Sapa Tribal People,Vietnam

H'mong girls roam Sapa town selling souvenirs to tourists, and they speak pretty good English too. Note the capacious basket the girl is carrying on her back.

Villages dot the valley. You can trek in the valley, and stay at a little hut like this.

Valley with neatly terraced fields for food cultivation.

H'mong baby accompanies mum on shopping trip.

Mt Fansipan (3143 m) is the highest peak in Vietnam and the whole of Indochina.. If Mt Everest is the roof of the world, then Fansipan is the roof of Indochina.

In Sapa, the tribal people fascinated me. Maybe in a past life I was one of them. The mountains, the valley and the rustic life will not fail to impress you. Life is slow and peaceful. I don't know about you but it suits me eminently.

Hanoi, Vietnam

For me street life is every country is unique, and I found Vietnam fascinating as it's very much different from Singapore which is cosmopolitan and ultra modern. Here an inter-city bus had just arrived, and people were waiting patiently for the goods to be unloaded from the bus roof (note the the conical hats worn by the women).

Bottled gas sold by the roadside. No, the woman is not a masked warrior belonging to some secret sect -the mask is ward off the swirling dust and air pollution, the latter thanks to the millions of motor-bikes in Vietnam.

Don't scoff at this skinny bike - it's capable of herculean tasks.

June is the lychee season. So cheap that I had them for lunch and dinner.

I'm sure the manufacturer of this three-wheeler didn't have this in mind.

Hanoi, Vietnam

A roadside mechanic: Vietnamese life, social and business, seems to revolve largely on the streets.

Hanoi traffic: Vietnam has millions of motor-bikes. Renting one is dirt cheap but it can be a scary experience to plunge into the maelstrom of Vietnamese traffic.

A street for toys: Hanoi still retains its old world charm. Compared to bustling Saigon,where construction work on new office blocks and apartments goes on at a frenetic pace, Hanoi is leisurely. In the old city, each street is devoted to one craft or business.

A toys street

The lychee hawker: In season, lychee are incredibly cheap.

These days more and more people are venturing to Vietnam. Unlike the hordes of backpackers and tourists you inevitably bump into in Thailand, Vietnam is comparatively quiet on the tourist front. But the momentum is gradually gathering pace so go before it's too late. Go while you can still have miles of pristine, golden beach all to yourself.

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