Vietnam - "and sho I'm so in love with you?"
Long Beach, Duong Dong area, Mai Binh Phuong Bungalow 3* hotel.
Instead of the Royal Flight company, IrAero flew back and forth. Departure should be from Sheremetyevo on 06/03 at 20:00. As a result, from Domodedovo 07/03 to 00.05. There is no online check-in, we arrived at the airport at 9 pm (5 minutes before check-in) and were already one of the last in line. When we chose the seats, there was nothing together by the window (Boeing 777, seats in a row 3-4-3). But in the end, we were lucky and, having taken seats by the window and the aisle, we ended up in 3 places together and even managed to sleep a little in a horizontal position. They took off without delay. Fed 2 times: Dinner was chicken with pasta and fish with rice. Fish breaded some kind of frozen and warmed up many times - terribly tasteless. The chicken is tolerable (compared to the fish). In addition to hot - vegetables (2 slices of cucumber, a quarter of a tomato, lettuce and 4 mini-cubes of soft cheese such as fetax), a waffle, a bun, a slice of rye bread, butter and olive oil. For breakfast (1.5 hours before landing) they gave dumplings with potatoes (disgusting - solid dough, some kind of dark potatoes, without smell and taste) or pancakes with jam. Pancakes are delicious, though dark (apparently from some kind of rye flour). In addition to hot, a mini-roll with chocolate cream, a bun, butter, processed cheese. Before meals (and for the first and second time) water is served (choice: with or without gas), no juices or cola. The second time, though, Duchess lemonade was also offered.
After they fed, the lights were turned off. There are monitors and consoles, but they are completely turned off, so you can’t even turn on the lights or call the steward. Since there was no opportunity to turn on the individual light, everyone fell asleep)). The captain, announcing the travel time, said that we would arrive at 8:00 Moscow time, the site stated 9:15, at 6:00 we asked the stewards and they said that we would arrive at 10:20. As a result, instead of 9 hours, 10.5 hours flew. Presumably, we flew around Pakistan because of its martial law.
The air conditioner works either for heat, or for cold, because it is terribly hot, then a cold wind blows. “They give out very few blankets” (this is a quote from the steward), so the blankets are distributed first to the children, and then to the rest of what they get. We have about 5 blankets for adults left after the children, so take your own or dress warmly (when the air conditioner blows in the cold, everyone put on their winter jackets).
We left the airport at about 3 pm. By local time. There are only 5 hotels along the route, but they took everyone for a very long time: in the first one, about 15 people left and we waited a very long time to be brought to the hotel and we would go further. Moreover, all the hotels are 2 minutes from each other, but this “ritual of breeding guests to hotels” took more than an hour, we would have reached faster on foot - we stood for almost 20 minutes at our hotel, waiting for the party to be taken to another hotel. Our hotel was the last one, in the end we were there around 17h ((((
Hello Vietnam.
When I write Dong, I mean a thousand Vietnamese dong.
The dollar exchange rate is 23 dongs (50 and 100 dollars), 10-20 dollars - 22 dongs (at the Ruvi Travel tour desk - 20s change for 23), 1-5 dollars - 20 dongs.
Euro - 25.5 VND. They don’t change everywhere (they change in Ruvi Travel), small ones are cheaper.
Wi-Fi is everywhere: on the beach, hotel, cafe.
Hotel: small and cute, full of greenery, 22 bungalows, each bungalow has a swing. The passport is taken away until the end of the stay (so as not to be lost, because the Russian consulate is located on the mainland). There is no safe (at the reception you will be offered to put your valuables in a transparent plastic envelope and store them). There are only 2 large towels in the room (for those who are used to having a towel for each part of the body, it will be hard to come to terms with this). In our room (20) there was no wardrobe, only 2 crossbeams, in the rest of the rooms we saw wardrobes! Our air conditioner hung directly above the bed / head, it is likely that in rooms 16.18, 20 and 22 the air conditioner is also above the bed. Rooms 1 to 15 are large (family). Beach towels are issued at the reception upon request (don't forget to return the used ones in the evening).
The water in the tap is very soft (soap is not washed off the hands), drinking water was in small bottles - about 20, when it ran out, they did not replenish it anymore. But in the supermarket, a 5L bottle of water costs 25 VND (just over a dollar), so it's not a problem. There is a thermos in the room, you can fill it with boiling water at the reception. Breakfast takes place in a nearby hotel - 2 minutes walk along the road to the sea. Very varied, hearty and delicious: pho soup, banana pancakes, scrambled eggs, fried spring rolls, seafood noodles, rice with vegetables, boiled potatoes and eggs, baked tomatoes, boiled corn, salad (lettuce with tomatoes), yogurt (natural, sweet - it's in the fridge, you have to ask), peanut butter, Vietnamese coffee (if you dilute it a little with water and add a lot of condensed milk, it's very tasty).
