Outstanding characteristics. The climate in Bach Ma National Park is tropical with two distinct seasons, dry season and rainy season, caused by monsoon.

Hence, tourists might be surprised at the changeable weather, which goes from sunshine to darkness, and clouds to rains. Mainly from September to December, it receives approximately 8,000-mm rainfall each year. You can encounter hot and dry winds from May to August and even typhoon from June to November.

Does the name Bach Ma (“white horse”) arouse in your mind any association? In Vietnamese tradition, it refers to the white cloud which continually caps its peak. On approaching the park, you will see the evidence of Vietnam War remains in the form of some hills that still have not been fully recovered from the spraying of defoliants.

Nature’s gift.

Bach ma’s position, at the sharing border with Northern and Southern Vietnam, is combined with a variety of habitats, ranging from the coast to high mountains. The flora of Bach Ma includes 2,147 species which represents around one-fifth of the entire flora of Vietnam. Among these, 86 species are listed as endangered species in the Red book of Vietnam. The main vegetation types comprise moisture green forest, montane forest, and scrubby-grass covering area much occupied by the locals

Fauna.  Bach Ma National Park takes pride in its endemic and rare species. Up to now, 1,493 species including 132 species of mammals (half of which are well known in Vietnam), 358 bird species, 31 reptile species, 21 frog species, 57 fish species and 894 insect species are identified. The elusive Sao la (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis) was only discovered in Vietnam in 1992. Do not be surprised if you see a pheasant!, this species used to be common in forests at the mountain foot, yet was already considered to be extinct by the 1940s. More than 50 years later, it was rediscovered in the park and has become the symbol of Bach Ma National Park.

Activities in buffer zone. This huge biodiversity has created the amazing paradise on the ground for nature-lovers! There is a range of activities carried out with the collaboration of local people in the villages of the national park’s buffer zone. One of them is the establishment of medicinal plant gardens in Khe Su village, located about 2 km far from the park entrance. The village encourages tourists to devote some 40,000 VND (more than USD2) for its development fund.

If you are eager for bird-watching, you are in the right place! More than one-third of the bird species of Vietnam are found in here! You can see a number of pigeons, bulbuls, malkohas, crow pheasant, herons and egrets but sights of parakeets, kingfishers or jungle fowl!

Incredible! How can I get there?

Bach Ma National Park is relatively easily accessible from Hue (40 km), Da Nang (65 km) and Hoi An (90 km). The park headquarters and entrance are about three km from the small town of Cau Hai, where the park road meets National Route No1. Bus is the ideal means of transport if you would like to contemplate the landscape along the road. There’s a railway station in Cau Hai, and frequent buses from Hue and Da Nang.

The cruise departs at 7:30 a.m. with a light breakfast prepared for tourists as the ship smoothly surfs on the waves. The warm sunlight and delightful surroundings got us ready for our tour of the island of salangane, a species of swift which is famous as the producers of the edible bird’s nests.

Discovering the salangane is an interesting experience but the ideal time to visit the island is from March to September – as that is the season when salangane’s make nests.

The first stop of the trip was Du Ha Cave which is located behind Noi Islet which produces most of the nests among the 24 salangane islands in Nha Trang.

It was fun to admire the salanganes hovering in the sky or perching over rock peaks and we felt the long journey was worthwhile.

The cruise moved to Sam Island where we witnessed hundreds of albatrosses flying on glistening sun beams and shining on blue and white waves. After that is was time to admire the colorful coral.

Finally, the cruise arrived at Noi Island’s sandy beach where a temple is dedicated to worship the salangane. In front of the temple is a spacious yard under the shade of old trees, giving guests the perfect spot to take a rest. Tourists can also climb 100 steps to Du Ha Peak to take in a wonderful panoramic view of Noi Island.

A dip in the water is the ideal way to refresh yourself and enjoy bird’s nests before your return.

After 10 years of leading Lam Son (Lam Sơn) revolution (1418 – 1428), Le Thai To (Lê Thái Tổ) won a victory, became a king setting up the capital at Dong Kinh (Đông Kinh), and then took the date as the first year of Thuan Thien (Thuận Thiên). At the same time, he built Lam Son to become the second-rank imperial city called as Lam Kinh or Tay Kinh (Tây Kinh).

