Hopped off the return mini-bus ride from Halong Bay to Hanoi, had dinner and chilled out for a couple of hours, and then back on the road again, this time a longer 14h train ride from Hanoi to the Central Vietnam beach city of Danang. Heading southwards on the train from Hanoi, most tourists' first port of call would be the ancient capital of Hue, but I'd been there my first visit to Vietnam in 2005, so this time I decided to instead check out Danang which I'd missed back then. The Reunification Express passes through some picturesque Vietnamese coastal scenery, with the tracks being flanked by the Central Highlands on the West, and the Gulf of Tonkin on the East, and made for some great views. On the ride itself I met a middle-aged Russian ... read more

First things first, congratulations President Obama! Four more years! And now on to my next stop. After a 9h overnight train ride from Hanoi, I arrived at Lao Cai at the Vietnam-China border. The moment the train pulled to a halt, the obligatory competing minibus runners stormed in like Special Forces troops of course, soliciting all and sundry who were still in a dazed stupor from the early 6 a.m. wake-up call. After the expected attempts at exhorbitant over-charging (this is Vietnam after all), I finally managed to get one to settle on the correct price as reported on Wikitravel, and it was just another 1h winding minibus climb to the highland town of Sapa. I had some expectations, as I'd read in LP that in Vietnam, the northern highlands were where "the magic happens". But ... read more

Goodbye Laos, Hello Vietnam! After almost one month in the Land of Million Elephants, I took the long bus ride through mountaneous terrain to cross the Nam Xoi-Na Meo border into Vietnam. I had read several horror stories on online travel forums about this particular border crossing, about foreigners getting ripped off by bus drivers and immigration officials, one even being left behind at the border! So I tried to prepare myself for the worst. Crossing the border turned out to be relatively straightforward process, though I'm not so sure about the arduous, winding 9h bus ride terminating in Thanh Hoa, some 135km south of Hanoi. A British couple that I'd met in Vieng Xai was on the bus with me, and they decided to continue with the 4h ride to Hanoi, but I thought I'd ... read more

After a relatively *extended* stay in Phonsavan, I continued heading northeastwards into the Laotian highlands, and it was another 8h winding journey to Sam Neua, the capital of the Hua Phanh province. The province is said to be the "birthplace" of Laos PDR, as it was here that the Pathet Lao retreated to hide in its caves in the face of relentless US bombing. The area developed and somewhat flourished following the end of the Secret War. My journey deep into this otherwise rather remote part of the country thus serves two purposes: to visit the Xieng Vai caves of the province, where the Pathet Lao troops hid during the bombing; and thereafter to cross over into Vietnam via the nearby Nam Xoi-Na Meo border crossing, to embark on the next leg of my Southeast Asian ... read more

So back up north again, along that now-familiar route to Paksan, for a quick overnight stay. Paksan itself is a relatively small town that sees quite heavy traffic along the highway to Vientiane that passes through it. But apart from that, there isn't all that much to see or do here. I'd decided to stop here only because there is apparently a faster route to Phonsavan from here, instead of having to pass through Vientiane. However, that road is of dubious condition, and is supposedly only passable in the dry season. Even the map in LP shows the road as dashed/ broken! It's currently the transition period from the rainy to dry season, so I wasn't initially sure if the buses would run that route, but I was lucky and it turned out they are running. ... read more