It's our last day today. We are in our posh hotel room in Hanoi on OUR OWN COMPUTER!!! It is 09:45 and a taxi is coming for us at 11:00 to take us to the airport.
It feels strange to be heading back to the UK again, but we are very excited to see everyone again. We just did a spot of souvenir shopping for the kids.
Anyhoo, after Nha Trang, that we all loved, even though it's a tourist town, we got the overnight sleeper to Da Nang and transfered in a minibus to Hoi An. Hoi An is the most impossibly beautiful town I have ever seen. Aunty Nora was completely right.
It is very relaxed and relaxing. At night there are millions of lanterns outside bars, shops and restaurants. It's impossible to take a rubbish photo. We stayed in Hoi An for 3 nights in the Thanh Van 2 hotel. Brand new and an amazing price.
Hoi An is famous for it's tailoring, so us girls all had clothes made to measure. I bought 2 tops, a funky winter coat and 2 pairs of shoes made, one of which is covered in impractical Chinese silk. They were a bargain though.
Then we all moved on to the capital city, Hanoi. It was a bit of a shock after the calm of Hoi An, but we soon got back into the swing of things. It's fun finding little coffee bars and places to eat Vietnamese food.
...(James now)... After a day in the madness of Hanoi we headed out to Ha Long Bay, about 3 hours drive away from Hanoi. We had booked an overnight trip on a junk boat which included a trip to "The Amazing Cave" and some kayaking. It was a stunningly beautiful place and a great couple of days.
We got back to Hanoi yesterday and went out for a posh meal at an Italian restaurant just round the corner from our lovely hotel, near to St Joseph's Cathedral. This morning we got up early(ish) and did a spot of souvenir shopping and now we are getting packed, our taxi to the airport is duye in an an hour. So I'd better be off, I guess this will probably be the last post from our big trip. I might do a summary and a bit of a list of highlights when we have settled back into the UK life.
Bye for now...
James xx
Tuesday, 18 May 2010
Thursday, 6 May 2010
The Final Country
We're now in Vietnam! Its our final stop on our grand adventure. We've been here a few days and its really good. We've both decided we like it a lot.
As ever, I've left it a while since the last post so I'll try to give a quick summary of what we've been up to:
We left Phnom Penh on Saturday and got our early morning VIP bus at 7.30am. It was all pretty straightforward, one bus all the way, a simple border crossing - it just took ages to queue for passport at the border but we had a very pleasant bus conductor guy who guided everyone through the necessaries and by 2pm we reached Ho Chi Minh City. The bus also stopped right in the middle of town, right by where we had booked to stay so that was bonus as we didn't have to get a taxi or moto from some out-of-town bus station as has been the case for the past few weeks.
Even though our hotel - The Mini Saigon 5 - was only around the corner, it wasn't very well signposted and we ended up walking for nearly an hour going back and forth trying to find it. No-one we asked seemed to know where it was but whereever they thought it was, it was always in the direction we had just come from! Back forth, back forth; up down, up down. Finally, and rather sweatily, we saw it and checked ourselves in.
A slight booking error (on our part!) meant they hadn't got our booking but it wasn't a problem as they could put us up in the hotel next door for the first night and then back at their place for the remaining nights. It worked out absolutely fine as the hotel next door - The Happy Inn - was really nice, although not quite as nice as The Mini Saigon 5, which we found to be really, really nice once we made it in the next day.
That first night I wasn't feeling great (I had vomited that morning before leaving Phnom Penh - I'm sure it was those spring rolls from the night before!) and still felt awful so we stayed in the airconed room only venturing out to eat some tea. I went for the easy option of pizza. It was good and only over the road. We were staying in the main backpacker / tourist drag it seems but it was really good and there were plenty of places to eat and drink.
Next day, we had our final day to ourselves before the girls (Marie's sister Helen, and friends Nicky and Steph) came out to meet us, so we headed out for a bit of an explore, not too far, and went around some shopping centres and markets and had some lunch before heading back to our road and then going for a meal. Marie had some make-your-own fresh spring roll things which she loved while I had a rather disappointing pork ribs and rice type of thing. Oh well.
