Travel Vietnam » General

Framing Vietnamese Food

Pktan — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 22:20:30 +0000

Street Food: Here’s the stall where i had my first real pork roll in Vietnam. So great to have your favourite food in its native country. There was plenty of action around the stall.
Photo by micz

Street food vendor Saigon
Photo by jaschajabes

Street food, Hanoi
Photo by barbararich

Street food at Hanoi: Food stalls in the small alley ways of the Old Town of Hanoi
Photo by kirksiang

Shellfish in Vietnam
Photo by shellfish

Fried spring rolls in Vietnam
Photo by shellfish

Banh Cuon
Photo by stylelab

Banh Cuon
Photo by macha

Vietnamese pancake
Photo by Mc559

A lunch of elephant fish: This showy fish is served in a rice paper wrapper with fresh greens and vermicelli noodles and dipped in nuoc mam. The plate on the left contains green sticky rice & mung bean in a banana leaf wrapper, friend spring rolls and sweet potato. Coca Cola in Vietnam tastes so much better to my palate. First, it’s less carbonated. Second, it is sweetened with palm sugar, not corn syrup. Third, it has a faint 5-spice flavor.
Photo by ultrapop

Elephant Fish
Photo by globetrotteri

Typical Vietnamese Coffee
Photo by mengteck

Vietnamese Coffee With Sweetened Condensed Milk
Photo by kleinmatt66

Roast Dog and Caged Cat – Cat Ba, Vietnam
Photo by ccdoh1

Framing Vietnam

Pktan — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 21:24:20 +0000

Highway Sights, Vietnam: On foot, taking up one lane on a highway and jumping to the horns going off from every car/bike that passes.
Photo by ccdoh1

Dalat Central Market, Dalat, Vietnam: I took this shot from the upstairs, prepared food level. I spent hours at this market — the produce is shown here, and there was entire other room that had meat products, rice, and eggs. Fantastic.
Photo by jen maiser

Farmer’s Market in Vietnam: Cao Lanh is a bustling city in southern Vietnam with a population of 150,000. It was carved from the jungles and swamps of the Mekong Delta region. The surrounding waters make fresh seafood readily available, and the hot and humid climate is perfect for cultivating many tropical fruits and produce. Many of our patients reside in the surrounding rural farming communities, located within a three-hour drive of the city. On weekends, a lively farmer’s market takes place just a few blocks from our hotel, selling everything from fish to fresh cut flowers, ripe fruits and bright green veggies. This photo was taken at about 6:30 am on a Saturday morning, at the peak of the market; many of the sellers drove into the city hours earlier to prepare their goods for sale.
Photo by interplast

Photo by vubui

Photo by Ptoutain

Mui Ne
Photo by Meryl Ko

Sunset in Hoi An, Vietnam: This was taken at the river behind my hotel in Hoi An, right next to Brother’s Cafe on Phan B?i Châu. The hotel we stayed in was Ha An Hotel, a gem of a hotel in the old town. Very affordable, great service, and it must have been the only place in the old town with a huge courtyard. I highly recommend staying there if you’re headed to Hoi An.
This was after 48 hours of torrential downpour, so it was great to see that the rain finally stopped. This is a HDR image of 3 handheld exposures.
Photo by yiping lim

Phong Nha Cave: Near Hue, Vietnam
Photo by discopalace

Hoan Kiem Lake, Hanoi, Vietnam: Hoan Kiem Lake – Right in the Middle of Hanoi – Vietnam.
The legendary “Excalibur” given to King Arthur by the Lady Of The Lake, is similar to the legend of Turtle Lake, where the keeper of the sword is a Giant Turtle. It is said that when danger threatens the country the keeper will surface on the Turtle Lake bearing the sword on its shell.
Photo by Andrew Hux

Hmong Girl: I took this photo while on a school field trip to Sa Pa (northern Viet Nam) in the spring of 1998. I was 15 and knew nothing about photography…talk about serendipity!
Photo by Hanoian

Sunset Over Hoi An
Photo by Ewan Cross

Street food at Hanoi: Food stalls in the small alley ways of the Old Town of Hanoi
Photo by kirk siang

Cu Chi Tunnels – Hole in ground
Photo by Bertie’s World

Rice Harvesting
Photo by Macloo

Vietnam

Pktan — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 08:49:25 +0000

Vietnam Introduction

Vietnam is a country that’s filled with beaches, friendly people and lots of great food! It is also a country where traditions meet modernizations. From the bustling streets of Hanoi and Saigon, to the terraced rice fields.

Vietnam is a very diversified country to say the least, when you travel through this amazing country, the images change with each blink, transformation between huge cities, vast green lowlands, endless beaches, happens swiftly and unexpectedly.

