Category Asia
When I woke up today it was pouring rain, a real monsoon shower, but I packed up my stuff anyway and waited for the rain to let up. Once it did I set out to the main goal of the day, the Cu Chi Tunnels. This is a vast network of tunnels used by the Vietnamese to hide, first from the French and later from the Americans. According to the guide they are about 250 kilometers long and they even reach Cambodia.
It sounds really cool when you read about it and I was really excited to go there, I … Read the rest
Today was my first full day of tourism, and I aimed for the main tourist spots of HCMC starting with the War Remnants Museum which has a small but good collection of tanks and aircraft outside and a whole lot of photos and such inside. Hollywood has produced I don’t know how many films about the Vietnam war (or the American war as they say here) and even though many of them have been anti war, they have all been from an American perspective; it’s interesting to get the Vietnamese perspective on it. I highly recommended it for anyone with … Read the rest
I spent the last two days in Taiwan packing my stuff. I tried to minimize the amount of stuff I brought but still ended up squeezing it into my bag. I feel pretty well prepared however so I’m happy I could fit it in.
Everything laid out on the bed 
Packed and ready to leave
I arrived in Ho Chi Minh city late yesterday evening and I spent most of the day today trying to buy a motorbike. There were plenty of bikes for sale but none of them were to my liking; if the engine and gearbox worked … Read the rest
For several years now I’ve had a dream to go traveling in southeast Asia and, being a fan of independent travel, I wanted to do it the way the locals travel, that is by motorbike. After many years of dreaming about it I finally decided it’s time I actually do it, so I took three months leave from my job and bought some flight tickets. I will try to post at least something every day of the journey, but first, some things about planning and preparation.
The route:
I don’t have any exact plan, all I know for certain is that I … Read the rest
The standard for our business trips is that we get the weekends off but thanks to several delays we had to work during the weekend as well. On Monday however, there was some kind of festival going on and the customer’s factory was closed, so we couldn’t go to work even if we wanted to. Needless to say we didn’t waste the opportunity. Our customer was actually nice enough to let us use the chartered car for sightseeing so we didn’t have to spend any money on transport – the good part of being on a business trip I guess.… Read the rest
My company has sent me and two colleagues to India to install a machine. Naturally we will spend most of our time at the customer site but we get the weekends to ourselves and it just so happened that we arrived on a Saturday, so we got our first day in the country off. Me and one colleague, Scott, took the day to explore the city while our other colleague, who has been here before, stayed at the hotel. Our hotel helped us arrange a car with a driver that took us round to some of the more famous places … Read the rest
All through our stay here it’s been cold, windy and snowing, today the sun finally came out. Because of the strong wind last night however, the snow wasn’t as good as previous days. All the same I had a very good day, and it was nice to actually see where I was going. Thus concludes our week of skiing, except for some slightly adverse weather, both Renegade Wife and I have both had a great time.
Some general points about skiing here in Niseko:
The resort actually consists of three separate areas, Annupuri, Niseko Village, and Hirafu – Hanazono. Hirafu … Read the rest
I wrote my last post a few days ago, since then most days have been more or less similar; my wife has been practicing pretty much on her own while I have been up on the higher slopes searching for powder. We always end the day with the open air hot spring in our hotel.
In most Japanese bathes men and women are separated but here at Niseko Grand Hotel they have a mixed part. You can, if you want, borrow some kind of fabric swimwear at the reception, but it seems to be optional since a lot of the … Read the rest
Today it was time for Renegade Wife to learn how to ride a Snowboard. She actually tried a bit two years ago, but I doubted she would remember much. I know beginners often get tired easily, what with using muscles that normally don’t get much exercise and so forth, so we took it easy, and didn’t get to the slopes until around ten thirty.
The wife did remember the very basics and she managed to stand up, but it was slow going at first and she needed a long break every time she fell. Eventually though, she started getting the … Read the rest
I have promised my wife I will teach her how to ride a snowboard, but she was kind enough to let me go out on my own and enjoy myself the first day. So I got up bright and early and went out to rent some equipment. Like any ski resort, Niesko has plenty of ski rental places but I selectd one called Rhythm Sports because it seemed like they might have some higher quality stuff. Sure enough, with the premium package I got high quality equipment from Burton.
Geared up and ready to go I hit the slopes and … Read the rest