Vietnam Travel & Tourism

In 2001, Mark Rapoport and his family left New York to settle in Hanoi. The long-time expat and his Vietnamese partner run 54 Traditions, a gallery that sells handicrafts produced by ethnic minorities from all over the country. Almost every year, Rapaport’s two sons visit their parents and travel throughout the city.

“Over the last nine years, my wife, Alison, and I (with some help from our two children Robert and Jane Hughes) have put together a list of 101 reasons why we love living in Hanoi,” Rapaport said. “We presented it as a book, entitled 101 reasons to love living in Hanoi, which we published last July to celebrate the 1,000th year anniversary of Thang Long – Hanoi.” [...Read more]

Vietnam’s coastline is spectacular. Its cities buzz with capitalist vitality – and a zillion mopeds. The food is mesmerising. How much has changed since the war, marvels veteran reporter Michael Buerk, as he travels the length of the country

When I was a young reporter, Western visitors to Hanoi were greeted with a Sam-2 missile up the afterburner, followed, if they survived, by several years locked into a rusty iron stockade.

Thirty-five years later, arriving as a veteran, I am met with a rather different welcome: an air-conditioned limousine and the most beautiful girl in the world, sleek in a skin-tight, pearl-coloured ao dai, carrying two bottles of ice-cold Laurent Perrier. Times change. [...Read more]