VIET NAM

SAVE THE… VIETNAM

Vietnam was a sure destination in my life travel plan, the date was chosen by fate.
One evening in early December, like on other occasions, I decided that the gift I would give myself at Christmas would be to give a gift to another person.
Not a particular person..
I decided to get involved with the distance adoption projects run by Save the Children.

A few days later, I was told that the child I was going to support lived in Vietnam, in the Lao Cai area.

I decided that day that my next trip would be to meet the child. Save the Children allows you to do that.

Over the following months, I was kept busy with the usual long preparations.

Needless to say, I had to coordinate everything, including the start of the Vietnamese school year, to be able to meet the little girl and her family.
I’ve been in touch with the managers at Save the Children a lot by email, including sending over the necessary documents and statements to get the ball rolling.

WHAT TO DO IN VIETNAM

The meeting in Lao Cai was coming up fast, and it involved travelling in the north of Vietnam, including Hanoi and Ha Long Bay.
So the first part of the trip will be in the south of Vietnam.
I’d really like to find out more about how the Vietcong won their war.
I’ll be starting in Ho Chi Minh City, which old name is Saigon.
I’ve always had a soft spot for Can Tho because of the Ivan Della Mea song that made me imagine little An strolling through the ylang-ylang avenues,
The Mekong and the floating markets are unmissable of course.
I’ve already decided where to start and end the journey.

WHAT NEXT?

As always, I’m looking to see as much as possible and I know how to organise myself.
You can navigate the Mekong and get to Cambodia that way.

I’ll be seeing the old Kampuchea of the Khmer Rouge, the Temples of Angkor and finishing the route clockwise in Laos.
This country isn’t overrun by mass tourism, and you can even see free elephants in their natural habitat.

All I have to do is make the booking and then I’m good to go.