Flirting in Czech

The narrow walkway runs down the length of the car, separating our enclave from the others. On the other side of this walkway is another bench/bed and above that is another bunk (in which the four-year-old is now thoroughly tucked in). So each “compartment” potentially accommodates six passengers and there are nine compartments making up [...]

Sideways

A bell is ringing.Shut up bell.Ring ring ring.Shut up, I mean it.Ring ring ring.Hey bell, stop it.Ring ring ring.Are you—Ring ring ring.—f—ing serious?!?Ring ring ring.My eyes open. There is a round sideways woman staring at me. Two seven-year-old boys sitting next to her, also sideways, also staring. She has two gold teeth. I know this [...]

The Great Hanoi Hangover

The memories started coming back. Tom. The bartender. Shots of rice wine. Ohhh, shots of rice wine. Those were not good. Dear liver: I’m sorry for that. And all the rest, too. Don’t hate me. We’ve got a long way to go.Vicky, Tom and I had headed out with Tom’s Chinese girlfriend, Chin, and another [...]

The Road to Saigon

The next day I headed out on a 3-day package tour of Ha Long Bay from my hotel for a dirt cheap $45. Included were all meals, 3-hour bus ride to the coast and back, a night sleeping on a boat in the middle of the bay, a tour of a cave on an island [...]

Against the Wind

You can either take a bus from Saigon to Phnom Penh, the capitol of Cambodia, or you can take a boat up the Mekong River from a town called Chau Doc, near the border. I had elected to go with the boat option, paying an additional 10 bucks to upgrade to an express hydrofoil. What [...]