Day 19/20/21 - Mui Ne We had frantically tried to book a hotel in Mui Ne before we left Nha Trang, but every hotel in our price range online was booked, so we had no choice but to wing it (which is not Steph's forte). We knew our bus would drop us off at some random hotel and hoped they'd have a vacancy. After the gorgeous 6 hour drive - most of it along the coastline - we arrived in Mui Ne. The city is basically a road with resorts, guesthouses, swim shops and restaurants straddling each side of the pavement. We felt like we had lucked out when the hotel that they dropped us off at, had rooms available - $20 per night. G checked out the room but a guy in the hall warned ... read more

Day 14/15/16/17 - Hoi An On Thursday (Jan.22), the three of us (S, G and Jane) hopped on the bus from Hue to Hoi An. The bus ride was suppose to be 4 1/2 hours, however we left about 2 1/2 late but somehow miraculously only got in 1/2 an hour late. (Don't worry, we're confused as well - still trying to figure out the math equation - maybe in Vietnam you don't carry the one????) We luckily didn't have to go thru the same drama as we did Hue when we got dropped off outside some random hotel. Well, we still got dropped off at some random hotel, but this time there was guy waiting for us from our hotel. Luckily it was just around the corner. We checked in, rested for a bit and ... read more

Day 7/8/9/10/11/12 For many of you reading this, you may have serious doubts that Steph and G actually endured all that is written below. The usual phrases associated with S & G are "laying around all day - getting up to only go to the fridge", "taking naps in the afternoon", "watching TV marathons for hours on end". However, the last few days have been filled with phrases more like, "stepping over huge piles of buffalo poo", "trekking for 18K (about 11 miles)" & "waking up to sounds of pigs being slaughtered". So for those doubters, we have attached some pictures to this blog, but can provide further photo evidence via email if need. The trip started with a grueling 8 hour overnight train to Lao Chai ( in the NE, right on the border of ... read more

Day 5/6 Halong Bay We hopped on the tour bus on Monday (1/12) at a bright and early 8AM for our 3 1/2 hour bus ride to Halong Bay. It was quite an uneventful ride except for the occasionally pointing and mouth dropping we did when a motorbike passed by with a dead cow or pig on the back of it. The dock was filled with tourist, but we quickly got on our boat and braved the windy day up on the top deck, checking out the views from the harbor. After, a bit we were off to discover the islands. Our boat veered left while the others continued straight ahead (the benefit of booking through a hostel). Halong Bay consist of about 3,000 islands that cover 580 square miles, in the NE corner of Vietnam. ... read more

Day 1/2/3 - Hong Kong So after 28 hours you can go from Devon, PA to Hong Kong. We wake up at 2:30AM only to be greeted at 4AM with a blinking "CANCELLED" screen. In true fashion, Stephanie flipped out and went into panic mode while Genevieve was the smooth operator "Michael Jackson soudtrack playing in the background". We eventually got a flight to HK via Chicago but that wouldn't happen for another 4 1/2 hours later. Stephanie's cherry was popped when she got to ride in her first double decker plane. The flight was uneventful other then we got hardly any sleep and there were no individual tv's. We finally arrived in HK around 6:30PM, but didn't get to our hostel (in Cheungking Mansions - Kowloon) until a little after 8PM. We had our own ... read more