Postcards from the best trip of our lives... so far! (Vietnam, Cambodia and China)

My wife and I have just returned home from a 3-week journey across Vietnam, Cambodia and a very short 24-hour connection in Shenzhen.

We can both safely say it was the best trip of our lives. Everything was perfect: the people, food, weather, scenery, affordability, etc. and we couldn't be happier... or sadder about the fact that it's over!

I'm dropping our itinerary below, in case anybody is looking for ideas or inspiration. We are generally happy with the amount of time we had on each location, with the exception of Hoi An and Siem Reap... We would have appreciated an extra day on each of these to further explore the towns and surrounding areas.

If anyone's wondering, we travelled between March 30th and April 16th.

- First stop: Ho Chi Minh (3 nights, 4 days)

We absolutely loved Saigon. In fact, we might have enjoyed it even more than Ha Noi, so we hate to see how many people skip it.

During our stay in HCMC, we had a day trip to Cu Chi Tunnels, but we have mixed feelings about the experience over there. One of the highlights was probably the food tour we did, where each of us was taken on the back of a motorbike during rush hour around the city. Unforgettable!

- Next Stop: Siem Reap (3 nights, 4 days)

Siem Reap actually exceeded our expectations. It's crazy how the city comes to life in the late afternoon/evening, and the amount of excellent restaurants around town is astonishing!

We had two day trips in Siem Reap: Angkor Wat and the floating village of Kampong Phluk. Though I have to say one day is simply not enough to explore all the temples around the Angkor Wat complex.

The highlight of our Siem Reap stay was definitely renting a motorbike, which gave us SO MUCH freedom to explore the surrounding areas. I had never ridden a motorbike before, but it was pretty much as easy as riding a bike! I only wish we had done it as soon as we landed, and even explored the Angkor Wat complex on our own, with our motorbike.

- Next Stop: Hoi An (2 nights, 3 days)

We had a pretty bad initial impression on Hoi An: our flight landed late afternoon, so our first exploration was around dinner time. The old town was absolutely PACKED with tourists, to a point that it was even a bit hard to walk around.

My partner and I were pretty disappointed, thinking the whole Hoi An experience would be spoiled due to the sheer amount of people around. Fortunately, the crowd seemed to have dialled down over the following days, making walking around a lot more bearable. Either that or we just have a slightly different schedule compared to other people. Either way, we left Hoi An with a very positive feeling, actually wishing we had had more time to explore its surrounding areas.

- Next Stop: Ha Long Bay (2 nights, 3 days)

Even during our holidays, my partner and I usually wake up around 5am and start exploring the city around 6 or 7am. Ha Long Bay was our time to relax and recharge our batteries before Ha Noi.

Most people seem to only stay for 1 night, but we are very happy we decided to book 2 nights instead. Our stay was everything we hoped for: great food, stunning views and very peaceful.

We didn't take part on any of the included excursions, with the exception of kayaking and swimming around our cruise. Our main priority was to just be lazy for a few days and enjoy some "us" time.

- Next Stop: Ha Noi (4 nights, 5 days)

We were very much looking forward to Ha Noi, being arguably the most popular destination in Vietnam.

Having already visited Ho Chi Minh, we couldn't help but compare both cities. A few things stood out to us: the old town/city center seemed a lot busier with tourists, and locals seemed slightly less friendly compared to "Saigoners". Was that just us?

Ha Noi felt like a "compact" version of Ho Chi Minh, with smaller alleys and streets where tourists, locals, cars and motorbikes had to share the same space. Just like Ho Chi Minh, we loved all the charming and beautiful alleyways, and thoroughly enjoyed walking around the city.

One thing that stood out to us about Ha Noi is that the food scene seemed slightly more diverse - or maybe that was because, at that point, we were way more familiar with different Vietnamese dishes.

During our stay in Ha Noi, we took a day trip to Ninh Binh, which we would definitely recommend.

Needless to say, we will definitely visit Vietnam again in the future. I'm well aware that we missed some other very popular spots, such as Sa Pa, Ha Giang Loop, Mekong Delta, etc. These are already on our to-do list for next time around!

I hope this post serves as inspiration to at least one fellow traveller. If anybody has any questions, feel free to ask!