Hi Arura,
I thought I'd move the discussion of VN travel over here so that we don't clutter up the Critiques thread with off-topic discussion. Anything goes over here in Salon though!
Wow - 5 weeks to see VN! That sounds about right. I brought my mother with me in October 2000 for a three week trip and we didn't have time for the south at all. (I've been there myself, but for the time we had, I preferred staying in the north and central areas.) From the outline on your website, looks like you'll be seeing some great areas.
As far as traveling with a laptop, it is not an issue at all. I do it all the time and I've never had a problem. Internet access is also easy to find (new in the past year). Just look for a store that has the "Internet Card" sign hanging out front. You can find them all over HCMC and Hanoi - probaby other places as well. For more information, check out the FPT website and it will tell you everything you need to know, including the price per minute of connect time. As far as the speed of the connection, well, that's another story. Expect SLOW!! Sometimes it is so slow I just give up and try another time. Late afternoons and evenings tend to be the worst time to connect. Early morning (5:00am-7:00am) is the best time. I usually wake up really early over there just so I can use the internet at a somewhat reasonable speed.
You've given yourself quite a challenge to learn Photoshop before your trip! I remember opening Photoshop a dozen times, trying to make sense of all the tools and how I might actually use them to affect my photo - and quickly closing the program because the user interface was so different than anything I'd used before. (I'm the kind of person who likes to try a program before actually reading any documentation - didn't work with PS!
) But, it didn't take long once I read a couple chapters in a book to figure out the basics - and you probably won't need more than the basics for your digital pics!
Of course, feel free to ask any questions - either about Photoshop or traveling in Viet Nam!
Jeanie
I thought I'd move the discussion of VN travel over here so that we don't clutter up the Critiques thread with off-topic discussion. Anything goes over here in Salon though!

Wow - 5 weeks to see VN! That sounds about right. I brought my mother with me in October 2000 for a three week trip and we didn't have time for the south at all. (I've been there myself, but for the time we had, I preferred staying in the north and central areas.) From the outline on your website, looks like you'll be seeing some great areas.
As far as traveling with a laptop, it is not an issue at all. I do it all the time and I've never had a problem. Internet access is also easy to find (new in the past year). Just look for a store that has the "Internet Card" sign hanging out front. You can find them all over HCMC and Hanoi - probaby other places as well. For more information, check out the FPT website and it will tell you everything you need to know, including the price per minute of connect time. As far as the speed of the connection, well, that's another story. Expect SLOW!! Sometimes it is so slow I just give up and try another time. Late afternoons and evenings tend to be the worst time to connect. Early morning (5:00am-7:00am) is the best time. I usually wake up really early over there just so I can use the internet at a somewhat reasonable speed.
You've given yourself quite a challenge to learn Photoshop before your trip! I remember opening Photoshop a dozen times, trying to make sense of all the tools and how I might actually use them to affect my photo - and quickly closing the program because the user interface was so different than anything I'd used before. (I'm the kind of person who likes to try a program before actually reading any documentation - didn't work with PS!

Of course, feel free to ask any questions - either about Photoshop or traveling in Viet Nam!
Jeanie
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