Racehorse TALK

Thanks Gov - interestingly I work with quite a few Vietnamese and asked to be taught few words - principally  very same - if you work on your hello , thankyou , how much.

Hopefully I can master beforehand.

You're gonna have a ball Steve, just about my favourite country in the world 

Steve
As the others before me have said you are gonna love Vietnam.  I was there with family in 2005 arriving in Hanoi on 17 December and leaving Ho Chi Minh City on 3 January 2006. We overnighted in Halong Day before moving onto Cat Ba Island for a couple of nights, visiting Monkey Island. Back to Hanoi for another stay before catching the night train to Hue for a few of nights including Christmas Day. A road trip through Danang onto Hoi An  Few day there and a flight to Nra Trang before arriving in Ho Chi Minh.  You will need a jacket or jumper for Hanoi as it can get cool up north.  The water puppets are worth a visit in the evening.

Hanoi


Halong Bay


Hoi An


Ho Chi Minh City


We are going back, but probably only the North, I just love the french influnence.

Thanks Nick & Westie [great pics!] just locked in my last flight today :-)

That is a photo of you Westie?
It is not what I expected, although I don't know what I expected 

I find it interesting seeing photos of anonymous forum members.
I have only seen photos of 3 others on here.... DD, Vadim and Norton.
Unfortunately I have never had the opportunity to speak to any of them.
Well, I did say hello to one of them and he snobbed me .... so F  K him

Back on topic though, I hear the Vietnamese are very friendly people. Enjoy your trip Steve

now 5 im the bloke towing the cart, 

Back - after Singapore - Vietnam & KL.

Vietnam was great - insane but great! Really liked Saigon - could have stayed longer - plenty of stuff still left to do. Was near Ben Thanh market which was great place to be. Those motorbikes are definitely insane - you just can't comprehend how many there really are. Till you're sitting there on a Saturday night just dumbstruck by the numbers and the noise. Did the touristy things over 3 days.

Onto Hoian - really lovely place - obviously very tourist oriented but lovely to be able to walk around in relative peace - say relative because wherever you go you're obviously you're seen as a cash cow by all and sundry. So within 45 seconds of leaving your hotel - people are trying to sell you stuff - you smile and say no - and keep saying the same thing over and over again. It's a small gripe - I don't know how you deal with it - maybe you can't.

Onto Hanoi - lord was it cold. Was there for 4 days - best temp was abt 12 degrees - worst top was 9 on one day. That sort of weather makes it a bit hard to get out and enjoy things. Water Puppets was good - seeing body of Ho Chi Minh was something special - surreal.

Will definitely go back to Vietnam - probably July. The hawkers can be tough to deal with but the hotels and staff are just lovely.

Singapore & KL were both places I've been to before and continue to love. KL seemed so peaceful after Vietnam!

Have worked out my agenda this year:

* April - Kuala Lumpar (Malaysia)
* July - Jakarta (Indonesia)
* September/October - either Bangladesh & Thailand, or Singapore, Brunei & Borneo.

Danewin
If you haven't been you will love it I was last there in 1986.  Brunei was a real eye opener the King being (was ?) the richest person in the world, I arrived by boat and travelling up / down the river seeing all the poverty then seeing his palace's.

The amount of time one can spend in Brunei depends on how quickly you can make your duty free alcohol last

WW
True
When I was there an Aussie club was available    

Westie

Please translate.

JWH
I can't comment for Walter however when I visted Brunei I met up with some guys who took me to an unofficial club that sold booze.  Booze in Brunei was a No No, not sure about now.

Nice plans Danewin - good luck working out - have you been to Laos? Interested in going there.

Have tickets booked to HK & Macau in late April - then China in August but might change that one.

How long did you spend in Brunei Westie? I gather it's place you'd only spend a short period in.

I had three nights (I think) apart from the slums (on the river) and the gold plated roof tops of that adourn the various palace's the His Highness wives live in, there was not much more to see. They didn't have DUI charges back then as  booze didn't exist