Category Vietnam
My Iconic Travel Moments – Part One, Up Until 2010
My number one travel experience is a very personal one, which involves a site that had almost mythical status during my childhood. You see, on June 8th 1957 my parents were married at St George’s Church, Tanglin, Singapore. I was brought up on tales of how they met in the army, got engaged on Christmas […]
My Top 10 Big Cities Outside Europe #9 Hanoi
#9 – Hanoi, Vietnam (population 7.8 million) The capital of Vietnam is situated in the north of the country and despite its smaller size it is altogether far less frenzied than Ho Chi Minh City. I visited the previously war torn nation in 1998 when it was far less popular to do so than it […]
My Favourite Travel Photos – 1 to 5
I am completing my favourite travel photos with my famous five, the quintet that I (currently) love the most. Hotel Baron, Aleppo, Syria This photo signifies so much. Hamish and I travelled to Syria overland from Istanbul by train, bus and taxi in May 2009. This was actually the third time of trying to get […]
Sunday Photos – Hoi An, Vietnam
I have just watched the episode of Great Asian Railway Journeys when the living Opal Fruit Michael Portillo visits the beautiful Vietnamese town of Hoi An. Nowadays the town is a tourist hotspot, uncomfortably so at times. Indeed Portillo asserts in blazing sunshine that it is akin to Venice in popularity. When I visited in […]
My Top 10 Big Cities Outside Europe #9 Hanoi
#9 – Hanoi, Vietnam (population 7.8 million) The capital of Vietnam is situated in the north of the country and despite its smaller size it is altogether far less frenzied than Ho Chi Minh City down south, which has a population in excess of 10 million. I visited the previously war torn nation in 1998 […]
A-Z April Challenge – Mekong River
The mighty Mekong has its source in the Tibetan Plateau in China and flows through China’s Yunnan Province and onto Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia before reaching the South China Sea in Southern Vietnam. It is the 12th longest river in the world at around 4,350 km and is the lifeblood for millions of South […]
A-Z April Challenge – Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, Hanoi
Ho Chi is to Vietnam what Lenin is to Russia. Indeed, just like the Russian revolutionary, Ho Chi Minh has been preserved with chemicals and lies in state in a purpose built mausoleum in the Vietnamese capital. An irony then that to coincide with my visit to Hanoi in November 1998, the Great Minh had […]
A-Z April Challenge – Vinh Moc Tunnels
In the Vietnam War the Viet Cong developed a network of underground tunnels, which was used to launch surprise attacks on the enemy as well as acting as a shelter for the military and civilians alike from the aerial bombardment. I visited two complexes of tunnels at Vinh Moc close to the north/south divide just […]
