Asia
Hmong New Year in Laos
.....and is being awarded a UNESCO World Heritage Site Award a blessing or a curse? After two days on the slow boat from Thailand to Laos we arrived at the UNESCO listed city of Luang Prabang which sits, as do most major towns in Laos, on the banks of the Mekong...
Did you know there was a secret war in Laos?
Did you know that there was once a secret war in Laos? Did you know that since the end of that war more than 20,000 people have been killed or injured by UXO - unexploded bombs? I want to tell you about the secret war in Laos because its after-effects still have such...
Photo tour of Hanoi, Vietnam
Let me take you on a photo tour of Hanoi, Vietnam. I spent nearly 3 weeks in the city. It is chaotic and polluted, noisy and huge but at the same time there are pockets of quiet and green, temples and lakes. I used a compact Panasonic Lumix camera and my mobile phone...
Ho Chi Minh to Hanoi by train – in 33 hours
We could have taken a series of night busses to get from Ho Chi Minh to Hanoi, but my friend Debs and I decided to go by train. It would take 33 hours! Two months previously Gosia and I had entered Vietnam overland at the middle point from Laos and we had headed...
Things to do and see in Ho Chi Minh City
Vietnam is a country of contradictions and contrast; possibly more so than many other countries that I have visited - and here in Ho Chi Minh City the differences really stand out. In the beginning I took some time to warm to Vietnam, but as soon as I acknowledged...
Lak Lake Vietnam in photos
Lak Lake in the Central Highlands of Vietnam is a magical place. In this article the photographs will tell their own story about this wonderful region. Join me as I show you beautiful, tranquil images from this region I spent almost a week recharging my batteries...
Dalat Lake or Lak Lake. What’s the difference?
Lakes in the Central Highlands of Vietnam Vietnam has lakes. Lots of them! Two of the most beautiful lakes - Dalat Lake and Lak Lake are in the Central Highlands - yet they couldn’t be more different from each other. Dalat Lake Dalat is a mountain town famous with...
Central Highlands & Hoi An EasyRiders Tour
Let me tell you about the Central Highlands and how the Hoi An Easyriders Tour around this region finally made me love Vietnam. Vietnam is a country of motorbikes. A population of nearly 90 million people ride 38 million motorbikes and everywhere you can find tours on...
Hue to Danang, Vietnam
We had crossed the border from Laos and we had travelled by bus to Hue which is a large city near to the coast in the middle of Vietnam. In order to avoid the cold weather we had crossed just where the climate changes and where the country is divided by a range of...
Don Det and the 4000 Islands
New Year on Don Det and the 4000 Islands Gosia and I met Delia as we were all squashed in a hot tin box of a bus together on our way to Don Det and the 4000 islands. Squatting uncomfortably on child sized plastic seats in the aisle we were soon chatting away and we...