Asia

How Saigon Became Ho Chi Minh City and how Ho Chi Minh City Almost Killed Us

We landed in Ho Chi Minh City after struggling not to sleep through a thirteen-hour flight to Tokyo, a three-hour layover full of Japanese snacks, and another five-hour flight to Vietnam.  We arrived in the early evening, damp air around us deceptively cool, but the asphalt still radiating warmth from […]

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The Holy River of Ganges – Food Poisoning, Death, and Scams

Varanasi remains to this day one of the most surreal experiences of my life. Grief and poverty, hope of reincarnation and casual indifference to burning human corpses, all blended within a rigid structure of strict funeral customs makes for a stunning picture to an unindoctrinated Westerner. It is a city unlike any I have ever been to – a place where both live and dead are looking for their next reincarnation.
It is not a place I am likely to forget.

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