Maddy1982

5/12 - Arrival, Hanoi Yet another early start (aren’t they all?) for the 6am local train from Ninh Binh to Hanoi (2.5hrs). We met a lovely helicopter pilot who was seated opposite us. So lovely, in fact, that he saved us from missing our station altogether! He was on the train with his uncle and he had travelled all over the world training young helicopter pilots. I haven’t regretted taking local transport at all - it is a fun way to meet locals and I can definitely recommend it if you are interested in this! Hanoi is considered to be one of the nicest examples of a French colonial cities in all of Asia, and it certainly hasn’t disappointed us. We have really taken our time with Hanoi - we still have another 2 nights here ... read more

31/1 - travel day Hoi An - Hue After a nice early start we boarded an 8am bucket of bolts for the low low price of US $4 and we arrived into Hue, formerly the capital of Vietnam, at around midday. After checking into our hotel we meandered along the beautiful Perfume River, which runs down the middle of Hue, and through the beautiful old buildings and their manicured gardens. Hue, in central Vietnam, was the capital of the Nguyen dynasty, which lasted from 1802 to 1945. They were the last royal family of Vietnam. The key attractions in Hue are the remaining tombs of some of the emperors, and the Citadel which served as business and pleasure quarters for the reigning king. For New Year's Eve we went out with our friends Sib and Steve, ... read more

Good morning! Naturally it being 6:30am I couldn't sleep any more so I decided to attempt to use the resort internet service to upload some photos!... read more

Firstly, sorry are no photos... we can't seem to find an internet connection fast enough to upload anything (the computers just keep freezing). 28/12 - Hoi An Despite the angel-Maddy part of my brain reminding me that our insurance policy offers no cover for motorcycle injuries, we threw caution to the wind and decided to rent one for the bargain basement price of US $10 for the day. Across the road from our resort is a little travel agency run by a lovely man named Mr. Tron and his wife. They have two beautiful daughters aged 6 and 9. Mrs. Tron (or "Ha") runs a laundry service and Mr. Tron has organised many interesting things for us to do and see. Andrew and I just adore them. Being a hill-billy from way back Andrew was quite ... read more

Apologies for the title, I just needed to get that joke out my system. I told it to Lauren before I left and she very politely laughed, which was so sweet of her. Actually you don't seem to get as much bang for your dong as we got bang for our Indian rupee, but at any rate things are pretty cheap here. I know I am a bit wordy sometimes, so you will be happy to know that this will be necessarily short due to a very slow computer and internet connection. 23/12 - Ho Chi Minh City Still on Aussie time, I woke up at 4:30am and grizzled to Andrew about how hungry I was and how I would definitely absolutely go back to sleep if only he would let me eat breakfast. Of course ... read more

11th January 2007, Varanasi After a late start and some delicious cheesecake, Andrew and I took possibly the bumpiest auto-rickshaw ride ever to the fort of the Benares (Varanasi) Royal Family. While the castle itself does not architecturally rival any of the others we have seen, it does have an interesting museum of cars, weaponry, ivory carving and paintings which belonged to the royal family. After some negotiating with our rickshaw driver, we then went to the Benares Hindu University, a large and prestigious university with beautiful buildings and gardens. In particular we visited the magnificent on-campus Shiva temple, and the 18th-century Sanskrit University. Afterwards we also visited the Sri Durga Temple in Varanasi, mainly because I just adore monkeys and I had heard that there were over 100 monkeys residing there. Unfortunately I didn't see ... read more