Destination: Vietnam

Day 48 – 17th June 2015 Wednesday –HoiAn

Thu, 18 Jun 2015 | By wendyandkevin | Views [347]

Went walking to the central market and bought some vinegar, scrubbing brush to clean the shower screen. After breakfast I headed to town to buy some alibaba pants from Quoc Tien at 15 Nguyen Thai Hoc St that Jean-Ann recommended. I couldn't get close ... Read more >

Discovering Tam Coc

Thu, 28 May 2015 | By morokii | Views [593] | Scholarship Entry

For me, a place becomes a treasure when you expect nothing of it. It's easy to fall for all the photographs you can see on a magazine, but what happens when suddenly you get lost and you are surrounded by beauty? That's what have happened to me and my ... Read more >

Tags: 2015 Writing Scholarship

Hidden Hoi An

Wed, 27 May 2015 | By catbee | Views [242] | Scholarship Entry

The scent of Jasmine filled the humid, sticky air as we cycled along the paths of the rice-paddy fields. Our sweat was on free-flow, pouring down our heat-weary bodies. We pedalled faster to create a breeze in our faces; a contradictory action which made ... Read more >

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Delicious Distractions

Wed, 27 May 2015 | By backpackermatt | Views [237] | Scholarship Entry

As I reached the square by the river I was immediately encapsulated by scene. Traditional buildings beamed with a rustic beauty, decrepit in a meaningful way. Along the riverbank quaint, colourful boats floated without a care in the world, illuminating ... Read more >

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Lao Bao International Checkpoint

Wed, 27 May 2015 | By charlottecole | Views [303] | Scholarship Entry

Few trips have gone as disastrously as my ‘holiday’ to South East Asia. I like to play a game called 'Where It All Went Wrong'. Was it the first, or third attempted robbery? The cockroach nest I discovered next to my resting head? The moment when I noticed ... Read more >

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Crab Chasing

Wed, 27 May 2015 | By hiddenbeauty | Views [227] | Scholarship Entry

“Crab chasing” is among the unique features of Sa Huynh village, Quang Ngai, Vietnam. It is a ritual performed by young people of a wide range of age – from kids to emerging adults - which occurs once a month when the moon is hidden. This is when the ... Read more >

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The Da Nang Express

Wed, 27 May 2015 | By maguyverstoolshed | Views [414] | Scholarship Entry

Saigon is a sweaty, feverish place; a city-sized sauna spawning swarms of rasping, homicidal mopeds, orange-robed disciples of the godheads, and drunken hedonists romping on bed spreads. Arriving at night the neon underworld beckoned the Blade Runner ... Read more >

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The Desert Stream

Wed, 27 May 2015 | By andrewnhan | Views [308] | Scholarship Entry

There are many places that can take a breath away, many places which any adventurer looks for, many places which those who have travelled to vow to return to. These places are vast and many, undefined and refined only through the senses of those fortunate ... Read more >

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Back in Nom

Wed, 27 May 2015 | By reallylvs2travel | Views [290] | Scholarship Entry

Don’t look forward. Keep looking down. Breathe. Ignore the panic cries from the couple behind you. Keep crawling. Tell yourself, “If soldiers can survive these ever confining tunnels while carrying 25-100 pounds of gear with bombs shattering the ground ... Read more >

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A Vagabond's Reunion

Wed, 27 May 2015 | By ghtran13 | Views [198] | Scholarship Entry

I met an American traveler while in Cambridge, not Massachusetts but the city in Cambridgeshire. The man recognized we were students from abroad, and with impeccable northern dialect, he started speaking to us mainly in Vietnamese. A native of California, ... Read more >

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B-52 Lake

Wed, 27 May 2015 | By ben-st-aubyn | Views [165] | Scholarship Entry

Outside the Hanoi Hilton, the prison where incumbent Arizona Senator John McCain was incarcerated for six years (an experience almost as disheartening to him as losing to George W Bush in the 2000 presidential primary), I waved my hand and immediately ... Read more >

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Stranger in a Familiar Land

Wed, 27 May 2015 | By wynns | Views [134] | Scholarship Entry

To this day I never fail to finish my food. As a child, my mother would always admonish me when even a spoonful of my dinner was left in my rice bowl. She would say that she and her family were so poor back in Vietnam, that they would eat rice and fish ... Read more >

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Just getting it out there..

Wed, 27 May 2015 | By lukegavin228 | Views [197] | Scholarship Entry

Having arrived in Vietnam after two years in Australia, it came as no surprise that culture, driving etiquette, costs and climate were really very different up here in South East Asia. For me, one of the truly eye opening aspects of traveling is finding ... Read more >

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Ho Chi Minh City’s Pulse

Wed, 27 May 2015 | By estreet | Views [657] | Comments [2] | Scholarship Entry

Pop art-colored neon lights flashed as American’s Top 40 music pulsated from the bars dotting the main streets of Ho Chi Minh City’s District 1, creating an atmosphere of equal parts energy and exhaustion. It’s the ultimate distraction to keep one from ... Read more >

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Unknown

Wed, 27 May 2015 | By becurious | Views [219] | Scholarship Entry

My travel treasure is indeed a treasure. Not because it is priceless or made of gold but because I could not tell you where it is. I failed to create a map of its whereabouts and did not mark the spot with an X. It lies in the country of Vietnam somewhere ... Read more >

Tags: 2015 Writing Scholarship