Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam. It served also as a capital of French Indochina, until 1953. Hanoi means in Vietnamese, "The City in a Bend of the River". During the American War, some parts of Hanoi were destroyed by American bombings. The heart of Hanoi is center on the Hoan Kiem Lake. Just north of the lake is the Old Quarter with its narrow streets that change their names every one or two blocks. Not very easy to find a street or place… Many peop...

Demilitarized Zone- Vinh Moc Tunnels The next day we left early to go to the DMZ. In 1954 Vietnam was fatefully partitioned into North and South, creating a DMZ that saw some of the heaviest fighting in the American War. After more than 30 years, there is not much to see. Most sites have been cleared, the land reforested. Since 1975, over 5000 people have been injured or killed in and around the DMZ by mines left from the war. We visited the Vinh Moc tunnels, w...

From Ho Chi Minh City we went to Vung Tau. It is a popular escape from the city for expats and locals. It's about 130 km from Saigon. The thing to see in Vung Tau is a giant Jesus statue on top of a mountain, overlooking the sea. The Vietnamese claim this is the highest Jesus statue in the world at 32m, 6 meters taller than the one in Brazil. It was huge! I even went inside Jesus and there was amazing view from his arm. From Vung Tau we rode to Muine, wh...

We left Ho Chi Minh City at 4 am, because we wanted to be out of the city before the rush hour, which starts at 6 am. We headed towards the Mekong Delta. Our first night was in Ben Tre, the second night we spend in Tra Ving. In Tra Ving we visited a colorful Hang Pagoda. Mekong Delta Mekong River: The River of Nine Dragons The Mekong River is one of the world's great rivers and its delta is one of the worlds largest. The Mekong starts high in the Tib...

The day we left from Jakarta to the airport, I and David got stuck in our hotel room! We went to get our bags and then the door got stuck. There were some French tourists who heard our screams and knockings so they went to get help. In the end there were 5 Vietnamese boys trying to open the door, with no luck. They came to our room by a small window in the toilet and had to break the door so we could leave. It was so stressful because we had a taxi waiting for u...