From North to South, Vietnam, like a spellbinding snake, rolls out its finest jewels, both natural human and human.

Lan Ha bay, a less touristy extension of Ha Long bay, really matches it in beauty and unfortunately in dirtiness and pollution. This would be, or so it seems, the price to pay for its far too chaotic development.

Same assessment in Tam Coc, nicknamed the terrestrial Ha Long Bay, where overtourism ends up concealing the site's beauty. By chance the extent of Huê's Impetial City helps keeping away from the crowds and savour the delicateness of the Nguyen Emperors' architecture, highlighted in their monumental tombs scattered around the city.

It is only in the early morning, when only the locals tread the streets and attend their daily life's occupations, that you can fully enjoy Hoi An, once a thriving harbor on the Maritime Silk Road, now frozen in time like Bruges was.

Sprawling and bustling Ho Chi Minh City, former Saigon, fully plays its part as the country's economic capital, just a stone throw from the Mekong delta, along which the pace of life is more calm. Like this South-East Asian legendary river's.

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Nestled high along the Chinese border the northernmost reaches of Vietnam, once an area difficult to access, contrast sharply with the rest of the country, with their uneven terrain, their gorgeous landscapes, their preserved wilderness.

They house a rich ethnic mosaic – 54 ethnic groups are officially recognised-. These populations, easy identifiable by their often colourful traditional costumes, belong to the same ethnic groups which can be found in the Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou, but also in Laos and Thailand.

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From North to South, meeting the Vietnamese people and witnessing its daily life.

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