Posts tagged “coffee

So Long, Uncle Ho

hanoi lake

Hoan Kiem Lake in the center of Hanoi.

It’s certainly the strangest museum I’ve ever been to. I know beforehand that there will be a healthy portion of propaganda and I had seen the cult of personality still being pursued by the government, but I feel like I’m missing something at the Ho Chi Minh Museum in Hanoi, Vietnam.

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Backpacks in Southern Vietnam

cairong market

Cai Rong floating market at sunrise.

Traveling from Cambodia to Vietnam by bus is like going from Three Oaks, Michigan directly to Times Square without everything between. The minibus is packed with a mix of foreigners with their legs crammed against the seats in front of them and locals. We pick up and drop off several people along the way as the bus swims through a sea of motorbikes like a shark through a school of minnows, honking the whole way.

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Learn English in Antigua, Guatemala



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A Ride Through Chiapas

San Cristobal de las Casas was deemed a “magical village” in 2003 by the Mexican board of tourism and further recognized by President Filipe Calderon as the most magical of the magical villages in 2010. I’m unsure whether state agencies or presidents have the power or prestige of mysticism to make such designations, but one can see what they mean. Here lies the cultural capital of the state of Chiapas, with many local villages, like San Juan Chamula, making significant contributions. Religious ceremony here is almost always accompanied by the local spirit, pox (pronounced poh-sh), distilled from cane sugar and corn. This strong ceremonial liquor augments that “magical” feeling Senor Presidente Calderon was talking about.

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