7th, 8th and 9th May 2010 On arriving back in Saigon, Karen had kindly arranged for us to stay in one of the one bedroom appartments in her building. Very nice, a pleasant change to hotel rooms. The rest of the weekend was spent partaking of the ex-pat lifestyle. We went out for a lovely dinner with Karen and her friends on Friday night. Saturday was spent taking a look around the ex-pat area of An Phu where the British International School is located. ...
6th May 2010 We left P’rau this morning after another wonderful local meal and early night. The road from P’rau to Da Nang was quite narrow and lined with more ethnic minority villages. Again I felt like royalty as we passed many groups of schoolchildren on the way to school, shouting hello and waving. Unfortunately, since this was the main road into Da Nang from the mountains, we did encounter lorries and a lot more traffic as we drove down the steep incline back down to sea level. ...
30th April 2010 Reunification Day is a public holiday in Vietnam that marks the occasion the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops captured Saigon on April 30, 1975. This signalled the end of the Vietnam War and was the start of the transition period toward reunification, which occurred on July 2, 1976. Also, tomorrow, 1st May is Labour Day so the Vietnamese have a rare long weekend. Consequently, today the city and its sights were really busy with Vietnamese tourists. ...
28th April 2010 We had a bus booked to Hue this afternoon, but that didn’t leave until 1pm, so we had a fairly quiet morning, a lot of which was packing our bags up ready to move on. This was a bit like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole - what with the coats we bought in Sapa, and new clothes we’ve had made in Hoi An, our bags are becoming rather stretched to capacity. It looks like we might have to post some more stuff home once we get back to Saigon. ...
24th April 2010 The train journey from Lao Cai to Ha Noi last night was a nightmare and neither of us slept a great deal. Luckily we shared a cabin with an Australian couple who were really nice and we chatted with them for a while before turning in, but once the lights were out, the lurching movement of the train and the smells of smoke coming from the toilet didn’t help with sleeping. We arrived in Ha Noi pretty tired. ...
17th April 2010 Ha Long Bay is one of Vietnam’s most famous natural tourist attractions. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, there are literally hundreds of boats visiting it everyday and there are a myriad of tours available from Hanoi. Karen had recommended the trip which we booked two and a half weeks ago in Saigon. As we’ve become accustomed to, we had very little information about the tour’s itinerary besides it being three days and two nights. One night would be spent about a boat in Halong Bay and one night in a beach hut on Monkey Island. However, we weren’t worried since Karen had already done this trip with her parents, and enjoyed it. ...
4th April 2010 Phat Tires are a company in Dalat who specialse in adventure tours. They do all sorts such as rock climbing, trekking and abseiling, but we had booked a mountain biking trip with them. Our destination was the beach resort of Mui Ne. This is a four hour drive from Dalat, so becuase we were only doing one day with Phat Tires we drove for an hour and a half down from Dalat before we started. ...
1st April 2010 This morning we bid a fond farewell to Karen and her lovely apartment, full of gratitude for what we have seen of and learnt about this fabulous country. It was time for us to continue our explorations by taking an 8 hour bus journey to the city of Dalat in Vietnam’s central highlands. Dalat is a popular place for domestic tourists from Saigon. It is spring-like cool all year round and a vege-growers heaven. It’s climate is ideal for growing many types of fuit and vegetables. ...
31st March 2010 Back from our Mekong Delta trip and we needed to do a raft of jobs before moving on tomorrow to the mountain town of Dalat. We started with another visit to the Post Office to send home our new clothes and the picture we bought in Malacca. That sorted - they even managed to find a box to fit! - we headed off to the Tax Centre which is a cross between a shopping centre and a market. On the way we passed the grand old colonial Opera House building. ...
30th March 2010 It was an early start this morning so that we could enjoy our breakfast before returning to join our tour group. The early start was rewarded with a beautiful sunrise over the river and a chance to see the day beginning for so many people. Since there were five of us to get back to town our host took us by boat from the homestay to the centre. A fabulous way to travel, catching glimpses into some of the houses along the river bank and seeing daily life. ...
28th March 2010 The school that Karen works for supports one of the many orphanages for mentally and physically disabled children that exist in Vietnam. There are over 200 orphanages in Saigon alone. The majority of these children owe their disabilities to Agent Orange which was used by the Americans during the war, the effects of which are so very obviously still being seen today. Every so often a group of children from the orphanage come over to the school to use their facilities. So, Sunday morning we headed over to the school to lend a hand. ...
29th March 2010 The Mekong Delta is the region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong River approaches and empties into the sea through a network of tributaries. The Mekong delta region encompasses a massive area of southeastern Vietnam where water coverage depends on the season. The region is famous as a large rice growing area and produces about half of the total of Vietnam’s rice output. Vietnam is the second largest exporter of rice globally after Thailand. ...
27th March 2010 This was the day we had marked out for our initiation into motorcycle life in Vietnam. Karen’s friend Jane often goes out of the city a little way to some quieter parks and gardens to enjoy some peace and respite from hectic Saigon. She has a xe om driver (motorbike taxi) who she uses and Karen has one called Mr Tinh who was going to take Ed, while I would ride pillion on Karen’s bike with her. ...
25th & 26th March 2010 We had had to postpone our planned trip to Cu Chi Tunnels yesterday because it was Ed’s turn to be confined to docks. Our diet has completely changed since being in Asia and I think our stomachs are taking their time to adapt, which can be tiresome at times. However, having rebooked our trip, we were off to Cu Chi bright and early on the Sinh Tourist bus. ...
24th March 2010 The Vietnam War remains a big part of this country’s recent history for a lot of people, us included, so this morning we wanted to visit the War Remnants Museum. The War Remnants Museum primarily contains exhibits relating to the American phase of the Vietnam War. It really brings home the ugly truths about war through the pictures exhibited in a series of eight themed rooms. There is no doubt that the museum puts a Vietnamese slant on the war, but it is still a sobering experience, bearing witness to man’s inhumanity to man. ...
23rd March 2010 …in more ways than one! We elected to take it easy today and just get used to Saigon. We started the morning with a trip to the market round the corner for some fruit and yoghurt for breakfast, then onto the larger market down the road for a wander about. You feel quiet conspicuous wandering through the tiny pathways between the stalls. We’re in an area where you don’t see many westerners, so we stick out like a sore thumb, and the alleyways really are tiny. ...
22nd March 2010 We had thought that it would be easy enough to get to the airport in Kuala Lumpur, which is some 60kms from the centre. After all, we had booked the shuttle bus, which we had been told ran on demand, and paid for our tickets. But of course, this is Asia, they do things differently here. We arrived at the bus terminal just across the street from our hotel at 11am to be told the bus would leave at 11.30am. No problem, still plenty of time so we sat down to wait. At 11.30am a man shouted for the bus to the airport, then led us out of the bus station across two streets and had us waiting on an island between two roads for the bus. By 11.45am the bus still hadn’t arrived, it was hot and noisy waiting for it, so we jumped in a taxi to KL Sentral so we could take the train instead. ...