We’ve spent the last day and a half in Mui Ne, a small coastal town 4 hours by bus from Ho Chi Minh City. Situated on a crescent shaped beach, the main attraction here is the ocean. While not as pristine as other beaches in Southeast Asia, it attracts the sports-minded beach goers. The wind [...]
This is what the Mui Ne fishing fleet looks like. Behind what looks like a normal boat, they tug along a train of small, round baskets with fishermen in them. When they reach their destination, the cut the baskets loose and the guys in the baskets paddle around and set their gear up. I can’t [...]
This is a bottle of liquid band-aid. Today, in an epically clumsy move, I scraped the skin on my hand (I lost a balancing competition with a loose tile on the sidewalk). Still, after applying liquid band-aid, I was out riding a bike and swimming in a pool and doing stuff with no discomfort at [...]
I have been told that the price of an average lot of land in Saigon now approaches 1 million USD. This has led to building practices like the high rise building on the picture. That’s, how many, eight one bedroom apartments on top of each other? Also pictured: today’s blogging station. We’ve moved to a [...]
It’s great to travel in a group of three. Everyone’s happy and easygoing, and there’s this great us-against-the-world feeling. Nothing can beat us. Sometimes, though, cliques appear. A couple of the people get along better than the other ones. It sucks.
We wandered into a part of Ho Chi Minh City today that was littered with art galleries. We stepped into one, curious about the Vietnamese art scene, to find the walls jam packed with non-Vietnamese masterpieces – Botero, Kandinsky, Da Vinci, Hopper and Monet, to name a few. All were painted in the artist’s original [...]
We’ve eaten most our meals in Vietnam from vendors like the woman pictured above. The food runs circles around what you get in a tourist restaurant and best of all: it’s cheap. We’re talking $1 per person per meal. The food is fresh, we haven’t gotten the dreaded traveler’s stomach yet and our bank account is happy. Engstroms [...]
This is the Reunification Palace in Saigon. Before it got its present name, it used to be the seat of the South Vietnamese government. When I was two years old, a North Vietnamese tank mowed down the front entrance, an event that marked the end of the Vietnam War. For the people of Vietnam, [...]
Traffic in Saigon is manic. Crossing a street feels like an absurd feat. Hundreds of motorbikes and cars come at you seemingly from all directions, swerving from side to side while honking merrily. The only thing I’ve done that compares to it is white water kayaking, a sport where you are confined to moving in [...]
The War Remnants Museum is a must see when in Ho Chi Minh City. The museum’s brochure describes itself as an institute of systematical study, collection and preservation of war crimes and their impact on the Vietnamese people. Today’s visit was my second time, but it packed no less of a punch. War is [...]
A day of traveling has taken us to Saigon, Vietnam. Right now we are relaxing after a nice dinner here in the Pham Ngu Lao district. We are comfortably set up in our hotel and it is time to reflect a bit on the country we just left behind – Thailand.
Thai is a very tonal language. A slight change in tone, imperceptable to my ears, changes the meaning of that word competely. This video is a great example of that. It’s Thai for “new wood doesn’t burn, does it?”
This is how the food at the Ayutthaya night market is displayed – presumably they work just like to-go food. Pizza Hut or KFC, only far more delicious.
An hour-long bus ride north from Bangkok brings you to Ayutthaya, the laid-back ex-capital of Thailand. A little history: Established in 1350, the city saw 33 kings over the course of 417 years before being sacked by the Burmese in 1767. The city was abandoned following the invasion, leaving the ruins of countless religious buildings [...]
The Thai Baht has kept us on our toes. At $1 to 35B, it isn’t the easiest conversion, but one that can be figured out in your head with a little work. We’re heading over to Vietnam the day after next and figured we should look into what type of currency conversion we’ll be doing [...]
You know the saying, “to fly by the seat of your pants?” Well, that's been our philosophy for most of our adult lives – before and after meeting, falling in love and marrying. We're now taking that idea on an extended round-the-world trip. Follow us as we share the good, the bad and the downright nasty of life on the road.
