After a really relaxing and excellent nights sleep (very quiet here after Saigon) we had breakfast ready for an 8am pick up in the swanky tuk-tuk. Paul had his eye on the museli and yoghurt, but it was not to be when we found out that tea and toast was included in the price of the room ($28). It was good though with thickly sliced, freshly made bread and a choice of topping. The hotel seems to specialise in orchids and almost everything comes decorated with them. A small frog kept us company at breakfast - we met its parents hopping [View Full Entry]

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Really hard to get any sleep last night. The motorbikes were going all night, music was blasting out from a bar on the corner until 4am. It was just hellishly noisy. The windows in the hotel did not really fit so it felt like we were just sleeping on the street. The breakfast was good and the receptionist managed to transfer us to another room which looks to be a lot quieter; she didn't seem too surprised when we asked to move so it must happen a lot! Did some chores and have booked ourselves on a tour to the Chu [View Full Entry]

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Bit of a lie in this morning after all the earlies in Hoi An. Breakfast was some great bread and jam - you can tell the french were here for a while! A mini bus then picked us up for the boat trip. On the bus was sat Rick (an old colleague of Pauls from Logica) and his girlfriend Lesley - very random! Most of the others in the group were a similar age and it started the day off with a good vibe! We transferred onto the boat and picked up some more people along the way. The captain come [View Full Entry]

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Up early again to get the 8.42am train from Hue to Danang. Train station was very orderly and easy to find your way around, with the train ticket detailing the coach, berth and seat numbers on it and the coach number clearly marked on the platform. Very easy to find your place! Train was very clean and comfortable - we had a whole sleeping compartment between us with a locking door. What luxury! Settled down for the 2.5 hrs journey which took us down the coast, right next to sparkling bays. Was a really stunning view - would definitely recommend anyone [View Full Entry]

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Woken up early by the sounds of something nesting above our room. Sounded like the rat from Pokhara was back for his biscuits, but it was just a bird above the window!. Breakfast is included at the hotel but it was a bit odd. The food was great but the drinks were mad. Beckies lemon juice was hot and sweet and Paul's coffee came in two glasses (one with strong cold coffee and the other with milk) and extra hot water. You can really see the French influences in the bread and pastries - they are really good and very light. [View Full Entry]

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Breakfast in the hotel is a buffet but was a good, but slightly odd selection - nice to have fresh fruit again though!. Got a cyclo over to Ho Chi Mins Mausoleum; the driver asked us if we were on honeymoon?. Not sure how Beckie managed to plant these people along the way so far in advance!. Could not get in to see Uncle Ho but went to the one pillar pagoda, the Presidential palace and then Ho's museum (he seemed to have loads of psuedonyms and it took a while for us to realise that it was all about the [View Full Entry]

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Pokhara to Kathmandu Up early again to get the bus back to Kathmandu. Had a bit of stress getting to the taxi as they were a bit slow with breakfast. No taxi had been ordered in the end but we managed to get one on the street and made it to the bus station in time. Bex managed to pick up some of the donation from a local cow on her boots, much to the amusement of the bus touts! (quite why the cows were in the bus station is not clear - but this is nepal!). Not what you need [View Full Entry]

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Macchapuchre base camp to Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) After a good nights sleep we set off for ABC. It only took about 1 1/2hrs so we were there for about 10am. We had great views of the Annapurna mountain range and also Macchapuchre. It did not last too long though as the clouds followed us up the valley and it was really misty by 10:45. We spent the rest of the day in the tea house, just eating, drinking tea and coffee and playing cards. It felt like a real anti-climax being up there for so long and we were really [View Full Entry]

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Paul set the alarm for 5:45 to see the sunrise, but it was too cloudy so tried to go back to sleep - unfortunately Beckie awoke as bright as a button and they had a complete roll reversal!. Finally up about 6:30 to get ready for the day ahead. It was a 4 Hour trek this morning with no tea houses to stop at on the way. We are slowly contouring round to the main valley so alot of the terrain has been down, which is easy on the legs, but hard on the knees. The weather was good again, but [View Full Entry]

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Today finally heralded the start of our trekking proper - well after a 2hr drive to Birethanti!. It was good to get going with the walking after just doing tourist things for the last couple of weeks. The weather was dry and fairly warm, which was a welcome change from Kathmandu as the rain brings the leeches out - with the aussies tales of Kangaroo leeches and Drop Bears it was all we needed! Had our first interaction with the Maoists when we had to pay a "tourist toll" to use the park (politics in action!!). Beckie did not believe they [View Full Entry]

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