Blog Post: Tuesday morning field trip to Vietnam

I'm planning to take a trip to Vietnam this spring. I've never been to Asia, and everyone always has glowing things to say about Vietnam. Great food, diverse culture, friendly people, natural beauty...Vietnam has it all. But I don't know very much about the country beyond what others have told me. That's why I was really excited this morning when I saw the Bing homepage photo: a cave in Vietnam.

 

It was a chance for me to do some exploring and research, all from the comfort of my laptop. No packing necessary.

Each morning, Bing has a new homepage photo that depicts a tiny and amazing corner of this world. But hidden in each photo are "hotspots." These little white boxes appear when you hover over them, and uncover a unique factoid about what you are seeing.

 

By clicking on them, you'll be redirected to one of Bing's unique features, be it the Visual Search Gallery, or perhaps our Bing Map applications.

We've heard from numerous teachers that love to begin their class day with the Bing homepage photo, and letting their students explore for 10-15 minutes to jump-start their minds.

So let's check out a few of these hotspots from today's photo. Let's learn more about this specific cave...

Clicking on the "hotspot" link takes me to a list of results that have to do with this cave. I can see that this cave in Vietnam was just discovered in 2009, and is now considered to be the largest in the world. Sorry, Deer Cave in Borneo!

So when I'm traveling to Vietnam this spring, perhaps I want to make this cave part of my itinerary. But I have no idea where it's located. With Bing, you can go well beyond the series of blue links. Let's go ahead and click on another hotspot:

This link takes us to a richly-detailed map of Vietnam. I can view the country from a satellite photo, or get up close and personal with the Photosynth Map App. Photosynth creates a patchwork collage of multiple photos. It's like taking a huge photo "blanket" and draping it over your head. Let's dive into this one:

Here I selected a Photosynth from the city of Hue, the ancient capital of Vietnam, and am exploring the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park. Looks pretty amazing! And I was planning on visiting Hue anyway, so now I know of one place that I definitely want to visit.

So in a matter of minutes, I've discovered some cool locations that I want to visit on my vacation, learned a bit of Vietnam trivia, and got a better idea of what Vietnam is really like. Each and every day, the opportunities for exploration open up through the Bing homepage photo - no passport needed.

Samantha Morton Grace Park Jill Wagner Susie Castillo Fergie