A boat ride to forget…and a quick stay in Nong Khiaw

The boat ride we took from Siem Reap to Battambang in Cambodia was a memorable one so we thought we’d give it another go in Laos. From Luang Prabang we chose Nong Khiaw as our next stop, more remote and further into nature. Jesse described it as a small river village where you could do […]

First impressions of Laos in Luang Prabang

We had high expectations of Laos. It seemed without fail that when we asked people what country they loved best of their travels, Laos was always a high contender. We’d been told of untouched natural landscapes, of beautiful waterfalls, of hassle-free and laid back locals and been promised that we’d just never want to leave. […]

Terrace trekking in Sapa

Sapa was one of those places where people unanimously told us it was a “must see” for its picturesque vistas and diversity of ethnic minority groups living in the area. But we’d also met many tourists who made the trek out to Sapa only to find themselves in heavy rains or mist so thick you […]

Cruising through Halong Bay

There are some places we visit where learning about the history or back story of a place really enhances our appreciation for what we’re seeing. But then there are other times when no guide or history lesson is really required to still be impressed. In the case of Halong Bay, it was the latter. I […]

Chanman’s Top 10 Hanoi Street Eats

We’re no food experts, but we do love to eat. And since we went on a serious Vietnamese street food binge while we were in Hanoi (thanks are in order to the amazing authors of some of our fave blogs, Stickyrice and EatingAsia, for all the guidance), we decided to put together our top 10 […]

Finding food heaven in Hanoi

We love big cities. Cities are where we seem to feel most at home. We spent over six days in Hanoi, most of them overcast and wet but we still managed to fall in love with this city. Really it was a combination of a very walkable city, a dynamic local scene, a great variety of […]

Delayed in Dong Hoi for a few too many hours

So I’d been the one who insisted on traveling during Chinese/Lunar New Year because I thought it would provide for an enhanced local experience. And while we did have a great time enjoying the lantern festival and fireworks in Hoi An, traveling during this period really has resulted in some unfortunate travel trade-offs for us […]

Exploring the Crazy Caves of Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park

Next up for us was to continue our path north through Vietnam and head to the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park near a small village called Son Trach. Phong Nha means “cave of teeth” and this is exactly what we came to see – some of Asia’s oldest karst mountains housing a few hundred caves […]

Chúc mừng năm mới from Hoi An!

Heeded by warnings that it would be difficult to travel in and around Tet, we opted to stay put in Hoi An for 6 nights and spend our new year’s eve there. We’d heard many great things from friends about the charm of this little Unesco Heritage town, so we were definitely looking forward to […]

Six days on the back of a motorcycle? Why Not!

Warning! very long post to follow… Is it too early to call it? We just might have had our best travel experience ever. If it isn’t the highlight of our 6 month trip, it’s for sure landing in the Top 3. I’m not quite sure where to begin. Jesse’s obsessive reading and researching on what […]