In London, Victoria’s secrets revealed

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InLondon

26 March 2012|By Lonely Planet Magazine

The ivory silk wedding dress worn by Queen Victoria in her 1840 marriage to Prince Albert is on display as part of the "Victoria Revealed" exhibition at Kensington Palace. (Matt Dunham/Associated Press)

Queen Victoria is often thought of as a solemn old lady who was unamused on a regular basis.

Once upon a time, however, she was a child princess, blithely bouncing about the gardens of Kensington Palace in west London with her pet spaniel. A new exhibition in the palace, Victoria Revealed, will put on display objects amassed during her life, spanning from her silk baby shoes to the black garments she wore as a grieving widow. At least she’d be pleased to see her childhood home looking sprightly following a £12m facelift, with new walking routes around state rooms that will have seen their fair share of royal soap operas in their time.

• Kensington Palace reopens to the public on 26 March (admission £15).
• Direct train services run to Euston from Manchester (from £35) and Birmingham (from £10).
• Stay at the St John Hotel, an eccentric residence near Leicester Square (from £150)

This article was published in partnership with Lonely Planet Magazine.

Spring skiing, Japanese-style

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InJapanSnow & Skiing

26 March 2012|By Tim Hornyak, Lonely Planet

The Japanese ski resort of Niseko is famous for the quality and consistency of its light, powdery snow. (Aaron Jamieson/Niseko Photography)

This winter may have been somewhat of a bust in much of the United States, logging the warmest temperatures since 1999, but skiers and snowboarders on the other side of the Pacific are not complaining about snow drought.

• Related blog post: The etiquette of Japanese onsen

Even in late March, the Japanese ski resort ofNiseko is still getting plenty of fresh powder. An astounding 20m has fallen thus far and snow depth reached a peak of more than four metres.

The abundant snowfall bodes very well for spring skiing in Niseko, the catch-all name for four linked resorts on the 1,308m Mount Niseko Annupuri, some 100km southwest of Sapporo, on Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost main island. Niseko has one of the longest seasons in Japan, with most of the runs staying open until early May.

Niseko became famous about a decade ago, especially in Australia, for the quality and consistency of its light, powdery snow, the result of Siberian winds interacting with moisture from the Sea of Japan. An influx of Aussie skiers and snowboarders and both local and foreign property developers transformed the centre of Hirafu from a sleepy village into an international resort town, with new accommodations and excellent dining options. Though visitors are slowly returning to Japan, deterred in the aftermath of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, the resort town has been virtually crowd free this winter, with no chairlifts lines.

On Mount Niseko, chairlifts and gondolas whisk skiers and boarders to within striking distance of the peak. Then, it is a 20-minute hike to glide down off-piste slopes that link up with groomed trails or roads near the mountain’s more remote areas. For those who want to try backcountry skiing for the first time, the Strawberry Fields forest run in the Hanazono resort provides thigh-high powder that is within easy reach of chairlifts and groomed trails. The three other areas at Niseko – Annupuri, Niseko Village and Grand Hirafu – also have a good mix of beginner, intermediate and expert trails, with a total of 48km of groomed runs. Grand Hirafu, which has the most night skiing on Niseko, features a number of ungroomed powdery trails such as Miharashi, an expert run that winds into Holiday, a wooded intermediate trail that is one of the mountain's longer runs at 2.8km.

Some serious backcountry skiers and snowboarders, however, leave Niseko altogether for powder trips. Earlier in March, powderhounds could be seen climbing five hours up and then carving giant S's back down Mount Yotei's alabaster flanks, a volcano 13km southeast of Mount Niseko Annupuri.

Apres-ski in Niseko is often just as fun as zipping through the flakes and is best enjoyed with a rental car to let you take full advantage of the area's muscle-tenderizing onsen (hot springs). The Niseko Yu Meguri pass (1,400 yen) gives you free access to any three of the participating baths in the area. If you are feeling adventurous, take the two-hour drive to Niimi Onsen, located on a remote mountain road, for  a quiet, lantern-lit outdoor bath often cocooned in winter by an overhanging snowbank.

