Vietnam

Tet, or Tet Nguyen Dan is the biggest, most important holiday, festival, or celebration in Vietnam. It marks the arrival of spring and is Vietnamese New Year, according to the lunar calendar. As it is based on the Lunisolar calendar, the date of Tet in Vietnam will vary on the Gregorian calendar each year, but …

Vietnam is a popular destination for family holidays, gap year family travel, and the long-term travel crowd, but is Vietnam family-friendly? What is there to do in Vietnam with kids and where should you go? Maybe you’d like to book a vacation and need to find your perfect hotel for a kid-friendly holiday? Also what …

The best way to get from Danang to Hoi An is by road. Most travellers will stay in Hoi An, the picture-perfect UNESCO Heritage-listed town but will arrive in Danang by air or rail. This is because Hoi An has neither a railway station nor an airport, but don’t worry, it isn’t far and below …

Ho Chi Minh is about 930Km from Hoi An by road and is the largest city in Vietnam. The fastest way to get from Ho Chi Minh to Hoi An is of course, a direct flight ( approx 1.5 hours) but there are cheaper and arguably nicer and more eco friendly ways to make the …

Bun bo Hue originated in the beautiful ancient city of Hue in Central Vietnam. Like the more famous Pho Bo, it is a beef noodle dish but is distinctly different due to history and origins. Geographical origins and climate invariably affect flavour and ingredients found in classic Vietnamese dishes but pho bo, unlike bun bo …

Phong Nha is an absolute jewel of Vietnam. If you thought Sapa and Halong Bay were the ultimate must see places for natural beauty, think again. Phong Nha, more correctly Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park is a stunner. If all you want from Vietnam is natural beauty and the unspoilt Vietnamese rural landscape, that’s …

Everything on living in Hoi An after almost 6 months here.This post started out as a bit of a whinge about how dull it was sitting still for a couple of months but in our second month, after starting this post in the wee small hours, we went out for breakfast and a bike ride …

One of the best things I did during our 6 months in Hoi An Vietnam, was find a morning for myself to take a Hoi An photo tour with Pieter. Pieter runs Hoi An Photo Walks – Now renamed Photo Voyager –  and we already knew him socially through our running in Hoi An, he is …

Hoi An is a magical little town on the coast in central Vietnam and we enjoyed 6 months there with our kids. Famous for its UNESCO listed Old Town, tailors’ shops and monthly full moon lantern festival, it also has long sandy beaches and 5 star resorts. Hoi An attracts family holiday makers in large …

The kumquats and flowers of Tet were just one of the highlights and interesting happenings during our 6 months living in Hoi An. Tet in Vietnam is a huge festival, Lunar New Year, and it was a privilege to be in Vietnam at this special time. Kumquats play a starring roll in the Tet festivities …

We’ve been seeing amazing images in galleries around town of picturesque Vietnamese women paddling canoes and sampans through floodwaters in Hoi An‘s incredibly ancient laneways but we didn’t really expect to be here to experience the Hoi An floods for ourselves. This post is about being in Hoi An during flooding. The day before yesterday …

The menu just said banh xeo, Vietnamese pancakes. We ordered them innocent and unexpecting with no idea what would be delivered to our table. We were in Hoi An, a city in central Vietnam famous for good food so we figured, as we had 3 months to spend in Vietnam, that we should try every …