Vietnam 2009

[WujouMao]

this is one of many great picture threads you've authored! Thanks!

I'm sure I've asked this before, but what camera are you using? Nice colors/exposures.

Canon Digital IXUS 90IS. i'm looking to change to an IXUS 990IS soon, as i dropped my camera in a river in Kon Tum while i went for a drunken piss in the dark

[bustak]

^ hahaha. Those little Canons can really take a beating. I dropped my Canon SD800 IS 3-4 times, took almost 30,000 pictures before it died a couple months ago, being replaced by the LUMIX LX3.

I also shoot w/ the Canon 450d. It's a nice, low range dSLR, I love it. My main lens is the TAMRON 17-50 f/2.8.

Good luck w/ the new camera, I really like your picture threads.

[WujouMao]

some other photos which are 3 weeks old till present.

i went to the Mekong Delta, Tra Vinh and Soc Trang to see the Khmer people there, just to see if the monks really are like the monks in Cambodia/Thailand compared to the Monks in Vietnam.


one huge mother of a carving














some nice paintings on the walls.






then went to Soc Trang, an area with the most amount of Khmer temples [about 250]
spotted this coming into town and asked a xe om if he could take me down the back roads the next day. poor fella didnt want to go cos he has never been before and didnt want to get lost, lol


but it was nice to travel along side the river bank, where the Khmer People live, compared to the Vietnamese who lived the other side on the canal next to the road. i even had some double-takes from the people who was suprised to see me in the sticks.




still, once you have seen one Khmer temple, you have seen them all.

[WujouMao]

Next i went to Can Tho for the floating market

as i was eating this, 2 boats full for vietnamese collage girls was taking pictures and waving.

was i sticking out that much eating rice porridge on a boat?












i thought these were Longan fruit.......


....till i bit into them! just as well my boat driver was behind me, she didnt see the face i pulled.






i think this is my best photo from the flaoting market. just the right angle, no one else in the way of the camera lense, perfect






went to see a nursury. instead of plastic flower pots, we have rolled up banana leaves. even more uses for the banana leaf.








walked around Can Tho and found another Khmer temple, spoke to a few Khmer's there, and one of them asked if i wanted to see his temple which he lived at when he was a monk.


temple 30 mins away by slow bus






washing clothes




some little bug that "cried' when touched.


i wanted the thank the Khmer lad for the day out, and asked him if he would like to try a 'special dish' with me.


its looks rough i know


Bollocks. won't eat again if i can help it.

[WujouMao]

got a visa extension, took 3 days longer than normal cos of the bloody vietnamese holiday, then went up the coast to Tam Ky, paid a visit to the Son My memorial statue and the massacre









went to look at a Cham tower on the outskirts of Tam Ky


resembles Khmer a bit






then went to Que Nhon which is on the coast.



a few Cham Temples in the surrounding area.




lovely countryside out this way too.




1km is far? its a 10 min walk. jesus


then caught a nightmare mini bus ride to Kon tum. nightmare cos we ran off the road twice, clipped 2 passing buses and trucks and smashed a wing mirrow off another, and he still over took on blind corners,

[Takeovers]

Great trip, great photos.

Thanks for sharing.

[WujouMao]

Kon Tum's wooden Church


Kon Tum's Bishop's house.


you'd be mistaken that you're in France if you saw this


went to Kon Tum's original village before it came the large city it is now.


the village was very very friendly, and a party was in full swing cos a young couple got married the other day.




so you could say i was quite pissed later on








A Bahna Rong house, where important meetings are held


a Ja Rai's graveyard. in the past, all graves had a wooden carving on the corners, but nowadays the pratice is stopped cos either vietnamese come and hack it off to sell it, or the villages sell it for a small amount of cash. a real shame really.


some countryside shots

[sunsetter]

magic! ace pics again wjm

[garyk]

Just wondering. I have been i Vitnam for about 8 days now. On a one or two month stay.. First time here.
It is cheap as f---k for hotels and good ones.. here. Hanoi and Sapa now. 7 dollars a day in Sapa with a killer view... Hanoi 15 dollars a day with internet and cabel TV in my room....
But the food is so expensive. About twice what i pay in Thailand. Did you find it this way?
I also am getting tired of everyone wanting to take my money.. But i am holding my own now.. Gets tiring verrrrry fast.
Nice pics. G

[WujouMao]

Just wondering. I have been i Vitnam for about 8 days now. On a one or two month stay.. First time here.
It is cheap as f---k for hotels and good ones.. here. Hanoi and Sapa now. 7 dollars a day in Sapa with a killer view... Hanoi 15 dollars a day with internet and cabel TV in my room....
But the food is so expensive. About twice what i pay in Thailand. Did you find it this way?
I also am getting tired of everyone wanting to take my money.. But i am holding my own now.. Gets tiring verrrrry fast.
Nice pics. G

when you say you're tired of people wanting your money, do you mean cos they are begging, or the fact they are blatent overcharging? as for food, its normally 15,000 - 20,000. depends on the city, and the people. you have less chance of getting overcharged either by ethic people or any place from central highlands downwards.

i have found out from exprience, that english menu's tend to be more expensive and less informed than vietnamese ones.

