http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/HenryT/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from HenryT en-us Fri, 11 Dec 2009 03:02:26 +0000 Fri, 11 Dec 2009 03:02:26 +0000 We finally hit the last overnight stop of the world tour Byron Bay New South Wales Australia. If any place had an immediate magical feel to it this place did. We touched down in Brisbane a little after 10pm did the slow crawl through immigration and customs these guys were the nitpickyest yet and finally got into our rental car shortly after midnight. Then we hit the wrong side of the r http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Byron-Bay/blog-199730.html Note to Reader This is a long one.Henry's First Rule of Travel Stay with the group. Henry's Second Rule of Travel Confirm. Communicate. Confirm Again. Henry's Third Rule of Travel Go with the Flow Because People Never Follow Rules One and Two. The One Night in Bangkok thing was kind of funny the first time around. The kids had never been to Thailand we could check off another country and it http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-197569.html We are safely back in Arlington after catching backtoback redeye flights Brisbane to L.A. and L.A. to BWI. We are a little weary but a much more worldly and we got here with all our luggage. AmazingI did not have computer access while in Australia the beaches were too nice anyway and so I didn't know the Travel Blog site had crashed the day we left Vietnam. Most of my entries were lost http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Virginia/Arlington/blog-190400.html Nam's ReturnnbspAsia raquonbspVietnam raquonbspTuyen Quang By HenryTJuly 27th 2007Henry DunbarWe just retuned from two days in Tuyen Quang where we visited Nam's orphanage and the village where he lived until he was three. This was surprising in that we weren't sure the orphanage was still running it is and has expanded to include a resident senior center or that we'd be able to get an http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northeast/Tuyen-Quang/blog-186252.html The Hard Sell in the Hill CountrynbspAsia raquonbspVietnam raquonbspSapa By HenryTJuly 24th 2007Henry Dunbar We rode an overnight train into the Hill Country of Vietnam and spent two days in the regional hub of Sapa. Like Sri Lanka it was beautiful and lush only with rice paddies instead of tea bushes. One negative aspect is that the place has become a Class A tourist trap. The local H http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Sapa/blog-184834.html We spent our first day here touring the usual Hanoi sites. The most interesting was probably Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum where the revolutionary leader has been preserved since is death in 1969. sorry no pictures allowed The irony is that he specifcally said that he wanted his resting place to be modest and without fuss. I now has a huge building and courtyards with a changing of the guard cerem http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-184831.html k so Hanoi i think is awesome cus everything is soo cheap. i've bought alot of things already. the food isnt bad either. but thai food was the best. i wish we stayed in Thailand longer. And yes Donna there are pretty women here in Vietnam. I didnt expect it though. because in the travel guide book showed different pictures. We leave in a train tonite up to the mountains. we have to sleep in a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-183817.html We arrvied safeandsound from Sri Lanka. Posting just to let everyone know all is well and we are all in good health. This was just an overnight in transit. We did introduce the kids to Thai street food which is amazingly good.Next up Vietnam. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-183280.html Yesterday on the drive to Kandy we stopped in Pinnawela to visit the elephant orphanage. Deb and I went there 13 years ago when it was just an open field and a coffee can asking for donations. Now they have a visitors center sit down restaurant tons fo souvenir shops and a stinking hotelA Hoteljust to look at the baby elephants. They also have a 10 admission charge. These Sri Lankans kno http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Sri-Lanka/Central-Province/Sigiriya/blog-180439.html Sorry. Don't know if I'll get back to cover Jaipur and the India road stories. Computer access is a little harder to come by these days so I thought I would stay current and fill in the gaps later. I'll leave some stories to tell when we get back. We arrived in Sri Lanka safe and sound. The first full day here we retraced our steps and found Rachel's orphanage. Two of the workers a nun and a c http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Sri-Lanka/Western-Province/Colombo/blog-180062.html We are in Delhi getting ready to leave for the airport. I have two more posts about India to add but the computer is slow it took an hour to post those 8 pictures from Agra. We had two days in Jaipur post 1 and I'll have some general comments about traveling in India post 2. I'll try to get to those in Sri Lanka but since we are no longer in the posh Hyderabad Marriott with its complemen http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/National-Capital-Territory/New-Delhi/blog-178381.html This is a mustdo stop on the India tour. It was amazing and spectacular and all that but honestly it looks just like the post card. Once we went inside and viewed every nook I tried to just take it all in for 20 minutes or so to contemplate its magnificience but it was just too hot to think about anything. Obligatory photo attached. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttar-Pradesh/Agra/blog-177970.html Agra Part IInbspAsia raquonbspIndia raquonbspAgra By HenryTJuly 4th 2007Henry DunbarSo as to not give short shrift to one of the greatest marvels of the world here's a little more on our visit to the Taj Mahal and Agra. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttar-Pradesh/Agra/blog-178365.html Just a few final thoughts and notes on Hyderabad with additional photos. We got our first taste of Tourist Tummy here and i spent half a day in the hotel recuperating. The economy in this town is booming and there is plenty of work for you IT types who are thinking of relocating. this along with Bangalore is the example of the rising midde class and we saw lots of new upscale development in http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Andhra-Pradesh/Hyderabad/blog-177967.html by Nam so we just finished up day three we didnt really do that much to but we still feel tired. um well me my sister and my mom went back to the Charminar Bazzaar. I like it there because people look at me and want to shake my hand cus they think im Jackie Chan. But today i heard Jet Li. When you're driving by the Bazaar you see all the stuff and think you want them all but when you actua http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Andhra-Pradesh/Hyderabad/blog-176354.html by RachelOk just and F.Y.I I was not haning on for dear life in that tuk tuk and my opinion of the traffic here in India does not involve me sticking out my toung. More like waving my arms around franticly and screaming bloody murder Seriously pedestrians don't even have the right of way here I think that's extreamly dangourous And there are like no traffic lights here it's more like a guy http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Andhra-Pradesh/Hyderabad/blog-176362.html Entry by Debbie Our second day in Hydrabad started off with a great breakfast and a visit to Golconda Fort. The fort is over 400 years old and in an area with a great mix of Hindu and Muslim influence. We climbed the stairs to the top of the fort where we tried to get Rachel to smile for some photos. She finally did after we told her that we'd climb even higher if she didn't smile. Lydia needed http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Andhra-Pradesh/Hyderabad/blog-175849.html Today was a travel day to Hyderabad home of Lydia's orpahage. But first some adventures in Hotelland and the hazards of booking through unknown travel agents. We left our Delhi Guest House at 4 am for an early flight. We arrived in Hyderabad. Immediately we were struck by how much greener and quieter relativelyit is to Dehli. We arrived at our hotel to find a sparkling lobby beautiful buffe http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Andhra-Pradesh/Hyderabad/blog-175457.html Words from LydiaToday we left from New Dehli to Hyderbad in a plane. We had to wake up at 3 in the morning. We got a tour from a taxi driver. We are visiting my home country but there was one thing about my orphanage ITS GOONE so we couldnt see it. The hotel is very nice. It has 8 floors. It has this restaurantplace to eat. and a lounge. There is a bg round top with purle and something coming http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Andhra-Pradesh/Hyderabad/blog-175475.html Another Amazing Enrty by NAM DUNBAR Today seemed sooo much longer than yesterday. This is what we did today... 1 k so first went to some church kinda place outside. We had to take off our shoes. my mom being the way she is gives this guy way more money than she shouldve. he was asking for 100 rupees each person and she just said ok u r supposed to haggle with them. She told us to do that be http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/National-Capital-Territory/New-Delhi/blog-175079.html