TPE The Photographer’s Ephemeris (Desktop, iOS)
https://photoephemeris.com/
Photopills (iOS, Google Play)
https://www.photopills.com/
Adobe Firefly
https://firefly.adobe.com/
Freepik AI
https://www.freepik.com/ai
PhotoPea
https://www.photopea.com
Adobe Lightroom
https://www.adobe.com/cz/creativecloud/plans.html
It all happened at the worst possible time, my wife and my newborn baby girl returned from the hospital about a week ago and we went to visit her parents in South Czechia for the weekend. It was a pretty intense week already with all that stuff around the newborn and I was glad we would get some help.
On that early February Sunday afternoon, I just briefly checked my iPhone notifications between learning parenting on the fly. I’ve noticed that there was some Facebook friend request and when I opened the Facebook app, some strange guy was requesting to become my friend. I’ve declined. I did get back to my girls and didn’t pay more attention to that. It wasn’t the first time that I’ve had some weird friend request anyway.
Later on, that day at around 10 pm when I was cleaning baby bottles and, I’ve checked the Facebook app again. A Message that I was temporarily restricted from tagging was the first thing that popped at me. All I could do was to appeal which I did immediately and in the message, I wrote that I’m not sure why I’m restricted in the first place.
Then I have noticed some new emails that arrived and I knew it is not good. The first email that arrived on my personal iCloud email that I had set as a recovery email on Facebook for the past few years stated that someone is trying to reset my password.
Another email said that password was successfully reset and showing some activity log with IP from Manchester UK on a Windows PC.
I’ve opened a Facebook app that was already logged off at that time and went on to reset my password. I used to have several options on how to reset my password on Facebook but now there was only one and it was to send a link to the email address alanisko@alanisko.net.
I used to own the domain alanisko.net a long time ago for a few years before I’ve switched to the current one alanisko.co.uk.
As it turned out I also used an email address alanisko@alanisko.net back then and probably I have used that email to register for a Facebook account back in June 2004. Yes, 17 years ago.
Obviously, I had changed my email address few times during those years and I’ve always updated my Facebook recovery options with my current email and the current phone number. Probably for a nostalgic reason or I just forgot to remove alanisko@alanisko.net and I left it there among the other more recent recovery options. It was stupid, I know now.
Unfortunately, as of now, all my more recent recovery options were gone and the only way how to recover my Facebook account was to send a recovery email to the email address that I don’t have access to anymore.
My second option if I couldn’t access recovery email was to create a new Facebook account... no support chat or email, just a simple message that we are sorry.. after 17 years feeding that network with content.
As I couldn’t recover access to my account, I’ve started to think about why and why on earth would someone hack my personal Facebook account. It didn’t make sense at first. Why all my other recovery options were deleted and only one was the one I couldn’t access anymore.
I didn’t think that my Facebook personal account is something that someone would be interested to hack with my around 800+ friends.
Then I thought that someone maybe was trying to get through Facebook to my Instagram account that may be a better deal with currently 72k followers. So I went to the Instagram app and changed my password there just in case. I’ve already had two-factor authentication turned on on Instagram.
Then I’ve gone back to the Facebook app and tried to block my account and I hoped that I managed to do it and neither I nor the attacker would have access anymore. I have been also using Login with FB on many web pages and services, probably hundreds of them since Facebook introduced that feature and that make me worried a lot too. Attackers could try to access other things too.
When I started to think about how they did it, I knew already that someone had changed my password and removed all my recovery emails except the one I had no access to anymore. I was sure that I have not clicked on any links or suspicious messages etc. 100% It was really strange that the attackers have not removed my alanisko.net recovery email as they usually do in cases like this and replace it with some fake one.
So I went to Whois.com to check if and when the alanisko.net domain was registered and I knew I was on the good track when I saw that it was purchased that day through godaddy.com. It was a direct attack on me for sure. I was godaddy’s customer and still use their services for some of my domains these days. I went on their support chat and tried to explain what has happened. The support lady was nice and seems to understand that it certainly was a hack however she told me I need to send an email to a certain email address and they will get back to me with 72 hours. I didn’t have many options so I have had emailed the whole story to that email provided.
That was it, I knew it was a targeted attack on me but I could not do anything about it.
Well, there was the last option, I have a good friend Craig from Dublin that is actually working for Facebook. So I’ve sent him a message on Instagram where I described all story again and facts that I knew with the cry for help and went to sleep.
