We wanted to travel to Dalat to get away from the coast a bit and see a different side of Vietnam. The medium sized city of 200,000 is located in the Central Highlands of Vietnam at around 1500m altitude. The climate is much different from the coast with most days not going above 25 celcius and the evenings getting as low as 10 celcius. Dalat is the honeymoon capital of Vietnam so it is usually full of local tourists. It has also been referred to as Le Petit Paris due to its French Colonial influence that is evident in the abundance of French Colonial architecture and streets of French villas. Our early departure from rainy Nha Trang meant we would get to Dalat in the early afternoon and still have plenty of time to explore before ... read more

We arrived in Hoi An after the sun had set and it was raining a bit, yet again. Lucky for us it has usually only rained in the evenings, overnight or early mornings; our days have been full of sun and blue skies. This time we refused all hotel touts in search of our own place. We were happy with the first place and agreed on a nice cheap price ($8/night). The darkness always makes it feel later than it actually is so we hesitated to go out before realizing it was barely 7:00. Out we went to explore the Old Town. There were beautiful lanterns lighting our way through the old streets, over the bridges and along the river. Immediately we knew we were really going to like this place. The following morning we were ... read more

We had similar bus/boat/bus transportation from Cat Ba to Ninh Binh that was just as simple/complicated and again took about 5 hours. As usual we were swarmed getting off the bus by men encouraging us to stay at their hotel. We had accepted the card of a guy who strategically hopped on the bus a while before it stopped at the station and headed right for Queen Mini Hotel. For $8/night we got a great spacious room with a balcony, AC, wifi and clean bathroom. It would be perfect for the one night we wanted to spend in Ninh Binh. There isn't anything too spectacular about the city itself, but the surrounding area has some of Vietnam's top sites. We knew exactly what we wanted to see and do and immediately started asking around to compare ... read more

We have been in Vietnam for almost two weeks and I haven't even given you a full “holy crap I'm in a new country!” report... what a slacker. Well Vietnam has been full of pleasant surprises. Before coming to this country we heard a lot about how unwelcoming the locals can be; luckily we have received only smiles and helpful advice. The locals are generally our main source of information when it comes to food we should try or places we need to visit so their kindness has been greatly appreciated. Some things I have learned since we arrived: the coffee is very strong, I really don't like caves, riding on the back of a moto-taxi isn't as scary as I suspected (and is a very cheap way to get around) and Vietnam is just as ... read more

Okay, so I wrote the three month blog late and this is being published early but I am making up the rules as I go so read on... As I'm writing this I'm looking at a wall of random thoughts people have written. We find this type of thing at many guesthouses or hostels along the way. One bathroom stall in Xi'an in particular was pretty amusing. Some of the things I'm reading: “Be curious, not judgemental” - Walt Witman “May your life be filled with experiences and humbleness instead of money and pride” “Life is like a wild tiger you can either lie down and let it put its paw on your head or you can get on its back and take a ride” “Happiness is a choice” “A mormon girl was here” “If you ... read more