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With final exams finished and ONLY one day till departure, there is a buzz amongst all us girls. Whether it is constant stress about what to pack, or figuring out which insurance to get, we are down to the wire and couldn’t be more excited!
For the past few months, we’ve had weekly meetings in preparation for this upcoming CBT Vietnam trip. We have been emailing back and forth with connections in Vietnam and are eager to finally meet everyone. Like all the trips before us, we hope to build strong relationships and bring back memories that will last a lifetime.
But am I getting ahead of myself? We haven’t even left yet! Right now, I need to focus on making sure I don’t forget anything and mentally preparing myself that I will be flying to Vietnam in one day!
See you soon Vietnam.
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Ho Chi Minh City – or Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh, to give it its full Vietnamese title – is Vietnam’s centre of commerce and the country’s biggest city, though not its administrative capital – an honour that rests with Hanoi. As a result of the sweeping economic changes wrought by doi moi in 1986, this effervescent city, perched on the banks of the Saigon River and still known as Saigon to its eight million or so inhabitants, has changed its image from that of a war-torn city to one of a thriving metropolis, challenging Singapore, Bangkok and the other traditional Southeast Asian powerhouses. All the accoutrements of economic success – fine restaurants, flash hotels, glitzy bars and clubs, and shops selling imported luxury goods – are here, adding a glossy veneer to the city’s hotchpotch landscape of French stones of empire, venerable pagodas and austere, Soviet-style housing blocks.
Sadly, however, Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) is still full of people for whom economic progress has not yet translated into food, housing and jobs. Street children roam the tourist enclaves hawking books, postcards, lottery tickets and cigarette lighters; limbless mendicants haul themselves about on crude trolleys; and watchful pickpockets prowl crowded streets on the lookout for unguarded wallets. Though the number of beggars is gradually declining, tourists must quickly come to accept them as a hassle that goes with the territory. In addition, the arrival, en masse, of wealthy Westerners has lured many women into prostitution, for which the go-go bars of Dong Khoi became famous during the American War.
If Hanoi is a city of romance and mellow charms, then Ho Chi Minh City is its antithesis, a fury of sights and sounds, and the crucible in which Vietnam’s rallying fortunes are boiling. Few corners of the city afford respite from the cacophony of construction work casting up new office blocks and hotels with logic-defying speed. An increasing number of cars and minibuses jostle with an organic mass of state-of-the-art Honda SUVs, choking the tree-lined streets and boulevards. Amid this melee, the local people go about their daily life: smartly dressed schoolkids wander past streetside baguette-sellers; women shoppers ride motorbikes clad in gangster-style bandanas to protect their skin from the sun and dust; while teenagers in designer jeans chirrup into mobile phones. Much of the fun of being in Ho Chi Minh City derives from the simple pleasure of absorbing its flurry of activity – something best done from the seat of a cyclo or a roadside café. To blink is to miss some new and singular sight, be it a motorbike stacked high with piglets bound for the market, or a boy on a bicycle rapping out a staccato tattoo on pieces of bamboo to advertise noodles for sale.
HCMC is divided into 24 districts, though tourists rarely travel beyond districts One, Three and Five. In addition, an increasing number of expats reside in Phu My Hung, aka South Saigon, in district Seven – a squeaky-clean suburb that wouldn’t look out of place in Singapore, making quite a contrast to the rest of this seething metropolis. The city proper hugs the west bank of the Saigon River, and its central area, District One, nestles in the hinge formed by the confluence of the river with the Ben Nghe Channel; traditionally the French Quarter of the city, this area is still widely known as Saigon. Dong Khoiis its delicate backbone, and around the T-shape it forms with Le Duan Boulevardare located several of the city’s museums and colonial remnants. However, many of the city’s other sights are scattered further afield, so visitors have to effect a dot-to-dot of the sights that appeal most. These invariably include one or more of the museums that pander to the West’s fixation with the American War, the pick of the bunch being the War Remnants Museumand Ho Chi Minh City Museum.
For some visitors, the war is their primary frame of reference and such historical hot spots as the Reunification Palacerank highly on their itineraries. Yet the city pre-dates American involvement by several centuries, and not all of its sights revolve around planes, tanks and rusting ordnance. Ostentatious reminders of French rule abound, among them such memorable buildings as Notre Dame Cathedraland the grandiose Hotel de Ville– but even these look spanking-new when compared to gloriously musty edifices like Quan Am Pagodaand the Jade Emperor Pagoda, just a couple of the many captivating places of worship across the city. And if the chaos becomes too much, you can escape to the relative calm of theBotanical Gardens– also home to the city’s History Museum.
It’s one of Ho Chi Minh City’s many charms that once you’ve exhausted, or been exhausted by, all it has to offer, paddy fields, beaches and wide-open countryside are not far away. The most popular trip out of the city is to the Cu Chi tunnels, where villagers dug themselves out of the range of American shelling. The tunnels are often twinned with a tour around the fanciful Great Temple of the indigenous Cao Dai religion at Tay Ninh. A brief taster of the Mekong Delta atMy Thoor a dip in the South China Sea at Ho Cocare also eminently possible in a long day’s excursion.
The best time to visit tropical Ho Chi Minh City is in the dry season, which runs from December through to April. During the wet season, May to November, there are frequent tropical storms, though these won’t disrupt your travels too much. Average temperatures, year-round, hover between 26°C and 29°C; March, April and May are the hottest months.
Brief history
Knowledge of Ho Chi Minh City’s early history is sketchy at best. Between the first and sixth centuries, the territory on which it lies fell under the nominal rule of the Funan Empire to the west. Funan was subsequently absorbed by the Kambuja peoples of the pre-Angkor Chen La Empire, but it is unlikely that these imperial machinations had much bearing upon the sleepy fishing backwater that would later develop into Ho Chi Minh City.
