Day #6:
My train lurched in Lao Cai Station at 6 AM. I woke up from my deep sleep at around 5:55 AM! Wham! Just in time to stick a toothbrush in my mouth, while cramming my silk liner hurriedly into my day pack. Being a solo traveler separated from my trekking group, the last thing I wanted was to be the last one off the train and left! My Swiss roommates were further behind schedule than me, though. No one was prepared for a quick evacuation. Sleep was good, despite the violent rocking and intermittent screeching of wheels against the tracks.

The #1 disadvantage of solo travel:
Duh, I was alone. Filing off the train in a backpacker’s fog, I searched the sea of backpackers for “familiar” faces. Nothing. No one (more…)

Day #5:
Another day wasted in transit. My flight from HCMC was only 20 minutes late, but the $8 “Vietnam Airlines” airport shuttle (recommended by my Lonely Planet book) took up to two hours!  With so many  scam businesses using plagiarized signs of reputable companies, it was hard to trust I was boarding the correct shuttle at the airport.  Anyways, all I needed was get to the Old Quarter in Hanoi, so I could board my 3 day/4 night Sapa (more…)

Day #4:
The other day it rained a lot, making aspects of our sightseeing a challenge at times; today the weather… great. By 10AM, we were at the Cai Rang Floating Marketplace (open 5AM-11AM), one of the most heralded markets in the Delta region. Boat traffic. Murky waters. The activity of boats and local merchants, selling produce was already (more…)

Comic by Luke Martin of ROKetship (I love his comics on being an expat in Korean culture!
Check it out and have a laugh!)

So the new troops are rolling in! Yes, a new batch of EPIKers just arrived in Daegu this Thursday to fill the district’s request to have at least one Native English speaker (NET) in each school starting this semester.  It’s all a part of the Korean Ministry of Education‘s  eager plan to boost the country’s appetite and  mastery of English.

To fellow EPIKer’s of my generation:
Woo hoo! We made it to the six month mark! Through good times and bad, we rocked through it to this far and (more…)

Imagine if you had to go to the bathroom at night?

Found in the Mekong Delta region in Vietnam at a rice noodle factory- an old outhouse and rural brother to the asian squat toilet. How is it done? You go inside that box and straddle on the tree branches and watch out below! Don’t worry about there being traces of your last night’s dinner, the fish below are there to help you out.

Did I have to use this? Thank God, no. Fortunately for tourists and Vietnamese, the western toilet (with bedee) has (more…)

Rice is the heart of Asia.  Ask any Asian and they’ll tell you, meals are never complete without it. Being predominantly Japanese-Hawaiian and growing up in Hawaii, like many other Hawaii families, I was raised with rice on my dinner table as the staple (and incidentally, it is the “must have” of every Hawaiian plate lunch). Living in Korea, it’s always served with my school lunches and in Vietnam, well…  what do you think?  The Vietnamese are the second largest exporter of rice in the world after Thailand, and the Mekong Delta contributes to that growth by, sourcing numbers (more…)

I  did a 2 day-1 night tour of the Mekong Delta with Delta Adventures… $19! (couldn’t you just cry?) No shocking travel stories or freakouts, all went smooth. When you’re on a tour, everything is controlled by the itinerary. If you’re like me, the only thing you’ll wrestle with that an itinerary doesn’t always allow as much free time to explore a place a bit as you’d like. And with life in the Delta revolving around rice, river channels and riverboat commerce, you’d need time (more…)

Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon can be very photogenic at night. Everything is illuminated with a candy-colored neon glow or half-lit by darkness. The Vietnamese don’t mind… it’s all good. It’s like mood lighting.

Most of this is shot in and near the Dhong Khoi area, without a tripod and completely on the fly.

(more…)

Motorcycle mahem in Ho Chi Minh City
Just how crazy is motorcycle culture in HCMC? It’s insane! In HCMC the two-wheeled chariot populates roughly 90% of the roadway (highways included). Thus, the Vietnamese are as comfortable on their motorbikes, the way L.A. drivers are in their sunglasses and cars! People hang out on their motorbikes, leisurely checking their cellphones, eating or reading their morning newspaper; lounge on them like sofa chairs and practice the art of balance by (more…)