On Monday afternoon I got a message in my inbox from Craig that he will try to submit an internal ticket and we will see.
A few hours later he messaged me back asking for a virgin email never used on Facebook and I’ve received a link with a password reset on it.
Hurray, I’m saved.
I went through the recovery process where you have to check and confirm details like last posts, posted pictures, last added friends etc.
It was all mine as I had really blocked the account that evening so the attacker couldn’t post anything except the two weirdos in my friend list that I’ve never added. I’ve removed them and reported the names to Craig. I believe Facebook then deleted those accounts.
I couldn’t thank Craig enough, I’ve asked him what he thinks about that hack and he mentioned that they do deal with a lot of hacked accounts recently big or smaller too. When I asked how one can protect, he has mentioned the Two-Factor Authentication, but not the SMS one. That can be easily hacked when the attacker just clones the SIM card with your number, so much better is to use an authenticator app that generates a unique string of numbers every few seconds.
So, that was it, I was back and had my account under control again. Well, at least I thought that.
Lessons learned so far.
Never register to any new emerging app or service with your email that is attached to a custom domain that you may not use for a really long time and had all access to.
Two-factor authentication is a must-have, using the Authenticator app, not SMS codes.
Privacy is a big issue. We all have been tracked all of the time. I downloaded an app called Jumbo on another good friend recommendation as the iOS 14.5 with its privacy controls was still months away. Jumbo also does work as the authenticator.
I knew that there are trackers in apps, and I do use a lot of apps. But I was still surprised with the number of trackers that Jumbo found and stopped.
Two weeks later, accidentally again on Sunday, I woke up slightly after 8:30 and as soon as I’ve reached my phone, I knew something is wrong.
There were several notifications from my bank app notifying me about outgoing payments from my bank account.
It was eight payments, each for 50USD and some of them were declined but some went through approval, so I’ve immediately opened the bank app to investigate.
Unfortunately, it was true, there were a few payments that went through. Those payments were marked as PayPal authorised payments for Facebook advertising. I’ve called the bank immediately and blocked the card that was associated with my PayPal account and ordered and replacement. Kudos to my bank and Apple for being able to use my new card immediately through Apple Pay before the physical card has arrived.
I never use my real bank card for paying online and always do use a virtual one or PayPal. PayPal is also the only form of payment set in my Facebook account that I used to pay for advertising on Instagram and Facebook. PayPal processed those transactions as they were looking like legit payments for advertising like many times before.
It was certainly strange as the last time I’ve run a Facebook advertising and pay for it was last summer.
I’ve checked the Facebook Ads app where you can manage your advertising and there was still running advertising for some Vietnamese page that I have nothing to do with and paid for using my ad account.
That advertising was targeted to women aged 22-50 years old from Vietnam and the Czech Republic with a budget of 1000 US Dollars. And boy that ad was running really well and people were clicking on it a lot. You can check the stats below.
So I knew that Facebook haven’t restored all access and these guys were somehow still hooked up to my ad account. I took few screenshots and wrote a message to Craig once again. He then created an internal ticket and It took this time a few days and I got the advertising account full access and my money back.
It is crazy to think what would happen if I wouldn’t know Craig and let say had used a credit card for advertising on Facebook directly. I would not only lose the account completely with no option for recovery and also a thousand bucks on top of that. I can’t thank you enough mate.
I’ve had asked a Vietnamese guy at the local grocery shop to translate what is the advertising about and he said it was for girls clothes for sale.
I may be paranoid and it was just an accident and some hacker got lucky, more I think that it wasn’t just a pure accident. I was travelling around Vietnam less than two years ago for a few weeks. We started from HoChiMinh northwards to and back. I bought a local SIM card on arrival and mostly used that to connect however there were times when we connected to a hotel WiFi or in AirBnB or train. I had also used apps like swarm and Foursquare to check in to places and leave tips for other travellers. So I had created a pretty damn good digital trace of my around Vietnam. To me, all point to that someone saw my digital trace, tried and got lucky through my old domain.
I’m not gonna judge you if you still using a piece of paper with handwritten passwords, just be aware that there are people out there. You might think that you not gonna be the next target and you are safe and why on earth would someone hack you. Well, it’s all about the money… and there is always someone who does have the time and skills needed but no money and others side with money and fake feeling of safety.