The North of Lam Kinh temple leans on Dau (Dầu) mountain, which is also called by Du Son (Du Sơn). The South of it is directed toward Chu river – where Chua (Chúa) mountain is front, its left side is Phu Lam (Phú Lâm) forest, its right side is Huong (Hương) mountain and Ham Rong (Hàm Rồng) mountain blocking in the West. The royal citadel, palace, and imperial temple at Lam Kinh were built according to Southern – Northern axis on a hill that has a shape of the word “Vương”. Four sides of royal citadel were built with the length of 314m and the width of 254m; the Northern wall had the shape of bow back with its radius of 164m and its thickness of 1m. Through archaeology and remaining relics indicate that formerly, magnificent Southern gate, court in front of royal palace, central chamber, imperial temple … have existed here. Although relics are not many, but enough for tourists to recognize that this is a very big construction made by Le Loi (Lê Lợi).

Vinh (Vĩnh) imperial tomb: Le Loi officially became a king on April 15th 1428, Mau Than (Mậu Thân) year and proclaimed himself “Thuận Thiên Thừa Vận Dụê Văn Anh Vũ Đại Vương”. Until Quy Mui (Quý Mùi) year (1433), he passed away, lived to be 49, ruled the country for 6 years, and was buried at Vinh ) imperial tomb, Lam Son.

The imperial tomb was built on a Southern plot of land at the foot of Dau mountain, on the axis of North – South between Dau mountain and Chua mountain which create the position of “hậu chẩm bắc sơn, tiền án nam sơn”, which means that 02 sides have 02 row of mountains create the position like ambushing tigers and supporting dragons. About 1km front of the imperial tomb, there is Chu river winding around the front creating the position of “tụ thủy”, which means water gather here. According to precise outlook of persons who are expert at the old and new science of winds and waters, Vinh imperial tomb is selected as a very beautiful position.

Although the lay-out and burying style at Vinh imperial tomb is simple, it is very solemn, unstudied, and elegant. The imperial tomb is covered with soil according to cube shape, surrounding it is inserted with stones. There are 02 rows of military aide statues and statues of breeding animals carved by stone put up here to protect it against evil spirits. Between two rows of military aide statues is a path whose width is 20m35 called by holy path. Overview of Le Thai To (Lê Thái Tổ) (Vinh imperial tomb) is not only really simple and near to everybody’s heart, but also solemn.

Stele in Vinh imperial tomb: was built on the top of the hill towards the East of Tay Ho (Tây Hồ), 300m far from Vinh imperial tomb. The stele was made of sea sedimentary rock with the height of 2.97m; the width of 94m; the thickness of 0.27m; and was put on the back of a big tortoise which was carved from sea sedimentary rock with the length of 3.46m; the width of 94m; the height of 0.94m including its support.

The stele house was rebuilt in 1961 (on chocks of the old stone pillar). The foundation of the house nearly had the shape of a square with its edges of 8.80m and had 4 curved roof covered with tiles shaped toe-cap. It was supported by 16 pillars with 4 pillars for each corner according to Le (Lê) reign’s style.

Decorative art was sophisticated and decorative style on the stele was suitable with the content of the epitaph compiled by Nguyen Trai (Nguyễn Trãi). The brow of the stele was designed in square shape whose inside was a circle representing for the sky and the earth. Between the square and the circle is the shape of stylized cloud; a head of a dragon looking straight ahead carved in the middle of it, the dragon’s body is bowing flexibly around the Sun that symbolizes the Divine Son of Heaven. At two sides of the square and the circle, 02 dragons craning their bodies to attend the king’s audience were carved. Each edge of stele has an image in which there are 9 halves of leaves carved very skillfully.

The epitaph is brief and condensed, but it reflects fully the biography, achievements, and merits of King Le Thai To. Vinh imperial tomb is a valuable work and has a big significance in Vietnamese treasure of cultural heritage.

Lam Kinh Historical Vestige,National historical monument,Chu river,Dau mountain

After 1954, Ngo Dinh Diem and his family lived in the Norodom Palace. In February 1963, a dissident launched an air bombardment and heavily damaged it. Diem rebuilt the palace, which was later replaced by another one, called the Independence Palace. It was designed by Western-trained architect Ngo Viet Thu. The construction was undertaken by Saigon engineers and was completed in 1966.

