Vietnam

Bu sene yaz tatilinde Vietnam'daydik.

Yeni bir dunya gorduk; gezip tozmasi, yemesi icmesi cabasi.

Tatil planimizi kendimiz yaptik, seyahat bloglarindan ve ozellikle de Tripadvisor'dan yararlandik. Ilk basta dil bilmeyiz, yol bilmeyiz zor olur mu diye dusunsek de sonucta cok kolay oldu; her turlu bilgi internette var, niyet ettikten sonra gerisi geldi. 

Gorduk, begendik, geldik; simdi sira iki kuruşumu paylasmakta...

Aylardan Temmuz... Etihad havayollarinin gayet siradan sundugu hizmetiyle saatlerce uctuktan sonra bir aksam karanliginda Saigon'a vardik. Bavullarimiz da bizimle gelselerdi iyi olurdu...Gelmeyen bavullarimizin islemlerini yaptiktan, para bozdurduktan, yerel bir telefon karti aldiktan sonra bizi uzun sure bekleyen otelin aracina atlayip, otelimize dogru yola ciktik.

Ilk uc gun Saigon'da kaldik, tavsiye uzerine de Sophia hotel'de. (Bu arada, gitmeden once sadece ic hat ucuslarini ve Sophia otel rezervasyonunu yaptik, gerisini Vietnam'da ayarladik. Kapidan veya telefonla ayarladigimiz oteller, gunluk turlar, vs. booking.com'a gore ekstra indirim yaptilar.) 

Sophia otel; yeri cok guzel, odamiz genis ve temiz, ne yazik ki kahvaltisi cok kotu... Neyseki ilk zamanlar yiyecek birsey bulamazsak diye hazirlikli gitmistik: biskuvi, leblebi, kuruyemis, kahvaltilik gevrek, vs. Ilk iki gun boyle idare ettik, sonra alistik mi, saldik mi, aciktik mi, artik ne geldiyse yedik. (Yeri gelmisken, gitmeden once gerekli asilari yaptirdik. Bir de ilac cantasi hazirladik; mide, bagirsak bozulmasina, sinek sokmasina karsin. Aile hekimi de uyarida bulundu: sokaktan yemegin, musluk suyunu icmeyin, buzlu, acikta icecek icmeyin diye.)

Saigon'da ikinci gun: yuruyerek sehir merkezi turu. Once Opera House, oradan da Saigon nehrine yuruduk. Arada sicaktan bayildik, Starbucks'ta (!) serin birseyler ictik - ilk gun acemiligi. Daha sonra sirasiyla Ho Chi Minh City Museum, Notre Dame Cathedral, Central Post Office, Saigon Tax Trade Center. Hepsi birbirine yurume mesafesinde.

Ho Chi Minh City Museum

Ho Chi Minh City Museum

Ho Chi Minh City Museum

Aksam yemegini Saigon'da yasayan arkadaslarimizla Hum vegetarian cafe'de yedik. Hum harika, tavsiye ederiz. Ortaya siparis verdik; temiz, guzel gozukuyorlardi; ne geldiyse yedik. 

Saigon ucuncu gun: yuruyerek sehir merkezi turu devam. Elimizde otelin verdigi haritayla Reunification Palace'a gittik. Gezmesi bir iki saat aldi; detayli dolastik, odalari gezdik, panolardaki yazilari okuduk, kulturumuzu arttirdik (!)

Reunification Palace

Reunification Palace

Reunification Palace

Aksamustune dogru otelden bavullarimizi alip, taksiye atlayip havaalanina gittik. (Taksi demisken, tavsiye edilen taksi firmalari Vinasun ve Mai Linh. Vietnam ehliyeti olmadan arac kiralamak ve kullanmak yasak ama soforlu arac kiralamak mumkun.) Ic hatlar havaalaninda yiyecek duzgun bir yer bulamadik ve kuruyemislerimize kaldik...Vietnam havayollariyla Saigon'dan Hanoi'ye iki saate yakin uctuk. Ucaklar tahminimizden iyiydi. (Oncesinde planlarken yatakli otobusu ve treni dusunmustuk, okudugum yorumlardan sonra da vazgectik. Eglenceli veya macerali olurdu belki ama ucak kolayimiza geldi.)

Aksam Hanoi'ye vardik ve onceden ayarladigimiz otelin araciyla havaalanindan Meracus Hotel'e dogru yola ciktik.

Otele gec saatte vardigimizdan, once odamizdaki guzel tropik meyveleri yedik sonra da yattik uyuduk.

In this July, we went to Vietnam for our summer holiday. We travelled in the country for about ten days, starting from and ending in Saigon.

Before our trip, we only booked our international and domestic flights, and our hotel in Saigon. We did the rest there and as a walk-in customer, we even got extra discounts with respect to booking online.

So after a long journey with Etihad Airways, we arrived late in the evening to Saigon. The hotel shuttle that we arranged before picked us up from the airport and took us to the Sophia Hotel. The hotel was in the city centre and in walking distance to main attractions which is good but what we later found out was that the breakfast was really poor. So, good location, clean room, but not so good breakfast. Anyway, since it was late in the night, we just checked-in and went to sleep.

Next day, we went to see the touristic places. We walked to the Opera House and then to the Saigon river. After some cold drinks, we headed to Ho Chi Minh City Museum, Notre Dame Cathedral, Central Post Office, and Saigon Tax Trade Center. Later, we met with our friends, living in Saigon for some time, to have dinner together in Hum Vegetarian Cafe. We enjoyed our food, and would highly recommend.

On the third day, we continued our walking tour in the city center. We visited the Reunification Palace for about two hours, and that was all mainly. After that, we went to hotel to pick our luggages and headed to the airport by taxi. (By the way, without a Vietnamese license it is not allowed to rent and drive a car by visitors. But renting a car with a driver is possible. We found it rather easier to travel by taxi. The most trusting companies are named as Vinasun and Mai Linh.)

We flew from Saigon to Hanoi by Vietnamese Airlines for about two hours. We did consider travelling by sleeping bus or by train beforehand, but after reading some reviews, changed our minds. Eventually, it was really comfortable and fast.

That evening we arrived to Hanoi. By the hotel shuttle, we went to our hotel Meracus, which we arranged while in Saigon. Since it was rather late, we checked-in, had some tropical fruits and then jumped into our bed for some sleep.