Saigon to Hanoi 2005-7

[WujouMao]

as some of you might know, i went backpacking in asia for 2 years. Vietnam is my least favourite country. why?, traffic and blatent overcharching

i cant remember where these falls were. but they look lovely

some differant pictures of buddah


i like the look of this one. it was in a vietnamese culture park off the beatern track in the Mekong Delta

temple walls plastered with broken bottles

many designs made from chinese looking china bowls. these resemble chinese dragons


crusing along [Shane up front]

Nha Trang, Cham temple on the coast

i have to say we never popped into this rather strange craft. i hadn't even remotely even thought a thing like this would exsist.
next time i'll try, there is always a next time



Hoi An. streets flooded here, major

]



this part of town escaped the rising water


went of one of thoese dredded bike tours. really hate them, as you find the bikers take you to the touristy places, like Marble Mountain.


if you saw the end of Series 12 of Top Gear when they were in Vietnam, this is the town Clarkson and Hammond got the Marble from.

still, you get to see how rice noodles are made, even if its child labour involved

or to see silk worms doing what they do best


this is My Son temple. another Khmer looking temple in the middle of north and south. not much to look at, and its rather run down.
the bike tours said dont bother, but i make my own mind up. still wanted to see it

walked for hours up a mountain slope to find this in a cave


Citadel, Hue, most of it is been destroyed during the war. looks nice with the moat

got mobbed by vietnamese girls who had come to another temple to pray

Ho Chi Minh was on holiday in russia getting his anual makeover. so it was closed for the duration


the only place i seemed to remember the name of in Vietnam, and the place i loved the most. Sapa.
got of the bus and was asked in amazing english if we wanted a room for the night. these hill tribe girls work as guides,
so they are not as shy as the ones who are not in the industry. these girls, we had met the night before in the only happening bar in town

took us on a FREE tour of their countryside. normally you would have to go on a tour and pay some dollars.
all they needed was 2 days worth of food for their trouble.


Sapa was also my 1st time of seeing rice terraces, so Sapa is still the best, even tho there are some fab ones in China and Philippines


i'm still camera shy, i know it would of been better from the other direction, but not everyone likes their photo taken, and ask for money instead, which complety spoils the moment

Bac Ha, less touristy, but every satuday its colourful as the hill tribes wear their tradional outfits. again, i'm worried not to upset the locals by sticking my camera in their face



went to see some caves. were put on the wrong tour lol. still saw something for the day.

must be knackering to row the boat all day


reminds you of Gualin in china if it has a river running through it

now that is what you call balance. i cant even stand in a boat when its fastened to the pier lol and these guys are standing while its moving,
and the rim is touching the water. Mad


who's scared of spiders? bit stupid i know. we both got up real close to this, and we wasnt even sure if it was dangerous. what a knob




looks like bulls horns, but its a type of nut

rambutan. bloody expensive in UK cos its imported. 6 will cost you about $6


you want some copy shoes that will hurt your feet?


rice on a barge, going to a floating market

more rambutan

dont be squeamish anyone thats not asian. trust me, it tastes better than it looks, and its ...

pig brain!

everyday traffic in Vietnam. blown away by the sheer volume of it. hardly any cars or trucks etc. just mountains and mountains of bikes.
on you marks, get set..

GO!!, even when the traffic is stil coming from the right. bollocks!!!

[Rural Surin]

Great piccies mate! Just adds to the TD photo archive.

[staggerleee]

food looks good. that's a crazy spider, is it edible? Beautiful waterfall. How's the water?

[Happyman]

The plantation I worked on in Vietnam ( Rach Gia - in the south west ) was alive with those spiders - The locals wouldn't go near them so I guess they bite !!

[Loombucket]

Great collection of pictures there, love that countryside and you can't beat a good market. Always happy to see more, if you have them.

[hillbilly]

Will have to visit that area one day. Great pics!

[phuketbound]

Cool pics. I've been to all of those places, except Bac Ha.

What happened in Hoi An? Flood central. I spent a week there, and loved the place.

