As soon as we've landed in laos, we can feel it's going to be different here. we step down the plane and walk across the tarmac to a small building that looks like an empty gas station along a deserted highway. yes, that's the airport of luang prabang. first surprise, even the customs officer is nice. he laughs with us and even teaches us a few wor

Ok, i'll start with the scoop: we know where the invisible man is: halong bay, vietnam!! as soon as we set foot on vietnamese soil, we are approached straight away by two men offering us a minibus ride to sapa. even though we're exhausted by our 8-hour bus ride from yuangyang to the border, we bargain for 15 minutes until we get to an acceptable pr

Http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvu6ne4atr0

You know you've been on the road for too long when you start giving names to your backpacks.

Where to start?? why not by saying that it's probably going to be the longest post in my blog's history? with a 15 hours jet lag and the darkest shadows under the eyes ever seen in the history of mankind, we have arrived in beijing. after the peace and quiet of our last weeks in canada, we feel dizzy. and we quickly realize that visiting china with

You know that you're in thailand when, at sunset, you're walking from the supermarket on a highway (sidewalks? what for?) and you meet a guy riding his elephant to town. and just when you pass him, he jumps down and starts attaching a red bike light to the tail of his elephant. in thailand, you don't joke about safety on the roads at night. we arri

Http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq5ggwo48ze

We gave up on trains. after a 3-hour flight, smooth and comfortable, we land in kunming, yunnan province, and take a bus to dali. dali is a small and peaceful town settled between a lake and a mountain at an altitude of 1900m. (which will trigger a few sleepless nights.) (ok we blame it on the altitude, but the collective insomnia might also have b

Paul (fyi for those who missed the travel buddies entry, it's my backpack) took ten years in one plane journey from bangkok to mumbai. he had managed to stay clean so far, his pretty pale blue color unstained, no scratches on his soft skin. but that was before india. so, i arrive in mumbai where i have a 3.5 hours layover before flying to chennai.