Historic Temples & Stunning Scenery: Travel Summary Apr 17-May 6

3 thoughts on “Historic Temples & Stunning Scenery: Travel Summary Apr 17-May 6”

1. 

   The Netherlands

   Post Author IndFamTraveler says:

   I’m leaving rest of the report links here: there are maps, pictures, videos and logistics which may be of help

   Day 2: Saigon Jade Emperor Pagoda, PINK CHURCH Tân Định, Vinh Nghiem, Post office, Book street, HCMC Fine Arts Museum, Minh Dang Quang Pagoda

   https://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2025/05/vietnam-and-cambodia-trip-report-2025.html

   Day 3 Danang 6.30 AM Flight to Da Nang, Da Nang Marble mt, Quan The Am Pagoda in Ngu Hanh Son District

   https://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2025/05/vietnam-and-cambodia-trip-report-2025_30.html

   Day 4: Hoi An Tan Ky ancient house, Quan Am Pagoda & Quan Cong Temple, Trung Hoa Assembly Hall, Hội Quán Fujian/ Phước Kiến/ Phuc Kien Assembly Hall, Trieu Chau Assembly Hall, traditional lantern boat ride.

   https://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2025/06/vietnam-and-cambodia-trip-report-2025.html

   Day 5 Hue Private taxi arranged by Hue Hotel, Linh Ung Pagoda Son tra peninsula, Hai Van Pass, Lang Co Beach, Lap An Lagoon, Thanh Toan Bridge, checked into apartment, then visited Hue Thien Mu Linh Mu Pagoda

   https://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2025/06/vietnam-and-cambodia-trip-report-2025_27.html

   Day 6 Private taxi arranged by Hue Hotel, The Nguyen Dynasty Tombs [Khai Dinh, Minh Mang, Tu Duc Tomb] , Imperial Citadel, Hue Museum of Royal Antiquities, An Dinh Palace

   https://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2025/06/vietnam-and-cambodia-trip-report-2025_29.html

   https://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2025/07/vietnam-and-cambodia-trip-report-2025.html

   Day 7 Hanoi : Hue to Hanoi Flight at 6.45AM, checked into apt, Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum and his stilt house; the Presidential Palace; the nearby One Pillar Pagoda; Phu Tay Ho pagoda, Ngoc Son Temple

   https://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2025/07/vietnam-and-cambodia-trip-report-2025_2.html

   Day 8 SAPA: 7 AM Sa Pa Express bus to Sa Pa, Fansipan Sun world, Sa Pa Square, Lake, Sunset

   https://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2025/07/vietnam-and-cambodia-trip-report-2025_7.html

   Day 9 SAPA: Sa Pa Lonely tree, O Quy Ho Pass Viewpoint, Heaven’s Gate, Love waterfall. Silver waterfall

   https://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2025/07/vietnam-and-cambodia-trip-report-2025_9.html

   Day 10

   Hanoi : 7.30AM Sa Pa Express to Hanoi, Grocery run

   Day 11 Ninh Binh day 1 : 6.10AM train to Ninh Binh, Trang an boat ride, Chua Vang, Bai Dinh

   https://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2025/07/vietnam-and-cambodia-trip-report-2025_12.html

   Ninh Binh day1 part2: Bai Dinh

   https://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2025/07/vietnam-and-cambodia-trip-report-2025_13.html

   Day 12: Ninh Binh Đền Mẫu, Phố đi bộ, Ky Lan mountain complex silver pagodas, temple, Thai Vi Temple, Bich Dong Pagoda

   https://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2025/07/vietnam-and-cambodia-trip-report-2025_15.html

   Day 13 Hanoi: National Fine Arts Museum, flight from Hanoi to Siem Reap

   https://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2025/07/vietnam-and-cambodia-trip-report-2025_16.html

   As you may notice we had early starts, taking the 6.30 am/7am flights/ bus/train, we snoozed a little on the way and managed to cover a lot of territory enjoying a great and varied flavor of this beautiful country.

   Trust this helps! Happy travels!

   1 year ago at

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2. 

   The Netherlands

   Post Author IndFamTraveler says:

   Report day 1

   Apr 17 Saigon: Thiên Hậu Pagoda, Tue Thanh Assembly Hall, Minh Huong Assembly hall, Quan Am Pagoda, Giac Lam Pagoda

   I arrived by VietJet from New Delhi one hour late at 7:30 AM; There were huge lines at passport control and it took an hour to go through the formalities and collect my checked bag. we had discussed and agreed that I would wait at the visitors lounge. The issue here was that it was outside the building out in the open with no ac. I had not known that but I still just sat there looking at the flight arrival boards

   Son arrived on time, he also faced long lines at 10:30 and he was out after an hour.

   we went in search of an atm and there were only those which charge a steep 8% percentage for withdrawal. we anyway drew some money

   Son Activated his esim airola [7usd for 2GB, 15 days] and used Grab to get a taxi to our apartment…59K Dongs, a little over 2usd for the trip!

