And Finally…… We had to finish our holiday at The Marriott Riverside Resort - quite simply our favourite Hotel in the whole World :o) In 2000 we celebrated my retirement by taking a last Family Holiday with the Kids - to Hong Kong initially, followed by Bangkok. Our lasting memory of that last Family Holiday isn’t Simon and Fran drinking away my Pension in the Marriott Elephant Bar, but rather our last evening on the Riverside Terrace. As we sat on that last balmy evening, replete with good food and hazily content after many, many cocktails, the terrace singers sudde [View Full Entry]

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Worthy Of An Oscar? We were sitting at a pavement bar, just off the end of Khaosan Road, following our favourite occupations: sharing a bucket of Mai Tai and people watching. A pretty little girl, aged about 4 or 5, came skipping up the road, full of childish exuberance. She wore fancy squeaking, flashing flip-flops and a beautiful red dress. A few yards behind followed her mother -smartly dressed but carrying an incongruous carpet bag. They stopped directly opposite our table and, while the little girl skipped and danced to the music emanating from our bar, the mother spread out a [View Full Entry]

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A Thousand Steps to Hell - The drips finally rebel! We started our final day of excursions full of expectation: A slow, gentle stroll round Angkor in the morning and a boat trip on Tonle Sap in the afternoon promised to be idyllic. And it really did get off to a great start: Our guide decided that the best way to see Angkor in peace would be to enter “via the back door”. So, while coachloads of tourists spewed out all over the West entrance and started the long walk down the causeway, we snuck in through the East entrance and [View Full Entry]

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Angkoring for Peace and Quiet It’s been a good couple of days, but filled with mixed emotions. But before I submerge you in the usual detail I must make special mention of Threeland Travel. Our tailor-made 15 day tour has been simply superb - far better than we imagined it could possibly be - and today Threeland decided to finish our tour with a flourish :o) Instead of the 2 star shed, in which we were expecting to end our final days of the tour, we were taken to a super hotel in the heart of Siem Reap. We were graciously [View Full Entry]

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A Cosy Fit in Cu Chi Tunnels….. Today’s programme produced a more reflective day than most: Thanh and Speedy Gonzalez (Khoa) picked us up at the ungodly hour of 07:30. “Hurry, hurry, time to go” chirped the irritatingly bouncy Thanh. I was in a mild grump, having slept very little due to a stinking cold, but the banter soon started up. We were setting out early in order to arrive at Cu Chi tunnels before the convoys of tour coaches arrived. Thanh was really enthusiastic about this trip because it’s his home village. A brief stop along the way to view [View Full Entry]

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Mighty Mekong Bonsoir Mes Enfants :o) Pappa is sitting at the laptop writing the blog - sadly fist as a part ;o) Today the AirCon finally beat me. After fifteen days of moving from sweltering heat into freezing air-conned rooms the old Snoz has started running like a tap and the throat is filled with gravel :o( BUT this afternoon a lovely old gentleman, “Little Tiger, Son Of Ho” introduced me to 46% proof distilled rice wine. And it works like a charm …. Temporarily. So, with great reluctance, I am pouring regular doses of this wonderful elixir down my gravely [View Full Entry]

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Bikes, Boats and Beautiful Food As I start to write we are sitting in the Departure Lounge at Danang Airport with 90 minutes to kill. We are leaving Hoi An with mixed feelings - but, as always, full of enthusiasm and eagerly anticipating our new destination: Ho Chi Minh City. Our arrival in Hoi An was rather stressful, but only because of an administrative error. We had been booked in to the Indochine Hotel on the banks of the river and within walking distance of the beach. But our new guide, Phong, had been told we were in a different hotel [View Full Entry]

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Through Perspiration to The Perfumed Pagoda At 08:30 sharp a beaming Nguyen appeared in the Hotel Foyer, to whisk us away to the Perfumed River. Once more Cuong navigated us skilfully through the suicidal traffic. We had a long delay as all traffic was stopped by the Police to allow a wailing convoy of thirteen black Mercedes Limos to pass, carrying dignitaries to the APEC meetings. As a result we were soon surrounded by thousands of frustrated motorcyclists and had to play “Dodgems” for miles. But we were soon out of Hanoi and bumping along on rough rural roads. The scenery [View Full Entry]

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APEC Impact Today Nguyen earned our respect - and more than earned his salary. Our last half-day in Hanoi was meant to be spent visiting the standard Tourist Attractions. So we dutifully headed off towards the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum …. Only to find the whole area had been closed down by the Police. It seemed that the assembled masses of opportunists clinging to the APEC gravy train were being given exclusive access. From that moment every attempt at following our agenda was frustrated by more roadblocks. Finally Nguyen took us to a Pagoda which was mercifully still available to far [View Full Entry]

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Its Ha Long Way to Halong Bay Some days seem never ending. Some are over all too soon, leaving you desperate for more time. Once in a Blue Moon comes a day which is sheer perfection, where every moment is filled with undiluted enjoyment and which ends with a feeling of total contentment. Such was our day yesterday :o) We rose early and were whisked off in our air-conditioned car by Nguyen our guide and Cuong our driver. We were setting out on a 3 hour drive to Halong Bay, the Jewel of Northern Vietnam. It seemed too far to travel, [View Full Entry]

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