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Showing results for tags 'vietnam'.
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Ha Long Bay. Dont let the guides or brochures fool you into believing its only a 2 hour journey from Hanoi, it is actually a 4 hour drive each way. I let the owner of the hotel i was staying in Hanoi talk me into a 2 day/1 night stay in Ha Long Bay, and after this trip, i was really glad that i allowed him to do this. I ended up booking with Legacy cruises, with a cost of $130 per person, but seeing as i was travelling alone, i had to pay an extra $30 single supp charge. Now, it might seem expensive, but honestly, this had to of been the best £100 i have ever spent on any holiday anywhere
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Hanoi street life. This is what its all about in the evenings. Sat on the street with a beer and some food, and just watching the world go by. I could happily do this every single night i'm there. You can get 4 beers for 20,000VND on the street. That is only 60 pence , or for our American brothers, that's only $1 USD, it is that cheap!! And then the Police turn up, and every thing changes. All the little stools and tables disappear as there are actually on the street. Seems whatever the agreement is, they cant have their stools on the actual street. Then the pol
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Today was my last full day in Hanoi before i left for Dien Bien Phu, so i decided to take a full days walk around this great city. Started walking through the Old Quarter, to the Citadel, then to Uncle Ho's Mausoleum, the One Pillar Pagoda, through the Government buildings and Presidential Palace, through and around the West lake taking in Tran Quoc Pagoda, stopping for (a late lunch at 3pm) on the "island" of Tran Bach before walking back through the Old Quarter, to the lake and then back to the hotel. I covered a fair few miles today, but it was a great walk, and a walk to be done again th -
Anyone for coffee???.................................................
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All these photos were taken in the Hanoi OLd Quarter and around Hoan Kiem lake. Hanoi has to be one of the most friendliest cities in Asia, if not the world. Once you get away from all the motorbikes and crazy driving skills which are a lot worse than their Thai brothers, it really is a great city. Food is amazing here, i find it better than Thai food and the portion sizes that i came across in restaurants were huge. Definite value for money here. Its good to see that they try, and do enforce, a no bike rule on some streets after a certain time..................................
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fantastic place to visit, and if anyone here does head off to Hanoi, i highly recomend that you add this place to your visit. The central old citadel of Hanoi was the former residence of Vietnamese monarchs dating back to Đại Việt, when the city was known as Thăng Long. The Imperial Citadel of Thang Long was constructed earliest by the Ly dynasty in 1010 and remained the seat of the Vietnamese court until 1810, when Huế became the capital city. The royal palaces and other various structures were largely destroyed by the colonial French in the late 19th century. Some structures remain su
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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 t
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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
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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 "Elia
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This is the end of my first days walk, where i took in de Castries command bunker, and several artillery pieces that are scattered all over the place around here. 10 Chaffee tanks were given to the french for they use in DBP, here is one of them, still left in the paddy field where it was destroyed This is just on the other side of the runway........................................... The hill in the middle of this photo with the track running up it, is what the french called " Anne-Marie" during the battle.................................. This is Muong Th
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Dien Bien Phu is very much a one horse town kind of place. One road in and one road out, there really is not much here at all. If you have a fascination with military history, then you will love this place. Not sure if when i visited in October, if it was low season, but i flew in from Hanoi, and on that flight were 5 Australians and me, and they were the only white tourists i saw in the 3 nights i stayed here. Dien Bien Phu, sight of one of the worst battles in modern times, of one of the french's greatest ever defeat, and ultimately the sight of one of the most revered places in all of Vie
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Managed to come across this site compeltely by chancem, so managed to tick off another famous site of Saigon, that i believe not too many tourists, or board members have ever seen, so i hope i have shown you something you have never seen in Saigon. This is the site of Thich Quang Duc, the "burning monk", one of the most famous scene's to have ever have been captured onto film.!!! Im not entirely sure, but im led to believe that this tree/pot plant represents the spot where Thich Quang Duc set himself on fire..........
