Travel photos and journals from across Asia [1997-2024]
Riding a motorcycle in Thailand isn’t for everyone, however vast numbers of visitors to the Kingdom do it at least once during a trip and a large portion of these limited experience bikers end up getting too friendly with the asphalt. Road rash victims are a common sight in any…
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Another trip out of Saigon took us an hour or so north to the Cu Chi area and the infamous tunnels that ended up as the demise of the US forces during the war. At its peak the tunnel system stretched all the way from the Cambodian border to the…
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Not wanting to spend our final days in the city we booked a couple of day trips, the first of which being to the rice bowl of Vietnam – the Mekong Delta. The Vietnamese don’t use the word Mekong and refer to the mighty river as Song Cuu Long, River…
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The final leg of our north to south journey took us to the commercial heart of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City. We opted to skip the hedonistic beach resort of Nha Trang for a couple of reasons but primarily because getting there and away would have involved two overnight trains…
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This World Heritage site (pronounced ‘mee sun’) dating back over 1500 years consists of around 20 structures where 68 once stood before the American war; the VC used the area as a base consequently a lot of ordinance was dropped on the ancient temple ruins. Restoration efforts were taking place…
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I was hankering to get out on two wheels again and explore some of the hinterland so we hired ourselves a local guide and a couple of choppers and headed west towards the Truong Son Mountains, the border with Laos, and the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The legendary route consisted…
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It was time to head south again but this time not too far, only 30km to the ancient port town of Hoi An, one of Vietnam’s most atmospheric and delightful places. Checked in at the brand new Sunshine Hotel on the outskirts of town whereupon the staff gave us a…
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After the train journey (and Top Gear’s Vietnam special) all I wanted to do was ride back up the Hai Van (sea cloud) Pass, one of Asia’s most spectacular stretches of road. Those maps in the Lonely Planet books are pretty misleading … it’s a bloody long way from My…
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The old taxi trick was our first introduction to Danang upon exiting the station, “meter” was the only word I could muster and we got it for half the quoted price for using one. Not really sure what I expected from Danang but what we actually found was Vietnam’s largest…
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It was time to leave the dizzying moto-mayhem of Hanoi and head south on the train, our destination was Danang in central Vietnam. I had arranged the tickets a couple of weeks earlier via a friend currently based there, the options were hard seat, soft seat or sleeper, we opted…
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Since our time is limited we decided on an overnight cruise in Halong Bay to make the most of it ($375 for the family cabin, 2D/1N with Alova Tours booked via the hotel). Glad we did as the journey from Hanoi to Halong City is a butt busting 3.5 hour…
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Starting out in Hanoi we spend a couple of nights in a delightful little hotel called Jasmine (www.thejasminehotel.com) in the heart of the Old Quarter where the staff bend over backwards to help you – real ambassadors for the hospitality industry. Due to the high cost of cars the city…
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Bangsaphan is a sleepy tourist town situated about halfway between the provincial towns of Prachuabkirikhan and Chumphon and 400 kilometers south of Bangkok. It remains relatively unspoilt and untouched by the mass tourism and escalating prices that has tarnished other Thai beach destinations such as Phuket, Krabi, Hua Hin, Koh…
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Being based in Bangsaphan yields plenty of opportunity to get off the beaten tracks and tourist trails and explore miles of empty beaches, hidden temples, rustic villages and border markets and outposts. There is no better way to do this than on two wheels. The Burmese border is less than…
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One year on, the lure to return to Mindoro Island in the Philippines to sample its sub-aqua delights had been too strong to resist. The cluster of dive shops, restaurants and bars clinging to the shoreline of Sabang Bay slowly came into focus as the ferry from Batangas inched closer…
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