TCV World Tour

DAY 46 We took a tour of Delhi today by car, it was an experience, our first stop was Jama Masjid Mosque in Old Delhi. We drove through the dust laden streets and the chaos that is India’s capital; the streets were teeming with cars, motorbikes, tuk tuks, people and animals. Sounds assault you from every direction; car horns, people yelling, Hindi music, the wailing of the call to prayer from multiple mosques, everything is manic and relentless. The Mosque was beautiful and quite immense in size; we were dressed in robes to cover our arms. After walking around the square we decided we would climb the towers of the mosque as there is a good view of Delhi, unfortunately we weren’t allowed to as women and children are not permitted to climb the tower unaccompanied. ... read more

DAY 36 Our flight to Nha Trang was due to leave at 5.10pm so we ordered at taxi for 2pm to take us to the airport for a domestic flight with Vietnam Airways. The flight was comfortable and fast on a new Airbus lasting only 40 minutes. When we arrived at Nha Trang we took a taxi to our hotel which is only 5 minutes walk from the beach, we arrived just after 8pm. We didn’t hang around unpacking but went straight out to find some dinner and found ‘lonely planet’ recommended ‘cheers’ which was good food and reasonably priced. DAY 37 We got up early to see what Nha Trang was like in daylight and headed for the beach. We found the Sailing Club bar and had breakfast right on the sand, watching the waves ... read more

DAY 32: We had looked around tour operators to find the best way of crossing the boarder from Cambodia to Vietnam, we also asked the hotel we were staying with but they only wanted to sell us tickets with the same company we arrived with - no way! We knew the Mekong Express had the best reputation for service and travel experience and we eventually found a tour operator who could book us seats. The minibus arrived at 7am to take us to the bus station and we were instantly reassured as the staff labelled our bags and gave us a receipt for them. We also had pre-assigned seat numbers so we weren’t worried about that. All in all it was so much more professional than our previous journey; the staff were extremely friendly and helpful. ... read more

The following entry is a detailed description of our trip for the benefit of fellow travellers. The day went surprisingly quickly and just after 7pm Teresa and I along with two fellow travellers were finding a way to fit with our luggage into a tuk-tuk to take us to the bus pick up point. We booked our tickets on the Virak-Buntham Express Tour & Travel and were pleased as we settled on to a bus exactly as advertised; large seats, reclining, lots of leg room, movie showing (although it was already half way through). We were lucky and occupied the last two seats together. The lights went off completely at around 9.30 and we could no longer read so we decided to settle down to sleep. However, we were awake and aware the bus made two ... read more

DAY 19: Sorry for not posting anything for a while - too much moving around. DAY 19: We travelled to Phnom Penh today - it was an easy, cheap and short flight with Air Asia. We arrived at the airport and have to admit it was a lot better than we had expected - it was pleasant if small. Our hostel owner greeted us with a named sign and big smile. We hoped into our tuk-tuk and made our way through the bedlam that is Phnom Penh traffic. We saw a guy with a double, yes double mattress strapped to the back of his scooter driving happily down a main road in rush hour traffic - 10 points for balance?! We arrived at our guesthouse safe and sound and bedded down for the evening. DAY 20: ... read more