The five-story building consists of 100 rooms and chambers decorated with the finest modern Vietnamese arts and crafts. The ground floor room has a boat-shaped table that was often used for conferences. Upstairs, a room called Phu Dau Rong was where Nguyen Van Thieu received foreign delegations. The residential quarters are in the back of the building. On the third floor, there is a card-playing room. This floor also possesses a terrace with a heliport where a helicopter is parked. The fourth floor was used for dancing, and even had a casino. The most interesting part of the building is probably the basement containing a network of tunnels, a telecommunication centre, and a war room.

At 11h30 on 30 April 1975, the palace was overrun by Liberation Army tanks. Duong Van Minh, who was president at that time, together with his 45-member cabinet, surrendered unconditionally. After the liberation of Saigon, the Independence Palace was turned into the Headquarters of the Municipal Military Administrative Committee. In December 1975, the palace welcomed a conference for national reunification. To mark the historical significance of the event, the building was renamed Thong Nhat Conference Hall (Reunification Conference Hall). The palace has the height of 26 metres and is located in a large precinct of 12 hectares with shading trees. The overall architecture of this palace was designed by the architect Ngo Viet Thu and followed the traditional architectural style which reflects precisely the Eastern rites as the characteristics of Vietnam nation. Taking a general look, the shape of this palace made up the word “CAT” which means “good fortune and lucky”. The centre point of the palace is the position of the room for referring credentials. The terrace has the shape of the word “KHAU” (i.e. “mouth”) in order to dignify education and freedom of speech; in the middle there is a flagstaff making up a hanging stroke (vertical stroke) to create the word “TRUNG” (using Han ideogram of China) with the meaning that it must be “faithful and loyal” if you want to pursue democracy. In addition, the horizontal stroke made from the eaves forms the word “TAM” (i.e. “three”). All these strokes and lines have expressed the opinion of “Democracy needs three things: people, perspicacity, and power”. Furthermore, these three horizontal lines connecting with the vertical line make up the word “VUONG” (i.e. “King”). And the rostrum above contributes to create the word “CHU” (i.e. “host”) to symbolize for the independence of the country. The front side of the palace that contains the second and third floors together with the eaves at the main path and two wooden pillars under the eaves has the shape of the word “HUNG” (i.e. “prosperous”) with the hope for the everlasting prosperity of the country. The architectural beauty of the palace is also manifested by the curtain having the form of noble bamboo joints that surrounds the second floor and has the effect of both contributing to the palace’s beauty and taking sunshine from outdoors.

One of the most interesting sights in the Delta are the floating markets and associated river life. Cai Rang Floating Market is open all day but it is busiest from sunrise to about 9am. The main items sold there are farm products and specialties of Cai Rang Town, Chau Thanh District and neighboring areas. Every boat has a long upright pole at its bow on which samples of the goods for sale are hung.

During the early morning market hours, larger sized boats anchor and create lanes that smaller boats weave in and out of. The waterway becomes a maze of hundreds of boats packed with mango, bananas, papaya, pineapple, and even smuggled goods like cigarettes. Sellers do not have to cry out about their goods because their goods can be seen in a distance and their cries would not be heard in the vastness of the river and the noise of boat engines. Small boats that sell beer, wine and soft drinks go among the other boats to serve market-goers and visitors. Sellers tie their goods to a tall pole so that buyers can see from a distance what they are selling.

Each boat is loaded with plenty of seasonal goods. Activities at the market are also an occasion for tourists to study the cultural aspects of southerners. You can see the market in the distance, it does not look like much, just a mass of boats. The boats all display their wares on a mast so you can see what they have available.

To visit Cai Rang Floating Market, visitors can join a tour of the Mekong Delta. On the way to Can Tho, visitors can stop to visit My Tho and take a boat trip to visit orchards, bee farms and coconut candy establishments in Ben Tre.

Have you been to the Cai Rang Floating Market? If not yet, let’s take a 30 minute boat ride to the market. You will be actually awake and enjoying it! You wind find it very peaceful floating down the river in the early morning. Then, tell us why you think this market is a great place!

Cassia Fistula Resort is located in Phước Khánh commune, Nhơn Trạch town, Đồng Nai province, at a distance of 25 kilometers from Ho Chi Minh City. It is established in 1992 by Nguyen Van Suu, a retired teacher.

