VIET NAM - HOI AN.

Hoi An, further south is a fairly small town on the coast, it is well known for ancient Shiva temples built around 200AD. However much of this site has been destroyed during the Viet Nam war. There are huge bomb craters not yet filled for people to see and are used as tourists sites.
Lots of tailor shops in the town that can make ladies and gents clothes in a day at a fraction of the price. No good to us as we are not on a shopping holiday.
Any where in Viet Nam, a boat trip down the river is interesting. Life depends on the activities going on in the river like fishing in traditional canoes, house boats, irrigation for rice fields and washing. I am always fascinated by the way the river is used in these parts of the world.
Quite a few Americans in Hue and Hoi An . Some here to repent, some visiting the graves of friends and family and some visiting and flashing dollars thinking it would help. We spent two days here, again in a lovely hotel.

My `Son ruins.Old Shiva temple site.

a tourist boat

A pagoda -7 stories

No idea

VIET NAM -HUE

Hue is in the middle of the country and was the ancient capital until 1945. The emperor made this as the capital simply because it was right in the middle and made it easy for him to govern.

Hue has many interesting monuments the most important being The Citadel, the forbidden city and many tombs of the emperors. The tombs interestingly were made whilst the emperor`s were alive and oversaw the construction.

During the Viet Nam war the Viet Cong used the cultural sites as a hiding place thinking the Americans will not bomb such an important site, however the Americans did bomb it and there was a huge amount of house to house fighting which destroyed many important sites.

Hue is quite a relaxing city without the hustle and bustle of Hanoi. Spent two days here taking in the various sites. Again a welcome in all the hotels we stayed has been exceptionally good. Also now we are getting temple and pagoda fatigue. In the last few days we have seen so many of them and there are few more to see in the next few days.

gateway to one of the tombs

emperors rest house

tomb of the 18th century emperor

Colourful burning sticks for sale

VIET NAM SAPA TREKKING.

SAPA

330Km form Hanoi and by overnight sleeper train will bring you to Sapa, an incredibly picturesque village that lies on the Hoang Lien Son mountain range near the Chinese border in the north. Here one can see many hill tribe people , the three main tribes in the hills are the H`mong,Dzao and Tai. Their villages and the life style and rice terraces, lush vegetation and the Fansipan, the highest mountain peak in Vietnam make this area a very interesting visiting place. We undertook two trekking expeditions, one of 8km up and down the mountain range and one of 12km going down the valley visiting villages along the way and coming back by bus.

The treks start early in the morning and a group of tribes women will be waiting outside the hotel and will follow you all along the trek and talk to you and will try and be friends with you ,of course in the hope of selling you colourful clothing and souvenirs.

The local tribes have quickly adopted to tourists and most of the women speak English, French and a little bit of some other European languages. Whilst the women are chasing the tourists the men are looking after the house and children and also doing the cooking. In some of the remote villages tourism has not had a good effect, however the villages are not complaining as they have become relatively wealthy. The H`mong tribes wear more black whilst the Dzao wear more red and less black colour clothing. The Dzao women,when they get married shave off their forehead and their eyebrows so that other men would not look at them (except tourists).

Our treks took us to stunning scenery with vertical rice terraces, huge water falls and mountain peaks that had permanent mists hovering above them. The weather here is cool so walking is not that tiring and the treks are well marked. Roaming and walking around this region was really very pleasant and given more time there is a lot of trekking to be done including the climb to Fansipan.

During our Sapa trip we met a lovely Canadian couple from Vancouver by the name of Salim and Shazan who were on their honeymoon. What a coincident, they also know our friends Azim and Ruby in Vancouver. They did the same treks as us and therefore the trip became even more interesting as we discussed and talked about a few things. Ruby will be able to recognise the couple from the photos I have posted.

stepped rice fields.

Dzao woman and me in conversation

a class room in the tribe village.

Dzao tribe women

taking a rest on the trekking trail.

Dzao tribe women

tribe woman acting as a guide.

stepped rice fields

H`mong women following on the trek

Grinding machine-hand powered.

