Travel Blog | About TravelBlog | World Facts | Travel Wallpaper | Travel Forum | Travel Insurance | Services | Cameras

Vietnam Travel Blogs


The conquest of Vietnam by France began in 1858 and was completed by 1884. It became part of French Indochina in 1887. Independence was declared after World War II, but the French continued to rule until 1954 when they were defeated by Communist forces under Ho Chi Minh, who took control of the North. US economic and military aid to South Vietnam grew through the 1960s in an attempt to bolster the government, but US armed forces were withdrawn following a cease-fire agreement in 1973. Two years later, North Vietnamese forces overran the South. Despite the return of peace, for over two decades the country experienced little economic growth because of conservative leadership policies. Since 2001, Vietnamese authorities have committed to economic liberalization and enacted structural reforms needed to modernize the economy and to produce more competitive, export-driven industries. The country continues to experience protests from the Montagnard ethnic minority population of the Central Highlands over loss of land to Vietnamese settlers and religious persecution.To be updated

Highlights
 • To be updated  •   •   •   •   •   •   •   •   • 

Tips and Hints

To be updated




Links: Vietnam Travel Blogs (all) | Vietnam Travel Photos | Vietnam Travel Forum | Vietnam Facts | Map of Vietnam

Areas in Vietnam: Central Highlands | Mekong River Delta | North Central Coast | Northeast | Northwest | Red River Delta | South Central Coast | Southeast

Vietnam

Vietnam Location


Recommended Books:

Hostels in Vietnam
Latest Vietnam Blog Entries
Vietnam Photos











Saigon. Shit. I'm still only in Saigon. Whatchu talkin' bout, Willard? I'm loving it here. I flew from Bangkok to Hanoi, right back where I started out more than three months ago. A couple of Israeli boys and I pile into taxi, and since I am a Vietnam veteran of sorts and they know absolutely nothing about Vietnam they look to me for advice. "Thit cho is dog meat, seek or avoid accordingly" and "they drive kinda crazy here" are the only pearls of wisdom I can think of. The Israelis assure me that they can handle crazy traffic, because Israelis [View Full Entry]

Kate Hildebrand - Kate Hildebrand | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
1001 Words | 5 Comment(s) | 42 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: May 15th 2006 | 1527 Views | [diary=54967]

Hey you, where you go?
Saigon market
Watching the world go by

We decided to escape the hustle and bustle of Hanoi, especially all the 2.5 million motorcycles (seriously, there are actually 2.5 million motorbikes here!) and we went on an organised day trip to the Perfume Pagoda. This is a complex of pagodas and buddhist shrines built into the limestone cliffs near Hanoi, which dates back to the 15th century. We were thrown round in a minivan for 2 hours until we arrived near to the Perfume Pagoda, we had to hop into small, old rowboats and 4 of us were rowed for an hour by a girl who looked like she [View Full Entry]

Jared and Anna - Anna & Jared | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
307 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 5 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: May 16th 2006 | 205 Views | [diary=59800]

Anna enjoying the view
Jared arriving at the pagoda after 4km trek
Inside the Perfume Pagoda

'Nam baby! Here at last. Vietnam is one place that I have been really looking forward to coming to and it didn’t disappoint. From Phnom Penh I took a slow boat down the massive Mekong River to cross over the border at a tiny immigration office on the river bank. We transferred to another boat and made our way past the floating houses and people driving around in their small wooden boats wearing the conical hats that are typical for Vietnam. Our destination that night was the border town of Chau Doc. There is not much to be said about this [View Full Entry]

Linesy - Graham Lines | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
1233 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 14 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: June 5th 2006 | 203 Views | [diary=59774]

Me & Uncle Ho
Taxi Boat
Sunrise on the Mekong

By Karyn
May 14th 2006

Hanoi

 Asia » Vietnam » Red River Delta » Hanoi
Well I am safe and sound in Hanoi!!! It's so strange to cross the world in a day - it's like being dropped onto another planet. It's so easy to forget that this other world exists day in day out, when Australia is so QUIET!!! There are quite a few motorbikes here. With HORNS. It seems that Vietnamese motorbikes don't operate unless one hand is on the horn all the time. And when I say 'quite a few motorbikes', I mean MILLIONS of them. Just millions. (which equals 'quite a few' horns, as well...) The trip here was quite good, but [View Full Entry]

Karyn - Karyn | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
740 Words | 1 Comment(s) | 0 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: May 14th 2006 | 153 Views | [diary=59206]


