Pa Khoang Lake and Muong Phang Forest A worthwhile half-day or full-day excursion from Dien Bien Phu takes travellers north east of the city to the beautiful Pa Khoang Lake and onwards to Muong Phang Forest, a popular local beauty…
The ‘hedgehog’ (herisson) defences established by the French at Dien Bien Phu comprised three complimentary sub-sectors, each made up of a complex of strong points. The centra! sub-sector, located in and around what is now the centre of the town,…
Situated some 420 kilometers north west of Hanoi in a region where even today ethnic Vietnamese still represent less than one third of the total population, Dien Bien Phu lies in the Muong Thanh valley, a heart-shaped basin 18 kilometers…
Mai Chau Valley Location: Thi tran Mai Chau, Huyen Mai Chau, Tinh Hoa Binh While Mai Chau town itself has little to offer the tourist, the White Thai villages of Lac and Pom Coong, located south west of the town,…
My Tho and Vinh Long A convenient first stop in the delta is My Tho a sprawling market town by the banks of the Ham Luong branch of the Mekong, just 60km (37 miles) southwest of Ho Chi Minh City….
Trekking tours around Mai Chau In the summer months the 4-kilometre circular walk around the valley floor affords photogenic scenes of villagers working in the fields, ploughing, planting or harvesting the rice; water buffalo are in abundance, as well as…
Historic Hoi An The small but historic town of Hoi An, located on the Thu Bon River 30km (19 miles) south of Danang holds far more appeal than its big northern neighbor. During the time of the Nguyen Lords and…
The Thai Collectively, the Thai belong to the Austro-Asiatic language family and specifically to the Tay-Thai language group. Their ancestors migrated south from southern China at an early date and had set up numerous petty kingdoms in the region as…
Danang, Vietnam’s fourth largest city, has ample accommodation and good seafood restaurants, but – with the notable exception of its remarkable Cham Museum – lacks intrinsic interest and is primarily useful as a base for visiting nearby attractions. Hoi An,…
Besides popular beliefs, Vietnam also has some major religions such as Buddhism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, Caodaism and Hoahaoism… Buddhism Buddhism was introduced to Vietnam from the 2nd century. Ly dynasty (11th century) was the peak periods of Buddhism and was regarded…