[garyk]

I am in Hanoi now just back from Sapa. I like to take my time and go slow, I try to travel solo not on tours....

I have to watch every transaction and count money. I have been overcharged at the bus station, train station and government offices. After i argue with them politely they sometime refund the money. The Gai Lam bus station in Hanoi does not show prices now. So the touts are hovering around you and quoteing you out of this world prices about double. Even the ticket office will over charge you . There is no control what so ever that i see....

After i got to Loa Cia, going to Sapa. I was hounded and not politely by touts pushing me on busses one quoting me from 150,000d and wanted it now. Finally i pushed away and rented a hotel. Nice hotel for 120,000d. good chinese couple. Next day i went to Sapa for 30,000d.

The country is beautiful. Will i come back.. No Way. Just too much bull shit for me.

[barbaro]

The country is beautiful. Will i come back.. No Way. Just too much bull shit for me.

I think the percentage of people who return to Vietnam more than once is very low.

The gov tourist office has tried to study this.

'Nam has a lot of beauty. The problem with over-charging, aggressivement, hassles, wears many visitors/tourists/travelers down.

Greed, and hustling.

[garyk]

Very well put Milkman. It just wears you out....

[WujouMao]

I am in Hanoi now just back from Sapa. I like to take my time and go slow, I try to travel solo not on tours....

I have to watch every transaction and count money. I have been overcharged at the bus station, train station and government offices. After i argue with them politely they sometime refund the money. The Gai Lam bus station in Hanoi does not show prices now. So the touts are hovering around you and quoteing you out of this world prices about double. Even the ticket office will over charge you . There is no control what so ever that i see....

After i got to Loa Cia, going to Sapa. I was hounded and not politely by touts pushing me on busses one quoting me from 150,000d and wanted it now. Finally i pushed away and rented a hotel. Nice hotel for 120,000d. good chinese couple. Next day i went to Sapa for 30,000d.

The country is beautiful. Will i come back.. No Way. Just too much bull shit for me.

i'm not a tour person myself either. i like to just cruise solo and you're right about the over charching. most asian countries rob you a little bit, but not to the extent of vietnam.

an example here, i crossed over from lower Loas to south vietnam, Lao Bao. i was quoted $25 dollar from the lao Bao border to a large enough town on the coast. it would take me about 3 hours. but it took some haggling and a smile on my face to get from the $25 to 65,000 dong. , but i gave him 55,000 instead and he was happy with that.

i could quite hoesntly say i have no real intention of going up north again. just too stressful to keep bartering over a litre of water for 5,000, noddle soup for 10,000 and a 90 min trip from Lao Cai to Sapa for 25,000 dong.

at least in the south i can give them 20,000 for a meal and know i always get change, even if its a 1,000

[DrAndy]

The thing that brings it down is the rampant endemic need for the locals to try there hardest at every turn to rip off the travelers.

I never noticed that problem Terry, maybe because I was there a few years ago?

But I could easily put up with it, Vietnam is beautiful, as evidenced in the pics

I remember Sapa, I was there for four days after a few days driving there in an old Russian jeep. Never saw a thing as it was misty all the time! They say there is a mountain there....
The journey was the best though

[DrAndy]

t the food is so expensive. About twice what i pay in Thailand. Did you find it this way? I also am getting tired of everyone wanting to take my money.. But i am holding my own now.. Gets tiring verrrrry fast.

fter i got to Loa Cia, going to Sapa. I was hounded and not politely by touts pushing me on busses one quoting me from 150,000d and wanted it now. Finally i pushed away and rented a hotel. Nice hotel for 120,000d. good chinese couple. Next day i went to Sapa for 30,000d.

it does sound like tourism has created the usual parasites and greed

just get off the tourist trail, there are plenty of good things to see and do

[WujouMao]

well i left the beauty of Kon Tum last night to arrive in saigon 6.30 this morning, although i only had 3 hours kip cos the selfish bastard of a bus driver couldn't give a rat's arse if i could sleep with the tv on full blast playing dubbed movies and poxy karaoke. only when i did fall asleep, at 5.30, the tv was on again, blaring out.

back to bargining over the price of a bottle of water on the street or C2. thank feck i'm leaving for cambodge on tuesday.

