EN FRANCAIS PLUS BAS MORE PHOTOS HERE A bumpy night bus ride after that Nha Trang day, I disembark in Ho Chi Minh City in the early morning, and the first thing I do is find a clean hotel with a private air conditioned room. I don't feel like sightseeing at all, just like sleeping a little more on the large comfy bed, enjoying not being drenched in sweat for just a few hours, going to a posh, air-conditioned cafe and spending a whole day's food budget in a capuccino and carrot cake while I j [View Full Entry]

---

---

EN FRANCAIS PLUS BAS MORE PHOTOS HERE Sometimes, you just make mistakes. I thought about skipping this episode in the blog, since it is such a disgrace to the beauty of my trip. But mistakes are part of a trip, and and this one had me laughing so much that I decided to share it in the end... The night bus from Hoi An arrives at 5:30am in Nah Trang and even though I slept better than others on the bus, I'm in a pretty thick haze when I ask the receptionist about the night bus to Saigon. All set [View Full Entry]

---

---

EN FRANCAIS PLUS BAS (many) MORE PHOTOS HERE Before arriving in Hue, I arrange a day trip with motorbike driver Thinh, actually surprised that, his name being in the Lonely Planet, he is available. Thinh is a very sweet 47-year-old man who had been studying buddhism in one of the pagodas, then got married and had two children, and he is working to put them through school; once they are through college, he will go back to studying buddhism. He takes me all over to visit the impressive Citadeland not [View Full Entry]

---

---

EN FRANCAIS PLUS BAS MORE PHOTOS HERE Of course, they're the easiest option. And travelling on my own, they are often the only one. That's why I booked the day trip to the Perfume Pagoda on Friday July 11, as well as a 2 day/1 night tour for Halong Bay for the week-end. Perfume Pagoda, July 11 Huong's mom drops me off in town on her way to work in the early morning, and off I go, on a bus with 10-or-so people, stopping at tourism factories on the way. As we get ready to get on the [View Full Entry]

---

---

EN FRANCAIS PLUS BAS MORE PHOTOS HERE Hosted by a Sweet Vietnamese Family I am my host Huong's first CS guest. Huong lives with her parents, granma and little twin sister and brother in a tall, narrow, 4-storey house. She's 18 years old, but is so tiny and thin that she could still easily get the child-up-to-12 discounts. Huong's "couch" is actually sharing her large bed, in her cute, teenage bedroom, lined with posters of Vietnamese boysbands and flowery love messages. Huong has be [View Full Entry]

---

---

EN FRANCAIS PLUS BAS MORE PHOTOS HERE Now, even though I failed to mention the bloody dead cow's head that traveled in a transparent plastic bag on the bus with us between Swaziland and Mozambique, as well as the folkloric "chapa" (minibus) trip to the hotel, if you thought, like me, that that 8-hour bus odyssey between Manzini and Maputo was an adventure, think again, and keep reading! (yes, this one is a bit long, but, as my trip, worth the while, I think!) Lost in Translation - The R [View Full Entry]

---

---

EN FRANCAIS PLUS BAS PHOTOS HERE A Smokey Morning On Thursday, just as I was getting ready for a full day of exploration, the maid brings my attention to something my brain had actually registered but not processed (pre-coffee morning kinda stuff): FIRE! Indeed, thick black smoke is coming up one side of the building, and the fire brigades sirens are blaring downstairs. Going out is no option as the staircase is filled with smoke, so along with the other neighbours, we head for the [View Full Entry]

---

---

EN FRANCAIS PLUS BAS PHOTOS HERE Getting Aquainted with USOs On Wednesday, I intend to take advantage of the weather to go up Victoria's Peak for sunset. The first part of the day I spend walking around in Shau Wen and Soho neighbourhood, soaking up the city life, wondering at a whole lot of what I have called USOs (Unidentified Smelly Objects), and breathing the heavy incense in HK's oldest Temple (Man Mo). Flying in the Clouds above the City After a short break a [View Full Entry]

---

---

EN FRANCAIS PLUS BAS PHOTOS HERE (sorry, can't rotate, or include pictures within the blog for now) Couchsurfing good times Party photos here Tuesday July 1st is a holiday in HK, celebrating the handover from the Brits back to China in 1997, so Monday night is... party time!! Ting Ting is a recent Couchsurfing member and called for a food and drink CS gathering to celebrate her birthday near the Kowloon [View Full Entry]

---

---

EN FRANCAIS PLUS BAS PHOTOS HERE The excitement of a new beginning It's exactly as I had anticipated: the excitement over my round-the-world trip started to hit me when I was about to board for the second stage of the adventure, instead of going home after some vacation. I was happy, excited, anxious and everything in between. Just the way I was expected to feel before leaving France, except that back then, I just could not feel anything... But the flight between Johannesburg and Hon [View Full Entry]

---

---