   As everywhere else only the official taxis allowed are right at the front lines, we had to crossover further where you can see the grab signs, it was all easy

   after reaching our apartment we paid a little extra for early check in. They were charging 25K dongs per hour of early check in and we paid 50 K for checking into our apartment two hours earlier than the regular check in hours! No biggie, just 2 usd!

   it was a comfortable studio apartment

   after a meal, freshened up a bit and started off on our sightseeing.

   The grab app was very easy to use and summoned up air conditioned taxis with polite drivers and took us to our next destination in cool comfort. To top it all it was very low priced as well. Here is a sample of our first day grab journeys, just look at the distance travelled and the price! isn’t it astonishing?

   the first one is our airport ride from airport to our apartment

   the next ones are our sightseeing trips

   3.44 km • 20 mins Total Paid 59.280

   Terminal 2 (T2) – Arrival Terminal – Parking Lot Area – Tan Son Nhat International Airport 12:04PM

   drop-off Cactusland Apartment 12.24

   6.96 km • 25 mins Total Paid 95.680

   pick-up Cactusland Apartment 2:20PM

   drop-off Ba Thien Hau Pagoda 2:46PM

   3.13 km • 17 mins Total Paid 88.400

   pick-up 10 Lao Tu St 5:17PM

   drop-off Giac Lam Pagoda 5:33 PM

   4.71 km • 19 mins Total Paid 64.480

   Giac Lam Pagoda – Pickup/Drop off Gate 6:39PM

   drop-off Cactusland Apartment 6:58PM

   We decided to go to the Chinese quarter known as Chợ Lớn which is great for exploring on foot. It proved to be an amazing introduction to the cultural beauty of vintage Vietnam.

   we took a Grab taxi to Thiên Hậu Pagoda, [Then walked to the two assembly halls Tue Thanh Assembly Hall, Minh Huong Assembly hall nearby and to Quan am Pagoda, after that took a grab taxi to Giac lam Pagoda]

   All were such stunning sights!

   There was an elderly gentleman sitting in the assembly hall, probably the caretaker. The Hall was quite dark but we were just going around and enjoying the beauty of the lovely furniture and the other fittings. The gentleman shuffled up and switched on a light for us… very kind of him and we thanked him with our meagre vietnamese words!!

   funnily enough we had an opposite experience at the Quan am Pagoda we visited next.

   there when we were taking a video of the beautiful altars, a young guy came over and switched off the light! I kind of audibly gasped and he pointed at the clock which said 7 minutes to 5! their closing time was 5:00 PM and he hustled us out at 5. Anyway we had gone round everywhere and enjoyed the very beautiful pagoda, so no big regrets!

   It had been an amazing day… a sign of the tone of the whole vacation!

   1 year ago at

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3. 

   The Netherlands

   Post Author IndFamTraveler says:

   Logistics

   lets talk about the flights

   for the international flights in and out of the countries, we looked for timing convenience and the price we had to fly into Saigon and fly out of Phnom Penh because those were the international flight cities so we scheduled our visit around that .

   VIETJET

   From Delhi there was a direct flight into Saigon and a direct flight back from Phnom Penh by Viet jet, it was only 330 usd, 200 usd less than the other alternatives. there was no food on the flight in but that did not matter, it was after midnight and it landed early morning in Saigon. Checked bags were charged but it was a very nominal amount 15USD. Their measurement for the cabin bag was reasonable as well and the allowed weight was 7KG with both cabin bag and personal item.

   From Houston Eva air was through Taipei, one and half hour layover on the way in and 4 hour layover on the way out. Houston- Taipei was a long sixteen and a half hours, taipei to Saigon was three and a half hours,

   these were the details about the international flight

   we took two domestic flights inside Vietnam. Both were also by via jet: 5:30 AM from Saigon landing at Danang at 6.50AM

   6:45 AM from Hue to Hanoi. Both were on time, there was absolutely no problem with the check in, boarding. I had booked a checked bag for these two flights also because we carried some items for self catering , very nominal charge 9USD.

   Next flight was from Hanoi to Siem reap it was scheduled at 4:10 PM but took off only at 6:00 PM and that was a bit annoying and inconvenient but no major repercussion on our sightseeing plans. So on the whole we were quite pleased with Viet jet despite reading a lot of criticisms online.

