Vietnam

In March / April 2009 we visited Vietnam.  We organised our holiday through Adventure World in Australia and the local agent in Vietnam was Vidotours.  Vidotours took care of all  our airport transfers and supplied our guides and drivers in the Hanoi, Hoi An, Nha Trang, Dalat and Ho Chi Minh City.  They also organised side trips to Halong Bay and the Mekong Delta.  All arrangements went according to plan and we would recommend their organisation to anyone travelling to Vietnam.  Travelling with a personal guide and driver took away the headaches but gave us the freedom to do as we pleased.  Our guides were excellent, so thank you Cong, Phuong, Vanh, Thuy and Binh.

The pace in Hanoi and Saigon can only be described as frenetic and even in the quieter cities like Dalat travellers need to be exercise caution.  The Australian Government's Smartraveller website warns that travellers should take care of their personal safety, particularly in regard to theft and road travel and we can certainly attest that these warnings are not exaggerated.  Having said that, most of the people that we met were lovely and there are some oases of calm in a country that seems to suffer from too many people in too small a space.  We found respite from the busy pace of the cities on the beautiful Jasmine Junk in Halong Bay and the Victoria Hotel at Can Tho is also a wonderful place to spend a few quiet days.

I hope that the following photos give you some idea of the diversity of Vietnam.

Please click on thumbnail to display the full size photograph.