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Vinh Long: Meandering through the Mekong Delta
There isn’t much to see in the actual town of Vinh Long. The place serves almost entirely as a place to launch a boat to tour around the fabled waters of the ‘Nine Dragons’, the nine main rivers that make up the Mekong Delta. We chose Vinh Long as an alternative to the larger and…
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Saigon (aka Ho Chi Minh City, but Saigon is such a better name)
When I was writing the post on Hanoi, I realized that I would have to save some of my hyperbole about Vietnamese cities for the post on Saigon. The two big cities in Vietnam have some similarities. They are both marked by the Vietnam War and they both feature clouds of motorbikes zipping through their…
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Hoi An: Our Brief Jaunt into Central Vietnam
Our hasty departure from Ha Long Bay meant that we made it to Hoi An just in time for their monthly Legendary Night. The Hoi An Legendary Night is a celebration timed with the full moon that aims to transform Hoi An back in time. Electrical lights are turned off and colorful lanterns are used…
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The Unparalled Ha Long Bay
Ha Long Bay was one of the few places in Vietnam where I had some sense of what it might be like to be there. Glossy images of bright green karsts jutting out of crystal blue waters danced in my head like National Geographic spreads as we planned how to travel from Hanoi to Ha…
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Hanoi
From Sapa, we took the train to Hanoi, our first big city in a while. By the time we arrived there, we had been looking forward to getting back into an urban environment, and Hanoi did not disappoint at all. Unlike Bangkok, which really felt like a Western city with Asian details, Hanoi felt entirely…
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Vietnam at last: Dien Bien Phu (briefly) and Sapa
After being delayed for what seemed like forever, we crossed the border from Vietnam to Laos on the second of February. It was a great relief to finally be making some forward progress in our trip and we were excited to see the next country on our itinerary. We felt a little rushed since our…
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On the road to Vietnam: Nong Kiaow, Muang Khua, and the border
Even after deciding that our best course of action would be to head north to the border crossing near Muang Khua, we didn’t actually finalize that until early in the morning at the bus station on a hill above Sam Neua. We stood there with some new friends, backpacks sitting in the dust, and tried…
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Sam Neua and Vieng Xai: Spiritual Center of Modern Laos
Sam Neua was supposed to be our gateway to Vietnam but fate (and the Vietnamese New Year, aka Tet) had other plans. Knowing that Tet has the tendency to shut down Vietnam, we arrived in Sam Neua with four days to spare before the holiday actually started. We had four days instead of five because,…
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Phonsavan’s Plain of Jars
After a grueling 10 hour bus ride from Luang Prabang (complete with blaring Thai/Lao pop music, vomiting Laotians, and chickens), we arrived in Phonsavan. The main reason to visit Phonsavan is to see the Plain of Jars–thousands of gigantic, ancient jars scattered across many different large areas of land. There are over 90 sites of…
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Luang Prabang, Laos: The Prettiest City You’ve Never Heard Of
People have been periodically asking me what my favorite place has been that we have traveled to so far and after over 150 days of traveling I think that I can truthfully say that it is this: Luang Prabang, Laos. I had never even heard of Luang Prabang until we got to Laos and read…