Blogs from Vietnam, Asia - page 1340

Hi All We've now got 4 new people in our tour group for the next 2 weeks in Vietnam. Adam & Ross (20/21) from London area, Liz from Sydney (26) and Hedd (pronounced Heth) from Wales and he's 24. Got the sleeper train from hanoi to Hue (pronounce Whey not Hugh as i thought!). It was a 12 hour journey but the beds were reasonably comfortable and it had air con so had a decent kip. Hue is smaller than Hanoi so there isn't as much traffic or as many things to do. With the tour group we visited the Citadel, had some lunch and then for some real fun - beer and playing pool!! Had an indian meal at night which was the best i've had in ages, and another few beers! Then today we ... read more

Throughout our travels so far we have found the Lonely Planet to be spot on or leading us a merry dance in equal measures thus being a bit hit and miss. When we re-read the following passage ‘Many travellers have fallen victim to the Vientiane to Vietnam bus scam, in which agents - often guest houses - sell tickets for ‘air con tourist coaches’ that turn out to be rattletrap public buses or mini vans packed to the limit with Vietnamese bringing cheap goods home from Laos. These trips can become mini-nightmares including a long wait at the border, and some Vietnamese drivers treat Westerners extremely badly.’ an hour into the journey, we wished we’d not dismissed this as a ‘miss’ piece of advice, as it pretty much summed up our journey from Vientiane to Hue ... read more

The vague plan that I had for the final phase of my 12 month travel extraveganza was a meandering journey through Indochina. I was not sure how much I'd be able to squeeze in to my fairly short time here, but I've never really subscribed to the hang-around-for-weeks-with-other-backpackers-whilst-claiming-to-be-really-cultural travelling philosophy. The journey began in Bangkok where I rendezvoused with Riikka. We had notions of heading north to Chiang Mai and then crossing into Laos, northern Vietnam, somehow getting to Cambodia, and maybe a little time on a southern Thai island at the end of the trip. I'd then get myself to Hong Kong for my flight home, and Riikka would return to Australia. Thailand Bangkok is vast. The first several things that struck me when I got off the airport bus were smells, strong and contractidory, ... read more

In Northern China people famously joke that Southern China's Cantonese people will eat anything that flies, except a plane; anything that swims, except a submarine, and anything that has legs, except the table. The same joke could be applied to the Vietnamese. We could have feasted on dog meat in Hanoi, but decided not to. Feeling like we had missed an opportunity to taste some truly exotic food, I vowed to try something I had never eaten before in Saigon... and I got the opportunity not once, but twice... We arrived in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) on Wednesday evening on a Pacific Airlines flight from Da Nang. After checking into our hotel, Miss Loi's Guesthouse in Co Giang, we took a xe om to a restaurant that could apparently aid in my quest for dodgy ... read more

Perhaps I started off abit too fast, but I keep my pace going and try to relax. After all, the lap around Ho Hoan Kiem (Hoan Kiem Lake) via the surrounding city streets is only a mile, and flat at that. I’m spurred on by the fact that I’m passing people by the scores. It’s not that difficult really; most are walking or slowly jogging. Still, it makes me feel like I’m flying by them. It was 5am when I started out, but believe or not some Hanoians were already headed back home after completing their morning exercise. Normally, there is no way I’d be up at this hour, even to run, but I’m still coming off my jetlag and find myself wide awake at 4:30am. Maybe it’s the horns and activity outside the hotel, which ... read more