I have always thought that as Kiwis we have quite an odd relationship with our country's climate. It shapes our behaviors in more ways than you would think.
For example, we slog it out all year sustained by the promise of a peep of summer that starts about December, well, it gets warmer then anyway even if it is raining, and finishes about March. This is our only crack at the nostalgic summers that we all seem to remember as kids. You know the ones, long days, hot blue skies, salt drying on sunburnt skin, the smell of a zinky nose and the crunch of sand in your sandwiches. So anyway, almost the entire population (except those in the hospitality industry) take their holidays at the same time in order to “have a summer”. All other business is suspended. Fair enough, but for some reason this year, the prospect of the usual summer holiday routine did not seem so appealing, we needed a fresh approach, we decided to go further a field. We decided to go to Vietnam.
Once we had decided to go to Vietnam, it seemed that every second person I spoke to knew someone who had just come back from an amazing holiday in Vietnam. Friendly, lovely people, incredible Asian/French fusion food, not too commercialized (yet), beautiful scenery, and cheap! Further reports of $2 margaritas, yummy local beer, delicious coffee and even French patisseries and bread make it sound like an ideal holiday destination. It is of course a tropical climate, so it will also be hot (even though it is their winter) but for us this means summer guaranteed.
Although we wanted a bit of an adventure, we also wanted to relax and not be too stressed about where we were going, staying, eating etc. We decided to book a tour from Hanoi right down the coast to Ho Chi Minh so that all this would be organized for us. The idea of group tours has never really appealed but we found this one by Active Asia, where they do all this for you, but you do not travel in a group. You can chose the standard of hotels you prefer from budget to top end, a guide will meet and greet you at airports etc, transport you to hotels, and then escort you to local tourist attractions, restaurants etc. There is a lot of time when you do your own thing as well, which is great.
So that's the plan, we'll see how it all works out.
Vietnam adventure here we come!
