Page 3 of DavidnLynne Travel Blog Posts


Asia » Vietnam December 21st 2008

Hope this helps if you are planning a trip here. When the vendors want your attention, it is rarely...hello, how are you today? but ...you come in my shop, you buy something from me. Eventually it wears away the happy tourist veneer that we have and we get very frustrated and annoyed. Even in the middle of a conversation in a restaurant, a woman will approach us...you want cigarettes, postcards, gum, silk paintings, whistle, sunglasses, bread rolls, donuts, pastries, beads?... anything that is classed as totally useless to carry around while travelling and then you get home and think "why did I buy this crap?" and then think..."I'll give that to someone as a gift, probably Sue in accounts, maybe she'll lighten up when I want something next time." There is no getting away from the ... read more

Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City November 29th 2008

Well this is nothing to write home about. This is a very uninteresting place, a couple of temples and lots of pollution, busy busy busy! Just like home only more people on scooters. This will only be a short one because we can't find much worth writing home about and we will be coming back here after Cambodia and wait for a couple of days to fly out. While here we did find the best place for eating is at the markets of a night time the stalls get set up at about 5 each night and there is a madness to it all once cooking begins some stalls have queues to get into them and you know they are by far the best, the atmosphere is so good you have to do it! The Vietnamese ... read more
Shiva
Mobile fish sales!
Did you say fish!

Asia » Vietnam » Central Highlands » Lam Dong » Da Lat November 27th 2008

Hi all, we've had a request for more photos of us. Now that we have 2 cameras it will be much easier. We have added more in this blog and you could go into facebook and see some video's too: http://www.facebook.com/people/David-Kotz/1258441257. Yes, to all of you who think I'm looking a bit shoddy with my hair, I have since had a hair cut. BMT did not have very much there for tourists it is really only a base from which to launch tours. 1 night here then off to Lak Lake for our tour. Our tour begins with a visit to a waterfall, now I thought another bloody waterfall! but was suitably impressed with the size about 200m wide and with all the recent rain flowing very heavily. Normally, during the dry season you can walk ... read more
Many monks come here on holiday.
Recently picked coffee beans
City centre fountain of Buon Ma Thuot

Asia » Vietnam » South Central Coast » Khanh Hoa » Nha Trang November 21st 2008

Nha Trang, A big bustling city, and after a long bus ride we were delivered into the waiting arms of the local hotel hawkers once again. This time i was going to give it a go one of the pamphlets looked good and the driver said the right prices so off we go (while Lynne waited patiently). Not the first but the second had the best deal for us so i sent the drive back to collect Lynne, I chuckled to myself a little because i knew what her reaction would be to a motor bike rider telling her to get on with her large backpack.....Heheheh! After settling in (Lynne unzipping her bag and the accompanying explosion). We decided to go for a walk, WOW look at the size of the cable car lets go have ... read more
Dave
I had a smile on my face the whole time...
Nha Trang Beach scene

Asia » Vietnam » Red River Delta » Ninh Binh November 14th 2008

Hi all, This is a big blog of photos. I have a new camera. Hope you like the shots. After Cat Ba Island we traveled the well worn path by 3 buses and a boat. It took the better part of a day but we met new friends, Jens and Sylke from Germany; became sardines in the local 20 seater with luggage, deliveries, and 39 locals; view the countryside through smeared glass windows while feeling every bump in the road on my not so soft seat that was built for a race much smaller than my own. We arrive in a flurry of activity all for our benefit to win our attention and extract more dong from us than we would like. But we (that is, I) had to leave the area to be able to ... read more
Ninh Binh Market drive thru...
The face of youth
DJ on the way to a gig!

Asia » Vietnam » Northeast » Quang Ninh » Halong Bay November 14th 2008

Done with Hanoi, Head for Ha long and Cat ba Island. To book full tour or not to book a tour that is the question! From our recent experiences I say no just wing it! So we did for the very next day booked a bus trip only to Ha Long Bay. It was a short bus ride, just a couple of hours but still part of a tour group because they fill a bus regardless and it appears that all busses have some sort of deal with 1 or more places of food or souvenirs just at the point where your morning coffee is causing pressure and you need to pee! Funny how where you stop there seems to be a huge increase in the price of stuff you know, a pack of chips in ... read more
All lined up ready to go...with more tourists
Similar junk to our boat
Hotels everywhere

Asia » Vietnam » South Central Coast » Quảng Nam » Hoi An November 13th 2008

Hello all and here we go again, From Hue to Hoi An is a short trip and this one was much better. The scenery is great and the trip is short so when the horn broke just outside of Hoi An and the driver jerry rigged a wire so he could keep up with his daily quota of toots it was funny. We arrived in Hoi An and we were determined not to take the first hotel, where the bus happened to park at, so we donned our packs and off we went we found a lovely place for $12/night ad we haggled for free internet this was a good thing because the rains the next day meant we had nothing much to do and it would have cost us a fortune. (a fortune being probably ... read more
Happy fellow.
Narrow Bridge....?????
Hmmm...I think i'll have ?

Asia » Vietnam » Northwest » Dien Bien » Dien Bien Phu November 1st 2008

I am sorry for no pictures, i am typing this on the 8th of November and between our visit to this place and our visit to Hue my old little Sony camera was stolen from my bag on the bus. I blame no one but my self. DO NOT LEAVE YOUR BAG UNATTENDED ANY WHERE! Der! I do not care so much about the camera and we backed up most of the pictures but we lost about 1 week of pictures and that is the hard thing. Dave and I wanted to get off the beaten track and head south west. We managed to secure a 'cheap' seat in a private car that a travel agent was sending to DBP to collect a couple who were happy to pay $200 to be driven back to SaPa. ... read more

Asia » Vietnam October 28th 2008

Hello again, Lynne has a new camera! so great things are expected from this! We booked our tour via the hotel we were staying at they had the best price (The Advisor Hotel, Hanoi, 51 Nguyen Sieu, Old Quarter) Bus collection at 8am (suppose to be from our hote and as the streets are small and crowded we were ok that it collected us from around the corner) It delivered us to a travel booking office where another bus collected us for the tour. it is 70k's form Hanoi, including the boat ride, the bus loaded up with people and our guide said his hello's in his best broken English. The actual tour company was AST travel in Hanoi, please remember this and AVOID booking anything with them if you should travel to Vietnam. The trip ... read more

Asia » Vietnam » Northwest » Lao Cai » Sapa October 28th 2008

Hello All! THE TOUR OF THE VILLAGE WAS GOOD! I will stress this, the guide was excellent her grasp of English made it easy to have conversations about the people and their way of life, how it has changed and is still changing, very rapidly!. Our guide was happy with her way of life the way it was and this was most noticeable when our guide gave a 100,000vnd note to a baby to play with. And with Hemp plants growing wild in their back yards it is no wonder there is a level of happiness in the village….but seriously the hemp is what they make their clothes from and some still do it the old fashioned way by loom and then dying. They make the thread for the loom as they walk around. The hemp ... read more
Traditional clothing
Our day 1 tour group.
Sooo cute still!




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