Vietnam travel

[edorm]

My brother and I are planning a trip to Vietnam in 2010 and I am looking for some advice. Although the photography is not our primary purpose I still hope to take advantage of the opportunity. Any advice about traveling with equipment, power issues, things to take, things to leave home, best guides to visit specific locations, and anything else you can think of? I had hoped to go in January but we may have waited too long to make all of the arrangements so what would be a good second choice. Your suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Ed

[reburns]

I think photog situations abound.  I went a couple winters ago with GF & my teenage daughter with our travel time limited by her 3-week winter school holiday.  Did Siagon > Boat trip SW to Cambodia > boat up to Phnom Penh > Angkor Wat > Ha Noi > Halong Bay > Hoi An > Saigon.  Did all that flying by the seat of our pants with only the first night's hotel reserved in advance.  Saving transfer time, we hopped on last-minutes seats on puddle jumpers, and availability for that was thin.  Of those, I'd be tempted to skip Angkor Wat, yes I took many photos but there's so many of us mobbing the place, and that's in a different country anyway.  Halong Bay is spectacular, and part of my motivation for the trip was to rock climb there. Normally to stay out on Halong Bay you need to book with a larger tourist junk, but we went out for a couple days with a smaller unlicensed sleeper boat and could chart our own course.  You could find the boat captain thru the VietClimb website run by a frenchie ex-pat Jean. (added: boat thru catbaventures.com)  In fact I just realize Jean is taking the liberty to use some of our photos on his site.  A highlight was doing a "homestay" in SW Vietnam enroute to Cambodia - best food ever.  That's the low-rent version of a western B&B.  Other highlights are war memorials, which I did for the experience with my daughter.  I am not a motorcycle driver, but word was there's good opportunity to rent and ride up to the highlands.  Instead we rented scooters and took casual rides thru small villages on the central coast.  There's some 3-1/2 million scooters in Saigon, so you need to have your wits for riding there (the daily death toll is quite substantial).  I carried a shoulder bag and a normal lens kit, some WA, some low-light prime, some tele for people candids, no tripod.  Internet cafes abound.  Nothing is hard about the photo gear, although expect to be in boats of various sizes.  It seemed cloudy & foggy for most of our time there.  I carry all clothes in a small backpack for carry-on luggage only, which is key.

[Kathy]

I am happy to recommend Vietnam as a photographic destination having spent 3 weeks there in Jan/Feb 2009. We travelled from the Mekong Delta in the south to Sapa in the north. Our itinerary covered Saigon (HCMC), Can Tho (Mekong Delta), Phan Thiet, fly to Danang, Hoi An, My Son, Marble Mountains, Hue, fly to Hanoi, overnight train to Sapa, overnight stay in Halong Bay with Ginger Cruise. Would I change anything, I would spend 2 nights out in Halong Bay, it is stunning and maybe miss out on the beach at Phan Thiet or at least stay close to the red sand dunes out there.

Some travel companies will suggest you do not travel over Tet (New Year Feb 14 2010) as some things such as markets are closed and travel can be chaotic. We were very pleased to have spent Tet in Saigon, the eve of New Year is spectacular and photographic opportunities abound, stay in a city centre hotel.

We travelled mainly by car with a driver, which can be an interesting experience at times! We used an Australian company called Travel Indochina (offices in Ho Chi Minh City, UK and USA) their service was very efficient and they provided excellent guides. Their guide in the South Ho Sy Cung was part-time and also had his own business providing tours cung_kingofheaven@yahoo.com. We stayed in a range of hotels 4/5 star International quality to 3 star local hotels. I preferred the smaller local hotels but as we were staying for just a few nights location was the most important factor. Travel can be very tiring there so slow down spend a couple of days in each location with local day trips to nearby sites.

The Vietnamese people are charming, very hospitable hosts and we found the quality of food on offer superb. Have a wonderful trip.

[luong]

Here is my guide to photography in Vietnam. It was written in the area of film, but I think most of it is still relevant. I've spent about 13 weeks in Vietnam.