When I travelled to Hue, the old capital of Vietnam, the first thing I did was visit the old Imperial Citadel of the Nguyen Dynasty, which ruled the country between 1802 and 1945. Although the citadel was badly damaged during the Vietnam War, it is still very impressive as it is slowly being restored to [...]
The City of Hue in Central Vietnam is the former capital of the country, built within the reign of the Nguyen Dynasty which lasted from 1802 until 1945. Nguyen Phuc Anh was the first to take control of Vietnam and unify it as one country, beginning the Nguyen Dynasty and proclaiming himself Emperor Gia Long. He [...]
During the Vietnam War, Cat Ba Island was used as a kind of safe haven for the North Vietnamese army. Due to the heavy American bombing, a secret bomb proof hospital and safe house for the VC leaders was built inside a cave, high up on one of the many limestone karsts which dominate the [...]
I should be writing about my travels through Vietnam right now, but all I can think about is what I witnessed today. This post is jumping a month ahead from my last post to the city of Phnom Penh in Cambodia, to this very day when I visited the Choeung Ek Killing Fields and Tuol [...]
The city of Hue is the former capital of the Nguyen Dynasty in Vietnam which lasted from 1802 to 1945. The Emperors of this dynasty ruled from the Imperial Citadel in Hue, but they believed that life is short and death is forever, so they all wanted elaborate tombs nearby to see them through the [...]
Hoa Lo Prison was built by the French in 1866 right in the middle of Hanoi, Vietnam, to hold Vietnamese political prisoners, and was also later used by the North Vietnamese to hold American POW's during the Vietnam War. Only a small part of the prison now remains, and it stands as an interesting museum [...]
Rome is a city that has always fascinated me. Starting as a meagre village, it grew to become the most important city in the world around 2000 years ago, sitting at the heart of one of the biggest empires to ever exist. From Rome, its rulers ruled an empire that covered much of Europe, the [...]
As we turned off the main freeway to head to the town of Glenrowan in the North of Victoria, Australia, I wasn't really sure what I would find. This town is the site of Australia's most famous bushranger battle - Ned Kelly's Last Stand. I remember learning all about Ned Kelly in school, and although [...]
I looked up at the names covering the dark grey metal wall. Thousands and thousands of them covered the length of each of the long walls of the huge hall. Almost as many plastic red poppies were bunched next to them where people had found the name of a long dead relative. Somewhere among the [...]
There wasn't a lot happening around Wisemans Ferry, and all we really got from our camping spot was a whole lot of mosquito bites, so after a quick breakfast and a shower, we packed up and continued on our journey. Our path today wouldn't really take us very far south, but instead on more of a westward direction as [...]