I’m now using Two Factor authentication for all social media and other services with Authenticator apps.
For that purpose, I do use Jumbo that I’ve mentioned earlier and also Google and Microsoft Authenticator apps.
Mainly I have removed all of my Login with Facebook-related pages and it was hundreds of them, then changed all that still matters to me to log in with Apple.
I’m not using my main credit card for PayPal and using a virtual card instead that I can top up with the amount necessary just for a particular payment.
It’s a crazy world we live in and it is better to be protected than sorry. All of this made me think again about the content I share online and where.
I was running a few workshops for DronPro about editing pictures from drone in Adobe Lightroom and for that purpose I’ve created a few presets to share with the students.
Why not to share them with you too :)
Hope you will enjoy them.
I was invited to shoot stills from the launch of the first FPV drone from Dji on polygon in Hradec Králové. Weather was miserable but the falling fog helped create a bit of atmosphere on the shots. Here are some of them.
If you want to see the video footage then check DronPro video below.
We shot few pictures as they needed some profile shots for social media campaign and web. It was fun and here are some shots.
Are you visiting Prague? This city almost begs you to explore its maze of cobbled lanes and hidden courtyards. From ancient chapels to the Carls Bridge - let me guide you through this photographic marvel and take some amazing pictures.
I’ve teamed up with the folks from Better Moments Photo Walks and you can now book a PhotoWalk Tour with me and pick from one below.
Prague Famous City Landmarks PhotoWalk Tour - The incredible picturesque city of Prague has more photographic marvels than we can possibly cover on this 3 hour tour, but our local expert photographers will make sure that you get to capture the most important and beautiful sites the city has to offer and help you find the best spots available. Buy here:
Prague City of Lights PhotoWalk Tour - Prague is especially beautiful during the last hours of daylight when day turns to night and the sky turns from orange to blue. As the city lights come on the atmosphere changes dramatically and the opportunity for moody images and long exposures are right there to grab. The light from the city comes on and creates a mellow and truly inspirational mood for a completely different type of photography. Buy here:
Prague Hidden Gems PhotoWalk Tour - This tour goes beyond the famous sites and takes you through Pragues smaller streets and invites you to explore hidden courtyards and artsy areas that you might not know existed. Old-fashioned bars where locals meet, hidden gardens and ancient chapels will be your backdrop for the day on this memorable walk through this amazing city. Buy here:
All Tours are private. You can bring up to two friends with you for FREE.
If you don’t have anyone to join you or you do travel alone, book a tour just for yourself through Viator links below.
Prague City of Lights PhotoWalk Tour
View of crowds on Letna Park with the Prague Castle as the backdrop.
Sunday, the 23rd of June 2019, Letná, Praha
There was a huge demonstration, very peaceful I have to admit, on Sunday and around 250k people from all around of the Czech Republic met to protest against corrupted Prime Minister. It was and pretty intense experience and big thank you goes to DronPro for the best seat :)
View from above of crowds protesting at Letna Park with Prague Castle as backdrop
Crowds protesting at Letna park
Otentik Trip 2019 with We Like Travel and Attitude Hotels - Mauritius.
Read More
#LIFTmedia19
High Tatras, Slovakia
I was invited to speak on the Social Media Conference #LIFTmedia19 in High Tatras, Slovakia. The event was organised by the Slovakian Adventure Holiday Tour company called Adventoura for the Slovakian tourist companies, hotels and tourist boards.
Stary Smokovec is a lovely little town just at the doorstep of the High Tatra mountains and the event took place in the Grand Hotel Belevue.
I was talking about Instagram for business marketing, Tomi Gebe about Facebook marketing and Pavlo Fedykovych about Twitter marketing. It was a lovely day spend with amazing audience in a lovely surroundings.
Thank you Adventoura for the invitation and looking forward to future cooperation.
Attendees can download my presentation below:
Doha Skyline with traditional boat.
We had a layover planned in Doha after the trip to Vietnam and unfortunately things didn’t goes well and we ended up in Doha only in shorts and tank tops as our luggage stayed at the airport.
We called Uber that took us from the Airport to our accommodation, Al Najeda Hotel by Tivoli.
This hotel was absolutely wonderful, we were only at the first floor but the rooms were spacious and feels very luxurious. I could even see a bit of the Doha skyline from the balcony.