Back in Hirafu, the unwinding continues at Ezo Seafoods, which serves up succulent snow crab legs, sweet Akkeshi oysters from the coastal region of eastern Hokkaido and a variety of fresh sashimi. Wash it all down with mulled wine or single-malt Hokkaido whisky at nearby Gyu+, a wooden, cottage-like bar accessed through an old fridge door that is nearly invisible in the snow drifts.  

When you are ready for a break from the Aussie ski set, the fishing port of Otaru on Ishikari Bay to the north seems worlds away. With a picturesque canal, glassworks studios set in vintage slate buildings and the entire street of Sushiya-dori devoted to sushi shops, it is well worth the 70-minute drive from Hirafu. A two-hour drive south from Hirafu will get you to volcano-rimmed Lake Shikotsu, the second-deepest lake in Japan, renowned for the clarity of its frigid waters. Set in a national park and blissfully undeveloped, Shikotsu has extremely panoramic onsen, including Marukoma and Ito, with outdoor baths overlooking the ancient caldera. It is the perfect way to boil the ache out of your muscles before a long flight home.

Getting there
From Narita Airport or Haneda airport outside of Tokyo, flights run to Shin-Chitose Airport outside of Sapporo, where buses take two and a half hours to reach Hirafu. Skybus runs regular services through the end of March, after which private shuttles are the best choice if you are not renting a car from the agencies at Shin-Chitose.

HCM City eyes long-distance river tour to Cambodia

The HCMC Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism will conduct a survey on a long-distance river tour from Bach Dang Wharf in the city’s District 1 to Cambodia, as the short-distance tours have started to get customers.

Nguyen Viet Anh, head of the Travel Division under the department, said his agency is making a specific plan to submit to the HCMC government. The department expects to have kicked off the survey by the end of this year.

“The earlier-opened river tours such as Bach Dang-District 2, Bach Dang-Can Gio and Can Gio-Phu My have begun to attract customers. We will continue to launch more tours under the plan to develop river tourism in HCMC,” said Anh.

Developing river tourism is one of the key plans of HCMC, with the focus laid on Can Gio. The city last year opened the short-distance river tour from Bach Dang Wharf to Ham Long Artisan Village in District 2, followed by the Bach Dang-Can Gio route.

Several tours connecting the city to Dong Nai and Binh Duong have also been studied. Above all, the tour from Can Gio to Phu My Port in Ba Ria-Vung Tau is the most notable with a series of marketing activities, building cruise ships and kayaks to lure international tourists.

Phan Xuan Anh, chairman of Viet Excursions, said since the river tour was piloted in November 2011, his company has sold Can Gio mangrove forest tours and kayaking tours to some 1,000 foreign visitors on board the German cruise ships that drop anchors at Phu My Port. It takes only 15 minutes for tourists to travel from Phu My to Can Gio by river, but no enterprise considered developing this route before.

“Cruise ship passengers are really excited about the new form of tourism in Can Gio. Previously, we organized only one trip to Can Gio a day, but now the cruise liners demand one more. We have started to sell this tour to U.S. cruise ships,” said the director.

Viet Excursions has joined hands with the management board of Can Gio Biosphere Reserve to develop infrastructure and train staff for the river tour. The tour operator has bought 30 kayaks and built one river cruise ship, while its partner has also built a ship to take tourists to the mangrove forest.

“River tours are appealing to international visitors. If HCMC continues to promote this tourism route further by developing ports for river cruise ships, the city will have an attractive type of tourism,” said Xuan Anh.

SGT

Vung Tau

Vung Tau photos

The quieter bay

Mary holding jesus

Buddha

While Vung Tau may not be my favourite place in Vietnam, it makes for a very quick escape from the city. With a ticket on the hydrofoil from Ho Chi Minh City costing just over $10 and taking just over an hour you can escape the big smoke and be on the beach long before you go stir crazy.

Despite a slightly seedy reputation its not a bad place to get away when you're short on time and can't face the journey to Mui Ne. Once a popular destination for the colonial French the town is overlooked by a huge statue of Jesus on top of a nearby hill, similar to the one that looks out over Brazil.

