High-lights in Hội An
Walk through Old Hội An on Vietnam’s central coast and you’ll pass seamlessly through colourful generations and cultures under a continuous canopy of vibrant oriental lanterns. It’s hard to believe that Hội An was an important trading sea port dating from the 15th century – except that rail and air travel wouldn’t have been an option then, as it remains today. If you want to get to Hội An today, you travel by road. We’ve stayed...
Hanoi highlights
With Hanoi still set to be on the Formula 1 Grand Prix racing circuit at some time yet to be determined; Vietnam will be in the spotlight worldwide but here we’ll take you on a different street circuit. At odds with the razzmatazz of F1, the historically communist capital of North Vietnam has a distinctive and pragmatic character, compared with the more decadent and ‘Western’ south. Our guide who meets us at the airport tells us how...
Exploring the mysterious Mekong
The mighty arterial Mekong River in Vietnam provides a fascinating vein through which the lifeblood of Vietnam flows. As we motor along the Mekong, through small villages, between trading barges and floating markets it can only give us a brief insight into the resources concealed within that influence the daily lives and culture of over 60 million people—people who depend on its water for transportation, fishing, trade, manufacture,...
At home in the Muong hills
The Ngoc Son Ngo Luong Nature Reserve in Vietnam not only offers you some of the most stunning scenery you’ll ever see but it also affords some homespun hospitality that’s second to none. We’ve left the lively northern capital of Hanoi and are now driving through lush rice paddy fields on both sides of the road, with coolie hats bobbing up and down as the pickers reap the harvest of this prolific green crop that has now reached...
Ha Long? About two days.
We find that high expectations are often disappointed, whereas greater pleasures can be derived from the unexpected. Ha Long Bay seems to fulfill both. Ha Long is the most visited location in Vietnam, if not Southeast Asia. Little surprise therefore that we aren’t going to have the place to ourselves. What we don’t expect however is the sheer volume of tourist traffic at this time of year, in the period between the rains and the high...
Cu Chi – Cu Chi; but not so endearing Vietnam
One step away from idyllic Vietnam into the dark of the Cu Chi tunnels and War Remnants museum. When Vietnam has so much to offer to travellers by way of beaches, bays, culture and countryside, you might wonder why war still features so strongly in its appeal to tourists. With the Vietnam War (1955-1975) a not so distant memory for many still alive today, its killing fields and museums still exact a significant draw on veterans,...
