Camellia Hotel Hanoi

Kia Ora Mates and Bros and stuff So we arrived in Hanoi today.... A wee bit hung over :( and i (Dan) was able to keep up the great tradition of getting food poisoning on the last night before we go to another country.... Eating my one true weakness Sausage Rolls!! I had one a few days ago and it was stale but nooo i had to have one again.... Anyway we woke up at 5:15am after a few hours sleep and jumped on the plane to Vietnam at 7am... Arrived at Hanoi at 8:30am and after the most crazy taxi...

I made it to the San Francisco International Airport (SFO). I started in Santa Cruz with a ride from the house to the Metro Center then a I hr ride on the HY 17 bus to San Jose Diridron Station where I catch the CalTrain for the 1hr ride to Millbrae, then a 5min BART ride north and change of train and another 5 min to SFO. Checkin starts for the 12:15 AM 13 hr flight to Taipei at 8:15 PM. As I wait I notice a young Asian man with 2 elders in their wheel chairs. Later in the checking line he i...

The city has grown into the surrounding rice paddies with many industrial areas with large corporations like Sony, Panasonic, Canon, etc. The banks of the Hong Son (Red River) are filling with large opulent residences indicating the money which is coming here. As I ride toward the city high rises appear out of the smog like ghosts. Even the Old Chinese Quarter where I am staying is beginning to see destruction of the old houses and their replacement with tourist hotels. The Camellia is still ...

Today Nick and I conquered the xe om or moto taxis! Hanoi is full of people on motorbikes hooting all the time and today we travelled from the Vietnamese Ethnology Museum, about 13 km from our hotel, back by motorbike. At first it was absolutely terrifying but gradually we got used to it and it turned out to be really fun. We first arrived in Hanoi by minibus and were taken to the hotel we had booked. As we were about to walk in two people came out and said "whatever you do, don't stay in tha...

Hi everyone. We arrived in Hanoi on November 2nd and so far so good. We got our first real taste of the backpacker life when we landed in Hanoi, as we tagged along with a very nice German guy named Stefan who has been travelling for 2 years! The car from the hotel we had reserved was supposed to pick us from the airport but never showed, so we took a taxi with Stefan into Hanoi's Old Quarter. From there we popped from guesthouse to guesthouse, examing the rooms, and testing our bargaining ski...

hey well i arrived back in vietnam from sapa before i was due to fly out to bangkok for my stint and to set up my company which i was really excited for....i spent most of the time in hanoi just looking around and seeing a few sights before heading to the beer oi corner each night to see roger and mariano for a good session.the 1st night proved to be a rather expensive session as i was approached by two girls on bikes......i may have mentioned this in the overall hanoi page i did................

A couple of days after we arrived in Saigon, a typhoon hit central Vietnam and caused much havoc and destruction in Danang, Hoi an and other neighbouring provinces. The maximum damage however occurred in the Phillipines, which was the first country in its path. Due to the typhoon, we had to change our travel plans and instead of travelling up the coast we flew directly to Hanoi and decided to work our way down. Flying from one big city to another big city is not our ideal way of travelling an...

I have turned toward writing more in my own journal by hand... With lots of time while traveling comes lots of time for contemplation. Keeping busy helps keep the mind from becoming a monkey, so I try to sort my thoughts. One things that helped me was writing while eating dinner alone. I am also looking foward to watching the new James Bond movie, mostly for the experience of seeing a movie here in Vietnam. Much cheaper than in the US and a different kind of cultural experience... I have real...