Vietnam

I will have 12 days to visit Vietnam in December. What would be the
highlights (cultural, nature, cities, beaches?) and what route would you
recommend for these 12 days, starting from either Hanoi or Saigon ?
--

Alfred Molon

http://www.molon.de/Galleries.htm - Photos from Myanmar, Brunei,
Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Nepal, Egypt, Austria, Prague,
Budapest and Portugal

On Tue, 19 Oct 2004 23:16:05 +0200, Alfred Molon
wrote:

I will have 12 days to visit Vietnam in December. What would be the
highlights (cultural, nature, cities, beaches?) and what route would you
recommend for these 12 days, starting from either Hanoi or Saigon ?

Beach wise I would recommend Mui Ne, always liked it there, but it's a
small town with nothing much to do than relax


Gruss
Markus

--
When in danger, when in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout

On Tue, 19 Oct 2004 23:16:05 +0200, Alfred Molon
wrote:

I will have 12 days to visit Vietnam in December. What would be the
highlights (cultural, nature, cities, beaches?) and what route would you
recommend for these 12 days, starting from either Hanoi or Saigon ?

Beach wise I would recommend Mui Ne, always liked it there, but it's a
small town with nothing much to do than relax


Gruss
Markus

--
When in danger, when in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout

On Tue, 19 Oct 2004 23:16:05 +0200, Alfred Molon
wrote:

I will have 12 days to visit Vietnam in December. What would be the
highlights (cultural, nature, cities, beaches?) and what route would you
recommend for these 12 days, starting from either Hanoi or Saigon ?

Beach wise I would recommend Mui Ne, always liked it there, but it's a
small town with nothing much to do than relax


Gruss
Markus

--
When in danger, when in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout

The old parts of Hanoi - a fascinating city

Halong Bay - but most likely it'll be misty, cold and gray this time of the
your. A better alternative is Nihn Bihn about 90 km south of Hanoi, where
you have the same kind of limestone mountains rising but this time inland,
with small lakes whre you sail through holes in the cliffs. A little like
Phang Nga Bay in Thailand - but inland, 3 hours.

Hoi An - a pleasant place, rent a bicycle, go towards the beach (not
specially good for swimming, but a nice ride through the countryside).
Chinese styre fishingnets, village kids playing soccer, lots of birds.

Hué, all the travellers are staying south of the river in the small new town
by the river. But there's also a couple of hotels further north in the old
part of town - feels like a village behind the forbidden city, which I'd
prefer. It's not in my old Lonely Planet - 3-4 star I'd guess. We had a
local gue take us around to the old palaces a whole day on a motorbike.
Impressing. Also the forbidden city is impressing - the feeling from
Ayutthaya when a whole city has disappeared and you see all this grazing
cattle in what used to be built up area, and still with streets and a few
buildings around.

Skip Nha Trang.
Expect very long travelling if you're not flying.

Peter Lyngse, denmark


"Alfred Molon" skrev i en meddelelse
...
I will have 12 days to visit Vietnam in December. What would be the
highlights (cultural, nature, cities, beaches?) and what route would you
recommend for these 12 days, starting from either Hanoi or Saigon ?
--

Alfred Molon

http://www.molon.de/Galleries.htm - Photos from Myanmar, Brunei,
Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Nepal, Egypt, Austria, Prague,
Budapest and Portugal

The old parts of Hanoi - a fascinating city

Halong Bay - but most likely it'll be misty, cold and gray this time of the
your. A better alternative is Nihn Bihn about 90 km south of Hanoi, where
you have the same kind of limestone mountains rising but this time inland,
with small lakes whre you sail through holes in the cliffs. A little like
Phang Nga Bay in Thailand - but inland, 3 hours.

Hoi An - a pleasant place, rent a bicycle, go towards the beach (not
specially good for swimming, but a nice ride through the countryside).
Chinese styre fishingnets, village kids playing soccer, lots of birds.

Hué, all the travellers are staying south of the river in the small new town
by the river. But there's also a couple of hotels further north in the old
part of town - feels like a village behind the forbidden city, which I'd
prefer. It's not in my old Lonely Planet - 3-4 star I'd guess. We had a
local gue take us around to the old palaces a whole day on a motorbike.
Impressing. Also the forbidden city is impressing - the feeling from
Ayutthaya when a whole city has disappeared and you see all this grazing
cattle in what used to be built up area, and still with streets and a few
buildings around.

Skip Nha Trang.
Expect very long travelling if you're not flying.

