We were set! The best seats on the sleeper bus, well fed, snacks in reserve, fully charged iPad, sleep aids ready to roll...life was looking good. And life was good...at first. We played cards and hung out as the first few hours of the journey whizzed by the window. G and I tucked into a repeat viewing of "Money Ball" on the iPad and became so engrossed in the movie that when we made the first pitstop of the trip I found myself afflicted with maybe the stronges...

The bus to Hue was blissfully uneventful. It was a quick, easy, painless 3 hours by bus and we were dropped in the town centre. We grabbed an overpriced cab that drove us about 7 minutes in the time we could've walked it, but he was pleasant enough so we didn't really care. Now, we were slightly nervous checking into what would be our accommodation for the next two nights. The price per night for a private room with private bathroom was $9USD, which also includ...

We won't bore you with the gory details of the 22 hour bus ride to Hoi An except for a few notable bits... We were both mildly physically assaulted by the bus workers while boarding and getting seated. Apparently we were supposed to take off our shoes, but we didn't get the memo and the dude smacked me on the ass twice, yelled at me in Vietnamese and then gestured at me and then his head as if to say: "you god damned idiot". Gina faired no better with the lady ...

We arrived back into HCMC after midnight and so hailed a taxi to the hotel close to the airport for the night. The driver took the long route and charged us an undeclared airport fee, but otherwise our arrival back into Vietnam was uneventful. It was Tet, or Vietnamese New Year, so we were unsure what the travel plans were going to be as we'd attempted to book a train ticket north online while in Philippines, but it had been full. It was an ominous sign. In the ...

We hopped off the bus in Manila and immediately the acrid smell of human urine hit and stung our nostrils. It reminded me of the men's room at the Oakland Coliseum at the end of a sold out Raider's game, and for a moment I got nostalgic...it faded quickly. The thing about the Coliseum is that as soon as you leave the premises the stench fades...I wish I could say the same about Manila, but I can't. It seemed like that all too familiar smell just followed us aroun...