Sea, beach: walk 5-7 minutes. one minus is to cross a busy road, but on the second day you get used to it. You have to go through the construction site - a little dusty, but it's literally 30 m, then a pleasant path through an abandoned hotel - not at all scary and very nice. There are many reviews about the passage through the construction site, but I will add that this is the official road (at the reception you will be told to walk there), they are not allowed through other hotels. The only thing you can go through is the Saigon Hotel (to the right of our hotel) - there is no security guard and the territory allows you to "pass for one".
road to the beach
Entrance to the road to the beach from the main road
road through the construction site
Road to the sea
Beach access
Sunbeds - 100 dong (there are wide ones for two and for one - the price is the same). Theoretically, on the beach you can take a sunbed for a drink - we haven’t tried it, there is no such “service” on this beach.
Zen on the beach. . .
Until March 13, the sea is the calmest, warmest, most transparent. Grace! There are no stones, algae, you can swim even as far as Phuket, if you are not afraid of meeting ships)))) There was a wave - 10 cm high)))) this is the most ideal sea for all my long-term travel practice. On March 13, plankton appeared, very aggressive and bloodthirsty - they bite very unpleasantly, from mid-March the breeding season begins at plankton, and they bite mercilessly, and in the most tender places). In the mornings he is less active, he seems to be sleeping))), when the wind and the wave make it impossible to swim, he eats!
Animals: on one particularly warm, calm day there were a lot of small (from 0.5 to 10 cm) fish near the shore. You could find shells and crabs ran along the bottom. 2 times a lot of starfish were found near the shore (up to 20 cm in diameter, brown, 8 rays, similar to spiders). They said that from the terrible heat, the stars are washed ashore (like whales) - I don’t know how true this is, I took 6 pieces back into the sea. I really want to believe that I saved them. To the touch they are like monitor lizards (from above), soft, tender and completely defenseless. And remember, please, that they die almost instantly without water, just like we do without air, so DO NOT take them out of the water, please!
shoal of small fish
one of the 6 stars I saved. I didn't get it out of the water!
The sun is very hot, it burns mercilessly. From the second day I was smeared with 110 SPF cream (I bought it there, banana sport, 210 dong, very greasy, stings my face, because with alcohol, but effective), only because it didn’t burn out. But irritation appeared on the skin (an allergy to the sun came out - I had this only in Greece before).
On the night of 15 to 16 there was a brief heavy rain. In the evening it was stuffy, in the morning it was humid and cloudy. The sea is dirty - there are branches and some white crumbs.
The next evening it also rained for 2 hours - a pleasant tropical rain.
Food, bars/cafes
There is a cafe for every taste, everything is Asian-style delicious and cheap as always. I will note only a few meals:
Cafe 68 (this is the serial number of the building, but no one knows the name of the street, and the number is written in large numbers on the signboard). They cook delicious food, mostly all Russians have dinner here.
cafe "68" in the evening.
Xin Chao (seafood restaurant), recommended by Maxim (hotel guide). Walk to it for about 20 minutes in the direction of the night market. The restaurant is on the left side of the highway (if the sea is on the right), so it's better to go right away. Right next to the restaurant, the road is divided by a lane with trees and it will not work to cross the road in front of the restaurant. The restaurant is expensive (more expensive than the locals in our area): crab 750 dong / kg, barracuda 165 dong, tuna - 155 dong. Not worth it!
Banana Garden, right next to our hotel. I liked him more than the others. Very clean (compared to others), calm and not noisy. is not on the road. Keeps the family: dad, mom, daughter, all very nice. They cook very tasty, some dishes are directly dietary - a minimum of fat, seasonings, etc. For example, steamed shrimp on beer, grilled cobia fish, cauliflower with seafood (very tasty and besides cauliflower there is also broccoli, beans and some other greens). Insanely delicious dessert - mango cheesecake, mango pieces fried with cinnamon are laid out on mascarpone - delicious! There are several cocktails (pina deck, mojito, cuba libre, coconut mojito) cost 75-90 dong, which is 2 times cheaper than in other bars. You can bring your own bottle of wine or rum (which they don't have on the menu).
Banana Garden Restaurant. Recommended!
Windy bar (beach bar), on the territory of the Kim Hoa Resort 3 * hotel, to the left of our beach (facing the sea). We took a cocktail, they cost about 125 dong (this is expensive, but this is not a surprise), 5% service charge and 10% tax were added to the bill. Moreover, these "bonuses" are not written anywhere.
Tiki bar (beach bar), on the territory of the Mai spa resort - bottles of bacardi as decorations. From our beach towards the airport about 3 minutes along the beach. It is very pleasant to sit there during the day, in the very heat - relaxation music, the sea splashes - zen. True, they do not have their own sunbeds. Food and drinks are pricey but no extras. During the day it is quiet, nice, cool - grace.
