A word on Vietnam’s trains… The Man in Seat Sixty-One has produced a more detailed guide than I could ever hope to do, so always check his site out to see how to get from A to B in Vietnam. There are prices, times, explanations of the different classes of train and even some photos. … More Vietnam: The Beautiful Sights of Ninh Binh (“Halong Bay on land”)
The Vietnam part of our honeymoon was for 10 days – we had a flight in to Hanoi from Bangkok, and – 10 days later – one out of Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) back to Bangkok. Vietnam has a train that goes from north to south, with several stops along the way. The plan was to … More Vietnam: Wandering around Hanoi
If you want something a little different, a little outside the centre of Bangkok is the Erawan Museum. At its heart, the Erawan Museum exists to preserve Thai culture (or so it says on its website). It also acts as a meeting place for the world’s religions; a place of tolerance, perhaps. It is also … More Thailand: Bangkok’s Erawan Museum
When Karl Pilkington visited Thailand’s “monkey town”, despite having his food stolen and dreams shattered, I knew that I had to go there. Lopburi is a city with a long, rich history dating back 1000 years or more. However, a lot of this history has been overshadowed by the fact that the city is now infested … More Thailand: Watching Monkeys in Lopburi
Want to visit elephants without paying through the nose or supporting cruelty? From what I hear, most elephant tours in Thailand are a little dodgy. Riding on elephants can actually hurt their backs (they’re “broken in”, like horses, I guess) and a lot of people saw their “masters” hitting them in the head with pick-axes. … More Thailand: Lampang and the Elephant Conservation Centre
We reached Chiang Rai by taking a bus from Chiang Mai. You can catch buses by Greenbus throughout the day, and they take just over 3 hours. From what I’ve looked up now, the tickets on Greenbus are 185 baht, although there are also first-class, second-class and VIP buses running there. These all have air-con … More Thailand: Chiang Rai and the “White Temple” (Wat Rong Khun)
I had wanted to do some volunteering while on our honeymoon, although it seems that you can’t do anything really helpful if you don’t have a lot of time to commit. This is fair enough – I’m no fan of “voluntourism” in the way that people are charged loads of money to pretend to help … More Thailand: Happy Healing Home
After our two days in Mae Sot, we caught a bus to Chiang Mai. It took just 5 hours, which was less time than expected. As soon as we got out of the bus station, we found ourselves being summoned towards a red songthaew – a ride to the centre was 30 baht. From my very limited … More Thailand: Exploring, Eating and Crashing our Motorbikes in Chiang Mai
Mae Sot is not your typical tourist destination; you could call it “off the beaten track” if it weren’t for all the expats. Located on one of the borders between Thailand and Burma, Mae Sot attracts tens (maybe hundreds) of expats – volunteers and relief workers alike – mainly to help the refugees who escape … More Thailand: Visiting Mae Sot
We started day 4 with a visit to the Golden Buddha, or Wat Traimit. It’s a 5-10 minute walk from Hua Lamphong, and pretty easy to find if you follow a map. Thanks to Google Street view, you can even see where it is it through this link (just a link to the map, but … More Thailand: Golden Buddha, Bangkok’s Wat Pho and Museum Siam
GreenJoy Travel 