Blogs from Northeast, Vietnam, Asia - page 3

Nous avons quitté Dong Van pour retourner à Ha Giang "comme des VIP", presque seuls dans le minibus, sans marchandise, avec vue spectaculaire sur les vallées et montagnes qu'on traversait. De Ha Giang nous sommes allés dans un petit village thai à 4 km de la ville. La population fait des grands efforts pour préserver leur coutumes traditionnels et les familles sont impliquées dans un projet de tourisme responsable. C'est comme ça que nous avons séjourné 3 jours chez la famille Thien, dans une maison sur pilotis avec toit en feuilles de palmier. La chambre à coucher était à l'étage, un grand dortoir séparé par des rideaux, avec matelas au sol et moustiquaire car les murs arrêtaient 50 cm en bas du plafond (on dormait donc presque dehors). C'était comme un refuge en montagne, les thai ... read more

Spedzilismy dwie noce w Hanoi, wedrowalismy po uliczkach miasta - glownie starej czesci, gdzie sie zatrzymalismy. Motorynka zjechalismy troche wiecej, rzucajac okiem na Mauzoleum i park,ogrod botaniczny, wiezienie Hoa Lo, przejechalismy sie na druga strone rzeki, szwedalismy sie po kafejkach i kosztowalismy lokalnego browaru i lokalnych dla regionu przysmakow. Jednym z ciekawych lokalnych rarytasow byla Egg Coffee, kawa z jajkiem. Na poczatku sama nazwa mnie troche odrzucila i bylam ciekawa jakto - kawa z jajem? Po skosztowaniu nagle pamiec przywrocila mi smak z dziecinstwa - kogiel mogiel :-) Nie wiem jak robia to kawe ale bardzo przypomina ten zapomniany rarytas, polecam skosztowac. Po szwedaniu sie po miescie, wybralismy sie na 2 dniowy rejs po Ha Long Bay, przepiekna zatoka pokryta prawie 2 tysiacami malutkich wysepek - skalnych wapiennych formacji, ktore zostaly wpisane do UNESC... read more

Hit and Run, six countries, one month, two girls! We had one month of school for winter break. A whole month to explore Asia. After looking at a lot of different routes and working out the best financially Val and I decided to do Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, The Philippines, Taiwan and Japan. Unfortunately the Irish had friends from home coming for part of the holiday so couldn't join us. The first thing we did when we arrived was book two taxis. The first to take us to our hotel for the night the second to take us to Ha Long Bay the next day. Doing it at the airport ticket office was a lot cheaper. Unfortunately while we were there is was Lunar New Year and we wouldn't be able to get a taxi with this ... read more

Second morning I woke up surprisingly easily, which is lucky as the breakfast the hotel provided took a bit of navigation. They offered bacon, sausages, croissants and toast, alongside noodles, stir fried vegetables, salads and dumplings. An early bus ride took us to Halong bay, slightly less hair raising than the taxi and we got some great views of the city out of the window. Busy, noisy and colourful - it was striking in its immediacy. Scooters everywhere and shops selling everything you could imagine (and things you can't!). Heading to the outskirts of the city we saw lots of water buffalo and ducks as well as hundreds of people working in the fields wearing the traditional conical hats. The hostel is not so impressive and the beds are hard but I still can't help but ... read more

We left Hanoi at 8.00am on the 28 September by van for Halong Bay. There were two other couples in the van heading our way. Four hours of exposure to Vietnam's open road traffic culture. Not to be missed. Also not for the faint hearted. Centre lines are a rough guide and passing distances a judgement on how close you can get before pulling in off the oncoming traffic lane. No accidents though, just a few white knuckles and clenched jaws. Halong Bay setting off point is a wharf of tour boats tied up and, at this time of the year, mainly empty. We were on a Bhaya Cruise line boat and once on board found ourselves with only two other couples; Wayne and Jane from Blenheim (he a police detective and she a primary school ... read more