In 1992, Suu just intended to build his land into a large garden with fishpond and used a part of the garden for raising poultry. Then, when the garden was stable, he used to invite his friends to come by and enjoy the cool and pure atmosphere after tired working days.
Gradually, many people knew about this beautiful garden. They wanted to contribute and invest with land and money to develop the garden into a resort. Until 1999, the resort began operating. At first, there were many difficulties for lacking of investment.

In 2001, by cooperating with Saigon Tourist, the resort has been visited by a group of outdoor tourists. It was also named Cassia Fistula since then, after the cassia fistula tree that blossom every three or four months with beautiful clusters of bright yellow flower.
From that time, there have been many other travel agencies coming to Cassia Fistula Resort such as Dana tour, Hoàn Vũ tour, Fidi tour, Thương Hiệu Việt, Lửa Việt, including the “making friend club” of Thanh Nien newspaper.

With an area of nearly 4 hectares, including 200 houses on stilts and sentry – boxes, Cassia Fistula offers tourists commodious spaces to relax. There are also hammocks and chairs along the riversides as well as the fruit tree garden, where tourists can enjoy the nature completely.
If tourists come in group and has already registered, the resort would provide devices and playfield to help with some collective games as tug of war, stilt, blind man’s buff…There are also some other activities that are closely connected with nature like water slipping, fishing, rowing bow or walking in the cool and fresh air in the garden.

In Cassia Fistula Resort, there is also outdoor playground for camping and picnic. Especially, there are some strong feeling games for young people. These games always have trainers who will help players be well prepared before playing.

Coming to Cassia Fistula Resort, tourists would also have chance to enjoy some traditional dishes with a low price but very delicious.
Recently, Cassia Fistula Resort has been developed into an ecological resort and become famous. More and more tourists from many places have come to Cassia Fistula to enjoy not only the exciting activities here but also the fresh and cool air of the resort.

According to the city’s plan, artistic programs will be held for suburban people, especially in remote and disadvantaged areas, and relics, opened for visitors.

The festival, themed “Flower Heritage”, aims to honor cultural heritages of Hà Nội that have been recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), said Deputy Director of the Hà Nội Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyễn Khắc Lợi.

It is part of activities to promote cultural tourism in the capital city and respond to the National Tourism Year 2012, which takes the theme of “Heritage Tourism”.

In the framework of the event, a wide range of activities will be also organized, including flower arranging competitions, folk games, exhibitions of ornamental plants, and a showcase of handicraft and tourism products.

The temple was built on a high mound south of Thủ Lệ Zoo in what is now known as Ngọc Khánh Ward, Ba Đình District, and surrounded by gardens and many luxuriant ancient trees.

According to existing historical documents as well as the legends related in its parallel sentences and commemorative panels, Voi Phục Temple was built during the reign of King Lý Thánh Tông, in 1065. It has been repaired and restored many times from the Nguyễn Dynasty (1802-1945) up through recent years.

Voi Phục Temple is dedicated to Prince Hoằng Chân (Linh Lang Đại Vương), the fourth son of King Lý Thái Tông (1028–1054). The legend says the king was growing old but he had no son to inherit his kingdom or carry on his name. One day, while the first imperial concubine, Nguyễn Thị, was bathing in Dâm Đàm Lake (now West Lake), a dragon suddenly appeared and wound round her body. It covered her with its perfumed saliva, then blew water from its nostrils and whooshed up into the sky. Nguyễn Thị went back to her palace and, after a few days, discovered she was pregnant. Fourteen months later, she gave birth to a prince called Ling Lang Đại Vương (the Great Aristocrat). When he was born, a strange smell spread over the palace. The prince, who was very handsome, had 28 dragon scales on his back and seven black moles twinkling like pearls on his chest. The King was very surprised so he called the baby, Hoàng Tứ Lang, and when he was seven days old, the King allowed his wife to bring him up in her native land in Thủ Lệ Camp.

