Vietnam
There are [154] photos and [24] stories about Vietnam
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Saturday, 22 Nov 2008 | Views [1324]
I first 'visited' Vietnam in 1968. During my time 'in country' Richard Nixon was elected president, Neil Armstrong walked on the moon and the massacre at My Lai became public knowledge. In the US (back in "The World' as the GIs called it) the ... Read more >
Friday, 21 Nov 2008 | Views [963]
Our trip into the Mekong Delta wasn’t exactly what we believed we had signed up for. Instead of a relaxing boat trip along the river we took a crowded tourist bus to My Tho. Most of the others also felt they had been deceived. It is a case ... Read more >
Monday, 17 Nov 2008 | Photo Gallery
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Monday, 17 Nov 2008 | Views [872]
It was once known at ‘the Paris of the Orient’ and was the capital of South Vietnam. Its official name is Ho Chi Minh City (HCMH) but everyone still calls it Saigon. During the 400 km seven hour bus ride from Dalat we watched the scenery change ... Read more >
Saturday, 15 Nov 2008 | Views [1241]
Dalat is different from other places in Vietnam. LP says you would almost think you had stumbled into the Swiss Alps in springtime; true only if you had never been to Switzerland! Still walking around Dalat without rain is pleasant. Like ... Read more >
Friday, 14 Nov 2008 | Photo Gallery
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Friday, 14 Nov 2008 | Views [1354]
The first raindrops fell as our bus left from Hoi An. And it poured all night long. The sleeper bus is a good concept. It has three rows of reclining ‘business-class’ beds, two levels high. Unfortunately they are designed for shorter, narrower ... Read more >
Thursday, 13 Nov 2008 | Views [622]
Five AM is the most peaceful hour in Vietnam. There are no trucks or buses on the street; only the occasional motorbike putts by. A lone woman trots to "her" spot on the kerb, her pho pots bouncing up and down suspended from a bamboo pole ... Read more >
Wednesday, 12 Nov 2008 | Views [703]
The bus from Hue to Hoi An takes 3 hours with only a couple of stops. At Danang, An, one of the bus company’s employees, started talking to me. He served with the ARVN in the Americal Division during the war and we reminisced about ‘the good old ... Read more >
Friday, 7 Nov 2008 | Views [828]
You can get a visa for Cambodia at most border crossings from Vietnam. With the operative word being “most” we decided to get ours at the Cambodian embassy in Hanoi. What is normally a 2-day process was expedited to 10 minutes for a few dollars.... Read more >
Thursday, 6 Nov 2008 | Photo Gallery
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Thursday, 6 Nov 2008 | Views [481]
We have been out of touch on a junk cruising Halong Bay for the last couple of days. Just because we didn’t know the results of the election doesn’t mean that we weren’t answering questions about the campaigns, the candidates, the electoral college, ... Read more >
Wednesday, 5 Nov 2008 | Views [1387]
Halong Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a ‘must do’ in northern Vietnam. Lonely Planet says “Majestic and mysterious, inspiring and imperious, words alone cannot do justice to the natural wonder that is Halong Bay, were 3000 or more incredible ... Read more >
Sunday, 2 Nov 2008 | Views [666]
I have titled at least one entry in each journal “The Best Laid Plans.” This one certainly qualifies. Your may have heard rumors of flooding in northern Vietnam. Well, they are true. The rains continued throughout the night and into the morning and when ... Read more >
Friday, 31 Oct 2008 | Views [1660]
It rained hard in Hanoi on Thursday night so we weren’t surprised – disappointed but not surprised – when it was raining this morning. We packed some essentials in our day packs and a laundry bag and left our luggage at Lucky 2. Kxuyen, our guide, ... Read more >
Wednesday, 29 Oct 2008 | Views [3699]
We are running short of places to visit in Hanoi. This morning we walked to the French Quarter to the Vietnam History Museum. Vietnam’s history goes back 30,000 years and they have the now familiar Stone Age relics to prove it. We followed ... Read more >
Tuesday, 28 Oct 2008 | Views [1732]
Hiking is the main activity around Sapa. Weather in the mountains can be uncertain, but not on Monday. It was certainly raining and foggy. And the trails were certain to be muddy and slippery. No doubt about it. So we put on our rain gear ... Read more >
Sunday, 26 Oct 2008 | Views [1607]
Saturday night’s ten-hour, 340 km train ride from Hanoi to Lao Cai was hardly the Orient Express but it is the most convenient way to reach Sapa and Vietnam’s hill people. We shared a sleeper coach with a couple of like-minded travelers from Christchurch, ... Read more >
Friday, 24 Oct 2008 | Views [705]
Today was a day of history and culture with a bit of political indoctrination thrown in for free. The history of Vietnam is interwoven with 1000 years of Chinese influence. Vietnam declared its independence from China near the end of the 10 th ... Read more >
Thursday, 23 Oct 2008 | Views [736]
There isn’t much about the Narita Airport that we don’t know, after six hours of wandering around yesterday. Our JAL plane to Hanoi left on time after a bumpy beginning the five hour flight smoothed out but o ur promised ride to the Golden Lotus ... Read more >
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