// February 9th, 2010 // 8 Comments » // Travel Pictorials
As promised this is the second in a series of Full Width Travel Pictorials I’ll be doing. This time it’s of Bac Ha Market in the far North-west corner of Vietnam, far off of the usual tourist trail and closer to China than Hanoi. This set of travel pictures shows the local hill tribes at their best. (more…)
// January 4th, 2010 // 5 Comments » // Catalonia
The alarm clock might as well have been thrown at my head, 7:30 am was far to early for a man who had guzzled down as much wine as I had, I’m not really a hangover kind of chap but wine has always been my downfall and team that with a silly o clock start… Wha-La – Hangover! But there wasn’t time to dwell on it, Georgie was on top form and we had to pack our bags and get upstairs ASAP to make the most of the breakfast buffet.
The buffet at the B Hotel was fit for a king and since it was indeed my first European breakfast outside of the UK, I made sure I enjoyed both chocolate filled pastries and meat all on one plate. (more…)
// December 18th, 2009 // 5 Comments » // Catalonia
So far so good… As you may or may not, but should know, Georgie, I and a bunch of other travel bloggers are discovering Catalonia thanks to the Catalonia Experience and Catalonia’s tourist board. We haven’t stopped since we landed yesterday in Barcelona and there are no real signs of it happening any time soon. The itinerary that was kept hush hush until everyone had arrived and sat down for dinner has turned out to be crammed and a spare minute to tickle the keys has yet eluded me. But just to wet your whistle, below is all the Tweets from the hashtag #catexp which is what everyone here is using to Tweet from road.
What’s more there’s also a picture gallery from our morning at La Boqueria Market in Barcelona and our cookery class misadventures at Cook and Taste. (more…)
// November 6th, 2009 // 5 Comments » // Off the beaten track
Settled amongst the mountains in the far north of Vietnam is Bac Ha, a small and relatively untouched hillside town that for most of the week is quiet and sleepy. On Sunday however it’s all change, the surrounding hills are home to something like 10 different hilltribes: the Flower H’mong are the most vibrant, but other groups include Dzao, Giay (Nhang), Han (Hoa), Xa Fang, Lachi, Nung, Phula, Thai and Thulao and come Sunday morning the hills are alive with the sound of markets.
We headed there from Sapa another larger hillside town but it wasn’t easy, first we had to get a very early bus to Lao Cai and then from there a local bus to Bac Ha, which takes all day. There are tour buses that do the trip but because of the distance they charge a small fortune and this puts many tourists off. Anyway the local buses are always much more interesting and the road is very scenic if not a little (more…)
// August 4th, 2009 // 3 Comments » // Travel Articles
Back in August 2008 my fiance and I (Georgina) were traveling through northern Vietnam and stopped in the beautiful mountain town of Sapa. Our $7 room had the feel of an old alpine cottage and unparalleled views of the infinite mountain scenery. We knew instantly we had stumbled over something special, surely one of the most romantic places we’d been on our travels to date.
Whilst drinking in morning coffees and that million dollar view (or seven as the case may be) the chat turned to how we should fill our time in such a beautiful place, that’s when the cracks started to show.
Georgina wanted to make a brutal seven hour bus trip to a remote and rural weekend market in a town called Bac Ha, filled with visions of Flower H’mong hill-tribe people selling everything from dried shrimps to dogs – the “real” Vietnam maybe, she was keen as mustard. I however was not. (more…)
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