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Useful tips Ho Chi Minh City
65 Reviews Dont go during TET, many places are closed and everyone goes home to their home town to be with family. Its a great happy time if you are vietnamese and are back home with your family but for tourist,...
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Arround the City Hanoi
36 Reviews The kids here are gorgeous . Always ready to say hello to us westerners. They have the most beautiful little faces. But before I took a photo I always asked the adult they were with if it was ok to do...
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Street life Ho Chi Minh City
22 Reviews Christmans in Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica The Christmans day all the people walk around the streets in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). But most of them are around the Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica to...
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Cultural Tips Hanoi
12 Reviews Tet is the most important and popular holiday and festival in Vietnam. It is the Vietnamese New Year marking the arrival of spring based on the Lunar calendar. It takes place from the first day of the...
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Sights Ho Chi Minh City
24 Reviews This tip goes for any city in Vietnam, try and go for a tour out in the countryside as this is where you see villages and people getting on with their daily lives......the further out....the...
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Out of Hanoi Hanoi
11 Reviews Dear friend, Kenh Ga is a 10km canal in Ninh Binh province - the South from Hanoi. It take about 2 and a half hours drive from Hanoi. There are not much atraction there, you just sit on a concreat...
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Local Life Ho Chi Minh City
29 Reviews If you really want to soak up local life and culture the best way to do this is walk! Most of the museums, tourist sights and markets are walking distance from one another and I really recommend...
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Architecture Hanoi
10 Reviews Hanoi, being the capitol of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, is bedecked with scultptures from the school of socialist realism. For those, like me, who missed the heyday of communism in Europe, this...
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Transportation Ho Chi Minh City
10 Reviews Be careful if u are travelling to Ho Chi Minh... they will just simply rip off, snatch your money... especially transportation..... The cyclos especially....... Will never forget they threaten us.......
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Architecture Ho Chi Minh City
7 Reviews High Rise Buildings in Saigon District 7 and district 2 are the new construction and most rich places in Saigon. They are a lot of new High Rise Buildings there. Information Name: High Rise...
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I was going to do the whole embassy thing. Canberra didn't answer the phone, Sydney consul eventually did - $A70. But then I would have to post my passport. I eventually did a "visa on arrival" yesterday through myvietnamvisa.com. It was less than $20 each, then we pay $US25 on arrival. The website also has the form that you have to fill out when you arrive - so you can prepare it in advance (inc a photo). I didn't want to have to queue and mess around in the arrival hall.
Eventhough I prefer Vietnam anyday over Thailand, i feel that for children that age, an educational and cultural experience would be a visit to Thailand. they will know different people, different food (both also in vietnam), but there is much more communication with Thais, and the buddhism is prevalent in Thailand so the children would get exposed it also. in neither country are the national dresses that common as it used to be, but there are things which are designed for the tourists which they would enjoy.If it were just the two of you, there is no doubt in my mind, I would have said Vietnam..
To many peoples suprise Vietnam is actually the second biggest coffee producer in the world after Brazil.Coffee was introduced to Vietnam by the french around 150 years ago and today they produce more than 1 million ton of coffee a year in Vietnam.Most of the coffee is grown in the highlands around Dalat and if you drive between Dalat and Saigon then you can see lot´s and lot´s of coffee fields.The vietnamese coffee has a very different taste from Latin American coffee, but i must say i like the aroma.
Someone suggested that if you use USD to exchange at the hotel make sure that its clean money. This is a very important point. Before you go on the trip, ask your bank for "new money". Many places (hotel, banks, money changers, shops) will not accept your USD if your USD has rips, markings, like telephone numbers or names, etc. on it. Give your bank some lead time to get you some "new money"
Just a short note on Da NangAfter Marble Mountain there is not much there.If you're going South to Hoi An then stop off for a half day to see the temple and the marble workshops (and of course thier shops) If the weather is clear push that your driver goes over the pass and not through the tunnel Some great views I'm told - we saw all the pictures after we got there - cloudy day :-)
We really would like to inform all trevellors who are booking a tour to Ha Long Bay and Cat Ba not to book through Thanh Thuy's Hotel in Ninh Binh or Indochina Sails Company Mr. Son. We payed 130$ per Person for 3 nights and 4 days expecting to be on a "DELUXE" Junk, to have a "delicious dinner" than have a nice hotel room in Cat Ba and spend the last night on the monkey island in a decent bungalow. So far the promise on the brochure. In the end we got set up on the cheapest junk in the sea, with no air condition and dirty sheets. The food and the service were lousy and our tour guide was unable to explain anything to us because of his missing knowledge about the bay and because he didn't speak any English. We actually were really lucky that we had a Vietnamese woman with us who could translate for us. It was about the same in Cat Ba at the hotel. For some reason we didn't have...
HiSeriously the best way to deal with the visa is to go to the post office get the PLATINUM express post bags not the standard express bags - NOW stop saying NO and read on ..... :-)make one out to the embassy in Canberra the other one is your return so fill it out and keep the reference number Take them back to your post office in the morning Check on the PO website and you'll see they are on the way to the central mail centre in Perth Perth is a 4hrs by air mail from Canberra not in another country the Pasports will be in Canberra before you have breakfast the next day and delivered soon after.Then watch for the return packet number and track them all the way home We've done this and still am amazed that you can see exactly where your parcel is.Having the visa in hand still beats waiting in a que hoping that the letter you have doesn't bounce or discover you don't have the exact money...
We did ours through a Vietnamese travel agent in Sydney, http://davidvuongtravel.com/home/index.php?web=tour&viewid=146He supplied us with a letter for visa on arrival (because we live outside of Sydney). or you can apply online through the Vietnamese Embassyhttp://www.vietnamembassy.org.au/Consular.htm#visabut you have to post the passports to them.
I went to HCM in October, 2011. Before my actual trip, I was sceptical about the quality of tap water in Vietnam. Once I was in HCM, all fears were unfounded. Of course, I still need to boil the tap water for drinking.I use the tap water for brushing my teeth; have iced coffee at the stalls and until now, I feel safe and sound.I guess some people are allergic and sensitive to Vietnamese water.Bottled water was my companion where ever I went and of course, the beer!!! Some local beers are really good but I still like Tiger. Tiger beer in Malaysia is too sweet.
The vietnamese goverment considers facebook a threat cause you can create groups there opposing the goverment and saying things like "Ho Chi Minh was a stupid old fart" and so on, so they have blocked it to some extend.There are some loopholes though and when i was there in january 2011 you could acces it through these two links:www.lisp4.facebook.comwww.facebook.com.vnThese two links have a goverment filter and they are very slow, but you can acces your facebook account and answer the most important messages, but don´t write that Ho Chi Ming had smelly farts, cause after that my computer got blocked by the dictators who run the country.
Park Hyatt Saigon Ho Chi Minh City
5 Reviews and 436 Opinions All rooms offer pool of City views with full luxury amenities. As true sense 5- Star hotel, it is...
Hanoi Elegance 2 Hanoi
5 Reviews and 712 Opinions I booked our family sized room for 2 adults and our teenage daughter direct with the hotel from...
Victoria Hoi An Resort Hoi An
4 Reviews and 444 Opinions It's worth the money to stay and enjoy the beach like in Victoria Hoi An. Price from 150$++ public...
Reviews and photos of Vietnam attractions posted by real travelers and locals. The best tips for Vietnam sightseeing.
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Q: could someone please help? where can i buy ao dai (preferably well made and silk) for my grand-daughters, they are only 2-3...
A: Loads of places in both cities to buy Ao Dai either already made or to measure. For the small extra cost, have them made to measure and take the mesurements before going...
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