JenGui

Sounds romantic, doesn't it? Well it sure was. I had made sure to give myself a bit of time before Guillaume would be coming to meet me in Saigon to prepare myself mentally. Lucky for me, the flight was fantastic (well done, Turkish Airlines) and went by quickly and comfortably. I was a wee bit nervous to arrive in Saigon all alone, since I usually have my partner in crime by my side. But I feel that I managed nicely. Found an honest taixi (not always easy) and even though I was still on my guard I found a way to relax and even offer a small peace offering throat lozenge to the driver who was hacking away the whole way to the hotel. I was so absoutely thrilled that all had gone so well up ... read more

Yes, I KNOW that we've been gone for over two months now and that all of you kind blog-followers have been waiting to hear some news from us. Would you forigve us if we told you that we've been having the BEST TIME EVER!?! Im pretty sure that you would. We've even got some HARD evidence to back ourselves up. Vietnam has truly swept us off of our feet, in every sense. Of all the countries that we have previously visited, Vietnam seems to have everything we could hope for (as travellers and lovers of South-East Asia) all wrapped up like a deep-fried Nem ready to go. The time we spent in Vietnam was nothing but PURE enjoyment of life. Truly. Nearly truly. The experiences we shared and the places we saw were all filled with ... read more

Our first destination, sans Jasmine. It was hard to go on but we had to, for the memory of the team!! Yes, yes, it was brief encounter, our visit in Allepey. I do believe that we only stayed two nights. The main attraction is the "backwaters boat rides". There is a system of beautiful and calm canals and rivers that run throughout the countryside. And tourists have been MAJORLY taken care of here as there are hundreds of fantastically gorgeous house boats meant for cruising through the waters on multiple night excursions. With as many or as little amenities you desire. There is a full kitchen and staff ready to serve you anything you need on the boat. You choose the boat you want and you pay the price. You can share with other travellers, as ... read more

What a fabulous little Garden of Eden that we found ourselves in. Oh boy. We surely enjoyed our time spent at the Honey Valley Estate. Not the easiest place to get to, but definately not the hardest either. Just a few bus transfers, a bit of waiting around in random small towns and then finally waiting at the junction at the bottom of the hill for the Honey Vally jeep to pick us up. Once we got there we knew that it was all most definately worth it. The owners, husband and wife team, are the most welcoming hosts you could imagine and made us feel very comfortable very quickly. The surrounding area is covered in coffee plantations soread out over large, green, rolling hills. The amount of greenery in the area is completely astounding coming ... read more

We liked Mysore, we really did. It's just unfortunate, the events that transpired during our visit. First and formost, we took a night train from Hampi to Bangalore. It was a most pleasant ride and seemed to pass in a jiffy. Lovely. Though, obviously, it wasn't a very deep or restful sleep. When we arrived in Bangalore at 6am we were a bit tired, but needed to find a bus to get to Mysore, since we weren't planning on sticking around. It wasn't hard to find a bus, almost every bus in the lot seemed to be going to Mysore. The ride took longer than expected (around four hours) when we thought it would be two hours, so we were more than ready to get off. We had a hotel in mind when we arrived in ... read more