Blogs from Vietnam, Asia
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Well where are we up to? We left HCMC on Saturday morning after a great night sat drinking with a group of local lads, drinking 30p Saigons and comparing slang words. We soon realised that we all enjoyed the DJ Station nightclub in Bangkok! Dalat is a very pretty place, like an Alpine village around a lake. The outdoor night market is fantastic with over 100 stalls selling great food including roasted chicken feet and great cakes. What always hits me about the stall traders is how I judge them to have so little, let actually they also have so much- friendliness, passion and a real zest for their life. On the Sunday we joined a day tour and had a great day in part due to meeting some great fellow travellers, Louis from Paris (who ... read more
Nha Trang beach
It was dark when we arrived in Nha Trang at 5.30am and the bus just dumped us on a random side street, so we had to find our bearings (which is quite hard when you don’t have a map!). We just headed to the beach as we knew our guesthouse, Truong Giang, was there, then asked a few of the locals who were all up doing their early morning exercises, and within 15 minutes we‘d arrived. We were exhausted from the bus journey so slept until midday, then we ventured out to see what ‘Vietnams Number One Beach Resort’ was all about. Russian people and big waves it would seem! Immediately it became apparent that there were a huge amount of Russian holidaymakers here.. We felt like dwarfs, they’re all so tall!! We hit the beach ... read more
Fresh flowers abound
Yesterday was spent traveling from Beijing to Hanoi, Vietnam. We met up in the airport in Hong Kong with Jim our host and the CEO of Destination Asia. He assures us he has planned many exciting surprises to come! We will see him again in Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) on Tuesday. We also met up with the four other couples and flew to Hanoi arriving in the early evening. A drink to enjoy being together and off to bed. Our accommodation is the Hilton Hanoi Opera (not the prison but very close to it). Once again it is a five star fabulous hotel. We started our day with a great buffet offering Asian and Western fare and then boarded twelve rickshaws and headed into the Hanoi traffic!!!! Motorbikes, cars and people move like the RCMP musical ... read more
12 Rickshaws...SOS on the move!
On Saturday night we left Hong Kong and flew 2 hours to Hanoi. We were held up quite awhile in Hanoi airport dealing with the visas...have never seen such inefficiency in my life!! We were met by Houng (pronounced like Juan), our guide and checked into the Hilton Hanoi Opera. Fantastic room with a lovely gift and fruit plate awaiting us...we are so spoiled!! Got together for a few drinks with the 5 other couples and met again in the morning at the breakfast buffet. So many choices...definitely my favorite meal of the day!! Everyone enjoying the traditional Vietnamese Pho (prounounced FUR)....hot broth with meat, noodles and veggies. After breakfast we all got into our rickshaws......what a sight as we set out with a line of 14 rickshaws travelling through the busy streets!! Seemed very scary ... read more
I enjoyed the night train so Sapa on Friday. It was much cleaner than my last night train, the beds were more comfortable & there was more space. Also 2 Aussie guys played a film, which passed the time, although it was about a runaway train!! Saturday morning I went for a hike to the Hmong village of Cat Cat & saw a waterfall & a traditional performance. I also tried some apple wine, which was quite sweet. I had a lazy afternoon & did some more shopping. It was cold in Sapa so I ended up wearing 2 t-shirts, a fleece, a waterproof jacket & a wolly hat for most of the time. There was no heating in my room but I was saved by the electric blanket, so I was toasty and got a ... read more
Sábado 28 de enero Hoy An Nos despertamos como a las 9 A.M. y salimos a desayunar algo muy francés. Kyle pidió una crepe de piña con miel y<span> yo<span> una de banana con chocolate, la mas golosa. A los dos nos encantan los jugos naturales<span> así que pedimos para compartir una limonada natural y fría y<span> un juego de patilla. Salimos a caminar y alquilar una bici<span> por el día por el mínimo precio de $1, montados en la bici, con mochila detrás, agua en la cestita estábamos listos para explorar Hoi An. Vimos en el mapa un puente que daba hacia una isla llamada Cham, un poco mas aislada del Hoi An turístico y decidimos explorarla. Kyle encontró un camino de tierra y asfalto debajo del puente,<span> seguimos siempre el rio a nuestra mano<span> ... read more
One handed
We arrived at Sunflower early so we couldnt check in yet. We waited in reception with the Aussie couple for an hour or so until they brought us our keys. They told us they have one double room and one twin room. We flipped a coin for the double room... England 1-0 Australia! We walked up to our room like we had won the Ashes but then the mood turned sour... Fishy sour. The bus journey from hell got worse as I realised my bag had been packed underneath the bus with Hoi An fish market. I emptied the rucksack and put it in the shower, inspected my clothes and found fish juice on all my pants so they had to get showered too. They had more showers than I had. We walked into Hoi An ... read more
Buddha de 79 pieds, à la pagode Long Son!
Bonjour tout le monde! Nous sommes à Nha Trang à l'hôtel "King Town" (depuis le 4 février), l'endroit de repos préféré des russes! Nous devions être à l'aéroport à 7h pour un vol d'environ 50 min. (sinon 12hrs en train ou autobus ) Disons qu'ici, les choses sont pas mal au ralenti! Il y a la plage, un peu de magasinage et manger! Mais pour David et moi, nous voulons découvrir un peu plus comme: Aller manger au "Lanterns", un restaurant qui prends une partie des profits pour aider les gens moins nantis ainsi que des orphelinats dont moi et David avons visité un. Nous avons bénévolement accepté d'aller passer du temps avec les enfants dans la pagode "Loc Tho" qui s'occupe des orphelins et donne aussi des cours de niveau primaire pour les enfants dont ... read more
Mekong Sunset
Did you know? In Vietnam, the exchange rate is 20,000 dong to the US dollar. A couple of days ago, Tom said, “I'm doing pretty well – I have a million and a half dong.” Then he did the conversion and found that he had $71. Oops – off to the ATM. More than once, we've caused consternation by handing a waiter or taxi driver 10,000 dong (50 cents) rather than 100,000 ($5). For the past two days, we've had a WONDERFUL time traveling through the Mekong river delta on a beautiful teakwood boat. It had only two staterooms, accommodating four passengers with a crew of five. However, Tom had arranged for us to be the only ones on the boat. Talk about luxury! We had cushioned lounge chairs in the shade or sun on the ... read more
27 – 28 de enero Hue Llegamos a Hue a las 8 y algo de la mañana. El viaje <span> un poco turbulento<span> ya que las carreteras de Vietnam no están bien pavimentadas y<span> hay cráteres, rocas, raíces por todas partes. Además las camas del bus eran muy duras e incomodas. Negociamos un tour con dos conductores de motos para ver unas pagodas, templos, tumbas y palacios<span> y la ciudad amurallada. Kyle se subió<span> detrás de una motocicleta y yo<span> a la otra. Con caso y mochilas<span> puestas partimos a ver Hue. El primer templo que vimos me recordó las ruinas de Angkor Wat. En el medio de la selva, en ruinas, con arboles alrededor, lagos, estanques y muchas edificaciones antiguas con moho y señales de antigüedad. Alrededor de la edificación central había... read more
