Blogs from Vietnam, Asia - page 1299

So my second to last day in Sapa I took an all day trek which took me through three ethnic villages. It was great. Minus the ocassional "buy from me's" from the Flower Hmog we got to see how they lived, where they went to school, etc. It was about 45 degrees C out and I was sweatiing profusely. It was funny... our "tour guide" for the trek took his digital camera. Apparently it was the first time that he did this.. he was more like a tourist then a tour guide,. He stopped about every 45 seconds to take pictures of the scenery with his girlfriend. Then back to the hotel. I wanted to leave Sapa a day earlier but they couldn't change my train ticket (I cancelled the tour and only took the ticket). ... read more

Many stories have been told about Vietnam, most of them had to do with the war, but mine has to do with the people and the progress of the human spirit to overcome tragedy and adversity and shine through. Well, after this Hemingway-ish intro, let me tell you about my tour in 'Nam. It all started many years ago for me, and my ever incresing interest in Vietnam and the war fought there by the USA; so, I decided to go there myself and see how it was. I was living in Korea at the time, so the flight there was only 5 hours and pretty cheap. You have to apply for a tourist Visa in advance, which my travel agent did through the Vietnamese embassy in Seoul. Visa and plane ticket in hand I made ... read more

Arrived safely in Hanoi after a very eventful bus journey from Ventiane! The 'VIP' bus turned out to be not so VIP. It broke down before we even started and we had to wait until it was fixed which took a couple of hours. For some reason we were taken by minibus to pick the bus up from the side of the road further down the route. By that time all the best seats had gone (taken by the locals who had been allowed on at the bus station) - so we all got relegated to the back rows where you couldn't recline the seats and had to spend the whole 24 hours in a sitting up position! In addition, the aircon wasn't working properly, which just added to the discomfort! We got to the border ... read more

well I have finally left Tam Ky and it was a an emotional last day but i kinda knew that id be going back to pick up the rest of my bags so it wasn't as bad! Felt really strange leaving though because it did become my home but once again i was stepping out alone to do some travelling with no plan really as to where i was headed! my friend lam booked me a bus ticket for nha trang which is about 500 km south of Tam Ky so i was taken by mrs hahn and anh (a guy who came to same goodbye to me, who i taught, but he also helped out at the Home of affection). In true vietnamese style it was an hour late so i stood there having a ... read more

Mit dem Bus fahren wir drei Stunden nach My Tho und dort gehts weiter auf ein Ausflugsboot. Unsere Reisegruppe besteht aus uns, drei Franzosen, zwei Schweizern, ansonsten nur eher altbackene vietnamesische Ehepaare, die laufend alles fotografieren. Die Landschaft und die Staedte entlang des Mekongs sind ueberwaeltigend. Es geht sehr urspruenglich zu und ist ueberhaupt nicht - wie ich angenommen hatte - Touristen-ueberlaufen. Das Mekong-Delta ist die Vorzeigelandschaft Vietnams. Der gewaltige Mekong fliesst hier auf einem 70.000 qkm grossen Areal ins Meer. Es gibt tausende kleine Nebenfluesse, kuenstlche Kanaele und alte Flusslaeufe. Die Landschaft ist flach wie ein Brett und ueberall Reisfelder, die teilweise unterhalb des Pegels des Mekongs liegen. Am Ufer ist alles durchgehend mit Palmen, Mangroven und anderen weitausladenden Baeumen bewachsen. Die Bewohner sind unglaublich nett und g... read more