Al Najeda Hotel by Tivoli
Al Najeda Hotel by Tivoli
I didn’t know what to expect from Doha but I was really surprised that it felt like being on a massive construction site in the desert with no people at all during the day. Whole city was totally empty. We took the taxi ride to check all the skyscrapers on the famous Doha bay and when we approached that area, it was again completely empty.
Doha City skyline
We asked the driver to drop us back to the hotel as there wasn't anything to do except maybe walk in the bay, but it was too windy for that. We couldn't visit the Islamic Museum of Art or the Mosque as we weren’t dressed appropriately so we had kinda mixed feelings from the whole Doha experience. Thank you again Qatar Airways!
Our hotel was right next to the Souq Waqif Market, so we went to explore it. Finally we were able to see some local people, and grab some food. I have to say that the kebab was delicious and then we returned back to our hotel.
Souq Waqif
Souq Waqif
I don’t think I will come back again to Doha, this place didn't have a character and felt like fake city.
At the morning we took the taxi to the airport and later boarded the last leg of our trip back to Prague.
Coconut Beach - Da Nang
When we started planing our trip to Asia, we were considering Sri Lanka, Philippines or Vietnam. Somehow Vietnam won the competition and once we’ve settled on a destination, next thing was to find a reasonably priced flights from Europe.
We found several options available with flights to Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Da Nang and with number of a different airlines.
I wanted to fly with some good airline and made a stop over either in Doha or Dubai. So we decided to try Qatar Airlines and their Dreamliner and booked the flight to Ho Chi Minh City with 18h stop over in Doha on the way back.
Our flight was departing from Prague Airport, and our check-in was smooth and plane was fairly new. I can imagine better entertainment system though. Anyway, food was good enough for plane food and cabin crew was lovely and helpful.
We had just two hours in Doha before we got to our second flight to HCMC, so not a much time. Smoking lounge at Doha Airport was tiny, smelly and disgusting room but at least I could inhale some nicotine there.
April 2019:
100K VND = 4.3USD or 3.80EUR or 100CZK
Prices: Water from 3.5K VND per 0.5l bottle, Fresh Coconut Water from 15K VND, coffee from 15K VND, meal in restaurant from 30K VND, box of Marlboro from 28K VND, motorbike rent for a day 150K VND
Our plan was to stay in Ho Chi Minh City for day or two and the move slowly to the north towards the city Da Nang. We only had two weeks so unfortunately Hanoi and the rest of the north Vietnam was impossible to make this time.
This time of the year in south Vietnam, weather is pretty consistent, sunny with around 35C and very humid. Simply perfect weather for me :)
Ho Chi Minh City sunset
Our flight landed at the Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City at the afternoon. Once we pass through the security and got our luggage collected, while still connected on Free Airport WiFi, I’ve used Grab app (iOS or Android) and booked a car to get us to our accommodation.
This is a must have app when you are in Vietnam. If you travel solo, you can book a motorbike with driver for very cheap. If you are a couple or group and need a car ride, usually the price is half of normal taxi price for that distance. On the top of that you can order a food delivery through the app and also a normal taxi, and way more. Pretty much it is an Asian Uber on steroids.
They even have a benefits system and I have received a two free rides worth a 100k VND each but I couldn't figure out how to use them. It was still pointing me to the T&C which had like two lines and no value.
Grab app on iOS with free rewards.
Our accommodation for first two nights in Ho Chi Minh City was Apartment in Icon 56 Building in Quán 4 just over the river from the city centre. We have booked this accomodation through Booking.com in advance and the price seems to be reasonable. Apartment owner was waiting for us at the lobby when we arrived. The apartment was clean, with working AC and little balcony. It had included in price access to a rooftop swimming pool with great views around the city.
Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon is a crazy buzzing city, it has 14,5M citizens and 7.5M motorbikes, so you can imagine the noise and smell on the streets. It took us a while to figure out how to cross the street but once you realise that you just need to keep walking and don’t stop under any circumstances, you’re gonna be fine :)
Vietnamese cuisine is famous and we have found a few lovely restaurants, best one was Ngoc Chau Garden with “home like” food and lovely staff. First day we have wandered around the Quán 1 (City Centre), visited famous Ben Thanh Market and spend some time at the end of the day in our rooftop pool too.
Almost everywhere you going Vietnam, you will find a working WiFi network, however for maps, swarm check-ins instagram, long journeys etc. a permanent mobile data connection is a must have.
