I want to share with you an absolutely magical moment that occurred while I was in Ha Long Bay this past weekend. It was Saturday night. The stars were all out in a clear moonless sky, and the water in our beach cove was as smooth as glass. I was standing about chest-deep in the sea and waving my arms around under the water. As I did so, thousands of bioluminescent plankton emitted sparks of bright green light. I felt like I was swimming in stars, with stars above, and all around me ringed in by the dark masses of the [View Full Entry]

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I booked a tour last Thursday through my hostel, the Hanoi Backpackers Hostel. It was called the Ha Long Bay Rock Long Rock Hard tour. I should have realized that when they were talking about rocks, it was not the limestone karst islands or the rock-climbing they were referring to. No, it was the incessant partying that the young crowd on the boat trip did. I guess I'm turning into a cranky old woman, but after sitting in extreme heat and humidity all day long, kayaking for three hours, jumping off the boat and swimming - well, at that point I [View Full Entry]

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My Vietnamese name, apparently, is "Hello Motorbike." If you want something less formal, it is "Hello Moto." I must have heard this about 500 times today as I walked from my hostel to the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum. But that makes sense. Vietnam is the 13th most populous country in the world, and I am convinced that every single one of that massive population is on a motorcyle in Hanoi right now. It makes crossing the street something akin to walking along the target end of a weapons range. The key is to go slow, and as some of my Irish [View Full Entry]

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Macau reminded me, for some strange reason, of Andorra. Outwardly, they haven't got much in common: Andorra is a beautiful mountainous land set in the midst of the Pyrenees, and Macau is a hilly, humid, coastal resort. Perhaps it is the fact that neither would exist with any sort of independence or income if they hadn't learned to lure people there and take their money. In Andorra, which is fast becoming the Strip Mall of Europe, sales-tax-free shopping and its status as a tax haven bring in the foreign dollars. In Macau, it's the glittering towers of casino resorts that suck [View Full Entry]

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The views from the cable car that takes you from Tung Chung to Po Lin are said to be spectacular, laying out the entire panorama of Lantau Island's northern coast. I wouldn't know. When I reached the MTR terminus on Lantau this morning, the cable car was down for annual servicing. That is how I found myself, a few hours later, hurtling downhill on a bus driven by a NASCAR-racer-wannabe. Actually, this guy could have given the NASCAR rednecks a run for their money. Not only was he fast as a lightning bolt, but he could make both left and right [View Full Entry]

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(I'm going to admit up front that I may be stepping over the line between respecting another culture and making fun of it; but hey - at least I tried!) About two hours (and a little less than halfway) in to my first Cantonese Opera experience, I quietly got up and walked to the lobby. After looking around a little guiltily, I flew down the stairs, out the door, and into the streets with a sigh of profound relief. I should have taken that Cantonese Opera Appreciation class offered by the Hong Kong Tourist Office. Maybe then I would have been [View Full Entry]

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I have recently gone through a spate of bad airplane-seat-neighbors. You know who I mean: the chatty ones. The ones who recently got dumped by their fiances, are on their way to see their spoiled grandchild, won $20 at the lottery, or need to pass their fireman's EMT exam but probably won't because instead of studying they are flirting with you. The curse was broken, however, on my flight to Hong Kong. I sat next to a sullen-looking expat who waited until ten hours into the flight to open his mouth and ask me if I was visiting for the first [View Full Entry]

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I am now a Feng Shui master. No, it's true, at least according to Master Alex Yu, who taught my "Meet the People" Feng Shui class today, courtesy of the Hong Kong Tourism Board. You may recognize Master Yu from - well, who am I kidding, you are not likely to recognize him or his work any more than I did, even though he has appeared on CNN and the Discovery Channel and consulted with such powerhouses as New York Life, Century 21, and Lehman Brothers (Lehman Bros. must have ignored his advice). Some of you may be thinking, "Feng Shui? [View Full Entry]

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One of the really great things about travel is that even the most mundane of daily activities takes on a piquancy that can only come from being somewhere different. I was awoken this morning from my Unisom-induced slumber by a truly wicked thunderstorm. Outside the windows the rain was pouring down in sheets so that I could barely see the islands across the water. Needless to say, I rolled back over and slept some more. When I finally roused myself, the rain was still pouring down and I decided that it would be a rest day. The only problem is that [View Full Entry]

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Ornithophobia: An abnormal, irrational fear of birds. It can cause the following symptoms: breathlessness, dizziness, excessive sweating, nausea, dry mouth, feeling sick, shaking, heart palpitations, inability to speak or think clearly, a fear of dying, becoming mad or losing control or a full blown anxiety attack. Come to think of it, my mouth was a little dry, I was sweating excessively, and I was definitely dizzy and breathless as I walked through the treetops in the Edward Youde Aviary in Hong Kong Park today. "Why," you are probably asking, "would you e [View Full Entry]

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