Spring Hotel, Hanoi
View from the Spring Hotel window, Hanoi
Cyclo Cafe, Old Quarter, Hanoi
Cyclo Cafe, Old Quarter, Hanoi (about 2 minutes after getting engaged)
Market near Long Bien train station, Hanoi
Crazy motorbike ride from Long Bien to Gia Lam train station
View from Pho Bo cafe stall, Hanoi
Pho Bo, Hanoi
The middle of nowhere on the way to Halong Bay
Random restaurant in the middle of nowhere on the way to Halong Bay
On the boat leaving Halong City for Cat Ba Island
Looking over the other docked boats at Halong City
Vietnamese flag (still in Halong City)
Docking at Hang Dau Go (Cave of Wooden Stakes), Halong Bay
Our boat at Hang Dau Go (Cave of Wooden Stakes)
Hang Dau Go (Cave of Wooden Stakes)
Hang Dau Go again
Boats docked at Hang Dau Go (Cave of Wooden Stakes)
A rubbish bin blending well into it's surroundings
Deb at Hang Dau Go
Spider at Hang Dau Go
Dry Dock, Hang Dau Go
Leaving Hang Dau Go
Leaving Hang Dau Go... somehow
Reid. Still in the caves
Boat in Halong Bay
Floating Houses, Halong Bay
Halong Bay
Tour Guide, Halong Bay
Fisherman, Halong Bay
Ride from the dock to Cat Ba Town. I think we managed to cram 15 people into a 12 seater minivan including everyone's luggage.
Cat Co 2, Cat Ba Island
Map of Cat Co 2, Cat Ba Island
Last season's chairs, Cat Co 2, Cat Ba Island
The walkway to Cat Co 1
Cat Co 1, Cat Ba Island
Woman carrying stuff into Cat Ba Town
Massage on Cat Co 1, Cat Ba Island
The Secret of Monkey Island is that it has monkeys!
Some kind of fruit on the island beside Monkey Island
A big lump of coral
Deb trying to find somewhere deep enough to swim
Near Monkey Island
Neat, I always though pineapples were grown in a lab
Sunset off Monkey Island
Millionaire! Cat Ba Town
Another millionaire! Cat Ba Town
Exactly what it said on the menu (assuming the lemongrass is up it's butt)
Deb on a motorbike for the first time
While riding a motorbike with one hand, Reid still had time to take photos of himself
Why don't goats just eat stuff from the ground? They're not supposed to be fussy eaters!
Bia Ha Noi, Bamboo Cafe, Cat Ba Town
The scaffolding always freaks me out, but we never saw anything collapse
The fast ferry from Cat Ba Island to Hai Phong. We had to throw our bags on the roof and just hope they didn't fall off. One of the staff nodded when I asked if they ever lost bags, but I'm just going to assume he didn't understand the question...
Street barbeque, Old Quarter, Hanoi
Bia Hoi Junction, Old Quarter, Hanoi
Street seller, Bia Hoi Junction, Old Quarter, Hanoi
Bia Hoi Junction, Old Quarter, Hanoi (13c for a glass of beer!)
We were charged $4 for this barbeque and still had to cook it ourselves!
Quality poncho, My Duc on the way to the Perfume Pagoda
Apparantly they often cram 10 Vietnamese on these things. With just four of us westerners, the edge of the boat was only just above the water
Rowboats, My Duc on the way to the Perfume Pagoda
Perfume Pagoda
Deb in the Perfume Pagoda (cool hat dude!)
From inside the Perfume Pagoda
Shrine inside the Perfume Pagoda
Bell inside the Perfume Pagoda
Looking back down to the Perfume Pagoda
View from outside the Perfume Pagoda
Lunch? On the way back from the Perfume Pagoda
Construction near the Perfume Pagoda
Deb somewhere near the Perfume Pagonda
Banner, Perfume Pagoda
Fisherman, on the way back from Perfume Pagoda
My Duc (near the boat ramp for the Perfume Pagoda)
13c for a glass of beer? I didn't bring enough small change!