We found a little corner shop that sold me a local (VietnaMobile) SIM card for 150K VND with unlimited 3G valid for a month what sounded like a reasonable price to me. After a day of usage, I’ve realised that I may need something more faster than 3G and I bought another SIM card from another random street vendor for 250K VND that had 4GB of LTE per day for a month.
Have to say that both SIM cards worked as advertised and with Kate using the 3G and myself with LTE one, the had no issues to get connected anywhere.. Mobile coverage was pretty good even in countryside and for most of the train journey we had a working mobile network too.
On the second day we’ve decided to move on and purchased a bus ticket for one of the sleeper buses to the place called Mui Ne, Phan Thiet , north of the Ho Chi Minh City.
You have two companies that operate sleeper buses and we did go for the Sinh Tourist, second option is Hanh Cafe. Don’t ask me why the second bus operator have a cafe in the name, it is certainly a bit confusing.
Price was slightly higher as it was a public holiday that day in Vietnam so we paid 399 VND pp. I think that was a double, normally it should be around 200 pp. Always check local holidays when you travel :)
Sleeper buses are pretty cool, unfortunately they are made for Asian people so with my 185cm I couldn't properly sit and I had to be in kinda weird position. It was also too short to stretch my legs when I was in sleeping position. Kate had literally no issue with her 155cm :) I think that those 200km was my maximum that I could handle in that position.
Our bus was scheduled to depart from Sinh Tourist office in city centre (Quán 1) at 7am but it was late for almost an hour. The 215km journey to Phan Thiet took us around 5 hours including a 30min stop for toilet.
We have arrived at Mui Ne around 1:30pm at the afternoon, over an hour later than it was scheduled. From the place where bus stopped it was about 2km to our hotel so we obviously called a Grab :)
Mui Ne is a totally different world, coconut palm trees, rowing fishing boats, fisherman and warm sea. This is how I was picturing south Vietnam. Wonderful Pink sunset was just a cherry on the cake :)
We had booked accommodation in La Marina Boutique Hotel & Spa, and it was really a great choice. Hotel is located just a few meters from the beach, with lovely swimming pool and restaurant serving local food. Our room was wonderful and spacious with lovely sea facing balcony.
After check-in we had a quick lunch in the hotel restaurant and later went to stroll around the beach. As it was off the main season, it was almost empty, just a few local people and plenty of Vietnamese rounded rowing boats.
Next day we have decided to try a tour to the famous Red Sand dunes. I’ve done some research online but then we have asked on reception and they’ve booked for us a Sunrise private Jeep tour for 25 USD for both of us. (Half price of what I have found online, so its worth to ask for sure)
Red Dunes, Mui Ne
The tour started early, driver picked us up at 5am at the hotel and we drove for about 45min towards the place with dunes. From there we could either take a quad bike for 300k VND pp to get on the top of the Red Dunes or we could also walk to the top which should take about 30min.
As the sun was quickly rising, we have decided to pay extra and go for quad bikes to get to the top faster and obviously the same thing did the other tens of tourists that were arriving in another jeeps. Soon there was about 30 people on the top but the view was totally worth it.
Some people paid extra few bucks for sand sledging but I’ve rather took some shots with my drone and then enjoyed watching the rest of the sunrise with Kate.
Red Dunes, Mui Ne
It all took slightly over an hour and we jumped back to the jeep and they drove us to the White Sand dunes that were slightly smaller and even more crowded. We didn't stay there for long as it was staring to be unbearably hot so we moved towards the Fairy Stream.
Fairy Stream Phan Thiét
A popular photography hotspot in located 18km northeast of Phan Thiet with dramatic landscape of reds, whites, oranges sand dunes on one side while the other is an expansive field of verdant trees, blossoming flowers, and coconut palms.
The stream is about ankle-deep for the most part and the water is flowing from Ham Tien’s Dinh Mountains. Entrance fee is just 15K VND and it was certainly a lovely and refreshing experience.
Our last stop on the tour was at the Mui Ne Fishing Village and then the Jeep returned us back to the hotel.
Fishing Village, Mui Ne
We spend the rest of the day at the Mui Ne beach and hotel pool relaxing and planning the next few following days of our trip. I could certainly imagine to stay in Mui Ne for longer but we had to go.
