June 25, 2017
Friends and friends of friends who travel to Hanoi often ask me what they should do in this wonderful, vibrant city. Hanoi is more than the Old Quarter (which is interesting in and of itself), more than traffic (which is not as bad as Saigon), more than the pho (which is awesome). So to save time, energy and repetition on…
December 22, 2016
I have been living in Hanoi for just over three weeks, and it’s been crazy-amazing and challenging. I’ve found out things about myself that I didn’t think would apply here, because, well, I’m not in Australia. But I am me whether I am in Australia or Vietnam or the Antarctic—who knew?! Here’s what I’ve been up to (and not) since my…
December 3, 2016
I’m here in Vietnam for at least 3 months, volunteering for KOTO. For those of you who don’t know the story, when I was in Vietnam in 2010, as part of the tour I was on we visited KOTO Restaurant in Hanoi for lunch. KOTO (which stands for Know One, Teach One) was started by an Australian, Jimmy Pham, who—while…
March 2, 2016
Vietnam was the first country I ever travelled to and it has a special place in me heart, just like a first love. I was a terrible photographer back then, but this is one of my better pictures. Halong Bay is one of the most beautiful places on earth… Contact me if you’d like to purchase this photo.
I loved, loved, loved my first trip to Vietnam. It was hard (in places!) and tiring, but amazing at the same time. Would I do it again? Absolutely! Would I do it differently? Some things, possibly, but that’s only because hindsight is 20/20. So here goes. This is what I learned. 1. What didn’t work so well: Don’t take two separate…
Hanoi and Thang Long celebrations We landed in Hanoi during the Thang Long Hanoi – 1000 year celebrations. Apparently it’s wall-to-wall people at the best of times, but was even more so because of Thang Long. It was crowded. Really crowded. People, cars, buses, motorbikes everywhere. Every inch of space was taken up with people, or their activities. It was…
A couple of (sad) things I have noticed about Vietnam: rubbish and street vendors. The rubbish – mostly plastic bags – literally litter the landscape. In some places, there are piles of it. It would be a major job – probably lasting a couple of years – to clean it all up. The river running through Saigon and feeding in…
No sun today. Well, maybe a little, and not for very long. And it’s a pity, because the tour activities were centred around the sea. We toured a fishing village on Mieu Island, just off the coast of Nha Trang. It was raining bucketloads, and I wore my poncho (see last post!) to stave off the rain. We waded through…
The drive to Nha Trang from Da Lat as stunning. We drove through cloud-covered mountains and villages where it seemed a subsistence lifestyle was still being maintained. The roads snaked in and around cliffs with sheer drops, and the clouds hung quite low. The city of Nha Trang is as western as Da Lat is French; it is a seaside…
Have you ever just sat down in the middle of Saigon airport and just cried? Well, I hadn’t either until yesterday. I’m not sleeping too well, and yesterday, we had to get up at 4am to fly out of Saigon into Da Lat. Cruel and unusual punishment when you are averaging about 4 or 5 hours of sleep a night.…
A sombre day today. We visited the Cu Chi tunnels, the War Memorial and the Reunification Palace. We saw the worst and the best of human endeavour. We saw how cruel and ruthless humans are in a war, and how creative they are in rebuilding a country afterwards. The drive to the tunnels was spectacular. We drove through crowded, hectic…
It’s nearly 5am in Saigon. I hardly slept a wink all night. Overtired, methinks. And my brain had too much stimulation for one day, and is wired, can’t relax. Or so it seems. I did sleep from about 9.30 until about 12. After that I dozed, dropping in an out of sleep and not quite falling into oblivion. So what…
So excited! I got my travel documents today (they were delivered to my work address). Can’t wait to get home and go through them properly. It’s getting close!!!!
The only way to end up on the other side of the road in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh city is to be born there. Mr Tranh via Departure Lounge (The Australian) 1/8/2010
Didn’t get my jabs today. Got a prescription for them instead, and I now have vials of hepatitis A, cholera, typhoid, whooping cough and tetanus vaccines sitting in my refrigerator. Malaria pills are also an option, to be discussed when I go back for my shots later this week. My vaccinations cost me over $250 but in my opinion, that’s…
Hate injections, but am getting my vaccinations for my Vietnam trip today. May the force be with me!
Being the slight (?) control freak that I am, I have put all my flights and hotels into TripIt so that I can access my itinerary via my iPhone. A selection of the hotels I will be staying at include: Sunway Hotel in Hanoi Halong Plaza Hotel in Halong City Huong Giang Hotel in Hue City Hoi An Trails Resport…
I went to a Travel Indochina info session last night. I’ve already booked my trip, but I still wanted to hear what they had to say and glean as much info as I could – afterall, I’m off in 3 months! The takeaways: Travelling in spring/autumn is best as winters are very cold, and summers very hot. Make sure I…
I’ve paid the deposit on my trip. Now, I’ve just got to do the paperwork for my visa and travel insurance, and organise my vaccination. So far, Travel Indochina have been great to deal with.
Travel Indochina has costed a 14 day tour (including airfares, transfers and travel insurance) for me to Vietnam, with exactly the dates I’m after. I’ve just got to get the amounts itemised and check individual costs. And I’m going for my own room because I’m really bad at sharing my space! I’ve checked the reviews / forums and haven’t found…