Lynne & Carl Moir
2012 - We left at the end of April for 5.5 months visiting Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and then we will follow the sun. We are doing it on NZ$110 per day.Tawa Kiwis
2008: We are back now and had an amazing time and travelled to Vietnam, Thailand, India, Cambodia and Laos. We would do it again in a flash. For those wondering about cost, total expenses whilst overseas $31,000 NZ, but we could have done this without the 5,000 luxury as it gave us NZ$137.00 per day. NZ$100 per day would have been plenty, as we spent on average NZ$50 per night accommodation, in a lot of cases we took taxis and planes when we could have taken buses and trains, and we spent more on accommodation so we could get a pool. Every place was setup for tourism, food was cheap, booze was weak - beer was cheap - wine was expensive. Language was not a problem, toilets were western. We never felt unsafe, maybe a bit overwhelmed when we first landed in India, but never unsafe and we never had anything stolen.
Travel Blog Posts
2012 - Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) and Hue
Published: May 26th 2012Asia » Vietnam » North Central Coast » Hué
May 14th 2012
Saigon Liam arrived in Saigon and we stayed 3 nights and got accustomed to the traffic, touts, tooting and the heat. Liam visited the Chi tunnels by speed boat and we all walked around the War Museum and Independence Palace in the 35 degree heat. It was very hot and humidity high; even the locals were fanning themselves, especially the men (some with pretty red lacy fans). We carried face cloths in a plastic bag so we could wet them with iced bottled water to cool us down – it was so hot. Very sad to see photos of the war especially the long lasting affects of agent orange and the terrified faces just before the american troops executed the locals. Very anti american obviously as they helped the south and the north won. They named ... read more
May 13th 2012
It was great to be back in Saigon, especially when the plane hit the ground after flying through thunder and lightening from Malaysia. You could look from one side of the plane to the other and both windows were full of fluorescent white flashing lightening. We spent a couple of days in Saigon practicing crossing the road amongst the millions of motorbikes. It was a relief to see they have installed some traffic lights with about 80% of the traffic actually stopping on a red light! Great to see that Saigon had cleaned up their streets, last time we visited the streets were lined with rubbish, but now it is very clean in comparison, with the exception of the river, stunk like Rotorua, was stagnant and looked like black tar – yuk. It is very hot ... read more
13 March 2008 - Koh Samui / Koh Phangan
Published: March 29th 2008Asia » Thailand » South-West Thailand » Ko Pha-Ngan
March 29th 2008
Koh Samui - Chaweng Beach Well this is our third trip to Koh Samui so I cannot report anything through seeing it for the first time, except the Transvestite show and the night club we boogied at with the young ones! We had a fantastic time with Sue and Tom, first time in 5 months we had another couple to talk to, and talk we did. The time went so very quick in Koh Samui, while we spent our days searching for accommodation, on the internet planning the next stage, or resting as Carl’s earache came back with a vengeance (and no, absolutely not related to 2 woman bleating in his ear!). Sue and Tom though spent a day doing the various including elephant and quad bike riding (not at the same time though). Sue attended ... read more
7 March - Bangkok and Kanchanaburi
Published: March 18th 2008Asia » Thailand » Western Thailand » Kanchanaburi
March 17th 2008
Bangkok We flew from Laos on Lao Airlines, who do not publish their safety record; an international flight of nearly 2 hours on a propeller plane - yeeeecks - but we made it alive and surprised Sue and Tom at the airport as they arrived in from London. So after we organized a B-Train for their luggage we headed into town. God it’s hot and muggy! Sights Shopping - We visited the big modern Central World Mall, IT Centre, Pratunam Mall loaded with bargains from the 5 floors of woman’s clothes, shoes, handbags and bling (that’s if you are a size 6). We did the shuffle down the footpaths and side streets opposite all choked full of stalls. We ventured down into the underground market and walked through the damp, dark, narrow concrete aisles watching woman ... read more
March 6th 2008
