Hanoi's flower festival

Celebrating 1000 Nam Thang Long -Hanoi

Hanoians are celebrating their city's 1000 years of existence. Hundreds of thousands of residents and visitors are enjoying a seven-day festival of flowers at Hoan Kiem Lake (or lake of the return sword) located in the Old Quarter. One of the busiest streets of this city of hardworking people is converted into a virtual Eden.

The weeklong activities started last night (Dec. 30) with a program that included music and entertainment and fireworks display at a bridge in the famous Temple of Literature inside the lake.

The flower festival animates the New Year celebrations. At the other end of the lake is a huge welcome sign that says "Chuc Mung Nam Moi" (Happy New Year) made of sunflowers. Each day and in the evenings the lake is packed with millions of local residents and its thousands of tourists.

Office mates and I slipped during lunchtime to witness these amazing displays of landscaping. Here are some of the scenes I captured on my digital cam. Vietnam has been celebrating Christmas and New Year just recently since this communist nation opens its doors to the world.

From Saigon to Hanoi

To get to Ha Noi from Ho Chi Minh City ( Saigon ), a traveler has three options. One, you go by plane and pay a higher cost ($50-$100), two, take a two-day train ride at a lesser fare, or three, take a two-day, two-night bus ride.

If you decide to go by bus, you have the option of boarding the ordinary bus which would cost you $28, or the sleeper bus which costs $36. If you are traveling on a tight budget, the ordinary bus would be your best option since it is the cheapest way but you have to travel it rough with just a reclining seat.

The city is a beehive of construction activities as hotels, shopping malls and other buildings continue to sprout from vast tracts of arable lands. I have read of Danang about the 60’s American engagements known as Vietnam War. We didn’t stop in Danang but seeing this place is already satisfying for me. I was told that the world’s longest and highest cable car has just opened in March just in the city’s outskirts. That one should be in my list of future visits.

Five minutes after we left Danang, we passed by Hai Van Tunnel, a 6.3 km tunnel which is considered the longest in South-East Asia. It was opened in June 2009 The weather got colder as we zigzagged our way through rolling hills, rivers and valleys of rice fields At 1 p.m., we reached our last stopover which was Hue, a thriving city where most travelers take their trip to Laos, Myanmar and Thailand.

After two days and one night on the road, we had to take another bus to reach our final destination. Since the bus to Ha Noi was scheduled to depart at 5:30 pm, I had five hours to explore the town’s simplicity and feel the warmth of the people. For the first time in my life, I felt like a total stranger. I had to use sign and body languages in order to get directions to go to an Internet Café or to a store.

I roamed around for over three hours and grasped what I can of what the town has to offer but then I had to go back to the bus station to make sure I would not be left behind. Good thing that I made time allowances because the bus left at 4:45 p.m., 45 minutes earlier than the scheduled departure. The following morning, I had my first glimpse of Ha Noi, a bustling city which was to be my home for the next weeks.

Amazing views at Vietnam's Halong Bay

The Halong Bay area in the Gulf of Tonkin, Quang Ninh Province is a bustling city dotted with hotels and host to hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. It is one of the premiere destinations for the country's tourism industry.

A trip to Viet Nam would never be complete if you don’t go for a cruise on Halong Bay. Halong City is a three-day service bus ride from Ha Noi, passing through more cities and towns that give you a feel of another experience of the countryside. Our tour guide told us that most of the hundreds of hotels and restaurants are either empty or half empty because the concentration of the activity there is in the cruise.

Read full story HERE..

Vietnam misadventure...

i hate to remember everything i took with my borrowed camera because i lost everything on a virus-infected computer at my hotel. So no photos in this entry.. whhoaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!

Retreat to Viet Nam

 I spent five years in two Pacific islands earning a decent living and all I've got was a tour treat to mainland Asia's doorstep -- Viet Nam -- with literally 120USD on my pocket. It was the beginning of my deeper understanding of the simple lifestyles in this side of the planet. But to say easy living is an underestimation. There is a booming economy, so they say, but the images of persistent women who roam the streets from dawn to dusk selling fruits, vegetables, fresh flowers and all sorts of local crafts and commodities just to make both ends meet, prove signs of massive poverty in Vietnam. I took a 180-degree swing to this wonderful country. I have been so fascinated with through the years. thanks to the National Geographic and war books from the West. Here's an account from a first time visitor in Viet Nam. I ate Pho (the famous rice noodles) at sidewalks in Ha Noi, rode on a Xe-Om (motorcycle) with a stranger who usually charged you when he learns you are an outsider, used body sign languages to convey a message to a local, joined Western expatriates in some of the best patronized restaurants in town, spent precious moments with high-end tourists via the top level cruise junks in Halong Bay as a welcome treat from a friend who is based in this city that hosts millions of tourists each year. I also felt the warmth of the people and the unbearable cold weather in winter. Sure enough, there are a lot of fascinating tales to tell in this vast land reeling with amazing cultures.

Full story HERE..