Khmer fishermen eked out a living here, building their huts on the stable ground just north of the delta wetlands, which made it ideal for human settlement. Originally named Prei Nokor, it flourished as an entrepô for Cambodian boats pushing down the Mekong River, and by the seventeenth century it boasted a garrison and a mercantile community that embraced Malay, Indian and Chinese traders.
Such a dynamic settlement was bound to draw attention from the north. By the eighteenth century, the Viets had subdued the kingdom of Champa, and this area was swallowed up by Hué’s Nguyen Dynasty. With new ownership came a new name, Saigon, thought to be derived from the Vietnamese word for the kapok tree. Upon the outbreak of the Tay Son Rebellion, in 1772, Nguyen Anh bricked the whole settlement into a walled fortress, the eight-sided Gia Dinh Citadel. The army that put down the Tay Son brothers included an assisting French military force, who grappled for several decades to undermine Vietnamese control in the region and develop a trading post in Asia. Finally, in 1861, they seized Saigon, using Emperor Tu Duc’s persecution of French missionaries as a pretext. The 1862 Treaty of Saigon declared the city the capital of French Cochinchina.
Colonial-era Saigon
Ho Chi Minh City owes much of its form and character to the French colonists: channels were filled in, marshlands drained and steam tramways set to work along its regimental grid of tamarind-shaded boulevards, which by the 1930s sported names like Boulevard de la Somme and Rue Rousseau. Flashy examples of European architecture were erected, cafés and boutiques sprang up to cater for its new, Vermouth-sipping, baguette-munching citizens and the city was imbued with such an all-round Gallic air that Somerset Maugham, visiting in the 1930s, found it reminiscent of “a little provincial town in the south of France, a blithe and smiling little place”. The French colons (colonials) bankrolled improvements to Saigon with the vast profits they were able to cream from exporting Vietnam’s rubber and rice out of the city’s rapidly expanding seaport.
On a human level, however, French rule was invariably harsh; dissent crystallized in the form of strikes through the 1920s and 1930s, but the nationalist movement hadn’t gathered any real head of steam before World War II’s tendrils spread to Southeast Asia. At its close, the Potsdam Conference of 1945 set the British Army the task of disarming Japanese troops in southern Vietnam. Arriving in Saigon two months later, they promptly returned power to the French and so began thirty years of war. Saigon saw little action during the anti-French war, which was fought mostly in the countryside and resulted in the French capitulation at Dien Bien Phu in 1954.
Saigon in the American War
Designated the capital of the Republic of South Vietnam by President Diem in 1955, Saigon was soon both the nerve centre of the American war effort, and its R&R capital, with a slough of sleazy bars along Dong Khoi (known then as Tu Do) catering to GIs on leave from duty. Despite the Communist bomb attacks and demonstrations by students and monks that periodically disturbed the peace, these were good times for Saigon, whose entrepreneurs prospered on the back of the tens of thousands of Americans posted here. The gravy train ran out of steam with the withdrawal of American troops in 1973, and two years later the Ho Chi Minh Campaign rolled into the city and through the gates of the presidential palace and the Communists were in control. Within a year, Saigon had been renamed Ho Chi Minh City.
Post-reunification Saigon
The war years extracted a heavy toll: American carpet-bombing of the Vietnamese countryside forced millions of refugees into the relative safety of the city, and ill-advised, post-reunification policies triggered a social and economic stagnation whose ramifications still echo like ripples on a lake. Persecution of southerners with links to the Americans saw many thousands sent to re-education camps. Millions more fled the country by boat.
Only in 1986, when the economic liberalization, doi moi, was established, and a market economy reintroduced, did the fortunes of the city show signs of taking an upturn. Today, more than two decades later, the city’s resurgence is well advanced and its inhabitants are eyeing the future with unprecedented optimism.
Indochina Tours, Indochina Travel, Ho Chi Minh Travel, Ho Chi Minh Tuorist, Travel & Tourism, Vietnam 2014, vietnam beach holidays, Vietnam Holidays, Vietnam Tourism, Ho Chi Minh City
Touring the orchards, paddy fields and swamplands of the Mekong Delta, you could be forgiven for thinking you’ve stepped into the pages of a geography textbook. A comma-shaped flatland stretching from Ho Chi Minh’s city limits southwest to the Gulf of Thailand, the delta is Vietnam’s rice bowl, an agricultural miracle that pumps out more than a third of the country’s annual food crop from just ten percent of its total land mass. Rice may be the delta’s staple crop, but coconut palms, fruit orchards and sugar-cane groves also thrive in its nutrient-rich soil, and the sight of conical-hatted farmers tending their land is one of Vietnam’s most enduring images. To the Vietnamese, the region is known as Cuu Long, “Nine Dragons”, a reference to the nine tributaries of the Mekong River, which dovetail across plains fashioned by millennia of flood-borne alluvial sediment.
Surprisingly, agriculture gripped the delta only relatively recently. Under Cambodian sway until the close of the seventeenth century, the region was sparsely inhabited by the Khmer krom, or “downstream Khmer”, whose settlements were framed by swathes of marshland. The eighteenth century saw the Viet Nguyen lords steadily broaden their sphere of influence to encompass the delta, though by the 1860s France had taken over the reins of government. Sensing the huge profits to be gleaned from such fertile land, French colons spurred Vietnamese peasants to tame and till tracts of the boggy delta; the peasants, realizing their colonial governors would pay well for rice harvests, were quick to comply. Ironically, the same landscape that had served the French so well also provided valuable cover for the Viet Minh resistance fighters who sought to overthrow them; later it did the same for the Viet Cong, who had well-hidden cells here – inciting the Americans to strafe the area with bombs and defoliants.
A visit to the Mekong Delta is so memorable because of the region’s diversity. Everyday scenes include children riding on the backs of water buffalo or cycling to school through country lanes clad in white ao dai; rice workers stooping in a sea of emerald; market vendors grinning behind stacks of fruit; bright yellow incense sticks drying at the roadside; flocks of storks circling over a sanctuary at dusk; Khmer monks walking mindfully in the shadow of pastel pagodas; locals scampering over monkey bridges or rowing boats on the delta’s maze of channels.
