Country Archive
Miss Saigon? Not if you can help it…
Date: 04/30/2007
Author:
Steenie Harvey
Saigon is the crucible of born-again capitalism. Officially named Ho Chin Minh City, for many-including its seven million-plus inhabitants-Vietnam's most raffish and cosmopolitan metropolis will forever be Saigon.
It's a frenetic city on the make, but there's far more to it than wheeling and dealing. Once you get over the traffic anarchy and air pollution, it makes a pulsating start to any Vietnam adventure.
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A dragon's flight over Hanoi and Ha Long Bay
Date: 03/31/2007
Author:
Steenie Harvey
It's 6.30 a.m. in Hanoi, Vietnam's capital. For factory workers, market traders, and bleary-eyed travelers, a lie-in isn't an option. Not when what sounds like some seriously-aggrieved army general is barking out the local news over Luong Van Can Street's public address, Tannoy.
Read OnVietnam's Secret Plan Could Help You Get Rich
Date: 03/22/2007Although I’ve no qualms about spilling this secret, other travel writers would probably keep word of it all to themselves.
Read OnThe "Don't Get Ripped Off" Guide to Vietnamese Gifts
Date: 03/11/2007Deciding what to buy as a memento is mind-boggling. Vermilion-red bowls: $4. A black tray with silvered birds and willow trees: $10.
Read OnLife as a VC Guerrilla
Date: 03/01/2007We’re half expecting something to happen--but when it does, it still makes us jump. Up pops a skinny Vietcong guerrilla soldier from a leaf-camouflaged fox hole.
Read OnPedestrian's Guide to Surviving Hanoi
Date: 02/25/2007A red light at traffic signals is merely a suggestion for drivers to stop, not an instruction to be obeyed. At least, that’s how things operate in Hanoi, Vietnam’s capital.
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Eternal spring in the city of Dalat-where you can buy for $25,000 or rent for $150 a month
Date: 07/31/2006
A former French hill station, Vietnam's Dalat, with a population of 120,000, sits at an elevation of 4,920 feet and enjoys daily temperatures of 69° F to 78° F. There's little humidty and you don't need heating or cooling. If you seek eternal spring, this is it.
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