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March 1st 2007
Here's a piccie of the ring Steve presented Orla with at the summit of Mount Kinabalu. How could she resist??!... read more
December 25th 2006
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Koh Chang Missing all our family and friends. We raised a toast to you all from Khlong Prao beach this morning.... read more
December 4th 2006
So it was another early start, up at 7 o'clock so we could get some breakfast at the market and make it back to the hotel in time for the 8:30 speedboat. We had a 7 hour journey ahead of us but it was pleasant. Going anywhere by boat avoids crazy drivers, bumpy roads and dust. The border crossing between Vietnam and Cambodia was like none we've ever seen before, with lots of boats and coconut trees. It was quite quiet, apart from the hawkers selling snacks, kids wanting to carry our bags for a tip and black marketeers exchanging currency. There was a guide on the boat who sorted out our Cambodia visas for us for a $2 fee, so they cost $22 altogether. Our first encounter with a Cambodian official was a pleasant one, ... read more
Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta
Published: January 12th 2007Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City
November 28th 2006
The bus took about 5 hours to get to Ho Chi Minh City. It dropped us off in the heart of backpackersville and close to a couple of decent, cheap hotels we had read about in our guide book. Outside 1, a tout told us it was full. Of course we didn't believe him but when we went in to check, the receptionist confirmed what he said. The tout, waiting outside, said he would show us another hotel nearby. When we got there, they only had 1 room left, on the top floor (5 floors up) and at the front of the hotel. We had learnt that rooms at the front of Vietnamese hotels are always really noisy due to either late-night bars, early morning cockerel calls, dogs barking or motorbikes whizzing past at any time ... read more
November 22nd 2006
En route to Dalat, we stopped for 15 minutes to look at a Cham tower and also had a lunch stop at about 11am!! We finally arrived in Dalat at 2pm. The minute we got off the bus, the heavens opened. The bus had stopped at their affiliated hotel, which was too expensive for us, so we dashed across the road and into a rundown looking hotel charging $5 a night - much more our style! We asked to look at a room and found that it was even more rundown than we were willing to put up with. However it was still heaving down outside. There were a group of men in the foyer, who started chatting to us. They were called 'Easyriders' and were mentioned in our guide book for running decent motorbike tours. ... read more
Hue, Hoi An and Nha Trang
Published: January 11th 2007Asia » Vietnam » North Central Coast » Thua Thien - Huế » Hué
November 16th 2006
We got the sleeper train to Hue at 8pm. Before the train left , Steve went to buy beer from a vendor on the platform. The beer was very expensive, just like railway stations everywhere, and he tried haggling with the lady unsuccessfully. When he tried charming her, she threatened to charge him extra! On-board, we were joined in our compartment by a middle-aged German woman, Charlie, and her American boyfriend, Eric. A bit of an odd pair really, seemed they hadn't been together long and were still working each other out. Orla also noted that Charlie wasn't wearing a bra or any pants - not really the done thing in a confined train compartment with strangers!! Luckily Steve was too dozy to notice! Charlie also managed to polish off a bottle of wine and some ... read more
November 6th 2006
We landed in Hanoi airport at about 4pm. We'd booked a hostel over the internet and the owner, David, arranged a free taxi to pick us up, which was great. We were staying at A-Z Queen's Hostel in the Old Quarter. When we checked in, David's sister was on reception and she made us cup of tea - lovely! We started to browse through tour brochures in reception, then she said we could take the information up to our room to have a good read. Thank God! When we came back down, David had arrived and it was like being hit by a tornado!! He talked non-stop, at a million miles an hour, flying through his sales pitch. He came across as a bit shifty and can only be described as a Vietnamese Del-boy. He asked ... read more
October 30th 2006
So much for the bus taking 10 hours! We arrived at Shenzhen 14 hours after boarding and a horrendous night. The journey was really uncomfortable - the beds too short, the road so bumpy - we got about 2 hours kip all night. We couldn't wait to get off. We walked to border immigration which was a quick, painless process and made our way to Noble Hostel in Causeway Bay. Our 'Rough Guide' said it was a good place to stay. We found it easily enough and the owners were friendly, although they wouldn't give us a discount for staying for 7 nights, which seemed a bit mean. Mr Noble told us 60% of his rooms were closed for renovation, then Mrs Noble showed us to our room. Yuk! This clearly was one that had yet ... read more
October 26th 2006
At Guilin airport, there was a CITS-operated shuttle bus to the city centre. We explained that we wanted to get a bus to Yangshuo so the shuttle stopped near the train station, where the Yangshuo buses also congregate. As soon as we approached the station, a tout intercepted us and told us the bus was about to leave and cost 50 Yuan. We knew it sounded too much and had read in the guide book that minibuses cost about 10Y per person. We tried to haggle but she wasn't having any of it. Next thing, a different woman appeared and told us to hurry as the bus was leaving, the driver grabbed our bags and put them on the bus. We asked her how much and she said 40. We agreed, much to the disgust of ... read more
October 25th 2006
The bus took 5 hours to get to Wuhan from Yichang, 1 hour of it spent crawling through Wuhan traffic. When we arrived, no taxis would take us to Wuhan Pathfinder Hostel; eventually a woman in a private car who was hanging around the taxi rank took us for 20Y, which is way too much for the length of journey. She didn't know where it was and we had a badly printed map from the internet. We took a wrong turn and she seemed to be getting exasperated. Bet she was wishing she'd charged 30Y! We knew it was somewhere near an art gallery and had the Chinese words for 'Beijing National Art Gallery' in the text of our Rough Guide. She sussed what we were trying to convey and got us to where we needed ... read more
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