Near Ruvi travel on the street, a drink counter - coffee / tea 20 dong, cocktails / Fresh - 20-40 dong. Mango milkshakes 20 VND, sugar apple/avocado 30 VND. All are delicious.
Avocado cocktail (milk, sweet) - unusual, but very tasty.
There were almost all fruits: yellow MANGO 35 dong, green (for salad) 30 dong, pink 40-80 dong. There are mangosteens (VND 120), durian (VND 120), dragon fruit, papaya (VND 35), passion fruit, rambutans, sapodilla (appears like a potato, tastes like a pear), sugar apple, soursop and much more.
Next to our hotel (on the main road) there is a massage parlor from the Boulevard Hotel. Very decent and prices are lower than others. Foot massage (including head), 60 min - 300 VND (very well done), whole body - 380 VND. On the beach, the body is 200 VND, and there you will also receive depilation and sunburn treatment))).
There is a man doing acupressure. I won’t say anything about the quality, but for some reason everyone knows it and go to it in droves. He sits outside on a bench near a Russian store, a little short of King Kong. 30 min - 50 VND
massage on the beach
Excursions.
Treasures of Fukuoka Overview (free). 8 - 15h (without lunch and dogs). The guide, Roman, did a very good tour. For a long time I have not heard such a competent, well-delivered speech, he speaks like a radio host. The information is all useful and interesting. The tour includes: Coconut Prison (sad, hard, hot), Temple (beautiful, be sure to climb to the very top, to the patroness of sailors, and catch Zen there), Aroma House shop (coffee / tea, rum, artichoke extract, dried fruits etc. - everything is very expensive, the quality - I hope it matches the prices! , in the supermarket 4-5 times cheaper. By the way, if you pay with a card there, they take a commission of 3%), pearl shop (the lecture about pearls is interesting, but a store with things and sauces, which is outside the door, is cooler and more useful), latex pillows / mattresses (8000 rubles - expensive, but they will pack, give a certificate for deduction from the weight on the plane and deliver to the hotel room).
Jade Buddha and Patroness of Sailors
In the gallery of pearls - out of 5 opened shells, only one contained a pearl.
"Vietnam inside out". 65 dollars. 8.45 - 13.30. Starts with breakfast: Vietnamese coffee and homemade spring rolls. Then a snake farm - several snakes in cages and aviaries, a photo with a python around its neck, gibbons, macaques, goats, deer, turkeys. Tincture 1l - 500 dong, the snake in the tincture is more like a real one than in a pharmacy (550 dong).
Bee farm: they let me hold and try honeycombs (very tasty), honey - 550 VND liter (1500 rub. kg). Also in a glass bottle (they said that it ended in plastic). Then they took us for lunch: boiled crab, fried squids and soup with homemade cobia fish.
Arrived on the tour "Vietnam inside out"
Snake tinctures
For those who don't know what honeycombs look like. . .
Seafood for every taste
tourist lunch.
Semi-homemade cobia fish soup.
Alcohol export - 3 liters is allowed, but only 2 glass bottles (such strange rules of Royal Flight). The rest, like, can be poured into a plastic bottle.
Departure back.
Picked up from the hotel at 10:00 (departure at 12:45). Packing at the airport - 100 VND. Counters 28-36, when check-in began, it turned out that the flight was postponed for an hour (departure at 13.45 now). At the front desk, there was a stir, such as "you have to pay to sit together. " It turned out that this is a fee for places of "increased comfort". True, the girls at the registration pretend that they don’t really understand when they ask for a seat “by the window” and try to put them in seats in the center of the row. So that the sun does not shine in your eyes and see our hotel / beach, it is better to take seats by the window on the right (K-J-H), if the landing is 3-4-3.
At 11.15 we passed all the controls and spent 2 hours loitering around the airport. There are 3 duty free shops where you can buy rum ($10), dried fruits, pearls, coffee, leather and even latex pillows (if you change your mind). There is one cafe with sandwich buns, coffee and cold drinks (3-5 dollars), water - 100 dong (80 dong in the store), no tea on the menu. The cafe has Wi-Fi - the password is written on the receipt, you can ask for it without even ordering anything in the cafe.
We took off almost on time (14.15). On the plane, the blankets were again under the record. They fed meagerly: hot - potatoes with meat (4 baked slices and minced meat more like a bolognese dressing) or chicken and rice (a small piece of chicken) + cracker (apparently instead of bread) + oreo cookies + soy sauce and ketchup (it is not clear where to use them , since in the hot everything was already swimming in fat). There was no lemon for tea. There weren't any salads/vegetables, I guess they were rotten or ran out on arrival))))
Dinner at 18 pm Moscow time - scrambled eggs with white sausage + mashed potatoes or white fish (tilapia? ) with noodles + sauces and crackers. Cookies were not given, apparently already over. We also flew 10.5 hours.
It was a wonderful holiday. I will definitely go again and recommend it to you!
