Places to visit in 2012 – Vietnam
Until relatively recently Vietnam used to be associated almost exclusively with the American-led war which ended in 1975, but in recent decades the country has become a very popular tourist destination for those who seek a bit of adventure and who want to explore this Asian culture.
The country occupies a relatively thin sliver of coastline, for the most part, in the South China Sea, the country is however spread across a large enough area to have several distinct climate zones. The North region of the country features four seasons, the Central region is influenced by two different weather patterns, while the South has more or less three seasons.
If you’re considering visiting Vietnam, then you should carefully study the region you’re going to visit to make sure that you don’t get there during the cold or rainy season as that will surely put a dampen on your enjoyment of the place.
Vietnam has a lot to offer the intrepid tourist, depending on what you want to see and do, there are several attractions to look for, from the traditional ones such as buildings and museums, to national parks and of course the culture as a whole, one can spend countless hours just watching the traffic wizz by to and fro, it’s something mesmerizing and rather dangerous for the uninitiated.
As far as the traditional attractions go, Vietnam has a varied range to choose from starting with places like the Dalat Flower Gardens which can be found in “the city of thousands flowers” – Dalat, to the Cham Island group which is a group of eight small islands featuring a wonderful topography of slopes and biological diversity, and everything in between.
Halong Bay has been garnering a lot of attention recently, having been provisionally named on the UNESCO World Heritage site as one of the new “seven wonders of nature”. The place features conical rocky peaks which rise dramatically from the water, and the area in general is largely untouched by humans. The jungle thicket’s allure is compounded by the presence of offshore coral reefs, freshwater swamps, mangrove forests and sandy beaches.
