Blogs from North Central Coast, Vietnam, Asia
2012 - Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) and Hue
Published: May 26th 2012Asia » Vietnam » North Central Coast » Hué
May 14th 2012
Saigon Liam arrived in Saigon and we stayed 3 nights and got accustomed to the traffic, touts, tooting and the heat. Liam visited the Chi tunnels by speed boat and we all walked around the War Museum and Independence Palace in the 35 degree heat. It was very hot and humidity high; even the locals were fanning themselves, especially the men (some with pretty red lacy fans). We carried face cloths in a plastic bag so we could wet them with iced bottled water to cool us down – it was so hot. Very sad to see photos of the war especially the long lasting affects of agent orange and the terrified faces just before the american troops executed the locals. Very anti american obviously as they helped the south and the north won. They named ... read more
May 9th 2012
Time to say goodbye. As so many times in the last years I will have to move on once more. This time my goodbye goes to Hue city, the former imperial capital of Vietnam where I have spent more than a year working for a local university. When I first came here I did not know that my girlfriend (at the time working here) would have to leave soon for a PhD in Hong Kong and was quite suprised when she did, but now I will join her for the same reason in the Special Administrative Region. When she left another good friend of mine joined me here from India and, all in all I did not have difficulties with the place. Of course the Vietnamese culture is almost impossible for a Westerner to comprehend. The ... read more
April 20th 2012
Hey! Just an update as to what we have been up too! When mum left from Cambodia I flew to Hanoi! Here I met the others, they were on my connecting flight which was a good coincidence!! Me and Adam stayed in a seperate place and met Darren :) by this time it was late and we went out for a few drinks in this really cool quiet pub! The beer is so cheap in Vietnam! The next day we explored, however the city is so crazy cars and bikes everywhere and to cross a road you just have to walk! Darren wasych a tourist taking photos and gettin pulled into every shop to buy things! Was sofunny! We literally got lost all the time and basically walked the whole city!!! We eventually found the others ... read more
April 12th 2012
Nautica arrived this morning at Chan May port outside Da Nang. The bay is surrounded by beautiful lush mountains. It is hard to imagine that 40 some years ago it was in the middle of a terrible war. We boarded our bus for the 1 ½ hour drive along Vietnam highway no. 1 to the old imperial capital of Hue. The highway runs parallel to the railway, both of which connect Ho Chi Minh City in the south to Hanoi in the north. Nothing connected these two cities back in the 60s and 70s except war and destruction. The highway is under constant construction and it is narrow. At one point the road snakes over a mountain pass and then descends into the flat plain on the other side. Driving here is not for the feint ... read more
Two tickets to Paradise
Published: April 12th 2012Asia » Vietnam » North Central Coast » Phong Nha Ke Bang
April 12th 2012
Sometimes in life you just do things and you really don't really think too much. One fine example for this kind of seemingly unreasonable behavior is my trip to Phong Nha Ke Bang, a national park in the center of Vietnam. Well, thinking a little bit harder, actually I heared some time ago that the newly discovered 'Paradise Cave' in the above mentioned park will be in the top 10 attraction of the new Vietnam Lonely Planet, while for now it is still relatively unknown in the backpacker crowd.. In a very impulsive attempt to anticipate the tanktop and baggy-pants crowd I called my friend Greg and proposed a weekend trip to the park and the worlds' biggest cave. Now, the first thing to consider is that Vietnam creates a huge gap between theory and practice. ... read more
April 9th 2012
We were met at the hotel foyer the next morning by a motorbike cavalcade waiting to take us off on a white knuckle ride of the local countryside. Having never been on the back of a bike in my life, and never having intended to go on the back of a bike I wasn't exactly looking forward to it. So Phat had decided in his wisdom to put me with the lead guy as he was the 'safest' and 'more experienced'. Trouble was, of course, that he headed off into the traffic mayhem first (after a 1, 2, 3 hoe harrrrrr from all the riders) while my knuckles got whiter and whiter! Our first stop, after avoiding all the other massed mopeds and moterbikes of early morning Hue, was the banks of the Perfume River (Song ... read more
April 8th 2012
Hue (pronounced Hoo-ay), on the banks of the huge Perfume River, is about half way down Vietnam in the thin coastal region of the country. With a population of almost a million it has the regulatory hoards of mopeds seen all over Vietnam. The Perfume river is so named as it used to be lovely smelling, now it whiffs of the dragon boats and city pollution - so not quite so perfumey until you get a bit further out of the city anyway. The city was the Capital of Vietnam until the last Emperor, Bao Di, abdicated in 1945 to Ho Chi Minh, ending the feudal monarchy. There still remains in Hue a Citadel area where the Emperors used to live during their reigns. Sadly the Tet offensive in 1968 ripped the city apart. The Viet ... read more
April 5th 2012
We've had a request from Grandy (my Grandma) for me to write something. So Mum and I have decided that I will write this blog, here it is. It's day 2 in Hue (pronounced Hway) and it's an early start to the morning. Today sounded like it was going to be a very exciting day for I think all of the group. We set off on a motorbike tour of Hue, making multiple stops in some temples and a nunnery/orphanage. When we first got to our bikes and met our drivers, a lot of us were very nervous but also excited. We drove off riding around all of Hue going over bridges, down alleys, along the country side and going through busy roads of traffic. Our first stop was at the Tu Duc Tomb. Tu Duc ... read more
April 4th 2012
4.4.2012 Up very early at 3 to get to the airport for our 6.40 flight. It ended up being delayed as usual and didn't take off till 8.40. On arriving at Hue we got a bus to our hotel called Valentine Hotel, which we had recommended. I managed to to a bit of haggling and got them down a bit. The staff were really nice and showed us all the things we couuld do in Hue. We went to explore the Imperial City (citadel) the old part of the city. It is completely surronded by a high wall and a moat all the way around. We ended up getting a rickshaw around to all the sites. He showed us the old Vietnamese housed that we could look around, a few temples, and a look out. From ... read more
