Page 2 of Vietnam

Vietnam is my favourite place on the planet, the people hard working, inquisitive, friendly and given the history amazingly easy going, I visit most years in the winter for few months and the 1st year i was there travelled from north to south on the reunification express train which took around 3 days, I also took several tours in HCMC and Hanoi and it was a remarkable insight into the country, the tour guides were men of a similar age who had gone through the war and both give completely different views of it one american invaders who tried to bomb us into the stone age, the people are still suffering from chemical bombs etc and the other the magnificent americans saved us from communist regime, I will never forget the views which were given without malice or political reasons it was genuinely how they felt and will always feel. If you get a chance do visit the country for the people and the sites (Halong Bay particularly which is still the most beautiful, breathtaking 1st site i have ever encountered)

You may be able to help with 2 questions mbilko.
My daughters doing a 3 month tour of SE Asia soon, inc Vietnam.
What's the best option for taking money, we think a pre paid card loaded with sterling.
Second question are there issues charging phones etc, some say the voltage can spike wrecking the device.

Snaps

I used my debit card, don't change money until you get there as there are loads of local money changers so take either dollars or pounds, 1st trip i took a grand sterling and once it was gone found 1 bank atm which gave i think from memory £300 at a time, again, everything is cheap there so just buy a 2 pin adaptor once you arrive for a couple of dollars and use that with the original charger, It is a communist country so is safe but i had one instance where i was walking in district 10 so not a tourist area where i was living and a couple on a moped sped bye and grabbed my bag ( a denim one i had made from the leftover from the jeans i had made) luckily it was around my neck and under the arm so i went flying but so did they, they both came off and the wheel buckled and they legged it but all of the locals came to my aid, called the police and offered to take me to hospital comp (i had a slight head graze) so always be vigilant and also if it is girls alone be extra careful in cambodia, its amazing but still considered the wild west by far eastern standards and vietnamese women won't go there without a man as they are worried about being trafficked. Any other questions just holler :) I could reminisce all day.

Bump

For anyone who missed the documentary, it's on channel PBS.
I don't have Sky or Virgin TV so don't know if it's available on catch up. Watching it live on freeview.
This is the third time I have watched this.

This item was edited on Sunday, 15th April 2018, 20:25

As I understand it, the PBS run is the director's extended cut, so effectively an additional eight hours over and above the same series that was on the beeb. So yes, I'm watching it again as it was an extraordinary series.

I didn't know it was a different cut from the BBC broadcast, thanks for the info.

18 episodes in the full run...

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Si Wooldridge
Reviewer

http://synth.myreviewer.com