The town itself looks out onto a pretty harbour full of brightly painted blue fishingboats typical of southern Viet Nam.

To the right of the bay is a road that snakes around the coast beneath Jesus' feet, leading to a huge long beach bustling with fellow escapees from Saigon, where there are many restaurants, cafes and hotels.

If you follow the road to the right you will find a far quieter bay, with two huge statues on the hill - one of Mary holding Jesus, and further down the coast a huge statue of Buddha.

Food, drink and accomodation in Vung Tau is all pretty cheap and there are some great deals to be had. There is also a wide range of accommodation from high quality hotels to cheap guesthouses and homestays which can be had for under $10 a night.

Cu Chi Tunnels, Saigon

During the 1960s, the communist guerrilla fighters in South Vietnam, or Viet Cong, befuddled American troops by seeming to completely vanish into the jungle, leaving not a trace behind. It took the Americans some time to figure out that the Viet Cong were slipping away into complex tunnel systems located beneath the jungle floor. At any given time, thousands of Viet Cong troops would live inside these tunnel systems, only emerging at night to tend crops, find supplies, or attack the Americans. At some points during the war, the Viet Cong would remain underground for months at a time, not even seeing the sun.

One of the largest tunnel systems was the Cu Chi tunnels, running from the outskirts of Saigon (today Ho Chi Minh City) all the way to the Cambodian border. The whole tunnel system is 75 miles in length and has three distinct stories underneath the ground. During the war, the tunnels were continually expanded as fighting dragged on. Today, the tunnels have been reinforced and expanded for western tourists, and are a very popular destination for visitors to Ho Chi Minh City.

History of the Cu Chi Tunnels

The Cu Chi tunnels were started long before the American Vietnam War. The Vietnamese first began building the tunnels during the 1940s, when Ho Chi Minh and his communist forces were fighting the Japanese invaders. The tunnels were all dug by hand, one basket of dirt at a time. When the Americans came, the guerrillas once again used the tunnels as underground military bases, moving troops, supplies, and intelligence from place to place without detection.

Tunnel Rats and Ferrets

At first, the Americans declined to explore the tunnels, which were designed for the smaller-framed Vietnamese soldiers. Additionally, the Viet Cong had installed deadly booby traps to ward off the few who would try to invade them. In 1966, the Americans tried to destroy the tunnels by dropping heavy bombs throughout the Cu Chi region, but this was largely unsuccessful.

With large bombs not working, and gas and grenades thrown into tunnel entrances proving to be equally ineffective, the western troops eventually realized they had to train individual soldiers to infiltrate the tunnels. The American, Australian, and New Zealand troops who volunteered for this unsavory job earned the nickname “tunnel rats”, or “ferrets” in the Australian Army.

Besides the booby traps and the enemies lying in wait, the tunnel rats had other things to worry about: inside the tunnels often crawled snakes, poisonous centipedes, scorpions, ants, and bats. Equipped only with a pistol, knife, a flashlight, and a piece of string to find his way out, the tunnel rats crawled through the stale air in the pitch black darkness looking for documents, weapons, and other items from inside the tunnels.

The Tunnels Today

The foreign troops never succeeded in destroying the Viet Cong tunnels, and today the Vietnamese believe they won the war thanks to the ingenious tunnels.

Well-maintained and free of booby traps and poisonous creatures, tour guides lead groups of westerners through the widened tunnels every day - but one has to wonder if this constant promotion of 'war tourism' is healthy for a country where so many of the population have long ago moved on from the war. Its true that most people who have yet to visit Vietnam know only of the war and little else, but surely a visit to Vietnam should be an opportunity to challenge that and show what Vietnam is about in the 21st Century?

In our opinion, unless you have a particular interest in engineering your time is likely better spent in Saigon itself if you wish to learn about life in this country now and where it is headed in the future.

Ticket price to Hue royal citadel rises

VietNamNet Bridge – The ticket price to the ancient citadel of Hue will double as of April 16, announced by Thua Thien-Hue provincial authorities.

The price for foreign visitors to get into the royal palace, the tombs of Tu Duc, Minh Mang and Khai Dinh Kings will increase from VND55,000 ($2.2) to VND80,000 ($4) per person, and from VND35,00($1.5) to VND50,000 ($2.5) for domestic tourists.

