Outline – Head to the S.E.A – Update 5

More detailed info for transportation in and from Viet Nam to Laos

Viet Nam

Can Tho → Saigon: 5hr Phuong Trang bus: 70.000VND ~4USD

- Dịch vụ Mai Linh Express cũng đang có xe xuất phát từ TP.HCM đi các tỉnh miền Trung, có thể đặt chỗ, mua vé qua điện thoại 0839.292.929

-Phuong Trang Express Bus schedule and their info (departure time, phone and address) in English and Vietnamese.

- Nếu muốn đi Lào bằng đường bộ, du khách có thể đi từ Đà Nẵng qua cửa khẩu Lao Bảo bằng đường 9 Nam Lào. Mỗi tuần có ba chuyến xe đưa khách đi Vientiane và Savannakhet vào các ngày thứ ba, năm, bảy, xuất bến lúc 8 giờ sáng (đến Vientiane vào 2 giờ sáng hôm sau – giá vé 250.000đ; ĐT: 0913.412.442).

Từ Huế có đến ba chuyến xe buýt/ngày; xuất phát lúc 9g30 sáng hằng ngày, chủ yếu tập trung ở khu Tây balô đường Nguyễn Tri Phương, Hùng Vương và Phạm Ngũ Lão.

- Một số trung tâm lữ hành Quảng Trị cũng tổ chức tour đi Lào – Thái Lan như Trung tâm lữ hành quốc tế DMZ Travel – Công ty cổ phần Du lịch Quảng Trị (ĐT: 0905179070 – 053.855439); Trung tâm Lữ hành quốc tế DMZ Tours – Công ty cổ phần – Dịch vụ Quảng Trị (ĐT: 053. 852927); Trung tâm Lữ hành quốc tế SêPôn – Công ty thương mại Quảng Trị (ĐT: 053. 855289).

Saigon → Vinh: ~30hr-Mai Linh bus: ~400.000VND ~ 21usd

Vinh → Ha Tinh: local bus

Ha Tinh → Cau Treo: local bus

Cau Treo → Lak Sao: local bus

Laos

Lak Sao → Vientiane: bus

Vientiane → Vieng Vang: 5hr bus

Vieng Vang → Luang Prabang: 7hr bus

Luang Prabang → Luang Nam Tha: 9hr bus

Luang Nam Tha → Huay Xai (border point): 5hr bus + 5~10 mins on ferry on Mekong River

Thailand

Huay Xai → Chiang Kong: bus

Chiang Kong → Chiang Mai: bus

Chiang Mai → Bangkok: bus/train

Bangkok → Yangon: one-way airplane

Burma

Address Burma Consulate in Saigon: 50 Sầm Sơn, Phường 4, Quận Tân Bình, tel 54490805 & fax: 38428789

For visa application process, please download forms here. Or, hopefully you can contact Ms Thao 0908199696 / Ms Nga 0973812614

I choose Burma. I will arrange 30-day-20$-travel visa. I will fly from Thailand to Burma (a 2-way ticket).

No specific plan here… I am still looking into Burma trip

Malaysia

Yangon→ Kuala Lumpur: one-way airplane

Kuala Lumpur → Melaka: bus

Melaka → Kuala Lumpur to fly to Indonesia

Indonesia

Take a flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Jakarta, Indonesia.

I will spend around 1~2 weeks here to wander in Jakarta, Bandung, Bogor, and Yogyakarta.

No specific plan for this country. Road transfers are mainly bus and train but I will figure out which one is safe for myself later.

Malaysia-Borneo part

Fly to Borneo from Indonesia.

I have not plan for this Borneo since I think it will be easy to find out what to do here for one week.

Singapore

Borneo → Singapore: airplane

Singapore → Saigon: 2.5 hr airplane

Pix of the Day – 121409

cloudy sky in Mekong Delta

Get Together Show 2009

After 3 years, I came back to my college which is around 15 minutes from my office. It is weird, isn’t it?

My friends from PiA and ViA performed at the annual music show Get Together hosted by English Dept. of Can Tho University. I joined them and felt a bit awkward since I did not have any 15.000vnd ticket. Lucky me, they let me get inside with my friends.

Everything seems unchanged much. The Great Hall is still here. Sound system and Light system are the same. Nothing new. This year, there were many students attending the show and they brought new fresh air. I really enjoyed the show.

While we were waiting for the show, they showed the clip about old Get Together shows since 70s, I think. They stopped at year 2003 though. I do not know where other years were, including mine, year of 2006. Some said they lost. Some said there was not enough time. I really wish they showed the skit performed by Dan and Wes. Hopefully, next year, they will spend more time collecting clips and photos of old Get Together shows to let audiences a kind of full view about Get Together and how it has been improved.

The show started at 7.00PM. This year its theme is R.E.D – Reaction, Emotion – Devotion. The main colors are red, white and black which are my favorite ones. The style is young, active, easy-going and creative. I did have the ticket so I do not know how it looked like. There is no logo of CTU and the show on the stage which turned out much better. I did not know why they asked me to make a logo before which I disliked a lot. Simple background and stage but impressed me.

