Asian dragon...
In this year 1999, it has been a year since we have been in Asia, so we will leave for the fashionable destination: Vietnam which we will visit from North to South with, at the end of the circuit, a week of idleness in a small seaside resort.
Departure from Marseille for our beautiful capital Paris from where we fly with Air France to Hanoï () beginning of our circuit organized by Accor Tours (Closed since).
Depart for Machau via Hoa Binh () passing through karstic landscapes where small villages of the Dai minorities nestle, with wooden houses on stilts.
After Hoa Binh where we ate in a typical house, in the middle of the rice fields, served by peasant women in traditional costume.
We then strolled through a small mountain market, whose majority population is Thai.
The next day, drive to Ninh Binh with a visit to the temple dedicated to King Hoa Lu () with a visit to the temple dedicated to King Dinh Tien Hoang first unifier of the country.
Later in the afternoon we make an excursion in the surrounding countryside of Hoa Lu also called land Halong located southeast of the capital in the province of Ha Nam Ninh.
We take a walk in this magical place where the river merges with the green rice fields, we pass through hills in the shape of "sugar loaves" and it is the women who lead the boats, offering us to buy tablecloths or embroidered napkins.
A stop to visit the Buddhist cave of Bich Dong .
Depart for Haiphong first North Vietnamese port where still reigns this still very particular atmosphere of the colonial cities "à la française" in particular in the city center where throne theatre, town hall and administration.
Visit of the old Dinh " common house " in a very Chinese style.
It was in this place that municipal problems were debated or prayers were recited.
Then departure by boat for a cruise in Halong Bay ().
It's a whole landscape of rocky peaks and boats which are available to us, but it is a pity that the weather is overcast and spoils the photos, only the visit of caves with multicolored and surprising lights, deserved some amazing photos.
Hanoi, is a city where there is a lot to visit with the Temple of Literature devoted to the moral and social culture of all high-level officials.
Passage (more or less obligatory) by the mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh and his house on stilts.
The One Pillar Pagoda stands in the center of a small lake not far from the Tran Quoc and Quan Tanh temples.
We then take a rickshaw ride through the streets of the city, where each corporation has its own, and we end our day at the water puppet theatre. Fairy !!!.
We then fly to the former imperial capital Hue ().
We start by visiting the tombs of the ancient emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty , then we go back by boat along the Perfume River to the Heavenly Lady Pagoda mais nous n'avons pas pu aller plus loin voir le tombeau de Minh Mang car les inondations ont condamnés une partie de la rivière.
But the earthly visit to the tomb of Tuduc , fourth king of the dynasty, is very captivating because it is one of the most beautiful.
Later we visit the Citadel, a perfect replica of the Chinese imperial palaces.
But the French added enclosure walls " à la Vauban" .
The last tomb visited is that of Khai Dinh the most recent, is half-Chinese, half-Western, surprising!!
The city is wedged between the mountain and a river and does not have much to offer apart from the Cham museum , the most important archaeological center in the country containing treasures from this period, contemporary with Angkor.
A short journey brought us to Hoi An (), a small port used by Chinese sailors from the 16th century.
We were able to visit a traditional Chinese house of a former Chinese merchant and also the famous Japanese bridge which acted as a border between the Chinese city and the Japanese district.
Because of the floods, we had to take the bus (the planes were requisitioned to transport food and personnel) to reach Nha Trang () whose main activity is fishing and also the production center of nuoc man (sensitive nostrils refrain).
All around it is a beautiful paradise of tropical vegetation and in the middle is Po Nagar , Cham site, which once consisted of eight temples, but unfortunately only three remain in brick.
In the evening you have to walk along the edge of the La Cay estuary to see a superb sunset over the sampans
A visit to the Oceanographic Institute and its aquarium from the island of Tri NGuyen from the small port of Cao Da will also allow you to try their basket boat (very unstable).
Departure by road for Dalat () along the famous bay of Cam Ranh along the China Sea.
This city at 1500 m altitude is typical French style of the colonial era and is very popular with Vietnamese and foreigners for its freshness.
In this mild climate, the markets have the same vegetables as here, and lots of flowers.
Visit the residence of the last emperor Bao Dai in his fifties style.
Now descending south, Ho Chi Minh City (), formerly Saïgon, with stops at rubber, tea, tobacco and coffee plantations, Prenn Falls .
