http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Vietnam , Red River Delta en-us Mon, 28 Dec 2009 07:08:07 +0000 Mon, 28 Dec 2009 07:08:07 +0000 Coolly weather colorful lights big Christmas trees and Santa Clause on trading centers shops hotels and entertainment centers make Saigon brilliant in the atmosphere of Christmas.Posted by indochinatoursonline.comIf you need more information about us and promotion tours please visitWebsite httpwww.indochinatoursonline.comEmail infoindochinatoursonline.comAdd Suite D7 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-462239.html We arrived in Vietnam knowing that we had a one hour drive to Hanoi. We soon found a taxi and negotiated a 10 fare to our chosen hotel The Hanoi Guesthouse. There were roadworks and we arrived in the centre after 75 minutes. It is scruffy dirty and noisy maybe we should just go back to the airport. First stop Hotel Omega no we want Hanoi Guesthouse. ldquoSame Samerdquo as we hav http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-461837.html And another corny clich comment from Sarah ldquoTime flies when yoursquore having funrdquoThis is an update of our work days over the past 7wks.Luke was lucky enough to meet a lovely Vietnamese Man Toan at a Guitar shop in our very early days in Hanoi. They got talking about what we were doing in Hanoi and as a result on Sunday November 9th I met with Toan his brother and nephew http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-461832.html Vietnamese people usually return to their families during T7871t. Some return to worship at the family altar or visit the graves of their ancestors in their homeland. Although T7871t is a national holiday among all Vietnamese each region and religion has its own customs.T7871t in the three Vietnamese regions can be divided into three periods known as T7845t Nin Before New Year's Ev http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-460566.html Eigentlich wollte ich mir das HoChiMinhMausoleum nicht ansehen auf Maos ausgestellte Leiche hatte ich auch verzichtet nicht nur weil damals in Peking absoluter Ausnahmestatus wegen des Nationalfeiertags herrschte. Allerdings wollte ich das dazugehrige Museum sowie einige andere Sehenswrdigkeiten auf dem Gelnde ansehen die man nur betreten kann wenn man zuvor Onkel Ho in seiner letzten R http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-459949.html Ich bin im kulinarischen Himmel Gegenber Cloud darf ich es nicht allzu laut sagen aber bei aller Liebe zu einzelnen chinesischen Gerichten habe ich in den vergangenen anderthalb Tagen so ziemlich das beste Essen der vergangenen drei Monate gegessen. Am ersten Abend gab es gegrillte Hhnchenstcke mit Zitronengras heute Mittag meine erste Pho seit ber zwei Jahren fr weniger als einen Euro e http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-459756.html Der Dschungel brennt. Darber fliegen Hubschrauber in denen USSoldaten mit dem Gewehr in der Hand darauf warten zu ihrem Einsatzort gebracht zu werden. Im Hintergrund ertnt Paint it Black von den Rolling Stones. In der grnen Hlle darunter kmpfen milchgesichtige USBoys gegen Hitze Malaria und einen unsichtbaren Feind. Irgendwo im Dschungel an einem der unzhligen Arme des Mekong hat sich http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-459562.html Saturday 31st October 2009 I forgot it was my Dadrsquos birthday yesterdayhellip..shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit Happy Birthday Freddy I miss you.xx.We went looking at Electronic Stores today. So much fun The big shops are amazing there was one with so many staff like 30 on each floor and the whole first floor was for cameras phones and fax machines security on the door and promo girls and http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-459111.html Friday 30th October 2009 after Steve and Maj left us Tuesday night we spent the next two days catching up on some much needed rest and riding around on the motorbike checking out the streets of Hanoi and Guitars for Luke to buy he bought one He is sooo much happier now he has it it was a bit frustrating for him at first cause once we got it home it didnrsquot sound how he wanted it to http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-459087.html Saturday 24th October 2009 My Graduation Night I was soooo excited about this night it meant everything to do with my course was finished. Irsquod put in so much effort and had to work really hard the weeks prior with completing the course and then I had all of my Prac. Teaching in the few days straight after the course this was very hectic and time consuming to prepare for so I was s http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-459009.html We were collected early from our hotel in Hanoi for the three hour drive north to Halong Bay. Once we left the city we passed big wide fields where rice was grown all empty now as they only have one rice season a year in this area. The farmers were however burning off the stubble from the rice crops and therefore the skies were shrouded in a heavy smoke haze. We hoped that the haze wasn't going http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Halong-Bay/blog-458329.html Steve and Maja yes we do love them that much they get a whole blog dedicated just to them and the events that happened during the time they were in Hanoi.Tuesday 13th October 2009 The day of my Course Meet and Greet we were expecting Steve and Maja to get into Hanoi around Lunch time so we started our day with walking to Fruit Shake Street has a nice ring to it for some breakfast it wa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-457893.html The week of my inclass TESOL course was fantastic. I learnt so much and met some wonderful inspiring people.On Tuesday 13th of October I met my class at Hoabinh Palace Hotel on Hang Be Street. I sat with and chatted to Roslyn and Di and Dean. Di and Dean are a couple who live in WA Dean is originally from New Zealand really lovely people. It was so nice that they were doing the cours http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-457878.html While I was at my first full day of my inclass course on Wednesday 14th October 2009 Lukee was busy looking at rental apartments for us to move into. Wersquod had enough of living out of our bags and wanted a place to call home with a kitchen for the next 6mths. He looked at 5 places and with the two wersquod already looked at together in mind he favored a place in Dong Da District http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-457868.html Thang Long Hanoi is one of Asialsquos most ancient capital cities Hanoi covers a thousand years of history. Its old temples sanctuaries and shrines reveal the amazing history of ancient Thang Long now known as Hanoi.Recent archaeological excavations within Hanoirsquos city walls have uncovered an abundance of relics attesting to the enormous scale and influences of Thang Longrsquos hist http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-457864.html Saturday 10th October 2009Hello Hanoi wow what a placeThe drive into Old Quarter from the airport was great. Firstly because Kisschasy were playing on the radio in the car and then the whole drive in was aweinspiring. I didnrsquot know where to look so much going on motorbikes everywhere then cars and bicycles and busses. Vietnamese women with their bicycles selling fruit along th http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-457706.html Saturday 28 November 2009 The third weekend of this month I was not at home. This time I traveled with my parents and their friends to T7843n 272 spa resort and Khoang Xanh. There were 42 people on the trip and I was the youngest one. It is always fun to spend time with old people at age 55 to 78 as I could learn from them a great enthusiasm and affection for life. They experienced both F http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-457055.html We were in Vietnam in 2000 and were a little hesitant about returning as we had heard that it had changed a lot. Hanoi was my favorite Asian city at the time and I didn't want to spoil my memories of it. However we had always wanted to enter China from Vietnam so decided to go back. We had applied for our Vietnamese visas in Bangkok but left applying for our Chinese ones until we arrived in Hanoi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-456254.html The bus actually arrived in Mui Ne although an hour late and we boarded it to head to Nha Trang although Mully wasn't allowed on untill he cleaned his feet with a bottle of water. This was our first experience of a sleeper bus which is exactly what it says on the tin. A bus with three row across the middle of it with a number of beds. We had been advised to get onto the back seats as there was http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-455770.html Saturday 21 November 2009 Some friends visited Hanoi so we rented a taxi and traveled 40km to two villages in Thanh Oai commune. The first village we visited was the Vc village where the locals make bird cages and paper fans. We visited 3 houses and saw the locals drying fans in the sun or making bird cages of different shapes. The next village is more interesting. Our taxi went along the Nhu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-455179.html