Blogs from Thua Thien - Huế, North Central Coast, Vietnam, Asia - page 77

Bikes are still important in Vietnam. However, the motorbike has taken the lead as the most numerous and popular mode of transport. I think they are also a big problem in Vietnam. They are noisy, belch out much smoke, driven to fast and in the big cities have made the environment so bad I can’t imagine living there all the time. Some governments in Vietnam have banned the trucks in big cities during part of the day. Some are thinking about banning cyclos. That is the bicycle with two wheels up-front with a small seat between the wheels and the driver sits high in the back peddling his customer around. They have provided much charm to Vietnam and have been a good mode of transportation for almost a hundred years. I think the governments thinking about ... read more

Now here I am in Hué! Flying here was definitely the right decision (yes Boris, you where right!)- sparing me more than one day in a bus. One thing I didn’t appreciate though was the fact that I had about 4 babies sitting in my immediate vicinity- nothing’s wrong with babies, don’t get me wrong please! And I usually don’t have a problem when a baby cries- but when 4 (in one word: FOUR!!!) babies raise their high pitched voices to max noise level- that’s the point where I start to get a little unnerved. But apart from that everything went good on the flight- just one minor incident happened on our final approach into Hué. When all of a sudden I heard a weird and strange, yet familiar sound- the lady sitting behind me had ... read more

Hello! Well we're now in Vietnam and it's our new favourite place already! Don't get me wrong, it's true you do get hassled morning, noon and night from people trying to sell you stuff, but it hasn't put us off at all. (We are just getting better at saying NO, NO, NOOOO!!!!!! - honestly though, we'd love to help them out and buy something but we just don't have the money, even if they do bring their children do look at us with puppy-dog eyes.) It's hard to describe what Vietnam is like, but we'll give it ago. In some ways it's exactly like you imagine it. Beautiful girls riding around on bicycles in long-flowing silks and pointed straw hats. Cyclo (bicycle taxi) drivers plying for trade with... 'where you go?' 'Where you from' 'Only two ... read more

Well on our travels we have utilized many forms of transport; speed boat, slow boat, sampan, bamboo raft, kayak, Chinese junk, elephant, night train, bus, minibus, car, tuk-tuks of all shapes & sizes, moto (motor bike or xe-om), the tray of utes, bicycle shanks pony and the inner tubes of tires. In the process we have got to experience the different driving styles in the different countries. Of all the places we’ve visited to date, none compare to the madness of traffic in Vietnam. Negotiating this traffic is so integral to our tour that I can’t really continue without it. We’ve all made or heard the comments about Asian drivers back home - how they swerve into your lane without looking, stop in the middle of the road, bumper park etc etc - but have you ... read more

Hey sorry it's been a while since my last post. We took a night train the night before last 12 or 13 hours to Hue. Train travel is the way to go. We had a car with sleeper compartmets in it...basically like 6 coffins crammed into a room. But I slept through most of the journey so it's like time travel....much better than trying to sleep in a seat. And it's fairly cheap too. This afternoon we've gotta get going because the girls' visas expire soon and we wanted to check out Hoi An. So we got about a 4 hour bus ride ahead of us today. It's funny the way the travelling community is so tight. I keep running into the same people all the time and I've only been here like a week. Travellers ... read more