// 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…)
// 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…)
// July 13th, 2009 // No Comments » // In the Press
Hello everybody, just a quick update to let you know that our super duper article featured in the online travel magazine HipCompass Escapades – “It takes two” is now available for your viewing pleasure. It’s a feature packed travel magazine with lots of useful info and interesting articles (especially mine!!!) so click the cover below to take a look-see… Thanks you beautiful people.
“Things between us came to a head and at that point, in our idyllic mountain cabin, we realised the underlying issue had nothing to do with the market, infact it was a problem which had been simmering beneath the surface for weeks or maybe even months. Somehow we had managed to grow apart as lovers, regularly finding ourselves in intense situations and constantly being around each other, we had become better friends than we could have ever hoped but with all the highs and lows that come with traveling foreign, unfamiliar countries we had forgotten to set aside time for just us.”
// February 17th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Picture of the day
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