6.23 - Hanoi and Dong Hoi, Vietnam

This is going to be a big one. So many cool sights in Vietnam that I had a hard time picking and choosing photos. 

I start though with one from Kazakhstan. I was told that if you don't have anything nice to say, not to say anything at all. That is all I have to say about Kazakhstan. 

Moving forward to Vietnam. By far the most amazing country I have been to. I thought it would be hard to beat Thailand but Vietnam is more authentic. The tourism here isn't out of control like it is in Thailand.

- The sights in Hanoi -

The people have been so friendly and welcoming. The language barrier makes it rough but a smile goes a long way.

The scooter culture here is out of control. People swarm the streets on their scoots. One law while riding on the streets in Vietnam... There are no laws. 

Shooting in the streets. So much fun. So Dangerous. 

About to drink a traditional concoction of rice wine and COBRA BLOOD. They killed the snake right in front of me and drained the blood into this shot glass. Not so delicious but it is supposed to make you "strong like bull."

We are now in rural Vietnam in a city called Dong Hoi, right outside an amazing national park. We are staying at a "Farm Stay" with rice patties right in front of my porch. We have some motorcycles here and have been able to explore on our time off.

I got a really nasty case of food poisoning yesterday. Was so sick. On top of that it was a 21 hour work day. yes. 21 hours. Hardest day of my life. I am good now but am going to be a little more cautious with what I eat. 

Adios,

Kyle

6.8 My best day and a half so far... Romainia - Turkey - Kazakhstan in 36 hours.

We just wrapped up our two weeks in Romania and made it to Kazakhstan. I think I just had my best 36 hours of travel so far. We had an amazing night out in Bucharest, Romania... out till the sun came up drinking and dancing and caught our flight early that am. We had an 8 hour layover in Istanbul, Turkey. My second time in Istanbul, that city is amazing. After lunch and some sights we headed back to the airport to catch our flight to Almaty, Kazakhstan and had a day off to see the city. An unbelievable couple of days of "work".  Below are the last photos from Romania, our afternoon in Istanbul and day off in Almaty, Kazakhstan. 

Repelled into an amazing cave in Romania.

Istanbul, Turkey

Almaty, Kazakhstan

Full Kazakhstan update to come!

Adios, 

Kyle

Bucharest and Cluj Napoca, Romania - 6.1

Romania! What a wonderful surprise this was. Arriving in Romania I didn’t really have any expectations. I knew very little of the country but for some reason had it in my head that it would be dirty and rough.

We flew into Bucharest, the sprawling capital city, which has some beautiful architecture.

Romania has a very European feel to it. Each city is centered on a main square, which people tend to congregate in at all hours of the day to sit around and hang out.  The one thing Romania has that most of Europe doesn’t is the favorable exchange rate of 1 USD to 3 Lei. Beers being my litmus test for how cheap or expensive a county is go for about 2.5 Leu, which is about 80 cents! Everything is cheap; food, hotels, taxi rides. This would be a great country to visit on a budget with plenty to do and see.

We visited Vlad "The Impaler's" castle - AKA Dracula's castle. This Vlad guy was one messed up dude. 

The entrance to the castle above and below the view from the center courtyard.

 I will try to get one more post in while I am here with some better photos.

 Adios!

Kyle

P.S Bon Jovi is in town!