Big band

dance performance

There are 14 performances last night: songs, dances, skits by students and foreign teachers who are called foreign experts at school. This year, they invited 2 groups of students from Soc Trang and Rach Gia Community Colleges. I wish Will and Marty could join us.

Skit by E.D students

Two performances impressing me much were a hip-hop dance one and a skit “My Girl”. The fashion show got better. I think one of the reasons was that they got sponsor from HaCa – a fashion store in town. Singers this year were getting better. I just really disliked the song “SaLaLa” (hope it is correct).

Fashion Show

Skit “My Girl” by PiA and ViA

The show ended at 9.00PM, on time. Mine was so late. It seemed we ran out of time then. In short, Get Together 2009 succeed, I think.

I got chance to meet my old teachers: thay Huan, Quan, Ly and some others. Glad to see them again. Pity that I did not take any pix with them and did not talk to them much enough.

I felt younger when I got back there and saw other students. It seemed like I was around their age and back to my college life which ended for a while

Pix of the Day – 121209

Sunrise on a small river – belonging to Mekong river in Mekong Delta.

I am a big fan of sunrise and sunset on Mekong River, The Mother of Rivers

Outline – Head to the S.E.A – Update 4

More detailed info for transportation in and from Viet Nam to Laos

Viet Nam

Can Tho → Saigon: 5hr Phuong Trang bus: 70.000VND ~4USD

- Dịch vụ Mai Linh Express cũng đang có xe xuất phát từ TP.HCM đi các tỉnh miền Trung, có thể đặt chỗ, mua vé qua điện thoại 0839.292.929

- Nếu muốn đi Lào bằng đường bộ, du khách có thể đi từ Đà Nẵng qua cửa khẩu Lao Bảo bằng đường 9 Nam Lào. Mỗi tuần có ba chuyến xe đưa khách đi Vientiane và Savannakhet vào các ngày thứ ba, năm, bảy, xuất bến lúc 8 giờ sáng (đến Vientiane vào 2 giờ sáng hôm sau – giá vé 250.000đ; ĐT: 0913.412.442).

Từ Huế có đến ba chuyến xe buýt/ngày; xuất phát lúc 9g30 sáng hằng ngày, chủ yếu tập trung ở khu Tây balô đường Nguyễn Tri Phương, Hùng Vương và Phạm Ngũ Lão.

- Một số trung tâm lữ hành Quảng Trị cũng tổ chức tour đi Lào – Thái Lan như Trung tâm lữ hành quốc tế DMZ Travel – Công ty cổ phần Du lịch Quảng Trị (ĐT: 0905179070 – 053.855439); Trung tâm Lữ hành quốc tế DMZ Tours – Công ty cổ phần – Dịch vụ Quảng Trị (ĐT: 053. 852927); Trung tâm Lữ hành quốc tế SêPôn – Công ty thương mại Quảng Trị (ĐT: 053. 855289).

Saigon → Vinh: ~30hr-Mai Linh bus:  ~400.000VND ~ 21usd

Vinh → Ha Tinh: local bus

Ha Tinh → Cau Treo: local bus

Cau Treo → Lak Sao: local bus

Laos

Lak Sao → Vientiane: bus

Vientiane → Vieng Vang: 5hr bus

Vieng Vang → Luang Prabang: 7hr bus

Luang Prabang → Luang Nam Tha: 9hr bus

Luang Nam Tha → Huay Xai (border point): 5hr bus + 5~10 mins on ferry on Mekong River

Thailand

Huay Xai → Chiang Kong: bus

Chiang Kong → Chiang Mai: bus

Chiang Mai → Bangkok: bus/train

Bangkok → Yangon: one-way airplane

Burma

Address Burma Consulate in Saigon: 50 Sầm Sơn, Phường 4, Quận Tân Bình, tel 54490805 & fax: 38428789

For visa application process, please download forms here. Or, hopefully you can contact Ms Thao 0908199696 / Ms Nga 0973812614

I choose Burma. I will arrange 30-day-20$-travel visa. I will fly from Thailand to Burma (a 2-way ticket).

No specific plan here… I am still looking into Burma trip

Malaysia

Yangon→ Kuala Lumpur: one-way airplane

Kuala Lumpur → Melaka: bus

Melaka → Kuala Lumpur to fly to Indonesia

Indonesia

Take a flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Jakarta, Indonesia.

I will spend around 1~2 weeks here to wander in Jakarta, Bandung, Bogor, and Yogyakarta.

No specific plan for this country. Road transfers are mainly bus and train but I will figure out which one is safe for myself later.

Malaysia-Borneo part

Fly to Borneo from Indonesia.

I have not plan for this Borneo since I think it will be easy to find out what to do here for one week.

Singapore

Borneo → Singapore: airplane

Singapore → Saigon: 2.5 hr airplane