Category Archives: South East Asia

Three day layover in Hong Kong

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IMG_3267After a short flight from Ho Chi Minh City, we took a bus from the Hong Kong Airport to the area where our pre-booked hotel was located. Our maps pinpointed the hotel in the middle of a city block. We got off the bus, looked around, and only saw rows of shops. Nothing resembled a hotel or guesthouse and meanwhile many Indians were asking us if we needed a guesthouse, a watch or even a SIM card for our phone. Will suggested looking down a narrow alley and see if we could find anything. Down the walkway filled with shops, we found an elevator bank and noticed some of the words matched the address from our listing. We got in the elevator trying to get to a floor we thought might match the address but only even floors were listed. After going back down, we realized there was another elevator with odd floors listed and it even had the name of our guesthouse on the floor listing. We went up to the 13th floor and Continue reading →

Seeing the Sites in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

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The bus ride from Mui Ne to Ho Chi Minh was uneventful. The bus stopped right in the tourist part of the city for once! (Yet another reason Vietnam is my favorite so far). We didn’t have a hotel booked but knew where to look. We pushed through all the taxi drivers who couldn’t believe we didn’t need a taxi and a few minutes later we had a place to stay.

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We did mostly touristy activities Ho Chi Minh with our first stop being the war museum. It was very interesting to see their perspective on the war. After reading all the history from their perspective, I am more confused then ever. On the walk from the museum to the street with all the restaurants, Sara made sure to take us through a large market. As we walked between the stalls, we were continually bombarded with hawkers asking if we needed a shirt, dried fruit, a watch, or anything else imagineable. Continue reading →

Kiteboarding in Mui Ne, Vietnam

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To finish off the Southeast Asia portion of our trip, we wanted to go to a beach and relax. After doing a bit a research, I learned that a great kiteboarding spot was only a few hours away and just south of Ho Chi Minh City. This turned our relaxing beach time into something a bit more exciting.

When we left Can Tho in the morning, we didn’t know if we could even get to Mui Ne that day or not. We only had bus tickets as far as Ho Chi Min. Once in Ho Chi Min, there were no English signs and it seemed like nobody spoke English. Continue reading →

Food Tour in Can Tho, Vietnam

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We booked a boat and bus combo from Phnom Penh to Can Tho, Vietnam. Even though Can Tho is on the river, there apparently is no longer boat service into the town so we had to transfer to the slower bus route. The boat took us across the border and into the first main town. We could tell that we were finally off the typical backpacker trail when the boat left with only four passengers and it could have probably held about 50. The boat ride was very relaxing as we cruised down the Mekong River (it was nice to not be jostled around by the dirt roads for half the trip).

We decided on visiting Can Tho because Sara’s dad was stationed there in 1970 during the Vietnam war. It was much different than he remembered. Back then is was just a town but now it is Continue reading →