Griswald's Vietnamese Vacations

27/04/2024

It certainly is hot up here in Ha Noi too !!!

08/10/2023

I first met Glen Farina on the day he started work at Uncle Morry's in 1979 or '80.

He told me he played guitar & we spoke about the various people we liked.

I mentioned Billy Joel & he said he liked him too & so then I asked which song of his he liked the best & it was the same as my favourite too, the magnificent & quite remarkable Summer Highland Falls.

Glen BTW, is my favourite guitarist of all time & has played on many albums & backed countless local & visiting artists in his amazing career.

In Australia he's known simply as "The Gun" & for very, very good reason too.

He's as good a friend as he is a Muso & I'm a very, very lucky bloke I know.

* They say that these are not the best of times but they're the only times I've ever known

And I believe there is a time for meditation
In cathedrals of our own

Now I have seen that sad surrender in my lover's eyes & I can only stand apart and sympathise

For we are always what our situations hand us, it's either sadness or euphoria

So we'll argue and we'll compromise & realise that nothing's ever changed

For all our mutual experience our separate conclusions are the same

Now we are forced to recognize our inhumanity, a reason coexists with our insanity & though we choose between reality and madness

It's either sadness or euphoria

How thoughtlessly we dissipate our energies, perhaps we'll don't fulfill each other's fantasies

And as we stand upon the ledges of our lives with our respective similarities ......

It's either sadness or euphoria.

In 1971, Billy Joel released his first album titled Cold Spring Harbor. Listen to Billy Joel perform the track 'Summer, Highland Falls'.http://smarturl.it/BJ...

06/10/2023

Of course I'm on the YES team, it's an absolute no brainer !!!

There is a rather strong quote by the German dramatist Bertolt Brecht that for me drives home the point of how economics and politics are inseparable.

“The worst illiterate is the political illiterate, he doesn’t hear, doesn’t speak, nor participates in the political events.

He doesn’t know the cost of life, the price of the bean, of the fish, of the flour, of the rent, of the shoes and of the medicine, all depends on political decisions.

The political illiterate is so stupid that he is proud and swells his chest saying that he hates politics.

The imbecile doesn’t know that, from his political ignorance is born the pr******te, the abandoned child, and the worst thieves of all, the bad politician, corrupted and flunky of the national and multinational companies.”

19/08/2023

Congratulations to all the magnificent Vietnamese people.

As we say in Viet Nam .....

Hồ Chi Minh & Viet Nam forever !!!

* On August 19, the Việt Minh took control over the capital city of Hanoi. This day is now celebrated as the anniversary of the August Revolution.

However, the revolution was officially over on September 2, when the independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was established.

The August Revolution (Vietnamese: Cách-mạng tháng Tám), also known as the August General Uprising (Vietnamese: Tổng khởi-nghĩa giành chính-quyền tháng Tám, lit. 'the Total uprising to seize power in August'), was a revolution launched by the Việt Minh (League for the Independenc...

31/07/2023

Travel hasn't gotten any easier over the years unfortunately & nowadays there's scams like this to be wary of.

Please be careful & as always we're happy to help with good, free & current advice.

Get a 14-day free trial from my sponsor Aura and find out if your personal information has been leaked online: https://Aura.com/pleasantgreenScammers are imp...

11/07/2023

The Naked Hungry Traveller is a very honest & wonderful resource.

They posted this in about 2016 & things are worse nowadays.

Please be very careful with ALL of the review sites & publications.

Ever been fooled by a rave restaurant review? Marina O’Loughlin has – and that’s just the start of her problems with the site

01/04/2023

This looks like being a bit of a sure thing & will be good too especially the Multi Entry option for those wishing to pop over to Thailand, Laos etc & then leave via Viet Nam.

It'll almost certainly work out cheaper in Air Fares now with so many good deals from Australia to Viet Nam on offer.

The government announced it will propose the National Assembly to prolong the duration of e-visas granted to foreigners entering Vietnam from 30 days to a maximum of three months to boost tourism recovery.

29/03/2023

These guys are wonderful.

Offering real, honest & down to earth travel advice we highly recommend them.

Their incredible investigation of the rotten Trick Advisor was outstanding.

Naked Hungry Traveller is all about the wonders of the world witnessed with honesty and insight. It'

25/03/2023

Here's the 2nd good news story !!!

Quang Binh in central Vietnam is a truly remarkable place & not just in Viet Nam either.

A number of the caves are relatively easily accessible & we've arranged for our customers to visit them either as a stand alone trip or as part of a Ha Noi to HCM City (or Vicky Verky) tour.

