Blog
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Inside the new “Centre of Vietnamese Quintessential Craft Village” in Bat Trang Ceramics Village neighborhood
A new destination to experience within the neighborhood of the “starillage” of ceramics in Hanoi capital. Check-in now! Bat Trang Ceramics Village (Làng gốm Bát Tràng) is long well-known for the defined craftsmanship of pottery in Hanoi as well as Vietnam, with the history back to the 14th century. Nowadays, the local artisans are thriving to combine the traditional techniques with modern approaches to craft beautiful porcelain artworks. The best experiences are not only to admire and purchase some of the finest handmade ceramic products in the S-shaped country, or immerse ourselves in century-long historical stories of the neighborhood, but also to participate in the do-it-yourself workshop to make own…
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Trekking on Hòn Sơn, Việt Nam: A Guide to Ông Rồng mountain
A pleasure hiking for a spectacular panorama and camping overnight in the pristine “paradise island”. Compared to Ma Thien Lanh mountain (Núi Ma Thiên Lãnh), Ông Rồng is definitely less challenging with just 250m high above sea level. The entrance to the trail is just less than one kilometer in distance from Bac Beach (Bãi Bấc) and marked with a small guide signboard. The name “Ông Rồng” (the Dragon) is actually derived from the ancient cycad at the top, whose shape looks like an aggressive dragon, grandly lying on the giant rock and watching all over the island. The life span of this best-known cycad is estimatedly up to 300 years old, by counting the number of whorls on leaf scars on stems…
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Indochina’s biggest ancient artillery station in Vung Tau, Viet Nam
Built by French Army more than 100 years ago, the biggest cannon station of the region at the time now turns the National Historic Site, which is reminiscent of the colonial era and attracts dozen of curious travelers to explore. Located 100m above sea level on the slope of Nui Lon (The Big Mountain, aka Tuong Ky – a 245m high mountain located in Vung Tau city, Ba Ria – Vung Tau province), the military complex was built in the late 19th century and completed in 1905, along with other “big gun” stations like Nui Nho (Small Mountain) and Cau Da. It is noted that the construction of the total…
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Yangon Circular Train, Myanmar: Life by Old Railway
Hot, rusty, not for everyone, but the Circle Line Train (officially known as the Yangon Circular Railway) offers a rare chance to truly get immersively into the essence of local (mostly poor) life of Yangon within 3 hours for less than one US dollar. Myanmar has been in a terrible crisis since early February 2021, when Myanmar’s military staged a coup d’etat after the winning of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party. Senior members of the party were detained in the capital, Naypyidaw. It’s such a civil war: Tanks are rolling on the streets, and lines of communication across the country are down. Civilians – including protestors and humanitarian…
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Highway 19: From Sea To Mountains
As a goodbye to coastal lines of Tuy Hoa city, you may turn head westward, take a ride to the Central highland, kingdom of majestic mountains and breathe-taking passes to Pleiku via Highway 19. The road is not completely well-maintained as well as industrial tree plantations contribute significantly to the view en route. You will ride through 2 major pass including An Khe and Mang Yang, the former is house to tremendous industrial tree plantations while the latter boasts charming pine forest. Before that, you may be excited with the river bank in the picture above. As seen in the map, highway 19 is as a sneak embracing this river…
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Best Food And Drink in Hanoi Old Quarter
Beside historical stories and attractive souvenirs, Old Quarter in Hanoi is also the best area for food tours, too. Let’s explore now! Food Bat Dan hot beef noodle (Phở Bát Đàn) Apart from Ly Quoc Su street, Bat Dan houses one of the most famous Phở bò store in Hanoi. My travel buddy is a big fan of this popular destination and eagerly introduced me this experience in the early morning (as phở is sold out very quickly here). And don’t I tell you that this store serve ONLY Phở bò? How concentrating they are, selling one dish only! The very first rule to have a good bowl of phở here is to come early (6:00-7:00AM) as the store will likely to be aggressively…
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How to Love Travel, Again
Have you ever thought you will stop travelling? In spite of starting with an inspring dream “travel the world”, but recently you’ve been likely to be fed up with journeys, you rush on a bus to a new destination but your mind is away, your heart is not full and your thought is confusing “why I don’t feel satisfied, what’s wrong with me”. I was. Well, truth to be told, sometimes I just wanted to settle down, 9-5 jobs, earn for living, read books and enjoy my weekends on some coffee. But then I was confused and my heart was eager to be put on road again. I was stuck…
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5 Reasons To Trek Ba Den Mountain
Many travelers miss to trek Ba Den mountain while it is a must-try experience when you’re in HCMc. Here is the reasons: 1. Location Ba Den mountain is such a popular trekking site among Saigon citizens. The young usually spend the weekend climbing the peak. It’s very close to HCMc, only 90 km on highway. At average speed of 50 km/h, it takes 2 hours to reach the foot of the mountain. Due to the short range, you can take your time to climb up and down within a day or join a night trek and get down day after. (It shares the same direction with Cu Chi tunnel so…
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Travel by bus from Ho Chi Minh city to Vientiane, Laos
I’ll note some quick information for travelers who wish to travel from Ho Chi Minh city to Vientiane by bus. The bus will depart at Ho Chi Minh city, go through Hoa Lu border checkpoint (Vietnam) and spend a half day in Cambodia, until they reach Stung Treng border crossing station to Laos. The on-bus time is approximately 28 hours. Bike transportation will very harsh, so it’d better take a bus to Vientiane and rent/buy a bike to travel across Laos. I saw many ads selling bike mostly everywhere in Laos, most of them are from Vietnam. Okie, this is the main point: We only found ONE bus driving DIRECTLY…
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How to check your motorbike before and after the road trip
Biking with our own bike is the best but sometimes we have to rent bikes to travel around so these quick bike checking tips may help you enjoy the biketrip more safely. 1. Engine The engine is heart of motorbike. So it deserves to check first. A good engine brings you a beautiful roadtrip experience. These below checks should be done: – Good ignition from electronic starter and pedal ? – The engine sound good, fume clear? – Locate the spark plug and check it still good. – Motor lubricant is fresh and enough? *Let bike run in 2-5 minutes to check for any abnormalities. 2. Wheels Good wheels keep…
