Countdown

Ready to go. Packed, batteries charged, checked in. I should have cloned some hair on my portait, but well, this is it. To see the positive side, I do not need to carry on a comb with me.

Itinerary

Finally I have in my hands the detailed itinerary. I don't expect any more changes, unless some unexpected events will force me (please do not!)

 

02. Feb.2015 Budapest - Doha - Hanoi

03. Feb.2015 Arrive to Hanoi, no special program

04. Feb.2015 Hanoi, street food tour

05. Feb.2015 Hanoi - Ho Giang by car, homestay in a Tay village

06. Feb.2015 Tay village activities, full day treck

07. Feb.2015 Ha Giang - Dong Van, see scenery

08. Feb.2015 Visit markets at Dong Van and Meo Vac

09. Feb.2015 Ha Giang - Hoang Su Phi, rice paddies

10. Feb.2015 Hoang Su Phi - Bac Ha - Lao Cai. Night train to Hanoi

11. Feb. 2015 Hanoi - Danang - internal flight, transfer to Hoi An

12. Feb.2015 Hoi An activites with fishermen

13. Feb.2015 Hoi An activities, city tour, etc.

14. Feb.2015 Danang - Ho Chi Min - internal flight, transfer to Mekong Delta

15. Feb.2015 Mekong Delta

16. Feb.2015 Ho Chi Min - Doha - Budapest

The Planning Process

Well, for a while I have developed a procedure how to plan such a photo tour. First I need to decide on the period. Work, family, other commitments are narrowing down the possibilities. Then I have to decide what should be the main objective. In this particular case, it was February-March and ethnic groups. Then you stay with only a few countries. If you add your climate preference, some other personal taste, the final decision is easy: Vietnam. Then I make a first draft what I want to see in this country, where to go where not, how long the trip could be and finally I discuss this with an agency. Then a long negotiation process comes along but now I have an itinerary. Don't be misleaded by the travel time on the map, since it will not be by car but a combination of car, train and airplane.

 

Then I book the tickets, pay for the tour and here you are. I have a list of what to pack which of course is updated and tailored each time.

 

 

First Light

Getting to Asia is an old dream of mine. At the beginning all I knew about Asia only that it was a huge, light yellow continent, opposed to small green Europe and bigger and red Africa. At least this was how I read maps in my childhood. Since the age of 5-6 I travelled a lot - in my mind - as this was strictly forbidden in the political regime I grew up. When we went ot my grandmother's village I was excited as that was at a magic distance of 100 km, the first 3 digit distance trips I made. The travel took half a day.

 

Now, I am more or less regularly flying thousands of km-s and except the Antarctic on all continents. Still, Asia is unexploited, I have been to some places as "regular" tourist, to enjoy a few days of doing nothing by the seaside. Vietnam will be the first real adventure on this continent, spending 2 weeks there and going to both North and South.

 

Vietnam, like Korea, was a country divided in 2 parts, one part fighting with the other. In Korea it was silence, but we had daily news from Vietnam. This happened in the seventies and eighties in the Ceausescu dictatorship so all news were censored and presented to best serve that regime. It is not surprising that we, children did not understand anything. How the USA, supported by other imperialist countries could not win the poor north Vietnamese people, not helped at all by any country, definitely not by the USSR? Why people from the same nation hated each other and how was possible that all people from North were nice, fair and heroic, while those from South were bastards? We have had a few Vietnamse students but it was highly advisable not to have serious contacts with foreign students, so I never thought to ask them what is the truth. Anyhow, we had our internal problems, fighting to have our daily basic foods, have a job and the "less you ask, the better it is" survival philosophy.

 

In a short time, at the age of 58 I am going to see this country - fortunately seeing it in peace, unified and eager to receive tourists. I will travel with a camera, so one should expect to see this country through my lenses.