Today we set off as our final destination for the day to HaLong Bay. This is the Beautiful Bay that is so picturesque you ask your self how can this exist so close to the Ugly! Let me back up a bit. On our way to Halong bay we were introduced to the Ugly. The Ugly being small cities that produce coal for usage. Black is everywhere! It looked like a scene from the darkside or a black and white movie. Colorless, and dirty. It was so bad water trucks were hosing down the roads every hour to keep the coal dust down. Again add the traffic Chaos, and the hazy air which I think is perpetual and you get the picture. 70% of the people in these towns we were told , come down with ... read more

We decided to take an excursion to the highest point in Thailand. Of course, we happen to meet these two characters from the UK who reminded me of the muppet show. Remember those 2 very old muppets on the balcony throwing insults and just all around critical and funny, well we had these 2 guys and there wives to babysit for 8 hours while on this excursion. They were making us laugh by saying things like there wives are lucky to have big butts because when the bus goes over bumps they are padded. Not like us guys. These type of comments went on all day and made for a really funny day. On the way we visited twin temples of the King and Queen. Unfortunately it was very cloudy and we saw very little of ... read more

Tours,tours,tours... Enough already!!!!!!! We took yet another tour of another city. I swear they all seem the same. This one is famous for the surrounding dormant volcanoes, and Auckland is called the city of sails. We also took a tour of the port and were astonished at the amount of sailboats, (Hence the name) lol. Wine is more reasonable hear than in the South Island and so are the prices in general. After 2 days though we quite had enough and we returned to Hong Kong. Flight to Hong Kong was 11 Hours. The plane first had a delay because a baggage carrousel broke down. Next the planes engine wouldn't start. Hmmmmm I was worried that things come in 3's and was thinking about what the third thing was going to be. IT WAS NOT TO ... read more

In Alice Springs we did the Desert Tour, which was very informative. No pressure and incredible landscape. Fortunately we did this in the morning because deserts tend to get hotter as the day progresses. The only animals we saw that we knew were the Emu at a distance. We also saw a Bird of Prey show with Falcons, owls, and saw at first glance a couple of Dingos as a bonus. We then went to a reptile house and met a crocodile 3.5 mtres long, I wrapped a snake around my neck and we saw alot of native live reptiles. Ayers rock was a better deal. We visited the surroundings and did 3 excursions. Sounds of Silence where we dined in the middle of the Desert and served 5 star food such as Kangaroo ( YummmmmmmmmY ... read more

We arrived in Sydney 2 days ago and promptly went to the hotel. We had to eat so we went to a convenience store next door and they conveniently charged us $26.00 AUD approx (1 CDN to 1 AUD) for 2 tv dinners and 2 muffins. Same thing in Canada would be $15 CDN. Whew at that rate our budget would be blown in less than a week. Next day we toured the Opera house and had fun taking alot of pics. We did the tour and were amazed that it actually took so many years to build. A Danish architect designed it in 1956 and won a competition as the chosen design in 1957. it was finally completed in 1972. The outside is actually tiled. I hope they paid the Italians well for the labor ... read more