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Now back to our regularly scheduled programming! This month we spent three weeks in Vietnam before flying to the Philippines for the final week of February.
We trekked, stayed in a hostel dorm, stayed in a five star hotel, had a two hour flight delay and experienced all the joys and annoyances of travel.
I can’t believe it but there are now only 2.5 months remaining in our Year Long Honeymoon before we fly back to the US and reenter the dreaded “real world.” After the Philippines I only have four more countries to visit before heading back to the US and two of them I’ve already been to before.
Vietnam
In total, we were in Vietnam for 27 days! We already spent four days each in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh) and Dalat in January which you can read about in my post, Year Long Honeymoon – January 2023: 8 Months of Full Time Travel!
Hôi An, 7 Days
From Dalat Andrew and I took a quick one hour flight to Da Nang and then a 45 minute taxi to Hôi An. We spent a full week exploring, relaxing, and eating our way through this beautiful small town. Hôi An was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999 and the tourism industry has been growing ever since.
While the small ancient town area is very touristy and crowded, the rest of the city is much more calm. Our hotel was a few blocks out of the touristy area and it was the perfect place to relax for a week. The hotel manager even brought me a cake on my birthday!
A popular thing to do in Hôi An is getting clothes custom tailored. Andrew had a suit and some shirts made and I had some dresses and a skirt made. While not the cheapest activity, it was significantly cheaper than having the same thing done in the US and it’s so cool having clothes that were made exactly for your body!
We went on one group tour during our week in Hôi An, to My Son Sanctuary. It’s a large ancient Hindu temple complex with structures from the 4th to 13th centuries. The tour also took us to see a local family making fresh rice paper and on a short boat ride down the Thu Bon River.
The food in Hôi An was the best we had in all of Vietnam. Not only was it insanely delicious and fresh, it was also more affordable that food in the big cities of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh. Read my post on the Best Restaurants in Hôi An, Vietnam to see all the amazing food we had there.
Hanoi, 2 Days
After our third domestic flight in Vietnam we finally made it to the capital, Hanoi! We had a short stay of two nights but managed to see a lot of the Old Quarter and French Quarter on a walking tour.
The walking tour took us around Hoàn Kiếm Lake, and to the Ngoc Son Temple. We wandered from the Old Quarter to the French Quarter and saw beautiful temples and churches.
Vietnam has many regional cuisines so certain dishes you can only get in certain areas. One dish I was really excited to try in Hanoi was bun cha. Bun cha is sliced beef and beef meatballs served in a hot brothy sauce. Rice noodles and lettuce are served on the side and you dip them in the sauce before eating them. It was really tasty and fun!
Sapa, 5 Days
Sapa is a small town in Northern Vietnam close to the Chinese border. We took a seven hour bus ride to reach Sapa and our bus was a double decker sleeper bus even though it was during the day. Even though the beds were small it was surprisingly comfortable!
We stayed in a hostel/homestay outside of Sapa town in the mountains with rice terraces all around. Many tourists come to Sapa to trek through the rice fields and indigenous farming communities. We booked a two day, one night trek with a local Hmong woman.
She took us up through rice terraces and around local farming communities. We spend the night in a very rustic “homestay,” had a nice dinner with the couple living there, then trekked back down to our main homestay the next day. We only walked about 4-5 miles each day but we gained a decent amount of elevation.
The rest of our time in Sapa we spent chatting with other travelers and enjoying the “family dinners” each night at our homestay. The family dinners cost 95,000 VDN or around $4 USD and there was so much delicious food each night. I think I ate my weight in spring rolls by the end of the trip!
Hanoi, 5 Days
We left Sapa one day earlier than planned because the weather was pretty nasty and not ideal for more trekking. We took another six hour sleeper bus back to Hanoi and just checked into a small cheap hotel for one night.
The next day we checked into the Hyatt Regency West Hanoi, our second Hyatt stay on points of the year! We stayed for four days and just enjoyed relaxing, eating delicious food at breakfast and the club lounge, and taking advantage of the hotel gym. You can read my review of the hotel here (coming soon!)
I may or may not have stayed inside the hotel without leaving for 72 hours straight…. they had amazing food for breakfast and dinner and I just didn’t see a reason to leave. We had one last delicious meal of bun cha down the road but otherwise ate at the hotel.
Philippines
We had an extremely long travel day to go a not too far distance. First we had a 3.5 hour flight from Hanoi to Manila. We cleared immigration and customs in Manila then had an 8.5 hour layover! This is totally first world problems but there was only one lounge in our terminal and even though it was completely empty they would only let us stay for three hours. Finally we had a quick 90 minute flight to Panglao Island.
Panglao, Bohol, 6 Days
Our first stop in the Philippines was to Panglao Island and we chose to stay near Alona Beach. We stayed in a cute little hut about a ten minute walk from the beach.
Andrew and I went scuba diving for the first time since getting certified on Koh Tao, Thailand last month. It was a great day of diving and we saw our first sea turtle!!
Aside from scuba diving, the only other activity we did was taking a full day tour of the interior of Bohol (the main island that Panglao is off of.) We saw the one of the worlds smallest primates, tarsiers, took a short river cruise to see some waterfalls, and explored the Chocolate Hills on foot and by ATV.
General Luna, Siargao, 2 Days
After another long travel day with a five hour layover in Manila, we made it to stop number two in the Philippines! General Luna on Siargao Island is known for its surfing spots.
We’ll end up spending a full week in General Luna in total, but I’m just including the final two days of February here. We got in late on February 27th but had some amazing bbq for dinner.
