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]

Thanks to having developed large-scale theme parks, some countries have become more popular in tourists’ hearts and minds, attracting thousands of visitors every year.

However, developing entertainment projects with support facilities attractive enough to lure local and international visitors is a problem that requires adequate investment and market research for most property developers.

Speaking at a property conference and exhibition Vietnam International Real Estate Connection (VIREC), hosted by G4B Branding Real Estate Marketing Company in HCMC last week, Nguyen Van Tuan, head of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, said Vietnam was a popular destination for international visitors. This was proved by the increasing number of international arrivals every year, as well as the increase in the number of local tourists.

Tuan said the country’s tourism industry strategy was shifting towards being more competitive. Therefore, developing leisure property projects would contribute to supporting the sector, going along with the orientation of the country’s tourism development strategy set by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Thibault Paquin, principal of the Hong Kong-based company Celebrating Life Asia, shared experiences to participants at the event themed ‘Modern Entertainment Investment Inspires the Next Development’ and said that the leisure industry had changed a lot with many entertainment projects underway.

Paquin said among Asian countries, China with huge yearly revenue from the local tourism market had developed some large theme parks in the country. Countries such as Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesia were going ahead with their plans to develop amusement projects.

He presented participants with three model investments, saying privately developed projects were often small in scale and generate low profits to developers.

Meanwhile in the second model, local government would support developers by offering land with infrastructure development.

International investors often chose this model thanks to having support from local government; however, it sometimes required longer negotiations with local authorities. In the third model investment, a developer would develop land and infrastructure, and then invite other partners to jointly develop the project.

Looking to the current situation in Vietnam, he suggested local developers should combine the first and third models to develop an entertainment project.

In fact, local group Khang Thong has called for partners to invest in its entertainment complex which covers 266 hectares along the Vam Co Dong River in Long An Province’s Ben Luc District.
The US$2 billion Happy Land project, which is likened to the world’s famous resorts such as Disneyland or Universal Studio, will include leisure and water parks, commercial centers, three-to-five-star hotels, restaurants, discotheques, and indoor and outdoor theaters.

Luke Riley, Asian regional director for Sanderson Group International, said there were certain aspects developers should not overlook, including market research and feasibility studies and adequate investment.

Site and area evaluation, demographic assessment, competitor analysis and forecast attendance figures are what a developer should do before rolling up its sleeves to develop an entertainment project. He said adequate investment will help developers swiftly return on investment.

Paquin said that China spent 10 years trying to attract international theme park developers to the country, and wondered whether Vietnam could and should attract foreign developers now.

Tong Van Nga, vice chairman of the Vietnam Real Estate Association, said the developing entertainment project required a specific plan; and each region has its own characters, thus a theme park project should be developed based on those characters.

He, however, said that there was still a long way to go before Vietnam calls for international investors to develop the entertainment industry.
(Source: The Saigon Times Daily)

A book fair will also be held, with both adults and children’s literature presented in their original language as well as a Vietnamese translation.

From 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday, the Goethe Institute, 54-58 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street will host an evening of Italian and German literature. Italian embassy officials will introduce new translations of the classic Se questo è un Uom” (If This is a Man) by Primo Levi and two children’s books Lo stralisco (Glowworm Flowers) and Mattia e il nonno (Mattino and his grandfather) by Roberto Piumini.

Four German books will be launched in the Vietnamese market during the fair, including Schweigeminute (Moment of Silence), a love story by Siegfried Lenz; fantasy novel Nijura. Das Erbe der Elfenkrone (Nijura. The Heritage of the Elf Queen) by the successful young Vietnamese-German author Jenny Mai Nguyen; Daniel Kehlmann’s Die Vermessung der Welt (Measuring the World); and David Safier’s Mieses Karma (Lousy Karma).

The following day, from 8:45 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., the French Cultural Institute, L’ Espace, 24 Trang Tien Street will present Encyclopédie Larousse des 6/9 ans (Larousse Encyclopedia for 6-9 year olds) and new children’s books by Claude Roy.

