http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Vietnam , Northwest en-us Fri, 05 Dec 2008 01:11:07 UTC Fri, 05 Dec 2008 01:11:07 UTC Le retour sur Hanoi s'est effectue par le train de nuit depuis Lao cai ville frontiere avec la Chine. L'arrivee dans la capitale a lieu au petit matin 5 heures et nous fumes reveilles par des chants patriotiques diffuses par un haut parleur bien chevrotant. Bref le jour se levait a peine et la ville s'animait motos petaradantes sonnettes en tout genre bref l'animation qui la nuit s'esto http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Mai-Chau/blog-346910.html So here we are Linda dying in bed the last 2 days of flu and I running errons and foriging for food.This town should not exist. There is sweet nothing here to do but slit your throat if you can find someone here who speaks english so you can ask for a knifeOur pland was to leave Sapa and come here to sort out our money issue as my card was stollen a few days ago and Lindas card was running dry http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Dien-Bien-Phu/blog-345007.html First I would like to thank sweet baby Jesus sweet infant Jesus for allowing Linda and I to make it from Sapa to Bien Dien Phu alive Oh my God what a trip. We left Sapa at 8am for a 7 hour bus ride to Dien Bien Phu. This is one journey I will never ever do again. We booked tickets for a bus what comes to pick us up A mini van This shitmobile was on its last legs. So we throw our bag into the http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Dien-Bien-Phu/blog-345005.html It was 5 am and on the train begins to move there. We woke up after having slept reasonably well and soon after we arrived at the station of Lao Cai a city bordering China where dozens of vans waiting for tourists to move to the small town of Sapa which in times of French domination was a spa in the middle mountain used to flee the stifling summer of Hanoi. The day dawns quite gray and th http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/blog-343511.html Hey thereCraig and myself decided to take a two day boat trip to see the beautiful Halong Bay in Northern Vietnam these are enormous Islands that rise up out of the emerald water There are approx 3000 in total and natural wonders part of the Unesco World Heritage site amazing to look at We stayed on a wooden junk boat our cabin was great with a private balcony the views from the top deck we http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/blog-342230.html I am sorry for no pictures i am typing this on the 8th of November and between our visit to this place and our visit to Hue my old little Sony camera was stolen from my bag on the bus. I blame no one but my self. DO NOT LEAVE YOUR BAG UNATTENDED ANY WHERE Der I do not care so much about the camera and we backed up most of the pictures but we lost about 1 week of pictures and that is the hard th http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Dien-Bien-Phu/blog-341833.html Upon arrival in Hanoi the capital of Vietnam we returned back to hotel where we left the bags and a pleasant surprise they let us take a shower before leaving. We're going to buy train tickets direction Sapa in the north of the country. The price at the hotel was 10 purchased at the station cost only 7. Going into the first train along with Paul. We have purchased the tickets cheap http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/blog-340492.html B vermicelli noodles morning glory greens tofu omelette uh enough omelettesS tamaring juice yumL omelette rice morning glory peanuts tofu bamboo uh not too tasty watermelon yumS sugary wafer cookiesD sugar coated rice crackers http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Mai-Chau/blog-333447.html B instant noodles eggL rice onion spring rolls with just banana as a filling yum but oily and unexpected tofu morning glory greens omeletteS green teaD rice peanuts morning glory greens tofu apple http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Mai-Chau/blog-333446.html Ha Long fortsat fra igaarPaa selve trekket paa Cat Ba oeen saa vi ikke saa mange dyr det var mest lyde fra dem hvilket fik mig til at taanke paa om det blot var hoejtalere der sagde lydende. Eksistensen af dyr blev da bevist idet vores guide paa vej op af en stejl skraent pludselig udbryder Snake... very poisen hvor efter han braad ud i et smil og en let latter. Han hentydede til en mete http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/blog-329706.html Weekend 20 21 September 2008 I joined my parents and their friends to Kim Bi hot spring su7889i khong Kim Bi. The site is located at M7899 272 village H7841 B commune Kim Bi district Ha Bnh province 80km away from Hanoi. Its mineral water is suitable for drinking bathing and useful in medical treatments. Kim Bi hot spring is a popular destination for north Vietnames http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/blog-326161.html We crossed into Vietnam early in the morning with tender backside from sleeping on the benches at the Lao border. We decended to Dien Bien Phu with heavy rain and a skeptic mind as Carl had filled both me and Carter with scare stories of Vietnam when he visited 10 years agoThe next 6 days we cycled through unspoilt mountain scenery towards Hanoi. Along the way we came across some mega friendly h http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Dien-Bien-Phu/blog-325966.html Halong Bay was amazing We are below budget for asia as everything is so cheap