Click on the play button below (embedded media player) for some beautiful Vietnamese folk music while browsing this page! Be sure your speakers are turned up.
NOTE:
Sunday 30th March 2008 0845am Singapore local time. Editing this page from Singapore Airport awaiting the 777 to Hanoi. Seem to have lost all the info out of the travel blogs??? Will work on getting it back up in Vietnam.
Thursday April 3 2008 11.45pm Hanoi Local Time:
It is very difficult to upload pics here as the adsl is quite unreliable. Only to be expected in a country such as this. I will put as much text/pics up as possible on return to Sydney. Emma and I have just returned from a 2 night/3 day cruise of Halong Bay which was absolutely fantastic! Weather was cool, foggy and drizzly and it has been like this for the last few days. Not complaining about the cooler weather though after the heat and humidity. We are complaining about the little bit of gastro we have picked up somewhere. Again, only to be expected in a place like this. Immodium tablets purchased at one of the chemists here have brought some relief. Still amazed at how cheap everything is. You really can go out and have an amazing time and pay hardly anything (in our terms) for it. We went to watch the water puppets tonight which was amazing. We loved every minute of it. We also went shopping and bought a few bags full of groceries that came to about $20 AUD and that included a bottle of Baileys! I needed cheese. Craved it as there is hardly any cheese in meals here unless you order Western style meals. More to come...
Emma and I are flying out of Sydney next Saturday 29th March 2008 for Singapore and Vietnam. We are departing on the new Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 (probably 9V-SKC) flight number SQ 220 on Saturday at 0850am. We arrive in Singapore at 1345 (Singapore local time). There we overnight before flying out of Singapore for Hanoi Vietnam on a Singapore Airlines Boeing 777 flight SQ 176 at 1005 (Singapore local time) arriving at Vietnams No Bai (Hanoi Airport) at 1235 (Hanoi local time). We will then spend 9 days in and around Hanoi. We are staying in the central area of the Old Quarter. We will also be traveling to Halong Bay a few days later and spending 2 nights on board a cruise ship. Then we return to Hanoi and embark on various other tours within the region. For those that do not know, Vietnam is extremely cheap. The prices of some items are: Average meal price: $1 to $4 USD Bottle Of Beer: 30c ea (I'm going to have fun here) Cyclo to ride you around Hanoi : About $2 USD/hr. In summary, a very cheap holiday. Accommodation in a good quality hotel is costing us $28USD night. Breakfast etc included. It is a destination that Emma and I have wanted to go to for some time and naturally as the day draws closer the excitement grows. I will be keeping an online diary with our travels for those that are interested on this web page. I will also include as many pics as I can. You can view our trip progress/travel report/pics/diary by clicking on 'Our Vietnam Travel Blog' on the left hand column. Look forward to reading about drinking cobra blood mixed with rice wine and eating scorpion amongst many other things! Distance from Sydney to Hanoi is 7,762km.
Below: Our Itinerary:
SATURDAY SINGAPORE AIRLINES FLIGHT SQ 220 CONFIRMED
29 MAR 08 - DEPART - SYDNEY/SYDNEY KINGSFORD 0850 NON-STOP
Terminal: TERMINAL 1
29 MAR 08 - ARRIVE - SINGAPORE/CHANGI INTL A 1345 07HRS 55MINS
Terminal: TERMINAL 3
- AIRCRAFT - AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A380-800 PASSENGER
- CLASS ECONOMY
SUNDAY SINGAPORE AIRLINES FLIGHT SQ 176 CONFIRMED
30 MAR 08 - DEPART - SINGAPORE/CHANGI INTL A 1005 NON-STOP
Terminal: TERMINAL 2
30 MAR 08 - ARRIVE - HANOI/NOIBAI ARPT,,VN 1235 03HRS 30MINS
AIRCRAFT - BOEING 777-200
- CLASS ECONOMY
MONDAY SINGAPORE AIRLINES FLIGHT SQ 175 CONFIRMED
07 APR 08 - DEPART - HANOI/NOIBAI ARPT 1335 NON-STOP
07 APR 08 - ARRIVE - SINGAPORE/CHANGI INTL A 1800 03HRS 25MINS
Terminal: TERMINAL 2
- AIRCRAFT - BOEING 777-200
- CLASS ECONOMY
MONDAY SINGAPORE AIRLINES FLIGHT SQ 221 CONFIRMED
07 APR 08 - DEPART - SINGAPORE/CHANGI INTL A 2030 NON-STOP
Terminal: TERMINAL 3
08 APR 08 - ARRIVE - SYDNEY/SYDNEY KINGSFORD 0555 07HRS 25MINS
Terminal: TERMINAL 1
- AIRCRAFT - AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A380-800 PASSENGER
- CLASS ECONOMY
Above: One Pillar Pagoda
Above: Lanterns for sale at the Old Quarter
Above: Sunset, Perfume Pagoda River
Above: The Red Bridge at Ho An Kiem
Above: Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum
Above: Fruit vendors at the markets
Above: Hanoi Old Quarter
Above: Halong Bay
Above: Snake wine in Hanoi
Above: Water puppets
Above: Hoan Kiem Lake
Above: Old Quarter area
Above: Street vendors