This blog about the wonderful Sa Phin markets will be short. These vibrant markets are held every six days, falling on the Chinese Lunar calendar day of the Monkey or the tiger so the actual market day changes week by week. Many of the ethnic markets in China follow this same pattern so it can make it hard to plan your travel to coincide with them. Tuin left the car on the main road above the village which is only 2 kilometers from the Chinese border and we walked the kilometre down into the valley towards the mass of blue plastic tarpaulins which were covering the market stalls. The road was busy with groups of people coming form or going to the hive of activity below us. Many women were perched on the cement road markers ... read more

There are no words to adequately describe the amazing region around Ha Giang and Meo Vac except STUNNING... A land of incredible karsts, deep valleys lined with terraces, tiny wooden or mud houses scattered everywhere, brightly dressed ethnic women, waves and smiles from grubby happy children, water buffalos, a surprising amount of cows, ducks, chickens, cats, dogs, dusty towns, rock hard beds.... We had an amazing three days travelling along the couple of hundred kilometers of winding narrow road in this area. No speed limits were broken - Tuin was a fabulous driver. He had a hard task as the roads were very busy and he never knew what was around the corner. Every motorbike and many of the cars drove straight down the centre of the road which accounted for a few gasps from Jerry ... read more

Hanoi is sheer chaos after the orderliness of Taiwan streets were they have road rules and follow them! The best way to cross the streets in Hanoi is to close your eyes and go... As long as you don't stop or change your pace the hundreds of motorbikes manage to manoeuvre around you. Though it is definitely much busier than it even was last year. And the touts are still annoyingly persistent. It's a hard way to make a living I guess. Hanoi still remains one of my favourite cities though. A modicum of traditional living still thrives in the old town despite the immense change that tourism has bought. It is always fun to poke around the quieter streets which circle the core of the old town, explore the busy daily market and visit some ... read more

We arrived back from our day trip up the coast, collected our bags, chose food for our train dinner from the gourmet delights at 7/11 and happily settled in with the free wifi at the station until it was time to board our train for Tainan. After a three and half hour trip we arrived at the large station right in the centre of Tainan. Tainan is still culturally alive, particularly around the temples, of which there are many. However with no accommodation booked at the beginning of a weekend - any place in Taiwan can be a weekend destination for local people as the distances are not great and public transport so efficient. We walked out of the station into neon lighting central - a very busy shopping area, buzzing with people at 9pm at ... read more

We woke early, ate our vegetable breakfast and the guesthouse owner drove us back across the long bridge to the railway station in Xincheng to catch the train the fifteen minutes to Hualien. Our original plan had been to travel the coastal road from there down to Taitung, a coastal city and then onward to Kaohsiung which was our departure city for Taiwan. Bedore leaving home we had debated whether to travel the eastern or western side of the island. We chose the eastern side mainly because it was much less urbanised. We had read however that there was therefore much less public transport. Most locals used their own cars and tourists hired scooters or bicycles. Neither option really appealed to us - at least not to travel the length of the island on. Once we ... read more