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Victorous In Vietnam 2003! |
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Click through the full galleries - 0 1 2 3 4 Countries |
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Hanoi - The crazy motorbikes by night |
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A floating shop - Ha Long Bay |
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Bia Hoi, 1500VND! |
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Victorious In Vietnam! |
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What a crazy country. Another SE Asian country that has put war behind them and is getting on with it!
Beer can be found for 7 pence a glass, (that's 10 US cents) ! What more could I want...?
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My route through Vietnam |
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1. Hanoi |
2. Ha Long Bay, Cat Ba Island |
3. Sa Pa |
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4. Hue |
5. Nanning, China |
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Hanging About in Hanoi |
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Land of the moped, though I'm told that Ho Chi Minh City (AKA Saigon) is even worse! There are stories of
one tourist a month killed trying to cross the road and I can believe it! You have to close your eyes and just GO!!!! It was so bad John couldn't watch me cross the road without
calling me a scary son-of-a-bitch!
Here I met two crazy Canucks, John and Tommy. Fresh outta S. Korea, teaching bastardised Canadian English to the masses we had great fun in avoiding all of the touristy destinations in Hanoi (and the rest of Vietnam for that matter), instead immersing ourselves in the culture of drinking Bia Hoi, on the streets for 10p, (7US cents) a glass and singing with the locals the famous Ho Chi Minh song (the national anthem). Words I've tried desperately to find and can't but hum along.., everyone together (note the etiquette is to cry lots whilst singing...) 'Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, da-da-da..' Ha Long bay - Cat Ba Island Now the one thing I say for Vietnam is that they spotted the tourist thing coming! Everyone is onto the tour organising, booking or running! It's a huge business and they do it well! I took a 3 day tour to Ha Long Bay and Cat Ba Island. This a beautiful area made up of thousands of small rocky islands. A well recommended tour! It's so cheap to take these tours, don't bother to try and self-organise! Sapa Sapa is a mountainous region in the far north of Vietnam (so close you can catch a taxi to China!). It's a gorgeous area, and features Mount Fansipan of all things! We took a three-day trek to conquer the mount (and damn it was a dangerous trek too! ) It also has ethnic village tours, which I liken to human zoo's and avoid! To get to Sapa I took a 2nd class, hard sleeper carriage bed for the over night journey, on the way back, for a laugh, we bought a bottle of voddy and too k the hard seat (not recommended unless your seriously hard core!) Rugby World Cup at the Hilton! Whilst in Vietnam the Rugby World Cup began, we discovered that they were running a huge promotion in the Hanoi Hilton, with a huge outdoor cinema screen, 4 plasma screens inside and $1US a glass of beer. Needless to say a good time was had by all and I can say I got pissed in the Hilton (and won a free tee-shirt using Hazel's game of 'Human Paper, Rock, Scissors'! Hue Time was running out so I took a quick trip down to Hue. This is right in the area where most of the fighting in the Vietnam ? US war took place. Here you can go on tours around the 'DMZ' (Demilitarised Zone) and learn a little of the war from the Vietnamese side! Fascinating stuff! And Then... I took a train to Nanning, China and made my way over to Hong Kong!
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LINKS |
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The following links may/may not be helpful, interesting, rude, or funny |
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A good account of someones trek to Mount Fansipan
Hanoi Toursim - Even the offical tourism boards of Vietnam are designed to make cash so ask around!
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Uno with the Vietnamese locals! |
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Local house - Sapa |
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Ho Chi Minh Bust - Mount Fansipan peak, Sapa |
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Click through the full galleries - 0 1 2 3 4 Countries |
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Home (also click if you are missing the menu bar) |
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Feel free to contact me |
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