There are over a dozen towns in the delta with facilities for tourists, though some are rarely visited as they are not on the way to anywhere. My Tho is well geared up for boat trips, and near enough to Ho Chi Minh City to be seen on a day-trip: it affords an appetizing glimpse of the delta’s northernmost tributary, the Tien Giang. From My Tho, laidback Ben Tre and the bounteous fruit orchards besieging it are only a hop and a skip away. Cao Lanh is strictly for bird enthusiasts, but Sa Dec, with its timeless river scenes and riotously colourful flower nurseries, has a more universal appeal, while just down the road, Vinh Long is another jumping-off point for boat trips.
Many visitors spend a day or two in Can Tho, the delta’s biggest settlement, to take advantage of its decent hotels and restaurants and to recharge batteries before venturing out to the floating markets nearby. From Can Tho, there’s something to be said for dropping down to the foot of the delta, where the swampland that surrounds Ca Mau can be explored by boat, and Mui Ca Mau signals journey’s end in Vietnam. Pulling up, en route, at the Khmer stronghold of Soc Trang is especially rewarding if your trip coincides with the colourful Oc Om Bok festival (Nov or Dec), during which the local Khmer community takes to the river to stage spectacular longboat races. Northwest of Can Tho meanwhile, and a stone’s throw from the Cambodian border, is the ebullient town of Chau Doc, south of which Sam Mountain provides a welcome undulation in the surrounding plains. The opening of the border here has brought a steady stream of travellers going on to Phnom Penh by boat, and several of them rest up a few days here before leaving the country.
Ha Tien, a remote border town surrounded by Khmer villages, is the best place to hop on a boat to Phu Quoc. The town has also become popular for its international border crossing, which allows beach bums to slide along the coast from Phu Quoc Island to Sihanoukville in Cambodia or vice versa.
Given its seasonal flooding, the best time to visit the delta is, predictably enough, in the dry season, which runs from December to May. Mekong Travel, Mekong Tuorist, Indochina Tours, Indochina Travel, Travel & Tourism, Vietnam 2014, vietnam beach holidays, Vietnam Holidays, Vietnam Tourism,
Well the CBT Vietnam team's event of the first screening of Kyle Sandilands' "When the Villagers Left" was a success, with over 120 in attendance! It was not without a lot of last minute calling, facebooking, tweeting, and texting though as earlier in the week we were concerned that we would not meet the goal we of 100 tickets.
I personally phoned, texted, emailed and mailed every person I could think of and invited them to the event. I felt like mission control, counting out loud every time we sold another ticket. 40 soon jumped to 50, then soared to 70. I checked the Eventbrite page more than I checked my email, Facebook and Instagram combined.
Everyone worked tirelessly on this event. Hedieh collected five amazing films to support Kyle's, Emily organized the venue rentals while Sabrina dealt with our suppliers and coordinated the liquor licence, and Maggie took on posting signs everywhere and anywhere building awareness for the event. Working as a team was incredible which bodes well in terms of the successes we will be able to reach when we travel to Vietnam.
This entire event never would have happened without our fearless leaders. Stephanie Wells and Chris Carnovale took charge of this event and guided us through every step. The success of this event directly reflects their leadership and efforts.
When the event day finally came around everything had come together We cheered when we sold over 100 tickets, (which was our goal) and Chris promptly said "lets make it 120". Alumni of the project came through and supported us with over 15 previous team members in attendance.
We were especially honoured to have Dr. Geoffrey Bird in attendance as he was one of the original founders of this project. Dr. Chris Bottrill, Dean of the Faculty of Global and Community Studies, as well as the project's Director was our MC for the night. In addition, 12 Dao community members who not call Surrey their home, came to the event in their traditional clothes.
All in all the event was a remarkable experience. It is one that I will never forget and I will be forever grateful to our friends, family, colleagues and supporters for showing up in hoards and backing the CBT Vietnam Project.
23 Days until departure. Not that we are counting or anything.
Hoi An City in the central province of Quang Nam is building a VND2 billion tourism promotion plan between now and 2010.
The plan will focus on three strategic spearheads, including the World Cultural Heritage of Hoi An Ancient City, the Cham Islands World Biosphere Reserve and sea-based tourism.
According to the Quang Nam provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, traditional tours such as “One day being a resident in the Ancient City” and “One day being a resident in the Cham Islands World Biosphere Reserve” together with two new products - “Night Market” and the “Tourism and Environment Festival” - will be promoted in the programme.
Information on Hoi An will be posted on tourism websites, in aviation publications, tourist guide books and books on Hoi An.
About 30km from the central city of Danang, the small city of Hoi An not only contains diversified architecture of different cultures but also preserves a huge treasure of intangible cultural values. The Hoi An Ancient City, which was recognised by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as a world cultural heritage site in 1999, has become an attractive destination for tourists.
In the first nine months of this year, Hoi An City welcomed 812,000 tourists, including 396,000 foreign arrivals. Especially, after the Cham Islands was recognised as a world biosphere reserve, the number of visitors to the town increased by over 80 percent compared to the same period last year.
Hoi An was also selected as one of the top ten destinations in Asia based on an online vote conducted by the tourism magazine Smart Travel Asia.
Wikipedia
Hội An , also Faifoo, is a city of Vietnam, on the coast of the East Sea in the South Central Coast region of Vietnam. It is located in Quảng Nam Province and is home to approximately 120,000 inhabitants. It is recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Hội An Ancient Town is an exceptionally well-preserved example of a South-East Asian trading port dating from the 15th to the 19th century. Its buildings and its street plan reflect the influences, both indigenous and foreign, that have combined to produce this unique heritage site.[1][2]
The city possessed the largest harbour in Southeast Asia in the 1st century and was known as Lâm Ấp Phố (Champa City). Between the seventh and 10th centuries, the Cham (people of Champa) controlled the strategic spice trade and with this came tremendous wealth. The former harbour town of the Cham at the estuary of the Thu Bồn River was an important Vietnamese trading centre in the 16th and 17th centuries, whereChinese from various provinces as well as Japanese, Dutch and Indians settled. During this period of the China trade, the town was called Hai Pho(Seaside Town) in Vietnamese. Originally, Hai Pho was a divided town with the Japanese settlement across the "Japanese Bridge" (16th-17th century). The bridge (Chùa cầu) is a unique covered structure built by the Japanese, the only known covered bridge with a Buddhist temple attached to one side.
