Cotty and Rajy

I love Hoi An, its an Old town, with ancient architecture that has not yet been ruined by tourism and it is a World Heritage Site. Most travelers stick to the 4 main streets, but I walked around the bendy streets, passing locals and finding hidden gems away from the tourist traps. Hoi An is an old industrial town, which has had many influences Chinese and Japanese being the most prominent. It sits on a river and is lit up by night by hundreds of Chinese lanterns, which make it look even prettier at night. Hoi An is know for its abundant tailors. I went here thinking, I am traveling for a year, so no need for me to make any suits. Boy was I wrong, I have now tailor-made, two dresses, 2 jumpsuit shorts and ... read more

I nearly had a cardiac arrest whilst on the motorbike taxi from the bus station, there are no rules on how to drive, its each to their own and whoever gets in a place first wins! It was mayhem, I thought I was sure to die a number of times!! So I thought I would do a bit of Couch Surfing while I am in Hoi Chin Min city. I stayed at Trangs home for 2 nights and what a pleasure it was. She made me feel so welcome, it was like chilling with an old friend. On the first day, she gave me directions to get to Downtown by bus and how to get back, writing down her address. I then set off to explore Hoi Chin Min City, formerly Saigon! It was so busy, ... read more

Having read the book "First they killed my father" just before I arrived in Cambodia, I thought I had a good background knowledge on the recent history of Cambodia and the atrocities that took place. Visiting the Killing fields, where people were killed because they wore glasses, worked for the previous government, has fairer skin etc, was a shocker. The fields were presented tastefully, with everyone given a headset to listen to and walk around the site at their own pace and reflect on what they were listening to. There were clothes and bones still being found to this day in the mass graves that I passed. The skulls of the dead, have been collected and placed in a glass memorial, so people can pay their respects. The atmosphere was very solemn but I didn't feel ... read more

So my sister Shanta and friend Manjula have joined me for the rest of Laos and Cambodia. I knew when my energetic sister arrived there would be no laid back traveling, as I have been doing up till now. Since she has joined me, I have been up at 7 am every morning and ready for breakfast by the time she has comeback from her early morning walk! The Plain of Jars in Phonsavan Laos were amazing and an intriguing tourist attraction. They were stone man-made jars in the middle of no-where, large enough to fit me in and a few others more. They were huge! What were they made for? Were they used as jam jars for giants? Did people hide in them..? Who knows and it remains a mystery! All the time we were ... read more

This sleepy old town had me fooled. By day it was a quiet old town, a bit like in the old Western movies where nothing much goes on in the bars and restaurants and everything was empty and we seemed to outnumber the locals on the streets. Not much to do apart from treking or visit the temple. The first option was out of the question following our Thailand experience so we went to visit yet another temple that we could see up in the hills. On our way back, what a transformation! There was a slight bizz in the town, all the locals had crept out of hiding and were eating and drinking outside their homes and restaurants. At this point we were starving, so the main aim was to go straight to our guesthouse, ... read more