South East Asia on a Hamstring – February 25
February 25, 2000
Blaring propaganda woke me up at 6am. That’s the downside of sleeping near a border post.
I wandered down to the shared bathroom in my t-shirt and shorts, hoping to avoid the family. Shorts are offensive to Laotians – they just don’t wear them. The night wat
South East Asia on a Hamstring – February 27
Hanoi, Vietnam – February 27, 2000
I slept in and enjoyed my last few hours of a single room. Wendy’s trip was over and today we got a new group and a new leader and I was to switch rooms and share with Lochie for the next ten nights.
Our new leader was as of yet unidentified. Pau
Travels without a Plan #22
Vietnam – Home of a Million Organised Tours
Sometimes you have to get away from the hawkers, taxi drivers and postcard sellers that swarm the the streets of Vietnam. I’m starting to see what other backpackers meant when they say that the locals only see you as a walking dollar si
Paul Kan’s Asia Journal #4: Apr. 14-May 3, Vietnam, Part II – Vietnam
Apr. 14-May 3Vietnam, Part II
In this story:
A Haunting Beauty
Traffic as Culture
Notable Sights
After having been in Vietnam for over two and half weeks, beauty would almost seem to be an understatement. (Which is part of the reason why I am so delayed on my update: there seemed to be so many
Paul Kan’s Asia Journal #3: Apr. 14-May 3, Vietnam, Part I – Vietnam
Traffic on a Saigon street.
Apr. 14-May 3Vietnam, Part I
In this story:
A Hong Kong Note
First Impressions
It has now been a week since I first arrived in Vietnam. I almost didn’t make it. I was so exhausted after coming back from Shanghai, I ended up missing my flight twice
Paul Kan’s Asia Journal #12: June 8-13, Saigon & the Mekong Delta – Vietnam
June 8-13Saigon & the Mekong Delta
Walking across the border from Cambodia into Vietnam.
In this story:
To the Vietnamese Border
Vinh Long (Mekong Delta)
Back in Saigon
To the Vietnamese Border
With the unbearable heat and blowing sand, balanced by visions of the ancient t
Valentine’s in Vietnam
Armed with chocolate, bread and cheese, my husband Keith and I planned to enjoy a Valentine’s Day feast on a Vietnam train. Bribery, bugs and getting lost were not part of the plan.
Our journey seemed simple, a twelve hour train ride from Nha Trang to Danang and then a half an hour bus
Chasing Horizons #8: Spirit of Vietnam, Part 1 – Vietnam
Spirit of Vietnam, Part 1
The plane banked steeply as it came through the layer of cloud into the dirty haze which hung over Hanoi and the surrounding landscape below like a heavy mosquito net. This added to the excitement I was already feeling in anticipation of exploring a new country. As I p
Chasing Horizons #9: Spirit of Vietnam, Part 2 – Vietnam
Spirit of Vietnam, Part 2
On May 31, we left Hue on an air-conditioned mini bus. Our journey took the coastal Highway 1 further south along a good road. The scenery was, as usual, stunningly Vietnamese. Here the rice fields alternate with fish farms where large square shaped holding reservoirs
Vietnam: An Unspoiled Vacation
Vietnam: An Unspoiled Vacation
It was relatively hot and humid at the end of January for my stroll in Ho Chi Minh City (even the natives call it Saigon). Outside the Municipal Theatre, built in 1899, a newlywed couple was having their pictures taken. Rex Hotel, once a garage in the 1960’s
Change of Heart – Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Change of Heart
Saigon, Vietnam
Fancy jewelers use mirrors in this way. Small mirrors carefully arranged to reflect the open, intricate functioning innards of hand-crafted watches that they say, “you never actually own, but merely look after for the next generation.”
The store I st
Muzak, Footy, Bars & Buses (1 of 2) – Vietnam
Saigon & Dalat, Vietnam
Bus Journeys
Despite spending all my time in Saigon – 12 days – I’m doing my damnedest to avoid the place.
Monday afternoon finds me wandering into Sinh or Kim cafe to book a ticket to escape. These two places have the tourism in Vietnam by the bollo
Muzak, Footy, Bars & Buses (2 of 2) – Vietnam
Muzak, Footy, Bars & Buses
Saigon, Vietnam
Yep. Again.
Shit, Saigon? Not Saigon again!
Saturday. Saigon. Twiddle your thumbs or pull your plonker? What to do?
Renowned for its nightlife, it’s here that the crazy Apocalypse Now bar is. Just an extension of the movie, except without t
Sipping Wine – Vietnam
Sipping Wine
Lat Village, Vietnam
Lat Village, named after its inhabitants’ ethnic group and located just outside of Da Lat in the central highlands, lies precariously on the margin of modernization. Locals generally welcome tourists who provide a direly needed, although unpredictable, s
My Son – Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
My Son
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
I felt foreign and isolated those first few weeks in Ho Chi Minh City. I didn’t speak Vietnamese, my host family didn’t speak English, and I didn’t want to spend too much time with Westerners.
My street had everything. It buzzed with daily
Yes, We Have No Banana Pancakes #7: Southern Cambodia to Saigon – Cambodia and Vietnam
Southern Cambodia to Saigon, Asia
Southern Cambodia to Saigon
After hanging around Ratanakiri a little too long, we proved just how intrepid we really are by hopping a nice, clean, air-con flight to Phnom Penh. We’d really built the city up in our minds, and our disappointment on arrival
Yes, We Have No Banana Pancakes #9: Thanh Quit: Mr. Phong\’s Neighborhood – Thanh Quit, Vietnam
Thanh Quit: Mr. Phong’s Neighborhood
Hoi An, in its serenity, is a weird place from which to watch a war, but our visit to the nearby village of Thanh Quit brought the effects of war into sharper focus: only two houses in this village of 15,000 people survived the Vietnam war. Our guide,
Yes, We Have No Banana Pancakes #8: Hoi An, Vietnam: Vestiges of Interest – Hoi An, Vietnam
Hoi An, Vietnam: Vestiges of Interest
In which our heroes shop while bombs drop
Another life dream crossed off the list: I got to ride in my first sleeper car, as we took the train north from Saigon (Update: Er tells me those lovely chimes I mentioned last time are actually “lady-boys
Yes, We Have No Banana Pancakes #10: Sapa – Sapa, Vietnam
Sapa
We just spent a great two weeks with some really amazing children, very very close to the Chinese border in some beautiful mountains in the town of Sapa, in NW Vietnam. Black Hmong, Flower Hmong, Tay, and Tzao people live in villages around and about, and they’d come to the Sapa mar
Worldwide with Wee-Cheng #70: Down Highway One of Vietnam: Journey Through Ancient Kingdoms And Old Battlefields – Vietnam
#69: Down Highway One of Vietnam:
Journey Through Ancient Kingdoms And Old Battlefields
04 DEC 2002
Vietnam. That land of lush green paddy fields with scattered thatch and bamboo houses. The erotic sensual beauty of girls in flowing silk ao dai and conical hats cycling on pretty country lanes.
