October 18th, 2011 | by admin | published in featured, places
Hailing from Southern Vietnam with saints that include Victor Hugo, the ‘father of modern China’, Sun Yat-sen and Vietnamese Poet, Nguyen Binh Khiem, the colourful Cao Dai have a set of beliefs and teachings that seem to be a bit of a mish-mash of all the major religions.
Founded less than 100 years ago on the [...]
August 7th, 2010 | by admin | published in latest posts, other stuff
Slated as Vietnam’s premiere luxury resort, The Nam Hai certainly has pretty much attained the right formula.
The grounds and rooms are both beautifully designed and practically laid out taking advantage of both classic Vietnamese architecture and the stunning beachfront location. Each unit is stylishly appointed enjoying ocean views with attentive, well trained staff to cater [...]
August 7th, 2010 | by admin | published in latest posts, where am i
What a fantastic month!
Yes, the posts have been a little thin on the ground this year…. sorry about that!
Too, too much to do.
Finished up in Shanghai after a wonderful 5 months, unfortunately I ended being so busy for a lot of the time it really impacted on everything and is part of the reason for [...]
January 6th, 2010 | by admin | published in latest posts, places
Hoi An has not lost even one iota of its charm.
There have been many but few changes to this ancient World Heritage site over the past 10 years. I still found myself gasping at just how beautiful and appealing the architecture is in the old town. It also took me a day [...]
January 4th, 2010 | by admin | published in latest posts, places
Stepping out of Hanoi’s old quarter onto the streets of Saigon is a bit of shock.
Saigon is alive with frantic activity. The streets buzz constantly with steady streams of motorbikes and with Sunday night being one of those “out cruising with the family evenings” you see many of the passers by smiling and [...]
January 1st, 2010 | by admin | published in latest posts, places
It has been 10 years since I last visited Hanoi and I must say it was great to be back.
The city seems to retain a traditional vitality and wonderful atmosphere in the old quarter with so many street vendors carting colourful baskets of fruit and flowers amongst the rustic French colonial architecture lining the labyrinth [...]
December 26th, 2009 | by admin | published in latest posts, things to do & see
After a tedious bus journey from Hanoi it was as if Mother Nature had snapped her fingers the moment we arrived in Bai Chay. Looming gray clouds parted giving way to dazzling rays of winter sunshine that started to slip through just as we stepped onto one of Bhaya’s traditional junk styled cruise boats.
We immediately [...]
December 24th, 2009 | by admin | published in latest posts, things to do & see
This was the last place I expected to be overwhelmed by atmosphere on a western religious holiday.
Crowds had started to gather in the square in front of St Josephs cathedral in the old quarter from around 5pm. Strangely enough the gates around the cathedral were securely bolted. We found out later that [...]
December 22nd, 2009 | by admin | published in latest posts, on the road
The overnight train service running daily between Nanning and Hanoi is very comfortable in Chinese soft sleeper carriages however don’t look forward to getting too much sleep.
Departure from Nanning is currently at 6.45 pm, with arrival in Pingxiang a little after 10pm for Chinese border control formalities which took around 90 minutes. Once this is [...]
November 29th, 2009 | by admin | published in featured, latest posts, places, things to do & see
The magnificent Detian Falls located on the China/Vietnam border shines with vivid, jewel like colour and is definitely worth a visit.
So much more attractive than just your standard trickle of water running over a cliff, Detian is some 200 metres wide and has three tiers of water rushing over its various edges. [...]
