Beijing, Vietnam and Laos, Taipei:
We flew into Beijing from Vancouver in December 2018. Stopped over in Beijing for 3 days two nights. The arrival was a bit chaotic, trying to explain where we were staying to the airport personal ,despite having a meet and greet from the hotel. This was a bit more of a trepidation for us as the diplomatic ties between Canada and China were actively strained at the moment. We did eventually get into the country and arrived at Aman Summer Palace. We had a large comfortable room with good service in the hotel. The Chinese restaurant there was quite nice, clean fresh and tasty. We did not sample the other two restaurants aside from breakfast. The summer palace was not too busy, perhaps because of the season, quite cold. Caught the early morning at the palace which you can enter directly from the hotel. It is a quite a maze to find the secret door which adds to the charm of the stay. We toured the forbidden city on the first day; which we both enjoyed, then walked around to Tiananmen square. We found it a bit challenging to get a taxi in Beijing. Line ups for museums were far too long for our tastes so went for tea in Park Hyatt. For dinner we tried out black sesame kitchen, a casual cooking school/home dining type experience. We really enjoyed this, was mostly a group of ex-pats. The next day we had the hotel take us to section of the great wall of china. Too bad there wasn’t a bit of snow to make it more scenic but it was really enjoyable to walk along for a couple hours. We were back to the city where we dined at a vegetarian restaurant, King’s Joy, which was first rate. We were then off to the airport for our overnight flight to Hanoi. I really enjoyed this brief stopover. The sense of place from the forbidden city and great wall so rich in history are truly sites that any traveller is going to want to see. I enjoyed the hotel a lot, good service, the location next to summer palace was a treat.
We arrived in Hanoi somewhat fatigued as I can never sleep on planes. Had a pickup service here as well, we were staying at Sofitel and had booked the night before so we could check-in at 6am which was definitely worth it. The was a really grand old hotel in every sense. The architecture and rooms still had a lot of the old world feel and the location is good for seeing the city. The breakfasts were quite something, big fans of the mango station. We wandered around the diplomatic district and the lake. We took a private food tour with Vietnam Awesome Travel, which was great. Got us out of our comfort zone with the food of the old market. Not an expert on Vietnamese cuisine so not going to go into detail but was probably my favourite street food experience in south east Asia to date.
We then departed for Ha Long Bay, we actually chose Bai Tu Long to avoid the crowds somewhat. We were picked up by a van, had a nauseated ride to the sea, followed by embarkation on our ship (Indochine Junk, Dragon) for one night on the sea. We visted a cave, had a stop in a tourist trap on the way there and a bad play on the way back. While the bay itself is gorgeous, can’t say I enjoyed the experience.
From Hanoi we were off to Laos. Caught a flight to Luang Prabang. We were picked up by the owner of our hotel in Nong Kiau (Riverside). We were there for a couple nights . Really friendly hotelier. Comfortable beds and decent food. The setting along the river is quite nice. We took a cruise up the river to another town (Muang Ngoy). This is the most away from it all backpacking style travel that we’d had in some time and it was really refreshing and highly recommended.
From here we headed back to Luang Prabang. We stayed two nights at 3 Nagas. Ate at Manda de Laos, very good food in a gorgeous setting of water lillies. There are loads of little shops and temples in what is certainly a very atmospheric tourist city. The French colonial architecture along with the setting on the river, chill vibe make it a really unique place to spend a few days. Bought a gong from one of the shops, some textiles and took a weaving class at Ock Pop Tock— tall guy hunched over a loom for the day, not my choice but spouse was quite thrilled. Ate plus stayed at the in house restaurant at Belmond on the last night. Great views, great spa and property, but service a bit lacking so was the food.
We then flew to Taipei. Went to the national museum which was very nice, enjoyed the hotel (Mandarin Oriental) had some more excellent Chinese in the hotel restaurant. Awoke the next day to sample some noodles and then flew home to Vancouver.
Overall really enjoyed this trip. The vibe in Laos really sucked me in. If I was wandering the world instead of trying to run an office I would certainly have liked to settle in here a bit longer. Its relaxing pace, friendly people and exotic vibe off the beaten path once you leave Luang Prabang is quite special. It was everything we had hoped northern Thailand would have been, highly recommend including it on your travels to south east asia.