Hello Morrey
We, my wife, daughter and myself, were in Vietnam for 3½ week in the summer 2009.
We flow from Copenhagen, Denmark to Hanoi. We stayed for 4 nights in Hanoi, we lived in the old part off the city, just west for the Huan Kiem Lake, a rather great lake in the middle of Hanoi.
Our daughter were 13½ years old in 2009, so we take it rather calm, we like to have some kind of a holiday, not "See Vietnam in 10 days".
In the northern end of the lake you find café on top of a house, with a brilliant view over old Hanoi. We were eating on lokal restaurants, the food were brilliant, and cheap. The Vietnamese do not understand much english, but if yuo keep trying to commuicate, they do to, and they have humour.
We saw the Temple of Litterature, som kilometers west af old Hanoi, we walked out there, it was terrible hot, so you can take a taxi - - .
On the hotel, we lived in there where a danish woman she have lived in Hanoi, and she knov a very nice place, where they get "beautiness threatment" (it helped very much), i can find the adrees for yu, if you vant.
We took the nighttrain to Sappa, noth-west from Hanoi, a very beatifull place, with mointains, and the possibility to visit local tribes. Theres a village, Cat Cat., about 3 - 4 kilometers distance, you can work down there, and behind the village there is a place with waterfalls, and a river, where you can go for a swim. Many locals, specialy the kids, are doing this.
After visiting Sapa, we went to Halong Bay, east of Hanoi, sailed on the bay, we stayed one night on a boat, allthough theres a lot of tourist out there, it is rather calm, sunrice and sunset is amazing.
In mid-Vietnam we stayed for some days in Hoi An, cars are not allowed to go in the center of the city in the night, so there is rather calm. Hoi An is a very old trade-city, look out for the "Japanese Covered Bridge" from the 1590´s.
You can hire bicykles and drive 4 kilometers to the beach, here you can go for a swim with lokoal vetnamese, there is a relaxed atmosphere there.
The taylors are very good and have a good reputation in Hoi An.
After Hoi An we vent to Nha Trang, 3/4 of the way Ha Noi - Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), we stayed here in a hotel, and went for the beach evry day, very relaxing.
In the end of our holiday we vent to Saigon, the main sights there were the War Remnants Museum, and the old Main Post Office, with ia very architecture inside. Bisides lays the Notre Dame Cathedral.
From Saigon we drive to the Mekong Delta, stayed there for one night, and saw two floating markeds in the morning. But the most interresting thing about the Mekong Delta, were to experience, how big the delta is, and how many people ther lived everywhere, there where som land to live on.
Very shot: don´t miss Saigon, its not so much a western - like capital as Saigon; allthough it is a capital, the athmosphere is more "Asian - like".
Sapa, for its beatifull mountains, and don´t forget the waterfalls by Cat Cat.
Hoi An for its calmness, with its history, and feeling of something that is very old.
Saigon, the War Museum, the main Postofice,, the Notre Dame Cathedral, and som very big markets.
The Mekong Delta, for its very big smaller and very small rivers, and how people live every where, making trere living in these very fertile enviroments.
NB. If you want to go by nighttrain, let some traveling agency buy the ticket in time; lot of vietnames are traveling by train, so it can be very difficult to get tickets in the last moment.
And buy Lonely Planets "Vietnam", its very helpfull.
Hope you can use these informaitions, and have a very nice trip to that beatifull country.
Best Regards, Peter, Copenhagen