Bia Hoi Junction
Bia Hoi Junction again. For some reason we kept ending up here...
And again with the Junction
Vietnamese tea at Handspan
Rice terraces at Sapa
Rice terraces in Sapa
Looking across the valley in Sapa
Deb at Sapa
More stepped rice terraces in Sapa
H'mong girl outside of Sapa
Starting the walk through the rice terraces
Aussie Mick
Deb being tailed by the H'Mong girls
Reid and Deb standing in the rain. Again
When you're soaked to the bone, any bit of shelter is a blessing
The rain didn't bother some people though
Our "guides" picking their next target
Deb being helped (and occasionally pulled) down a muddy slope
Deb's "helper" again
Waiting in the bamboo forest for the stragglers to catch up
Reid looking nervous as it's his camera about to go backwards over the waterfall... as well as his fiance.
Deb on a bridge. There's not really anything else to say really.
Lunch at the half way point
Caught off guard
Reid and Tân (our guide)
Gabe pleased that he made it without major injury
Modelling the latest in Soaked-to-the-bone wet weather gear
It's almost nighttime now and still raining. Night vision could only just make out where to put your feet
Rice wine: Mot-hai-ba-jo!
A bowl of tasty grasshoppers
Actually, they taste nothing like chicken. They're kind of musty.
Tastes like chicken!
Deb, Mick, Gabriel, Tân, Lénaïc and Mick (the dog)
This time with mood lighting
Mot-hai-ba-jo!
The box of matches cost more than this tobacco
Mick trying out the cheap smoke
"That's some fine tobacco"
Deb puffing on the peace pipe
Lénaïc trying out Tân's water pipe
Lénaïc and the pipe again
Green tea made by our hosts in Sapa
Some kind of bird in a cage
Reid is not amused
Some kind of village on the hills
Woman preparing... damn, I keep forgetting what that stuff is
Tân playing with someone's loom
Deb... doing... something
We managed to arrive in the village in time to see a little pig slaughtered. Neat!
One of Tân's many shortcuts
Dragonfly
This almost made us feel clean for the first time in a couple of days
Dinner
The usual path had been bulldozed for a road, so our guide found another way...
...and we blindly followed
This stuff stuck like glue, so after half an hour, we'd built up inches of mud under our shoes.
Our homestay just outside of Sapa
View from the Green Bamboo hotel
A dried lizard, or something. It's bound to be an aphrodisiac of some description.
Reid in the Sapa Market
Bright textiles in the Sapa Market
Guy on a motorbike carrying a piece of nature's scaffolding
"You buy from me?" I promised to buy something from this girl earlier in the day to get her off my back. She recognised me later on, so I couldn't really say no.
An offer of peace from a local merchant
Mmmmmm, grubs.
The meat section of the market. Considering how it's all just lying around on tables (and the restaurants all buy their food like this), we didn't get ill at all.
Loads of fresh produce. The fruit and veges always looked really good.
Dragonfruit. It's one of those things that you only eat when you're on holiday because it's exotic. There's no other reason, because the flavour is so mild that you're basically eating a form of water.
The rice harvests were almost finished in the area, but we managed to get a few pics.
A waterwheel that doesn't appear to do anything.
This place had a lot of water. Here's Reid with some
Everywhere you go, there's someone selling stuff. I reckon if I'd decided to climb a tree, someone would have already set up shop at the top.
Red & Deb with some more water.
...more water
This seems like a dangerous way to brush your teeth, but each to his own!
Lunch with Lénaïc & Andrea
Lunch with Lénaïc & Andrea. We had the usual boiled eggs and spam, but this time there was rice cooked inside bamboo, which was pretty cool.
Hehe, fuzzy
This guy was pretty cute.
Our last evening in Sapa with Lénaïc, Andrea and Tân. Tân's guide company put on the meal for us because of the hassle we had with our rooms. It was totally unexpected and a fantastic gesture.
Vietnamese hot pot for dinner.
We had beef, goat, prawns and other stuff that was cooked ina big pot of stock. Really tasty.
