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Vietnam

What Were We Thinking (and other ramblings)

  1. Applying for a Myanmar (Burma) visa in Bangkok
  2. One night in Bangkok
  3. Visiting Rural Thailand – enjoy the silence
  4. Sleeping in a monastery on a mountain top in Hpa-An, Myanmar
  5. Overview of tourist hotspots in Myanmar (Burma)
  6. Naypyitaw – The official capital of Myanmar
  7. Being sick on the road
  8. The End of an Era – I’ve Sold My Motorbike and Left Vietnam
  9. Cambodia – First Impressions
  10. Koh Ta Kiev – Where the boat leaves from
  11. The Future of Sihanoukville, Cambodia and the Surrounding Areas
  12. What Were We Thinking (and other ramblings)
Lavender, France
From our trip to the lavender fields of France

A few months ago (who can remember exactly when), we decided to go on another trip.
I, Thor, wanted to see the rest of the world (south america and Antarctis). Both Amy and I wanted to visit friends and family.
At some point Amy has to have some continuity and get a career in Denmark and at some point we will make a family and then it’s hard to travel long-term.

Not now, though. Not now. Now it’s easy. Amy and I both quit our jobs and on a rainy day in August 2018 we took a plane to Vietnam. (And that answers the title question:))

We just came back from 10 days on Iceland – and what a blast!

Looking forward, at this point in time, we knew that we would be heading to Vietnam to plan our wedding July, 2019 and to visit Amy’s family. I’d be meeting her parents for the first time. Gasp!

We also knew we’d be going to Indonesia for a work opportunity.

Japan was on the itinerary to visit my, now, good friend JJ who was doing a sheep show there and my Niece, Tyra, who was doing half a year of study abroad on her asian studies degree

Finally, since this was also our honeymoon, we had (one-way) tickets to Hawaii, USA.

After this we’d be going to central America, Guatemala, South America, Antarctics. Possibly – plans change.

All this and home for christmas… or in january…

Keep looking back at this page. We’ll try to keep it updated. As well as on social media

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Thor and Amy!

Using the smugglers route to cross from Vietnam into China

In May 2016 I visited Lung Cu all the way up the most northern part of Vietnam but this is not what this story is about

After Lung Cu I thought it would be cool to see the border here. I’m drawn towards the border because I’m intrigued with the idea that a border to a country as closed as China would be completely unsupervised. I’ve always had this idea of a completely remote border, you know, without even a border control post where only shepherds roam somewhere deep in the mountains.

As I drove out the road the pavement suddenly stopped and before me was about 6 motorbikes and a tiny dirt path along the ridge of the mountain. It looked like something you would only want to walk and the direction took you straight towards China. This is it I guess – the border.

I could see pretty far ahead and it looked like at least a 15-minute walk down along a very muddy path before anything would change so I decided to opt against it. However, as I turned around a little bit I noticed a definite path going up the mountain, not towards China, so I figured it would be safe to go up there, at least for the view over the valley.

When I got up I saw several road marker stones with skulls on them all over the area. Skulls, just skulls. Frightening.

Thoughts of land mines and stuff like that popped up in my head and I was about to turn around. Enough is enough.

But when I was about to turn around I saw a shepherd with two cows on a definite path, albeit small, meaning that at least it would be safe, landmine wise – and so I continued towards him.

Around the corner I saw a paved road pop out in the middle of nowhere, Chinese signs and more skulls. I’m pretty sure this was the border. I walked up on the pavement, talked some with the farmer – who was Chinese! – and walked back to my bike.

On the way out, with mud all over my shoes, I got some concerned looks from locals who could only wonder what I’d been doing out there. I’ve heard from other people that the area is used for smugglers as well – which would make sense since it’s so easy and remote.

North Vietnam Roadtrip April 2017

What is this!?

I’m on another trip to north vietnam! This time together with Amy!

It will be around 2 weeks and will be to many of the same spots but also some new ones. Since it’s shorter we’ll probably skip the left part of the north and focus on cao bang and hi giang.

Day 1

 Day 2

 

 Day 3

 

 Day 4

 

 Day 5

 

 Day 6

 

 Day 7

Day 7 was spent just hiking around Dong Van!

 Day 8

 

 Day 9

For some reason this is creating trouble to plot but we went all the way from Dong Van to Ha Giang City. A 150km long, very mountainous ride!!

 Day 10

 Day 11

 Day 12

 Day 13

 Day 14