Category: South East Asia

Is Vang Vieng Worth Visiting?

bristolianbackpacker0 Comments

Where is Vang Vieng? Apart from its location, I literally knew nothing about Laos before going there. After deciding it was on our itinerary while in South East Asia, I started reading up on the country. A place which soon appeared on my radar was Vang Vieng. Located near the capital of Vientiane, over the years, Vang Vieng has earnt a reputation for being an alcohol-drinking, drug-taking, Friends-watching, river-tubing town for foreign tourists. The whole situation got out of hand a few years ago as numerous tourists drowned due to excessive drinking while tubing. Many locals feel like the original culture …

Continue Reading

Dong Hoi & Phong Nha: Two Years of Development

bristolianbackpacker0 Comments

As mentioned previously, this is my second time in Vietnam. As well as visiting new places, I am heading to some of the same places. Naturally, these places are new to Mitch, and I get a totally different experience travelling with him, rather than travelling solo. Two of the places I’ve visited for a second time on this trip are Dong Hoi and Phong Nha. The former is a small town on the coast, the latter is a National Park famous for it’s recently discovered caves. I loved both of these places last time. And, seeing as we passed them on …

Continue Reading

24 Hours in Dien Bien Phu

bristolianbackpacker0 Comments

Dien Bien Phu is located in the North West of Vietnam, close to the Laos border. We took a night bus from Sa Pa and arrived at 5am. Rather than hopping straight onto another bus to Laos, we decided to stay a night in this small town, to explore what it has to offer and catch up on some sleep we missed on the night bus. After checking into our hotel and having a quick nap, we headed out to explore the town in the afternoon. We left our guesthouse and walked out to a main road. We were struck …

Continue Reading

Uh Oh, Helen Fell in Love Again: Sa Pa, Vietnam

bristolianbackpacker0 Comments

It was just over a year ago that I announced that I was falling in love with Montenegro. Less than a year ago, I also wrote my passionate experience about visiting Xingping in China. Both of these places stole my heart and are places I would happily go back to. They are places which are ideal for relaxing, unwinding, thinking, and getting away from the hustle and bustle. Location number three has now been added to the list: Sa Pa, Vietnam.     I explored a fair number of places the last time I was in Vietnam. Sa Pa, however, …

Continue Reading

When Four British Couples Meet in Laos

bristolianbackpacker0 Comments

The only time I’ve ever travelled as a group is when I was 17. It was a post-college trip to Corfu after finishing our A-Levels. There were 28 of us. Naturally, being 28 people we didn’t do everything together all of the time. There were smaller friendship groups within the big group, but it was still really nice to have so many people to hang out with.   Since 2014, I’ve travelled solo and, of course, with Mitch. Group travel is not something I’ve done since those two weeks in Corfu. Until now. Mitch and I boarded the 5:30am bus …

Continue Reading

Visiting Vietnam… Again

bristolianbackpacker1 Comment

For those of you who don’t know, Mitch and I are now in Vietnam. We contemplated going back to China but we eventually decided that, for now, our Chinese adventure was over. It’s actually the second time I’ve been to Vietnam. You won’t find much about it on the blog because I started The Bristolian Backpacker after the trip. I’ve been meaning for a long time to write about my Vietnam travels, and I will at some point, perhaps this time around. Despite renowned travel blogger Nomadic Matt explaining why he’ll never return to Vietnam, I have returned to Vietnam, because, despite …

Continue Reading