Category Vietnam
Vietnam Retro: Water Puppets
Karen said that this didn’t warrant it’s own post and she deleted some of the videos we took of it to make space of her phone but I am dying to share our experience at the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre in Hanoi. For those of you who don’t know what this is, here is […]
Vietnam Retro: Crossing the Road
Found this video on my phone and decided to post it as a retrospective post about Vietnam. Crossing the road in any Asian country is tough but in Vietnam it is almost impossible. The amount of bikes of various size and horsepower competes for every inch of laneway and traffic lights are not something […]
Vietnam Highlights
Well it’s that time again. Another country complete so time for some more highlights. Starting with some video evidence…
Among the H’mong!
We had 4 hours between returning from Halong Bay to our pickup for Sapa. Our first task was to change bags, or more accurately the contents of our small bags. Wet swimming and kayaking gear was replaced with fleeces and Kagools for the anticipated harsher highland climate. After some dinner nearby and grabbing some drinks […]
Halong, Halong..must we sing this song!
Just as we were eating an early breakfast in the hotel we were informed we were being’upgraded’ to the Calypso Cruiser on Halong bay. Result! Karen then had a little panic, the new boat was a 4 star boat, would that mean people would dress for dinner? A quick reassessment of the overnight bag was […]
Bringer of Light
Since arriving in Vietnam one face in particular has been seen again and again. He is on the money (all of it), on posters and walls, he’s got a museum in every city, including the one named after him. He spoke English, German, French, Mandarin and of course Vietnamese. He also famously told the French […]
Friends Reunited
Hanoi was always going to be on our itinerary. It’s a cool city and serves as a base for Halong Bay and Sapa. Another good reason is that my friend Long lived there and I had not seen him in just over three years. An extra bonus is that his business includes hotels so we […]
Tomb Kings
We had an evening flight booked to Hanoi so the hotel kindly let us leave our bags and this allowed us to take a trip out of Hue, South to see the Tombs of the Emperors. As Hue was the Imperial Capital of Vietnam from 1802 until 1945, the rulers of the Nguyen Dynasty were […]
Hue..ho..let’s go!
It became necessary to destroy the town to save it, While the above statement was in relation to Ban Tre, it could have equally been applied to Hue. In 1968,during the Tet Offensive, Hue was captured by the VietCong in an audacious assault. In order to retake the city the US Marines and South Vietnamese […]
As seen on Top Gear.
There are many forms of transport that we have taken so far on our trip. With our next destination, the Imperial City of Hue, being not that far away we decided to saddle up and motorbike it. To get us there we would use Mr. Thong – Easy Rider and his Honda Master 125cc bikes. […]
And they were all Yellow..
Hoi an, a Unesco heritage village since 1999, on the coast with almost as many tailor shops as it has people was our next stop. Karen knew the above fact only too well, in 2007 herself and Paula came back from Hoi an with empty purses but suits, winter coats, shoes, boots, handbags and dresses. […]
The Road Less Travelled
Vietnam’s most up and coming city and Tripadvisor Travellers Choice Award for 2014. Less than an hour from Hoi An and 15 minutes from the airport. Sounds like heaven. This is how Danang was sold to us. It is heaven if you stay in the fancy resorts overlooking China Beach. Not so much if you […]
Wonder World!
Our last full day before heading to Danang. What would we do? For the last few days this has been staring back at us in the distance: Vinpearl is Vietnam’s answer to DisneyLand and the good thing about it is that every activity is free (once you pay 500,000 Dong entry fee). But the best […]
Back in the USSR
While Calungate Beach and Mui Ne were ‘mini Russia’, Nha Trang is ‘Big Mother Russia’. There are Russian bars big as cars, Russian Tours pour ‘touts jours’, White Russians and sunburnt Red Russians. Sailors and Tailors, beluga restaurants and vodka bars. All that is missing is Lada cars and the Bolshoi Theatre. The nearby International […]
Red Red Wine
After the hideous sleeping bus journey to Mui Ne we opted for a small seating bus to take us up the mountain to Da Lat, an old French hill station. We were collected after leisurely morning by the pool and on our way to the mountains via collecting several locals. The bus was over capacity- […]
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