-
Travelling to Mui Ne
Blog: Kate McVaugh's Rambles - 2 March 2011
The only way to get to Mui Ne Beach is by bus or train. I didn’t relish the thought of either even if it was only four hours away. It has to do with the one major downfall of travelling alone; who watches your bag when you go to take a pee?
-
A Tale of Two Tours: Part II, Khmer Village
Blog: Lonely Girl Travels - 1 March 2011
Duc had a prison-style dragon tattoo and a speech impediment, and he gave me the best goddamn tour I went on in Vietnam. I kept seeing him around town. My first morning, groggy-eyed drinking coffee at a corner cafe, I saw him sitting at a neighboring table. He was selling his tour services to another [...]
-
Sleeper Bus Blues
Blog: Drifting Aimless - 1 March 2011
Arching her back and thrusting her chest forward, the Danish girl shot me a wry look from the corner of her eye, “yah but I was dissapointed, they wouldn’t let me break off the head myself”. It might have been just the motion of the minibus as it careered around the heavily potholed road, but I could [...]
-
A Tale of Two Tours: Part 1, Ba Chuc
Blog: Lonely Girl Travels - 28 February 2011
We were racing the sun. It was begining to glow orange, cut into pieces by the great green palm leaves. The Mekong Delta—the landscape of every Vietnam War movie I’d ever seen, where boat engines sounded like the echoes of helicopter blades. We were trying to get to Ba Chuc before the sun went down. [...]
-
Saturday Night Fevered
Blog: Lonely Girl Travels - 27 February 2011
Long stalks of flowers and twisted plumes of incense burning. Nodding, bowing, chanting with their eyes closed. Trays of food—peeled fruit, shrink-wrapped cookie packages, an entire plucked chicken—held atop people’s heads as they murmur. Candles and coconuts, red glowing altars (to what, to what?).
-
Expensive, Bad and Popular: The Mystery of Highlands Coffee
Blog: Lonely Girl Travels - 26 February 2011
It was gonna be bad. And not just bad—cheesy, inauthentic and fuck-all expensive. And yet I felt that sneaky smile, that oh-God-I-hope-no-one-sees-me sensation. I let myself get sucked into the air-conditioned arms of Highlands Coffee. It’s the Starbucks of Saigon, and morbid curiousity led me to do it—the same cringing magnetism that inspired me to [...]
-
Saigon’s Secret Cities
Blog: Lonely Girl Travels - 26 February 2011
It seemed like LA to me: glitzy buildings, endless traffic, neon lights reflecting off the hoods of gleaming cars. After two weeks in Vietnam, Saigon’s wide roads and rows of Western shops, its construction cranes turning this way, that way, like slow skeletal animals—it all seemed terribly wealthy to me. And even more than Hanoi, [...]
-
12 Captivating Natural Wonders of South East Asia
Blog: GoBackpacking - 25 February 2011
Jagged limestone cliffs and clear Andaman seas make Krabi an inspiring destination in Thailand.---------Join Travel Blog Success today and learn to build a better travel blog. Membership includes 27 tutorials, private forum, audio interviews, and more.
-
Tra Que Vegetable Village
Blog: Kate McVaugh's Rambles - 25 February 2011
Not far from the center of town lies the small village of Tra Que, where families have been growing and selling vegetables for around 500 years.
-
Take Me To The Jungle, And Don’t Ever Take Me Back
Blog: Lonely Girl Travels - 25 February 2011
Okay, so outdated pop culture references aside, hear me and hear me well: Jungle Beach is the stuff of backpacker folklore. A rustic, simple homestay: a cluster of bamboo cabanas on a sandy lot, shaded by the whispering palms of trees; hammocks and hand-made lounge chairs; a communal dining room where guests gather twice a [...]
-
The Best Dorm in the World - Hotel Rendezvous in Hanoi, Vietnam
Blog: Living the Dream: RTW - 22 February 2011
Traveling around the world puts budget travelers in a number of interesting accommodations, specifically dorm rooms. Ask anyone who has traveled and you'll likely get an array of stories and experiences from the best and the worst dorm rooms from around the world.