One of the many Vietnamese beers that were downed during the trip. They all tasted pretty much the same, but were always welcome :)
Tree on Jade Island, Hoan Kiem Lake, Hanoi
Jade Island, Hoan Kiem Lake, Hanoi
I thought this mean maximum two people per scooter, but looking around I think it was interpreted as 2 people minimum.
You name it, they'll carry it on a scooter.
Badminton is very popular in Hanoi. Every age and social group gets into it.
Huc Bridge, Hoan Kiem Lake, Hanoi
This is as good a place to cross the road as any.
Mr Lenin
Deb with her nose in the guide book in front of Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum
This isn't peak hour, it's just normal Hanoi traffic
One Pillar Pagoda, Hanoi
Dragon detail at the One Pillar Pagoda, Hanoi
Like I said before: "You got it? We'll carry it."
Mobile florist
Mobile limes
Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum... and some grumpy looking bugger
Bicycles seem to get around fairly safely.
Imagine how much space this many cars would need!
Cyclo!
Taking time out above the night traffic
Just playing around with long exposure times.
Deb took this photo then ran away after realising the flash went off
View from a beer stop
Biere Larue (the one with the green label is better)
Bivina is another beer indistinguishable from the rest. Not to say it's bad, it's just samey.
Our $8 (or was it $6?) room in Huế
Across the Perfume river in Huế
Is there anything those scooters can't do?
This is a shrine of some description.
A wall inside the Imperial City, Huế
Are these carp? Thanks Wikipedia, they're koi, which is a type of carp.
Detail of a dragon carving, Imperial City, Huế
Another dragon carving, Imperial City, Huế
Imperial City, Huế
Reid demonstrating how to make a photo interesting. Imperial City, Huế
We had some time to pass, so tried some of the local brews
Festival Beer is brewed either in (or just outside of) Huế
Bar Why Not, Huế
I should have taken notes, but this is beside the river that runs between North and South Vietnam in the DMZ
And here's Deb looking into the sun. A professional photographer knows to make people open their eyes into the sun for a natural effect.
Vin Moch tunnels
I thought it was funny
These tunnels are much larger than the Cu Chi tunnels in the south. At least here you can almost stand up straight.
Another tunnel pic. It's hard to convey how claustrophobic it makes you feel knowing you're almost 20 metres underground
One of the tunnels opened out onto the coast (behind the camera)
If you order fried rice with egg, don't be surprised if that's exactly what you get
A sign at the edge of the Ho Chi MInh trail
Helicopter Blades at Khe Sanh
Helicopter at Khe Sanh
Helicopter, Khe Sanh
Ok, so I liked a lot of the old derelict army vehicles lying around. Khe Sanh
This is wreckage from a bunch of different flying machines. Khe Sanh
Another helicopter. I seemed to take a lot of photos here. Khe Sanh
Details on helicopter tail, Khe Sanh
I wore red so I wouldn't get lost.
These little guys kept the mosquitoes at bay
I have a feeling that Hue Beer is also brewed near Huế
There's not much point in putting windows on the sides, as some bugger is bound to build up beside you
Down an alley in the tailored clothing town of Hoi An
Boats on the Thu Bon River
This 650ml bottle of beer cost about 50c
Here is is with a hand to put it in scale
A good photo pose makes people wonder if it's even a pose at all...
A guy with his portable [insert random food] stall
The eyes are to help guide the fishermen back home
Bicycle, Hoi An
This boat was left with the doors unlocked and the keys still in the ignition. They're a very trusting bunch of people
More boats on the Thu Bon
Coconut seller. I'm not sure why the pic was taken at this angle, but it's the only one we have!
A typical Hoi An street
You can really see the European influence in Hoi An's buildings
Just trying a few different exposure settings
The lower streets were flooded every night we were there, but we only missed the big ones by a few days
View from the footbridge
I didn't want to take her photo, but she insisted. It's time like this that an external flash would come in handy!
More boats
No stinking things, even prostitutes!
Temples have been here since somewhere around the 4th century. The current brick versions have only been there for 1300 years or so. Geez that's a long time.
