firth1974

Saigon Sky Deck, Bitexco Tower. http://www.bitexcofinancialtower.com/?page_id=1547 I seem to have this thing, wherever i have been to om ny travels, be it Munich, Saigon, Tokyo, Osaka, Seoul, anywhere really, that i seem to search out the tallest buildings and take the guided tour to the top and enjoy the vista's of that city, and Saigon is no different. Cant remember the cost of the ticket, but i dont recall it being that expensive (Edit; just found my ticket, and the cost was 200,000 VND, thats roughly £6/300 Baht). Well worth the visit to the deck, and if the weather is good, like on the day i went, the views are amazing and worth every dong! [img/300]http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy67/Firth1974/Vietnam%202015%20Part%202/IMG_1196_zps3zf9uyxa.jpg[/img] They did a pretty good steak in here........................................... Skydeck is located on the 49th floor......................................... The last time i was here, this was a busy boat pier with boats to Vang Tau going from it. Now its all closed off and shut!.........................

Platoon

Priscilla, queen of the desert!

City Slickers

Another one for the best movie ever.......... The Blues Brothers!!

One of the best movies EVER................................. National Lampoons Vacation.

Cheers guys, much appreciated. Off to Amsterdam later today for a few nights, so hope to posts again on the weekend.

Not entirely sure, to be honest. Im guessing it was attached to a rope in a tree, and when you sprung the tripwire, BANG, it came down at you!!

And with Wat Po right behind the palace, it is a great way to spend a day sightseeing.

VIP card is good for both bars. At least it was 3 weeks ago.

The cost of what?

Love it or hate in Bangkok, one of the most popular places to visit in this great city is the Khao San Road area. It can be a great people watching area, and when the sun sets and the lights come on, its quite something to see. Unluckily for me, it was raining this day, so i didn't hang around to long here. The first hotel i ever stayed in in Bangkok back in 2002...................................... Still love the old 60's style buildings in this area..................................... If your looking for that certain lucky number for your Thai lottery win, then Ratchadamnoen Road is the place to find. There must be millions of tickets on sale down this road. Just makes you wonder just how big the Thai lottery really is?............................................ The food of champions. Time to stop for a quick (late) lunch....................................... Then my camera decided to take a dump with humidity in the lense........................................... 5 minutes later and all is good again!................................................. What i like in this area is this little soi, Rambuttri Road. Just set slightly away from Khao San road, its more relaxed, more chilled, more quiet and not in your face, and though it still has some backpackers here, its not full of those "gap year, not going to wash my hair in a year and have dreadlocks" arseholes!! Some fantastic little eateries on this street too.................... Hope you have enjoyed the Bangkok photos. Thats all i have from this trip of Bangkok, next up will be the Hanoi photos.

I think Jacko beat you to the punch. I'll go with Ben Kingsley

No photos at all inside the buddha hall, not even pics taken on phones. Plenty of guards inside the room to stop you. I had to stand outside and zoom in to get my shots. Plenty of others doing the same thing and no one batted an eyelid.

Cheers mate, glad there is at least 2 boards that appreciate photos and content.

Liam Neeson

Tim Roth

I guess this is where 1960's fun fair rides go to die!. These were seen in the grounds of the local school............................... This airport only has 2 flights in and 2 flights out daily. Its not a very busy airport at all.....................................

These photos are from the infamous Hill A 1, or better known as "Elaine 2". The battle for Elaine took the French back to the battle of the Somme in 1916, and to the dirt of trench warfare. To walk across this hill and see all the trenches and pillbox's is an amazing thing to see. I can only imagine the horror that the defenders faced in these soaking wet and rat infested trenches! The Viet Minh launched a massed assault against the exhausted defenders on the night of 1 May, overrunning "Eliane 1", "Dominique 3", and "Huguette 5", although the French managed to beat back attacks on "Eliane 2". On 6 May, the Viet Minh launched another massed attack against "Eliane 2". The attack included, for the first time, Katyusha rockets. The French artillery used an innovation, firing with a "TOT" (Time On Target) attack, so artillery rounds fired from different positions would strike on target at the same time.] This barrage defeated the first assault wave. A few hours later that night, the Viet Minh detonated a mine shaft, blowing "Eliane 2" up. The Viet Minh attacked again, and within a few hours had overrun the defenders. On 7 May, Giáp ordered an all-out attack against the remaining French units with over 25,000 Viet Minh against fewer than 3,000 garrison troops. At 17:00, de Castries radioed French headquarters in Hanoi and talked with Cogny. The whole surface area of this hill is pock-marked everywhere with shell craters, and if you look very closely as you are walking around, you will see where other trenches were during the battle. These have obviously not been dug out and preserved by the Vietnamese, but this whole place just looks like a huge jigsaw puzzle of lines and holes!!! And here are Chaffee tanks #3,4 and 5....................................... Some of the many barbwire fortifications that were erected to try and halt the attacks on "Elaine"..................................... This is the view looking south out of DBP towards "Isabelle". The hill of Isabelle can be seen in the background of this photo............................... Chaffee tank #6. Ive now seen 6 out of 10 Chaffee tanks that the french were given from the Americans.................................. This is the position that the Viet Minh dug a mine shaft under the command post and blew it up, basically ending the battle for Elaine........................... If this photo was taken 60 years ago, this would of been a very rare sight indeed for the defenders, of a re-supply aircraft coming into land at the airstrip. As it happens, the Viet Minh had the airstrip pinned down tight from artillery fire, and very very few aircraft actually landed here during the battle...............................

Daniel Stern

The Quick and the Dead.

Yep, its certainly a time consuming task when i upload photos to the board.

These are the photos taken on my second da yin DBP. My walk took me to the National war cemetery, the DBP historical museum, and then onto Hill A1, or more known as "Elaine" to the French. This hill was the scene of the worst fighting of the entire battle, but i will post those photos into another thread, as there are quite a few of them. Vietnamese cemetery to the hero's and war dead from the battle of Dien Bien Phu................................ Across the road from the cemetery, is the Dien Bien Phu museum, all about the the battle, and nothing else. Thus museum, from the outside, is very very deceiving, but it is well laid out and very imformative and full of artifacts.................................... This is the local cinema in DBP. looking at the film posters, they seem to be "western". Can anyone name the movie, because for the love of christ i cant!!!....................................... Now, onto the "Museum of Dien Bien Phu Historical Victory". I say its deceptive, as all the exhibit's are "buried"underground, and circle around the outside of the round dome. As far as i can work out, there is nothing in the centre, or maybe there is and it was just closed but didn't see any signs saying so. It is a good museum, loads of stuff inside and the same amount of English to match the written Vietnamese..............................