   We booked all the Viet jet flights on booking.com because we could not do it on their own site, we had absolutely no issues

   Danang to Hue we had a private taxi arranged by the Hue Amy Hotel 1 million 430,000 dongs for 110km, [ little less than 60USD] for a tailor made schedule. it suited us fine.

   Pick up at our hotel at 8 AM and visit Linh Ứng Pagoda

   Go by Hai Van Pass Scenic road,

   Stop at Lang Co Beach, Lap An Lagoon, Mo Stream, Thanh Toan Bridge. private car (english speaking driver) : 1,4300,000vnd

   we had a scenic journey, our bags were safe in the boot and we were more than happy with the arrangement.

   If we had taken the limo it’d have costed nine usd per person but we would have gone through the tunnel and missed out on all these sites.

   Of course Linh Ứng Pagoda we would have had to do on our own, it’s right on the way. so it totally worked out.

   Hanoi to Sa pa was by the bus Sa pa Express, we booked online on their site, 7 AM

   For coming back from Sapa to Hanoi they probably didn’t have enough people for the bus so they booked a limo for us starting at 7:30 AM from Sapa and that was fine as well.

   It was a six hour journey including two half hour halts.

   We took a train Hanoi to Ninh binh and booked the train tickets online on their website.

   we took the early morning 6:10 AM train. The duration was just two hour 10 minutes and we had to really rush out to disembark because people who were boarding really pushed in with their huge luggage.

   We assumed it’ll be similar 2h 10min on our trip back the next day at 4:10 PM. We were hoping to reach Hanoi by 6:30 but the train stopped at two stations for more than half an hour, both at Ninh Binh as well as another station, then right before reaching Hanoi some 6KM away again it stopped for some 20 minutes!! it felt like a very needless delay and since we had not expected it, it really felt tiresome but our sightseeing plans were not disrupted because of it

   TAXIS

   Installed GRAB, Xanh SM apps.

   all our Grab Taxi payments were through credit card so that was very convenient. For Sa Pa we could not use grab so used Xanh SM , that app did not accept our credit card, there was some niggle so we had to pay cash for those taxis there.

   ATMs and Local currency

   In Vietnam the TP and VP Bank atms are recommended because they do not charge a percentage on the withdrawal but we could not find any. we just used whatever bank we could find.

   Some of our apartments wanted payment in cash, we managed not to have extra cash at the end!

   AIRO;A ESIM

   We got an esim from Arola online before our trip and activated it on arrival at airport it was 7 usd for 15 days, 2GB allowance and it worked great for Vietnam [ we had used some 1.8 GB ]

   again for Cambodia also we had an esim for 15 days for $7 and that too had no issues it was all fine

   DETAILED ITINERARY [VIETNAM]

   Apr 17 Saigon, Quan Am Pagoda, Thiên Hậu Pagoda, Tue Thanh Assembly Hall, Minh Huong Assembly hall, Giac Lam Pagoda

   Apr 18 Saigon Jade Emperor Pagoda, PINK CHURCH Tân Định, Vinh Nghiem, Post office, Book street, HCMC Fine Arts Museum, Minh Dang Quang Pagoda

   Apr 19 Da Nang Marble mt, Quan The Am Pagoda in Ngu Hanh Son District

   Apr 20 Hoi An Tan Ky ancient house, Quan Am Pagoda & Quan Cong Temple, Trung Hoa Assembly Hall, Hội Quán Phước Kiến Phuc Kien Assembly Hall Hoi An, traditional lantern boat ride.

   Apr 21 Linh Ung Pagoda Son tra peninsula, Hai Van Pass, Lang Co Beach, Lap An Lagoon, Thanh Toan Bridge, Hue Thien Mu Linh Mu Pagoda

   Apr 22 The Nguyen Dynasty Tombs [Khai Dinh, Minh Mang, Tu Duc Tomb] , Imperial Citadel, Hue Museum of Royal Antiquities, An Dinh Palace

   Apr 23: Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum and his stilt house; the Presidential Palace; the nearby One Pillar Pagoda; the Temple of Literature, Phu Tay Ho pagoda, Ngoc Son Temple

   Apr 24 Sa Pa Fansipan Sun world, Sa Pa Lake, Sunset

   Apr 25 Sa Pa Lonely tree, O Quy Ho Pass Viewpoint, Heaven’s Gate, Love waterfall. Silver waterfall

   Apr 26 Sa Pa Express to Hanoi, Grocery run

   Apr 27 Ninh Binh Trang an boat ride, Chua Vang, Bai Dinh

   Apr 28 Ninh Binh Đền Mẫu, Phố đi bộ temple, Thai Vi Temple, Bich Dong

   Apr 29 National Fine Arts Museum, flight from Hanoi to Siem Reap

   1 year ago at

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