Is YouTube blocked in Laos or Vietnam? I am going there this summer.
I miss YouTube. The last time I used my YouTube account was in 2010 in Hong Kong.
I respect the laws of China. No YouTube? OK. I can see why. No biggie.
Chinese can be annoying people and can jump on your last nerve at times.
I do drink. I have a Chinese wife and have been to many dinners and what have you. Sometimes for whatever reason, I do not want a drink, or a beer, but she will nudge me into drinking one because someone else is drinking.
I HATE toasting. It is stupid and I just hate doing it. "Raise a glass", why? Again, I have a little Chinese woman/wife and I worry about her sometimes drinking with the men and getting sloshed.
Baijiu is nasty liquor. It gives me a headache and a walking hangover
Howdy!
I am going to be travelling in SE Asia this summer and want to know where I can buy sunblock for my super pale white skin.
Senor
Bangladesh is a country that I would see the first time with a tour group, or if I knew someone there. I think it would be an interesting place to see and visit, but a place that is very, very stinky poor and crowded. When I mean poor, I mean gut wrenching poverty.
This country is also very condensed with people. A nation the size of Arkansas with the population of France and Germany combined. Not to mention the floodplain.
It's not that I would not want to go there, but it is not on the hit parade for places to go despite the exotic name.
I wanted to get some information on the bus from Kunming to Jinghong.
I want to go in the daytime so I can see the countryside between Kunming and the Lao border. Basically Jinghong is just going to be a rest stop before entering Laos itself. I know their is an all night bus into Laos, but again, I want to see southern Yunnan. I wish they had a train there.
First, is Jinghong really worth it or is it better to just go all the way to Laos and by pass it altogether? From what I have seen, Jinghong is there for Chinese who want to stay in China but feel like they are in Thailand (if that makes sense). To me, it is a layover spot unless I am really missing something.
If I stopped in Jinghong, where would I get the bus to Mengla and Laos itself? I will be in Laos and Vietnam for 2-3 weeks so I dont think I want to be in Jinghong that long, just a place to rest and maybe walk around for the evening and then the next day go to Lao.
Has anyone done this?
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Getting Away: Chongqing
Posted byI have never been to Chongqing, except passing through it in the middle of the night by train on the way to Chengdu.
Chinese cities are fun to visit. They all have their "local color" and things that make them different from the rest. Two years ago, I went to Guangzhou. GZ was a funky, dirty place. But there were things about it that were great, especially the long hukou like alleys that went on forever. It was fun exploring those. There were other things that made the city interesting and I enjoyed myself. I would not want to live there though.
Getting Away: Vang Vieng
Posted byI am going back to Laos this summer after being away for seven years. Will be going back to Vang Vieng. I am shocked about how large Vang Vieng has gotten by the look of the second picture with the balloon in it.
Even back in 2004, I could see how this could happen. My guesthouse had signs in many languages including Thai and Hebrew. The place was famous way back when.
I have been on that river several times and it is a relaxing, fun ride, but one has to respect the river. I was sober (and I was) and accidentally tipped the intertube over trying to stay near the bank so I can stop at the beer stop where the river takes a curve. I hit some branches and out I go.
It was scary, because although I could swim and keep my head up, the current disallowed me from swimming to the bank, with the proprieter of the beer shack to throw me a line and PULL me in (I am a big guy). Got to the bank and discovered my hotel key and the money I brought went down the river to Cambodia. No beer for me.
I would not swing or slide into the river either. I watched those kids do that (I was in my late 30's then and they averaged about 20) and then it did not look safe. In my opinion, Beer Lao is delicious, and it is easy to get drunk out of and do foolish things.
As the article states, there are other things to do there, caving is one of them. I went on a local tour and went into a cave and got all muddy. There was another cave deep in a cavern where I elected not to go. Above me however, I saw the BIGGEST bee hive I have ever seen. There must have been thousands of bees living in there and if they were disturbed, we could be killed from the stings. And then there were the butterflies by the hundreds if not thousands.
Unlike a lot of backpacker places, the food is good basically because of the ingredients the locals put into it. I remember a simple "fried rice" dish served to travellers that was really a work of art. The French taught them how to cook while the Czecks (under a Communist friendship program) taught them how to make beer.
Laos is strict about two things, one that a Lao citizen cannot sleep with a foreigner unless they are married and the law is strict about this, to control the sex trade. A second thing that foreigners may not like is that the bars have to close by 11 PM, by law. The local people in Laos (as in Cambodia and the region) wake up early in the morning, and also that the kiddie foreigner needs to go back to the guest house and sleep off the 12 hours of Lao Beer fury.
It is easy to escape the 20 somethings and their partying. I hope to teach at the school near the Organic Farm. I may want to rent a motorbike and see the countryside (again). It is a beautiful place in a beautiful country. I am looking forward to it and wish I were there already.