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Saigon zoo, it doesnt exactly get a very good write up on Tripadvisor, and mainly has people slating them for the conditions the animals are in, but to be honest, ive seen a lot worse conditions in Thai Zoo's. Located not far from the centre of the city, Saigon zoo i found to be a nice retreat from the hustle and traffic of the city. Cant remember the entrance fee, but it cant of been more than 20,000 VND. The grounds seem to be quite big but as it started to rain when i was there, i think i missed quite a bit of the gardens area out. Its worthy of a couple of hours to tour around, and see
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A review of the EMM Hotel, Saigon. For my stay in Saigon last month, i stayed at the EMM Hotel, which is located at 157 Pasteur Street, which is actually in District 3, but is only 900m to the Reunification Palace and the War Remnants Museum. Pastuer Street actually runs side-by-side with the main road in from the airport, so its easy to get to.(As far as im aware, there is no website yet for the hotel, but the Qresidence is located in the lower floors of the building ans is owned by the same people,) http://qresidence-vn.com/ I booked this hotel through www.agoda.com, but it is also list
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Part 2 of my Saigon photos.................................. This is the old MACV building on Pasteur Street.....................
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Booked another day trip through the hotel again, this time the trip was the Hue city tour. The trip took in the 3 kings tombs south of Hue, a Voi An karate class, then back into Hue to visit the ancient Citadel and finally onto the Thien Mu Pagoda, which was the home and temple of Thich Quang Duc, and now the resting place of his historic and (in)famous car. We finished the day of by taking a Dragon boat from the temple back into the centre of Hue. I will split all of this day up into separate threads, so i hope you dont get lost. The 3 kings tombs - Part 1 - The Minh Mang Royal tomb. Mi
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The DMZ Tour. (I would love to hear any stories of these places from any Vets that we might have on the board). This tour i was really looking forward to. This is everything i had heard, read about and seen in movies, and it was good to actually put places to these names. It was just unlucky that it absolutely dumped it down all morning, so much so,that the rain seeped into my camera, forcing it to go tits up!!! (never really took any photos using the monitor screen anyway, so no loss to me). Started the day with a 07.00am pick up from my hotel in Hue, then drove all the way up to Quang
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The Reunification Palace, Saigon. I was told before i arrived here that it was only worth about an hour's visit, as there really wasnt anything here to see. I found that to be wrong, and ebded up staying about 2.5 hours, but then again, i was fascinated y the whole place, and found it great to wonder around. Located on Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street in District 1, it is literally a stone's throw from the War Remnants Museum, and the Catheral and Post Office. Open everyday, but closed at lunch times, the cost was 30,000VND ($1/£0.55) It was the most expensive museum that i came across in the whol
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The War Remnants Museum, Saigon. Located on Vo Van Tan Street, District 3, is fairly easy to find as you cant miss the tanks and aircraft everywhere. Entrance is only 15,000VND(£0.40/$0.75),its as cheap as chips, and is a fantastic day out, thats if you have an interest in anything Military or in the Vietnam Conflict. Obviously, its all about the American connection, but there is a section that goes into some detail about the Vietnamese torturing other Vietnamese, and reading some of the signs there, you realise they were just as bad and ruthless as the Americans and each other! ******WA
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So many photos of Saigon, im going to split them up into specific sections. Meanwhile, im going to post a couple of general Saigon photo threads, to give you an idea of what the place looks like. In the middle of the rush hour traffic.........................
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This temple, or Pagoda, Thien Mu Pagoda, was the home to one of the most famous Buddhist monks in the world, Thich Quang Duc(The burning monk). Located on what i think is the highest point in Hue, it is only really popular because of this monk, and his car that featured in that famous photo. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thien_Mu_Pagoda This is THE car that is in one of the most famous and well-known photos in the world......................
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After spending a long day visiting the 3 king tombs, Kung Fu show, visiting the Imperial Citadel, and finally the Pagoda, we finished the day off taking a nice leisurely cruise down the Huong River, or better known as the Perfume River.
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The Imperial Citadel of Hue. Most of it is now more than a huge pile of rubble, due to the fact that the VC during the Tet Offensive hid out here, and it got turned to rubble after the Americans tried to flush them out. You can only imagine what this place looked like in its hay day of the Emperor's. The grounds of the Imperial City were surrounded by a wall 2 kilometers by 2 kilometers, and the walls were surrounded by a moat. The water from the moat was taken from the Huong River (Perfume River) that flows through Huế. This structure is called the citadel. Inside the citadel was the Imp
