Luang Prabang is such a lovely and relaxing place, it would be hard to imagine spending only a few days here. The city itself is a UNESCO world heritage site, allowing it to retain it's 'stepping back in time' feeling. There are many coffee shops, massage and spa places, temples, and two markets. The day market is mostly fruits, vegetables, flip-flops, and machetes (!) The night market is an amazing array of silver jewelry, clothes, bags and other traditional Lao handicrafts. This was to be our last opportunity to shop in Laos, and many of us went on a spending spree! [View Full Entry]

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Arriving back in Hanoi from Halong Bay, I thought I would have some time to do a little shopping and errands before I met up with my last Intrepid tour. Walking over to the hotel, I was told that my Intrepid group were just there out front. I met the tour guide, Bom, from Thailand, who told me we had a train reservation and we were on our way there. I literally arrived in the nick of time, 5 minutes later, I would have been left behind! On the train I got to meet some of the group over card games [View Full Entry]

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Three airports and a car transfer later, I found myself back in the Old French Quarter of lovely Hanoi after 3 years. I stayed in a new hotel called Rising Dragon, which had an art gallery with work by locals in the lobby. The buildings in Vietnam are rather narrow and tall. My room was on the 6th floor (top floor) and no elevator! Important not to forget anything to save various trips up and down the stairs! I booked a 3 day cruise to HaLong bay, and incredible bay dotted with small moss covered rocky islands surrounded by fog and [View Full Entry]

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Due to the numerous bombings, rioting, protesting, and general pockets of unrest in India, they take various precautions. Every time you check into a hotel, you have to divulge various information. Passport and personal info, visa number, last travel destination, and the next travel destination. All of this info gets submitted to the police. Goa is a state on the west coast of India. It was once conquered by the Portugese, so you can find many Catholics here. Of course, the Catholic has a distinct Hindi flavor. Goa is a beach paradise, lined with tall palms, and a shoreline that ranges [View Full Entry]

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Meeting Slivia in Mumbai was like a breath of fresh air. One of my best friends from Miami, and we have an entire week together. Silvia just starting her 2 month journey, and mine finishing, here in India. We find our driver and speed through the windy streets south to our hotel, located in the Colaba area of Mumbai. Mumbai is a city transforming right in front of your eyes. As any other city, it has it's rich and poor areas. The new India elite (yes yuppies) can be found here, having a coffee or even a beer, dressed in jeans, [View Full Entry]

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Arriving back in Delhi 3 hours behind schedule (we left ontime I dont know how..) I went to the Emirates Airlines office to relocate my bag. It was in Delhi Airport the whole time! The airline just never released it and even though I was not responsible, I had to pay to spring it free! This only took 3 hours and signing about 40 pieces of paper.. Off to the hotel Michael had booked only to find that the name is on 3 different hotels. I chose wrong and was driven to the correct one(for no charge unbelieveable). For those of [View Full Entry]

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leaving Kathmandu to Chitawan National Park at first seemed like a nice chance to see the real Nepal. Jungle, animals, village people (not the singing ones). I arrived to a swarm of taxi drivers and found my contact and he took me to the hotel by motorcycle. I was the only one in the restaraunt upon arrival and the waiter just stood there and watched me eat. Later a group arrived, and happily discovered they were from Poland and we were to experience jungle life together for the next couple days. There were many activities lined up for us, but the [View Full Entry]

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After 4 days in Kathmandu, big polluted muddy capital of Nepal, which is the poorest country in Asia. Thanks to that, I have a new wardrobe for about 16 dollars. Backpack still out there in the ether, I have detached from any hopes about seeing it again. Today I visited a very important and holy temple for Hindus. The river it lies next to, flows into the Ganges river. There are cremations held here daily and the ashes are swept into the river. They also have a hospice founded by Mother Theresa for the elderly without family to care for them. [View Full Entry]

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the worst leg of my journey starts here. late night flight to Dubai, arriving 2am, and 92 degrees of hot air blowing in your face. Awake enough for my 4 hour city tour which was really just an orientation tour (pointing out things from a bus) and visits to places not allowed to enter or take photos. Finally a trip to the Gold Souk (market) where I was completely uninterested. Blah. Dubai has been called the city of the future. Glass and steel highrises tall enough to touch clouds. A place where many nationalities live together, and do business. blah blah..this [View Full Entry]

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During my three weeks in Turkey I have been debating about what to write. Turkey is incredibly diverse and hard to describe in a few short words. It wasn't even until about the last week that I began to really appreciate and enjoy the country for what it is. I arrived in Istanbul to join my second of three Intrepid Tours. Our group was 11 people, 2 Kiwis, 1 English woman living in Turkey teaching English, me, a 70 year old scot living now in Australia (yes 70 and a legend! looks 50 and has the most amazing travel stories), 1 [View Full Entry]

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