As our next stop was around 235km far city Nha Trang, we have booked again a ride in a sleeper bus. This time with the second company Hanh Cafe, their bus was a little bit different but still sized for Asian people :)
We spend the morning at the hotel pool as the scheduled departure was at 1pm from the stop next to our Hotel. We paid 149K VND pp for a 5h journey this time non stop and finally slightly after 6:30pm we arrived at Nha Trang.
Nha Trang Beach Front
We had booked room at V Hotel and when we arrived and got to our room, it was smelly room without balcony. After my complaint at the reception they offered a free cancellation as they have no other rooms available. That wasn't a big deal and after a quick search we found another hotel that based on the description was similar to one we picked at first.
When we arrived to the Boss Hotel, they tried to give us again a small room without the balcony first but after my another complaint they had changed the room and we were finally happy :)
Nah Trang is a completely different story compared to Mui Ne, pure party town, full of pubs, bars and restaurants buzzing all night long and beyond. As we are not party animals, drinking with Russian and Chinese tourists wasn't on the plan.
Nha Trang city in distance.
At the morning we tried to give a chance to the hotel breakfast as it was included in the price. Breakfast room for about 20 pax was tight packed with huge queue outside and the breakfast didn’t look very appealing, so we decided to find another place to eat.
After a long stroll around, we finally found Alpaca Homestyle Cafe that serve us a lovely breakfast. Then we rented a motorbike at the hotel and drove around to explore the city.
We have grabbed lunch and then decided to go to the port where we booked a boat trip to explore the islands of Nha Trang Bay. We had option for Speedboat 700K VND per person or fishing boat for 400K VND per person. Speedboat was like waste of money and old fishing boat sounds like more fun. As it was of season, we were the only one on the boat and it took about 45 min to reach the first stop that was Mun Island.
Not sure what to think about this island. Entrance fee was 25K VND per person and there was nothing except sun beds and rocky beach. I’ve expected some snorkelling activities or something but there was literally nothing on the island except one shop with water and some souvenirs. When we arrived the island was fully packed with Chinese tourists, luckily they started to leaving and within 30 min we were almost alone. This island didn't impressed me much though, rocks were sharp and water was clean but nothing special. After an hour the boat came back and took us towards next island.
Vietnamese rounded rowing boats at Mun Island.
Our next stop meant to be tiny Mot Island however our driver just passed by and we stopped at next one called Mieu Island. Entrance to the beach was 100K VND per person but the beach was pretty good. We were there almost alone and the boat returned after 3 hours and brought us back to the port.
Next day we spend on the Nha Trang beach and at the evening we went to the Nha Trang Train Station and book a train tickets for train SE8 Vietnam Railways. We didn't know what to expect from Vietnamese trains, so instead of the whole over 500km journey to Da Nang, we split it in to two parts. First would be to the city called Quy Nhon, stay there overnight and move to Da Nang next day..
Our train arrived on time and it was actually pretty comfortable, way better than the bus before and also quite clean for Asia. Train ticket was 236K VND pp on for the 219km journey to Diêu Tri and it took about 4 and half hours. From there it was about 15km to Quy Nhon and we used Grab app to get a ride (30K VND).
Train from Quy Nhon to Da Nang
This was just our sleep stop over, so we haven’t really seen much from the city. We stayed in Hung Gia Hotel, small but clean Hotel with working AC and early at the morning we called Grab again and returned back to Diêu Tri train station.
Dieu Tri Train Station
We tried to book the train tickets to Da Nang through the reception at our hotel but as it was last minute, we somehow couldn’t do so without Vietnamese Credit Card. We have decided to get them at the train station and when we arrived, obviously the only way to pay was in cash and we didn’t have enough.
I’ve called Grab motorbike that drove me to the nearest ATM and back to the station, paid for the tickets 425K VND pp for a Vietnam Railways SE2 train and we still had a bit of time left to grab a coffee at before the departure. Train journey took slightly over 6 hours and again it was fun and great experience to see the passing country through the window.
Vietnam country side from the train window.
Dragon Bridge, CẦU RỒNG, Da Nang
We arrived to Da Nang train station around noon and we took a Grab ride from the train station to the hotel. We had booked two nights in Aria Grand Hotel close to the beach. This Hotel was fantastic, clean and spacious with lovely balcony.
Staff was super friendly and helped us rent a motorbike (160k a day) so we went to explore the city.
