Traffic in Hanoi: If you stop, you die.... If you run, you die....

When hundreds of motor cycles and scooters come at you from all directions, it is a hair-raising experience to try to cross a street.  The very first morning we tried it, we were nervous wrecks.  Then we realized that you just need to walk into traffic and expect people tp slow down and drive around you as you cross.  Somehow that  seems to work.  We saw no accidents or even fender benders on the streets of Hanoi.

Good Morning Viet Nam!

We have just returned from a 5 week trip to Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Hanoi, Viet Nam and will be telling you about experiences and travel tips that may help you to enjoy that part of the world.   The picture you see here was taken on the island of Lankowi in Malaysia and is just intended to whet you appetite!  So, stay posted, more is to come....

An anti-cruise crusade

I am on a kind of "anti cruise crusade", having enjoyed the benefits of home exchange and more affordable forms of travel.  Instead of briefly, very briefly,  visiting ports of call on a cruise itinerary, home exchange gives you the opportunity to live the culture you are visiting, shop and walk the streets the way the locals do.  It is a rich experience which surpasses anything a brief hop off a cruise ship can allow.   

 

These pictures, showing a man doing ablutions before entering a mosque, a couple at a bank machine and seniors working out on exercise equipment in a park illustrate what I mean.

Imagine walking the streets of Istanbul at leisure, watching and photographing its people in their daily routines, because you have the time..... that is what a home exchange offers.

Walking the Streets of Paris

What could be more exciting than to walk the streets of Paris at leisure?  Only when you "live" in the city, albeit for a short time, are you able to enjoy this rare pleasure.  Home exchange offers this opportunity of living the daily lives of the people you are visiting.  

 

The Joy of Street Walking

Instead of standing in line at the next tourist attraction, which is fine when your time is limited and you are on a scheduled tour,  the alternative is to do a home exchange, walk the streets or sit in a sidewalk cafe and just watch peopleas they go about their daily rounds and routines. For me, at least, there is nothing more enjoyable than people watching. 

 

Living a Culture

The beauty of home exchange is that it allows one to stay longer and "live the culture" one visits.  No hurried bus tour or directed tour can replace the pleasure of simply walking the streets at leisure and "soaking up" the life the surrounds you.