Blogs from Northeast, Vietnam, Asia
May 16th 2012
You join me on my first every blog, sat in my room in Hanoi, Vietnam after a crazy day on the streets of the city (slowly learning now the art of crossing the road - believe me it's not easy here!) I've been here two days now and have just come over from Malaysia and previosly Bali, Indonesia. I'm currently planning the next leg of my trip, in the next two days I will be travelling to Halong City for the must-see Halong Bay, then return to Hanoi to hopefully get a bus to Luang Prabang, Laos, then on to Vientiane and finally off into Thailand for a flight home from Bangkok in about a months time.... read more
May 2nd 2012
After I was back home from Hà Giang, I booked another tour to the far north (Cao Bằng province), but the tour was cancelled a couple of days before the trip. I decided to change to a 3-day tour to Quan Lạn island. April 30 and May Day are one of the biggest festivals in Vietnam, so hotels are fully booked in advance and prices often go up. I chose to travel on a tour as it was very close to the holiday and it was also more convenient. My 3- day tour (from 28 to 30 April) costs US$150. Quan Lạn is one of the islands in Bái Tử Long bay (north of Hạ Long bay). We left Hanoi at 5:30am and traveled 216km to Cái Rồng port, then we changed to a speed boat. ... read more
Hà Giang - Part 4 (Mapileng pass & Mèo Vạc)
Published: April 26th 2012Asia » Vietnam » Northeast » Ha Giang
April 26th 2012
16 & 17/4/2012 – Day 3 & Day 4 of the 5 day trip to Hà Giang (the northernmost province of Vietnam). We said good bye to Đồng Văn town and moved on toward the most beautiful section of the trip. Mapileng pass is only 7km in length, but as I said in Part 1, it took 11 months to build one km which was the most difficult section. We stopped several times on the way for taking photos. The landscape along Mapileng pass is one of the best natural landscapes I’ve ever seen in Vietnam. Some sections of Nho Quế river run on the border line between Vietnam and China. We were also amazed at the view of Mapileng gorge which is the deepest gorge in Vietnam. This is the end of the Happy Road ... read more
Hà Giang - Part 3 (Đồng Văn & Lũng Cú)
Published: April 25th 2012Asia » Vietnam » Northeast » Ha Giang
April 25th 2012
15 & 16/4/2012 – Day 2 & Day 3 of the 5 day trip to Hà Giang (the northernmost province of Vietnam). We arrived at Đồng Văn town at 5pm. Next to our hotel there were 3 big motorbikes which we saw when our mini bus had problem on the pass. It turned out that these motorbikes were owned by 3 Thai travelers. Anyone would dream of having such a comfortable motorbike to travel in this wonderful mountain region. The Thai men were passing by us very fast, so we only guessed based on the Lao and Thai flags on their bikes. The first thing I did after arrival in Đồng Văn town was to walk along the main street. When we had dinner at a restaurant opposite to our hotel, I saw 3 Thai men ... read more
Hà Giang - Part 2 (Phố Cáo & Sủng Là)
Published: April 23rd 2012Asia » Vietnam » Northeast » Ha Giang
April 23rd 2012
Afternoon 15 April 2012 – Day 2 of the 5 day trip to Hà Giang (the northern most province of Vietnam). After lunch in Yên Minh, we traveled 14km to Phố Cáo. Both Phố Cáo and Sủng Là communes, which we were going to visit, have preserved typical architecture and traditional culture of the white H’mong in Hà Giang. The population of Hà Giang province is 800,000 people, of which 21.3% are H’mong ethnic minority people. They are called “white H’mong” because H’mong women wear white skirts. If you have traveled to the North West of Vietnam, you may have seen different branches of H’mong group, for example, black H’mong in Sapa, flowery H’mong in Bắc Hà, blue H’mong in Sơn La, and red H’mong in Suối Giàng. Now you will see another branch of H’mong ... read more
Hà Giang - Part 1 (Quản Bạ & Yên Minh)
Published: April 22nd 2012Asia » Vietnam » Northeast » Ha Giang
April 22nd 2012
I’ve just come back home from Hà Giang province after traveling over 1,000km overland on a 5-day tour (14/4 to 18/4/2012). Hà Giang is the northernmost province of Vietnam which has 274km border line with China. The province is home to 22 ethnic groups (mainly ethnic minority people) and it’s famous for the best mountain scenery in Vietnam. This is my second trip to the province. Eight years ago I traveled to Hà Giang on a business trip. My impression on the trip was the red color of dust over houses and trees along Highway No. 2, as the road was under construction. After meeting with the leaders of the province, I traveled with a Japanese manager to the Vietnam – China border gate (22km from Hà Giang city) and we visited a market on the ... read more
April 1st 2012
1.4.2012 After a 3 and a half hour bus journey, all packed in like sardines we arrive at Halong City where we board the junk boat for a cruise around Halong Bay. We booked a 3 day 2 night tour with 1 night on the boat and one night on Cat Ba Island, which is the biggest island in Halong Bay. As we were waiting on the dock we couldn't see our boat that we were supposed to be getting on. It was very busy and we gott ushered ontp this boat that wasn't the right boat. First of all it was called the party boat when we had booked a 'luxurious' boat. I phoned the hotel and he knew straight away what he hhad done and sold us the wrong thing! He lied to us ... read more
March 30th 2012
30.3.2012 We arrived in Hanoi quite late and decided to get a bus to our hotel. It was in the old quarter. We were stuffed into a mini bus with more people in seats and gave the adress to the driver. We had no idea where we would end up, but after an hour and a half we somehow ended up at our hotel. We checked in and Skyped Laura and Pete and got to speak to baby Erin Grace. 31.3.2012 We booked a trip to Halong Bay this morning. We went round a few places but decided on the boat that the guy in the hotel was offering, which turned out to be a big mistake! We walked around the Old Quarter of the city and it is very nice. There is a big lake ... read more
Ninh binh and Cuc Phoung National Park
Published: February 26th 2012Asia » Vietnam » Northeast » Hải Phòng
February 26th 2012
thought i'd add a few more pics of Ninh Binh - know as the halong bay on land; it is simply a fantastic place - we visited loads of countryside, saw great paddie fields. Their regional speciality is goat - bit difficult to eat them when you keep seeing little cute baby goats everywhere! Went on a rowing boat with a canadian couple, and was rowed through stunning caves at Trang An - a fantastic place. Passed on the Pagoda 9trust me, there are only so many temples and pagodas you can see). Also went to the great Van Long - love te expereince of Vietnam - the culture, friendly kids, cheap beer (the record so far is 12 pence!). Got here via the sleeper train which was a great way to travel (especially compared to ... read more
Public buses and a surprise in the cave...!
Published: February 26th 2012Asia » Vietnam » Northeast » Hải Phòng
February 26th 2012
got up at 6.30 to brave the public bus..it actually seemed ok when it pulled up to pick us up, and the journey was fine - apart from when it broke down..we soon got started again but it was a bizarre expereince seeing 10 vietnamese men try to fix the public bus. halong bay is magical - the scale of it is fantastic over, 2,000 islands.. our boat was great - good food and great company (a real international mixture with oz, belgium, swiss, russia all represented). We visited surprise cave - now there is a reason why the cave is called a surprise - see if you can guess in the pics, i'll give you clue - its red and points in the air... Went kayaking on halong bay and actually managed to avoid falling ... read more
