Blogs from Con Dao, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Southeast, Vietnam, Asia

18 Sep 2012 Hochiminh – Con Dao Island After my trip to HCMC next we were heading to Con Dao Island. Con Dao Island is situated in Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province. The spectacular Con Dao archipelago of islands is located in the south-east of Vietnam. Con Dao Island is also famous for its nice beaches shaded with evergreen trees, fresh air, clear blue waters, and primitive forests. Looking at a map Con Dao Island looks like a bear rising from the sea to south east of Vietnam. Originally a prison for patriots and revolutionists during the French and American resistance. The Island sheltered brave revolutionary spirits of the Vietnamese people. More than 22,000 prisoners who dedicated their lives to national independence were incarcerated on the isolated island of Con Dao. Its a 45 min ... read more

Dear readers - here we are in Saigon. Last time Jim was here was 43 years ago. Never actually made it into Saigon City. Nearest he got was a mail run into Danang or a baseball game at Camron bay during a ships party. One of his great childhood friends (Stan Grunstad) was killed near here during the Viet Nam war. As we flew in over the city of Saigon, many thoughts went through his head about so many people dying during the war and wondering what the city looked like from the air back in the 60s. Two days ago at 11:30 AM we left Nathon on Koh Samui and boarded a bus which took us 500 yards to the ferry pier, unloaded us so the bus could board the ferry with no passengers aboard. ... read more

Thankyou for the comments, its good to hear from home, the kids are now thinking about Kiama, their friends, surfing and I guess familiarity, although coming back to Saigon felt very familiar, compared to when we first arrived back in December. We are just back from a great Indian meal (a fav from our visit there in Dec). So I thought I would give you all a run down on our eating adventures (especially for those who feel they may not survive here!). Nearly every place we have eaten in all 3 countries serve spring rolls and fried rice. A great staple for those times when more familiar food is desired. KFC didnt offer either of thse choices however when we went there last night (much to my horror!!!). I went up the road later on ... read more

Dear Blog, Woke up feeling so excited. I have been dreaming of visiting Vietnam for so many years that I couldn't believe that I was actually going to see it in the flesh. Me and Rachel used to while away many an uneventful night at the Radders pretending to be american commandos whilst cooking up fish and chips for the punters. Ah my mis spent (read sad) youth! Anyway, after a lovely lie in I caught the bus to the airport and endured a terrifying journey through the traffic. I have since come to understand that it is customary to drive like a lunatic in Asia, but at the time it was safer just to shut my eyes. After that the rest of the journey was fine. Checked in with no problems and the flight ... read more

Greetings from Saigon, Vietnam (or Ho Chi Min city, if you wan't the proper name) WARNING This blog is really, really long, sorry! Where to begin?! How about the 5 days we spent in Phuket sunning ourselves? I know we are supposed to be backpacking on this trip, communal showers, dreadlocks, dirty hostels, that sort of thing. But the Karona Beach Resort & Spa was fantastic! Four star, walk in shower, marble free standing basins, waterfalls in the two-tier swimming pool......It was a glorious way to wind down after a few frantic cities. I say wind down, we didn't cool down of course as the humidity is on the silly scale here, but we got the above hotel for 22quid per night, well under our budget. And not another 'traveller' in sight! Now, I'm not one ... read more