http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Vietnam , Southeast , Ho Chi Minh City en-us Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:32:20 +0000 Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:32:20 +0000 Well we are back in Ho Chi Minh City but just for one day. Tomorrow we fly to Bangkok and then take an overnight train to the border of Laos.Before we came here we spent a few more relaxed days in Nha Trang after new years. Mostly just went to the beach and ate but we also rented a motorbike and checked out a few more local attractions. There is a hot springs mud bath that was actually prett http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-465090.html After our heavygoing time in Phnom Penh we were definitely in need of a change of scenery and a less bleak outlook. Luckily our next destination was Ho Chi Minh City formerly Saigon in Vietnam another citycountry thatrsquos endured its fair share of waroppression. Goody.After a monumentally uneventful coach journey and border crossing from Cambodia into Vietnam we arrived in HCMC midafter http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-464557.html Luang Prabang Laos a 17 de abril de 2009. Saludos a todos. Ahi les van fotos del paisaje del recorrido desde Saigon hasta Hanoi capital de Vietnam. Estando en Saigon gracias a 3 cervezas y la hospitalidad vietnamita se me paso un poco el coraje de asuntos mexicanos y hube de reanudar mi recorrido. Desafortunadamente el tiempo se me vino encima y no pude hacer escala en 2 ciudades que me inte http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-464020.html Der Rest des Aufenthalts in Nha Trang ist schnell erzhlt. Abgesehen von einem Treffen mit einer vietnamesischen Couchsurferin aus Saigon und ihrem Bruder das dafr gesorgt hat dass wir endlich auch mal wieder in einem lokalen Restaurant essen gingen lieen wir uns am Strand die Sonne auf den Bauch scheinen ich ging auerdem ein paar Mal baden und habe endlich Moby Dick fertig gelesen. Nachdem http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-463887.html Saigon is more prosperous than Hanoi. There are more tourists and nicer buildings the Americans devastated Hanoi. We went to the shocking war museums showing the lasting devastation done by Agent Orange and such like and to recover we again walked the whole city centre.A half day trip took us to the Cu Chi tunnels where the Vietnamese tunnelled a total of 250 kilometres. At the beginning is a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-463523.html Vientiane Laos a 16 de abril de 2009.Muchos saludos a todos.Despues de una semana de silencio consecuencia de la suma de varios factores que no vale la pena comentar me permito remitir algunas fotos de Ho Chi Minh Vietnam mejor conocida como Saigon su nombre cuando era capital de Vietnam del Sur. Por desgracia esta fue la escala ms improductiva en cuestin de conocimiento dado que estuve http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-463413.html Last impressions about Phnom Pen This city and the whole country of Cambodia have gone through very difficult times. People who killed their own people are still alive and cope with each other.There is hope After I spent second day with locals trying to get our papers for the bike I saw that there is definitely a hope. People will survive and they will raise the country up again. Officials did n http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-462747.html BANLUNG Ratanakkiri province Paved roads peter out long before this ramshackle town emerges in the jungle. Beyond it are crater lakes sun bears and huntergatherer hill tribes that are only now starting to interact with the outside world.Together they make up one of the last frontiers of Asian adventure travel the vast province of Ratanakkiri. For decades the wartorn region of waterfalls and http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-462238.html Ho Chi Minh City has become a haven for immigrants some of whom are willing to work for a daily meal.Zimbabwean Lawrence came to Vietnam two years ago with a tourist visa and worked as an English teacher at a few foreign language centers in Ho Chi Minh City.He found it was easy to make a living here and decided to stay for an ldquounlimitedrdquo time.But many of his friends have not been so http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-461982.html Hey yall time for another update from SE Asia.Last week I'm sitting in the living room reading and hanging out when my house mate Jeff comes downstairs and suggested we go get a beer. We walked down the alley to our local beerseafoodwhatever stand and had some oysters and beer. After three or four 333's Jeffrey offhandedly says to me Hey you should come to Da Lat tonight with Anh Hieu and I http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-461940.html For Christmas and New Year I spent my time in Vietnam and Thailand. I loved the getaway from school since I've long been missing these places. It was nice to put schoolwork behind joy and excitement for a change felt tranquil and happy became even more united with my father and nature. The holiday made me felt like I really belonged. When we met familiar faces from the past they greeted us wi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-461259.html So after a hot sweaty bus ride with the tiny beds again and fearing for a lived for most of the journey because of the crazy driving we finally arrived in Saigon at 5.30am Saturday morning only 3 hours before we told we would arrived. Surprisingly the city was in full swing all the locals exercising out in the parks markets up and running bustling with customers roads filled with all the c http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-459071.html We went on early full city tour today. I think the kids liked it although they got very tired halfway through.We saw various Pagodas China Town The 'American War' museum Reunification palace GPO and some other stuff.We also went to another very local seafood place and had the full seafood meal with several beers for 25. Also discovered the Vietnamese iced coffee which is so good. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-458825.html What a day Arrived last night and we were miraculously met at 900pm local time by our hotel people organised from a different world away. Immediately we recognised the truth about the attention the children would generate. Caitlin Fred and Lucy were all grabbed and variously innocently fondled by hordes of locals at the arrivals customs exit. Quickly and expectadly we also realised that Caitlin http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-458818.html Here are the pictures I promised in my last post. Today I met a university student here studying to become an english teacher. He took me to meet his classmates who where all very friendly and eager to practice english with me and we all had a good time making friends. Later he invited me to come with him to visit his home in the Mekong Delta tomorrow He said not to worry about money and that we http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-458471.html It hit me like a speeding train tonight that I only have 3 days left in Saigon Time has gone by so very fast Just as I predicted my vietnamese practice has been getting harder and harder. I spend a lot of time these days visiting with a vietnamese friend I had made on the first day that I arrived in Saigon. He doesn't speak english but he has been my best teacher of vietnamese and is always so http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-458353.html The golden key that unlocks a thousand doors.... even this may not be enough praise for the value of learning the local dialect when traveling. When combined with with a smile and an open personality the thousand doors easily becomes a million and more. I have been here nearly one week so far and the initial rush of being back in asia is beginning to wear off.Although I cannot altogether disco http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-457170.html I arrived back in Ho Chi Minh City after a four week visit in the UK. I had just started to get used to the flights I have done it a few times now but then they threw me a curve ball. Having got used to a selection of movies to watch on the interactive entertainment system well it stops me getting bored I then found myself on an old Air France 747 which only had a central screen. I knew there http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-455515.html Saigon ... Oh dear what a nightmareWe arrived in Saigon after a nine hour bus journey from Da Lat Knowing that Saigon is the largest metropalis in Vietnam we kind of expected it to be heaving...but nothing could of prepared us for the mahem of this citySince arrival we have discovered that pavements according to the Vietnamese living here are not for pedestrians to walk on they are in f http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-454729.html Before I launch into Saigon I want to update everyone on our itinerary as we just booked the rest of our flights last night since we are sadly nearing the end of our Asian campaign. On Sunday we will be catching a bus over the border of Cambodia and going directly to Siem Reap the town bordering the famous Angkor Wat temples. We will spend almost a week there touring the temples before cat http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-454549.html