Hoi An has some excellent places to eat and drink — on the riverfront, scattered throughout town, across the water on An Hoi islet and lining both Cua Dai and An Bang beaches. Hoi An flourished thanks to its port, attracting traders from China, Japan and the Mediterranean. Out of this mixture of cultures, a unique style of Vietnamese cooking developed, drawing upon a wide range of flavours, influences and cooking techniques. Hoi An is home to a number of specialty dishes, many of which can be traced to foreign origins. The most famous is cau lau, a combination of thick wheat noodles, roasted pork, bean sprouts and herbs in a thick gravy. Local lore says that the dish must be made from the water of a specific well — others argue that it is simply the distinctive noodles that make it unique. A dryer version of the dish, mi quang, is also widely available. Chinese influenced rice-flower dumplings called banh beo and banh vac (white rose) are also common. Much less publicised is com ga, a tasty stir-fry of rice, chicken, garlic and vegetables. It can often seem that these dishes are all the restaurants in Hoi An can serve. Many are geared toward customers simply passing through town, and many have little concern for quality, making it hard to find exceptional versions of any of the dishes, but new, quality, places are springing up all the time. If you're after the real deal, try hunting down more local options. Cau lau is available at street stalls around town; try the stalls in the central market food hall where Tran Phu meets Nguyen Duy Hieu or one of the local one-dish restaurants that line the northern end of Phan Chau Trinh Street. A good tip is to look out for vendors with a black and gold sign which are awarded to families with the best examples of these dishes, which generally means they have been producing that one dish for generations. That said, the long-running Cafe Des Amis continues to dish out excellent and huge meals — the five-course meal will leave you bursting at the seams. The menu is set — you can choose from vegetarian, meat or fish and head chef Mr Kim will dish out whatever he happens to feel like cooking that day. Mr Kim is quite a character, chatting up his guests in French and English, and if you eat lunch he'll invite you back for an excellent dinner and guarantee a different menu — as if you'd actually need to eat again so soon. Get there early if you want one of the two riverside tables on the upstairs balcony. It's a popular place, and a guidebook sweetie, but still fun and friendly. At 150,000 VND per customer, it's not a cheap night but worth it. The drink stalls along the riverfront on Bach Dang are another old favourite among the gaggle of cafes that line the street – sip on a cold beer or nuoc mia (sugarcane juice) while watching the locals pile their bikes onto unimaginably small boats back to their homes on the surrounding islands. Mobile street food vendors selling delicious cheap snacks like bahn bao (pork stuffed steamed buns), fermented sausage in banana leaf (delicious), and sugar-dusted dried ginger parade past, giving you the opportunity to sample some cheap local dishes. For a more upmarket local taste experience, check out Lantern Town. An airy place stretching from streetfront to riverfront in length, it has three different areas for eating — two indoors and one outdoor courtyard area. With pale yellow walls decorated with contemporary local artwork and hand-painted silk lanterns, the courtyard is the perfect place for a cocktail or a meal in the sultry evening air. Their take on mi quang and the pizza in a clay pot are particularly good; they also offer barbecued fish, seafood and meat at any time of day. It's a good spot to retreat to if you can't take the peddlers any longer. Morning Glory, from Ms Vy of Cargo Club, Mermaid and more recently Market Kitchen fame, comes highly recommended, both for its restaurant and cookery courses. The restaurant is simply decorated and airy, with an open kitchen in the centre of the dining area. A non-smoking dining room is available upstairs but in the summer months it can get uncomfortably hot due to restrictions on installing air-con in the traditional buildings in town. Food is inspired from various places around Vietnam -- their cinnamon beef curry is one of the most raved about on the menu and definitely worth trying here. It's frequently full so book or arrive early. The Cargo Club is probably the best place in town for a really delicious leisurely breakfast, an afternoon cake and coffee, or a late-night dessert. Downstairs seating is more tailored to snacking and drinking while upstairs, with views over the river from terrace tables, has more of an evening meal set up. Sample their passionfruit pavlova once and you might find yourself returning for every day of your visit. The ice cream is also top-notch and set breakfasts are good value -- enough to set you up for hours of shopping. 3 Dragons is located in a stunning two-storey, ancient colonial family house, in one of the most appealing riverside locations in town. Offering a comprehensive cocktail menu, cheery service and a well honed Vietnamese/Western menu, the proprietors Simon (sports-mad Aussie) and Chung (ever-patient Vietnamese) run a well balanced bar/restaurant with widescreen TVs (for sports) and beautiful riverside dining (for patience). The Vietnamese menu is exceptional, along with the Sunday roasts and Western breakfasts; the pizza we tried was a bit disappointing but the burgers more than make up for it (and they serve late). Being on the outskirts of town, the 3 Dragons operate on a more flexible license which means they are happy to open up for even the most inappropriately timed sporting event so you can watch it live. They also hold a pub quiz every Wednesday night at 20:00 which is popular with both tourists and expats alike, drawing in a decent crowd and some half-decent prizes. Re-Treats Cafe on Tran Hung Dao is a popular backpacker spot, mostly because of its proximity to the backpacker quarters and the fact that most of the adventure tour guides use it as a meeting spot for their groups while in town. It's a great place to hangout during the day and early evening and serves cheap drinks. The food here is not exactly great, but seems to attract an unusually large population of cockroaches. Still, there are plenty of cheap dining options nearby including a great bun thit heo (five-spice pork noodle in a satay sauce) stall directly opposite on Tran