On the 28th we explored a bit more of the island, did some grocery shopping, and signed up for surf lessons later in the week! We first learned how to surf during our first honeymoon (lol) to Sayulita, Mexico back in October 2021.
Top Three Meals of the Month
#3 Jollibee - The Philippines
Judge me if you want to, but this Filipino fast food restaurant slaps! Their specialty is fried chicken and boy is it good! The fried chicken meal is served with rice and gravy and you can add fries.
We also tried the Jolly spaghetti which is a Filipino style spaghetti with a sweeter sauce, and some hot dog slices. I felt like a little kid eating it but it wasn’t bad!
They also have peach mango pies that are like a better deep fried version of the apple pies at McDonalds. There are some Jollibee locations in the US now, so if you ever come across one, try it out!
#2 Mrs. Tam - Nem lui, Thit nuong, Bun Thit - Hôi An, Vietnam
There were only three things on the menu at this small local restaurant: pork skewers, grilled pork, or bun thit. The skewers and grilled pork come with fixings to made your own spring rolls.
On our first visit we tried the bun thit which is grilled pork over rice noodles with lettuce, veggies, peanuts, and sauce. The second visit we had the grilled pork which comes with all the fixing to make your own spring rolls with the pork. Both options were so tasty and affordable. I still think about these meals sometimes and am sad I might never have them again!
#1 Nu Eatery - Hôi An, Vietnam
Nu Eatery is probably the nicest place we ate all month. They serve Vietnamese-Western fusion and we spent 600,000 VDN ($25) to have a delicious feast.
We started the meal each ordering a bao bun; I got the pork belly and he ordered sesame chicken. We split the tempura shrimp spring rolls which I highly recommend! I had two glasses of wine and Andrew had a beer. The restaurant does not have a full bar.
For our mains I got the spicy ragu rice noodle fettuccine and my husband ordered the fried chicken rice dish. My dish was good but the fried chicken and rice was a lot better. We finished the meal with the brown butter cinnamon roll.
Budget
Vietnam
Budget: $1,890 or $70 per day
Actual Spent: $1,890.22 we were exactly on the budget!! We successfully spent 27 days in only spending $35 per person per day! We spent $453 on lodging, $382 on food, $443 on transportation (we took several flights), $517 on activities, and $94 on miscellaneous spend (laundry, visas, post cards.)
Philippines
Budget: $2,250 or $90 per day
Actual Spent Week 1: $888 or $126 per day
Our budget for the Philippines is higher than Vietnam due to transportation costs within the country. In week one we went scuba diving, did an all day tour, and took the most expensive flight we’re taking within the Philippines, which was about $146 per person. I think we can make it if we try really hard!
Credit Card Points Update
Road to Hyatt Globalist Status
Last month I started a new section about my quest to reach the highest status with Hyatt! This requires me to have 60 “qualifying nights” in 2023. After my stay at the Hyatt Regency West Hanoi I now have 11 qualifying nights!
To recap how I got to 11 nights:
- 5 nights from the World of Hyatt credit card
- 2 nights at Hyatt Place Bangkok Sukhumvit – Read my review here.
- 4 nights at Hyatt Regency West Hanoi – Read my review here.
So far I haven’t paid a cent to reach 11 nights as I’ve used points to book my stays! If you’re interested in opening a Hyatt or Chase Sapphire credit card to earn Hyatt points, please DM me for a referral link.
Updated Point Totals
After booking 23 flights and 55 free hotel nights we have the following points remaining.
Kailyn American Express: 3,600 points worth ~ $43
Kailyn Chase Ultimate Rewards: 1,320 points + Andrew Chase 2,340 points worth ~ $55
Kailyn IHG: 46,628 points worth ~ $233 + one free night certificate
Kailyn Hyatt: 16,789 points worth ~ $336
Kailyn Delta : 40,190 points + Andrew Delta: 21,665 points worth ~ $804
Kailyn United: 6,552 points + Andrew United: 21,137 points worth ~ $313
Kailyn American: 8,210 points + Andrew American: 50,554 points worth ~ $705
Kailyn Turkish Airlines: 40,000 points worth ~ $600
Kailyn Qatar Airways: 1,145 points worth ~ $17
Kailyn Citi Thank You: 34 points worth ~ $0 (I depleted these buying a flight for later this summer – not counted in Year Long Honeymoon stuff)
Kailyn Capital One: 25,713 points + Andrew Capital One: 300 points worth ~ $390
Total Rewards Points Remaining: 286,190 redeemable for about $3,497
Do you Like Earning Free Points?!
I used all my American Express points last month to book a flight to Europe for later this summer, but I already have over 3,000 points back in my Amex account! I got my quarterly payout from the shopping portal Rakuten this month. If you don’t have an American Express account you can still use Rakuten, but opt to receive a check by mail instead.
Shopping portals are easy ways to save money and get free travel just from buying the things you were already going to. All 3,000 points I earned on Rakuten last quarter were from just a few purchases I made on Black Friday. I created my Rakuten account in May 2021 and I have since earned over 70,000 American Express points which is worth well over $700 when redeemed for flights!
Sign up for Rakuten through my referral link and you will get $30 cash back (or 3,000 Amex points) after you complete your first purchase through the shopping portal! I promise this is not a gimmick, it really is just free money back in your pocket for everyday online purchases. Even my mom uses Rakuten for cash back!
What's Next for Us?
We have a few more weeks left to explore the Philippines. After a few more days in General Luna we’ll explore El Nido and Coron. Then, in the middle of March we’ll fly to my 30th country, Indonesia! I booked us some exciting Hyatt stays in Bali and I can’t wait to see the hotels in person and share them with you!
See you next month!
-Kailyn (& Andrew)
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