Author Archives: alex

Menacing Hills and a Brush with Food Poisoning: if we can just make it to Hong Kong…

For the last few days of our stay in Yangshuo, we were transferred to the Mountain Retreat’s sister establishment, the Yangshuo Village Inn at Moon Hill (so called because of the mountain peak with a moon shaped hole which overlooks … Continue reading

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Into the mists of China we go…

The last train we caught in Vietnam left late in the evening. We hopped into the taxi arranged by our guesthouse and were soon rushed through the laneways of the Old Quarter, flanked by a stream of motorcycles and scooters … Continue reading

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The Reunification Express

The Reunification Express (now more commonly referred to as the “North-South Railway” outside of the tourist brochures) runs from Saigon to Hanoi – spanning 1,000 miles of beautiful pastureland, countryside and hilltops. The railway was constructed in the thirties by … Continue reading

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The Fabric of Hoi An

Hoi An is a small town, almost half way between Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon and Hanoi on the East coast of Vietnam. Very accessible by train and then bus or taxi from nearby Danang, it provides a compelling antidote to … Continue reading

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Crossing the Mekong Delta into Vietnam

The ‘new’ border crossing (newly open to tourists that is) at Ha Tien is basically not much more than a dirt track with a tiny passport control shack and a giant casino (aka the ‘Ha Tien Vegas’) on the Cambodian … Continue reading

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Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville to get a Vietnamese Visa

The bus service between Cambodia’s two largest cities – Siem Reap and Phnom Penh – is more regular than ten years ago but in many ways unchanged. Peeling seats and moody air-con on ancient Chinese buses which travel along bumpy … Continue reading

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