When booking a place in Halong Bay, you may get offered a resort stay on Tuan Chau island. We got a fantastic hotel, Paradise Hotels, who have their own ferries. Problem was, it’s far away from town. And the other resorts on the island were still being built. So yeah, we felt really isolated. But...

I met up with my friends in the evening. They had spent most of their day with a local tour guide from Hanoi Kids, a clever culture exchange group. They send students along with tourists free of charge to show them the culture and sights of Hanoi. In exchange, the students get to practice their...

Vietnam is one of the world’s top producer of coffee and you can see it in the culture. There’s basically a coffee shop on every corner. You thought it was bad seeing two coffee shops at a corner, albeit the same chain, but here in Hanoi, expect up to all four being a coffee shop....

Believe it or not, pho is meant to be eaten for breakfast.  Even though you probably heard that the broth gets richer as the day goes on, most Vietnamese people have pho in the morning. Not a problem for a glutton like me. And if morning meant 3am morning, even better. However, since I didn’t...

A $15USD cab ride took me from the airport to my hotel. The driver was enthused to get money in U.S. dollars rather than Vietnam Dong. It’s a thing you’ll notice in the major cities. Tricky part was to get change which would be in Vietnamese Dong. But that’s pretty trivial. anyways, my hotel was...

I had an 8 hour layover in Taiwan. The dreadful thought of lying around in those uncomfortable seats anchored to a power source drew me to the internet. What did I find? Well, you can get a half day tour of Taipei, complete with transportation, for free (more details here). Awesome. But the problem was,...

I looked out of my office window today and saw JapaCurry. A food truck I heard about and being that I love Katsu Curry, it was on my list. And with them sitting outside the office, I had to run down and give it a try. It’s your typical food truck. Order in one window,...

Here’s one thing I’ve been noticing around Los Angeles, late night happy hour menus as Shabu houses. What a great way to spread crowds our through the night. They definitely got me. Tokyo Shabu Shabu was the second place I went to during my trip. On a gamble I stopped by this place for a...