Page 3 of Lottie Let Loose Travel Blog Posts


Shear Shear Water

Published: April 5th 2013Asia » Hong Kong
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Lottie Let Loose
March 31st 2013

We are joined in the evening by two Liverpudlians Tim and Craig, father and son, who have just finished their trip that started in Beijing and ended in Hong Kong. We all go out for a meal together and I find out what I'm in for as a vegetarian in China. There is not a lot on offer and it's mainly cabbage and rice as predicted. I'm sure there will be other stuff on offer but it's not looking too hopeful so far. Oh I did get to try lotus root which looked a bit like grey Swiss cheese but was nice and crunchy and quite tasty. It was also easy to pick up with chop sticks ;) Aside: Aparently when westerners have been living in Hong Kong for ten years or more the locals call ... read more



Misty, Moisty Morning

Published: April 5th 2013Asia » Hong Kong
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Lottie Let Loose
March 31st 2013

We arrive in Hong Kong to mist and drizzle hiding the tops of the hills and mountains, BUT it is a lot warmer than snowy UK! Driving is on the left hand side here but with everything in km. Apparenty it changes to right hand side when we get to China. I pick up my hotel transfer and we set off into the heavy traffic. The driver says it was a lot busier earlier so it should only take about half an hour to get to the hotel. We pass massive tower blocks 60 to 70 storeys high - all with BALCONIES! So far there is no incessant beeping of horns which is looking promising for a quieter trip than other countries. Long may it continue. My tinitus is whistling so bad after the flight I ... read more



Schipol is so cool!

Published: April 5th 2013Europe » Netherlands » North Holland » Amsterdam
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Lottie Let Loose
March 30th 2013

First leg of my epic journey to China completed with a short flight to the very cool Schipol airport in Amsterdam. I love this crazy airport so much. There's the seating made to look like your own living room complete with sofas and log effect fires and the library, the art gallery and the Delftware teacup seats in the restaurant. Then there's the weird cocktail bar with signs saying 'see', 'smell', 'taste' and bizarrely 'hear'!! A new addition to this area was a grand piano that anyone could just sit down and play. But best of all this time was seeing a couple of uniformed police officers, complete with guns, weaving in and out of the crowds ON SEGWAYS!! As we taxi-ed over a canal (yes really!) the inflight info was saying 6,100 miles to Hong ... read more



Moped Madness!

Published: April 26th 2012Asia » Vietnam
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Lottie Let Loose
April 17th 2012

Vietnam IS moped madness personified! Ho Chi Minh City was the craziest for sheer numbers - so many you couldn't cross the street! But it was the strange loads, the huge loads, the 'oi troi oi, you're not serious!' loads that got me taking shot after shot. So here is a selection of the best I managed to get. I missed loads of amazing ones just cos my camera wasn't at the ready. I never did get 4 members of one family on one bike or a tiny child standing at the front of the bike. Crazzzzeeeeeee!... read more



Mekong delta swelter!

Published: April 21st 2012Asia » Vietnam » Mekong River Delta » Tien Giang » My Tho
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Lottie Let Loose
April 17th 2012

As we set off in the bus the next morning 'Hairybody ready? Phat boy slim group, let's go! Cool Banana! Yes!' we reflected on how quickly the two weeks had flown by, this being our last full day together before we all headed off in different directions, some carrying on into Cambodia, me and a couple of others off home, one going on a farm stay for a few days and a couple going for some rest and relaxation on a lovely Island. For our last trip we were heading off to the Mekong Delta region, very humid, hot and jungley. We heard some fascinating snippets about the region from Phat, who had grown up in the area before moving to Ho Chi Minh City (where he said he couldn't sleep at first it was so ... read more



'Requiem'

Published: April 21st 2012Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City » District 1
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Lottie Let Loose
April 16th 2012

Following our Cu Chi tunnels experience we headed back to the capital Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon as it used to be known before reunification) and after longed for showers and some lunch we headed off on a scary but hilarious cyclo tour of the city. Cyclos are the equivalent of the Indian rickshaws, only on these contraptions you sit at the front with the guy pedalling behind you rather than in front in India. This, of course, means that YOU are heading into the traffic first! Remember my description of the massed mopeds? Well all 4 million of them seemed to be heading towards us as we set off ACROSS the flow of traffic on left turns! Apparently cyclos have right of way in this crazy system and very trusting of this rule the riders ... read more



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Lottie Let Loose
April 16th 2012

We decided to go straight from the train station in Ho Chi Minh to the Cu Chi tunnels, to avoid the crowds and the main heat of the day. We thought we'd seen the craziest traffic possible when we were in Hanoi. Silly us! Moped madness soared to a whole new level in Ho Chi Minh City! With a population of over 6 million we found out that 4 million of them own a moped or motorbike! Even at 6am the city was heaving with massed ranks of mopeds at traffic light junctions waiting for the count-down red light to get to zero and glide, like a shoal of fish, off into the massed bipping and weaving of hundreds of other bikes. Yes, they did actually stopped at the lights, more or less, a few would ... read more



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Lottie Let Loose
April 15th 2012

For the last day in Nha Trang we had a free morning so I headed off on my own in an attempt to see a massive white Buddha statue. Unfortunately the map we'd been given didn't have a scale on it and by the time I'd reached the Catholic Cathedral (bizarre!) and then a war memorial statue near the train station, I admitted defeat and gave up on my mission, opting instead to get a cyclo back to the beach area. I haggled my price and off we set across the main road straight into oncoming, wave after wave of mopeds! We eventually got across to the right hand side of the road and only a couple of roundabouts - with criss-crossing madness - to endure and we arrived at the beach. I spent the next ... read more



'The Sorrow of War' - Bao Ninh

Published: April 15th 2012Asia » Vietnam
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Lottie Let Loose
April 15th 2012

An aside to the holidaying: I bought a book while I was in Hoi An, which I have just finished reading, heavily photocopied and with some of the pages stuck together, called 'The Sorrow of War' by Bao Ninh (winner of the Independent Foreign Fiction Award). Bao Ninh was born in Hanoi in 1952 and during the Vietnam War served with the Glorious 27th Youth Brigade. Of the 500 who went to war with the Brigade in 1969, he was 1 of only 10 to survive! The novel is a harrowing story of a young, North Vietnamese man, Kien's experiences of war, love, loss and betrayal. It starts after the war has ended, during his role as part of the MIA (Missing In Action) body collection team. What a gruesome but necessary part of war that ... read more



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Lottie Let Loose
April 14th 2012

Well I survived Room 101 but someone else did get flooded in the night (via their faulty air con) so maybe I projected it onto them - do it to Nat, do it Nat! (George Orwell's 1984 reference if you didnt' know.) Today was to be a blissful one of relaxation, relaxation and maybe a bit more relaxation thrown in for good measure. We set off from the busy port at Nha Thrang in a wooden boat with our guide for the day An and a massage/nail lady too. We were barely out of the port before our girls were sitting having their nails done. We were heading to the island of Mieu where the population are mostly children (they love big families there - up to 6 or 7 in a family is common). The ... read more






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