The prices for children will be VND20,000 ($1) and VND10,000 ($0.5), respectively.

The ticket prices for museums, the Hon Chen and An Dinh palaces and the tombs of Dong Khanh and Thieu Tri Kings will rise from VND22,000 ($1.1) to VND40,000 ($2) for foreigners and VND10,000 ($0.5) to VND30,000 ($1.5) for locals.

Deputy Director of the Center for Reservation of Hue Relics, Mr. Phan Thanh Hai, says that the current ticket prices for foreigners have been applied since 1993, while the prices for Vietnamese tourists have been listed since 2006. Meanwhile, the ticket prices other world heritage sites in Vietnamat--like the Ha Long Bay, the ancient town of Hoi An, etc. have increased.

Hai says that the increase is reasonable. “The ticket for foreign visitors is VND55,000, equivalent to $5 in 1993, but it will increase to VND80,000 only, equivalent to $4 at present,” he analyzes.

“We have restored relics, built new toilets and put tramcars into operation in order to better serve tourists,” Hai says.

Hue’s facts and figures:

Hue is the capital city of Thua Thien-Hue province. Between 1802 and 1945, it was the imperial capital of the Nguyen dynasty. It is well known for its monuments and architecture.

Hue is one place which has many cultural heritages. Up until now, there is no place like Hue-- retaining a lot of original historical vestiges, as in this ancient Capital City.

On the Northern bank of the Perfume River there are relics consisting of palaces, which were constructed as arc defensive ramparts with 11km length. This valuable construction includes more than 100 architectural works, which were extremely reflective of the lives of Emperors and mandarins under Nguyen’ reign. 

Situated in the middle of hills on the Southern bank of Perfume River are very beautiful tombs of Nguyen Kings. Among these tombs are the four famous ones with the name and the arrangements of the tomb reflected of each Emperor’s points of view, personality, and tastes. This is majestic Gia Long tomb, imposing Minh Mang tomb, poetic Tu Duc tomb and magnificent Khai Dinh tomb.

Hue is also an important center of Buddhism. In Hue and its surroundings still exist tens of pagodas constructed more 300 years ago, and a hundred of temples and pagodas built in the early century.

Besidesthis, Hue is a place where the royal music is originated, and a place with traditional famous dishes and sophisticated handicraft.

As a unique city of Vietnam still remains its form of City under Middle Age and the constructions of monarchic, Hue has become a big and an invaluable museum. Therefore, vestiges in Hue ancient capital have been classified by the government as a very precious property and on December 1993 Hue has been recognized as a World Cultural Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Le Ha

Can Tho

Can Tho photos

Can Tho is the biggest and most prosperous of the cities in the Mekong Delta; its central location has made it a major trading post in the region, attracting farmers from across the delta to come and sell their crops or trade for supplies.

The rivers and waterways of the delta have long acted as canals enabling farmers to cover long distances to get a better price for their produce, and in turn Can Tho has become a relatively wealthy city, with clean, smart streets and a good number of shops.

Nowadays Can Tho is a great place to experience a Vietnamese floating market, as every morning at 5am boats arrive from around the provinces to sell the fruits of their labour. Some boats are houseboats - merchants who buy in one place and sell in another - while others are simple crafts who will have left home long before dawn to trade directly and get a better price for their goods.

Every day the traders will be different and so some mornings the market will be much busier than others . The floating market is some way out of town, but trips to visit it can be organised with any of the ladies who approach you while walking alongside the river in the main town of Can Tho.

This waterfront is a great place to pass the time with a sweet little park by the side of the river, and a number of great restaurants in old villas and shopfronts. There is also a beautiful pagoda built by the
Chinese merchantmen who have long lived in the city.

Can Tho can be reached by bus from Ho Chi Minh City (around 4hrs) or by speedboat - around 2hrs, with one departure a day. Victoria Hotels also offer upmarket speedboat services through the area, though you may pay a premium to do so. Due to its central location connections from Can Tho are great, with buses and boats heading to most destinations around the Mekong Delta.