Hanoi Gray

Hello and  xin chào! The past few days in Hanoi, I've been showing around my newishly-wed cousin, Tierney, and her husband, Shannon. It's the first time I've seen anyone from back in the States in seven months, so I was really excited to see them. It's also fun to see the city through fresh eyes—it makes me appreciate Hanoi's ample quirks that much more. I've also gotten to check out a few places I had never been, like the Hỏa Lò Prison museum (known in its most recent incarnation as the Hanoi Hilton). Please note that I am still here for another five months if you're feeling adventurous! Anyways, this post is about my trip a few weeks ago to Penang, an island off the coast of Malaysia. Roughly 200 miles northwest of Kuala Lumpur, it's home to Malaysia's second largest city, George Town (pop. of metro. area: 2.4 million). Right around the corner from my hostel. George Town was founded by the British East India Company in 1786 as a trading...

Hello and xin chào! Moving right along through my spate of trips the past month or so, I come to you with a post about the picturesque Central Vietnamese town of Hội An. Three Tuesdays ago, I left class at 8pm, stopped home at 8:15, and got to the airport at 9 for a flight at 10:05. Flights here are always delayed, so it ended up being 11:05. After a one-hour flight, I arrived in the relatively major city of Đà Nẵng. I then wandered through the parking lot of an international airport out to the road to catch my 45-minute motorbike taxi to Hội An. A little after 1am, I made it to my hostel. Roughly 18 hours later I'd be making the same trip in reverse. Moreover, this was six days after I came back from Myanmar. It just goes to show what I'll put myself through for $50 roundtrip tickets. Walking street in the center of Hội An. That said, I was pretty well-rewarded. The center of town has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999, designated for the 17th-18...