Guest blog by Lorraine Boissoneault, Go Girl Magazine

Traveling around the world inevitably means coming down with some form of illness or another. Whether it’s a simple cold picked up from fellow fliers, or the more uncomfortable experience of the local variation of Montezuma’s curse, having a well-supplied med kit is a must for all foreign adventurers.

My own experiences getting sick in distant lands somehow end up being more dramatic than most people’s, with the result that almost everyone I know thinks I am a walking cesspool. I swear I don’t actually get sick that often! Not with the common cold, anyway. When I get sick, I get sick in style, and require more medical attention than just a visit to the closest pharmacy. I could lament my bad luck, but instead, I try to look at the sicknesses as a chance to assess the health care system in each of the countries. As of now, my list consists of three countries: France, Morocco, and China. Travelers heading to these locales – read on and educate yourself. You never know when you might come down with a bad case of dengue fever (no, I have not had dengue fever – yet). Read more

Our Venus Adventures guide Jennie warns us about the traffic in Saigon – we thought Hanoi was challenging.  Wow!  Motorbikes everywhere all times of the day and night. We are staying at The Spring Hotel, which is close to the historic opera house, Post Office and lots of up market shopping as well as the big Ben Thanh market one of the landmarks in Saigon.  We are here for three nights, to do some sightseeing, some shopping and figure out how to fit everything in our bags to take home. Read more

Only mad dogs and English Women go out in the noon day sun!

It is 1pm on a hot and sticky afternoon by the time  we are ready to ride near Ben Tre. VERY HOT AND STICKY!

We are covered in sunscreen and insect repellent, have the lightest possible clothes on that cover us, a bottle of water and we are ready to go.  Our guide decides to go the scenic route to avoid the sun, but it turns out to be longer.  We cycle mostly on narrow tracks that you could not find without a guide (its worth getting a local guide!), past houses with people calling out friendly hellos, and not much traffic apart from us.  Bananas and coconut trees overhand the track and provide some shade. This land is bountiful, a veritable food bowl – mango trees,  jackfruit the size of a chubby family cat,  rice fields yielding their 3rd harvest of the year.  But it is HOT – 30 degrees and humid. Read more

Hoi An is a UNESCO world heritage site, what used to be a thriving port, is now a quieter tourist town with heaps of opportunities to explore the older history of the area.  We are taken out to My Son, centre of the old Champa Kingdom, a visit to a traditional pottery making village, a Cooking School on  a boat for lunch and a visit to LifeStart Workshop.  The next day I am desperate to see the sea, but we are running out of time to cycle there, so Jenny and I hop on a moto for the trip $5US each, including time to walk on the beach.  The surf looked messy and dangerous, but I could see how you could easily spend a day here swimming, eating and walking. Read more

Our womens Tour Company Venus Advenutures said that we could get some clothes made in Hoi An – or even a whole new wardrobe, and between the 6 of us I think we pretty much have made it a whole wardrobe!

Hoi An used to be a great trading port, now Da Nang has taken over that role, and left Hoi An to be a beautiful small tourist town which is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site and we have three days to explore the heritage, the clothes and the beaches. Our base – another fantastic boutique hotel called Ha An. Read more

Vietnam – Day 10, Hue

We are slowly moving down Vietnam, North to South, we are going to get off our feet and into the traffic on wheels to explore. After settling in to the Orchid Hotel, we head off for a cyclo ride, and prepare for tomorrows motorcyle ride with a dinner at La Carambole.  Hue is the old royal capital of Vietnam and has some great old museums and pagodas, and the Forbidden Purple City.  Unfortunately much of it was destroyed in the heavy fighting in the 1968 Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War – unfortunately we are discovering this to be sadly true in many parts of Vietnam. Read more

What a great way to balance a trip to the mountains and trekking in Sapa  – cruising in a Chinese Junk in Ha Long in North Vietnam. Venus Adventures for Women know how to look after us girls – we are sitting on the top deck of The Pearl Dragon as the sun goes down over the limestone islands of Ha Long Bay, sipping cocktails and waiting for our 9 course dinner.  What more could a girl want? Read more

From the  Cat Cat View Hotel in Sapa our Venus Adventures for women guide Jennie has been negotiating a day and a half of trekking for us with our Hmong guide May. There are lots of options including climbing Vietnam’s highest peak Mount Fansipan – we meet two Australians who are off to do that.

may-hmong guide

May shared a bit about her life with us.  She took off her hat to reveal her beautiful long black hair which has not been cut since she was 8 years old.  Hmong people marry young – from 14 years for girls.  May is now 27, has 2 children, lives with her husband and his family.  She speaks very good english which she has learnt mostly from tourists.  When she is guiding her husband and extended family look after the children and the land – their buffalo and rice fields. Read more

The Night Train

Last night we caught a sleeper train from Hanoi about 9pm to Lao Cai, very close to the China Border – in fact this town was decimated when the Chinese invaded 1979. Its a junction point rather than a destination, and its just a 45 minute drive to Sapa – and serious mountains.  We arrived at 5.30am, so we see the sun rise and the light filter into the valleys as we zig zag our way into the hills.  The clouds hide the mountain tops, and rice terraces line the lower slopes.

Sapa itself is a town of 30,000 hanging off the side of a mountain and looking down into the valley of minority villages with their huts and rice fields. Venus Adventures for Women have booked us into the Cat Cat View Hotel overlooking the valley that leads to Cat Cat village which we will visit later in the day. Read more

There are six of us on this Venus Adventures trip – Venus plan trips like this for women only and its a great way for solo women travellers to explore the world.  I have been on a trip to Morocco with them, and this year when I needed a serious holiday, Vietnam seemed  a great choice.

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