Making a living

Hiding from Hanoi

---

November 19th 2009
After a lousy night on a 'sleeper' bus to the China/Vietnam border (although they did let us stay on the bus till border opening time) we were pretty much front of the queue to cross the bridge to Lao Cai in Vietnam. Apparently still a bit politically unstable since the 17 day invasion by China in 1979, all seemed peaceful with people literally sprinting between the two countries without a worr ... read more

Asia » Vietnam » Northwest » Lao Cai » Sapa

---

The conquest of Vietnam by France began in 1858 and was completed by 1884. It became part of French Indochina in 1887. Independence was declared after World War II, but the French continued to rule until 1954 when they were defeated by Communist forc... ... read more