Blogs from Northeast, Vietnam, Asia - page 20

Northern Vietnam is a rich repository of history and tradition, blessed with great natural grandeur, ranging from the high mountains of the west to the magical karst islands rising from Halong Bay in the east. The latter is my destination on this Sunday morning. I am leaving Hanoi through its bustling and noisy streets and taking one of the major highways out of the capital city. However, the highway soon transforms into much more rugged roads and it is a very rough drive until we reach Halong City, formed in 1994 with the official amalgamation of Bai Chay and Hon Gai, and bisected by the narrow Cua Luc straits. Along the way, we narrowly avoid a few traffic accidents as the driving conditions are not very different from the way they were in Hanoi. I focus ... read more

Day 2 & Day 3 of the 4 day North East trip (29 & 30 May) - We left Chợ Rã town near Ba Bể lake at 5:30am and traveled up north to Bản Giốc waterfall on the Vietnam – China border line. We were all excited as we would experience the most interesting part of the trip. After having breakfast on the top of Đèo Gió pass, we moved on to Cao Bằng town along Highway No. 3. We got to Cao Bằng town at 9am and bought bread and water on a street as we would have lunch quite late at 2pm. The distance from Cao Bằng town to Bản Giốc waterfall is 90km, of which 30km are in bad condition. The mountain scenery along the way is one of the most beautiful landscapes ... read more

Left Hanoi at 7:30 for 4 hour drive to Ha long Bay Guide was Chook (Chuc) who was an economics graduate and gave real insights into Vietnamese life as well as being really funny. He was excellent at organising as to arrive at the tourist spots when the majority of people had left. Even though Vega tours is a little more expensive the quality of the tour made it very worthwhile...but ask for Chook!! The junks are no longer painted white on a decree from the Prime Minister!! We cruised past islands and small floating homes while having a gourmet lunch. We had our own cabin with ensuite but the aircon only works when the engines are off. Visited Surprising Cave which was huge with lots of stallectites and mites and a "surprise". A little later ... read more

The photos in this blog were taken on my two trips to Tuyên Quang province in April and May this year. My travel companions on both trips were Vietnamese tourists and we spent very short time in the province. On the first trip (14 April) we went through the province and traveled up north to Hà Giang (the northernmost province of Vietnam) along the Lô river. On the way we visited three temples (Tam Cờ, Cây Xanh and Thác Cái) and had lunch in a small town. On the second trip (28 May) I just made last week to 6 provinces in the North East of Vietnam, I was back to Tuyên Quang province, but traveled in another direction and the route was new to me. The purpose of my second trip was to visit some ... read more

We rose early, cameras in hand to catch the sun rise over the limestone islands... There was no sun. A rushed dinner and a very appreciative chef (see to learn why) saw us running late for our sleeper bus to Ha Noi. Backpacks, satchel, laptop and camera bag in tow we rushed down the quiet Dong Hoi street in the general direction of the bus stop. Pacing and only one block into our walk the hotel manager pulled up beside us on her motorbike and said “jump on” pointing to the both of us. We both looked at eachother and cracked a smirk as we imagined the site of us both squeezed onto the back of her tiny bike. We are not so accustomed to a Sunday drive with a family of four on the back ... read more