Two months and seven days later, Triệu Tiết, a mandarin of the Song Dynasty, brought his troops to plunder the country’s border. The king was sleeping in his bed when he suddenly heard the voice of a god say, “Our country has talented men, we are not afraid of the invaders”. The King woke up and ordered his messengers to travel the land and recruit talented people to fight the invaders. When the messenger came to Thủ Lệ Camp, Ling Lang Đại Vương, who was lying on his bamboo bed, suddenly stood up and told his mother, “Invaders are attacking our border, I can’t stay here!” His mother was very surprised and said, “The invaders are very strong. You are still too small to fight against them.” The Prince replied, “You do not need to worry. I am small now but I will grow up.” He called the messenger and said, “Go back and tell my father not to worry. I only need a 10-meter long red flag and a male elephant to defeat those invaders.” The messenger went back to the palace and reported to the King who was happy to supply the prince with all the things he ordered. The Prince stood up, stretched his limbs, and suddenly became “Thiên Bồng” (Heaven General). He shouted so loudly that the elephant kneeled in front of him then he took the flag and rode the elephant to the Phú Lương Palace where he swung his flag and the enemy army was crushed. Having gained victory, the Prince went back to his camp, but seven months later he became ill with a strange disease and no medical treatment could cure him. The King came to visit and commiserate with him and the Prince said, “I came down to earth as punishment from heaven but now the punishment is over. If you love me, please look at the flag flying over the Đại Hùng Gate; that is the flag I carried to fight against the enemy. After my death, please launch it into the sky. Wherever it falls, have a temple built and worship me there. That’s enough.” The King agreed, got in his sedan chair and said goodbye. The prince suddenly turned into a huge white dragon over 100 meters long, wrapped himself around a gigantic rock and disappeared into Dâm Đàm Lake. A few days later the wind whipped up waves on the lake and it was dark all day. The red flag flew into the sky, touched down at 269 different places, then returned to Ngọ Môn Gate. The King was amazed and ordered 269 temples dedicated to the Prince to be built in 269 villages, then he proclaimed the Prince “the Great Aristocrat” and built Voi Phục Temple on the site where he had lived. The temple is believed to be miraculous and magical and it is said that all wishes made there will come true.

The above story is only a legend, however, according to historical documents, Prince Hoằng Chân, together with Prince Chiêu Văn and Lý Thường Kiệt, succeeded in repelling the Song invaders on the bank of the Như Nguyệt River (now called the Cầu River) in Bắc Ninh Province. After gaining victory, he returned to his home village to die. The king christened him Ling Lang Đại Vương and ordered an old temple to be restored in his honor. Now there are two kneeling elephants at the temple gate and on the gate’s pillars are the following parallel sentences:

“This land has existed since ancient times under the Southern sky
This temple is dedicated to one of the Supreme Gods”

The temple now consists of the reception gate (nghi môn), which opens inside to a three-entrance gate, and the main temple. The main temple is shaped like the công character with three rows of houses: the five-room upper chamber (tiền tế), a two-room middle chamber (trung tế) and a three-room lower chamber, all of which have roofs covered with mũi hài (toe cap-shaped) tiles.

The temple has a collection of a wide range of cultural artifacts including a throne, bronze temple bells, sedan chairs, ancestral tablets, statues of sacred cranes and horses, many parallel sentences and some splendid painted commemorative panels. Besides these valuable objects, inscriptions in Han and Nôm scripts conserved in the temple are filled with many stories of the gods, particularly the tutelary god.

The architectural complex is bathed in an atmosphere of letters and humanistic culture. It comprises a gate standing behind a ceiba tree whose red flowers bloom in April, an obelisk in the shape of a pen-brush, an arched gate topped by a stone ink-slab and a graceful red wooden bridge dubbed “Perch of the Rising Sun” (Thê Húc) leading to the islet. Here are the shrines and the Break-water Pavilion (Trấn Ba Đình).

The tall, tapering stone pillar in the form of a pen-brush bears three ideograms: “Tả Thanh Thiên” which mean “Writing on the Blue Sky.” Together with the temple, it was designed by the scholar Nguyễn Văn Siêu (1799-1872) whose talent and frame was only equaled by that of his friend Cao Bá Quát (1809-1854). In literary circles, the two were extolled as “divine” (Thần Siêu, Thánh Quát).

Moved by their disgust at the depravity of the court and their sympathy for the suffering of the people, both left the corrupt mandarinate. Cao Bá Quát joined the command ò the peasant revolt known as the Rebellion of the Locusts. Nguyễn Văn Siêu, of a more peaceful temperament, devoted himself to educational and cultural work. He trained brilliant disciplines at the Square Pavilion (Phương Đình) built close to his house in Hà Nội (in the present Nguyễn Siêu Street, Nos. 12-14). Besides collections of beautiful prose and poetry, he left studies on literature, philosophy, geography… The people of Hà Nội are in particular thankful to him for this magnificent gift: the Temple of Jade Mountain.

