Sunday afternoon, 31 August 2008 - After visiting Phát Diệm cathedral in the morning and having lunch in Ninh Bình city, my friend and I traveled another 12km by car to Vân Long nature reserve. I had not been to this site before, so I was really looking forward to seeing it. When our car reached the site, we saw the vast range of limestone karst mountains along the stream and the landscape was absolutely beautiful. It reminded me of Guilin in China and Hạ Long bay in northern Vietnam, but this place is very special, as it’s far less touristy. [View Full Entry]

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This is my 50th blog and it's about the river that carries my name. In 1954 my father, who was a teenager from southern Vietnam, traveled on a Polish ship to Hanoi for training, hoping 2 years later he would go back home as a cadre. The American war started and the country was divided into north and south for 21 years. He met my mother, a Hanoian woman, in the early 1970s. They married and settled down in Hanoi, before he had a chance to return home to see his parents in 1975, when the country was reunited. My parents [View Full Entry]

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This is an interesting article published in the Lao Động (Labor) newspaper a few years ago. It was about Vietnamese views on the Western backpackers travelling in Vietnam. When I posted this article in the Thorn Tree travel forum of Lonely Planet website, Ralph, who is an Australian member in the forum, translated it into English. My photos in this blog were taken in the Old Quarter of Hanoi capital, where you can find various services relating to the backpackers. Below is the article in both English and Vietnamese. I would like to thank Ralph for his excellent translation. I only [View Full Entry]

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Last weekend (10 - 13 July 2008), I traveled with my family to Sầm Sơn beach and relaxed for a few days. The beach which is located 180km south of Hanoi is a popular destination for north Vietnamese during the summer time (from May to July). During the other period, there are few tourists going to this beach due to the typhoons and cold water during the winter. In fact, the beaches in northern Vietnam are not as good as the ones in other parts of Vietnam. Although the distance from Hanoi to the beach is only 180km, it took us [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday, 25 June 2008, I spent the day and night traveling from Hanoi to Sukhothai by plane, bus and motorbike. Let me list what means of transport I traveled by: 2 buses from my house to Nội Bài international airport => 2 hour flight from Hanoi to Bangkok => shuttle bus from Suvarnahbumi international airport to the bus terminal => van from the bus terminal to a bus stop near Morchit bus station => motorbike (without helmet) from the bus stop through a village to Morchit bus station => waiting 4 hours at the North/Northeast Bus Terminal => 7 hour night [View Full Entry]

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Saturday, 28 June 2008, my last day in Bangkok. I had nothing to do in the morning until I checked out my guest house and went to the airport, so I decided to visit the Grand Palace on my own. My last visit to the place was 7 years ago, in April 2001, so it was good to be back there and take some photos for my blog. The Grand Palace complex was established in 1782. It seems a must-go place for every tourist in Bangkok. There were too many tourists at the Grand Palace. I miss so much the peaceful [View Full Entry]

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Sunday 15 June 2008, I woke up at 5am and rode my motorbike to the West Lake. Around that area, there are many flower villages. I went to one of them which is located near the West Lake Water Park, in order to take photos of a lotus lake and some activities that only take place in the early hours of the morning. The lotus season in Hanoi starts from June and lasts 3 months. Every morning from 5am to 7am, the local residents, who own the lotus lakes, tour around the lakes on very small boats (in Vietnamese, we call [View Full Entry]

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Sunday 1 June 2008, we left Hanoi at 8am and arrived at Hạ Long bay at 11:30am in the rain. This is my 7th visit to Hạ Long bay, however my most recent trip was already 5 years ago. After I was back in Hanoi from Guilin last month, I decided to make a trip to Hạ Long bay for taking photos. Often I traveled to Hạ Long bay or Cát Bà island for at least 2-3 days, but this time I decided to book a one day trip with a travel agent in Hanoi’s Old Quarter. After a 5 hour [View Full Entry]

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Here I am again at the Jing Xiu Shan park (công viên Thanh Tú Sơn) in Nanning, China. On my first visit to Nanning 8 years ago (in April 2000), I also spent a morning visiting the park and liked the place so much that this time when I returned to Nanning, I asked the Chinese tourist guide to organize a trip for us to the park. Some people on the tour had not been there yet. I told them it was a great place to visit. Each of us paid 60 Yuan to the Chinese tourist guide and driver. They [View Full Entry]

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Guilin city, 1 and 2 May 2008 - We arrived in Guilin at 1:00pm. It took us 5 hours to travel by bus from Nanning to Guilin (500km). Our first impression on the city is the sweet osmanthus trees on both sides of the streets and we saw them everywhere in the city. Guilin means "forest of sweet osmanthus" (Quế Lâm). 80% of the trees in this city are sweet osmanthus trees, 20% are peach trees and others. Our Chinese tourist guide pointed at a board on the roof of a large building and said "There are 2 rivers and 4 [View Full Entry]

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