Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, is a favored and popular tourist destination. It’s the second largest city in Vietnam but many of its must-see attractions are located in and around the Old Quarter. You’ll see French influences in its architecture as well as a lasting influence from the communist rule of China. There are many […]
Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, is a wonderful place to visit and serves as a great launching pad for some great tours of the Mekong, floating markets, and the Cu Chi Tunnels. The ideal way to explore the historical center is simply to roam around. In Old Saigon we visited many monuments and museums […]
Once you set foot in Old Goa, it’s impossible not to notice the Portuguese influence in Goa’s architecture. Ancient forts dot the coastline reminding us that the Portuguese conquered Goa in 1510. They ruled for about 450 years and built many grandiose churches and basilicas in and around the historical center. If it wasn’t for […]
Elephanta Island is a must-do day trip from Mumbai. To think that we hesitated about going after reading reviews where people said that it wasn’t worth it! I’m not sure why they would say such a thing and I’m glad that we listened to the advice of local Mumbaikars instead. This was by far the […]
Kochi, also known as Cochin, is a coastal city in the state of Kerala in southwest India. It’s an agglomeration of small islands and peninsulas, all interconnected by ferries and bridges. Many, like us, choose to stay in Kochi as a steppingstone to go on a houseboat cruise in the Kerala backwaters. Most of the […]
The idea of taking a trip on a houseboat in the Kerala backwaters was brought to us by a friend of my husband. As we researched this further, we found that there was a long history of tradition behind these houseboats. It also looked like a relaxing way to explore the backwaters of Kerala, which […]
Mumbai, also known as Bombay, never sleeps. It’s chaotic, noisy and alive with aromas of street food, incense, exhaust, and perspiration! Rancid odors assault the nostrils as you step over rotting garbage along the streets. The city is in a cloud of dust and our weather app shows a big red ‘unhealthy air quality’ with […]
As part of our preparations for an upcoming Cambodia trip, we had filled in our e-visa applications online. E-visas are a great way to save time on entry and certainly beat the old system of having to mail in your passport and wait or go and wait in line at the embassy. Hurray for technology, but […]
Kyoto is a city with a long, rich history dating back to the 8th century. It was Japan’s imperial capital for over a thousand years, from 794 until 1868 when the emperor moved to Edo, now Tokyo. There is so much to see and experience that it would be impossible to see it all in only […]
Our foodie experience in Japan may be quite mild compared to what some diehard foodies might have tried, but we sampled so many different things that we felt it was worth a separate foodie article to describe some of these. With Japanese menus and sometimes English menus only having pictures. We did eat some things […]