Six hours after leaving Vietnam, we docked at Phnom Penh. Excited. Anticipating our first experience of Cambodia. Disembarking from our ferry into a hot sticky day onto a very steep and crowded bridge, chaos reigned. Where was our stowed luggage?…
I just got back from a weekend in “The Central Plateau” in the North Island of New Zealand. Namely a small, remote “desert” town called Turangi. Fifty kilometres southwest of Taupo and skirted by volcanic mountains; Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe and Tongariro,…
The daily high-speed ferry departs from South Vietnam (Chau Doc) at 7.30a.m. Picked up from the hotel we were very politely and rather tentatively shown where to embark. We walked down a broken concrete stairway that circumvented another hotel, The…
As most of us know, Vietnam is renowned for its food. Fresh, tasty, and authentic. The Vietnamese people celebrate food and treat it as a time to get together with friends and family to share plates of delicious offerings, cooked…
The Capital of Vietnam Hanoi is one of the most exciting and absorbing cities I have ever visited. It is a city much defined by its streets. The locals live on them, their lives unfolding before our eyes as we…
Saigon to Chau Doc The last leg of our Vietnam journey involved a six-and-a-half-hour bus trip from HCMC to Chau Doc. We planned to travel by ferry up the Mekong to Phnom Penh for the next instalment of our SE…
aka Saigon Saigon is a city I always wanted to see. During the Vietnam War, I used to imagine journalists holed up in hotel rooms, busy typing or telexing their foreign correspondent reports back to the West. My father was…
Hoi An … translates as “peaceful meeting place.” Indeed, the city’s serenity was captivating the moment we disembarked our 45-minute taxi ride from Danang. History – A UNESCO World Heritage site, this small ancient city sits on the banks of…
Da Nang As we trained into Da Nang, one of the most eye-catching sights from my window seat was the view of “Lady Buddha Da Nang.” She is huge. At 67 metres high, she is the tallest Buddha statue in…
Hanoi – Da Nang. On the night train Recently selected by Lonely Planet as the leading journey among eight of the world’s great train journeys, The Reunification Express departs twice daily from Hanoi and travels the coastline down to Ho Chi Minh City over…
