Category: travel
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Trekking in Sapa: Days 19 – 21
From Siem Reap I flew to Hanoi. On the plane, I sat next to two Americans from… Florida, I think? (I remember the man’s name was Richard because it got said several times, but I can’t remember the girl’s name.) Yet again, I hadn’t organized transportation from the airport, and so as we got ready…
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900-year-old temples in Siem Reap: Days 15 – 18
I flew into Siem Reap and got an in-person visa, where they took a scan of my passport, $32, and gave me a visa after waiting about 30 minutes in a crowd of people until they called my name. This was the first time I hadn’t arranged a way to get to my hostel, which…
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Getting Lost & Getting Sick in Da Lat: Days 13 – 14
I have some work to get done, but I know I’ll have the afternoon to explore, so I go down to breakfast and try to make friends. There I meet a New Zealand girl named Caitlin who doesn’t have solid plans, so I convince her to go with me to Crazy House and Maze Bar.…
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Night Bus & Canyoning in Da Lat: Days 12 – 13
Well, I survived the night bus, which was both better and worse than I had imagined. Better: No locals hopped on our tourist bus at night & robbed us, our driver didn’t speed or drive recklessly, the air-conditioning was in working order (these are the horror stories travelers told me about as we waited to…
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Hoi An: Days 7 – 11
After a day in Haiphong, I take an early morning flight to Da Nang airport and then a car to Hoi An. There are other, more scenic ways to travel but the hour and a half flight was (I just double checked this because I couldn’t believe my bank statement) $18.40, and uh… yeah. Hoi…
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Cat Ba National Park to Haiphong: Days 5 & 6
Note: I am writing this about a week later and my memory is hazy about the details of the day, so we’ll see how this goes. Last night, I made plans with four people I met on the boat over dinner – Jack and Caitlynn, who are also from Seattle(!) and Zwen and Stella, two…
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Vietnam Day 3 & 4: Cruising Lan Ha and Ha Long Bay
If you go to north Vietnam, most would say you’d be missing out to not see Ha Long Bay. I’d agree. The area was named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1994. Essentially every tour company sells a package, and you can do a day trip cruise or a multi-day cruise where you sleep overnight…
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Vietnam Day 2: Cat Ba Island
Not as much to report today as it was mostly a travel day. I fell asleep around 11 p.m., woke up at 2 a.m. to a nightmare that I’d had to tackle my dog out of the way of a moving vehicle, and didn’t fall asleep again until 5 a.m. Made the relatively mild 8…
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Vietnam Day 1: Food, Fumes, and Friends in Hanoi
Well, today was so action-packed that I thought I might revive this blog while I’m in Vietnam. Background: I booked a ticket to Hanoi, Vietnam in August on a whim after finding a deal on tickets ($600 RT). I proceeded to plan very little (though I did do research, including enough to write a guide…
colleen stinchcombe 