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Showing posts from January, 2019

A- DELT-ery

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Living and teaching in a homestay provides me with a healthy dosage of free time to explore my bustling new world. Realizing that my 'working day' all of this week did not begin until 7 pm, I quickly made plans to escape my four walls and experience a short wholesome affair with the Mekong Delta. Given that I am allergic to overly touristy experiences and tours, I wanted to find a sufficiently 'authentic' outlet for my time. This I found in the form of Countryside Adventures ( https://www.countrysidediscovery.com/ ) with whom I arranged a half day tour along my new love's red brown waters . The tour promised to be action packed and would include two of my favorite forms of transport; kayaking and cycling. The Delta spreads itself over a vast area of more than 40,000 square km and begins its life as a young river in the Tibetan Plateau continuing its teenage years through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and finally ending its life in Vietnam. My countryside

Miss Saigon

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I am in Vietnam! The golden boy of my trip and the location that I have been slowly meandering too ever since my journey began in the orangutan's jungle clad pad of Borneo. (6,220 km away) . Since my last post I have been cruising through Cambodia, taking in the cities of Siem Reap and Phnom Penh before departing on a 6 hour bus over the border to Ho Chi Minh city or (as everyone here seems to call it), Saigon.  Irish people have an apparent skill for sniffing out both Guinness and fellow compatriots; I found Adam from Dublin in Krabi and we rejoined to become travel buds for the Cambodian leg of my adventure. The city of Siem Reap is of course famous for the ancient temples located just 7 km from the city. Tourists flock there and inevitably take a cheap Tuk Tuk tour around the stoney wonders. We poo pooed this option and opted instead to hire mountain bikes and cycle the distance (Be grand sure, how hard can it be?). With a predictable lack of planning and prior knowledge of th