Before even arriving in Dalat with no prior tour organized both Michelle and I wanted to do a tour of some description. For us, organised private tours served as the perfect orientation for a city, and ensured that we at least got a taste of the highlights, with the option time permitting to return for seconds. Upon our checkin yesterday, as our butler Hong escorted us to our villa she asked if we desired doing a tour while we were here. Not having any literature on us about the variety of tours Dalat had to offer we both responded with the same vague ‘sure’ response, hoping Hong would provide further information. Without going into a list of tours, Hong immediately suggested the city tour; knowing from previous experiences that a city tour was usually the best orientation tour for a new town we agreed.
Once checked in, we immediately headed back out into town for lunch and supplies, so it wasn’t until much later that night that I began browsing through all of the literature that the hotel had on hand, including a rather thick booklet on tours. My heart sunk, I had not expected so many interesting tours to of been on offer, there was everything from various hiking tours (which since Sapa, I had become rather obsessed with) through to specialty tours such as the flower markets and touring the vast coffee plantation; two international exports that Dalat is famous for. It was too late to change anything now, so I pledged with myself that when we return to Vietnam we will spend more time in Dalat to indulge in some of these tours.

I am terrible when it comes to names, unless I attempt to associate the name of a person with some funny characteristic of themselves or attempt to bring the name into conversation a hand full of times, it goes in one ear and out the other. Our previous guides, two in particular had easy names to remember, Wiy (wee) our guide from Hue to Hoi An, made the joke to please not refer to him as wee-wee. Another Bi (bee) making a similar remark that his name was in no way related to a buzzing bee. These little anecdotes made their names instantly lock in my mind, and for that reason, I cannot recall the name of our Dalat tour guide, his name not memorable in anyway. Our Dalat guide, for arguments sake we’ll call him John had no real agenda for our city tour, as it seemed to be more something our butler had dreamt up. He offered us a few suggestions of places to check out but was clearly open to suggestions, seizing the opportunity I suggested the coffee plantation and the flower fields, John was more than happy to accommodate this, and so our tour commenced.

We did the traditional visit to a pagoda, something we had come accustomed to on every Vietnamese tour thus far and ventured out to various public gardens and flower green-house plantations, observing the process from growing the flowers to packaging them for international transport. We then headed out to the coffee plantation, unfortunately our visit was out of season, had we been in season we could of indulged in a more thorough guide of the plantation as well as sampling the various types of coffee, much like you would an Australian winery. The coffee beans here were also exported internationally, but it is all in the brewing and roasting that makes Vietnam coffee unique to the western world. Stopping on a gravel track off the main road, our guide ahead of us we snuck into a coffee plantation. Come to think of it, that has happened everywhere we’ve been; there had never been a question of seeking permission, we trespassed everywhere. Since the land of Vietnam is all owned by the government and leased to the people for lifelong durations, perhaps there was no harm in trespassing?

The beans were very much small and green with just a few trees possessing ready to harvest red coloured pods, our guide quickly pulling some from the tree and popping the pods in his fingers revealing the all familiar coffee beans.

Our tour ended with a trip to the local train station. The station once a major transportation route from the highlands to the coast now only ran a 7km stretch to a neighbouring town ever since the rail to the coast was damaged by B52’s in the war. Back in its day a steam locomotive ran the course. Today, the same locomotive rests, carriages connected at platform one, while is younger replacements; two diesel engines run the 7km stretch multiple times a day, the carriages they pull looking like they had come straight off the locomotive’s. The station was completely run down and not really much to look at, but it was clear our guide saw it differently insisting us to take photos of it from every angle as if it was Miranda Kerr on the catwalk. In fairness though it was currently under massive renovation, so hopefully the next time we visit I can go a bit silly with the camera, living up to the locals hopes.

With our tour over, probably the longest and most thorough tour we had ever been on, given the creative input we were invited to contribute we headed back to our villa. A small part of me disappointed that we hadn’t taken the opportunity to push harder on what was our last major stop. Unfortunately though, having not slept well the last few nights, suffering fevers and stomach cramps my body was forcing me to slow down and in a mixed turn of emotion I conceded. Our stay in Dalat was quite brief, and from the look of the tours and attractions our villa had listed, Dalat still had a significant amount to offer but I was satisfied that at the very least we had a brief but thorough introduction to Dalat.