From 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., Vietnamese readers will have a chance to access a new series of Belgian novels by Amelie Nothomb such as Stupeur et tremblements (Fear and Trembling), Hygiene de l’Assassin (Hygiene and the Assassin), Journal de l”Hirondelle (Diary of Swallow) and Ni d’Eve Ni d’Adam (Tokyo Fiancée).

In addition, the children’s book ‘A journey’ will be presented as the result of a Vietnamese-Danish co-production, in two languages. The work has received much positive publicity in Denmark. The Vietnamese version is published by Kim Dong Publishing House. Admission to both days, the first such event in Vietnam, is free.
(Source: SGT)

The seminar attracted 120 managers of travel agents and hotels as well as news agencies from Shenzhen City in China.

It provided a good opportunity for businesses from both countries to cooperate and promote Da Nang to Chinese visitors.

Da Nang is currently welcoming around 1,000 visitors every month, five times more than in 2010.
(Source: VOV)

The program is a chance for Vietnamese and Asian children in the capital to introduce their own nation’s culture via activities, games and toys.

These activities help children to identify and appreciate the differences between the cultures of Southeast Asian countries.

Children will perform many kinds of ethnic dances such as Tari pendet of Indonesia and Laos panpipe shows. Songs from Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam will be performed, along with a fashion show featuring costumes of Brunei, Myanmar, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Kids will play folk games from different nations and they’ll be taught how to make flower toys, grasshoppers or fish from leaves, animals with wrapping paper and paper fans.

Children will also learn about Asian flags, currencies and cultural heritages at the museum in Nguyen Van Huyen Road, Cau Giay District.
(Source: SGT

Woo Kyeong Hwa, female artist graduated from Ewha Women’s University in 1987. She has lived in Hanoi for six years and has participated in the course of lacquer for nearly three years at the Hanoi University of Fine Arts (2003-2006).

At the exhibition, she brought 13 Chalk art works, a new art form in Vietnam. Most of the themes were taken from the “Teddy Bear”, giving spectators multicolored and friendly perspective about the adorable animal.

Joining this exhibition also Yoo Haejung, a schoolfellow of Woo in Ewha Women’s University. “Stone” is the theme throughout her works on display at the exhibition. They brought spectators special feeling for the beauty and uniqueness of stone under the Korean traditional painting style.

Young painter Kim Minseung inherites artistic talents from his mother, Woo has received assistance from his own teacher, Yoo Haejung. He will introduce his penciled drawings with bold personality of the young Korean painters.

The exhibition will last till May 30.
(Source: SGT)

Goals Completed
- Ride an elephant in Thailand (05/11/11; Chiang Mai, Thailand)
- Swim naked and/or a nude beach (05/24/11; Hoi An, Vietnam)
- Ride a Vespa and/or Segway (04/12/11; Beijing, China)

Goals For The Trip
- Spend the night somewhere unexpected
- Check out a sporting event
- See a historical site when nobody else is there
- Try a new sport
- Hitchhike somewhere
- Ride in a helicopter
- Avoid prison
- Fall in love and/or become a dad
- (Try to) speak the local language in every country
- Do something that gets me truly scared
- Play at least one round of golf
- Get lost
- Try a new food each month (actually a big deal for me)
- Do the running of the bulls
- If injured by bull, have a clip of it make Tosh.0
- Get a tattoo
- Be adventurous
- Do some on-the-spot volunteer work throughout the trip
Swim naked
- Spend a day with someone that doesn’t speak ANY English
- Give up my seat
- Walk at least 20 miles (total) through the rainforest
- Get a deep tissue massage
- Avoid being kidnapped
- Travel at least 35,000 miles
- See a castle
- Lose 20 pounds (started at 174 pounds) (May, 23rd: 163)
- Keep in touch with someone from each country
- Get kicked off a train
- Setup a network of friends from all over to start my world domination
- See at least 60 UNESCO World Heritage Sites
- Keep a travel blog

