Although long, the Reunification Express daytime train trip between Hoi An and Nha Trang was just beautiful, and the experience only got better as we approached Nha Trang...stunning mountains, shimmering white sand and sparkling sea... Andrew is in heaven! In some ways Nha Trang is a typical tourist town with leathery skinned westerners, and over-priced bars and restaurants serving more western than local food. I was not alone in finding the town a bit on the seedy side and not very appealing at all; however the beauty of the surrounding beaches and islands makes a trip here worthwhile. The group spent the best part of one day cruising the islands around Nha Trang, and I cannot express enough how much Andrew loved swimming and snorkelling in the sultry water of the South China Sea. Me? I ... read more

As with our overnight train to Lao Cai, we had soft sleeper cabins on the overnight train to Hue. It was an identical set up of four bunks in the cabin which we shared with Anna and Henny, two German uni students who we really enjoyed chatting to about cross-cultural experiences when living and travelling in different lands; however it wasn’t very long before we all crashed for the rest of the journey. We arrived in Hue at 9am and almost at once we were endeared to Hue’s slow pace. Hue is dissected by the Perfume River, with the old town within the citadel on one side and the newer residences and restaurants on the other. Hue was the capital of the Nguyen emperors and was modelled on Beijing’s Forbidden City. While it is sad to ... read more

Our overnight train trip back from Lao Cai was event free, but again we had considerable hassle getting our boarding passes. After waiting around for over two hours, it came down to Andrew jumping on the back of a motorbike and hunting down the guy who was supposed to deliver them to us at the station. Andrew arrived back at the station with five minutes to spare! Meanwhile back at the station waiting room, I was being entertained by a newlywed Australian couple having a blazing row about whose family paid for what at the wedding…not the most auspicious way to start a life together! Also listening in on the ‘conversation’ (among the hand full of people there who could understand what was going on), were our soon to be train companions - a couple from ... read more

We are in Hanoi! Andrew and I have both wanted to come to Vietnam for a very long time and now that we are here, we can barely contain ourselves. The flight over from Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport with a stopover in Singapore’s Changi Airport was laborious, but forget that, WE ARE HERE IN VIETNAM! YEY! We are using Hanoi as a base from which to explore the northern hill country of Sapa and the north-eastern waters of Halong Bay. We are only here for two days on this leg of our trip, so as we put our bags down, we decided to engage in the Lonely Planet Guide walking tour of Hanoi to orient ourselves. This sounded like a great idea when we were sitting in our air conditioned car from Hanoi’s Noibai International Airport, however ... read more

Southern Spain and especially Andalucía is steeped in the belief of duende - a spirit / mysticism that immerses all things. While we wouldn’t go as far as saying our Spanish trip was spiritual or mystical, I think it's wonderfully appropriate to say that our time in Spain was magical. Both Andrew and I have discovered a special affinity with the Spanish food, wine, culture and land, and we are really torn about whether we come back here on our next overseas trip (to visit the northern and central regions) or whether we go somewhere ‘brand new’...but I suppose as dilemmas go, this one is a lovely one! Visiting family was a wonderful highlight of this trip but it was really hard to say good-bye to my siblings - once again, as we have done so ... read more