Take Your Big Trip | Travel Advice, Inspiration, and Stories

Originally posted on March 26, 2010 during my Big Trip to Southeast Asia In this post I am choosing to post some pictures instead of going into long descriptions of the various temples I saw during my two days touring Angkor. The common belief is that Angkor is just Angkor Wat, but that’s just one [...]

Originally published on April 9, 2010 during my travels in Vietnam. Usually I love exploring cities when I travel. It’s a maze, a mystery with plot twists in small streets, helpful characters and cheating villains (both of whom I’ve met my share of as a tourist). This morning, I was not feeling it. Actually I’ve [...]

My Big Trip to Southeast Asia had all the diversity of any Indochina loop tour: temples of Angkor Wat, bike rides around the scenery of Laos, and Halong Bay and beach side bliss in Vietnam.

Taking photos of Hanoi is easy – every viewpoint delights with interesting people and monumental sites. The cityscapes are one of a kind – just don’t get hit by a scooter!

Lovely Luang Prabang, riding the river in Vang Vieng, and the golden temples of Vientiane – All beautiful and special. Laos is worth of a visit  – I hope these photos inspire you to take your own Big Trip to Laos.

Originally published on March 30, 2010 during my third Big Trip around Southeast Asia. Sitting with J at 7 o’clock at night and gorging on delicious pizza pretty much erased memories of the entire day sightseeing in Vientiane, which was a very good thing. During the day we had some unfortunate experiences, including an expensive [...]

Originally published on April 6, 2010 during my third Big Trip where I visited Southeast Asia. Wok, the guide on the Nha Trang Four Island boat trip, spoke loud Vietnamese and unintelligible English into the microphone on the boat. A, L and I were three of about forty tourists – Asian and Western – together [...]

Originally published April 12, 2010 during my third Big Trip I’ve just been grifted. In Saigon. I was thinking of writing my blog entry on the train ride and my impressions of the city, but no, I don’t care about that any more. I’ve been grifted. I don’t think many people can say that. I’ve [...]

Nha Trang is on Vietnam’s central coast and is beach-rific. I arrived on April 7 at 8 a.m. after a very early start in Hanoi and a bumpy take-off with Vietnam Airlines. The weather is hot and the sun very bright. Right away, I found a hotel right near the beach, thankfully with air conditioning. [...]

My impression of the Vietnamese people who work in the tourism industry is like my impression of those in North India (see Delhi scam stories from first blog). They like to share falsehoods rather than that rare traveler gem – the truth. As in, “What will the weather be like at Halong Bay?” “Sunny and [...]