SASINSEA

Ask Steve how to get from the Ninh Binh Railway Station to the Xuan Hoa Guesthouse, and he wouldn't be able to tell you. It wasn't because he was really boozed getting off the train, nor was it because my sense of direction is better than his (no deleting that Stevie!), but because he was practically delirious from a fever that suddenly came on whilst we were on the train. Our train journey from Hue to Ninh Binh was to take 12 hours. So we settled into our soft seats amongst a carriage full of Vietnamese. As usual, we were more interesting than the TV to watch and observe on the journey, but we had got used to that a long time ago. In fact, one girl, probably about 9 years old, found us so fascinating ... read more

OK, first up, let me apologise for not having posted anything on the blog for several weeks. I am tempted to blame Stef but I have to take full responsibility here. Up until now, Stef had been doing most of the writing whilst I was in charge of the photos and other 'techie' bits of running the blog. I did promise Stef that I would write about our first parts of Vietnam and I have been procrastinating constantly. Whilst this is entirely in Character, part of me thinks that I have been delaying it because, to be totally honest, Vietnam has not been the experience we were expecting. In fairness, Vietnam is a country that is experiencing massive growth in the tourism industry, particularly from the backpacker and flashpacker crowds. As a result, the attitude amongst ... read more

We had a rather civilised journey down to Phnom Penh from Siem Reap; the road was tarmacked all the way down, so it was smooth sailing. However, Phnom Penh was a whole different story. As soon as we were off the bus, we were jumped on by touts offering rides to guesthouses. We have learned to expect this from everywhere we have been, but in this case the bus company shuttled us into their office pronto. Luckily we had been recommended the Top Banana Guesthouse by a Geordie fella we had met in Siem Reap, so we headed straight there. It turned out the be the perfect location for us as we enjoy exploring cities by foot, and the GH was located close to the Independence Monument, and close to the Palace and Museum. After a ... read more

Hands down, this has been our favourite place so far. The relaxed culture, the stunning and ever-changing landscapes, and the wonderful people, all made this a place we want to return to. Our favorite foods were the rice soup for breakfast and the amazing riverweed (like sea weed but thicker and lightly fried in garlic and sesame seed, usually eaten with fresh chilli and sticky rice), both of which were our main staple in Laos. Other memories include: *- paying for dinner at restaurant in any combination of currencies including kip. dollars, baht and euro. All are accepted. *- dancing with the head man of Muang Ngoi village - he asked Stef twice ;) *- nights at the Vietnamese bar - when everything else closed for curfew in Luang Prabang at 11.30pm, Vinh would take us ... read more

First of all, a big "G'day" to the friends and families of Phil & Millsy, and Karen & Helen who are now tuning in as the aforementioned found it was easier to link our blog site to their respective ones rather than write their own account of Pi Mai (guys... we're flattered ;). After 10 wonderful days in Luang Prabang and 4 days caving and floating down the river in tubes in Vang Vieng, it was time to continue our journey to the South of Laos. There was only 2 weeks left before Matt had to get on his plane back to Sydney from Phnom Penh, so I (of course) wrote a daily schedule of where we had to be on the subsequent 14 days - there were no complaints from Matt and Steve; as long ... read more