Blogs from Dai Nam, Southeast, Vietnam, Asia
March 11th 2012
What could be better on a lazy Sunday than a trip to the zoo? We set off back to Dai Nam () because last time, the zoo was the one section that we missed out on. This time though, we had no students in tow! That made us the number one attraction for every group of other students in the park! Entry to Dai Nam seemed to have gone up a little since we last visited but 70,000 VND is still just a couple of pounds. The zoo then cost another 50,000 VND which, to us, isn't bad. If you went with a family of four and also went on a few of the amusement rides, it seems you can soon build up a figure that most Vietnamese families simply could not afford. At the entrance ... read more
October 3rd 2009
Dai Nam Park is situated about 40km away from Ho Chi Minh City. Opened in September 2008 it aims to be the leading tourist attraction by 2010. An optimistic dream, but even now even when it is still not quite complete you can see the potential. It is a huge complex with a hotel, shopping mall, open zoo, theme park, beach area and temple. Some say it looks cheap, but I found it to be a beautiful retreat and a good way to spend a day. My journey began, as so many do these days, in Ho Chi Minh City near Ben Thanh market (well my hotel is there). I had researched the buses to Dai Nam Park (yes, I really did think about using public transport much to the amusement of some of the other ... read more
January 28th 2009
Damn!!! I got sunburnt something rotten today. Despite me wearing, what my dear ol' mumsie would term as 'sensible clothing' (and no I'm not referring to a pair of bell bottomed jeans she bought me back in 1977 and 'still' haven’t managed to grow into yet!) I still came away from our day out looking like a Swedish crayfish after an hour of boiling away with several sprigs of the finest Swedish dill. I burnt my head too... God knows how, I had a cap on all day long! Even my esteemed colleague Mark was made to suffer in a similar way.... I put it down to cheap hats imported from God knows where, that quite simply offer no resistance to UV rays whatsoever. Now obviously, the militant environmentalists, tax grabbing politicians and the other sheep ... read more
