Nomadic Notes Newsletter (April 2025)

The historic fort city of Bengkulu, Vietnam provinces, and other site updates.

Welcome to the Nomadic Notes Newsletter. This newsletter summarises the latest posts at nomadicnotes.com, site updates, and other unblogged ramblings.

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Travel updates

Hello from Ho Chi Minh City. This month I have been to Da Nang, Hoi An, and Quy Nhon, and I’m now back in Saigon for the 50th anniversary of Reunification Day.

I was here for the 40th anniversary in 2015, and that was a big event. The 50th will probably be the last parade of this scale, and it’s already been a momentous week of festivities. There have been a few parade rehearsals, which have filled the streets with people. There are also posters all over the city commemorating the anniversary.

[30/4 posters are everywhere in the city (via @nomadicnotes).]

I will post an article about Reunification Day next week.

My 3-month visa for Vietnam is almost done, so I will go back to my other home base in Chiang Mai next week. Unlike this trip to Vietnam where I visited several cities, I will be staying put for a while to focus on work.

It’s been years since I’ve done this much travel in Vietnam, and it’s been great. I visited the main coastal cities to get a feel for how they are to live in, and I still don’t have a clear favourite. I will write about the big two (Da Nang and Nha Trang) soon. I hope to publish more articles while I am not travelling about.

I will be arriving in Thailand days after the launch of the digital arrival card. There was also talk of reducing the visa on arrival from 2 months to 1 month, but that hasn’t happened yet.

Latest posts at Nomadic Notes

I’m about one year behind in my chronological blogging, so I am still working my way through my Indonesia trip from last year.

• Notes on Bengkulu: A historic fort city on the wrong side of Sumatra

Bengkulu is the capital of Bengkulu province on the west coast of Sumatra Island. The city was a British outpost for nearly two centuries, though the colonial remnants are not as well preserved as the famous Straits cities.

Updated posts at Nomadic Notes

• Visiting every province in Vietnam

This is an impending update that I don’t know how to go about yet. Vietnam is planning to merge provinces, so all of my guides will need an update. Provinces are similar to states in the USA/Australia, or counties in the UK/Ireland, so it’s a radical change. Here is a map of the proposed provinces.

• Udon Thani to Vientiane by train: cross the Mekong on this local international rail service

This article will also be updated soon due to the service being discontinued. If you have been planning this trip, you only have until 1 May to do it.

My other sites

The Travel Wire

Subscribe to The Travel Wire to get a weekly newsletter of the best travel reads from around the web.

Future Southeast Asia

The Future Southeast Asia Newsletter covers transport and urban development issues.

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James Clark – Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.