delta (hopefully an overnight tour) and the Cu Chi tunnels.
From there, we'll probably go up to Mui Ne, a beach town famous for their sand dunes. I may consider getting a wind surfing lesson one afternoon, depending on the prices.
We may go up to Pan Thiet, the home of Vietnamese Fish Sauce. But we'll definitely make our way to Dalat, a kind of quirky town in the central highlands for some real adventure- canyoning, trekking, and mountain biking:
After mountain biking for a day through the scenic highlands, we'll end up in Nha Trang, just before Tet and spend our days relaxing on the beach, pina colada in hand. I also hope to do an island hopping tour and go snorkeling/scuba diving.
Eventually, we'll have to come back to HCMC, but I'm sure we'll just wish we could stay! One thing the three of us are really looking forward to is the food! Pho, spring rolls, dimsum, Vietnamese sandwiches, French bread, and real coffee! I can't wait to eat authentic, street vendor pho!
Anyone have any other suggestions of places to see or things to do?
