Vietnam Experience

Pham Ngu Lao/Backpackers!!

Advantages: Convenient and reasonable prices
Disadvantages: Noisy and crowded

...it is district 1. And Ho Chi Minh is big but not that big. So everything is more or less in walking distance when you look at the map. But HCM is not really made for walking - you got motorbikes parked all over so if you plan to walk remember that you'll have to walk up and down all the time - not to mention the heat. On the other hand why not - If you walk you get a much better chance to see everything you want. So I'll recommend walk out and if ...
...are very cheap - and like I said if you're more than one - maybe even cheaper than the motorbike taxies. A little thing about the taxies choose one of the bigger companies - the green one, yellow one, black or blue one they always go by the meter. Another options is to rent a bike of your own. The traffic looks scary but it's not as scary as it looks cause somehow everything is in slow-motion, which you'll realize once you get on the bike. It's fun ...

vilumdeluxe 17.03.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

Good Morning Vietnam

Advantages: Breathtaking scenery, variety, lots of culture, great shopping
Disadvantages: Very noicsy, very polluted within city, wreckless driving

28,000 VIETNAM. DONG = 1 GBP (as of June 2009) 17.500 VIETNAM DONG = 1 USD (as of June 2009) Vietnam…you may think of floating markets, boats, Vietnamese style pointy hats, beautiful scenery….or you may think of crowded cities, lots of noise and lots of pollution…. Well, to be honest, I didn’t really know what to expect…but it turned out to be all of the above! We arrived in Hanoi (me and 3 friends) on June 9th 2009. We flew from Kuala Lumpar, ...
...cost us a total of around £133.15 each (to be specific). It is a little expensive considering that Air Asia do have special fares and promotions a lot of the time…but we had to book it there and then really. But if you can be flexible with dates and times of booking, visit www.airasia.com and check out their promotions. It might also be worth signing up with their newsletter. We were greeted by our Taxi driver, which was arranged by our Hotel in ...

Tink27 04.09.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: exceptional
Review of General: Vietnam

Hanoi

Advantages: Still maintains a lot of its original character
Disadvantages: very busy and chaotic traffic

Hanoi is the capital city of Vietnam and is situated in the North of the country. We did a tour of Vietnam from North to south summer 2007 with a company I found on the internet. www.selectiveasia.com and I dealt with a man called Nick who was extremely helpful all along the decision making and booking process. I organized my own flights to Bangkok then from Bangkok to Hanoi with an Asian airline again on the internet www.airasia.com but there may ...
...late in Hanoi and we met by our guide Thuy (pronounced two ee) who was a delightful young man about 24 years old. His parents were teachers and had lived through the Vietnam War, Thuy was too young to remember, he said. It was great to have a guide just for us as we were able to ask all kinds of quite personal questions which Thuy was very willing to answer We asked all kinds of questions about life since the war and how Vietnamese people feel about ...

catsholiday 10.08.2008 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Hanoi (Vietnam)

Nha Trang, over developed.

Advantages: clean beaches with white sands
Disadvantages: High rises, over-development

Nha Trang is located on the south central Vietnam coast and is one of the country's largest and best known beach resorts-for foreign and domestic tourists alike. However, whilst the beaches are still beautiful strips of white sand unfortunately the town has given into large scale development and can feel like any other international beach resort with high rises running along the coastal front. Reaching Nha Trang is simple with a domestic airport ...
...the high concentration of tourists, Nha Trang has become quite dangerous. Theft and pickpocketing are very common so always be careful of your belongings particularly on the beaches. There are also numerous scams (a common one being pretty girls enticing men into bars where they are robbed or forced to pay ridiculous prices for a beer) and moto drivers taking tourists home after a night out have been known to drive into a set up where the tourist ...

flyingllamas 28.06.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Nha Trang (Vietnam)

Halong Bay - Almost paradise on earth

Advantages: Somewhere very special
Disadvantages: none that I can think of

...invasion. Location and History: Halong Bay is in North Vietnam, 170 kilometres north-east of Hanoi (about 3 and a half hours driving) in the Gulf of Tonkin near the border with China. It was listed by UNESCO as a World heritage site in 1994. Description and geography: The bay is a mass of limestone islands, each topped with thick jungle vegetation sticking out like random lumps from the ocean. Some of the islands have enormous caves. Hang Dau ...
...Halong area. It has three chambers with large stalactites and stalagmites. There are many steps to climb to reach the grottos but they are lovely and cool after the heat of the sun outside. Inside the rock formations are quite splendid and you follow a sort of path through the chambers coming out to a splendid view of the junks in the bay beside the inevitable souvenir/ice-cream shop. Some of the islands have floating fishing villages surrounding ...

catsholiday 13.08.2008 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Halong Bay (Vietnam)