Great hotel and travel tips for SE Asia

In the comments posted at the bottom of this New York Times advice column:
Q&A: Southeast Asia Budget
Travelers have listed budget hotels and guest houses in Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and other great places.

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Captivated by today’s Vietnam

Ellen Creager, a travel writer at the Detroit Free Press newspaper, has written an evocative piece about travel in Vietnam, with anecdotal glimpses into Hoi An, Duong Lam, Cu Da, Cu Chi, Saigon, and Hanoi. The story online also includes some fantastic photos (26 here and 18 here).
Makes me want to go back right now!

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A word about phở

After years and years of eating phở in America (spelled “pho” here, and often pronounced like foe, but it should be fuh), I finally got to eat phở in Vietnam. The very first bowl I had was at Phở Vuông on Giang Vo Street in Hanoi. It was very tasty, but despite being surrounded by [...]

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Our cyclo ride in Ho Chi Minh City

One of many highlights of my visit to Vietnam in June was our late-afternoon ride (all 12 of us in separate cyclos) through rush-hour traffic. If you go to the YouTube page, please look for the link “Watch in High Quality” below the video. It looks much better that way.

This video [...]

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Street life, Hanoi and HCMC

People sit on the sidewalks in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Children, old people, working men, teenage girls. Everybody is on the sidewalk, often squatting on teensy plastic stools, about 10 inches tall.
Jodi asked Cong if all of these people are selling stuff, or are some of them just sitting outside their homes? Cong [...]

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Air travel in and to Vietnam

If only I had found out about Jetstar before I went to Vietnam!
Flights on the national carrier, Vietnam Airlines, are nice enough, but booking is a giant pain in the neck — because you must pay cash. Yes, the national airline does not accept credit cards! Even inside the country, when I booked a flight [...]

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Another departure, with regret

Sitting in the business-class lounge in the Hanoi airport, using free wi-fi and drinking a can of passionfruit juice imported from Malaysia (huh?!), waiting for the second leg of the seemingly endless journey from east to west (although my route is eastbound, from Seoul to Atlanta). I’m sorry to be leaving Vietnam — would have [...]

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Ha Long Bay, Hue, and Hoi An

Since we left Hanoi, we have been seeing some of the most famous tourist attractions of Vietnam. All three of these locations are UNESCO World Heritage sites, meaning they are “considered to be of outstanding value to humanity.” (Photos to come later.)
Right now I’m in an Internet cafe in Hoi An, at 10:45 a.m. local [...]

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Ready to hit the road, in Vietnam

My best friend and her family arrived on Sunday, after a bad flight delay from Delta. The customer service from Delta has got to be the worst in the world. Their airport staff are rude and unsympathetic. I have experienced it myself — many times, in many different airports. The story of Delta making a [...]

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At liberty in Hanoi

Friday was my last day teaching the Hanoi journalists. They organized a farewell lunch, and the U.S. embassy invited Larry Berman, author of the nonfiction book Perfect Spy. The embassy provided copies of the Vietnamese translation for all the journalists, and Larry signed copies (view slideshow).

Today my best friend and her family are due to [...]

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