Next day, we found out the girls' flight had been cancelled and instead of arriving around midday it would be later that evening on the next flight. So we didn't do much at all, just mooched about our street waiting for their big arrival which happened at about 10:30pm. Then it was off to the bar for a few drinkies and we ended up having our latest night out in weeks, finally getting to bed at about 1am!! Goodness me! Can you imagine?!?
After a day of wandering the streets of HCMC with the girls the following day, we then flew to Nha Trang on the 5th and have been here for just one day now. Its really nice (again) , its off-season so not that busy but its a proper beach town and built for tourists. Already today we have swam in the rooftop pool, been to the beach, swam in the sea, got a bit sunburnt, had some cocktails/micro-brewery beer tasting platters, and I've had burger 'n' chips. We could be in Spain! We've got a few days here - we are planning a boat trip! - and then we're going to head further north, not sure where exactly, maybe Hoi An or Han Oi, before our big trip draws to a close.
13 days to go......... very sad.
blog soon, J
As ever, I've left it a while since the last post so I'll try to give a quick summary of what we've been up to:
We left Phnom Penh on Saturday and got our early morning VIP bus at 7.30am. It was all pretty straightforward, one bus all the way, a simple border crossing - it just took ages to queue for passport at the border but we had a very pleasant bus conductor guy who guided everyone through the necessaries and by 2pm we reached Ho Chi Minh City. The bus also stopped right in the middle of town, right by where we had booked to stay so that was bonus as we didn't have to get a taxi or moto from some out-of-town bus station as has been the case for the past few weeks.
Even though our hotel - The Mini Saigon 5 - was only around the corner, it wasn't very well signposted and we ended up walking for nearly an hour going back and forth trying to find it. No-one we asked seemed to know where it was but whereever they thought it was, it was always in the direction we had just come from! Back forth, back forth; up down, up down. Finally, and rather sweatily, we saw it and checked ourselves in.
A slight booking error (on our part!) meant they hadn't got our booking but it wasn't a problem as they could put us up in the hotel next door for the first night and then back at their place for the remaining nights. It worked out absolutely fine as the hotel next door - The Happy Inn - was really nice, although not quite as nice as The Mini Saigon 5, which we found to be really, really nice once we made it in the next day.
That first night I wasn't feeling great (I had vomited that morning before leaving Phnom Penh - I'm sure it was those spring rolls from the night before!) and still felt awful so we stayed in the airconed room only venturing out to eat some tea. I went for the easy option of pizza. It was good and only over the road. We were staying in the main backpacker / tourist drag it seems but it was really good and there were plenty of places to eat and drink.
Next day, we had our final day to ourselves before the girls (Marie's sister Helen, and friends Nicky and Steph) came out to meet us, so we headed out for a bit of an explore, not too far, and went around some shopping centres and markets and had some lunch before heading back to our road and then going for a meal. Marie had some make-your-own fresh spring roll things which she loved while I had a rather disappointing pork ribs and rice type of thing. Oh well.
Next day, we found out the girls' flight had been cancelled and instead of arriving around midday it would be later that evening on the next flight. So we didn't do much at all, just mooched about our street waiting for their big arrival which happened at about 10:30pm. Then it was off to the bar for a few drinkies and we ended up having our latest night out in weeks, finally getting to bed at about 1am!! Goodness me! Can you imagine?!?
After a day of wandering the streets of HCMC with the girls the following day, we then flew to Nha Trang on the 5th and have been here for just one day now. Its really nice (again) , its off-season so not that busy but its a proper beach town and built for tourists. Already today we have swam in the rooftop pool, been to the beach, swam in the sea, got a bit sunburnt, had some cocktails/micro-brewery beer tasting platters, and I've had burger 'n' chips. We could be in Spain! We've got a few days here - we are planning a boat trip! - and then we're going to head further north, not sure where exactly, maybe Hoi An or Han Oi, before our big trip draws to a close.
13 days to go......... very sad.
blog soon, J
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