We arrived back from our two day trip in Halong Bay totally exhausted, but keen to make the most of our remaining two days in Vietnam. We hadn't made any plans to leave the city, but we were determined to get in a few more sights and experience more of the Vietnamese capital.
As we arrived back fairly late in the day, I was keen to chillax with a cup of tea, whilst mum wanted to go straight back out to walk around the street shops. So we did our own thing, and I spent a very unproductive hour trying to convince the hotel staff that I needed fresh milk for my tea, not condensed milk. This was a lesson they needed reteaching every single day :(
That evening we wandered around the ancient town and found a touristy cafe-like place to eat. I was super upset because they didn't have the yummiest sounding dish on the menu...some kind of asian meatball bake, but the rest of the food wasn't too bad. Then we walked around a bit more...mum was looking for a new yellow pullalong suitcase so the going was quite slow.
The next morning we were up bright and early and headed up to the Dong Xuan market, which we had heard is pretty big. I would love to say it was a pleasant walk up there, but that would be a lie. Instead, about half way there on a main road, we encountered a pregnant Vietnamese woman squatting in the street, 'doing her business'. We were totally horrified of course - she was surrounded by traffic and after finishing, simply pulled up her trousers and was on her merry way. This was actually a major eye blinking moment, and certainly came up in conversation more than once that day!
We spent about an hour walking around the market, but we didn't really buy anything because everything seemed to be sold in bulk! After we left, we decided we needed a break from the busy-ness and dirt of the city, so we got on a public bus that took us to a mall on the outskirts. I don't usually like going to malls, but I really enjoyed the air conditioning there, and the lack of people: both Vietnamese and tourists alike. We picked up some good bargains, including a new suitcase for me, and we had a delicious Japanese BBQ for lunch at SumoBBQ. YUM!!!!!
That evening we went to watch the water puppet theatre show by the lake, which was absolutely magnificent. You sit in a little theatre with a stage made out of water, and you spend an hour watching the different puppets dance to various musical numbers. Apparently there are hundreds of different water puppet dances, and the programs vary on a regular basis. It's an incredible thought, when you consider the skill that goes into making the different puppets dance! And of course there's the live music and singing that goes with it. Absolutely incredible!!
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| River boat dance |
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| Fisherman dance |
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| A final bow from the incredibly talented puppeteers |
We finished the night with a quiet dinner at a cafe near the hotel (same place as the night before), but they had the meatballs this time!! They were amazeball meatballs!!! :D
The next day was our final day, and we were pretty worn out to be honest. Our flight wasn't until the evening, so mum decided she was going to walk around the shops one last time, and after joining her for a little while, I wandered off to the lake and sat there with my kindle, and just enjoyed people watching and getting a bit of sun. A lovely morning really.
Our last meal in Vietnam was in a Thai restaurant (lol!), and as delicious as everything else we'd eaten before. Then we picked up our luggage, got in a taxi and headed off for the airport. Then our flight got delayed by a couple of hours, so we weren't in a great mood. The flight to Kuala Lumpur was uneventful, but longer than we would have liked, and then we had to deal with the fact that we were landing in a terminal that had only opened that day and was severely understaffed. So long story short - we arrived at our hotel at 3am!!! Super unhappy face.
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| KL Tower |
The hotel at least was pretty bang on. We were staying at the Pacific Regency Hotel Suites, which is right next to KL Tower, and gives us a pretty awesome view of the twin towers. It's close enough to Bukit Bintang that we can walk there, but a bit out of the way of all the tourists, which is great. We had a kitchen in our suite but to be honest, we were pretty keen to eat out and sample some Malay cuisine.
We were up bright and early the next morning, and eager to make the most of our one full day in Kuala Lumpur. We immediately headed into Bukit Bintang where the major shopping centres are. First we wanted to check out the electronics, so we headed to an electronic outlet - needless to say that by the end of the day I was the proud new owner of a Samsung 10.1 tab, and mum had picked up the new Samsung Galaxy 5. Word to the wise, always carry your passport when you want to buy electronics in a foreign country, otherwise you'll find yourself having to walk back to your hotel to pick it up!!!
We found a humungous shopping centre called Berjaya Times Square - it had something like twenty floors and had a theme park inside!! We spent ages wandering around the place - this was partly fuelled by the fact that there was a major storm with torrential rain going on outside. And let me tell you, storms in Malaysia are nothing like those here: the raindrops are practically the size of golf balls!!
So that was our day: some shopping and walking around, and that evening we had an amazing Indian feast at a lovely restaurant near our hotel. Turned out it was a muslim restaurant so we couldn't have any wine, but it was a great meal anyway!! And a perfect last dinner for our trip.
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| Indian feast |
We woke up early again on our last day, and thankfully the weather was beautiful. Our flight wasn't until the early evening and we had planned to spend the day at the rooftop pool. Another total highlight, I have to say, as the pool was so high up that it boasted a view of all of central Kuala Lumpur, including the famous towers. The sun beds were arranged near the windows with *wait for it* private air conditioning, and you could sleep and relax with the entire city below you. It was my dream pool, and could only have been improved by handing me a cocktail (the bar hadn't opened yet).
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| My dream pool |
Sadly it was over all too soon and we had to set off back to the airport and begin our long journey back. So before I end this many part blog, I'd just like to give a shout out to my sister for getting us awesome flights, and my mum for taking me on this fantastic trip. Thanks guys!!!!
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