Michael suggested some weeks ago that we could cycle along the towpath of the Shropshire Union Canal from somewhere near Telford and turn off at the junction of the Llangollen canal with the aim of going to Llangollen! Having been caught when my defences were weak I duly agreed and today we semi-dismantled our bikes (well, took off the front wheels) piled them into Jen's can and headed for Wheaton Aston. After some difficulty in, first, getting the right wheels on the right bikes, the correct way round, we then had to cope with misaligned brake blocks. For natural engineers, such [View Full Entry]

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This morning we left our hotel by boat for the Can Tho floating market. Words can barely do justice to the bustle and life that we witnessed and I recommend that you see our photo set on Flickr™. Wares are advertised by examples being strung from the top of a bamboo pole so that all can identify the boat they need to buy their melons, their turnips or their candies. The authorities were out sticking trading licences to the side of the boats. A lone European tourist was canoeing amongst the jostling craft, much [View Full Entry]

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We said goodbye to Saigon for the last time this morning and headed east along the road. The first setback was at the end of the new dual carriageway when there was the mother of all gridlocks. Imagine buses, lorries, vans and cars all sounding their klaxons as they move forward and backward, drivers out of their seats assessing their chances of bettering their position and, amidst all this, mopeds wriggling between the vehicles in all directions! We escaped eventually and headed out of the city through Chinatown and the roadworks that reduce the road to a bottleneck every 500 metres. [View Full Entry]

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We woke to a slightly overcast day looking over the lake at Da Lat. Ostentatious service in the dining room with the same view and then we headed off on foot through town to the Crazy House - the creation of the daughter of one of Ho Chi Minh's protégées. In generally very poor taste, the rooms are available to rent but look none too clean and all feature mirrors on the ceiling! The photos do it greater justice than can any description. We then took a fairly kitsch trip around the town in the hotel's 1953 Citröen traction-avant which was, [View Full Entry]

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A bustling vibrant and steamy city, Saigon is a feast for the senses. Visually fascinating, the energy of people going about their everyday lives is in sharp contrast to the historic French colonial architecture. The backdrop, however, is a skyline increasingly dominated by skyscrapers and familiar global brands such as Sheraton, Standard Chartered and HSBC . English is widely spoken. We [View Full Entry]

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Flight en route from Manchester to Ho Chi Minh City. We stayed at the SAS Radisson at Manchester Airport on Saturday evening, avoiding a very early drive from Shropshire. We had a so-so meal with Jen sending her fish back (of course) and middling service that meant free coffee and liquors and some of the cost written of. We'd have rather paid full price for what could have been a perfect dinner... The Servisair lounge at Manchester couldn't find the paperwork to charge us for Jen's entry so both of us were admitted on the strength if my IoD card. This [View Full Entry]

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lima [View Full Entry]

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For the tourist, two drinks dominate his consciousness - pisco sour and Inca Kola . The first is cocktail of one part lime juice to three parts of the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backus_and_Johnston pisco] eponymous national brandy made from Quebranta or Muscat grapes. Whilst the strength varies a little, we have enjoyed both the ones we paid for and the (not necessarily) weaker complimentary ones we received. Inca Kola is, however, an acquired taste that we have yet to acquire. The sweet flavour reminds some people of bu [View Full Entry]

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Jen decided against a spit-roast meal of guinea pig - from what we saw of them in Ecuador last year it leaves nothing to the imagination - the poor little creature is impaled on a large-calibre spit intact (feet, teeth, etc.). Jen decide to sample her first cuy in a stew in Cusco. David had a pizza and asked how she was getting on when he was halfway through a quite passable Napolitano. "Not very well" is a rough translation of her response, inasmuch as there was little meat on what was still a largely intact rodent. Subs [View Full Entry]

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This evening we called a taxi and went to the renowned restaurant Astrid y Gaston in Lima. A 10 nuevo soles trip took us to an interesting building with a tiled floor, high ceilings, attentive waiters and a fascinating (and complicated, for those of us lacking experience in Peruvian menus) selection of food. There is an oriental slant to traditional Peruvian cooking and after starters of ceviche (also spelled as cebiche, seviche or cevice - a form of citrus marinated raw seafood salad), Jen had a delicious fresh prawn and rice dish and David put away m [View Full Entry]

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