Cao Van. For pizza and pasta, head to Good Morning Vietnam on Nguyen Thai Hoc. The food is great, though we heard reports of slow service. It can get busy in high season so call ahead or be prepared for a wait. A very good beachside alternative is Luna D'Atunno on An Bang beach, which serves delicious wood-oven pizza and house-made pasta dishes on comfortable, shaded beachside loungers. There is really only one place in town to eat Indian food -- Ganesh -- and luckily it's excellent. It offers up standard curries, masalas, thalis and whatnot, but the quality is high and some people find themselves eating here every night. Like all good curry houses, Ganesh also offers take-away and a delivery service, a good option after a long day touring or if you've got a bit too comfortable at the beach. If you see another restaurant in town with "Indian Food" on the menu, avoid it and wait until you come here. Mango Rooms is another place spanning Bach Dang and Nguyen Thai Hoc Streets. It's done up in colourful, Caribbean-style decor with Turkish-style cushion seating and a Latin-influenced fusion menu. It's a bit pricey but a great place to hang out — go for a pitcher of sangria with some friends. Its more recent sister restaurant, Mango Mango, is over the bridge on An Hoi islet and offers a similar menu in a very smart riverside set-up. The latest addition to owner Duc's empire, Mai Fish on Nguyen Thi Minh Khai just over the Japanese Bridge also comes highly recommended, offering a cheaper, more local 'home food' menu -- it's a great place to sample a selection of Hoi An classics without the gristly bits. Green Mango on Nguyen Thai Hoc in the centre of town is a much celebrated, classy dining option with two successful sister restaurants in Hanoi and on Cat Ba island. The sumptuously renovated wooden traders house provides a stunning backdrop for romantic dinners or early evening cocktails — it's one of the most beautiful restaurants in town — menu prices are on the high side, but the food (at least the Western dishes – weirdly the Vietnamese dishes we've had here have been disappointing) and atmosphere are well worth the splurge. Over on An Hoi there's a whole swathe of cheap Vietnamese restaurants offering menus incorporating a few Western dishes; stick to Vietnamese food and they are generally consistently good. If you can grab a riverside or balcony table you get some of the best views across to the old town, but be warned street sellers endlessly pound this route; if it bothers you having your meal interrupted by bangle-selling kids, go upstairs (and consider donating to an organisation that helps them). Taking up one of the best plots on An Hoi opposite the night market is Alfresco's, a good stop if you fancy a bit of Tex Mex – they are famous for their ribs, pizzas and high standards in food hygiene. Friendly staff and sundown happy hour cocktail pitchers make it a good place to relax after hitting the market. The company originated in Hanoi (they have branches in both there and in Saigon). The Vietnamese menu is packed full of northern dishes and the breakfast pho, although a bit pricy compared with the street alternative, is one of the best we've found in Hoi An. It's worth checking out their website as they regularly have special offers like buy one, get one free on delivery pizzas and set menus. If you're really going to sink a wad on a posh meal, check out the riverside Anantara Resort along riverside Phan Boi Chau. Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday night at 18:00 they kick off with a traditional dance and torch lighting over cocktails at the Heritage Bar – follow it up with some world-class seafood at Lantern's Restaurant. Mains are around US$20 a head. If you're staying up on Hai Ba Trung or Ba Trieu, don't ignore the restaurants up that way. They might not have the views or the decor of the places in the old town, but there's tasty food available at good prices. Try Gidino's for chicken fried rice and spring rolls; head upstairs for balcony seating and a decent pool table. If you are after a little beachside dining, Cua Dai is awash with local fresh seafood restaurants. They tend to shut up shop fairly early, so pitch up around sunset or you may well be disappointed. An Bang beach has a great mix of local and Western dining options that stay open late. For incredible seafood, head to Mien Ka (to the left of the bike park), which serves up beautiful lemongrass and chilli grilled scallops, clams and some great barbecue squid. Next door's Soul Kitchen is perfect for families with a French bistro-style menu -- the fish carpaccio is a winner. Le Banyan is great for delicious cocktails, tapas and seafood. To the right Le Plage has a small but well thought out French-Viet (are you noticing a theme here) menu and offers a quieter more relaxed beach cafe environment. Bale Well serves banh xeo (Hoi An crispy pancake with pork skewers and spring rolls) and should be on your list of places to eat if you are looking for a memorable experience that's also a hit with local diners. Located down an alley off Tran Phu Street, they serve up an all-you-can-eat feast with full instructions (down to chewing) on how to manage your food. The female staff will joke about stealing your husband – it's an entertaining experience worth its weight in gold that you just don't find at the usual tourist restaurants in town. Around 100,000 VND will see you bursting at the seams in both pants and pleasure. Nightlife For a lively bar atmosphere try Before and Now on Le Loi, which gets busy after 21:00 and stays open late. There's a pool table, big screens, reasonably priced drinks and, although more of a drinking hole, it has an above average mainly Italian menu. The Dive Bar, part of Cham Island Dive Centre, is another good spot to socialise, and popular with tourists and expats alike. For sporting events, the 3 Dragons on Phan Boi Chau is the place to head if you don't want to miss a match. Massive screens, great food and a 24-hour mentality (along with refined riverside dining) are set in a beautiful colonial house. Over on Tran Cao Van (nearer to the backpacker hotels) another newcomer, Mo's Tavern, is a good option for when the bars in town shut up shop. They offer cheap drinks along with stacks of entertainment options, including giant Jenga, board and drinking games plus the usual pool table. Over on An Hoi (far left of the bridge) is another popular backpacker scene with cheap local buckets, and a shifting series