Blogs from Hanoi, Red River Delta, Vietnam, Asia - page 6

De laatste keer dat ik wat schreef was in Pai, Thailand dus ik heb nog flink wat in te halen qua schrijven. Allereerst allemaal nog een gelukkig nieuwjaar enz. Na Pai zijn we naar de grens van Laos gegaan en hebben daar de slowboat genomen die over de Mekong in 2 dagen helemaal naar Luang Prabang ging. Op internet stonden allemaal horror verhalen over die boot dat alles verschrikkelijk was maar we hebben echt twee hele relaxte dagen gehad. Laos is nog behoorlijk vrij van westerse invloeden en er is vooral veel natuur. Langs e rivier is amper bebouwing, af en toe een klein dorpje met een paar houten hutjes. Verder beboste heuvels en rotsformaties. Luang Prabang is met z'n 60.000 inwoners na hoofdstad Vientiane de grootste stad en door z'n combinatie van franse koloniale gebouwen ... read more

Hanoi: + arriving at Bodega Hotel we were greeted by an army of hoteliers who were literally falling over each other trying to help us carry our bags, offering glasses of water and frantically grabbing at maps and leaflets providing us with any information we may need in Hanoi! Whilst we would be complaining had they have been rude and unhelpful, this was slightly overwhelming and surprisingly difficult to exit the lobby area and retire to our room! img=http://i1290.photobucket.com/albums/b534/Rachel_1988/ED7E25C8-267F-41D3-BBEA-AD3E2EEAAB58-1088-000002801B3414EB.jpg + 6 million inhabitants, 4.5 million of which own and appear to always be beeping down the streets of hanoi on their motorbike! There was literally nowhere to walk... The streets were full of motorbikes as were the pavements with parked bikes taking up the whole side walk! Negotiating our way from A to... read more

On December 7, following our stay at the Phong Na Farmstay, we flew from nearby Dong Hoi to Hanoi, one of Vietnam's major cities and its current capital. Due to a lack of planning ahead on our part, we’ve ended up staying in the city for almost a week, which has had its perks and downsides. The city is much like Ho Chi Minh City in terms of its traffic and volume of people, but it’s a bit smaller with fewer skyscrapers, and the weather is much cooler – I’ve actually been able to utilize the several jackets I packed for the first (and probably only) time during our trip. Since we initially only booked two nights at a small hotel, we had to change hotels for the remainder of the week. Our new hotel has ... read more

The beauty of old Vietnam in precious color photos - December 2012 The color photos in this blog (No. 1 to No. 16) were published on Dân Trí website on 3 December 2012. They were taken during 1910 - 1930 by the photographers who were sponsored by Albert Kahn to travel to Vietnam for taking photos of the country and people. Albert Kahn (1860 – 1940) was a famous French bank owner of Jewish origin. He was well known at the time as a kind businessman who had a special passion for cultural and educational issues. In 1909, he traveled to Japan with a friend who was also a photographer. They took many great photos during the trip. This had inspired Albert Kahn to make a photo collection project from all over the world. Afterwards, he ... read more

Here I am, I have arrived in Hanoi, Capital city of Vietnam from Vientiane. First impressions traffic, traffic and more traffic, just think of London traffic on steroids!!!! Fact there are 3 million motor cycles & yes they carry everthing, pigs, dogs, cows, chest of drawers anything you can imagine they can carry here and ride, now that is what I call multi-tasking. Ok here is the deal if you want to survive in Hanoi on foot this is what you must do to get around: Always walk towards & in the traffic, don't worry the motor cycles will go around you. Don't run Don't stop Just keep walking till you reach the other side. A good thing about Hanoi is street beer, only 4,000 dong which works out about 20p a glass, no wonder after ... read more

Well we survived our first full day in Hanoi! Didnt have the greatest nights sleep in the hostel as wasn't used to sharing with 6 strangers, and hearing snoring and people moving about woke me up a few times but over all it was fine. The only thing that we had been warned about by an Australian guy last night was that at about 7am a loud speaker outside the hostel plays the vietnam news :S so that was a rather strange wake up call. Got us up in time for breakfast though which was helpful :D Had a nice breakfast on the roof terrace and then hit the streets! Started off going to a famous prison and reading a bit about the history of it which was quite interesting and then after we had done ... read more