Category: Vietnam

If you can't beat them,...

29/12/2015

I’m sure I’m not the only photographer who has watched with dismay as online stock photo (or microstock) libraries have mushroomed over recent years. Why dismay? Well, I used to sell my travel stories to clients as a package of words and images, of which the images would often be worth half or more of the fee. Yet since these image libraries have expanded to cover every destination and topic under the sun, and since their images are available for use at US$1 or less, most publications I work for now want me to provide text only, which means I’ve lost about half my previous income.

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Cruising the Red River Delta

17/12/2015

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Watching the view unfold from a sun lounger

Usually when I travel, I’m updating a guidebook, so I’m rushing around from dawn to late, checking hotels and restaurants for inclusion in the next edition of the guide. But a few weeks ago I lucked out, spending ten days on a Pandaw cruise around Ha Long Bay and the Red River Delta in Vietnam in order to write and photograph a story about it for the company’s magazine, as it was a new route that they wanted to publicise.

Loved it! Sprawled on a sun lounger, taking in the endless change of view, from towering karst outcrops to container cranes, brick kilns, fields of rice and passion fruit, locals waving from the riverbank. Wandering around small villages, watching water puppet shows, seeing conical hats made, listening to traditional songs sung by teenagers. Writing a few notes about the experience and getting to know my fellow passengers, gorging on gourmet food three times a day. Following are a few images from the trip.

If you want to read the full story, take a Pandaw cruise and read it in the Pandaw Magazine while aboard, or sign up as a subscriber on their website—www.pandaw.com.

The way up

Red River abstract

Making conical hats

Enjoying a glass of bia hoi

Container crane in Haiphong port

Youngsters watching the boat from the riverbank

View from the wheelhouse

Clouds over the Red River

Girls in ao dai at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

Ron testing the local hooch

Upturned eaves at Tay Phuong Pagoda

Graduates throwing caps at the Temple of Literature

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What's New in North Vietnam 2014

23/9/2014

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Schoolkids riding through the Ho Citadel

Having suffered perhaps more than any other nation in the 20th century, Vietnam is making up for lost time in the 21st century. The economy is growing fast, communications (especially roads) are improving everywhere, new hotels are being built and tourists are arriving in ever increasing numbers.

Though few of the following places are 'new' as such, they are all either new to the Rough Guide for the next edition (2015), which I've just spent several months updating, or have been subject to change recently, such as the restoration work at My Son, a temple complex of the Cham people near Hoi An and Da Nang.

Restoration work at G Group, My Son

Restoration at My Son
The My Son complex of Cham temples located in a lush valley around 40km from Hoi An is one of Vietnam's World Heritage sites and brings a steady stream of visitors every day to view the ruins of a once-powerful civilization. However, many of the ruins were in such a decrepit state that they gave little idea of how the site once was. Now a sensitive restoration project by UNESCO has brought back to life Group G of these temples, and ongoing work is transforming the ruins of Group E, which dates back to the 8th century.

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Hoa's Place

8/7/2014

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Fusion Maia—one of many luxury resorts on Non Nuoc Beach.

You might think that in a Communist society, the government would want to take from the rich and give to the poor, but in Vietnam, it's the other way round. Take the case of...

Hoa's Place

I was nearly finished with my update of Danang for the new edition of the guide. I had checked out the Cham Museum and Cao Dai Temple to make sure there were no major changes, I had carefully marked on the map the location of new bridges crossing the river, including the spectacular, fire-breathing Dragon Bridge, and had stood on the 20th floor of the new Grand Mercure and Novotel hotels, listening to PR reps wax lyrical about the benefits of spending £150 a night to sleep in their rooms perched high above the city. I had also found some new restaurants that cater to Westerners' tastes, and a couple of reasonable mini hotels to recommend for people looking for mid-range accommodation. All I needed was a hostel or some cheap lodging to list for backpackers, who are now visiting Vietnam in droves, before I could head off to Hoi An, one of my favourite towns in the entire country.

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