Northern Vietnam Featured Image

The Ultimate Itinerary for 2 Weeks in Northern Vietnam

Jasmine TamokAsia

After a rather stressful start entering Vietnam, we just had the most amazing past 15 days here. We decided to explore only Northern Vietnam since Daniel is visa-free for 15 days, so it just seemed logical to set our sights out on a small area. Vietnam is huge and I think we would have needed at least 4 weeks if we wanted to explore the south as well!

Sapa Vietnam
Follow my advice, and these are some of the views you could experience on your trip!

We chose Northern Vietnam since there was a typhoon in the south and Daniel really wanted to ride along the famous motorbike loop. But more on that later! So, why was the start of this journey a bit stressful? The country we were in before Vietnam was Taiwan (a great place to travel, by the way). We had a midday flight and we were going to be quite late after our last day in Taipei. It was then that we realized that although Danne is visa-free, I most definitely need a visa to enter Vietnam. I seriously cannot wait until I can apply for my Swedish passport since I am going to be invincible and be able to get into so many countries!

Related Blog Post: Read why you should visit Taiwan here!

Anyways, after a lot of stress and changing our flight to 7 pm, since even express visas need some time, we found a company that was relatively cheap and could produce an express 1-month visa before our evening flight. We used Govietnamvisa.com and paid about 48 USD for the 4-hour visa service. Honestly, it was worth it. They communicated with me at 1 am via Whatsapp and the application process was rather easy. Since we had extended our trip in Taipei by a few hours, we were able to print out the form and get passport photos to expedite our waiting time once entering Hanoi.

All I know from various years of travelling is that everything solves itself in the end. It seriously does! There is no use in stressing out since this is Asia and with a little patience and some money, you will get to your destination.

So, we started with a hiccup, but we happily arrived in Hanoi on November 19th and left on December 3rd. In 2 weeks, we felt like we really got to explore the north and even got a tiny, tiny bit off the of the beaten path, which is nearly impossible in touristy Vietnam.

Northern Loop Vietnam
I cannot express how much you must ride the Northern Loop!

So, what does the ultimate itinerary for 2 weeks in Northern Vietnam look like? Feel free to click on the anchor links below to hop to your favourite part!

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7 Reasons Why You Should Travel to Taiwan

Jasmine TamokAsia

I admit it, although I always listed Taiwan in my head as a place I could visit, it never made it on my “must see on my next trip” list.

But let me back up for a moment…

I can’t believe how fast the time has been flying while on this trip. After leaving the Maluku region, we flew to Jakarta and then Kuala Lumpur for a few days each. It was nice reset to be in the city and have limitless choices on food. Then last Tuesday we flew to Taiwan to meet up with our friends Claire and Joe from Canada. We only managed to visit Taipei and Kenting since our trip was quite short.

Taiwan Buddha Museum
Doing sightseeing with our Canadian friends that we met up with in Taiwan

Taiwan has always been a country that I have been interested in visiting. However, it never sparked me enough to be on my immediate “must visit” list. Since our friends were travelling for only 1 week, it was logical for us to fly to them. It provided a great opportunity to see a new country, and this country actually ended up being the 30th country that I have visited!

Taipei 101
Taipei 101

Of course, while visiting my 30th country, I also had to visit the 10th tallest building in the world, Taipei 101

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Banda Islands Featured Image

Our 1-Week Exploration of the Banda Islands

Jasmine TamokAsia

After our stay in the Kei Islands, we spent 1 night in Ambon before leaving again to our next destinations, the Spice Islands aka Banda Islands. I do love that each group of islands we visit has their own nickname.

Related Blog Post: Read the ultimate guide to travelling in the Kei Islands here!

Although the Banda Islands are more touristy than the Kei Islands, it is NOTHING like Bali. You will meet very genuine tourists here. I also felt like we discovered more of the Maluku culture while visiting the Banda Islands compared to Kei Kecil.

Not a bad view to wake up to every morning

The Banda Islands are also known as the Spice Islands and were very important to colonizing Europeans in the 17th century since this where many popular spices originated. Nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, and white pepper (to name a few!) originate from the Banda Islands. I love spices and I read great things online about the Banda Islands, so why not visit them for myself?

Before I delve into a lot of details, I want to make it very clear why you should visit the Banda Islands: you will experience the best snorkelling in your life. I had no idea that snorkelling could be this good. If you have snorkelled in Thailand or Croatia, forget about it! That’s just shit. Imagine swimming out only 1-metre to an infinite drop off surrounded by (not exaggerating) thousands of fish. You can see a green turtle on every snorkel and can also dive with hammerhead sharks. What the heck are you waiting for? Book a plane and visit the Banda Islands before it is too late!

Feel free to click on the anchor links above to skip to your favourite part! Make sure you read our itinerary since it involves island hopping and climbing a volcano!

Hatta Island
Seriously, we were surrounded by 1000s of fish at every turn in the water

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Why You Should Not Forget About Visiting the Forgotten Kei Islands

Jasmine TamokAsia

Whenever Daniel and I mentioned that we had planned to go to the Maluku Islands during our trip, we were met with a lot of “and where is that?”

The Maluku Islands is a large region in Indonesia, which is made up of a bunch of different island systems. Think south and cheaper than Raja Ampat, but with good beaches, snorkelling, diving, trekking, and locals! At first, our plan was to just hit up the Banda Islands, but I ended up reading a blog (1 of the millions that I read before the trip) that mentioned the Forgotten Islands aka the Kei Islands aka the Kai Islands. In this blog post, I saw white sandy beaches and what I imagined as paradise. So, we decided to add the Kei Islands onto our trip. But what is this place and how can we get there?

Ngurbloat Beach
Ngurtbloat Beach which is famous for its blue waters and white beaches

Feel free to click on the anchor links above to skip to your favourite part! Make sure you read what we did since it involves 5 days of DIVING!

Ngurbloat Beach
You can find peace and isolation on Ngurbloat Beach

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