Easter Sunday, Fete de Paques 23 march Mood: grateful, tired, well nourished, healthy, relaxed, accomplished (see shopping) Happy Easter, Feliz Pascua.....today went to the Vietnamese mass at 9:30 but at 9:10am were already singing joyfully bursting out of the huge Gothic doors and spilling out onto the steps back at 11am for the French mass...q...

So after the massive 12 hour bus ride to Hoi An it was a relief to only have a five hour bus ride up the coast to Hue.  Hue is a small town packed with loads of history and interesting sites.  We got a cyclo, which is a man on a bike pushing you in a massive chair in front, around the city and got to see the Citadel, the market and&nbs...

After a day of citadels and sun in Hue we boarded a rather late train to the capital and prepared ourselves for a night of train-sleep (or lack there of). Due to a ticket issue I was sleeping in a cabin with three Vietnamese business men who were more interested in drinking a few beers before they got to sleep than in getting to know me. I wasn'...

June 22, 2007 Hanoi, Vietnam The only thing we really wanted to see in northern Vietnam is Ha Long Bay, a World Heritage Site. A three day, two night tour costs us $74 each. When we get on the boat we find that some people who bought the tickets on-line paid $120 each. Just about everyone had paid a different price, but $72 was the lowest price....

Got up early to enjoy THE most random buffet breakfast yet - POD ate chips and coleslaw..... Got accosted by cyclo driver (with a pram type contraption in front of a cycle) and he drove us around to the Mauseluem and Temple of Literature. Very bizarre sights the both of them. The first involves being ushered communist style around the complex, i...

Dalsi den v hlavnim meste. Rano jsem vyrazila do Ho Chi Minh mauzolea. Vyplati se tam dorazit pred 7.30, nez sem prihrnou velke vtpravy. Ani za nic bych tam nestale ve fronte v tom vedru. Ho Chi min - kdo vi jestli je to on, nebo voskova figurina, ja se priklanim k figurine..lezi ve sklenene krychli, okolo neho stoji vojaci. Je to jak ve skole. ...

Weather: Hot on arrival then turned to winter the following day Sights and activities: Walking tour of old quarter, Temple of Literature, non for profit restaurants to enable young people from the streets in to work, water puppet theatre (originated in northern Vietnam on rice paddies), night out with Mark from work, Ho Chi Minh Museum, Ngoc Son...

After over a month of travelling with the boys, it was time to say good-bye to them and Vietnam. A bit sad to say good-bye but they were on their way to Laos (and the rest of their 9 month adventure) and I was on my way home. Shocking to think that it was actually time to go back to Bangkok for a few days before heading to the USA. It just makes...

Flaming Dragon Puppets in Water, mix with Phosphorescence, add some parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme- and tada: Vietnamese Dreamland! The stage was set- and the shrill echo from the shamisen sounded the start of the show. The curtains rose, lights switched on, and the time had come to see one of Vietnam's greatest cultural events- Hanoi's world...