Cam t'Asia

"Are you doing the loop today?" he asked me. Half an hour later, I was on the back of his motorbike and we were off. The Ha Giang loop is a slightly-off-the-beaten-track road trip in the northernmost province of Vietnam. Most people do in 3-5 days, but I had planned to be there at least a week. I arrived on a bus from Hanoi planning to do the loop by public transit, but when I met Sam that morning at the hostel, we decided to go together, at least for part of it. Almost as soon as we got out of Ha Giang city, the landscape began to change. We were in the much wilder mountains and hills of the north, driving up switchbacks to beautiful viewpoints, down cliffside roads, past trucks and other bikes and local people walking with large full baskets of corn or rice or other plants. The first day took us to Yen Minh, via two mountain passes to the Heaven's Gate viewpoint, and a two hour stopover to hike the longest, hottest kilometer of my life to some neat caves. We stay...

I took a bus from Hanoi, Vietnam, to Luang Prabang, Laos. It was supposed to be a 26 hour journey and drive through beautiful landscapes in Laos after crossing the border. One of those things was true. I took it because it was a third of the price of a flight (which would have taken an hour), and, being in the last month of traveling and incurring some unexpected expenses back home, I'm trying to save money wherever I can. Anyway, here's what happened: 5:00pm I was waiting in my hostel lobby to get picked up, when a man on a motorbike rides up in front and starts flailing his arms motioning for me to come out. He will henceforth be known as Dampe. I grab my bags and walk out the door. Not the minibus I was expecting, but I wasn't fazed. "Luang Prabang?" I ask. "Yes yes yes," Dampe replies as he takes my day pack from my hands to put between his legs. I barely had time to get on the bike before we were off. 5:05pm We arrive at a tourism office and ...