By Karyn
May 14th 2006

The Palace

 Asia » Vietnam » Red River Delta » Hanoi
My accommodation was booked by my country manager at Australian Volunteers International. I was hoping for something semi-decent (after all it costs $US20 a night!), but hotels here are expensive, and I had foolishly had high hopes for expensive hotels in India (only to discover holey sheets, rat droppings, broken ceiling fans and dirty squat toilets...) Anyway, turns out I'm not in India! (who knew??) My hotel is a palace (not an actual 'palace', it is just very nice). My room is HUGE (think lounge room and kitchen of Edthel combined), with a double bed and a single bed (I could [View Full Entry]

Karyn - Karyn | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
571 Words | 3 Comment(s) | 0 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: May 14th 2006 | 159 Views | [diary=59217]


By Jared and Anna
May 13th 2006

Hanoi

 Asia » Vietnam » Red River Delta » Hanoi
Have been in Hanoi one day, we had decided to do a walking tour of the old quarter area of the city, so went down and had breakfast and then the heavens decided to open, so I went back to our room and saw that we had a lake rapidly developing in our room as none of the windows were sealed properly and the rain was just pouring in! A lovely lady from our guest house (who didn't understand a word I was saying) spent about an hour and a half mopping up the mess and wouldn't let me help! The [View Full Entry]

Jared and Anna - Anna & Jared | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
274 Words | 3 Comment(s) | 4 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: May 13th 2006 | 173 Views | [diary=59062]

Anna at Hoan Kien Lake
Jared trying to be a local
Anna with our exhausted cyclo driver

School girls
School girls
riding in uniform to class
We have left Saigon and continued to Mui Ne, where we stayed in little bungalows on the beach for 3 days. I was really glad to get back to the coast. Saigon was really cool, but I was looking to get out of the big city metropolis for a while. Its the low season here so there isn't a lot of nightlife going on. The streets are quite deserted, or so it seems after the 24/7 non stop traffic in Ho Chi Minh City. We had 3 days in Mui Ne which were spent going to 2 different areas with sand [View Full Entry]

avriljb - Avril | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
506 Words | 2 Comment(s) | 11 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: May 12th 2006 | 572 Views | [diary=58780]

island hopping
wheeling and dealing
Please don

Say Cheese!
Say Cheese!
Squished in the Chu Chi Tunnels
Saigon was our last stop in Vietnam and, considering the fact that we had enjoyed everywhere else in the country so much, we weren't expecting to like the city a lot. We had also been warned from fellow travellers that it was noisy, overcrowded and a bit sleazy in places. Thankfully we were pleasantly surprised. To us, Saigon was a well developed buzzing city which had a lot to offer. We arrived to the usual gathering of 'friendly' touts, all promising top-notch cheap accommodation. Of course we were sceptical but after a bit of trudging to and fro we found a [View Full Entry]

Gypsyrovers - Karen & Helen | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
755 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 4 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: May 25th 2006 | 169 Views | [diary=61674]

Looks can be deceiving..
Steve
Mwaah ha ha!

The boys are back in town
The boys are back in town
This is Millsy and Vinh giving me my present on my birthday before heading off to see Vinh's ex girlfriend perform a concert.
OK, first up, let me apologise for not having posted anything on the blog for several weeks. I am tempted to blame Stef but I have to take full responsibility here. Up until now, Stef had been doing most of the writing whilst I was in charge of the photos and other 'techie' bits of running the blog. I did promise Stef that I would write about our first parts of Vietnam and I have been procrastinating constantly. Whilst this is entirely in Character, part of me thinks that I have been delaying it because, to be totally honest, Vietnam has [View Full Entry]

SASINSEA - Steve and Stef | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
1922 Words | 4 Comment(s) | 10 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: July 10th 2006 | 392 Views | [diary=68126]

My 15mins of movie stardom
Steve and Stef looking great ;-)
Steve coming out of the last stretch of the Cu Chi tunnels

We had a shit bus for the trip to Dalat, it was a one off the nice bus from Saigon!! We were on this Bus with an English Couple Lucy and Dave, who we have travelled most of the way through Vietnam with. Travelling from Mui Ne to Dalat was quite an experience. We went from desert to the Mountains in a little under 3 hours, very surreal. Through the mountains we were on a dodgey track that was so tiny and looked like we would go over the edge, and it was raining!!! But it looked amazing up there and [View Full Entry]

Kez Dave - Out of the Rock!! | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
888 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 9 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: May 28th 2006 | 159 Views | [diary=61230]

Dalat Terrace
Dave on stolen cyclo
Dalat Lake