of bar names, don't leave drinks unattended and leave your valuables at home. Why Not Bar is apparently run by the same team who used to own the now defunct King Kong and it's just as lively, crowded and seedy as its predecessor. If you prefer sipping your late night cocktails with your toes in the sand, An Bang beach is where it's at. For late-night revelry and a great bar scene, Banyan pulls in the crowds, hosting regular weekend themed parties, live music and Djs – they're popular with tourists and expats alike. There's a pool table and petanque course for the athletic and giant bean bags right on the beach for those less so. For a quieter and more relaxed beach ambience, head to Soul Kitchen. Here you'll find a romantic environment where you can watch the sunset from a private beach cabana -- it's a far more family-orientated venue than its neighbour Banyan. Unusually for a beach bar, Soul comes into its own during the wetter winter months, when they batten down the hatches in the bar/dining area, creating a cosy escape from the elements. 3Dragons: 51 Phan Boi Chau, Hoi An. T: (01275) 050 400. http://www.3dragonshoian.com Alfresco's: 43 Nguyen Phuc Chu, An Hoi Islet, Hoi An. T: (0510) 3914 742 http://www.alfrescosgroup.com Lanterns Restaurant, Anantara: 1 Pham Hong Thai Street, Hoi An. T: (0510) 391 4515 http://www.anantara.com Bale Well: Track 45-51 Tran Hung Dao, Hoi An. T: (0510) 386 4443. Before and Now Bar Restaurant: 51 Le Loi, Hoi An. T: (0510) 910 599. http://www.beforennow.com Blue Dragon Restaurant: 46 Bach Dang Street, Hoi An. T: (0510) 391 0742. http://www.bdcf.org Cafe Des Amis: 52 Bach Dang, Hoi An. T: (0510) 386 1616. The Cargo Club: 107-109 Nguyen Thai Hoc, Hoi An. T: (0510) 391 1227, (0510) 391 1844 http://www.restaurant-hoian.com Cham Island Dive Bar: 88 Nguyen Thai Hoc, Hoi An. T: (0510) 391 0782. http://www.chamislanddiving.com Mo's Tavern: 130 Tran Cao Van, Hoi An. T: (0128) 465 7092. Ganesh: 24 Tran Hung Dao, Hoi An. T: (0510) 386 4538. http://www.ganeshindianrestaurant.com Gidino's: 113 Ba Trieu Street, Hoi An. T: (0510) 391 1167. Good Morning Vietnam:102 Nguyen Thai Hoc, Hoi An. T: (0510) 391 0227. Green Mango: 54 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street, Hoi An. T: (0510) 392 9918. http://www.greenmango.vn Faifoo Restaurant: 104 Tran Phu, Hoi An. T: (0510) 386 1548. Lantern Town: 49 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street, Hoi An. T: (0123) 991 2212. http://www.lanterntown.com Le Banyan: Far left An Bang beach, Hoi An. T: (0935) 100 337. http://www.lebanyanbar.com La Plage: Far right An Bang beach, Hoi An. T: (0510) 392 8224. http://www.laplagehoian.com Luna D'autunno: Left side An Bang beach, Hoi An. T: (0165) 9470 374. Mai Fish: 45 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, Hoi An. T: (0510) 392 5545. Mango Rooms: 111 Nguyen Thai Hoc, Hoi An. T: (0510) 391 0839. http://www.mangorooms.com Mango Mango: 45 Nguyen Phuc Chu, Hoi An. T: (0510) 391 1863. http://www.mangomango.com
Projects like the ones Capilano University have been taking part in in Vietnam include the efforts of many people, lots of effort and a little bit of good luck. In 1999, Dr. Geoffrey Bird visited Vietnam to assess the need for community based tourism training. Living in Malaysia at the time, he was piloting training in CBT in Sarawak, working with the Canadian International Development Agency and an industry operator, Borneo Adventure. A chance meeting with a representative of the Dutch aid agency SNV, Ms Annalisa Koeman, led Geoff to visit Vietnam in 1999 to explore potential opportunities for training. By 2002, he returned, along with Maggie O’Sullivan, Dean of North Island College, to begin planning with Hanoi Open University (HOU) for a five-year project. Ms. Judy Storr, a Canadian based in Hanoi, played an important role in liaising with local officials and HOU, namely Dr Ngyuyen Thanh, Ms. Ncoc Anh and Mr. Dan.
The project was proposed to the Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC), with the goal of alleviating poverty in villages through the development of sustainable tourism services. The actual purpose of the project was to develop training and to build the capacity of HOU to deliver it over the long term. Funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) through the ACCC a five-year program focused on skills based training was created. To ensure sustainability a train-the-trainer model would be adopted and implemented in the programming.
With funding attained, a team of five faculty and five students from Capilano University and North Island College visited Vietnam and, along with eight faculty and students from HOU, toured the Sapa region. The mission was to find two communities to pilot CBT training.While taking part in village-to-village trekking the team saw an opportunity for economic development through sustainable tourism. The teams chooseto work in two ethnic minority villages: Taphin and Tavan. The villages were selected for a number of reasons: difference in experience with tourism, and different hilltribes: one was Red Dao (pronounced zhao), the other Giay (pronounced zai). By the end of the five years 3 new homestays would be set up in the Red Dao village of Taphin, and nearly 15 new homestays would be licensed in the village of Tavan. In total over 200 locals would be trained. To stay up to date with the current project visit the CBT Vietnam Project website and / or "Like" the CBT Vietnam Project facebook page.
Today at our weekly meeting I learnt the most amazing news; I will be joining the team in Vietnam! When I first heard the news, I was in shock. I just smiled and thanked our teacher sponsors Chris Carnovale and Stephanie Wells. As the night continued the news started to sink in. I was going to go to Vietnam! While writing this blog post I have cried, danced around my room and smiled like an idiot. I am so happy and excited. It is a dream come true. I am so honoured and thankful to have been chosen to be part of this project.
In February, I discovered that Capilano University was accepting applicants for the CBT Vietnam Project. I applied but I was doubtful that I would make it because there were so many amazing applicants. At the end of February, I learnt I had made it into the project team as the backup. I was super excited for such a life changing opportunity. However, after last night's announcement, I have had to dramatically change gears. Planning, rescheduling and preparing have taken a new priority.
