Happy New Year

2015 New Year Fireworks over Gustave Eiffel’s Truong Tien Bridge – Hue, Vietnam

Chuc Mung Nam Moi to all of my Vietnamese friends and everyone else through Asia celebrating the new year today.  May it be a prosperous and happy one!

Da Nang Backpacker Hostel Review

Da Nang Backpackers Hostel – Da Nang

Opened only a month ago, the Da Nang Backpacker Hostel is already a winner.

Dragon Bridge – Da Nang

How do you take a an ordinary design for a bridge and make it special?

Cau Song Han – Da Nang, Vietnam

Put a dragon on it, of course!

Dragon Bridge – Da Nang, Vietnam

Lady Buddha – Da Nang

Lady Buddha – Da Nang, Vietnam

In Da Nang there is a statue.   And her name is Lady Buddha.

She stands 72 meters tall and dominates the landscape for up to 35 kilometers. She can be seen everywhere in Da Nang and surrounding areas, including out to see. She is thought, by the locals, to be the protector of sailors.

Hoi An

Hoi An, also known as Faifoo, is a beautiful old town with a population of around 100,000. Even better, it feels smaller, cozy even.  Originally a port and trading city, the influences from countries around the world are omnipresent. The Old Quarter is also a UNESCO World Heritage site, so hopefully the charms will remain in the face of Vietnam’s rapid growth everywhere else.

QL24: The Beautiful Central Highlands

Views from atop QL24 – Central Highlands, Vietnam

Today was all about the ride and the scenery…the most breathtaking I’ve seen in Vietnam thus far.

I traveled from Kon Tum towards Hoi An on the road known as QL24. A road I highly recommend to anyone traveling between Hoi An and the Central Highlands.

Motorbiking Vietnam: Foreign Drivers and the Police

Police Checkpoint (with Radar) in Vietnam

It is illegal for a foreigner to own a motorbike in Vietnam. You need to have residency to obtain a Drivers License. And international DLs are not recognized either.

So, how does one buy a motorbike in Vietnam? How do so many foreign nationals motorbike Vietnam illegally and get away with it? And what about the police?

Bánh Mì

In Vietnamese, “bánh” means anything breadish, pastry like, etc.

“mì” means something that comes from wheat flour.

Together “bánh mì” means yummy sandwiches.

Subway or Quiznos it is not.

Two Illegal border Crossings, A Wild Ride, and Crazy People

One of the Many Bridges I crossed in the Central Highlands, Vietnam

I set off today on a pretty unorthodox path up the Vietnam Central Highlands. There are some well-worn roads north from Da Lat or Buon Ma Thout (where I was yesterday), like the AH17. But I tend to take alternate paths (and I’d been told many times the AH17 is a carriage ride through hell right now due to road works).

So I took a different path.

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Kopi Luwak – It’s Shit

Kopi Luwak

Kopi Luwak is a category of coffee produced from….(ahem)….the excrement of Asian jungle cats called Civets. It’s also known as Weasel Coffee and Cat Shit Coffee.

Who was the first person to think…..’hmm, I bet that might taste good?’ And who were the idiots that believed his lies and tried it next?