I fancied a short break with my wife to get away from it all and enjoy the quieter aspects of life.

I had spoken to a friend who recommended we go to a resort in the untouched area of Doc Let beach in Van Phong Bay, which is located about 60 kilometers north of Nha Trang.

And from the moment we arrived we vowed to take him for dinner once we got back to Saigon. Marvelous. We stayed in a cracking bungalow which is airy and simple with plenty of space.

The furniture inside was very interesting such as a curtain made of tiny stones and a wardrobe area created by hanging long silk sheets and most of the furniture is made of wood, stones and silk which really made us feel rustic and classy.

We enjoyed every moment of our trip. The resort is located right on the blue ocean and is so remote, hemmed in by the sea on one side and coastal mountains on the other that we felt we were the only ones there. Not quite but it was a great feeling.

One morning we got up early and went to the Cai River and we had great fun. We hired a boat to cruise around the river to watch the villages and limestone karsts and isles. Wonderful.

During the trip, we stopped at one islet to drink coconut juice and spoke to a local family who invited us into their house.

They made coconut candy and rice paper and told us how they raised bees.

We came back to the resort at noon and had lunch at its very nice restaurant before taking a short nap and then went to a meditation class at the resort which is run by American Robert Wilson who has been living in Doc Let for four years.

It was so relaxing and enjoyable. The classroom had a Zen-like atmosphere with the Buddhist statues, white silk lanterns and bamboo curtains. It looked more like a monastery than anything else and the meditation really helped me feel so relaxed, I let go of my obsessions and disturbing thoughts and felt great.

At the end of the lesson I looked around to observe the people around me and I spoke to some more Americans who come to Vietnam to travel and de-stress as life in the U.S. was getting them down.

The next day it was time to go but we were saddened to leave. I think for certain we will be back as soon as possible to our little piece of heaven.

To reach the resort on Doc Let beach you can take a one hour taxi or bus ride from Nha Trang City or be bold and hire a motorbike for a 45 minute ride.

Source: Saigontimes

Climbing Fansipan Mountain in the northern province of Lao Cai is one of the most fascinating and dangerous tourist activities available in Vietnam.

It is a grueling and nail-biting journey to the top but the feeling when you reach the peak was indescribable.

Fansipan Mountain is not for the faint-hearted either; you need to have good health, durability, sufficient preparation and especially the invaluable support of porters who derive mostly from local minorities.

There are three ways to climb to the top of Fansipan. The best starting point at Tram Ton, at a height of 2,000 meters above sea level to the top at 3,130 meters, is the most favorable as it’s the least dangerous of the three.

Usually, tourists will hire guides and porters through tourist agencies in Sapa town. Normally, a group of five to seven people will need one guide and four porters. Tourists, though, can also hire more porters who will help carry essential items such as sleeping bags, raw materials for cooking on rest stops located at 2,200 meters and 2,800 meters above sea level and medication.

Each bamboo dosser which is carried on the back of a porter weighs from 10 to 20 kilograms. This requires high durability during the entire journey. Porters are also available to offer help to tourists if they feel exhausted due to a shortage of oxygen on the dizzy heights. Each porter earns about VND150,000 to VND200,000 per day, excluding tips.

This is also the main income of the English-speaking minority people and they can afford a small family with this income. Porters also cook meals for tourists on rest stops and they will feel like close family by the end of the journey.

Normal people can spend from 12 hours to 48 hours to climb to the top but if you are in the safe hands of the porters you only need a few hours.

Legend has it that the winner of a race to the peak of Fansipan took only two hours.

Source: Saigontimes

The beautiful landscapes of Vietnam, has captured through the lens of professional Vietnamese photographer Hoang Nam, have been featured in the Russian magazine, Livejournal.

In one of a series of articles featuring the most beautiful places around the world, Livejournal introduced its readers to different parts of Vietnam, such as the former imperial capital of Hue, Lang Co beach in Thua Thien-Hue province, the central city of Nha Trang, the Central Highlands, and the Mekong River Delta.

The work of photographer Hoang Nam particularly caught the attention of Russian readers, many of whom said they are inspired to visit Vietnam.

Some photos from the article:

Source: VOVnews

On the morning of May 1, tens of thousands of visitors boarded hundreds of ships to visit the Halong Bay, which has been recognized as a new natural wonder of the world.

The Bai Chay tourist wharf on the morning of May 1.

The Trong Mai Isles – the symbol of Halong Bay.

Sung Sot Cave.

Source: VNE

 Awakened by the sounds of birds and frogs in the early morning after escaping from the rapid pace of city life, I started my new day in Ba be National Park, a massive nature reserve in the northern province of Bac Kan and home to magnificent Ba be Lake. Located some 240km from Hanoi, the park has been well-known for years for its unique beauty.
My three-day visit to the park exceeded my expectations and fed an intense curiosity about the area, as well as letting me enjoy fresh air which can’t be found in the city.

On the first two days, local guide Nong Van Hieu led me to discover such special landscapes in the park as Ba be Lake, the Nang River, Puong Cave, and Dau Dang Waterfall.

“Ba be National Park is not only famous for its scenery but also for its daily lifestyle,” Hieu said. “It’s impossible to experience all the interesting traditions and cultures here in only three days.”

What he said was true. The final day of my visit broadened my horisons and left an impression of the daily lives of the ethnic minority people who are allowed to reside in the park as unique from any others I have encountered across the country.

I was lucky to be taken to one of the villages that border the lake called Pac Ngoi. The Tay ethnic village, with about 80 households, is remarkable for its traditional stilt houses built on stable mountain cliffs.

On the way to the village, Hieu told me a great deal about Tay cultures and traditions.
“Most of clothes here are handmade,” said Hieu. “The locals continue to use looms to create fabrics. The most popular is 2m long and 80cm wide. They also plant and harvest their own cotton before dying and weaving it to create the finished fabrics.

“Tay people used to hunt and trap forest animals, but now they have moved closer to the lake to catch fish. Fishing is their daily work apart from farming and raising cattle.”

We reached the village when the sky was getting dark. I found that half of the households in Pac Ngoi offered home stays. I chose the house of Nguyen The Gia, 47, to stay the night at a cost of US$15. By 10pm, all of the people were asleep.

My deep sleep was broken at the crack of dawn by the tour guide. It was 5am, and we quickly had a breakfast of bread and fresh milk and continued our journey. Amazingly, we saw many local fishermen already out fishing along the bank of the Nang River

Their method of catching was different from any I have ever seen. They throw nets while wading in the water, which is too shallow to fish by boat. The nets are designed very uniquely and are a bit tricky to get ahold of, but the fishermen bring in a haul of various kinds.

Fisherman Tran Trong Kien, 54, satisfied my curiosity about the fishing methods by asking me to jump into the river. He guided me to use the nets, and the cool water motivated me to get familiar with the unusual way of working. I caught five small and medium fishes in my first throw. We stopped fishing at 6am with 15kg of fish.

“Usually I can sell this much fish for VND200,000 ($10),” Kien said. “It’s rainy season, so there is a lot of fish as the lake builds up in size. In the winter, when there’s less rain, there’s less fish.”

Muong fish, according to Kien, is the most delicious food in the park. The people often select muong fish, clean them, then bind them between two pieces of wood and cook them over hot coals for about 10 minutes, turning them a couple of times.

We ate our fish, which was soft and flavourful, and chased it down with maize wine. We sat around a wooden table and sang some of the songs of the ethnic group with poetic and thoughtful lyrics, leaving us with a feeling of the colourful lifestyle of the place and a sense of pride in the country’s valuable traditions and cultures.

(Source: VNN)