Blogs from Red River Delta, Vietnam, Asia - page 10

Asia » Vietnam » Red River Delta January 30th 2017

One of the biggest challenges with this travel expedition has been the delay in news - family/friends related and of course US news. I have also been reading the news more. Not sure if that is because I feel like I'm always behind OR because so much is going on right now. I'll say this - this will be my only politically laced blog post. Not because I don't believe in the things, but because I think so much is being said right now. A lot of it is important and we should all be well informed on what is going on but you don't need to hear it from me. As all of you know, I am a child of immigrants. They were not refugees, but immigrants none the less. I don't have strong views ... read more

The streets of Hanoi

Asia » Vietnam » Red River Delta » Hanoi January 14th 2017

IMG_2834

Marisol71

We went for breakfast downstairs as it's included in our room rate. It was quite good, not quite the standard that we've had at the last 2 places but they were big hotels and resorts and this is a little boutique hotel. One of the advantages of having crohn's disease is that if something is going to make me sick, it will do so in the first 10-20 minutes and sure enough, something I had at breakfast made me sick. It was probably the coffee but I'm not sure, it doesn't really matter, all that matters is that I then spent some time making friends with the toilet. When I thought I was ok we went for a walk but a few minutes in I decided to go back and get my imodium just in case. ... read more

Ha Long Bay and retracing our steps back to Hue

Asia » Vietnam » Red River Delta » Hanoi December 23rd 2016

P1030818

FlissGapYear

From Hanoi we took a bus and hydrofoil to Cat Ba island in Ha Long Bay. Cat Ba is the largest island of nearly 2000 in the bay. Some are inhabited but many are merely rocky outcrops. It was a strategic lookout point and was bombed during the American war forcing residents to hide in some of the numerous caves dotted around the island. I visited a Hospital Cave on the edge of the National Park, and only 10 km from Cat Ba town. This is a 3 storey building within a massive cave which was used as a bomb-proof hospital in the American War until 1975. I also walked to Canon Fort on the southern tip of the island. Here you could see anti-aircraft cannons, ammunition stores, trenches, the helicopter landing pad and the lookout ... read more

Dec 23, 2016

Asia » Vietnam » Red River Delta » Hanoi December 23rd 2016

PhilandSusie

Geo: 21.0243, 105.855... read more

Hanoi take two - How nice

Asia » Vietnam » Red River Delta » Hanoi December 20th 2016

Golden Moon Hotel heard someone was on their honeymoon :)

Call 2 Adventure

Day 4 Afternoon in Hanoi: We arrived early evening back in Hanoi Old Quarter after our long, but much less uneventful drive back from Halong Bay. We stayed at Golden Moon hotel and were pleasantly surprised with a room upgrade to the top floor and less street noise; along with flowers and yet again more swan towels. Dinner was a recommendation – New World Restaurant. We arrived to find a busy ground floor section of the restaurant and were told to go upstairs and seat ourselves. We made our way up a winding and narrow staircase to a landing with a windowless room that appeared to be occupied by the restaurant’s owners eating there dinner, a short flight of steps up was the upper most landing with a few tables and an even smaller outdoor balcony ... read more

Halong Bay - a victim of its own success?

Asia » Vietnam » Red River Delta » Hai Phong December 19th 2016

On the road to Halong Bay - so many scooters.

Call 2 Adventure

Day 3 Halong Bay We woke early to pack and eat breakfast at the hotel prior to an early pick-up for the 4 hour drive to Halong Bay for our two day / one night cruise. I wish I could say the drive to Halong was uneventful, but it wasn’t. We had the driver from hell… he spoke very little English, which in normal circumstances would have been OK, but this wasn’t a normal drive. Early on it was easy to see this guy was suffering from a hard night of drinking and partying, the way he kept guzzling bottles of water, stretching his arms and propping his head and eyes up were comical – if it was not for the fact that I was in the van with this guy. The situation was further complicated ... read more

It's raining (in Vietnam)

Asia » Vietnam » Red River Delta » Hanoi December 16th 2016

On the sleeper bus

FlissGapYear

As soon as we reached the border between Laos and Vietnam the clouds rolled in and the rain started. Rivers are swollen and the fields are under water. It makes sense of the design of the houses where they are on concrete/wooden stilts and the living area is on the first floor with storage at ground level. The 9 hour bus journey was another experience. It was supposed to be a VIP bus but ended up as a crowded local bus. Packed with passengers and goods for delivery, one of the stops necessitated in unloading a fridge from the back of the bus, down the aisle, over the plastic stools and off through the front door! We didn't have street vendors this time but we had a lunch stop at a roadside cafe. Hostel here in ... read more

SE Asia Honeymoon - Hanoi Round 1

Asia » Vietnam » Red River Delta » Hanoi December 16th 2016

16 December, pre flight G&T with Adam

Call 2 Adventure

Julia and I set off on our 30 day honeymoon around 11pm on 16 December 2017; first stop the ancient city of Hanoi, Vietnam. The night time flight saw me taking the middle seat and Julia getting the spacious aisle seat. I contorted my legs into place for the 10 hour flight to Hong Kong and somehow managed to stay in that position for nearly the whole flight... I think the seating arrangements were Julia’s strategy to convince me to fly premium on future long haul flights – she is still to learn my love of budgeting will win out over leg comfort 9 times out of 10 J Hong Kong we had just enough time to watch a sunrise over the tarmac and Hong Kong’s beautiful mountainous backdrop while we sipped our Starbucks gingerbread lattes. ... read more

Landing in Hanoi

Asia » Vietnam » Red River Delta » Hanoi November 7th 2016

Well decorated bed!

Elinork

First day of travelling got off to a shaky start, saying goodbye to the people you love is one of the worst things in the world. The flights were easy, I will apparently be a vegan during all flying I do on this trip so I'm expecting lots of tofu. The humidity outside the airport felt almost like a fine mist, it will take some getting used to and my hair will not be happy about it. That said there are many worse things. Took a private car to the hotel and spent the whole journey on the edge of my seat pressing my right foot to the floor in a vain hope it may encourage the driver to brake. It was definitely a nerve wracking drive although somewhat exhilarating - definitely an experience, and I ... read more

Pho Circle

Asia » Vietnam » Red River Delta » Hanoi October 23rd 2016

Cute Little Fatties ...

vagabondvoyager

Geo: 21.0243, 105.855Vietnam started, and now ends, with a bowl of pho - quite fitting for our trip, as you can say that we've come pho circle in our journey through one of Southeast Asia's gems. There's something quite comforting about eating a bowl of Vietnamese noodle soup, though it's a seemingly contradictory activity to undertake in such a steamy, sweltering country. Still, that didn't stop us from chowing down on the stuff at least once, and up to two or three times per day. It always seemed to be a relaxing start to the morning, before venturing out into the chaotic streets.We had one last night in Hanoi before flying home, and it wasn't something we were overly looking forward to - after three nights in HCMC and a couple of days previously in Hanoi, ... read more

Secret to the Buddhas' Youthful Appearances ...

Brief history of Vietnam

The conquest of Vietnam by France began in 1858 and was completed by 1884. It became part of French Indochina in 1887. Independence was declared after World War II, but the French continued to rule until 1954 when they were defeated by Communist forc...more history

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