[Up2U]

This is the one big problem with Vietnam - petty thievery.

Whether it is the taxi touts, food, clothes, whatever, there is ridiculous overcharging.

Then when I was working there last year I had to lock my office whenever I went to the toilet, or I'd find my pencils, pens, CD_ROMs and other things gone.

But I will be going back to build another power station in July/August. I know the score now - I will not take anything valuable, either cash-wise or of sentimental value. Just work-clothes and my computer (which I need for work).

(And a vocabulary that should keep the touts in their place)

[WujouMao]

This is the one big problem with Vietnam - petty thievery.

Whether it is the taxi touts, food, clothes, whatever, there is ridiculous overcharging.

Then when I was working there last year I had to lock my office whenever I went to the toilet, or I'd find my pencils, pens, CD_ROMs and other things gone.

what a low life nicking your pens and stuff. these would be fellow office workers or kids?

remember, i spose you could get some of that 'permanent green ink' that can be transfered onto their fingers. you'll then know who's done it and many they would learn their lesson

[Up2U]

This is the one big problem with Vietnam - petty thievery.

Whether it is the taxi touts, food, clothes, whatever, there is ridiculous overcharging.

Then when I was working there last year I had to lock my office whenever I went to the toilet, or I'd find my pencils, pens, CD_ROMs and other things gone.

what a low life nicking your pens and stuff. these would be fellow office workers or kids?

remember, i spose you could get some of that 'permanent green ink' that can be transfered onto their fingers. you'll then know who's done it and many they would learn their lesson

Fellow office workers.

These are supposedly qualified engineers, earning US$ 500 per month, so I can understand it, in a way. And how can you accuse the guy in the next office of nicking your pen? No way will you win the argumet.

Also cleaner in the house, on about US$ 150 a month, nicking food and so on - but with a couple of kids to feed, who can blame her?

These I am not really pissed-off with. What gets up my nose are the taxi touts at HCMC (especially) Airport, asking for three-to-five times the official fare, then putting you in a cab where the driver only gets the proper fare plus a little bit. The proper taxi-stop (to the left as you come out of the airport) is so far along that almost every tourist pax goes to the touts. The authorities must be colluding with the touts to organise in this way.

And the street vendors who put up their prices three or four times when a tourist comes along.

But as far as I am concerned, I take precautions against petty theft from the second I land in Vietnam until the second I leave.

[WujouMao]

cambridge eh, would that be america or blighty?

i too dislike the vietnamese vendors. although you do get the odd few that would charge you the real price, like for street food. most though will purposly small change you and look at you, laugh and hand over the rest. its small money, i know but its the principle [like you receiving 1p change from a pack a cigs]

i have never flown into Vietnam so i wouldnt understand the headaches and frustration, although i have met many a taxi driver who takes you to the wrong hotel and still asks for more money.

as for the cops at the airport, of course they get a slice. they are on poor wages anyway. if the cops did their job, the mafia wouldn't be running the taxi's.

i got my camera nicked the 1st afternoon i was in Hanoi. drinking beer hoi at the beer hoi crossroads. been relaxing and getting slighty tanked up. some kids tries to sell postcards, all polite and that and this other scum steals it. i didnt notice till a few minutes after cos i wanted to show the postcard kid some photos.

not a happy chappy i can tell you, and i was leaving for Sapa in 2 days too

[Up2U]

There's only one proper Cambridge, all others are colonial copies.

The only camera I use now is a pocket digital thing that goes on a lanyard round my neck into my shirt pocket. And in Vietnam I never leave anything laying on a seat or table, not for a second. It's not the value, it's just the annoyance that some low-life has nicked something that he has no use for, except to sell very cheaply for a bottle of liquor or to gamble with.

But once you slip into this attitude the locals seem to recognise it and accept you far more freely. You are no longer an intrusive foreigner, but an interesting oddity in the neighbourhood.

[Chong Boy]

Great pics! I thought I recognised the rack and then I realised where from.
Great little bar eh!

I love it in Vietnam, each to their own though.

[WujouMao]

Great pics! I thought I recognised the rack and then I realised where from.
Great little bar eh!

I love it in Vietnam, each to their own though.

i suppose you mean the bar with the tree growing through the roof? when i left Saigon and went to Thailand, i lost contact with Tuyen, the owner of the bar.

she's married a 60+ war vet now

[barbaro]

^ Wujo and/or Chong Boy,

What bar is this in Saigon, with the tree in the bar?