-
Little Artist Girl, Hoi An
Blog: Lonely Girl Travels - 20 February 2011
The best cup of coffee—or rather, glass of coffee, tinkling with ice cubes and a teeny spoon for stirring—I had in Hoi An wasn’t at one of the wicker-chair, wifi-ready terrace cafes with an English menu. Sure, those were nice too: to sit and look out on the lantern-lined pedestrian streets and tailor shops and [...]
-
The Russians in Town & Boat Ferries
Blog: Kate McVaugh's Rambles - 18 February 2011
-
No Hue: Hue Riders Knock-Off
Blog: Lonely Girl Travels - 18 February 2011
Mr. Loc is over it. He slows the motorbike, pulling over to the skinny shoulder of the highway that wraps seductively around the lush green mountain. He points. “Photo.” It’s more of a command than a suggestion. I snap of shot of the vista—pretty, with rice paddies and a cloak of fog. But I couldn’t [...]
-
Full Moon Festival
Blog: Kate McVaugh's Rambles - 17 February 2011
Hoi An celebrates the full moon every single month and last night I got to join in the festivities.
-
Hanoi’s Secret Cafe
Blog: Lonely Girl Travels - 16 February 2011
I love rooftops, and I love rooftops in cities—sitting up on your bird’s perch and watching the strange dance of it all. There’s no pigeons in Hanoi (except the ones you see plucked and pink at the food stalls), and there’s virtually no places to take respite. Jacob told me about the secret cafe—not so [...]
-
Clinton Stayed Here?????
Blog: Kate McVaugh's Rambles - 15 February 2011
I am in a really, really nice hotel. I am by no means a 5-star traveler, but am way past the super-budget rooms of my younger years. I suppose I’d be categorized as a Flash Packer, which is the group between the two extremes. And this hotel is a bit above that level.
-
Hoi An
Blog: Kate McVaugh's Rambles - 14 February 2011
I’ve arrived in Nirvana, was my first thought as I rolled into the town of Hoi An a few days ago. After a month of noise, pollution, and 90F/32C degree temperatures, this is such a welcome change.
-
Vietnam Cycling Challenge!
Blog: Canada's Adventure Couple - 14 February 2011
One volunteer and intrepid traveler is taking part in the GVN Foundation's Cycling Challenge in Vietnam. Biking over 500km to raise funds for orphans, medical care and salaries for physical therapists who work with the severely disabled children.Vietnam Cycling Challenge! is a post from: The Planet D: Canada's Adventure Couple
-
Learning to Ride On a Motorbike in Hanoi
Blog: Lonely Girl Travels - 14 February 2011
Hanoi is a bipolar child with a strict bedtime. Clinging hands behind me to the metal rack, I try to suppress the involuntary flinching—a circumstantial case of Tourette’s. It’s Saturday morning, and my first ride aback a motorbike through the frenetic traffic of Hanoi. If you want to see the word “clusterfuck” defined, acted out [...]
-
Ha Long Bay does not take kindly to pirates
Blog: Nilikuta Shani - 12 February 2011
Ha Long Bay is a world heritage site and there aren’t enough words in the English language to justly describe the unique and spectacular beauty of this place. Seeing it for yourself, however, is often the cause of many headaches … Continue reading →Ha Long Bay does not take kindly to pirates is a post from: Nilikuta Shani
-
Dalat is For Lovers
Blog: Twenty-Something Travel - 10 February 2011
Vietnam is a busy whirl of constant surprises. One day you’re learning about the American War another you seem to have walked into a postcard, and then one day, you wake up and you’re in Paris. Well, sort of. “The Paris of Vietnam” is the nickname of the city of Dalat. And boy are they [...]
-
Tet Flower Street 2011
Blog: Kate McVaugh's Rambles - 6 February 2011
Tet, the Lunar New Year, just doesn’t get any better than in Ho Chi Minh City. Every house and every shop and every big building is embellished in red and gold, with flowers and plants and decorations out front and on windows and doors.
-
Street Coffee in Hanoi - Picture of the Week
Blog: Malaysia Asia - 5 February 2011
Street Coffee in Hanoi is my picture of the week. This photo was taken at the junction of the famous cathedral in Hanoi's Old Quarter in April 2010. A popular locals hangout by the street, they are seen sitting all around the sidewalk drinking Vietnamese Coffee or the special lemon juice. while munching on local peanuts throwing the skins on the floor. Foot high stools are used as makeshift
