HK Independent Traveller Blog

Vietnam was ruled by China for a long period of time. Like China, Vietnam also has a lot of ethnic groups. The Museum of Ethnology in Hanoi offers to showcase the 54 different groups in a very interesting set up. It presents the 54 ethnic groups in seven ethnolinguistic groups: Viet-Muong, Tay-Thai, Kadai, Hmong-Yao, Sino-Tibetan, Mon-Khmer, and Austronesian. Each ethnic group maintains its own distinctive cultural features but also share some similarities. This creates a common culture of diversity and unity. The exhibits in the Ethnology Museum are shown both exterior and interior. Outside, full scale replica of houses of different tribes are displayed. Visitors can go inside the houses to experience and imagine the living of the various ethnic groups. We started the visit with the houses of different tribes. One of the most spectacular tribe houses is the Bahnar communal house . The height reaches 19 metres. The floor is 90m 2  and elevated 3m above the ground. It ...

I craved to visit Halong Bay. The name means "descending dragon".  Legend says a dragon and her children descended from heaven to defend the Viet people from invaders, spraying fire and emeralds or jade. The bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various shapes and sizes. When under the sunshine, your eyes see thousand islands floating on emerald waters. The first business trip to Hanoi in 2007 was too short for a visit to the Bay. And so, 12 years later my dream was fulfilled. After doing some research, our ultimate choice of Halong Bay tour was Peony Cruise . It cost around USD500, 3D2N two persons. The boat was new which offered higher value than famous but aging boats. We patronized Best Price Travel . Thompson who took care of us was very attentive and responsive. The other good thing was application for VISA and complimentary foodie tour in Hanoi. We enjoyed the cruise, tour and service very much. We picked March for the cruise.  It is not...