How to Ride a Motorcycle Across SE Asia
Originally Posted on OffTrackPlanet.com When it comes to Southeast Asia, everyone has the same guidebook and the same itinerary. Chances are you’ve island hopped through Thailand, trekked through Laos, hit a tranny bar here and there and you still haven’t left the crowd behind. You’re stuck on the Banana Pancake Trail. It’s time to get … Continue reading
Asia in Retrospect – Final Post (Beijing, China)
And now, it is my last day in Beijing; I am finally ready to leave China, finally ready to go to Mongolia, to Siberia to Moscow on Trans-Siberian Railroad. I have my tickets in my hand, my visas in my passport, and my plane tickets back to the US are already booked. My journey across … Continue reading
Hanoi Hustlin’ (Hanoi, Vietnam)
The backpacker district in Hanoi was situated in the Old Quarter, a maze of narrow streets, alleys and boulevards centered around a peaceful green lake. In the evening young Vietnamese couples sat on benches along the water’s edge and watched the sun set over the peaceful water. On the north end of the lake, a … Continue reading
The Minsk Dies (Lost in Central Vietnam)
The bike died three days later. Actually, it died three times within three days, but each day I refused to give up on The Minsk. I did all I could to bring her back to life, but my efforts were in vain. I was putting band-aids on a corpse. I’m no doctor, but I knew … Continue reading
MIA in the DMZ (Lost in Central Vietnam)
It was getting dark. I stared at my map, trying to find out where the hell I was. I had not passed a proper town for hours, the highway I was driving down was not even on the map and I was rapidly running out of energy. I needed to find shelter fast, or else … Continue reading
Back to Civilization (Hoi An, Da Nang & Hue, Vietnam)
I have only a few hours before I leave Vietnam and enter China, where the internet is heavily restricted and censored. Therefore I must type as much as possible before I change countries, drop out of the blogosphere and embark on new adventures I intended to do all this writing at a leisurely pace while … Continue reading
A Mad Dash Across Vietnam (Dak Lak – Kon Tum, Vietnam)
Thank God that rice whiskey leaves no hangover, else I may not have completed the journey from Dak Lak to Kom Tum. It was a beast of a ride, the longest leg of my journey by far. 300 kilometers of straight freeway, just a high-speed burn up the Ho Chi Minh Highway through Buon Ma … Continue reading
I Ponder Zen & Motorbikes (Central Highlands, Vietnam)
Zen. What is Zen? We use the word constantly in an abstract manner, but do we even know what it is? We define it more by what it is not, than by what it is – we think Zen is anything that is not stressful. We name trendy coffee shops Zen This, ambient chill-out music … Continue reading
Over the Hills and Far Away (Nha Trang -> Dalat, Vietnam)
Day Three on the Road marked my departure from the tourist track. Most tourists travel through Vietnam on “Open Tour Bus Tickets”, allowing them to travel to the coastal cities on a pre-purchased ticket along a pre-determined route. But I had sampled the tourists track in Nha Trang, and I had no desire to drive along Highway … Continue reading
Motorcycle Diaries, Day One (HCHM -> Mui Ne, Vietnam)
Three Challenges – Challenge One – Challenge Two – Challenge Three I know what you are thinking. Motorcycle Diaries? You mean like Che Guevara? Haha, yes, cliché isn’t it? Or should I say, cli-Ché? (This cheesy joke is hereby patented by Mark Ayling). Well, if Che Guevara had ridden across South America on this Russian-made … Continue reading
Marko Polo Travels 