Back in late January before the world completely imploded, there were already stirrings of a brewing outbreak. At that time, COVID-19 was primarily contained in China but many people travelling to surrounding areas in Asia were becoming concerned about the safety of proceeding with their trips. You may recall me mentioning that my mother was [...]
Like I said on Instagram: when you can't travel, you drool over old photos of your trip to Vietnam. If you followed my blog posts from that time back in February, you will recall that Mr. Chuckles and I basically spent our entire trip on food tours, cooking tours, and eating everything in sight. I've [...]
We are supposedly well into spring but there have been snow flurries everyday since this weekend. What is going on?! Since we are still in a winter mood, I figure that I can get away with writing a blog post about a winter activity. In the recent post about my favourite outdoor spots in Vancouver, [...]
While browsing travel Twitter, I came across the blog of Giselle in Motion, who has been posting about the highlights of Grenada. This got me inspired to look back at the photos from my trip to this Caribbean island back in 2015. Boy, have smart phone cameras improved over the past five years! Excluding a [...]
We are now safely back in Toronto, getting reacclimated to the brisk temperatures and snowstorms. I'm still trying to rework my circadian rhythm to get over this terrible jet lag, so am forcing myself to stay awake by writing this blog post, with a few more random thoughts on my recent journey through Cambodia and [...]
I thought that I had seen the most beautiful place in Vietnam when we visited Bai Tu Long Bay. That is, until I saw Ninh Binh. On our final full day in Vietnam, we went on a day trip to this province in the Red River Delta of North Vietnam. Ninh Binh is known as [...]
We are back in Hanoi for the last couple days of our trip, having returned from our overnight cruise to Bai Tu Long Bay. What a beautiful place that was! Choosing a Halong Bay cruise While preparing for this trip, I knew that a visit to the Halong Bay area was mandatory. The bay has [...]
We enjoyed a nice couple days in Hanoi prior to our departure for Bai Tu Long Bay. Our hotel was located in the Old Quarter, a lovely walkable area with lots to see and eat - and that we did! Searching for more banh mi We took our final domestic flight of the trip, transporting [...]
Today was mostly a travel day as we are leaving Hoi An and heading north to Hanoi. We booked our return trip to the airport again with Hura Cars, and arranged a stop at the Marble Mountains en route. The Marble Mountains in Da Nang are a cluster of five marble and limestone hills, each [...]
For our final day in Hoi An, we signed up for a cooking class with Coconut Fragrance, a home cooking school run by a young woman named Huynh and her chef husband Tuan. There are numerous options for cooking classes in town, but I was very happy with our selection and would wholeheartedly recommend it [...]
