http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Vietnam , Southeast en-us Mon, 16 Nov 09 11:44:32 +0000 Mon, 16 Nov 09 11:44:32 +0000 It's always nice to know that you are headed to a tropical destination during winter but to know that it will be 25c when you are away is even sweeter. With that we said goodbye to Edmonton.After a full day of flying we finally made it to Saigon on Saturday night. Other than a very long 14hour flight from Vancouver to Hong Kong things went off with out much hassle. Shauna didn't get any sle http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-453461.html Hi allGreetings from beautiful Mui Ne Sorry it's been awhile since posts but between dodgy internet connections and just being plain busy haven't had a chance. Anyway I stumbled on an internet cafe this morning so can catch you up to date. Thanks also for the messages everyone we are getting them and it's great to hear your feedback. We spent a few days at the resort town of Nha Trang which http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-453041.html Well as usual I've waited much too long to update the ol' blog. But moving along last month I took a weekend trip to Ho Chi Minh Vietnam with newish good friend Malcolm. Malcolm is here from England teaching English with his girlfriend Louise who happened to be off on a girls' trip to Hong Kong so Mal and I planned a boys weekend. It also happened to be Mal's birthday an extra cause f http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-452527.html That's Vietnamese for 'how much is this' which by the way I have no idea how to pronounce and which also is fairly irrelevant cos I already know the answer will be 'cheap very cheap'So wersquore currently in Mui Ne about 200kms north east of hcmc. Let me just get back to the lsquoawesomersquo bus again if I mayhellip. I tell ya that was seriously the most comfortable mode of transpo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Mui-Ne/blog-451515.html Predictable title I know but Irsquove always wanted a purpose to say thatSo we are in HCMC actually to be precise I am writing this from the worlds coolest bus seriously itrsquos a sleeper bus so its full of beds instead of seats wersquove only been on here 10 minutes and mick is already snoring apart from the noise Irsquom loving this bus.I actually wrote this huge blog last nig http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-451136.html Allo Allo on est rendus au Cambodge et comme vous avez peutetre remarque l'acces internet n'est plus gratuit C'est pas cher non plus mais moins facile que de descendre au rezdechaussee de l'hotel. Le Vietnam etait bien pour ca mais on s'en ennuie pas. C'est unanime 2 sur 2 on prefere le Cambodge L'atmosphere les gens c'est charmant Mais ca c'est une autre histoire Je vais d'abord http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-451120.html At its height the tunnel system stretched over 250km. from Saigon to the Cambodian border and was three levels deep. The network included innumerable trap doors specially constructed living areas storage facilities weapons factories field hospitals command centers and kitchens. Today the remaining tunnels have become a major tourist attraction giving the visitor a unique experience and a feel http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/Cu-Chi/blog-449418.html Saigon... capital of motorbikes.. Day 21 22In a city with a population of 9 million there is an estimated 5 million motorbikes. Thatrsquos more motorbikes than the people of Ireland and this is only one city I have no doubt that many teenagers have never been in a car in their lives as the motorbike is the only mode of transport they need. We got an evening cyclo city tour of Saigon. I was r http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-448027.html Following the French Conquest of Cochinchina and Saigon the Roman Catholic Church established religious services for the French colonialist in an abandoned Vietnamese pagoda. That was too small so they built a wooden church which was damaged by termites.In August 1876 the Governor of Cochinchina M. Duperr held a design contest for a new cathedral. Apart from creating a religious building for t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-447930.html My morning walk is getting less strenuous and always interesting. If you enjoy watching people Vietnam is a paradise. Most of the walk also alerts the senses to the beautiful surroundings. This blog is a little of what I see as I walk to the Cafe Vuon Xua.There is a school near my house and a lot of the kids are eating breakfast on the street. No school lunch no school breakfast just a bunc http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-447696.html Llegado a Ho Chi Minh tambin conocida como Saigon aunque no es la capital de Vietnam desde luego que se nota que es el centro de comercio y negocios del pas y entiendes que Hanoi es un poco mas tradicional mas similitud a la cultura China.Cuando digo mas moderna es simplemente que hay mas luces carteles y un poco mas limpio...la gente sigue con motos polucin poco higinico comiendo a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-447431.html Hello againFirstly thanks for all the blog love I've been getting glad you guys are liking the blog. I'm just happy to share our adventures and some pictures.Anyways last time it was Northern Vietnam and Halong Bay that amazed us this time it was the central coast of Vietnam.There is an open bus ticket option here in Vietnam where you choose the number of stops along the way from Hanoi to Ho C http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-447426.html Disaster Tupur and family are scheduled to reach by 11 ish so we had thought that we would grab some breakfast at our favourite ABC Bakery trying to keep the costs down its so easy to blow away 150 dongs in that place and then get the train tickets and the Mekong tour in place before they arrive. I had spoken to our landlady that we need 2 rooms for the night of the 30th. When we come down http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-447229.html What a full day. What a day of myriad impressions. We woke up late and by the time we got going it was already 11. Off to breakfast at the same bakery and we hogged great sandwiches and Sanaa lopped up a Tiramisu. A good way to start the day. Free wifi at the coffee shop and though we ended up spending quite a bit more than what we intended a good beginning to the day all round.So we decided http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-447217.html Well we made it to Vietnam and so far our ecperience has been wonderful. Our hostess at the hotek is the sweetest person I have ever met and really helped us get our bearings here. We arrived in the evening so we went out to dinner and a few cocktails. As we were leaving the restaurant I noticed a little art shop across the street adn I wanted to check it out. Steve and I went in to look around http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/Cu-Chi/blog-447212.html Day 0Chennai AirportOkay quite crazy. Several international flights leaving at the same time and only one screening machine in place. Chaos and confusion and tempers running high. And piling crowds everywhere. Long long queues. It helps to travel with a kid we get preference queue positions shortcuts to counters special lines meant for only families with young children. Who says travelling w http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-447198.html Mr. Phuong is my English teaching friend from HCMC. He is quite the friend. I met him as I was bicycling down a Saigon street. He pulled up beside me on his motorbike and said If you would just stop at that pub ahead I'll buy you a beer if you talk English with me. I don't like beer but I stopped anyway. I guess that was the start of our friendship doing things neither one of us finds all http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/Cu-Chi/blog-446896.html Cue the children by the dozen selling postcards books gum nothing all day and night. You can add to that the adults selling glasses and other knickknacks. You can't get away from them. Even if you have on headphones they call out to you.. Oh and I forgot tuktuk and motorbike. Of course you have this all over SE Asia but I definitely felt as if it were 10 fold in Saigon.. or I mean Ho Chi Minh http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-446851.html Day 2 began as we got on the bus and headed down towards the Cu Chi tunnels. The trip turned out to be longer than we thought as we went to the 'Cao Dai' temple which was a few hours away. The bus ride was great to see the other half of saigon the country side. We soon found out that living quality only worsened as we got further out of the city. On the way we stoped of at another one of the tour http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-446670.html Saigon City was a really hectic city and in many ways it was how we'd both imagined it would be. It seemed a contrasting mix of old and new ladies in traditional Vietnamese hats selling things on bikes and ultra modern glass buildings. We found at first the people to be less friendly than Cambodia but still in most cases extremely polite. We had to work really hard in oder to get conversati http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-446587.html