H`mong tribe women waiting at the hotel

falls are a popular photo site

By another falls in the area

By the falls in Sapa

VIET NAM- HANOI & HALONG BAY.

HALONG BAY
Halong Bay is four hour journey by bus from Hanoi and than by Chinese style junk boat to the islands. The boats are luxurious with air conditioned rooms showers bars and restaurants and other activities.
Halong Bay has thousands of little islands in various shapes and sizes close to each other and many interesting caves with stalagmites and stalactites The creeping sunlight in to the caves has a stunning effect inside the caves.
We visited a few islands with caves and went to a small island beach for a swim. For the first time did kayaking in the sea which was an interesting experience. Having never done it before the first half hour was a little frightening considering we had to dodge a few large boats coming our way.
The other tourists on the boat, mainly Australians, were great company and have exchanged email addresses and may go and see them , time permitting.
A visit to this area is highly recommended as I don`t think there is anything like this anywhere else in the world.

effect of sunlight in the cave

a very large cave on an island

view of the islands in the bay

boats in the bay

Hanoi 18th Oct-21st Oct.

Hanoi the capital of Vietnam was not much of place after the Vietnam war in the late seventies.Until the mid nineties the main mode of transport was bicycles and rickshaws commonly called cyclos. Now it has a population of 6 million people and 3 million motorbikes. Most of these always seem to be on the road and crossing the road can be a little tricky. In fact there are some tall buildings by the inter sections of the road where one can sit, have a drink and watch the traffic. Very interesting and difficult to get a table in the bar or restaurant.

As a capital for over 1000 years it is considered to be the cultural capital of Vietnam and has many historic monuments like the one pillar pagoda, the temple of literature and the old quarters which still has the original street layouts. In the old quarter particular streets would be selling one particular products. For example you would find a street that would only sell handbags and the shops in the other street would be selling only washing machines. The city has numerous lakes the most famous being Hoan Kiem lake.

Our hotel was in the middle of the old quarter and the staff at the hotel could not be more friendly and helpful. They arranged all the tours and travel tickets for us and would send one of the staff to make sure we got on the right bus or the right train and into the right coach. The rooms were excellent clean and spacious and came with a computer and free use of Internet. Charge per day $22.

Travelling in Cyclo in the rush hour.

One pillar pagoda, interesting building

Ho Chi Minh monument.

Bonsai tree. Very old tree.

a View form the lake

On the bridge in the lake

LAOS

LUANG PRABANG 14TH -18TH OCT.

10 hour bus journey from Vientiane crossing several mountains, going through narrow roads,and passes is certainly not a comfortable journey but the final destination is worth the effort. Very quite and tranquil place with not many cars on the road. A sleepy town during the day and a busy one during the nights. Lots of activities in the surrounding areas like kayaking, elephant riding, trekking and cycling. Lots of old French colonial buildings in the town.
We took the slow boat ride to Pak Ou in the north to visit caves and some more Buddha temples. The river ride for the first half hour can be interesting but gets a little boring after a while. There are some spectacular water falls in the area about an hours ride away. The afternoon was spent by the falls and a little trekking.
The hotels in the area are of good quality with an average price of $25. Huge number of backpackers here staying for less than $5 a night and doing lots of outdoor activities. Restaurants serve all kinds of food and are fairly cheap. $5 for a good meal including drinks.

Falls outside Luang Prabang

on the The Mekong river

Local boats on the river

House in one of the street

Buddha Temple

Golden Temple

Entrance to the Temple

VIENTIANE 11TH -14TH OCT.

Vientiane the capital of Laos is very small and a well laid out city. Two days at the most in the city should be enough. Good night life by the river with bars and restaurants. As all cities a little expensive.
Buddha park out side the city worth a visit with ancient statutes of Buddha and other Hindu gods.

Buddha park statues

Statutes in Buddha park

Temple of Wat Sisaket

Wide avenue in the city but not busy

Central square off the avenue

Hotel in Siem Reap

Same hotel as above.