Called city of bridges for a reason, Da Nang is wonderful with all the spectacular bridges over the river Hàn, about 1M of citizens, lovely chilled down atmosphere and wonderful beaches. Easily my favourite city in Vietnam. I loved the Dragon Bridge (Cầu Rồng) and the Night Market with delicious food right next to it, little peninsula with Buddha statue overlooking the bay and pretty much anything here.
Hội An is a city on Vietnam’s central coast known for its well-preserved Ancient Town. It’s obviously a tourist trap but still worth a see. So as it was just a short motorbike ride from Da Nang we went to see it. The Old town is packed with merchants selling everything you need and don’t need with plenty of little cafes and restaurants to grab a coffee or beer. It was roasting hot and full of tourists so after and hour or so we have decided to come back to Da Nang.
Spend the rest of the day on the city beach and planned the trip to the Bà Nà Hills Park for the next early morning.
Golden Bridge aka Gods hands, Bà Nà Hills, Da Nang
We get up early, sit on motorbike and stopped along the way for breakfast by the road. It was over an hour long ride and when we arrived at Sun World it was about 30 min before official opening time.
Golden bridge, the main attraction was build and finished last year and it quickly become an internet sensation. It is actually part of the Fun Park and the only way to get there is to pay entrance to a park and then get a 5.5km cable car to the top of the Bà Nà Hills.
Entrance fee is 750K VND and I do suggest to be there as early as you can to not only avoid the masses of tourist coming later but also to get a chance to experience a sunrise or at least the morning light :)
Hands of God, Golden Bridge, Cầu Vàng, Da Nang
It was fun to but after two hours it started to be unbearably hot and the park filled with millions of people so we get back to the cable car and then jumped on our motorbike and drove back to Da Nang.
Bà Nà Hills, Sun World Park
City beach in Da Nang isn’t that bad but there is a little peninsula in Da Nang that we knew must have a way better beaches so we decided to explore it further. After driving around for about an hour around the military bases and radars we have finally found a wonderful private beach where we spend the rest of the day.
We really liked this city a lot so we have decided to fly back to Saigon instead of the long train journey and save some time so we could stay longer in Da Nang.
I found flights with Jetstar Pacific for 70Euro pp (including seats and luggage) so we book them and extended stay for extra night in our lovely Aria Grand Hotel.
Dragon Bridge, Da Nang
Mÿ Son, Da Nang
Next morning we went to visit the Mÿ Son, Ancient Hindu City build between 4th and 14th Century by the kings of Champa about 70Km from Da Nang. Spectacular abandoned and partially ruined Hindu temples in a valley roughly two kilometres wide that is surrounded by two mountain ranges. I do recommend you to get there as early as you can as it can be really hot there not to mention the loads of tourist too. Entrance fee is 150K VND pp and there is also a little museum and few shops with refreshments.
Mÿ Son, Hindu Temple
After another hour and half ride on motorbike and little stop for the coffee, we have arrived back at our hotel, packed our luggage, check-out and spend the time waiting for the flight at the rooftop hotel pool.
Our plan was to return to Saigon for last couple of nights, get to day trip to Mekong delta and do some souvenir shopping, so I’ve booked for our next place a lovely apartment in Ho Chi Minh City for three nights.
Rooftop Pool - Aria Grand Hotel, Da Nang
Two hours later after the booking was made, property have cancelled it and stated that they were overbooked. Booking.com promptly offered another apartment that seems to be fairly similar to one we chosen originally, so I’ve confirmed that.
JetStar Pacific flight was scheduled at 4pm from Da Nang Airport and unfortunately it was over two hours delayed. Da Nang is probably the worst airport I’ve ever been to. No Informations, No Airline reps, No Informations at all. Very frustrating. It was almost 8pm when we arrived at Ho Chi Minh City airport. Again Grab saved the time and money and within 30min we were at the apartment location.
Saigon at night
Now the booking trouble part.. When we arrived, I’ve tried to call the owner of the apartment with no response. The SIM card we purchased for data had some allowance for local calls too. I keep trying calling for about 30in and when we still had no response, I’ve send message to booking support. The reply was, “we will contact you in 48h”. I nearly exploded, I kept trying to contact booking over the chat or email, bit with no response. I found UK customer care number but the Vietnamese SIM card in my phone did’t allow international calls and using my Czech SIM card fro calling Uk number from Vietnam would be too expensive.