In Vietnam, five sites have been added to the Unesco World Heritage List since 1993, Unesco’s goal is to promote the preservation of the world’s most valuable locations.
1. Ha Long Bay – UNESCO World Heritage (Dec. 1994)
2. Hue City – UNESCO World Heritage (Dec. 1993)
3. Hoi An – UNESCO World Heritage (Dec. 1999)
4. My Son Sanctuary – UNESCO World Heritage (Dec. 1999)
5. Phong Nha Cave – UNESCO World Heritage (Jul. 2003)

Transportation in Vietnam is without much hassle, with major airports at both North and South Vietnam, and an effective connections inbetween.

SPOTLIGHT VIETNAM DESTINATIONS

Sapa- Swoon at the valley views from this rugged mountain retreat, a home to a wealth of minority peoples and a base for exploring the Tonkinese Alps

Halong Bay – Experience nature at its outrageous best, where hundreds of limestone peaks tower above the shimmering seas, a karst system with a difference

Hanoi – Steeped in history, pulsating with life, bubbling with commerce, buzzing with motorbikes and rich in exotic scents, this is a captivating capital

Mai Chau – Go native with an overnight stay in a traditional Thai stilt house, amid the lush valleys

Ninh Binh – Encounter rural life from this country town, surrounded by ancient temples, limestone crags, nature reserves and endless paddies

Hue – Intellectual, cultural and spiritual heartbeat of Vietnam, the old imperial capital offers historical, spiritual and culinary stimulation

Hoi An – Spared from wartime devastation, Hoi An�s cobbled lanes and historic buildings make for a magical and memorable stop

Quy Nhon – Access beautiful beaches and amazing Cham architecture from one of the coast�s less touristy cities

Dalat – A completely different view of Vietnam, this mountain town combines the French Alps with plenty of Bohemian cool

Cat Tien National Park – Lush refuge for city dwellers with ample hiking and bird-watching opportunities, plus elephants, crocodiles and the endangered Javan rhino

Mui Ne – Action or inertia, take your pick, this place is made for surfing (wind, board or kite) or blobbing on the beach

Ho Chi Min – Vietnam�s commercial heart, a riverside metropolis of old and new with world-class restaurants and bars, and buzzing, seductive energy

Mekong Delta – Watery world of bustling river towns and sleepy villages, floating markets and tasty fish served by uber-friendly locals

South Vietnam

Pktan — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 23:56:38 +0000

South Vietnam covers the Mekong Delta and the area around Saigon (Ho Chi Minh). The key destinations for tourists in the south are:

Mekong Delta – Rated as one of the largest delta in the world, which is renowned for its richness, and responsible for Vietnam’s rice demand, and home to Vietnam’s famous floating market and their friendly residents.

Saigon (Ho Chi Minh city) – The largest city in Vietnam and the cultural, industrial and commercial focal of the nation. Vibrant, full of life, and a food heaven.

Mui Ne -

If you have been to the North, you will notice considerable difference between North Vietnam and South Vietnam –

1. Cuisine : is one of the more noticeable difference – South Vietnam’s cuisine has sweet flavors which has been heavily influenced by the cuisines of southern chinese immigrants.

2. Personality: Southerners are more relaxed and laid back, and entrepreneurial when compared to the northerners.

3. Climate: Southern Vietnam has only the dry season, and the rainy season.

Suggested travel itineraries:

Best time to visit Vietnam

Pktan — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 01:01:33 +0000

With a surface stretching more than 1,800 km up the eastern shore, and a widespread differences in the altitude, Vietnam is a country of vast climate variations in different regions – North Vietnam, South Vietnam and Central Vietnam. Thus you can travel to Vietnam all year round, there’s always a nice weather in any of these three regions.

South Vietnam: Saigon, Cu Chi Tunnels, Mekong Delta, Phu Quoc Island, Muine
Best time to visit South Vietnam is during December to April. From May to October, expect short downpours – wet season. The Mekong Delta can experience flooding during this period of time which makes traveling very difficult.

Central Vietnam: Dalat, Nha Trang, Hoi An, Danang, Bach Ma, Hue
Best time to visit Central Vietnam is during December to March when it is dry and cool. Central Vietnam is affected by the South West monsoon during May to June and torrential rains during November to early December. Tourist peak periods start from January to February.

North Vietnam: Hanoi, Halong Bay, Cat Ba Island, Hai Phong, Ninh Binh, Sapa
Best time to visit North Vietnam is during October to March. Winter season starts from November to April with temperature average at a cooling 16 degrees. It can get quite hot from May onwards (Summer season), and a danger of floods due to occasional storms.

As a rule of thumb, do not plan your trip to Vietnam during July to early October, as these are monsoon and typhoon months – unless you are a big fan of paddling in flooded areas!