Mekong Delta - Saigon

Dragonfly

Vegetation along the Mekong Delta

Rice paper

Crispy Rice

Choum Choum

Sun setting on the Mekong Delta near the city of Vinh Long

Saigon Cathedral built by the French

Another building built by the French: the Post office

Bees!

Iced Coffee

Cables cables and more cables

Breakfast in the park

Traffic

It's been a while since the last post... Here are the last pictures of Vietnam. The trip ended with the Mekong Delta and Saigon. The first is a very rural area, the latter is Vietnam's largest city. Both bustling with activity!

Hoi An

Girls with a kite before the rain started to fall

Old town

Cham Island

More pictures form Vietnam. These are from a town in the middle of the country called Hoi An.

Although the city is below the 17th parallel, and well into the territory that was heavily bombed during the Vietnam War, this city was saved. The city center is very quaint. Wooden houses date back a few hundred years, and at night the streets are light with lanterns. This was a very nice place to spend a few relaxing days visiting sites and going to the beach.

Marseille

Drinks on a terrace

Old water reservoir

Old port and Notre Dame de la Garde

A little break from holiday pictures! This weekend we headed down to Marseille, a city in the south of France. As always the weather is warmer down south than in Paris. The sun was shining, and historical monuments and buildings, which are normally closed, were open for the journées du patrimoine. So walking around the old part of the town we visited an old water reservoir, city hall, and had drinks sitting outside on a terrace. There is also lots of climbing to be done in the area around Marseille, but it was way to windy and we didn't have anything with us, it will have to wait for another trip.

Cat Ba and Ha Long bay

Cat Ba

Cat Co2

Floating village

Limestone pillars

Fishing boat

After another night spent on the night train and 5 hours spent on busses and boats we made it to Cat Ba island. Although Cat Ba is not in the same district as Ha Long bay, it is part of the same geological phenomena. The bay is comprised of thousands of limestone pillars and islands of different sizes. One of the most remarkable things about the bay (besides the big rocks) is that it is dotted with small floating villages. The best way to visit the bay is by boat!

Sapa

Buffalos are pretty sweet.

After 10 hours on the night train, and 2 hours on a minibus (one of which was spent waiting for the minibus to fill up and leave) we arrived in the mountain town on Sapa in the Lào Cai province. The town of Sapa is not a pretty colonial town with nice buildings, it's more of an ugly and dirty small Vietnamese town. However, it's surrounded by beautiful mountains, and lush green rice fields. The only reason to go to this remote region is to trek around the small villages and see the rivers, the waterfalls and the rice fields. In this part of Vietnam many local minorities live and cultivate the land.

Hanoi

Saint Joseph Cathedral

Our trip to Vietnam started in the capital Hanoi. Walking though the streets of the Old Quarter one is surrounded by unfamiliar sights, sounds, and smells. Having been the French Indochina capital, the streets of Hanoi are dotted with colonial style architecture

Busy streets in the Old Quarter

It is possible to drink local beer all night long with just a few dollars, while people watching at a street-side cafe.

Pigments

Colors, smells and sounds are unbelievable (markets will be the topic of a later post).

Literature Temple

The night train to Sapa

After having spent two days exploring the city, we headed north. The night train is an excellent means of transportation, albeit quite slow (350 km in 10 hours).