Ancien siège des autorités du Sud-Vietnam, elle est devenue la capitale économique du pays.
The city itself has become very commercial, but you can see the Cathedral there , City Hall , Catinat Street , Cholon Chinatown , Vinh Nghiem Pagoda .
The most interesting is located in the Mekong, Delta , near Vinh Long (), where you sail among the islands and canals away from the "tourist" roads..
We ate at a small agricultural farm (vegetables and fruit trees) and the owners served us fish from the Delta (yum yum!!).
INFORMATIONNovember 18, 2022
Coronavirus
Depuis le 22 mars 2020, il n’est plus possible aux Français ou aux ressortissants étrangers d’entrer sur le territoire vietnamien sans autorisation préalable expresse des autorités vietnamiennes. Seuls les personnels diplomatiques et d’ambassade, les dirigeants d’entreprises, les experts ou travailleurs hautement qualifiés et leur famille, ainsi que les étudiants peuvent en bénéficier. Ils ont l’obligation d’effectuer une quarantaine de 14 jours à leur arrivée. [...]
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The history of Thailand is very complex. Many principalities, kingdoms or empires share the country in a very intertwined history, foreign invasions and domination continued until the end of the 17th century.
Chronological summary:
Vietnam is officially a “Socialist Republic”. Only one party is authorized, the Vietnamese Communist Party which controls all the political institutions of the country. Article 4 of the constitution states: "The Communist Party of Vietnam, a vanguard detachment of the working class, faithful representative of the interests of the working class, the working people and the whole nation, an adherent of Marxism-Leninism and thought of Ho Chi Minh, is the leading force of state and society”.
The supreme organ of the State is the Vietnamese National Assembly renewed every five years. This is elected by indirect suffrage by all Vietnamese over the age of 18. In addition, the Popular Assembly elects the President of the Vietnamese State with a symbolic role and the Prime Minister and his Government. They are the second and third state personages. Indeed, in Vietnam, the first personage of the State is the Secretary General of the Vietnamese Communist Party.
Vietnam is a country in Southeast Asia, surrounded to the west by Laos and Cambodia and to the north by China. It is bordered by the China Sea, the Gulf of Tonkin and the Gulf of Thailand. It has an area of 331,690 km2 including 4,200 km2 of territorial waters. Its maritime border is 3,260 km long. It has the shape of a stretched "S", the extremities of which would be 1,650 km apart. There are territorial disagreements between Vietnam and China, for example over the Paracel Islands.
Vietnam is made up of three major regions, called Bô:
After the years of war and the great economic difficulties linked to the American embargo and the communist bureaucratization based on the Soviet model after 1975, the economy of Vietnam found itself on its knees. Fortunately, the policy of Đổi mới (renovation), launched in 1986, enabled the country to begin to emerge from the doldrums.
Vietnam has gradually moved from a planned socialist economy to a liberalization and a form of mixed economy, characterized by fairly sustained growth.
The reforms initiated in the 1990s brought the country back on the path to a market economy: rehabilitation of free enterprise, reduction of the public sector despite attempts to backtrack, encouragement of foreign investment, particularly in the form of joint- ventures (joint ventures, very widespread).
Source : Wikipedia
From November to the end of April-beginning of May, that is to say during the Vietnamese winter. It never gets hot, it can even get a bit chilly. The weather is often gray and foggy, with occasional rain.
Communications are mainly by river, but the roads are still rare, and limited mainly to the surroundings of the big cities and in this case, it is reliable buses and 4X4s.
Vietnamese cuisine has many qualities: it is fine and light, healthy, really inexpensive and very varied. Although it is sometimes inspired by it, it is clearly distinguished from Chinese cuisine by the fact that it is less greasy and less coated with sauces, that it contains many more herbs and natural vegetables. Generally, the rooms are well equipped for the price: hot shower almost everywhere, toilets, satellite TV, increasingly frequent AC, fridge-bar. Air conditioning can be very noisy when it comes to old appliances. Most establishments provide towels and soap. The rooms are above all functiona
Lacquered objects inlaid with mother-of-pearl, tablecloths and other embroidery, cinnamon boxes and objects, conical hats, Áo dài (traditional Vietnamese tunics), copper and bronze, earthenware, porcelain, paintings on silk, silk paintings, coins and banknotes, paintings and posters...