Author Archives: Eoin
Bangkok
The first time I was in Bangkok I thought it was the worst city I have ever been to. I only spent one night there so i was probably a bit harsh but i just thought that it was really crap and incredibly dirty. This time I went back for 4 nights and loved the place. I guess I had more time to experience the finer parts, like Siam, but I actually did nothing in Bangkok. Knowing that it was the last stop before heading home, all i wanted to do was relax and take it easy. I went to the Paragon in Siam, Central World and to some electronics outlet that was just amazing. But that was about it. I did go to see Get Smart in one of the cinemas which was quite entertaining. The weird thing was that they play some tribute to the king before the start of every movie and every ones has to stand up as if its the national anthem. Very annoying as I spilt half of my popcorn standing up. I stayed at the Lub D Hostel in Silom which was very similar to the WakeUp in Sydney and just as nice. An excellent place to stay in Bangkok and twice as good as some of the fancy hotels in the area. Continue reading
Siem Reap
Siem Reap is a small town about 6 hours north of Phnom Penh. It’s famous as its the closest town to the Angkor temples and also because it’s a pretty nice place in its own right. It’s very tourist friendly which I found to be a good thing, all the shops, bars and cafes were conveniently placed right beside each other so you don’t have to look very hard to get some good food. The Angkor temples located outside of the town are just stunning. I would put them as probably the best thing I’ve seen since I’ve started travelling – along with the Golden Gate Bridge, the Great Barrier Reef and the temples of Kyoto. We spent 3 nights in Siem Reap and only got to see a few of the temples, you could easily spend a month here if you wanted to explore the entire area. Continue reading
Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh is the capital of Cambodia and probably the beginning of the end of this trip. We took the bus from Saigon, which took about 6 hours. You kind of have to take the bus as you need to get your visa at the border, which was really badly handled by our bus company but we got in there anyways. It’s not a great city, Cambodia itself is very poor and Phnom Penh isn’t very different. There are hundreds of temples around the city but we saved ourselves for the Angkor temples further north at Siem Reap. Because of this, we only spent one night here in Phnom Penh. One thing I did notice about Phnom Penh is that the people here are nicer than the people in Vietnam. In the morning I went to the Tuol Sleng genocide museum which was right across the street from our hostel. Cambodia has an incredible history and the period in the seventies under the Khmer Rouge regime is particularly horrific. This era is highlighted in the Tuol Sleng museum. Originally a high school, it served as the Security Prison 21 (S-21) under Pol Pots reign. Around 20,000 people were imprisoned here in brutal conditions. Most were tortured, killed and then sent to the Killing Fields outside of the city. Most of the people imprisoned were cambodians but it also included thais, vietnamese, americans, british, new zealanders and australians. The prisoners were men, women and children. Continue reading
Ho Chi Minh City
I’m not too sure what to make of Ho Chi Minh City. I heard that it was crazy and action packed but I didn’t find it too different from Hanoi. The city was originally called Saigon but was renamed Ho Chi Minh City when the North vietnamese soldiers took over the south after the american war. It’s still called Saigon by the majority of the people in the country so I’m going to call it Saigon too – it’s easier to spell. Ho Chi Minh was the founder of communism in vietnam, he was educated in France and later came back to vietnam to free the colony from french rule and so the people see him as the father of the country. While in Saigon, we stayed in the Pham Ngu Lao area of District 1 which is backpacker central. We had accomodation at this little guest house which turned out to be great. Very clean, comfortable and the staff were excellent. All for $10 a night. Continue reading
Hoi An
Hoi An was out intermediate stop on the way from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh. I’ve no idea why i picked Hoi An but the guide book said it was a nice place to visit. The trip there was an ordeal. The vietnamese trains are awful, the exact opposite of the shinkansen – they are slow, dirty and uncomfortable. Our train left Hanoi at around 7pm and was due to get to Danang at around midday of the next day. Overnight trains are generally not very comfortable and we weren’t expecting any better from this one. Our beds were in a 6-bed berth which also had an australian couple (on their way to the Isle Of Man!!!) and a bunch of vietnamese randoms. The vietnamese seem to book one bed for the entire family which is crazy. The trains are so loud that it was impossible to get sleep. At around 8am the inspector came into our berth and told us to get off the train. We assumed the next stop was Danang. It wasn’t. He had told us to get off in Hue which is 3 hours north of Danang. Bastard!! We were pissed as we had to wait 3 hours in Hue to get the next train and pay extra for the ticket. When we finally got to Danang the bus we booked wasn’t there so we had to pay extra to get a taxi to Hoi An. Very stressful stuff. But Hoi An itself turned out to be great. Continue reading
Halong Bay
Halong Bay is one of the main tourist attractions in Vietnam – it’s the image of the country that you see in the Jetstar ads. Its famous as it’s world heritage listed for the 2000 or so islands that surround the bay. We booked our tour in Hanoi with Handspan travel and left the city at around 8am. It’s a 3hour drive to the bay so you need to make sure you book a tour with a company that has decent transport – especially air-con. Along the way you get to see some of the amazing vietnamese countryside – the paddy fields, the small villages and of course thousands of motorbikes. As it was the weekend Halong Bat was packed with tourists, mainly americans. The harbour contained about 25 to 30 boats and everyone of them was sailing that day. If you prefer the quiet, then a weekday trip would probably be better. We had only booked a day trip as we were short on time but the best thing is to probably book a trip where you spend a night or two on the boat. Continue reading
Hanoi
Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam, is absolutely chaotic. A great introduction back into south-east asia but it did test my stress levels. We flew from Tokyo to Seoul and then got a connecting flight to Hanoi. First off, this was a terrible flight. The korean airlines plane was tiny, there was no leg room and the food was shockingly bad. We got into Hanoi at around 10:30 pm and got our visas at immigration. We had accommodation booked in the Old Quarter and they had emailed me to say that they were sending a driver to pick us up at the airport for free. This would help us to avoid all the touts and scams at the airport that try and lure you into another hotel. I wasn’t anticipating any issues with this arrangement but i was wrong. Continue reading
Tokyo
Tokyo is crazy. It’s such an amzing place to visit. First off, it’s gigantic. One of the biggest, if not the biggest cities in the world. The Tokyo Metropolis area contains around 13 million people and it is definitely the busiest city that I have ever been to. Every district that we went to was crammed full of peolpe, the subway was full all the time, shops were packed out to the door and nobody even cared. We spent 5 nights here and I would have loved to have spent another 5. It’s that good. Continue reading
Nara
Nara was one of the first capitals of Japan so needless to say, the main attractions here are……… temples. The place is full of them. But they are good. Nara is less than an hour from Kyoto and about 20 minutes from Osaka so it’s worth coming here for a day or two. Continue reading
Kyoto
Kyoto is one of the most popular cities in Japan, in fact most people will say it’s the most beautiful city in Japan. Some guide books will even say that it ranks with London, Paris and New York as a city that everyone should see at least once in their lifetime. To come to this opinion, i think that you will have to spend a good amount of time here. It’s certainly got it’s charms but you will have to do some searching to see its beauty. On first impressions, central Kyoto will struggle to distance itself from any other city. But if you venture to the eastern or western parts of the city then you will find the beauty that all the guides talk about. Continue reading