Nomadic Neaves

We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (previously called Saigon) after a full day bus ride from Phnom Penh, Cambodia. HCMC is a massive, massive city. There are about 10 million people that live there. There are literally 5 million motor bikes and scooters. Our first impression of the city: 'holy shit, we can never cross a road!'. During our first outing from our hostel we navigated clock-wise around a big square to minimize insane road crossings. However, the next day, using the mysterious southeast Asian laws of traffic (some weird algorithms that always produce a tiny gap, combined with the solid faith that the motorbikes will magically weave around you if you set a steady pace) we were able to navigate around the energetic, fast-paced, loud-talking city. During our trip we adopted a technique that ... read more

We found Laos an impressive open-hearted land, with gorgeous mountains and lush jungles, which made our trip through the country both a spectacular sight for our eyes and healthy place for our spirits. Despite the title, the weather was nice and hot for our entire stay. The 'chills' part is how our guide entertainingly referred to relaxing. He strongly promoted taking it easy, and we were happy to oblige. One day, we would like to return to trek through the magnificent countryside. Sadly access to a lot of this land is not possible, for reasons we'll detail below. But first a brief history lesson for those not familiar with Laos. We learned all the following from our Lao guide and from the excellent Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise (COPE) organization in the capital,Vientiane, which is also ... read more

Volunteering was a blast! Nosy Komba, or Lemur Island, was where we based ourselves for a month. It is a small, road-free, volcanic island off the northwest coast of Madagascar, a few km boat ride from Hell-ville. Our time there working with the Madagascar Research and Conservation Institute (MRCI) was a bit of a flashback to our Junior Ranger days. Some hard work but loads of fun and lots of good people, from all around the world. There were four different volunteer projects going on at the Institute: Marine Conservation, Construction, Teaching English, and Forest Conservation. We'd both picked Forest Conservation before our arrival and ended up very were glad we did. A typical volunteer day at 'camp' went something like this: We'd wake up (in our separate huts -- boys with boys and girls with ... read more

We got to Antanaranivo, or Tana, as Madagascar's capital city is thankfully abbreviated, in early December. It was a busy place. Especially between 12:00 and 3:00, when everyone travels from work and school for lunch and siestas. We found the traffic, smog, and constant tropical heat and humidity made exploring the city a little challenging. At least the cars drove on the "right" side of the road-- both Peru and Tanzania were left lane drivers and often made for some adventurous street crossings for us. Not that crossing the street in Tana was easy though, we still had to be wary of the ubiquitous speeding yellow tuk-tuks and endless old French cars. One of the first things we did in Tana was to take a guided walking tour, where we learned lots. It turns out Madagascar ... read more

After one very hot, very sweaty bus ride, which took an "African five hours" - meaning nine - and one absolutely terrible-but-can't-stop-watching Bollywood movie, we arrived in Tanga. They say it takes two to Tanga. But in this case it was about ten. We were not even off the bus (we actually still had another stop to go) when a crowd of taxi drivers invaded the bus, hassling us to come with them. They tried to convince us that it was the last stop and there was no other way to get to our hostel. After the bus driver came back from unloading some luggage, he promptly kicked the taxi-drivers off the bus and we continued to the real last stop. There, once again, we were plagued by more taxi drivers. They were worse than the ... read more