Peter Lyngse, denmark


"Alfred Molon" skrev i en meddelelse
...
I will have 12 days to visit Vietnam in December. What would be the
highlights (cultural, nature, cities, beaches?) and what route would you
recommend for these 12 days, starting from either Hanoi or Saigon ?
--

Alfred Molon

http://www.molon.de/Galleries.htm - Photos from Myanmar, Brunei,
Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Nepal, Egypt, Austria, Prague,
Budapest and Portugal

We spent 3 weeks going from north to south 3 years ago. Fantastic trip. My
favorites were Hanoi, Halong bay, & Hoi an. That should just about take care
of your 12 days. Long distance bus rides are very slow as highways can be a
bit grim. Internal flights are very inexpensive and the planes we flew on
were brand new. We stayed at the Win Hotel in Hanoi. Excellent location and
friendly staff. We arranged a 3 day Halong bay tour through the Kangaroo
Cafe in Hanoi. Very inexpensive and one of my favorite travel experiences
ever. Check out my vietnam pix at www.msphoto.ca

"Alfred Molon" wrote in message
...
I will have 12 days to visit Vietnam in December. What would be the
highlights (cultural, nature, cities, beaches?) and what route would you
recommend for these 12 days, starting from either Hanoi or Saigon ?
--

Alfred Molon

http://www.molon.de/Galleries.htm - Photos from Myanmar, Brunei,
Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Nepal, Egypt, Austria, Prague,
Budapest and Portugal

You could always try Nha Trang, Vung Tau, Phan Thiet or Hoi An.
"Michael Sherman/msphoto" wrote in message
news:rnwed.6597$%k.5792@pd7tw2no...
We spent 3 weeks going from north to south 3 years ago. Fantastic trip. My
favorites were Hanoi, Halong bay, & Hoi an. That should just about take
care of your 12 days. Long distance bus rides are very slow as highways
can be a bit grim. Internal flights are very inexpensive and the planes we
flew on were brand new. We stayed at the Win Hotel in Hanoi. Excellent
location and friendly staff. We arranged a 3 day Halong bay tour through
the Kangaroo Cafe in Hanoi. Very inexpensive and one of my favorite travel
experiences ever. Check out my vietnam pix at www.msphoto.ca

"Alfred Molon" wrote in message
...
I will have 12 days to visit Vietnam in December. What would be the
highlights (cultural, nature, cities, beaches?) and what route would you
recommend for these 12 days, starting from either Hanoi or Saigon ?
--

Alfred Molon

http://www.molon.de/Galleries.htm - Photos from Myanmar, Brunei,
Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Nepal, Egypt, Austria, Prague,
Budapest and Portugal

In article rnwed.6597$%k.5792@pd7tw2no, Michael Sherman/msphoto
says...

Check out my vietnam pix at www.msphoto.ca

Your shots of Vietnam are the best I've seen so far. And based on the
photos I've seen until now it appears that Vietnam doesn't have great
sights (except for the Mekong delta), but it looks quite interesting
from the cultural point of view.
--

Alfred Molon

http://www.molon.de/Galleries.htm - Photos from Myanmar, Brunei,
Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Nepal, Egypt, Austria, Prague,
Budapest and Portugal

If by sights, you're looking for Thailand style temples or Angkor Wat, then
I guess Vietnam doesn't have a lot in that category, but we experienced a
wonderfully unspoilt travel destination (albeit 3 years ago). The people,
especially in the north were very friendly. Halong Bay may be a bit chilly
in December, but when we were there in the month of Oct we went swimming off
the boat in the middle of the night in beautiful warm water underneath
millions of stars and then slept on the top deck of our boat along with the
other 15 people on the "tour". Because the country is so long and narrow,
everybody goes from north to south or south to north and you keep bumping
into the same faces. We met a great international group on the boat and
ended up leapfrogging down the country, keeping in touch with email. The
older part of Hanoi has a great walking tour (see lonely planet) that winds
thru streets each specializing in different artisans, musical instrument
street, headstone street etc. The food was excellent throughout the country,
we never got sick. HoiAn is very photogenic and probably the best place for
shopping. Has a huge custom tailoring industry, with every third shop
offering overnight custom clothes-making (very inexpensive). We didn't get
any great feelings for Hue although the early morning market there is as
good as any I have seen in asia. Bring lots of film/ memory stix. Nha Trang
has a great long beach and lots of innexpensive but commercial places to
hang out on sunbeds and relax for a few days. The town wasn't particularly
interesting. Da Lat is a hill town popular with Vietnamese honeymooners. It
was interesting but don't think I would include it if you are only there for
12 days. Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) reminded me a bit of Bangkok. Lots of
counterfeit software and CD's. We got ripped off on the way in from the
airport by a taxi with a crooked taximeter. (He kept pushing a button that
made the price jump.) HCM had a bit harder edge than the north. Also in the
north are lots of hill tribes, trecking and great rice terrace scenery. We
didn't get there though. Overall, we loved the country. Experience it now,
it will turn into Phuket before you know it. Thanks for the kind words re my
images.

"Alfred Molon" wrote in message
...
In article rnwed.6597$%k.5792@pd7tw2no, Michael Sherman/msphoto
says...

Check out my vietnam pix at www.msphoto.ca

Your shots of Vietnam are the best I've seen so far. And based on the
photos I've seen until now it appears that Vietnam doesn't have great
sights (except for the Mekong delta), but it looks quite interesting
from the cultural point of view.
--

Alfred Molon

http://www.molon.de/Galleries.htm - Photos from Myanmar, Brunei,
Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Nepal, Egypt, Austria, Prague,
Budapest and Portugal