So I’ve continued to try to contact booking through chat with no response. It was 11pm when a lady that saw us sitting in the lobby of the apartment and offered to stay for a night in her room. As we still didn't hear from booking yet and had booked place that we couldn’t get in to (I couldn’t cancel the booking either as there was a fee) we agreed and stay for a night. Around 1am booking finally responded and offered another place, as it was too late already, we decided to sleep where we were and move to another place next day. The place offered from booking.com wasn't the same category as the one we booked so I’ve asked them to find another one. They couldn't find comparable place in the city centre so they offered place in Vinhomes Central park slightly further away. As we had our plans completely ruined for two days, I’ve agreed and we moved to our new apartment.
Landmark 4 Apartment view, Vinhomes Central Park
It was slightly after 11:30am when we arrived at Landmark 4 Apartment in Vinhomes Central Park. Check in time was at 2pm but the owner agreed that we can drop the bags to the apartment earlier than that. We met with the owner and at noon and she gave us the key and we could leave our stuff in the apartment. She asked for payment in cash but the booking meant to be paid with the card. She asked for extra 2% charge for credit card payments which I’ve denied and advised her to contact booking.
We went to the city centre to get some food and to Ben Thanh Market for some souvenir and presents shopping. When we arrived back to the apartment, owner was fine with the card payment without the fee :). I’ve mentioned that we booked also a breakfast and she didn't know what I’m talking about but agreed to drop us some food at the morning. (it was pho soup with piece of bread)
Ho Chi Minh City
Mekong Delta Tour boats
Next morning was time to go to Mekong Delta. We booked a tour organised by Get Your Guide and for the price 400K VND it was totally worth it. We met at 8am at the location in city centre near Ben Than Market as our Apartment was slightly far away from the centre. (they do a hotel pickup too within certain area) and with small bus we went towards My Tho. It took about hour and half and at My Tho we jumped to the boats and went down the river towards the Unicorn Island. There we got to the small rowing boats for a ride through the Mekong canals surrounded with the coconut palm trees towards Coconut Island.
Tourist boat at the Mekong Delta
Mekong Delta
We stopped at the coconut sweets factory, did some sweets shopping and had lunch at the restaurant before a boat ride back to the My Tho.
After a short bus ride we stopped at Vĩnh Tràng Temple, visited the Pagoda and then the bus drove us back to Saigon.
Buddha at Vĩnh Tràng Temple, Mÿ Tho
We spend our last day shopping and then got a Grab ride back to our Apartment, packed all our stuff and went to sleep as we had early morning flight from the Ho Chi Minh City Airport.
When we arrived at the Airport, we were already checked-in online so I was just looking for Qatar Airways Baggage drop.
With the bag on the belt, lady at the check-in counter told us that we wouldn't be able to access our bags in Doha. When I stated that we booked a separate flight with 18h layover and that we need the bags, she called Qatar Aiways representative to sort it out.
Very bad experience with Qatar Airways representative at Ho Chi Minh City Airport
Lady from Qatar Airways pretty much just repeated that we cannot get our bags with our tickets and if we want them in Doha, we need to purchase a two new tickets. That doesn't make sense, so I’ve asked her for her name what she denied to tell and when I took my iPhone to snapped a photo of her, she called a security on me.
Later on at the Airport I found on Qatar Airways web page that they should gave us our bags in Doha when we asked and it was later confirmed on board by the cabin crew.
When we arrived in Doha, I found the Qatar Airways office and tried to get our bags. First lady at the counter almost agreed but then a man jumped in and asked for 30USD per bag to get them. When I was comparing that there is nothing about fee stated on their website, he decline to talking to me.
We pass the security and as I didn't want to give up, I went to another Qatar Airways office and tired to asked for the luggage again. This time the guy was calling somewhere and after like 30 min he said the same, we had to pay for the bags or they will go directly to Prague. I was tired and almost agreed to pay when he told me it will take another hour at least to get them.
We were already for almost two hours at the airport and I didn't wanted to cut more time from our stop in Doha, I’ve finally gave up.
Except those two little issues, one with Booking.com that let us down and the later with Qatar Airways leaving us in Doha only with shorts and camera, it was an amazing trip to a wonderful country.
We definitely need to come back to see the north of the Vietnam one day. Hanoi and Halong Bay I’m looking at you. :)