The traffic is insane there in Hanoi. If you get a chance do the DMZ tour from Hue.

[WujouMao]

food looks good. that's a crazy spider, is it edible? Beautiful waterfall. How's the water?

i have no idea if its edible. more like its bloody poisonous and it eat me!

anyway, fingers crossed. If i happen to make it to 'spiderville' in cambodia where THEY do eat deep fried spiders, i'll let you know

If you get a chance do the DMZ tour from Hue.

Shane and i went on a tour with easyriders who did ask us if we want to go to the D.M.ZED, but we just couldnt bear anymore heartache about the vietnam war. just spending a day in the american war musuem in Ho Chin Mhin was enough for us

[barbaro]

Wujoumao,

Love your pics. Informative and very good at the same time. You have a good eye.

[Chuckycheese]

Your pictures are excellent; especially the one of the spider. It looks downright professional. I'm heading to Hanoi in February and will depart from Saigon....it looks like great fun! Thanks for sharing.

[Tassman]

Thanks for the cool pics and expirences.
That spider was just awesome, some thing I will look for, on my next visit to SE Asia

[WujouMao]

Your pictures are excellent; especially the one of the spider. It looks downright professional. I'm heading to Hanoi in February and will depart from Saigon....it looks like great fun! Thanks for sharing.

i too am going back to Vietnam in Feb. i'm heading back to Sapa. I have a better camera this time, although its still a compact. hopefully i can get some nice pictures of the ethnic markets

[Thaiguy]

Top Marks Sunshine, good pics interesting commentary , could do without the pigs brains though.
Didn't realise Vietnam was expensive ? have a friend on the way there now ,appreciate some cost comparisons with Thailand if possible .

[WujouMao]

Top Marks Sunshine, good pics interesting commentary , could do without the pigs brains though.
Didn't realise Vietnam was expensive ? have a friend on the way there now ,appreciate some cost comparisons with Thailand if possible .

pigs brain congee was great stuff. as for Vietnam being expensive, it wouldnt be if they were honest with the prises and didnt overcharge you by 5 times the normal prize. i dont mind the odd overcharging, but not too much. i'm not that stupid or naive to pay it. i just walk off instead

if you want cheap, go to Laos

[kingwilly]

i cant see any pics, where are they hosted?

[Propagator]

^

Not seeing to well KW

[Udonite]

Top Marks Sunshine, good pics interesting commentary , could do without the pigs brains though.
Didn't realise Vietnam was expensive ? have a friend on the way there now ,appreciate some cost comparisons with Thailand if possible .

pigs brain congee was great stuff. as for Vietnam being expensive, it wouldnt be if they were honest with the prises and didnt overcharge you by 5 times the normal prize. i dont mind the odd overcharging, but not too much. i'm not that stupid or naive to pay it. i just walk off instead

if you want cheap, go to Laos

Great pictures, I think you were overcharged with the Rambutans.

[Anja09]

I agree that the traffic in Vietnam is horrible, especially in Saigon (it induced me homicidal thoughts more than just once). Yet, I still enjoyed my time there very much. I was working for 6 months in Vietnam and found the Vietnamese to be very lovely people.

[Marmite the Dog]

Do you know Milky?

I was working for 6 months in Vietnam

[WujouMao]

dont be squeamish anyone thats not asian. trust me, it tastes better than it looks, and its ...

pig brain!

yummy

[barbaro]

Do you know Milky?

I was working for 6 months in Vietnam

I don't believe we met.

How are things?

[porno frank]

That some real cool scenic pictorials on viet nam.

[Pol the Pot]

Nice pics. Good to see somebody not whingeing and whining because they couldn't handle the Vietnamese.

It's cheaper than Thailand, Laos and Cambodia by the way.

[ossierob]

Good pics and story....I really enjoyed it...the food the ...town/city and country shots and the bloody spider....Thanks

[Mid]

i have to say we never popped into this rather strange craft. i hadn't even remotely even thought a thing like this would exsist. next time i'll try, there is always a next time

these are the boats that carried the refugees from Vietnam to HK .

not something I'd care to emulate .