Feeling a bit more chipper by the time we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, our one night, fly-in-fly-out stop, Michelle and I wasted no time and hit the local street markets which Michelle had fondly remembered from our last visit two years earlier. To my dismay, I was like a fish out of water, and it wasn’t until we were walking back to our hotel some hours later from the markets ready to retire for the night that I finally got my bearings.

Although Michelle got her bearings as soon as she set foot on the pavement outside of our hotel, we both agreed that the city had grown incredibly over the past few years, emerging itself as a twenty year-a-go Singapore. The streets were lined with a mixture of boutique shopping malls and local markets selling plenty of lacquer ware and tourist items. The markets were just as busy as I remembered, fortunately, unlike the locals whom wouldn’t of been able to see more than two people deep the tall westerners that we are (well, tall by asian standards) could see out and beyond the sea of bobbing black haired heads to the various stalls within the markets. Knowing that we each had a few extra kilos of luggage allowance to play with and a few hundred thousand dong left in our pockets we set out to buy up some last minute items.

Sure enough, just as we had experienced when we arrived in Moscow from St Petersburg, which we had presumed would be the dearer of the two for tourist items we were wrong again, passing by stalls of markets, each market practically representing a location we had visited, be it Sapa, Hoi An, Hue, all offering the items we had already purchased at these places for a fraction of the cost. At the end of the day though, there was nothing left to do but shrug it off and laugh, and perhaps buy an additional item, since the savings we’re talking about, of 50 to 60% off at the end of the day mean a mere $2 AUD off a $4AUD item – hardly worth shedding tears over.

With the last of our shopping done and with me chasing down a replacement padlock for the one I had incidentally left in Dalat we ventured to an old fav western style cafe for dinner. Although this trip we ate an INCREDIBLE amount of local cuisine (in some cases rather questionable) we were not against falling back from time to time to the more familiar western food selection. Almost considered a comfort food in a way, both Michelle and I longed for a specific western dish during the course of the trip, and whenever the opportunity arised we had seized it. For me it was KFC, there was nothing not to like of Vietnam KFC. For one, the KFC venues were far flashier than their western counterparts; food was presented on a nice labelled KFC oval shaped plate rather than the cardboard boxes we’re accustomed to back home with no change whether you’re dining in our out. The chicken tasted brilliant, not as greasy or oily as the western cooked chicken, and the fries – the holy grail of the meal were a perfect combination – McDonalds style fries with the seasoning of KFC’s fries and if that isn’t enough to convince my point, a meal cost 50,000 dong, just over $4.50 AUD. Being the only fast food giant out of the usual suspects to make it to Vietnam, we were lucky to encounter it in Hanoi and it became our regular lunch in Nha Trang, whether we were hungry or not.

Michelles meal of choice, and indeed worship was the good-old traditional burger. Similar to KFC, Michelle was on a good roll having found burgers on most menus wherever we went allowing her the freedom to choose between western and Asian cuisine. Unfortunately she was scared by a burger venture in Hoi An, the morning of the Photo Tour where we had worked up a rather incredible appetite having being up since 4.45am, skipped breakfast and ridden about 7km back into town. The beef burger that she was presented with was miserable to say the least, the thick juicy meat patty reduced to a few shavings of meat which look like they’d been hanging around for a while. Ever since that point, burgers were off the menu with her goal set on Burger King at Singapore Airport.

Although I wasn’t quick on the uptake as to recalling where everything was in Ho Chi Minh like Michelle was, I did recall that the menu at the western restaurant we were dining in was safe; having given it the two thumbs up of approval the last time we were there. So despite the burger fiasco in Hoi An, I immediately ordered the burger. Michelle on the other hand, still being cautious ordered pork with rice. Sure enough my burger came out, and as one would expect it was perfectly formed. Michelle glanced at me with a long face, looking across at my juicy burger then down at her average looking pork and rice. Softening the blow I bit into my burger, and after washing my mouth with a sip of Pepsi, shrugged Michelle’s way and said ‘it’s alright.’ Little did she know that it was possibly one of the best burgers I had ever eaten.

With our Jetstar flight now coming in for landing into Singapore, it seems appropriate to wrap this travel entry up, until the next international escapade.

“So on that bombshell” as Jeremy Clarkson would say, this is the end of the show… until next time.. good night!

[roll credits – queue music]