Category: Asia
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Last Stop: Laos
A few days before we were due to cross the border into Laos, the country made international headlines — for all the wrong reasons. Several tourists had died through alcohol poisoning, raising serious questions about the shortcuts some hospitality operators might make in favour of profits. Suddenly that homebrew rice…
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Time for Thailand
Exactly a year to the day since we left for a two week holiday to Thailand, we coincidentally found ourselves heading back again. The third city that would be a revisit for us this year, we were looking forward to seeing what more there was to offer in Krung Thep…
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Going Batty for Cambodia
After comfortable rail journeys in Vietnam, it was time to try out the South East Asian bus network for our crossing into, and travel through, Cambodia. Many skip the capital, Phnom Penh and head straight to Siem Reap to see Cambodia’s crown jewel, Angkor Wat, but of course with no…
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Further Ventures Through Vietnam
Despite arriving tired and groggy after our overnight sleeper train, we only had two days in Hue, so quickly set to reinvigorating ourselves. I had never heard of Hue before Ricki added it to our schedule, but it is Vietnam’s ancient capital and site of the Imperial City, modelled after…
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Good Morning, Vietnam
Well, really it was “Good afternoon, Vietnam” as we arrived into Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport via Istanbul. After our epic central Asian tour and more interaction than we’ve been used to in some time, we were seeking some peace and quiet. After heading straight to Halong Bay, we certainly…
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Travelling the Silk Road pt 4: The Truth(s) About Turkmenistan
“Are you sure we’re not going to North Korea?!” I had to supress a laugh as a fellow G-Adventurer clearly hadn’t realised what she’d signed up for when booking a tour that included Turkmenistan. As one of the world’s most secretive countries, we had just been reminded that our usual…
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Travelling the Silk Road pt 3: Ooohs and Aaahs in Uzbekistan
Perhaps fittingly given the metaphorical bumps in the road throughout Tajikistan, the border crossing was equally as frustrating. It was possibly the most drawn out we’ve experienced all year, as we walked over 1km with all our bags between various control points in the midday heat. Luckily I managed to…
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Travelling the Silk Road pt 2: Testing Times in Tajikistan
We had experienced so much in the first two countries of the Silk Road, that it was hard to believe we were only just over a week into the tour. The crossing to Tajikistan felt like a significant line in the sand. The Five Stans tour can be broken down…
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Travelling the Silk Road pt 1: Kicking Off in the K-Stans
I’ll be honest, when Ricki said he wanted to do a tour of the five Stans of Central Asia, my gut reaction was “Why would we want to go there?”. This was mainly borne of ignorance, after all, I could barely even name them, much less have an opinion on…
A Place Both Wonderful and Strange - Tash & Ricki's Career Break Travels 