You've been where
A stunning two-wheel adventure in Vietnam
Vietnam holds a very special place in our travel hearts. I once spent five weeks there guest editing a magazine on my fabulous life-swap adventure and we’ve been lucky enough to host more than one tour to this fascinating country.
But there is always more to discover, gems we didn’t even know existed.
So, in this edition of You’ve Been Where our nephew Daniel Collier takes us back to Vietnam on a two-wheel adventure through Ha Giang, in the country’s north.
It’s definitely an adventure you’ll want to add to your bucket list.
We love hearing about the travel experiences of our friends, family and readers of AllAbroad. We pick up so many tips and find new places to travel to. We thought you might like to hear about their adventures too. So in this section we turn the website over to you, our travel family.
Read on for travel tips from the people that help inspire our adventures.
Who are you and what do you do for a living?
My name is Daniel. I’m a 22-year-old that works as a manager in a local sports store.
Where is home?
Home is the eastern suburbs of Melbourne in Chirnside Park.
Where have you been? When did you go?
In June this year I travelled to Vietnam and Cambodia for two and a half weeks.
Who did you travel with?
I travelled with four of my best friends from school, some of which had never been overseas before.
What were the highlights of your trip?
In Vietnam we travelled up to the northern regions to experience the Ha Giang loop, which is a four-day tour around the Ha Giang region on the back of motorbikes. Each day our riders took us to complete activities such as swimming in waterfalls, river rafting and scenic view lookouts. Waking up in a new location every morning with stunning mountain views, incredible local food and a great group of people will be something I remember forever.
What did you least like about your trip?
I’ve sat here for like 10 minutes trying to think of something to write, I genuinely loved everything about this trip.
Do you have any funny stories from your travels?
While visiting one of the Museums in Vietnam we happened to be there at the same time as a school excursion. While us five were looking at one of the exhibits three kids from the school ran up to us and gestured for a photo. We assumed they wanted a photo of the three of them in the museum. So we asked/gestured if there was a camera for us to use. One of the kids turned around and pointed. As we turned around we saw a teacher with a camera. We soon realised they wanted a photo with us.
We agreed and started getting ready for the photo however the kids weren’t joining us. It became more apparent they wanted a photo of us. We still agreed. Shortly after we walked to another exhibit which was an enclosed room with only one way in or out. Slowly the room started to fill with more and more kids from this school excursion, until there were about 50 kids and 10 teachers and they only seemed interested in us five.
Eventually one of the teachers asked if the school could get a photo with us (kids and teachers included). Of course we agreed. So somewhere out there, is a photo of five Aussie 22-year-olds photo bombing a school’s 5th grade excursion.
What were the locals like?
Lovely, very genuine people, in multiple of our Grab rides the drivers that could speak English would teach us more history about the places we were passing. Especially the places that aren’t very touristy and more for the locals. It is always good to get further insight on these things.
What was the food like?
Fantastic, the local dishes were absolutely divine and it was not hard to find good food and drinks. The quality of the food for the prices that you pay is also mind blowing. In both Vietnam and Cambodia the choice of food options were also very accommodating. Our favourite Vietnamese dish was Bun Cha and for Cambodia Lok Lak.
Did you learn anything about yourself or the world on this trip?
For myself it had to be when we visited S21 and the killing fields in Cambodia. Learning about the horrific acts that had been committed at these places and knowing it only occurred less than 50 years ago. We had known we wanted to visit these places and leading up to it tried to mentally prepare ourselves for it. However there was a weight that each of these places carried which you can never prepare yourself for.
Would you recommend others travel here? Why/Why not?
Absolutely, I think it’s a fantastic destination to travel, whether it’s your first time overseas or you’re an experienced traveller, Vietnam and Cambodia will have something for you. If it’s your first time overseas these countries are relatively close if you live in Australia so flights aren’t terrible. The time difference is only three hours and it is a very well-travelled area so information is abundant. For more experienced travellers the variety in activities is absolutely endless so it would be hard to say you’ve seen everything the countries have to offer.
Do you have any tips for people thinking of travelling here?
However long you are going for won’t be enough, these two countries in my opinion require going at least twice to have a chance to truly experience it all. Going once was great but there was so much we missed. But I’m okay with that because it means I’ll just have to travel there again.
Been somewhere interesting lately? Drop us a line, we’d love to share your tips.
Read more reader adventures in our You’ve Been Where? series here.
Read more adventures from Vietnam here.
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