This'll be a short one as I didn't spend too much time in Hue and really didn't see a lot. It was really nice coming to this place after being in Ninh Binh and Dong Ha but unfortunately I was on a tight schedule with lots to see and on this damned quest of finding medical care so I only spent a day and a half in Hue. This was a shame as it was one of the few places I really liked in Vietnam. Despite it being very touristy it had a nice vibe to it. There was good food [View Full Entry]

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Hot diggity dog darn gosh molly, how nice it was to be back in civilized territory again after three long months in South East Asia! It's nice and interesting (and frustrating...) to travel through Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos but being a Westerner I gotta have me some of that civilized crap that's being offered by Western society. Good for me that Singapore is a SEA:n city/country that can give me just that. I'm totally biased after my travels through SEA but boy is Singapore a happenin' city! A perfect SimCity combo of cool buildings and green areas. I think it's even [View Full Entry]

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I stopped in Dong Ha to access the DMZ. The main "attractions" would be the old Khe Sanh base and the Vinh Moc tunnels. I'd heard about the DMZ Cafe arranging good tours to these places so I was on a lookout for them. When I got off the train I got the usual touts harassing me. I shook'em off and headed into town on foot. I guy with a motorbike stopped and claimed he was from the DMZ Cafe and could take me to a good guesthouse. Sure... I still let him pick me up and we went to the [View Full Entry]

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Leaving Cat Ba Island I went to Ninh Binh to see the land version of Halong Bay: Tam Coc. Ninh Binh was just one of many Vietnamese shitholes and to add to the flavour it was nice and rainy when I arrived. Finding a restaurant, besides all the regular pho places, turned out to be impossible. This eternal hunt for decent food in this country is a constant source of frustration. It ain't easy when you're a picky customer, not keen on trying exotic fly riddled unidentifiable food items on the street (so I'm a princess, what's it to ya!?) I [View Full Entry]

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UPDATE! Uhh... Seems like the laptop has been re-animated in some weird way so I can actually post the blogs that have been waiting in a directory on this undead computer. So here goes! I really wanted to see Halong Bay and Cat Ba Island, despite it being the wrong time of the year and a great risk of winter mists obscuring everything worth seeing in the bay. While staying in the stinkhole of Hanoi I contemplated taking one of those tours to the bay but none of them offered enough time on C.B. Island. Well screw the damn tours then! [View Full Entry]

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Okay folks, the electronic demon has reared its ugly head AGAIN and killed my laptop and as I'm not very good att bloging "on the spot" the "hilarity" will be sparse here... Probably no more pictures... I don't know... Right now I'm in Nha Trang for a quick stop. It's the goddamned Tet so everything is closed or fully booked and I'm already on my way outta here! Tonight I had to sleep on a couch in a hotel lobby... So what's the major problem with Tet? well folks, make sure you're not bitten by a rabid dog just before this [View Full Entry]

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I had to see the ol' corpse of Ho Chi Minh while in the cesspool of Hanoi. There are many good reasons to pay the old stiff a visit: He was a great historic figure, you're an aspiring embalmer, you are hot for dead people, but the most interesting aspect is watching asian people in the city of Hanoi being respectful and quiet! It's quite a shock witnessing people actually lining up instead of pushing each other out of the way and being able to keep quiet for so long. Experiencing this was well worth the price of admission (actually, there [View Full Entry]

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As I was interested in seeing some stuff in Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam, I elected to cross the border between Laos and Vietnam the hard way - up north at Tay Trang. It sure as hell would've been smoother to just fly straight from Luang Prabang to Hanoi, but where's the adventure in that? So after spending New Year's in Luang Prabang with some nice room company I sat my B-hind on the bus to Udomxai. A quite long ride on one hell of an ass-breaking bus. Crossing mountains means endless roads winding in every direction imaginable. After having the luxury [View Full Entry]

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I left Vientiane, which I strangely enough liked despite it being very touristy and whore infested, to go to Phonsavan. So I had one of those painful neverending busrides ahead of me. It started out pretty bad when I got ripped off by a tuk-tuk driver to go to the bus station. I thought I'd be going to the one that's more than 10km away, so I thought 20 000 kip was expensive but okay. Well, I wasn't going to that one but to another one that was only 2km away or something like that. Great! Well worth the 20 000 [View Full Entry]

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I've already discussed this place on my Swedish blog but there were no pretty pictures accompanying the story so here's a brief recap in English. Phnom Sampeau is one of my absolute favorite spots on this trip so far and it had a little bit of everything: beautiful nature with scenic views and caves, temples, war history, quiet and stillness and not too many obnoxious vendors or general assholes disturbing the experience. Awesome! After a long motorbike ride from Hell on a horrendous dirt road full of bumps and holes, the driver dropped me off at the foot of the hill [View Full Entry]

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