Cham temples at Mỹ Sơn (which will be referred to as My Son from now on)
Apparantly you have to get up pretty damn early in the morning to beat the crowds. All the fat tourists are going to destroy this place, with people climing over everything.
I wonder how many THOUSANDS of photos like this are floating around. Well, there's only one of Deb, so that's the main thing :)
Mayo was here
Is that Shiva? The Cham people were heavily influence by Hinduism, so it's likely
It's cool that these ruins are sitting in the middle of the jungle
Mỹ Sơn ruins
I'm sure that I'm the first person to do this...
Headless statue
There is Pali text everywhere that is slowly being eroded away. This is one of the better examples
We caught a boat back along the river to get back to Hoi An
They sold beer on the boat, which is always a nice touch. The dodgy rice they served was less nice
Fishing boat on Thu Ban river
The colours in Hoi An are great. This reminded me of Italy
Who needs a vice when your foot can do the job just as well?
On an island in the middle of a river in the middle of Vietnam. You just can't escape this stuff!
One of our fellow tourists had a pocketful of balloons to hand out to kids.
..they seem pretty happy about it!
Vietnam's equivalent of the ute
I wonder if we ate anything from this net
Conserving energy before the afternoon rush
Vietnam would not be as exciting without welders, duct tape and imagination
The view from our hotel balcony in Hoi An (Than Binh III, and I don't know how I rememebered that name)
Considering some of the blocks were damp and swollen due to beer spills, I'm calling this the world's tallest Jenga tower
Another pit stop
Lentils and grains at the Hoi An market
Fresh fruit and veges. The stuff that we picked up here was used in our cooking class at Red Bridge Cooking School
Deb making fresh rice paper
The finished product: fresh rice paper rolls
Our Vietnamese cooking instructor showing how to make a tomato rose and I think a tomato lotus
The instructor's finished product
Our finished product. The instructor had a thinner, sharper blade to work with whcih was a bit unfair. It felt like being on the generation game
I miss the mobile *everything* markets of Vietnam. You barely need to move to get anything you need
I'm surprised there are only two people on this one
We played pool here while the rain poured down beside us. "Paint it Black" by the Rolling Stones was being pumped out, which made everything seem a bit surreal.
Hoi An. "The town for walkers and primitive vehicle users"
Sleeper train from Da Nang to Nha Trang
Peeling dragonfruit. The worlds weirdest looking and most tasteless fruit in the world. It comes off a cactus
The girl behind the bar was practicing some Viet-pop song while we were here. She only wanted to practice the first 40 seconds or so, and we ended up hearing those 40 seconds a couple of dozen times
View from our room in Nha Trang
Another courier
"Po Klaung Garai" Cham tower
Crocodile or alligator. Let me know if you can tell from this photo
Room
I'll have the Com Sa Siu with a side of Pronouns
What? It's not a beer?
Dalat, where even a pasty blob can feel like a celebrity.
Another heavy load (actually this looks like pillows, the lightweight)
Nice hat
Inside the Da Lat market.
Christmas Tree decoration hanging from the Golf 3 hotel
The Red and White Lights of Da Lat (tm)
Crazy spider at Da Lat's crazy house (it does have 8 legs, but they're paired up)
Can't see why the locals call this the crazy house.
What the?
I think the height of the walkway was designed for shorter people whose hips would be BELOW the edge.
The Eagle room at Da Lat's "Crazy House"
Spider web with fairy lights
Apparently it's lucky to have a bee hive attached to your house.
Flower Nursery on the edge of Da Lat
Coffee beans
If you look closely, you can see how the light fitting is attached to the wire using safety pins. At least it's an energy efficient bulb!
