December 2011
11 posts
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From Dalat to Hoi An, Vietnam
For six days, I rode on the back of Hien’s motorcycle as we wound our way through the back country from Dalat to Hoi An. My pack was wrapped in a plastic bag and tied to the back of the bike, Hien sat in front with his pack, and I was sandwiched between them.
The weather was nice and warm for several days, but then grew cool and rainy toward the end. The cool wind blowing on your face and...
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Vietnam 2012 pictures →
Warning: Some are graphic.
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I’ve found the holy grail of Dropbox upload speeds, and it’s at Flip Flop Hostel in Taipei! Yes!
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Dalat, Vietnam
I rode an open tour bus from Saigon to Dalat. It took about six or seven hours, and we arrived in the evening. I passed the time listening to podcasts, watching My Cousin Vinnie on my laptop, and chatting with a Thai girl, Pla, sitting next to me. She was going to Dalat for a weekend vacation with her two friends. She was really friendly and invited me to join her and her friends in their taxi...
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Running out of space
I’ve accumulated 26.19 GB of pictures and videos on my travels so far. Soon their size will exceed the capacity of the 32 GB flash drive that I use to back them up. When that happens, all of my picture and video eggs will be in my laptop basket. Dropbox upload speeds are too slow to keep pace. At that point, I don’t know what I can do, other than find a wifi connection with a...
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Japan notes
My notes of Japan:
Japanese wear masks if they’re sick to prevent spreading disease in public.
There are sometimes different slippers for around the house and inside the bathroom.
Koreans in Seoul tend to dress sharper.
The Tokyo subway is similar to that in Seoul, although more complicated and extensive.
Most people are silent on the subway. It’s taboo to talk, eat, or drink.
...
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Mekong Delta, Vietnam
I headed south from Saigon to the Mekong Delta to see some floating markets and river life.
I met some volunteers from England and Australia on the bus from the Ben Thanh market to the bus terminal and decided to follow them to My Tho. I took a taxi with them to their hotel, got a room, and joined them for dinner. Afterward, I arranged for a four-hour private boat tour of the nearby river the...
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Travel pictures
Here are my pictures from South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore:
South Korea
Japan
Hong Kong
Singapore
I tried using Flickr and Facebook to share them, but both failed me. Uploading to Flickr was too slow in Vietnam. Uploading to Facebook with iPhoto produced duplicates and limited albums to 200 pictures.
Dropbox came to my rescue. I exported 1,232 pictures from iPhoto to the...
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Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon for the lazy…or stubborn) and took a taxi to my hostel, Long Guesthouse, in the Phạm Ngũ Lão backpacker area of District 1. The staff were very friendly and helpful, but there wasn’t a common room, so it was difficult to meet people, which I didn’t like. After a couple days, I chose to switch to another hostel, Saigon Backpackers, that was...
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Singapore
I got laid over in Singapore on my way from Hong Kong to Vietnam. The passengers were delayed boarding the plane because there was a problem with a smoke detector. The delay caused me to miss my connecting flight in Singapore.
The airline, Jetstar, put me up in a decent hotel (Riverview) for the night and paid for the taxis and meals. As you might guess, the hotel was on the shore of a small...
Hong Kong
I was in Hong Kong for a week. It’s a mix of old and new, touristy and authentic, cheap and pricey.
Real estate must cost through the roof, because the hostels there were the dirtiest I’ve ever seen. Granted, all I’d seen before that were the ones in South Korea and Japan, which are very clean and tidy places. But still: I’m talking about taking a shower while staring at...