Blogs from Ho Chi Minh City, Southeast, Vietnam, Asia - page 237

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Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City August 19th 2006

22nd Aug 2006 Saigon, Nha Trang and Dalat Hi everyone After Hoi An I got on a overnight bus to Nha Trang, Vietnams beach capital. Very large and beautiful beach, miles in either direction. The day that I arrived I spent checking out the town and lying on the beach. That same morning I met a "Easy Rider" a member of a local motorcycle gang. There is about 40 members they specialize in taking tourists to places where normal tours would not get too. The next day I had him take me around the countryside (a ethnic village, a waterfall where I took a dip, a crocodile farm, a whole day of touring around. The two of us got along so well he convinced me to sell my bus ticket to Dalat and ride with him. ... read more
Snake Wine
Nha Trang Beach
Crocodile

Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City August 13th 2006

So its my forth week in Vietnam and I have covered the whole of the country. Starting in the south working my way up to the north. Stopping in eight destinations along the way, all so uniquely different, but all quite wonderful. A lot has happened over the last four weeks but I will do my best to remember the fundamental essentials. The border crossing was like a border crossing should be, a building full and surrounded by Cambodian flags, and fifty meters away another building surrounded by Vietnam flags. We already had a pre-approved Vietnam visa, that we picked up in Bangkok during our second Thailand visit. For those of you reading this, thinking of visiting Vietnam, you need to pick up a visa before you get to the boarder, and it takes a few ... read more
The view
The jump
Waterfall stream

Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City August 12th 2006

Well this is my last few days in Vietnam and the last couple of weeks have been very odd....i have had a credit card stolen and someone tried to mug me...but i survived. I went to a place called Nha Trang it's the Blackpool (sorry Phil) of Vietnam with the same crime rate as Nottingham (sorry to anyone form Nottingham but you can Laugh at Phil form Blackpool..!) Out of a group of nine...three got mugged and 3 camera's were stolen from rooms and bags. There were some good aspects of Nha Trang i hired a sailing boat and sailed in the China Sea which was awesome...! The next stage was a place in the mountains called Dalat...it was so high up it was only 14-16 and i was wearing jeans and jumper for the first ... read more
Elephant WaterFall
This Symbol means Peace but it made me look twice.!
Big Cock..!

Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City August 12th 2006

Whats up... Last time we updated you we were escaping from pick pocket prosties in Nha Trang, since then the main theme of our trip has been shopping :) We spent our first day in Ho Chi Minh city doing pretty much nothing, just took care of some lose ends, booking bus / plane tickets and planning our trip to the Cu Chi tunnels. The day at the tunnels was pretty cool, we have some pretty trippy pictures below that show you how small they are. The first set of tunnels was built when the Vietnamese fought for independence from the French colonists who inhabited Vietnam. These tunnels spanned 48 km and were dug at an average depth of 3 meters below ground. The diameter of these tunnels was 60cm / 80 cm, which is insanely ... read more
Bryan Filling his Face
SLURRP!!!
Terrorist Attack!!!

Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City August 11th 2006

Today was possibly the craziest day in Vietnam! We booked a private tour again, with the same guide named Lam, to the Cu Chi Tunnels which are a couple of hours from Saigon. During the war, the tunnels were used by the north Vietnamese army to hide, to transport weapons and necessities and to set up traps for the enemy. Unlike the Vinh Moc Tunnels in the Demilitarized Zone, these tunnels are over 200km in length and you cannot walk upright in them. The soldiers would have crawled on their stomachs but we crouched down and shuffled along on our feet. These tunnels are not for the claustrophobic but wow, were they ever amazing. The entrances are tiny doors hidden by leaves and branches, which you slide into. We got to try one of the hidden ... read more
Tunnel entrance
Hidden entrance to the tunnels
Lam tries to stuff Nathan into the tunnel entrance

Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City August 9th 2006

By Nathan Hey everyone .... finally arrived in Vietnam ... after 20 hours of being on a plane, it's finally good to be here. The flight was long, but luckily I was on one of those planes that had personal TV screens with on-demand video/audio/and games. It made the flight slightly more enjoyable. The weather here is not as bad as I thought it would be ... it has been in the low 30's most of the time and a lot less humid than Ontario was for the past week or two. Anyway, I'll pass the keyboard over to annie so she can type how the first few days are going. She's much more of the linguist and you'll all enjoy reading her version more than you would my math-minded english ;) By Anne-Marie I met ... read more
Nathan by a US tank at the War Remnants Museum
Saigon traffic! Organized chaos or just plain chaos?
Insanity

Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City August 8th 2006

A very long uncomfortable bus journey and we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, (I prefer its original name.. Saigon). Some good scenery on the way similar to what I expected from films that I've seen. We had a few river crossings on the way where we had to get off the bus and rush onto a ferry like lunatics trying to get past the many motorbikes! Loads of people and vehicles all crammed on. After an 8 or 9 hour journey we arrived in Saigon.. comfy bed and air con... perfect. Headed to the market for a quick look and discovered that the most difficult thing was crossing the road! The traffic doesn't stop here, even if there is a pedestrian crossing. It just keeps going and swerves past the pedestrians as they try to ... read more
Motorbikes
Cyclo's in Saigon
Kid with baloons

Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City August 5th 2006

The Lonely Planet describes Saigon as 'a thousand motor-biking bandana bedecked bandits in a giant traffic accident waiting to happen' and I can't sum it up any better than that. Crossing the road is an adrenaline sport, which I'm sure I could market in an extreme sports pumped up place like New Zealand. The staying alive strategy goes something like this: say small prayer, slowly step out into oncoming traffic, don't walk too quickly or slowly as this allows bikes to weave around you, don't make eye contact with drivers because then they have no obligation to avoid you, reach other side and marvel for 5 mins that you're intact! I'm now into country number 6 of my trip and still loving every day. The best part is doing and seeing something different everyday. Yesterday, for ... read more
AK girl

Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City August 3rd 2006

Our last week in Vietnam as probably been the best for us, mainly due to Dalat. Easyriding in Dalat Dalat is a town in the Central Highlands of Vietnam and has long been a favorite for travellers because of its cooler temperatures and picturesque countryside. It was a recreational town for the French when they controlled the country and the many deteriorating fabulous villas are a testament to this. Dalat is known among travellers for the Easyriders, an informal group of guys that will tour you around the countryside on the back of their motorcycles. You don't have to worry about finding them because they will find you, with an incredible ability to spot a new backpacker. We met up with Hiep our first day and arranged a one day countryside tour with him and his ... read more
Dalat Market
Pagoda Dragon
Patti - easyriding

Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City August 2nd 2006

Experiences to date.... Asia » Vietnam » Saigon By Nick and TessaAugust 2nd 2006Nicholas Peters and Tessa Brudevold-IversenThis blog will be a photo journal. We don't intend to write much about our experiences but we will upload photos on a regular basis. Enjoy. ... read more
Well well well...
Notre Dame Tower
Storm coming...




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