Blogs from Vietnam, Asia - page 1356

Sharing a taxi with a guy from London, we crossed the border into Viet Nam at the southern most crossing, which doesnt see many tourists. We had to deal with the local transport 'Mafia' controlling the border town, who make it very difficult and expensive to travel any distance. We ended up paying a couple of farmers 10USD to take us and and our friend the 35km on their wagon full of rice sacks pulled by a single motorbike. Border crossings seem to be the most 'interesting' parts of the journey! As many of the locals don't get to see too many travellers like ourselves, we were a bit of a novelty. We received many friendly smiles, waves and 'hello's, we probably draw a bit more attention to ourselves considering our means of transport. Staying one ... read more

After thoroughly enjoying my time in Hue, I jumped on a bus bound for Hoi An. Of course, as this was merely a 4 hour ride, the bus was an air conditioned liner and I had an open seat next to me. The ride was uneventful, except for when we stopped for lunch. I wandered down a nearby driveway, which led to a lake that greeted me with absolutely stunning view. In the background lush rugged hills framed a large calm lake that lay in the foreground. I wandered down a little beach, that took me past a number of upturned boats. The beach appeared to be a docking station because there were about 30 boats moored in the vicinity and a ways out in the lake were some covered platforms built on stilts. Topping off ... read more

Up early, had breakfast, checked out, and got the bus back to the boat (different boat this time). It was foggy and rainy, which made the ride back through Ha Long Bay even more majestic. It was a long bus ride back to Hanoi. Got back to Hanoi, checked into Dong A Hotel with the promise of a room next door for the next 2 nights at the nicer Nam Hai 2 Hotel. Had drinks at Half Man, Half Noodle and then Le Maquis—very cool little hole-in-the-wall bar popular with French expats. Went to Bittet for dinner, a place specializing in French biftec. It was full of locals, but the food was just okay.... read more

Greetings to all...apologies for the length of time between entries - life here is not so new anymore, and thus it's difficult to feel inspired to sum it all up. That being said, there have still been a few noteworthy moments: first and foremost, my house was burgled a two weeks or so ago. We had an extreme hot spell for two weeks (actually, it's supposed to last appx two months or so, but weather's been off this year, and thus what heat we've experienced has been intense, but brief. It's already rained a few times this week, and the dry season is supposed to last until the end of MAy). Anyway, during the hot spell, Marta had a friend from abroad visiting, and they were both sleeping in her bed - the room got quite ... read more

Vietnam We have been in Vietnam for a month now, although we have seen a good few things we've really liked we are ready to move on. Vietnam is very westernised and didn't appeal to us unlike the other South East Asian countries we've been through. Part of this could be due to looking forward to Borneo, meeting up with friends from home, and South Africa before we get home in a month!!! We started our trip in Ho Chi Minh City, where I dont think we did it justice, but we chilled out for a few days and caught up with Carole and Marie, (friends we'd previously met in Laos) and saw some of the horrors of Agent Orange in the war remnants museum. We also saw the internationally recognised photograph named "The Girl ... read more