We are “stuck” in Vientiane (the world’s second most exciting capital city) for a few days, while we wait for our Thai visas. The timing we chose is a bit less than ideal. Usually the passport with visa can be collected the following day, however we applied on a Friday so we have to wait until Monday. So far, we have enjoyed some great food, Indian and Italian at slightly above budget cost. Today we tried to hire a motorbike to explore the surrounds, which proved a little more difficult than usual. They would not hand over the keys to a bike that barely works without a passport. Both of…
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BRB, Going to Ride Around Central Laos! The Thakhek Motorbike Loop
Packing for a six day motorbike loop around central Laos. Malaria tablets, Bushman’s 80% DEET insect repellent, a knife, and a change of underwear. All we would ever need. 🙂
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Ma Pi Leng Pass: Riding A Motorbike From Dong Van To Meo Vac
The Ma Pi Leng pass is quite possible the single best kept secret of intrepid travel in Vietnam. A fellow traveler had told me about these very remote towns deep in the north of Vietnam. One called Dong Van and the other called Meo Vac. I had never heard of either of them. Of course that fact alone peaked my interest. It was not so much the towns themselves, but what lay between them. What connected them was the Ma Pi Leng pass. The single best bit of road in all of South East Asia in my opinion. This drive was so special that we did it twice. Yes, two…
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The Ride From Dong Van To Lung Cu, Ha Giang Province
We arrived in Dong Van at 10am after a 5 hour bumpy local bus ride from Ha Giang province. Dong Van is small and sleepy. We had a very good and incredibly strong coffee and some lunch before we met up with Ha and her friend for the ride to Lung Cu, the northern most point in Vietnam. This is a very important place for Vietnamese people. We were the only tourists on this road and locals were a bit surprised to see us. The road is narrow and hugs the steep mountain side, curving charmingly through the hilly landscape. The Matterhorn in Vietnam. The scenery up here is very…
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Top 10 Things To Do In Cambodia
In the order that I remember them. 1. Get a Blind Massage This is definitely an experience. No pampering, no fuss, just exactly what it says on the sign. A massage by a blind masseur. 60 minutes for $5. A few dollars for a good cause to help the blind make a living working instead of on the street. Don’t let the dirt road alleyway entrance or lack of English deter you. Where: Seeing Hands 4 in Siem Reap. There are Seeing Hands franchises in Phnom Penh, and Sihanoukville too. 2. Visit Angkor Wat at the Angkor Archaeological Park. These 900 year old ruins are a spectacular sight. You can…
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Broke
Not money broke yet, but I am broken and I currently feel like a leper. Every man, woman, child and stray dog looks at me weird with or without my bandages on my face. They even point and stare. We also discovered there’s a crack in our camera’s flash unit, caused by the motorbike accident. Luckily it works fine though I do wish I brought some gaffer tape with us. My kindle is also broken. Discovered this when I settled in on the beach in Dong Hoi, ready to read some trashy book. It’s currently half frozen with a weird, pale stain on the screen. I looked it up and…
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An Accident in Danang
Decided to ride a bike from Hoi An to Hue (132km) with Sara and Nicholas, a German couple we met in Siem Reap and then met again in Hoi An. We had arranged the bikes through a small family run company and they would take our bags up to Hue – so we didn’t need to carry them on the bikes, and they would pick up the bikes there. $20 USD for the bike for the day which was a good deal considering we didn’t have to return it back to Hoi An. I had ridden the semi-auto bike the day before to Marble Mountain with Lionel on the back.…
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Day 5 – Easy Rider – Ho Chi Minh Trail
We were both very excited about today. Xuan had told us that this is his favorite part of the ride between Dalat and Hoi An. We will be spending a fair amount of time on the new Ho Chi Minh road. Well, like many things so far, it delivered. The first stop was at a family owned taro factory. They dry and grind them into a powder to sell to others that then use the powder in combination with rice powder to make a batter. The batter is then used to make rice paper, like Emma has tried making. This area has a lot of Vietnam war history and it…
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Day 4 – Easy Rider – Deeper
We are pretty deep in Vietnam’s central highlands and easy riding has become a bit of a routine. After yet another incredibly tasty breakfast we set off on another day of riding. Our first stop was a tea plantation and to much of the women’s amusement we were able to spend some time with them on the field. Meanwhile a newly wedded couple were taking photos next to us. It seems traditional to take very elaborate wedding photos in Vietnam, which may be why you sometimes see a bride in her dress climbing over rocks near a waterfall to get that special photo. Later we pulled into a small shed…
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Day 3 – Easy Rider – The Longest Day
In the morning we stopped in a minority village, where Xuan knew a family that allowed us to see their home. The houses were raised off the ground and while basic, they are very sturdy. It was really great to see this and not feel like we were walking through their house uninvited. Today was going to be the biggest stretch, about 220km north to Pleiku. I knew this would be a challenging ride as it included some of Vietnam’s interesting traffic. But knowing Xuan would stop frequently to take breaks was good. He stopped and would tell us about Vietnam’s war history, which was very interesting to learn about…
