To Vietnam on my own
In Vietnam, we gathered suddenly. Just found cheap tickets to Ho Chi Minh City. Because tickets were bought in January, and the trip was planned in April - there was time to think everything through.
It was decided to travel independently. This is despite the fact that Vietnam is our first independent experience. And only our daughter (13 years old) knows English well, I am at the school level, and my husband does not speak at all. Our findings-
Do not be afraid! In Vietnam live benevolent, kind, nice people. We walked all the time smiling, everyone helped us, we still communicate with the hotel manager.
But everything is in order. The plan was Ho Chi Minh-Hanoi-Sapa-Hanoi-Ha Long Bay-Danang-Ho Chi Minh City.
As you can see, we ignored the south of Vietnam.
Arriving in Ho Chi Minh City, we immediately bought air tickets to Hanoi. How?
They just wrote the city and number on a piece of paper.
Then we went to a hotel in Ho Chi Minh City. All hotels were booked through Booking. com. Ho Chi Minh City is a transit city, where it is very hot and there is little history. But this was our first impression and then we will understand that Vietnam is very different, each city is not like the other.
At first, we were very wary, it seemed to us that they wanted to deceive us. But then you kind of relax.
From Ho Chi Minh City we flew to Hanoi the next day. From the airport we took a bus to the railway station. station. Here we were to take the night train to Lao Cai. BUT!!!!!! ! There were no tickets! it was terrible! Our entire route went astray! Satisfied Europeans sat on the chairs in the waiting room, and we, helpless, stood at the dirty station and did not know what to do. The phrases to the cashier-We from Ukraine did not help. Vietnam and Ukraine friend. We were answered-tickets finish! And all because we went to the May holidays, and at this time all the Vietnamese go to relatives.
The Vietnamese approached us and asked how they could help us, but it was impossible to get tickets.
Then a man approached us and asked, do we want to go to Laokai tou night?
We said YES!
Then he called and called again, then said to follow him. And we went. At night, with suitcases, past dirty trains on an unlit road. My husband said that maybe everything will work out.
And after many more calls, the out of breath girl brought three cherished tickets. Oh! Joy!
But I came to the car and asked, Are these good tickets? The conductor said yes! We overpaid $30. and the happy boarded the train. It turned out that one ticket was in another compartment, but this did not overshadow our joy.
On the train, of course, we met our Vietnamese neighbors, gave them postcards with views of Kyiv. By the way, I brought Alenka chocolate, chocolate sweets and postcards as gifts. In Lao Cai, we went to the train station to buy tickets back, but of course there were none.
We got on a minibus, and sad, went to Sapa. It was 5:30 am. Sapa is a beautiful city located in the north of Vietnam with its culture and rice fields.
It's VERY beautiful there. Few tourists get there. They didn't hear about Ukraine at all.
We were dropped off by mistake near the wrong hotel, and part of the way we walked and looked at the locals with interest. These women were dressed in black embroidered skirts, black leggings, and each had a comb in her hair!
Well, here is our 2 star hotel. We are tired, hungry, standing at the reception. And then they tell us that our room is ready, that we can have breakfast. When we saw our number, our surprise knew no bounds. Cozy, flowers, fruits, wine, a beautiful view from the window. I fell in love with Sapa and I wanted to stay here. But we had unfinished business. We went down to the reception and said that we need tickets back. The manager, David, said he would help. Then we said that we needed tickets for the plane as well. Imagine our surprise when David solved all our problems.
After seeing the beautiful Sapa, we approached David and said that we would like to go to the village to the locals.
-Good! David said, come here tomorrow at 9.
Here begins a new story.
There was a little girl in the lobby, dressed as a national dress. Her name was Tee.
With Ti we walked 6 hours on narrow slippery paths. Not for a minute did we stop our communication (this is with my English). We asked about children, schools, hospitals, holidays, rice and much more. Ti turned out to be a beautiful and delicate girl. She asked us if we wanted to eat. We said VERY! Then she smiled slyly and said that she had food in her backpack for us. All this time she carried the food that the hotel gave her for us!
You invited us to visit you. How miserable people are. Ty asked the children and men to come out so that we would not be embarrassed. But we were very embarrassed. I gave all the sweets to her children, and we hardly touched the food - so that the children could taste the chicken, eggs, fruits. She then took us to the waterfall, and then to the bus, in which we plopped down in exhaustion.
We still remember Ty and David and prepare a package for them for the New Year.
This was the first part. To be continued.
