Nothing epitomises the perseverance and tenacity of the Vietnamese people during the war quite like the Cu Chi tunnels – a network of underground tunnels near the village of Cu Chi only 30km from the then enemy capital, Saigon. At their peak the network stretched 250km to the Cambodian border, sometimes even within the perimeter … [Read more…]
Our two-week trip through Vietnam was coming to an end and our last stop was Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City. The current name was given after the Fall of Saigon in 1975 and honours Hồ Chí Minh, the first leader of North Vietnam. Even today, however, the informal name of Sài Gòn remains in daily speech, … [Read more…]
Unlike many of the other cities throughout Vietnam, Hoi An does not have a list of must-see sights. Instead, visitors come for the made-to-order clothes, shoes or bags, the beautiful lantern-lit streets and, to Adrie’s delight, the food. Needless to day, Adrie is in her element and has a list of all the local delicacies … [Read more…]
Today we are exactly halfway through our sabbatical. From start to finish we have 200 days of holiday. Today is Day 100. What a ride it’s been! But it seemed we had another fun ride ahead of us… We have decided to travel from Hue to Hoi An – about 150km – on the back of … [Read more…]
Where Hue perhaps lack famous city sights, it makes up for in temples, pagodas and tombs – it is almost impossible to see them all! We took advice from our hotel and picked three of the most interesting and elaborate of the emperors’ tombs to visit around Hue, as well as the Citadel – the city’s most … [Read more…]
I am going to say something controversial. I really didn’t like Halong Bay. Full disclosure: 1) The weather was not great and 2) I was travelling on my own (will explain later). But despite this, I was very disappointed in Halong Bay. Let me explain why. After a pretty grim first day in Hanoi, Derek’s … [Read more…]
To many, Vietnam is a war and not a country. Derek and I spent at least one long evening discussing this sentence, trying to establish just where the invisible “line” might be between people who see it as a war, and those who see it as a country. We never really landed on an answer, but … [Read more…]
We had a long travel day ahead of us, not because the distance between Koh Rong and Phnom Penh is great, but rather because of the slow cruise back to the mainland coupled with the busy traffic on the country’s roads. The bus ride was rather interesting. Driving out of Sihanoukville, we drove behind a … [Read more…]
“STOP!” There used to be a time when there were only two acceptable responses to that order. You either went; “…Hammer time!” or “…collaborate and listen”. It was only until we set foot on Cambodia’s beaches that we realised the word “stop” was enough. Throughout our travels over the last few months there wasn’t much time … [Read more…]
We only had a short hop over the border ahead of us today into Cambodia and Siem Reap – the gateway to Angkor Wat and surrounding temples. We were both beyond excited to see this incredible place. Fortunately our hotel included airport pick-up and it was wonderful not having the hassle of finding our own … [Read more…]