"The golden key that unlocks a thousand doors".... even this may not be enough praise for the value of learning the local dialect when traveling. When combined with with a smile and an open personality, the thousand doors easily becomes a million and more. I have been here nearly one week so far, and the initial rush of being back in asia is beginning to wear off. Although I cannot altogether discount the 3 months of intense study I undertook before I arrived, I would never have expected to learn conversational vietnamese as fast as I have. The language itself is [View Full Entry]

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I arrived back in Ho Chi Minh City after a four week visit in the UK. I had just started to get used to the flights, I have done it a few times now, but then they threw me a curve ball. Having got used to a selection of movies to watch on the interactive entertainment system, well it stops me getting bored, I then found myself on an old Air France 747 which only had a central screen. I knew there would be a movie, but this new concept (or old really since interactive entertainment is quite new) meant you [View Full Entry]

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Saigon ... Oh dear what a nightmare!?! We arrived in Saigon after a nine hour bus journey from Da Lat! Knowing that Saigon is the largest metropalis in Vietnam, we kind of expected it to be heaving...but nothing could of prepared us for the mahem of this city!!! Since arrival, we have discovered that pavements according to the Vietnamese living here, are not for pedestrians to walk on, they are in fact used for everything else but this!!!! This includes a car park for hundreds of bikes (to the point you have to walk on the road, weaving in-between thousands of [View Full Entry]

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Before I launch into Saigon, I want to update everyone on our itinerary, as we just booked the rest of our flights last night, since we are (sadly) nearing the end of our Asian campaign. On Sunday we will be catching a bus over the border of Cambodia and going directly to Siem Reap, the town bordering the famous Angkor Wat temples. We will spend almost a week there touring the temples before catching a flight down to Singapore for two nights. After that we're hopping a flight to Sydney, Australia, for 3 days, before our final flight to Auckland, New [View Full Entry]

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hi all next stop home... we have had a great few days in ho chi minh city more commonly known as saigon to the locals. apparently there is something like 6 million motor bikes here and we reckon we have seen 5,999,999. the main thing to do here is shop hotels resturants and shops fill the streets of district one (the tourist area of saigon) and lots of street sellers selling everything under the sun. we went to the war remnants museum it is horrifying seeing some of the things the amercans did to the vietnamese during the vietnam war.. (the [View Full Entry]

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I am in hell. After coming from the paradise of Cambodia and I must have used all my good traveling luck. I hope I get some back. Let me start over. Yesterday morning Dy took me to the National Cambodia Museum, which was incredibly interesting and I learned a lot about the Buddhist and Hindu religions in Cambodia. We then went to a restaurant made of of several rows of bamboo and straw huts with hammocks. You lay around and order food ($4 for two meals and a soda) and we did just that for about an hour an a half. [View Full Entry]

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Hi all; Greetings from beautiful Mui Ne! Sorry it's been awhile since posts but, between dodgy internet connections and just being plain busy, haven't had a chance. Anyway, I stumbled on an internet cafe this morning so can catch you up to date. Thanks also for the messages everyone, we are getting them and it's great to hear your feedback. We spent a few days at the resort town of Nha Trang, which is a bit too gold coastish for my liking, but a good enough place to break up the journey south. Tom was adamant about the cable car, so [View Full Entry]

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That's Vietnamese for 'how much is this?' which by the way I have no idea how to pronounce, and which also is fairly irrelevant cos I already know the answer will be 'cheap, very cheap' So we’re currently in Mui Ne, about 200kms north east of hcmc. Let me just get back to the ‘awesome’ bus again if I may…. I tell ya, that was seriously the most comfortable mode of transportation ever. The ‘sleeper bus’ as they’re called, well they didn’t have air con, but the windows opened so that was okay, are simply the best! Mick slept for just [View Full Entry]

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Predictable title I know, but I’ve always wanted a purpose to say that! So, we are in HCMC, actually to be precise I am writing this from the worlds coolest bus, seriously, it’s a sleeper bus so its full of beds instead of seats, we’ve only been on here 10 minutes and mick is already snoring, (apart from the noise) I’m loving this bus. I actually wrote this huge blog last night, stayed up til the wee hours of the morning producing a flat out masterpiece and the damn site crashed as I pressed submit. I was not a happy camper [View Full Entry]

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Allo Allo ! on est rendus au Cambodge et comme vous avez peut-etre remarque, l'acces internet n'est plus gratuit ! C'est pas cher non plus, mais moins facile que de descendre au rez-de-chaussee de l'hotel. Le Vietnam etait bien pour ca, mais on s'en ennuie pas. C'est unanime (2 sur 2) on prefere le Cambodge ! L'atmosphere, les gens, c'est charmant ! Mais ca c'est une autre histoire ! Je vais d'abord conclure notre periple au Vietnam meme si ca commence deja a etre plus loin dans mes souvenirs donc j'ai peut-etre moins d'anecdotes comiques a inserer, mais m'a faire mon [View Full Entry]

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