Category Archives: Uncategorized

Feb. 27 – 28, Day 4 & 5: Sapa lies 350km north west of Hanoi and is one of the major excursion destinations from Hanoi (the other popular one is Halong Bay). Sapa was much more touristy than we had expected with some bars and restaurants having their signs and menus in English only. Also,Continue reading “Sapa”

Feb.26th: It is a sunny day with temperatures 18-20C which is perfect for exploring. We were up early and once again travelling on motorbikes with the 3 staff from the lodge. We rode for more than 4 hours – much of the time along narrow, winding mountain paths (just wide enough for 2 motorbikes) thatContinue reading “Second Day in Mu Cang Chai – a Wow Day”

Feb. 24 – 25: We are on day 2 of our 13 Day Far North Loop which we arranged through Far East Tours. We are travelling with a driver who speaks no English and our guide/ translator Josie whose English is quite good. Most of our travels will be in areas where few foreign touristsContinue reading “Start of our Far North Loop”

February 20th: This was our second full day at the Phong Nha Farmstay. From what I had read, Paradise Cave (Thiên Đường) was a “must see” as it was even more impressive than Phong Nha cave (the cave we visited yesterday)….so a visit to Paradise Cave was our priority for the day. Paradise cave isContinue reading “Paradise Cave and Phong Nha Botanical Gardens”

Phong Nha, a small village on the banks of the Son River, is 340 km north of Hoi An and 500 km south of Hanoi. We came by car via Hue (we overnighted in Hue to break up the trip). We are staying at Phong Cha Farmstay – which is nestled in the rural countryside onContinue reading “Phong Nha Farmstay and Cave”

As I mentioned in my last blog, there were challenges – I hadn’t anticipated the food being one of the challenges but it was, especially for me. We now know the difference between local food in a tourist area and local food in non-tourist ethnic area. Much of the food looked or smelt unusual (evenContinue reading “The Villages of the Central Highlands”

We met Phu from Hoi An Motorbike Tour Adventures in 2018 when we did a 1 day motorbike tour of the Hoi An area. Although I was a bit hesitant on the motorbike to begin with, Larry and I both ended up loving this way of touring as we had an unobstructed view of ourContinue reading “Our Motorbike Tour with Phu”

Today we decided to experience old town in the early morning so we were up at 5:00 a.m. to meet up with Fred from Travel Photography Workshop. We thought having a professional photographer as our guide would be informative and interesting. Fred is Canadian, has lived in Vietnam for 13 years, and speaks fluent Vietnamese.Continue reading “Hoi An Old Town – Dawn to Dusk”

When we were in Hoi An in 2018, we did day trips to sites outside of town. As a result, we didn’t spend much time in old town. We are enjoying our walks to town and exploring the streets and alleys of this ancient town. Hoi An was a major trading port between the 15thContinue reading “Out and About in Hoi An”

Feb 5th – 7th: This was our fastest ever movement through the Toronto airport. There were few people in Terminal 3 when we arrived at 11:00 a.m., no line-up for check-in and we were actually the only people going through security. Our Cathay Pacific flight, on a large airbus, was less than 1/4 full soContinue reading “Up, Up and Away”