When I wrote about the first stop on our trip, Ho Chi Minh, I casually mentioned the “frenzy of traffic”. In Hanoi, Vietnam’s capital, it was just out of control. You know things are a problem when on the “Hotel information” sheet left in your room, point number one is “How to cross roads.” “How…
Tag: featured
Bay by Bay
Ha Long Bay is one of the most visited and photographed natural beauties of Vietnam. You would have seen pictures of rugged rocky islets jutting from emerald water, tranquil lagoons, hidden caves and communities of fisherfolk living and farming the waters on bright floating villages. You probably haven’t seen images of rubbish floating in these…
The Last Sapa
We arrived in Sapa exhausted after an 11-hour train ride on the Lotus Express to Hanoi and then a 6-hour ride on an awful bumpy sleeper bus being yelled at by a grumpy driver “NO FOOD” who was watching Vietnamese YouTube music videos the whole way. Sapa town was nothing as we had expected. I…
Show me the Hue
In my research on Hue (pronounced H-way), I did not read anything about it being a university (and therefore party) town. I read about the historical citadel, imperial history and countryside royal tombs, but nowhere did it mention that there would be streets teaming with young people out for a beer, a thumping nightclub and…
The City of Lanterns
The check-in of our beachside homestay five minutes from historical Hoi An was a flurry of confusion. Two old ladies showed us photos of various breakfast foods while ushering us up to our room in the traditional timber bungalow that would be our home for three nights. We decided to stay a little out of…
Good Morning Vietnam!
There’s nothing like a heady dose of a chaotic South-East Asian city to remind you you’re alive: the frenzy of traffic; the clash of glittering Cartier shopfronts manned by uniformed security guards vs. elderly squatted women wearing “non” (conical straw hats) selling cigarettes and bottled water; the heavy humidity lifting scents of rubbish, then BBQ…
The Beginning of the End
The visually spectacular drive between Treviso and Munich took us about 6 hours, with Cam relishing the chance to speed along at over 170 on the smooth-as-silk autobahns in Germany. After spending over 3 weeks surrounded by dramatic, passionate, rowdy Italians, Munich was a bit of a jolt to a more “Australian” reality. Workers rushing…
Lakeside
Probably thanks to George Clooney, the first Italian holiday lake that comes to mind for most non-Europeans is Lake Como. Bigger however at 370km2, less pricey, and arguably with more things to do, is Lake Garda, situated across three regions of northern Italy; Lombardy, Veneto and Trentino-Alto Adige. The coast of the lake is dotted…
Under Brescia
The northern Italian city of Brescia has an inferiority complex. Despite being, alongside neighbouring town Bergamo, Italy’s “Capital of Culture 2023”; regardless of the wealth of artistic treasures housed in the city’s Santa Giulia museum; even though one of the largest castle complexes in all of Italy sits on the summit of Brescia’s city, overlooking…
3 Burgundian celebrities. A Gaul, a cad, and a saint.
Having a car when you’re travelling through Europe (and a husband who loves the challenge of driving on the other side of the road on the other side of the planet) is a godsend, enabling us to visit places that would either take far too long, or be too complicated, to visit using public transport…
Sweet like “Chocolat”
Between May and August 2000, the small medieval town of Flavigny-sur-Ozerain in France’s Burgundy region was taken over with a Hollywood film crew, and actors including Johnny Depp, Juliette Binoche, and Judy Dench, to create the whimsical, romantic tale “Chocolat”. While the film was not a success in France, it received 5 Academy Award nominations,…
Paris: Oui ou non
“Oooooooo. I LOOOOOVE Paris!” exclaim most travellers excitedly after a visit to the City of Light. After all, it’s the home to some of the world’s most recognizable landmarks; of high end fashion, art, and literature; the streets are filled with the aroma of baking bread and designer fragrance; and there is always something new…
Mona Lisa Smile
The Louvre is the world’s most popular museum with over 7.8 million people visiting in 2022. Visitor numbers are currently capped at 30,000 daily, but even with timed tickets, expect having to wait in a queue. If you haven’t pre-purchased tickets, you may be waiting for hours. We booked late-night tickets hoping to avoid the…
Stop! This is the empire of Death
In the late 1700’s, Paris’ authorities realised that something needed to be done about the city’s overflowing cemeteries. Basements neighbouring church cemeteries were collapsing due to the weight of centuries worth of bones. The ingenious plan was hatched to fill a series of unused underground mining tunnels with exhumed skeletons. Over 2 years from 1785,…
“The bible, but as a graphic novel”
“The bible, but as a graphic novel” is how Milana described the incredible stained glass windows of Sainte-Chapelle, built between 1242 and 1248 to house a bunch of holy relics (including the allegedly authentic Crown of Thorns) by France’s Louis IX. Entering the upper chapel of the church is one of those breath-taking “HOW did…
The Happiest Place on Earth (Part 2)
We were blown away by Disney Sea in Tokyo when we visited in 2016. We’re not a big Disney family. Of course we’ve seen most of the films, but we don’t LOVE Mickey, wear Disney merch, get about with mouse ears on etc. But Disney Sea had us so immersed in a world of fantasy,…
The Token Traveller 