* With more than 500 caves discovered, Quang Binh in central Vietnam is renowned as the country's kingdom of caves. There are over 40 caves in the province that are open to tourists. Son Doong is the world's largest while En and Pigmy caves come 2nd & 4th.

During an assessment from March 12 to 16, the British Royal Cave Association (BCRA) discovered five new caverns in the limestone mountains in Quang Binh Province.

25/03/2023

Here's a couple of good news stories from Viet Nam.

The 1st one is about the Notre Dame Cathedral in HCM City.

Don't forget to "flick" the pictures & thanks to VN Express for the snazzy special effects.

The repair of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Saigon is 50% complete and expected to last until 2027. The walls have been cleaned, and part of the roof has been replaced.

15/03/2023

Hi & welcome to the Griswald's Vietnamese Vacations Face Book page.

If this is your 1st time here please have a read through this bit as it’s our way of not just introducing ourselves but it’s our way of offering some good, old fashioned & accurate advice for those thinking about a holiday here in Viet Nam.

We’re an Aussie run, Vietnam based, travel and tour operator & since 1994 we've specialised in tailor made tours to Viet Nam for singles, couples, families and small groups.

What different about us you might ask …..

* The tour packages we offer really are different & they’re different because no 2 packages have ever been exactly the same.

* Our tours really are different because all our tours are tailor made & we’re happy to work though your itinerary with you for as long as it takes to get it as close as possible to the sort of holiday you want to do.

* You simply can’t do that in a big group or even with a small group of strangers you’ve never met before.

* We’re different too because we have no fixed departure dates & we leave whenever you want & not the other way around as it should be too.

* A tour with us means it's actually with us too & you're not just
fobbed off to the cheapest mob in town as is the case with nearly everybody else.

* Your stay with us will mean that you can contact us at anytime & if there's anything at all that you need to discuss, we're only a phone call away.

* We recommend that you bring an "unlocked" smart phone &/or tablet with you & we'll have you hooked up to a local number ASAP just in case anyone at home wants to get in touch with you AND, better still, you'll be able to contact us in a flash if you need to & from anywhere in Viet nam too.

* Even better is that you'll then have 3 or 4G Data for the whole time you're here so you can upload any & all the pics or films you want & your friends & family will be able to see what you're up to, day to day, IF you so wish.

An initial Contact !!!

After an initial contact by email we’ll send you a “draft” itinerary & that’ll be the basis of where we go from there.

We’ll email each other back & forth a few times & we strongly suggest a free Face Book chat or even a few so that we can get your itinerary looking just the way you want.

* I always say that a 10 minute chat is worth a dozen emails !!!

Our Prices !!!

Our prices are good too & not only that but when we give you our price it’s without any hidden extras & some of the stunts here really aren’t very nice.

As far as this forced or compulsory tipping thing goes & in most cases it’s every day too, with us, it’s no way, not ever.

If you feel at any time like giving any of our staff a tip then they & us too would be very grateful to you BUT, it’s entirely up to you.

As for the stories about how “In Viet Nam, tipping is compulsory or expected” it’s actually not & never has been either.

* The Hotels we use !!!

This is perhaps the most important part & to assist in this we’ve got 3 You Tube Channels to SHOW you just how lovely the hotels you'll be staying in are & they really are lovely too !!!

We don’t go in for this “tourist class” or “budget mini hotels” or even worse the “smaller family run places” or the dreaded “Multi Share” rooms that so many of our competitors do.

You’ll find our main competitors & in particular the bigger ones are very coy about where you’re going to stay & for good reason too.

Our standard hotels are really what everyone else calls their Superior & when you confirm your tour with us we'll let you know precisely where you're staying & provide links to the hotels too.

In many cases our standard guests get upgraded too & if there's any chance at all of us making that happen, we certainly will for sure & are more than happy to do so.

As the owners of our business we really do take pleasure in seeing you as "Happy as Larry" !!!

There’s much more to what we do & the way we do it too & please feel free to start at our web site & then follow the many links from there.

We look forward to chatting with you & helping to plan a holiday in Viet Nam for you that will be one of the best holidays you've ever had.

03/02/2023

My congratulations, gratitude & admiration too go to the Communist party of Viet Nam on their 93rd anniversary.

Hồ Chi Minh va Viet Nam, Muon Nam.

The Central Committees of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party and the Cambodian People's Party have sent messages of congratulations to the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee on the occasion of the CPV’s 93rd anniversary (February 3).