Martin Castle
Benjamin Castle Joined: February 10th 2008
Logged in: May 10th 2008
Logged in: May 10th 2008
Stay tuned to this travel-blog for the long awaited Martin-Castle families 2008 tour of Vietnam and Cambodia.
Travel Blog Posts
Well its been a few days since the last update so I feel as though I must catch up on the events of the past few days before falling any further behind. In many ways both little and a lot has happened, but most importantly Hoi An where we are now is a more chilled out little town than the rest of our journey so far so we've taken the time to relax and rest for a while. Needless to say it has been much needed. We managed to rouse ourselves from bed on Sunday morning after our rowdy night with An Sinh and his family in Pleiku to have a hearty breakfast of Pho (a watery noodle dish) and then a stiff coffee with An Sinh. The morning passed mildly chilled but there still was ... read more
Gday everyone...Paul here for a change. Ive been a slack bastard with the writing but have been busy avoiding dodgy Men in temples trying to assault me. Thus far so good. In fact this trip has been much more positive...I had a gorgeous prostitute try to drag me home in Saigon. Much better than some nonce trying to grab me bits in a temple!! The hooker didn't appreciate me wanting her photo though..... Travelling with the lads has been a funny experience....patience...persistence...and we will get through without any serious damage to each other. I think the crazyness and busy pace of things here is starting to get to them. Ben has started drinking far too much cognac and Sam could be seen dancing in the streets of Hoi An around 1 am last night...For some reason ... read more
Okay, so, we're all mildly to heavily intoxicated at the current time, so there will be no entry tonight. Here is a brief rundown: Breakfast Coffee Lunch Waterfall Elephants Thy's house Thy's friends house Hotel rest Dinner An Sinh's Drunk Hotel An Sinh is a relative of Thy who is a very, very rich man and who has made much of our time in Pleiku possible as such, according to Vietnamese customs, we basically cannot turn down anything he offers or asks... as such between 6 people we finished off two cases of Heinkein's before eventually stumbling back to our hotel at nearly midnight. There is much falling about from Sam and hysterical laughter going on. Some one save from this freaking place. Man... geeze... now we have to be up at 6:30am to go have ... read more
Well ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we have been able to continue our coverage here in Pleiku despite being unsure if there would be internet access. More on that as this entry develops. An early rise had us rushing to eat, shower and pack so we could check out of the Oscar Saigon Hotel where we had been staying in Ho Chi Minh City and grab a taxi to Saigon's Domestic Air Port. A little less flash than the international airport but we were able to get through with very little hassle, though the staff seemed a little surprised when we said we were heading to Pleiku. After only a short wait we were herded out onto a bus that took us across the tarmac to our plane, this time it was a much smaller ... read more
February 14th 2008
Well here we are again, another entry in the great Martin-Castle expedition to Vietnam, penned (or typed as it may be) by your usual correspondent, Benji. Its hard to sum up the last few days. Its only been two now since the last entry and already it feels like we've been here a week. Sanity has been maintained by the discovery of free wireless internet in the hotel rooms which has allowed us to contact those back home a little more and broken up the sheer unimaginable insanity that is Saigon. But I digress. Yesterday started with an early rise, my first shower in Vietnam and a hearty breakfast in the restaurant on the top floor of our hotel. Needless to say, an all you can eat breakfast buffet including pan-fried toast and crispy bacon among ... read more
Back again to the journal and the second half of the post tonight which will cover the rest of this day. I really wish one of the other two bastards would write up an entry or two, but apparently as the computer and technical expert on this trip the job of journalist has fallen to myself. Not only in the form of this log of our trip but also today as both commentator and cameraman during our trip the the tunnels of Cu Chi. Another complimentary meal at the Hotel's restaurant started the day off beautifully and it was with full stomachs that we descended to meet our driver whom we had hired for the day to take us to the tunnels and back. The trip was an eye opener and some good (hopefully) footage was ... read more
Well everybody, finally found an internet connection here in Singapore's Changi Airport! A quick entry this shall be as we must soon board a plane to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Our trip so far was been pretty cruisey and we are all doing well if not a little tired (A 26 hour day with only 5 hours sleep last night will do that). The flight over was a little over 7 hours but passed rather quickly with the Martin-Castle party members taking the opportunity to watch a few of the recent cinematic blockbusters they missed in the last few months. Then a quick walk through customs and we were in Singapore! More details will come soon, but after arriving at our hotel we took a cab over to the infamous Raffle's Hotel, crossed the street ... read more
Well, we are now here in Vietnam finally! Currently I am typing this from a reliable if slow internet connection at the Oscar Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam where we will be staying until Friday morning. So I will be able to update at least until we leave here, from there your guess is as good as mine. So far today we arrived and cleared Vietnamese customs with no hassles and after a little trouble finding our bus service to take us to the hotel. The drive from the airport to here was nothing short of bizarre and bordering on the traumatic. If you do not like car horns, do not come here. If you do not like seeing people and scooter riders literally brushing up against the window of your van while it ... read more
