Plan for Tet holiday in Vietnam

Great idea! Where do you plan to go?

Hey guys I'm going to plan a trip to mekong, too . Which province you want to visit there ???

Great! If you planning to go to Mekong Delta I want to join also. That is where I was born so I know many great place to take you to

For Saigon, may be a round trip through famous landmarks: Notre Dame, Independent Palace, the Opera House, walking along Nguyen Hue street. Just random things actually Mekong delta is a bit new. Guess I'll try My Tho, Ben Tre there. Would love to join in the local Tet celebration there if possible Still in planning phase though

If you can do it, take some trips by river whilst in the Mekong Delta. I was lucky enough to be involved with two seismic surveys (centre to east and centre to west) in the MD a couple of years ago and they were incredible times.

I have seen every town and travelled every road and canal and navigable river. Altogether it took me just over a year, but that was because I was working at every location we visited, sometimes for a couple of months.

Visit Can Tho and marvel at the mighty river crossings there. Try Chau Doc, have lunch at the Victory hotel overlooking the point where the Bassac river joins the Angkor Borei river and visit the crowded and noisy market in the town.

Drive down (or better still take a boat) from Chau Doc to Long Xuyen and Can Tho. Then cut across by road to Ca Mau. If you want to make a diversion to Bac Lieu, stay at the Bac Lieu hotel and take a ride out to the coast near there and see the mangrove swamps. Take mosquitos repellant with you! Whilst traveling by boat, check out the huge variety of vessels that use the Mekong waterways, from 1200 ton freighters to river barges so heavily laden that they are barely afloat; fishing boats of all kinds and very occasionally, titanium  canoes made from the drop tanks of US war planes from the American war.

From Ca Mau, take a ride out to Dat Mui. The roads get very narrow so take care. From Dat Mui go to stand on the very tip of Vietnam and look at the vastness of the ocean there. On the way you will see some incredible sights.

If you have time, travel to the west coast of the Mekong Delta which bounds the Gulf of Thailand, there are some lovely small towns and villages there.

Google maps is your friend, has maps and will show you what to expect in many places.

@eodmatt: Wow. Just Wow. I must admit that I didn't expect to see such dedicated reply so soon ) Thanks a ton man, really appreciate it I will totally check out your suggestion Oh and how about you? Any plan for the coming holiday?
P/S: Such nice members this forum has, I'm really looking forward to joining in the offline meeting (we do have it here, right?)

My plans for Tet? Haven't made any. Just moved into a brand new house on a private estate with its own fishing river and made some new friends, so will prolly just chill out for a couple of days.

I'll prolly try to write a few more pages of my book. My wife (Vietnamese) wants to invite a couple of friends over, but I know that will mean about ten will turn up of whom the majority will be unknown to us and they will proceed to eat and drink us into insolvency.

In the aftermath of the party there will be highly critical remarks coming back about how the house is inconvenient to get to, the food was strange because it was part European, the decor of the house isn't right, the furniture isn't real wood (it is). And so on. TVB! (That's Vietnam, Baby).

We'll prolly go to the flower market though, when it opens, as it really is spectacular and there are usualy beer stalls and food kiosks of all kinds tucked away in odd corners.

One thing to remember about Tet is that all the prices of everything are increased "because it is Tet" so be aware of that.

The Saigon firework display is usualy spectacular too and although the city will be fairly quiet during the day due to most peeps going to the country for a few days during the night of Tet there are likely to be a million or so people filling the streets and you won't be able to get taxis or busses.

Have a great time wherever you are!

Great advise for Tet or any trip to Vietnam. Retired Professional photographer returing to Vietnam on Feb 4th.  One way airfare with 3 month visa, so my plate is open to go where I please. Worked with several Vietnamese journalist photographing Hanoi, north to Sapa, Bac Ha and other places.  Going to concentrate on South this time. Have a group of 800 or so Vietnamese that follow my FB, and several blogs. Just great and friendly people. I travel solo, except when families or new friends want to connect for day or whatever. Like the personal one on one in Vietnam. Cheers and Thanks

eodmatt; only a master author can be objective of his subjectiv(ity)  Well done.   Expatriates or newbies, we all admire your experiences and views.   Grasshopper want more, Master.

Bazza139 wrote:

eodmatt; only a master author can be objective of his subjectiv(ity)  Well done.   Expatriates or newbies, we all admire your experiences and views.   Grasshopper want more, Master.

Thanks for those kind words Bazza!

I know Vietnam quite well from Da Lat down to the tip of the Mekong Delta, but have only been to Hanoi once. I stayed in Tam Ky for three weeks last year whilst standing in for the ops manager of the Danish Demining Groups demining (actually unexploded ordnance clearance) project there.

Whilst staying in Tam Ky, I wrote two articles about the clearance of unexploded ordnance from battle sites in that area. One article is written from the perspective of the widow (a Mrs. Bong) of a man who died whilst excavating unexploded ordnance to sell for scrap. The other is from the perspective of one of the clearance team leaders. I might publish the articles one day.

My wife is a very well educated but very traditional (and highly superstitious) Vietnamese lady (God knows how she ended up with me) who put herself through university by selling water and soft drinks on the street and who is, like many Vietnamese ladies, fiercely business minded. I can give her 100 USD tomorrow and by this time next month she has turned it into 1000 USD by some magical means, usually involving buying and reselling things. she is much more at home handling large sums of money though since she has an MBA in tourism development and a Masters in Corporate Management. She is a very good source of information about the Vietnamese language (of course) Vietnamese customs (naturally), the country as a whole and its politics (well she would wouldn't she?). So luckily I have some good sources of information to draw from here.

So my plan for the Tet holiday is to investigate how to make money from writing. Vietnam is a very rich source of writable stuff, but where to begin? And who to sell it to? Who will buy it? How to market it? All these are questions I will be wrestling with over Tet.

Luckily we recently moved from a bustling apartment block in D8 to an estate in a quiet area of D9 - ten minutes by taxi from Thao Dien, so there won't be too much distraction. I might even have time to take a trip to the craft ale bar in Thao Dien too.

Chuc Mung Nam Moi!

Fappy (Fat & Happy) New Year Your Self...

Tsk!   ..why do I expect better from people who know stuff..?

Like Socrates, I do not teach, but ask leading questions so they can read the map and find where they (really) want to go.   They teach me to do it better.

..and like Plato's 'Cave' analogy, you cannot drag them (kicking & screaming) into the light...

  You need a good story to divert their attention from your true motive; knowledge.

So?   ..what's wrong with baby steps?   (any journey must begin with the first step)   Sure, the better copy writers earn the 'large sums of money'  - without leaving their laptop.   But you have the advantage of E.O.L.  ..and that cannot be learnt.  Only lived.

Your question is not if: it is when.

Synchronicity has already struck you.  She needed you; You needed her.  Destiny happens by choice, not chance.   Just begin.  Like the snowball rolling downhill, it might well become an avalanche.   ..or do you think people like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs met by chance too...?

It ain't all cheese and kisses.   You need to eat, sleep - and wash your socks.  Just do it.

* Look at escapologist.com   They will show you the marketing tricks

eodmatt,

I'd be interested to know what you find out about writing/marketing in Vn.
Have a nice holiday.

Escapologist.com?

Thanks Chuc mung nam moi to you too.

TBH I don't think there is much scope for selling my work in Vietnam, I'm looking at the international market really. But I'll pass on any usefull  I find.

Appreciate it.