Are you opening a burger place, but can't afford a food photographer? Just take a picture of a McDonald's menu and use a black marker to hide any mentions of Mc or Mac, a red marker to cover the golden arches on the french fry boxes and voilà! Problem solved.Here's the full sign, found outside a little burger place in Vang Vieng, Laos (and no, the actual burgers looked … [Read more...]
Third-World Haircut
If you're the kind of person who cares about their hair, you probably shouldn't travel around Asia for a long enough period of time that you'd need to get it cut. Of course there are some excellent barbers in Asia who also speak good enough English to understand what you want, but it would be cheaper to just fly home and get a haircut there than to visit one. Travelers with … [Read more...]
Still in Tha Khaek – At Least the Mekong Was Beautiful
The next morning we got up early and went to a nearby bike shop we had scouted out the night before to get some bikes. The standard recommendation for the motorbike 'loop' is to rent bikes from the owner of the Tha Khaek Travel Lodge, the guest house I mentioned in the first part of this series. He charges a bit more, but the bikes are said to be more reliable. However, just … [Read more...]
Tha Khaek – Why Are We Here?
Laos is a great country to rent a motorbike and cruise the countryside. With nowhere near the traffic of neighboring Thailand and Vietnam, you actually stand a pretty good chance of surviving. And with nowhere near the number of scammers, you might even get a decent bike for a fair price. We didn't, but we heard stories of people who did.No, our bikes broke down on a … [Read more...]
Keeping Up With the Changs at Jiuzhaigou
Jiuzhaigou is a World Heritage Site and nature reserve on the edge of the Tibetan plateau in Northern Sichuan province in China. It takes its name, which means "Valley of Nine Villages" in English, from the nine Tibetan villages that are dotted along its length. It is arguably one of the most beautiful and scenic places on earth, but despite that, millions of Chinese make the … [Read more...]