We flew to Laos from Siem Reap, an expensive exercise, but if we had our time again we would have entered Cambodia and Laos via Vietnam, much cheaper option. We absolutely love Laos, it’s a fantastic place! The land is green and mountainous; the people are chilled; the streets are clean; street vendors workplaces are so clean it just seems so natural to buy street food; the roads are quiet; and they have a curfew - be inside by midnight or else! Luang Prabang If we thought Cambodia was tourist savvy then Laung Prabrang is tourist boutique. This place is beautiful, it’s hilly and green, and the architecture is a mix of colonial buildings and golden Buddhist temples. Young monks walk amongst the tourists and brighten the view with their orange attire. It is spotlessly clean, ... read more
February 22nd 2008
We flew out of Mumbia and into Bangkok for one night, landing at 5.30am, we dropped our bags off at Grand Watergate Hotel, watched them setup the markets to fill in time, and then straight into Burger King at 7am. If we had remembered it was 24x7 we would have been there at 6! We totally missed the breakfast menu so we launched straight into burger and chips! Our next stop was Cambodia flying Air Asia, a great budget airline, which has a “grab a seat” policy, meaning ‘run for it if you want to sit together’. We pay an extra $10 and get Express Boarding allowing us to get first on and first off. Its worth it in places like Cambodia where you have to get your Visa on entry, you don’t want to be ... read more
February 21st 2008
Mumbai We flew into Mumbai and looking out the window saw high rise buildings and a patch work of small roofs - the slums. Mumbai has a population of over 14 million, 50% live in slums. Most looked like they were made out of some plywood and I saw a bit of concrete here and there, but it stretched for miles, one room leaning against the other. As we drove for nearly 2 hours from the airport we passed many people living on the footpaths, a piece of cloth as shelter, or for clothing, their home a small piece of footpath on the side of the road. Men - sleeping or washing using a pot of water dressed only in their underpants, washing their bodies in the midst of rush hour traffic. Woman tending to the ... read more
February 9th 2008
GOA Ever since the Bourne Identity we have wanted to come to GOA and stay in one of those beach huts, but its reality time now - that beach is down the South of GOA and the beach huts don’t have ensuites! So we head to North GOA. We start at Candolim where there is a long line of beaches with each one a few kilometers up the road, split by distance but not by a break in the shops. Basically it is just one very long road behind a very long beach with a couple of points jutting out along the way, it is covered in beach umbrellas and loungers in front of heaps of beach shacks serving food and drinks. Candolim and Calangute were like strips on the side of an ocean channel and ... read more
February 4th 2008
Fort Kochi, Cochin Cochin is a landing place for tourists, mainly European, before they head down South to the beaches, some go North to GOA, so they stay at Fort Kochi for a few days either side. Along the beach are old giant Chinese fishing nets but there is no swimming. Back from the beach there is this small area of about 8 interwoven streets with European style guest houses, restaurants and shops originating from the Portuguese and Dutch merchants who arrived here hundreds of years ago. It is really quite quaint and an unusual sight for us in India. Nearby is Jew Town which is a street of over priced tourists shops, a temple and Dutch palace near where the ferry goes over to Cochins city. Whilst it was a very cool village and had ... read more
January 23rd 2008
Varkala We left Kovallam by taxi and arrived up the coast at Varkala 1.5 hours later all for the same price as a Wellington to Johnsonville ride - NZ$40! I could say the trains were fully booked but that would be a lie. I was amazed during our ride how many fabulous houses there were, great big brick houses with fancy iron gates and concrete columns. Certainly different living standards than we have seen so far. Varkala is similar to Kovallam in that it has a walkway lined with hotels, shops and restaurants. When I say hotels don’t imagine western type hotels, they are lucky to be more than 1 story high, more like motels or guest houses. Anyway on the other side of the walkway is the beach but it is like down the bottom ... read more
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