Last year, I went to an information session at Capilano University for the Tourism Department. The reason I went was to learn a little more about the Outdoor Recreation Management Program I had just been accepted into. At first, I didn't pay to much attention to the other presentations but then a video came on about a community tourism training project in Vietnam. The video blew me away. After just 3 minutes the project stole my heart.
Situated in the North-East region of Vietnam, Halong Bay is a bay in the Gulf of Tonkin comprised of regions of Halong City, the township of Cam Pha, and a part of the island district of Van Don. Halong Bay borders Cat Ba Island in the southwest, the East Sea in the east, and the mainland, creating a 120 km coastline.
Halong Bay is made up of 1,969 islands of various sizes, 989 of which have been given names. There are two kinds of islands, limestone and schist, which are concentrated in two main zones: the southeast (belonging to Bai Tu Long Bay), and the southwest (belonging to Halong Bay). This densely concentrated zone of stone islands, world famous for its spectacular scenery of grottoes and caves, forms the central zone of Halong Bay, which has been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The bay itself has an area of 43,400 ha, consists of 775 islands, and forms a triangle with the island of Dau Go (Driftwood Grotto) to the west, the lake of Ba Ham (Three Shelter Lake) to the south, and the island of Cong Tay to the east.
Viewed from above, Halong Bay resembles a geographic work of art. While exploring the bay, you feel lost in a legendary world of stone islands. There is Man's Head Island, which resembles a man standing and looking towards the mainland. Dragon Island looks like a dragon hovering above the turquoise water. La Vong Island resembles an old man fishing. There are also the islands of the Sail, the Pair of Roosters, and the Incense Burner, which all astonishingly resemble their namesakes. The forms of the islands change depending on the angle of the light and from where the islands are viewed. At the core of the islands, there are wonderful caves and grottoes, such as Thien Cung (Heavenly Residence Grotto), Dau Go (Driftwood Grotto), Sung Sot (Surprise Grotto), and Tam Cung (Three Palace Grotto).
Halong Bay has many links to the history of Vietnam. For example, there are such famous geographical sites as Van Don (site of an ancient commercial port), Poem Mountain (with engravings of many poems about emperors and other famous historical figures), and Bach Dang River (the location of two fierce naval battles fought against foreign aggressors).
It has been proven by scientists that Halong was one of the first cradles of human existence in the area at such archeological sites as Dong Mang, Xich Tho, Soi Nhu, and Thoi Gieng. It is also a region of highly-concentrated biological diversity with many ecosystems of salt water-flooded forests, coral reefs, and tropical forests featuring thousands of species of animal and plant life.
With all this in mind, the 18th meeting of the Committee of the World Heritages of UNESCO (in Thailand on December 17th, 1994), officially recognized Halong Bay as a natural heritage site of worldwide importance.
I. Grottoes
Dau Go (Driftwood) Grotto
Dau Go Grotto is found on Driftwood Island, formerly known as Canh Doc Island. The name Driftwood Grotto comes from the popular story of the resistance war against the Nguyen Mong aggressors. In a decisive battle, Tran Hung Dao was given an order to prepare many ironwood stakes to be planted on the riverbed of the Bach Dang River. The remaining wooden pieces were found in the grotto and, as a result, the grotto was given its present name. The entrance is reached via 90 steps up the island. The grotto is divided into three main parts. In the first chamber, many forms can be seen in the rock, depending on the imagination of the observer. In the middle of the chamber, on the top of the pillar, there appears to be a monk draped in a long, dark cloak, with his right hand clasping a cane. Moving into the second chamber, visitors pass through a narrow "door", naturally formed through erosion. The light here is mysterious, and new images appear in the stone. At the end of the grotto is a well of clear water surrounded by four ancient walls.
In this grotto, there remains an engraved stone stele singing the praises of Halong Bay ordered by Emperor Khai Dinh when he came to visit the grotto in 1917. Dau Go is 40 minutes from Bai Chay. Admission is 15,000 VND per person, 5,000 VND for children under 15, and children under 6 are free.
Trinh Nu (Virgin) Grotto-Trong (Male) Grotto
The Virgin Grotto is situated in the island range of Bo Hon, in the system comprised of the Surprise Grotto, Dong Tien Lake, and Luon Grotto. The grotto is 15 km south of Bai Chay Beach. For some fishermen, the Virgin Grotto is home, while for young lovers it is a popular romantic rendezvous site.
According to legend, there once was a beautiful fisherman's daughter, whose family was so poor that they were in service of the rich administrator of the fishing zone, who forced the family to give him their daughter as a concubine. However, the fisherman’s daughter already had a lover and refused to marry the administrator. The administrator got angry and exiled her to a wild island where she suffered from hunger and exhaustion. One frightful night she turned to stone. On this same night, her lover, knowing of her danger, rowed his boat in search of her. However, a tempest destroyed his boat, and he floated to a nearby island. In a flash of lightening, he saw his lover in the distance, but his calls were driven away by the wind. In his final exhaustion, he also turned to stone (today’s Male Grotto).
When visiting the Virgin Grotto, you can still see the petrified girl with her long hair hanging down and eyes looking towards the mainland. Opposite the Virgin Grotto, the Male Grotto is still home to the lover whose his face is turned towards his mate. At times, his passionate calls and blows against the walls of the grotto can still be heard.
Thien Cung (Heavenly Palace) Grotto
This recently discovered grotto is one of the most beautiful in Halong Bay. Thien Cung is situated on the southwest side of the bay, 4 km from the wharf outside of Halong City. It is located in a small range of islands that resemble a throne embracing two superb grottoes at its core. The way to Thien Cung is perilous, covered on both sides by thick forest. After entering a narrow gate, the magnificent, 130 m long grotto opens up.
According to legend, a beautiful young lady named May (cloud) caught the eye of the Dragon Prince and he fell in love with her. They were betrothed and got married in the very center of the grotto. All of the scenes of their wedding, which lasted for seven days and seven nights, have been seemingly fossilized in the grotto.
