Blogs from Vietnam, Asia - page 15

Following an amazing solo adventure in Da Lat and Nha Trang that can be read about in another blog post, it was time bring the solo travel to a halt and join up with my parents a.k.a. The Parentals. This was the second time mum and dad had come to Asia to see me, the first time being in 2016 when they came to visit me in China. After a taste of the Asian culture and experiences, they were eager to give South East Asia a go. Fortunately, Da Nang has an international airport so we were all able to fly in from different locations, the parentals from New Zealand and myself, from Ho Chi Minh. It was a glorious meet up in the airport but with all the luggage (particularly my mother) had to carry, ... read more

Our hotel room is on the 20th floor with a view over the river, but that wasn’t high enough to dilute the constant sound of horns below all through the night. In the morning, it looked very overcast outside, but it wasn’t until we got to nearer the ground that we saw just how heavily it was raining. We still went out, armed with our raincoats, but the rain stopped almost immediately as we left the hotel. Our first stop was the Ben Thanh Market and to say that that was full-on would be putting in mildly. From the moment we walked in, “You want shoes?” “You want bags?” “You want scarves?” “You want watches?” “You want purses?” “You want t-shirts?” “I show you Gucci.” “I show you Nike.” “I show you Calvin Klein.” “Why you ... read more

We were woken at about 4.00am by a massive bang and we looked out to see a biblical storm going on. Thunder and lightning, which was extremely close and extremely loud. We could see the flashes of light, but not the lightning itself as there were thick, grey clouds and rain was pelting down. It wasn’t looking good for the rest of the day, particularly as we had been warned that if the lightning got too bad, we would be going back to port and the day would be a right-off. We went back to sleep and were woken by some more noise at 6.00am, but this time it was our alarm (yes, we are getting up at 6.00am on holiday) as there is Tai Chi on the deck for everyone who gets up in time. ... read more

Later in our holiday we are going on a boat and apparently the mornings will start with some Tai Chi. We could do with this now in order to get ourselves in a state of serene calm to be able to face the traffic without having a nervous breakdown. I’m sure the best way to cross the roads is to just close your eyes and walk. We headed for the Temple of Literature, which sounds like my daughter’s idea of hell. She would think we were either deliberately trying to ruin her life or having some sort of joke at her expense. It was a huge 30,000 Dong to enter, but I keep forgetting that that is just over £1, hardly denting my vast wad of Dong. I’ve noticed that there a no coins here, but ... read more

Now that I'm smack bang in the middle of the tourist trail, the Vietnam adventure just keeps getting better. After a fabulous spell on the beach at Nha Trang, it was time to keep on rolling. Although the famous resort town is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country, it's surprising how far one has to travel to get to Cam Ranh airport. Granted it's an accident of geography, but a taxi ride from Nha Trang is around 50 kilometres from town, including having to navigate a winding hill pass. But once travellers arrive at the clean and modern airport, it's easy to bliss out under the luxurious air conditioning. Vietjet airlines check in and subsequent flight proved smooth sailing, and before long I landed in wonderful Hoi An. As discussed in the ... read more