James & Heather Travelogues

Before arriving there, Vietnam was a bit of an unknown for us. We only knew a couple of people that had been there, so we didn't know what to expect.

Having experienced it, Vietnam is probably the nicest place that we have visited so far in South East Asia. The towns offer so much for the tourist, the surrounding landscapes are beautiful - the bus ride from Dalat to Nha Trang was just amazing, and neither words nor pictures could ever do it justice. Finally, the people almost without exception are wonderful and friendly. The only place where there was a degree of antipathy was Hue, but given that just 35 years ago the entire area was in a very dreadful war subject to repeated bombings and artillery strikes, it is not that suprising.

Without reservation, I would recommend a holiday to Vietnam to anyone. I would hesitate to recommend the Vietnam section in Lonely Planet's South East Asia on a Shoestring, unless you are into playing pool at bars, eating pizza or vegetarian food only. To be frank, it was about as much use as a chocolate teapot