In the center, there are four large pillars supporting the "roof of heaven". From the base to the top, many strange images seem to exist in the stone, including birds, fish, flowers and even scenes of human life. On the north wall of the grotto, a group of fairies seems to be singing and dancing in honor of the wedding. Under the immeasurably high roof, stalactites form a natural stone curtain. There is also the sound of a beating drum made by the wind blowing through the stone.
In the last chamber of the grotto, a natural gushing stream of water babbles throughout the year. Here there are three small ponds of clear water. One path meanders out of the grotto.
Quang Hanh Grotto
Located 9 km west of Cam Pha, Quang Hanh Grotto is the longest grotto in Halong Bay. It is 1,300 m long, and stretches throughout the stone mountain of Quang Hanh. The French named it "Le Tunnel," or Tunnel Grotto.
Quang Hanh Grotto is accessible by either boat or car, but the entrance only appears when the tide is out. Ba Co Shrine (shrine of three girls) is in the grotto beside a smooth stone block. Legend tells that three girls, who were once journeying on the sea, came to the grotto to take shelter from the rain. They were so engrossed with the beauty of the grotto, that they did not notice the rising tide. They drowned, only to become water goddesses.
Quang Hanh Grotto is extremely beautiful. A small boat will take you through the stone passageway by flashlight, casting magical colors on the hanging stalactites.
II. Islands
Bai Tho Mountain (Poem Mountain)
Bai Tho Mountain is 106 m high. It runs along the coast, half on land and half in the sea. Sailing in the bay, one or two hundred meters from the mountain, one can see a poem carved on a flat stone cliff.
In 1468, Emperor Le Thanh Tong, who was also a poet, made an inspection tour of the North-East region. He stopped at the foot of the mountain, and inspired by the magnificent beauty of his surroundings, he wrote a poem. Later, he had the poem engraved on the wall of the mountain. It is very interesting to climb the mountain and enjoy the panoramic view of the bay.
Tuan Chau Islet
Situated 3 km west of Dao Go Islet, Tuan Chau Islet has an area of 300 ha. On the islet, there is a very simple bamboo house built by the inhabitants of Quang Ninh for Uncle Ho to rest after visiting Halong Bay. The house is now carefully preserved by the locals.
III. Beaches
Bai Chay
Bai Chay is a resort located along the coast of Halong Bay. This is a windward ocean resort which has a year round average temperature of 20oC (68oF).
Bai Chay is a low gently sloping range of hills that runs along the sea for more than 2 km. Blended in among the pine trees are large hotels and small villas with distinguished architectural styles. Traveling down the asphalt road along the coast, visitors see long white stretches of sand and green rows of Casuarina trees, tucked under which are small family-run restaurants. After swimming at the beach, tourists can enjoy cold drinks and cool off in the breeze that sweeps in from the sea.
Located 38km from Lao Cai City, Sapa is a mountainous district of Lao Cai Province. Sapa District is very well-known with Sapa Townlet, a beautiful and romantic resort. At the height of 1,600m above sea level, the average temperature of the area is 15-18oC. It is cool in summer and cold in winter.
The town ofSapa
Terraced fieldsinSapa
Visitor to Sapa in summer can feel the climate of four seasons in one day. In the morning and afternoon, it is cool like the weather of spring and autumn. At noon, it is as sunny and cloudless as the weather of summer. And it is cold in the evening. With no advance warning of a thunderstorm short and heavy rains may come at noon on any summer day. Subsequently, a rainbow appears, transforming Sapa into a magic land, which for years has been a constant source of poetic inspiration, lights up the whole region.
The best time to witness the scenic beauty of Sapa is in April and May. Before that period, the weather might be cold and foggy; after that period is the rainy season. In April and May, Sapa is blooming with flowers and green pastures. The clouds that settle in the valley in early morning quickly disappear into thin air.
Sapa has many natural sites such as Ham Rong Mountain, Silver Waterfall, Rattan Bridge, Bamboo Forest and Ta Phin Cave.Sapa is also the starting point for many climbers and scientists who want to reach the top of Fansipan Mountain, the highest mountain in Vietnam at 3,143m. Hoang Lien Mountain Range is also called the Alps of the North Sea area since Fansipan Mountain is not only the highest peak in Vietnam, but also in the Indochina Peninsula. The pyramid-shaped mountain is covered with clouds all year round and temperatures often drop below zero, especially at high elevations.
The first thing you notice when approaching the resort town are some detached wooden mansions and villas perched on a hill top or hillside, behind thick pine forests and almost invisible on this foggy morning. Old and new villas with red roofs now appear and now disappear in the green rows of pomu trees, bringing the town the beauty of European towns.
Fresh and cool air in Sapa is an idea climate condition for growing temperate vegetables such as cabbage, chayote, precious medicinal herbs, and fruit trees such as plum, pear...
Sapa is home to various families of flowers of captivating colours, which can be found nowhere else in the country. When Tet, the Lunar New Year Festival, comes, the whole township of Sapa is filled with the pink colour of peach blossom brought from the vast forests of peach just outside the town. Sapa is regarded as the kingdom of orchids. Here, orchid lovers are even amazed by the choice, when trekking in the forest filled with several hundred kinds of orchids of brilliant colours and fantastic shapes, such as Orchid Princess, Orchid of My Fair Lady's Shoe. Some orchids are named after lovely singing birds such as the canary, salangane's nest, and more.
Cac Cac Hydro Power Plant
ForeigntouristsinSapa Market
Sapa is most beautiful in spring. Apricot, plum and cherry flowers are splendidly beautiful. Markets are crowded and merry, and are especially attractive to visitors. Minority groups come here to exchange and trade goods and products. Market sessions are also a chance for locals to promenade and young men and women in colorful costumes to meet, date or seek sweethearts.
Visitors to Sapa will have opportunities to discover the unique customs of the local residents.
