Vietnam

The Reunification Palace in Ho Chi Minh is an HDR photographer’s dream. Room after room is filled with scenes from the 70′s, literally. After the invasion from the North, the palace was pretty much left as it was. You walk freely, from room to room, at your own leisure. There are no guides, unless you ask for one, and seemingly few tourists. Rachel and I particularly enjoyed the basement where you can see the president’s war office and bedroom. The dark, echoing tunnels really add to the atmosphere. There’s even a shooting range with bona-fide bullet holes. The price to get in was 30,000 each. I was allowed to use my tripod, which is extremely rare in museums.   What other people are saying Lonely Planet Virtual...

Phu Qouc, an island about 250kms away from Ho Chi Minh city, is slowly becoming a popular tourist destination for Westerners. It’s abundant in natural beauty, but still underdeveloped. Dirt roads around much of the island make more remote areas difficult to access. Sadly, the weather was less than ideal during our stay. In fact, it was miserable. But, like typical English-sun-depraved tourists, we lay out on the sunbeds anyway. Fortunately, we also had Irish coffee and beer to keep our moods up. We decided to explore the island at one point. It turns out that, for some extra cash, the staff at our hotel rent out their bikes to the customers. We got ourselves a serious road hog and hit the dusty trail. We didn’t get very far. After visiting the...