Emperor Tu Duc’s Tomb
Tu Duc was part of the Nguyen dynasty and the longest reigning Emperor of that period from 1848 – 1883. His tomb is in Hue and was designed by himself to make sure it was grand enough! To avoid any enemies digging him up his …
exploring eating capturing
Southeast Asia
An ancient capital city.
Hue (pronounced Hway) is slap bang in the middle of Vietnam approximately half way between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh cities. I went on an over night sleeper train from Hanoi to get there which was pretty straight forward and took about twelve hours. Hue …
How to make pearls in three easy steps…
So I had a quick lesson in pearl cultivating. Seems quite straight forward really. Take an live oyster, prise it open insert a bit from another oyster and a plastic ball…leave for five years back in the sea and hey presto a pearl. How hard …
Beautiful Ha Long Bay
Ha Long bay is in the north of Vietnam. In 1994 it was designated a world heritage site and I can see why. Numerous towering mounds of limestone protrude from the ocean wearing caps of thick lush green forest. It is incredibly picturesque and is …
My (on going) Dog Collection
I am a tiny bit dog mad. One of my best friends is even worse than me so I decided to find a dog a day to send her while I’m travelling. Everyone I’m travelling with now shouts dog of the day when they see …
Dip pens, ink, caramelised pork and egg coffee
So then on to culinary highlights of Hanoi and my favourite shop. Shopping first. Hanoi is a wash with fake goods. North Face and Superdry amongst other brand names are made in Vietnam. That in turn has created a huge business in seconds, knock off’s …
Hanoi hustle and bustle
Having spent a leisurely week or so slowly taking in Laos arriving in Hanoi Vietnam was a bit of a shock to the system. Manic buzzing vibrant frenzied energetic are all words that come to mind when thinking of how to describe the city. Having …
Cope Centre
Amongst all the beautiful temples, glittery Buddhas, warm hearted people and magnificent scenery is a very sad and little known everyday obstacle that the people of Laos have to deal with, that is unexploded bombs. Throughout the Vietnam war bombing missions by the US dropped …
What to do with a day in Vientiane…
Vientiane is the capital city of Laos. It isn’t really like most capital cities I’ve visited it echoes the rest of Laos in its laid back ‘what will be will be’ attitude. The traffic is not to bad at all and it is very easy …
Fishy goings on…
Fish is very much part of the staple diet in Laos after sticky rice of course. You can get fish in every shape and size, dried, pickled, fresh, salted. It was intriguing to see the markets of fish and the shapes and forms they took… …