Another travel day. Picked up early from the hotel to get to the very busy Bangkok airport for a short flight north to Chiang Mai. My hotel is charming, and replicates a village of the Tai Lue people, one of the tribes in the Lanna Kingdom, who migrated here from southern China. This is the largest and most culturally significant…
Feb 3: Bangkok continued
After essentially covering two days of activities in one, I decided to take a break today. Feeling a bit sight-see’d out, and the mass of humanity/tourists is really pretty exhausting. This may sound judgmental or generalizing, but many of the Asian people, usually in tour groups (from China, Japan, Korea I think), use their arms and elbows to create and…
Feb 2: Bangkok
A completely different atmosphere and vibe just 90 minutes away from central Vietnam, Bangkok is filled with huge skyscrapers and modern amenities and clean streets and efficient public transport. Traffic is very busy at all times it seems, but there are many fewer motor scooters, and many more cars and tuk tuks. And in between the big office towers and…
February 1: Goodbye Vietnam, Hello Thailand
We had been incredibly lucky with the weather — definitely suffered from the heat and humidity, but rain did not interfere with any of our cycling or sightseeing in the 3 1/2 weeks we had in Vietnam and Cambodia. So on our last day it rained. Which was fine because all we did was take a taxi to the airport.…
January 31: Hoi An Continued
Another day, another UNESCO World Heritage Site. This one is about an hour outside of Hoi An and is the site of Vietnam’s most extensive Cham remains. My Son was once the most important intellectual and religious center of the Kingdom of Champa and may also have served as a burial place for Cham monarchs. (The Champa Kingdom was located…
January 30: Hoi An Day 2
Our hotel is just outside of Hoi An on the Thu Bon River, and breakfast was served in a lovely thatched roof building right on the river. Wonderful view. We took a couple of hotel beach cruiser bikes for a ride out to Cua Dai Beach, and traveled along peaceful paths flanked by canals and rice paddies and farm land.…
January 29: Hoi An
Another adventure awaited us this morning as we set out for the train station in Hue to catch a train to Da Nang. We had found the station and purchased tickets yesterday, but weren’t prepared for the crowds of travelers. The train was an older model and the tracks were at the same level as the waiting platform, so it…
January 28: Tet in Hue
Tet Nguyen Dan is the most important celebration in Vietnamese culture. Translated it means “the first morning of the first day”, and it is the Vietnamese version of the Lunar New Year. The rituals and celebrations of Tet reflect the various cultures of the different regions, but they are all holistic, mindful of the connection between humans and their natural…
January 26 and 27: Halong Bay
A well visited UNESCO site on the coast near Hanoi is Halong Bay. Set in the Gulf of Tonkin, there are towering limestone pillars and tiny islets topped by forest which rise from the emerald waters. Halong translates to “where the dragon descends into the sea” and legend tells that this mystical seascape was created when a great mountain dragon…
January 25: Hanoi, Day 2
Apparently a visit to Hanoi is not complete without a visit to Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum and the adjacent historical places and Museum. So, that was the destination for the morning. And it was quite an interesting experience. The large complex is well guarded, and there’s an elaborate system for getting in. Once through security any backpack sized bag needed…