“Return to the Roots” tourism programme kicks off A ceremony to launch the “Return to the Roots” tourism programme 2011 was held in Nghia Lo, Yen Bai Province on February 26. This is a tourism cooperative programme between the northern provinces of Yen Bai, Phu Tho and Lao Cai. At the opening ceremony, Deputy Prime [...]

Vietnam’s tourism industry has set a target to welcome 5.3 million international visitors, serve 30 million domestic tourists and earn VND110,000 billion by the end of 2011. The culture, sports and tourism industry focused on these goals at a conference on deploying work this year that was held in Hanoi on February 25-26. The industry [...]

The border crossing between Prek Chak in Cambodia and Xa Xia in Vietrnam has been open for a couple of years now. Even so, recent travellers’ blogs have reported that it’s not an easy journey between the two main towns either side i.e. Kampot and Ha Tien. The concensus seemed to be that you need [...]

Saavas Arrives in Phu Quoc Monk checked out of the hotel and did a spot of exploring around Doung Dong town before catching a taxi the few liometres down to Long Beach, where he’d booked the Mai House Hotel for himself and Saavas. Saavas was due to arrive around 15:00 and, in a rare moment [...]

After a few hiccups getting to Tullamarine (Mary got lost a couple of times as her son was was unfamiliar with Melbourne and the car also broke down in the airport carpark!) we depart Australia on a late night AirAsiaX flight to KL. The flight was fine and the Airbus looks in pretty good nick. [...]

The landing in Saigon is smooth much to Mary’s liking. The airport’s international terminal looks to have had some more improvements since our last visit. Its a very modern complex – clear, spacious and fresh. It certainly aids a newby coming into the country for the first time. Very impressive and makes the waiting throng [...]

HUE We woke up early that morning to catch the 7am bus to Hue. After waiting for over an hour for the bus to pick us up we started to worry that it wouldn’t arrive. Our worries grew when the bus did indeed arrive. Having just been in an accident (the reason for the tardiness), [...]

The previous day had been very long. With the break in KL our travel from Melbourne to Saigon had taken some 18 hours. We rested well in the guesthouse and the location of Vy Khanh in the back alleyways meant that we were well screened from the noise of Saigon. The guesthouse is located in [...]

I always find it remarkable how in life how peoples paths cross as well as the timing of these events. My journey crossed paths last week with a remarkable lady which resulted in a chance of a life time opportunity for me. Her name is My Huong. My Huong co-managers three orphanages in Vung Tau, [...]

I have a huge dong. In fact, I didn’t realize it until I arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam. It’s enormous as a matter of fact. I can barely stuff it in my pants because it is so large and heavy. I can do so many things with my dong that I never felt possible. Just feeling [...]