Doddy and Bowks

Siem Reap, 31st May - 3rd June 2010 The bus journey was pretty uneventful although not as a comfortable as the others as we’d become accustomed to the space and comfort of a sleeper bus not your bog standard normal coach. When we arrived one of Sara’s friend’s Robbie was waiting for us with our name on a sign. He was also a tuk tuk driver and Sara had called him to ask him to meet us and take us to a hotel. We know they get commission but the drivers usually have a good selection of accommodation to choose from at good rates so it can help to take the hassle out of things. We settled on the second hostel Robbie showed us and managed to barter the owner’s down to $10 instead of the ... read more

Saigon (Ho Chi Mainh City), 27th - 29th May 2010 We arrived into the hustle and bustle of Saigon (now officially known as Hoh Chi Minh city) at around 6am. The streets were already packed with loads of mopeds and the park was full with people doing their morning stretch and tai chi We found a pavement cafe to get some drinks (Doddy’s first ice coffee) and gather our senses. With a little help from the stall holder we managed to figure out where we were on the map and fortunately we weren’t too far away from the main guest house area. With drinks finished we set off in search of somewhere to stay. The first few places we tried were a bit out of our price range but one hotel owner said he’d take us ... read more

Hoi An, 19th - 23rd May 2010 Our sleeper bus for that evening was different to the others we’d experienced with more of a chaise lounge type of seat so we thought we were in for a good night’s sleep as we settled down. But no, being at the back of the bus was much bumpier and the seats weren’t long enough to lie down so it was hard to get comfy. However, we survived the night and at 10 am we arrived into Hue where we thought/had been told that some passengers would get off and we would carry on with the remaining 4 hours to Hoi An. But no, yet again we were wrong! We had a 3 hours wait for the next bus. We were not happy to say the least, but with ... read more

Hanoi, 14th - 16th May 2010 We had originally planned to use the border crossing in the north of Vietnam as it was the most direct route to Sapa, another small town even further north in Vietnam that a few people had recommended to us. However, our plans had now changed as we were running out of time and we had to give Sapa a miss and head straight to Hanoi instead. On arrival in Dien Bien Phu we decided we hadn’t had quite enough of buses just yet so why not book ourselves another 14 hour one to Hanoi for that very same evening. We located the bus station and Doddy went off to withdraw some Vietnamese money (Dong) so we could pay for the ticket. Meanwhile I became the locals ‘new toy’ as they ... read more

Luang Prabang, 9th - 12th May 2010 The journey although uncomfortable took us through some beautiful scenery passing little villages which consisted merely of pieces of woven reed and built on stilts on the mountain’s edge, where you could see children playing with wooden toy like whipping sticks and miles upon miles of lush growing forest vegetation. Again there was evidence of large areas of deforestation due to the market for coal and wood that was sent to China, but there were still large expanses of stunning terrain. We arrived into Luang Prabang tired but relieved and caught a tuk tuk into the town centre with Daniel and Sally and began the search for hostels. Having turned down an early offer from the hostel rep on the hope of finding something cheaper we were soon to ... read more