Blogs from Cat Ba Island, Hai Phong, Red River Delta, Vietnam, Asia - page 10

Ho Chi Minh City After the mayhem of the wedding and the quick few days that followed, relaxing into the beat of Vietnam is taking some time. We're not quite into the rhythm yet (we seem to be finishing breakfast when everyone is turning in for their lunchtime sleep) but we're adjusting. Somewhat. Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City is our stab at luxury. Our digs - the Hotel Majestic - overlooks the Saigon River and resides in the ritzy part of town. Despite our enthusiasm we haven't been immediately enamoured with HCMC, which we've put down to staying in the money zone. Just stepping out of the hotel results in being immediately pounced on and followed by numerous cyclo and moto operators who all but guilt you into their services. We have a lot to learn! ... read more

We jumped ship in Cat Ba and found ourselves swamped by motorbike taxi drivers. We told them that we didn't need a bike and that we were going into Cat Ba town by tour bus. They obviously didn't understand because when the guide from the boat eventually turned up as promised with the bus he was threatened by the motorbike taxi blokes that they would beat him up if we went on his bus as we had asked them to take us by bike (30km on a bike with backpacks ...as if!!!) ......that's it from now on we don't talk to anyone!!! We checked into the Hotel that the tour guide had organised for us and even managed to barter the room rate down from $6 to $5. The room was ok, clean and comfy ... read more

7th Aug 2006 Halong Bay Hi everyone. So I had my first travel delay because of a landslide. We were heading down from Sapa in a van to catch the train. luckily we left early 2.5 hours for a 1 hour van ride. A bulldoser had tried to clear a path around it but every one was still getting stuck in the mud and needing to get pulled through. We were delayed for 1:45 minuts. I swear our van driver use to drive a Indy cars. We did a half hour van ride, down a very curvey mountian road at night in 13 min. the train left the station less then 30 seconds after we got on. From Sapa I took a overnight train back to Hanoi, we got in at 5:15am. By 6:00 I was ... read more