and decided to splash out in Halong Bay and book ourselves on a posh boat. Because we booked the boat on day of departure we were able to talk them down on rate by about 50 so we were very pleased with that. The boat was called The Jasmine with the company Cruise Halong which we would strongly recommend. We eac http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/blog-323020.html Sorry to confuse....Pics from this and the Halong Bay blog are the wrong way round....ooooppss Shouldn't try to be clever after too many beersHi allOk so we experienced our first Vietnamese scam while jumping on the bus to get here Let me explain when we arrived at the bus station in Hanoi the bus for Mai Chau was just leaving and so we didnt have time to check any deatails on pric http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Mai-Chau/blog-307731.html 102 kmWie erwartet ging es heute richtig in die Berge. Der erste Pass kam nach gut 15 km und drei weitere folgten bis nach Na Meo an der laotischen Grenze. Der Hwy 217 ist die einzige Strasse die durch diese abgelegene Berglandschaft fuehrt und das sogar durchweg geteert auch wenn der Belag immer holpriger wurde je weiter man nach Westen kam. Verkehr herrschte hier kaum und auf der Strecke lag http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/blog-298274.html hey everybodyI have to start with an apologize cause I don't have much linguistic inspiration for the moment... I am too buzzy with my project of a documentation corner I will tell you later about thatBut I don't want to keep my pictures that I made in the peacefull valley of Mai Chau...so just a short story...Mai chau was on my priority list since the beginning... if you know me a bit than y http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Mai-Chau/blog-297239.html Well I have finished the 2 weeks volutneering in Hai Duong about 1 hour from Hanoi with the orphans and with disabled children at the social welfare centre. When we arrived it was a bit surprising to find that we got bunk beds to sleep on versus the floor in Hanoi but I was told there were sleeping mats which there were in Hanoi but not in Hai Duong. So we sleep on wood beds with a straw woove http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/blog-295633.html The trip down the Red River goes on past Hanoi to the ChineseViet Nam border was long. The road started out wellpaved but by the end was nothing more than a clay mud pit through the jungle. I remember as a kid thinking that Oklahoma dirt was red and that the Red River there near my grandfather's farm was pretty dark red. This Chinese earth is so red it looks purple confirmed by na http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/blog-289560.html After arriving back in Hanoi after a few spectacular days in Halong Bay we embarked on the good o'l night train and headed up north to Sapa. Before heading up to Sapa we spent the day walking around Hanoi. Beautiful city tons of people not a cloud in sight but EXTREMLEY HOT I think it was the hottest day so far on our trip. We heard rumours it was in the low 40 Degrees Every hour we were l http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Lai-Chau-/blog-283559.html Taas oli edessa maarajan ylitys talla kertaa Laosista Vietnamin puolelle. Aamulla lahdin bussilla Savannakhetista ja rajan lahestyessa alkoi tie kiiveta vahitellen ylospain eli vuoristoa on maiden rajalla. Nyt kyseessa oli selvasti aikaisempaa vilkkaampi maaraja sen verran suuri oli rajaaseman rakennus ja jopa taxfree myymala loytyi. Lieva jannitysmomentti oli onko talla rajalla tiedossa pohjo http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/blog-269347.html Tomorrow 15 April is an important day in Vietnam. It's the memorial day of Kings Hng Ngy gi7895 t7893 Hng V432417ng who were the founders of Vietnam. According to the Vietnamese legend and old historical records during the bronze age there were about 15 L7841c Vi7879t tribes living in the midland and northern delta of Vietnam. The V259n Lang was the most powerful tribe http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/blog-266297.html We both rose bright and early today feeling much refreshed after a good nights sleep. First order of the day was to go back to the bus station to arrange transport to Sapa tomorow. This turned out to be an easy chore and was completed with no hassles all we had to do was say where we were we wanted to go and hand over the money 250000D for both of us nd we were booked on a bus to Sapa tomorow mor http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Dien-Bien-Phu/blog-264362.html Sapa This entry will have to be quick short on time . . .Our overnight train was interesting 4 beds per berth. Myself Kober Martyn and our guide Khan all shared a berth. Mom and Dad shared one with another friendly couple whom were from England. The mattress was actually comfortable. The noise of the train and movement of the train easily disturbed all of our sleep except for Kober. http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/blog-263422.html Last weekend a girl at my office asked me whether I wanted to join a oneday trip with her family to the Perfume Pagoda or not. I replied to her at once Sure I'll go. That's a wonderful advantage of being free and single. I can go anywhere anytime I want. The Perfume Pagoda is located in H432417ng S417n commune M7929 2727913c district H Ty province 60km away from Hanoi. http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/blog-261483.html