If you listen closely you can hear them chewing. It helps that there are thousands of them doing the same thing at the same time
Silkworm cocoons waiting to be boiled up and unravelled
... and more cocoons
Vietnam can get pretty humid, and working around hot water makes it even.. err.. humider
Unravelled on the left and... ravelled on the right (shut up, it's a word)
These are in a continuous loop, like bulldozer tracks. Each hole lines up with a pin on the loom which decides which line of thread to pull up or down, creating intricate patterns in the silk
Coffee plantation
Carved dragon at a buddist pagoda a few km out of Da Lat
Deb on the back of a motorbike
Elephant statue
The rhino beetle is proportionally the strongest animal on the planet, able to life 850 times it's own weight. If a human had the same strength, they could lift 65 tonnes (the same as an Abrams tank)
This reminds me of a trippy 70s music video
It's a shame that the nazis ruined this symbol (note that this version - the original - is sitting flat)
A weir on the outskirts of Da Lat
The laughing buddha, up close and personal
There must be a couple of hundred kilos on here! (not counting the rider, although he probably wouldn't add much to the total)
There must be fish here, or he wouldn't be.
Deb in front of Elephant falls
Easy Riders promise to fit all your luggage on the back of their bikes. They occasionally disobey the laws of physics
There were handrails once, but they've long since rusted away.
Each one of these balls contains a single strand of silk up to 900m long... and a caterpillar
The Vietnamese equivalent of check-out chicks
This is where the silk is extracted. The hot water melts the goo that sticks the silk together so it can be unravelled by machine
This was totally cool. It's programmed by bits of wood with holes patterned in them that correspond to pins that in turn are attached to one of hundreds of strings etc. Very complicated and fun to watch
Making silk cloth the traditional way
I'm sure I was shrugging for a reason, but that is now lost to the sands of time
I should have shaved my head for this photo. It would have made it more authentic
The laughing buddha and his humongous belly button
It's funny until you realise how many people are injured because of dodgy wiring
Up in the highlands, there aren't a lot of fishing spots to choose from
Everything on this spread was really good. We were promised that there was no dog...
Just like back in NZ, but with cows instead of sheep
Our guides were both really cool and neither of them mentioned that you can see my lunch trying to escape out the front of my stomach.
Da Lat's interpretation of the Eiffel Tower. I think it's a radio mast or something
Just before our first dinner in Mui Ne. It was right down at the edge of the beach, with warm weather and the surf breaking behind us.
Fire poi down on the beach, Mui Ne
Playing with a long exposure again
Fire poi on the beach, Mui Ne
This tastes SO much better that it looks. It's beef pho bo with a touch of curry and was a great breakfast
Damn, foiled again!
Kite surfing is the big thing in Mui Ne. So are Russians, who are so plentiful there, that most signs have both English and Russian translations
Finally, we got to get a bit of colour after a faily overcast few weeks
Relaxing by the beach at Mui Ne
The local Shell service station, Mui Ne
This kids parents wanted us to take a photo....
Is Vietnamese hot pot, is good
A haul of fish trawled by local fishermen
All of the big fish were taken out for eating and the rest just left on the beach. The tide would wash them away eventually
I often wondered how much it would take to build a small trailer
Thap Poshanu Cham Tower (and Reid)
Thap Poshanu Cham Tower (and Deb)
War memorial, near Mui Ne
I think these are fast food or something
I'm sure this is all quite tasty, but that doesn't stop it looking disturbing
Guy pulling a trolley, Phan Thiet
Boat on Phan Thiet Harbour
Boats on Phan Thiet Harbour
Locals at Phan Thiet Harbour
Deb, Phan Thiet
The all day siesta looked to be a common occurrence in the markets
Where's Wally?
Shoes, Phan Thiet Market
Pineapples
View from outside our cabin in Mui Ne
I'll have a No.4 but without the grab meat
Sunrise from our cabin on Mui Ne beach
Fisherman in a floating basket
Mui Ne
Sunrise, Mui Ne beach
Trying hard not to throw up the morning after a bout of food poisoning. We both ended up with this and it wasn't pretty
Still feeling mighty seedy at breakfast in Ho Chi Minh city
Human Frogger
Someone on a beer run
mmmm, pork
mmm, dog
Outside one of Vietnam's swankiest hotels
For some reason I question their commitment to high quality
We came home with a tad more than what we left with
