Knowing that Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, was actually smaller than Vietnam, made me think that it would somehow be a little less crazy. I foolishly believed life would move at a slower pace, people wouldn’t incessantly blow their horns, and the old quarter would be be full of relaxing cafes and charming French architecture. more»

If you took one look at a picture of Ha Long Bay, you’d probably think, “I have to go there.” At least that’s what I thought. The place is unbelievably gorgeous and photogenic. more»

Sapa is one of the more popular places to visit in northern Vietnam. When trying to decide how to spend our time in the country, we looked at the map and some google images and decided it was right up our alley. With limited time in Southeast Asia, it made sense to visit a landscape we hadn’t seen since Nepal. more»

Tomorrow we start our short trip to Myanmar, or Burma, or whatever you want to call it. We hear internet access is hard to come by and/or expensive there, so we’re not planning on using much there. That means no site updates, no emails, etc. But fear not, we’ll be releasing our remaining Vietnam posts over the next week. Write-ups of our travels in Burma will have to wait until we get back.

To learn more about where we are going, check out the Wikipedia article. I also updated the maps area (well, the big one at least), so you can see our main route and where we’ll be going all the way up until the trip is over.

Saigon. Just the name alone conjures up a flurry of images, even for someone who wasn’t alive during the sixties and seventies. For better or worse, movies and television have taken care of the lack of any actual memories of the history of the place. Hollywood and archival news footage-induced notions aside, I was very excited to check out Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh City, or whatever you want to call it. more»

Mango, the king of fruit, has betrayed me. more»

Phnom Penh is small and quaint compared to most capital cities, and that’s what makes it so interesting. The scooter traffic is as manic as elsewhere in southeast Asia, yet it’s remarkably easy to navigate the city on foot, moto, or tuk-tuk. And it has a slightly rough edge to it, something many people are looking for in their travels. In this respect it didn’t disappoint. more»

We’ve eaten at hundreds of restaurants since the trip began. The service at these places has varied from top notch at swanky places in India to unbearably lax and slow at some beach places in Thailand, and everywhere in between. Here are a few anecdotes from some of the funny things that have happened to us while dining out on the big trip. more»

This short video wraps up our coverage from the enigmatic temples of Angkor. If you can’t see the video, make sure you have the latest version of Flash installed.

Sadly, almost the first thing that comes to mind for most people when they hear “Cambodia” is tragedy. Things are looking up for this country that still has its problems, yet failing to explore the events that have put Cambodia where it is today would leave the visitor without a complete picture. more»