You know you've become a seasoned traveler when you carry three or four different currencies, carry more mobile phone SIM cards than credit cards, need to think which way to look for oncoming traffic each time you step off a curb, have had to visit a U.S. embassy to get more pages added to your passport and seem to always be making visa runs. It was that time again for me. Another visa run. I have used Bangkok as my Asian travel hub for the past two years. At this point it feels like home - I read the Bangkok Post every morning; travel the city without a guide book or map; navigate the mass transit system - skytrain, underground and klong ferries - with ease; and dress my street food with the traditional blend of sweet, spicy, sour and salty with confidence. I could easily live here.

The Philippines plans to match the annual foreign direct investments of Vietnam in three to five years, Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo said in a press briefing Tuesday.

Its growing popularity and developing hospitality might make it a runaway success, which at least one visitor hopes won't spoil its tropical perfection and laid-back atmosphere.

 But if you want to see the coastline and spend time with Vietnamese travelers, it is a favorite mode of transportation for them.

 Vietnam's Mekong Delta is a vibrant, lush landscape of increasingly modern cities amid sprawling rice fields and jungle. The Mekong River and its branches shape life in the region. People live, shop, sell and eat from and in their vessels and homes on the water.