After a very long and scary bus ride through southern China, we made it to Vietnam. After crossing the border, we spent the night in Lao Cai, the border town. The next morning we found a bus for the short trip up the mountain to the town of Sapa. The weather was cloudy, and we then found out that the weather is always cloudy and misty in Sapa because it is so high in elevation but still in the tropics. After arriving, we went for a short walk into the valley and found that once you get below the clouds, the views are terrific.
A three month trip from Hong Kong to Singapore over land: it was the ultimate honeymoon. We departed after our wedding in September of 2006 on a long flight to Hong Kong. After exploring southern China and the Yunnan province, we moved south along the full extent of Vietnam before exploring the ancient ruins of Anchor Wat in Cambodia. Then the beautiful beaches and jungle of Thailand enticed us to never return home. The diverse cultures of Malaysia and Singapore were next as we consumed everything both gastronomically and culturally.
The Yunnan
From Yangshuo we took the bus back to Guilin to catch a flight to Kunming. Sitting next to us on our flight was an older American guy from Seattle. Other than that, the flight was nearly empty. Once in Kunming, a huge chaotic city in southwestern China, we settled into our hostel (not very good) and then went to a nearby restaurant (very good). We ended up running into the same guy who was sitting next to us on the plane, and he said he was planning to hike Tiger Leaping Gorge.
Hong Kong and Southern China
The flight was long, and we were very jet lagged, but we made it to Hong Kong on a flight from Atlanta via Seoul. After spending two full days in Hong Kong, I will summarize by saying that Hong Kong is one giant shopping mall. Or, the wealthier sections were, and other sections were full of hectic markets for food and other goods. Everything has a very busy and exciting atmosphere to it. On the first morning, we took a walk through Kowloon, first passing through the park where many locals were doing Tai Chi. Later, we headed south to Hong Kong island.
Bangkok
We had heard from other travelers that the road from Siem Reap, Cambodia to the border of Thailand was in very poor shape. On top of that, there were some very dodgy bus companies around that were scamming customers. We had talked to one guy who took the trip the week before. It took him 24 hours to make the journey because the road was flooded in many places along with the other inconveniences of traveling in Cambodia. So, we opted to take a taxi, and a guy from Scotland joined us to split the cost. It ended up being the same price as the bus.
