All Along the Watchtower My first few days in Vietnam were spent in Ho Chi Minh City, aka Saigon, indulging in the food (oh. my. god. SO good.) and learning how to cross the street. Nothing in India or China prepared me for dodging motorcycles, frogger-style, several times a day. Mental preparedness and a good strong pep talk were required, as well as reciting audibly the mantra of "<deep breath> OK, here we go s***s***s***s***s***s***, ack! Taxi! f...

One Week in Bangkok Bangkok is a city that grows on you. I really disliked it at first...or, rather, just thought "here is another Asian mega city"...with an extra dose of prostitution & sex tourism thrown in for good measure. The main tourist area is Khao San Road which is just wall to wall stalls of t-shirts (same same but different), fishermen pants, knock off DVDs and the like. I decided not to stay there but did visit - once I got my fill o...

Lost in Translation - A Tokyo Layover I discovered that my flight from Bangkok to Iowa flew through Tokyo, so on my way back to SE Asia I thought I'd change my ticket to stop here for 4 nights. One blizzard and a change of plans later, I've been here for 5 days taking it all in. So, my week in Haiku Arrive, bleary eyed At last - baggage claim order! Love the Japanese My #1 pet peeve (of many) of airline travel is how people crowd the baggage claim. If ...

Back in the USA One of the major areas of personal growth from this past year has been my willingness to embrace my nationality. Most people know I have two passports and at the start of this trip I would go out of my way to waive my Aussie one around (just ask my parents). In part this was because I didn't feel American or identify as such - though to be perfectly honest, I didn't feel Aussie either, it was just where my home had been for the past 10 years. But...

Cooking tour in Chiang Mai With my birthday coming up I decided to commemorate my 33rd year on the planet with my favourite activity (no...not trekking). Northern Thailand is fairly well known for its plethora of cooking classes so I made a beeline there on arriving in Thailand, not even stopping overnight in Bangkok. Chiang Mai was such a contrast from Mumbai, India. I was expecting some of the chaos - traffic, horns, rubbish, stray dogs, the like - but...