Welcome to Hanoi

A full 12-hour excursion took me on a 110-mile inland bus ride each way to the capital of Vietnam, winding through the countryside and small towns up the Red River to the city of pagodas and palaces, presidents and prisons. Welcome to Hanoi. Our tour guide and host Kha, born in 1977, spoke candidly about…

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Sawatdi Bangkok

There is a lot of geography I’m learning about, like something called the Bight of Bangkok, also known as the Bay of Bangkok. Never heard of it before. It is the northernmost part of the Gulf of Thailand into which the three major rivers of central Thailand empty their waters; the Bang Pa Kong, the…

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Koh Samui Mellow

The tsunami tragedy is still fresh in the minds and hearts of the people of Thailand, where the popular resort island of Phuket was practically obliterated because of it. Nestled in the protection of the Gulf of Thailand, the sleepy island of Koh Samui survived unscathed. It is the second largest island of Thailand after…

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