Hi everyone, we are off again on another trip around Asia. This time the exchange rate is in our favour – in Vietnam we are getting 22,000 dong to the AUD. When we first started coming to Vietnam in 2003 we were getting 11,000 dong to the AUD! Everything is now so incredibly cheap now. A special hello to Tebby and Brian in Mexico, and Robyn and Gene who should be in Thailand by now. Sorry we have been so remote in the last couple of months but we have run into very serious trouble with what is left of our investments – we now have a rogue fund manager who is shredding us and the regulators will do nothing about it, and after 2 years in the Federal Court we have only just reached step one in our class action. God knows what’s going to happen. Any way we are trying to make the best of this trip as it will be our last for some time.

After an unremarkable “cattle class” Jetstar flight Sydney to Saigon via the holding pens in Darwin, we arrived late at night at the new Saigon terminal.

Saigon is hot but mostly dry. Stayed in the Lan Anh hotel for the last time – we found a better one off De Tham Street with a small pool for $20. We shopped and toured all the regular restaurants, did a Sheraton buffet and was surprised to see that Quan An Ngon has reopened in 4 storey splendour. While Rob had a violent bout of food poisoning for a night after seafood fried rice, we can still recommend the restaurant. There is even a Subway outlet now in Pham Ngam Lao. Beers are cheap at under $0.50 AUD a glass.

Took a Sinh Tourist bus to Nha Trang, where we stayed 1 week in Phu Quy 2 (booked on Agoda for $23AUD) and found the Than Sang Hotel a few doors up, where we have a large room on the 11th floor with panoramic views of the bay and town for $18.95AUD. It also has a pool on the 12th floor.

Nha Trang has really developed with many more restaurants and bars. In between swimming at Lousianne pool and at the beach, we have spent our time stuffing our faces on seafood, Mexican, Italian, French,
Jetstar Flight
Cattle Class!Spanish, Indian and Vietnamese food. Everything is cheap – Baileys is $10.74AUD a bottle, French wines $6 and beers $0.50 – and that’s not duty free, it is just the 7/11 store prices!

We are here for another week then off to Hoi An by train on 31st for a week or more then on to Hanoi and China.

The college was originally a French public secondary school known as Yersin High School when it was founded in 1933 until the liberation of the south of Viet Nam in 1975.

Yersin is a French doctor who discovered Da Lat and established it as a destination for vacationers.

After 1975, the school became the Da Lat Teachers’ College and currently has more than 2,000 students, many of them of ethnic groups.

Built in 1932 and completed in 1938, the railway station is another of Da Lat’s attractions, featuring French architecture. The station, which linked Da Lat with Nha Trang, closed in 1972 because of the American War.

It re-opened a decade ago, transporting tourists on the country’s shortest rail route, only 7km, from Da Lat to Trai Mat Village.

The station and the college were built by French architects with construction materials brought from France. They became national cultural relics in 2001.

“The architecture of the two buildings must be kept intact during repair,” said Nguyen The Hung, director of the Department of Cultural Heritage under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

“New bricks or materials used in repair must be in harmony with old ones,” Hung said.
The railway station and the college will have their roofs, floors and corridors upgraded.

The Da Lat Children’s Prison was set up in 1971 by the Sai Gon regime. It kept more than 600 young revolutionary soldiers, including 200 girls, from 1971 to 1973. Many prisoners were jailed at the age of 12.

The Sai Gon regime was forced to close the prison in June 1973 after several uprisings of the young prisoners.

The prison was officially recognised as a relic in 2009.
(Source: VNS)

Chairman of the VAPA Vu Quoc Khanh said the event aims to help Vietnamese photographers improve their skills, especially in taking professional art photos, as well as expand exchanges with international counterparts.

The organising board will receive entries, including coloured or black and white photos, from June 15 to August 31 on the website www.contestvn2011.com or through the email contestvn2011@gmail.com.

Foreigners who are working and living in Vietnam also can send their entries with the theme “Vietnam’s images through international friends’ lens” to the contest.

The award ceremony will be held by the end of November this year in Hanoi.
(Source: VNA)