Arrived at Kuta Townhouse around 1ish, after a little of a nightmare for the driver trying to navigate the gang between the two poppies! I’m not 100% sure he’d been down there before either as he is from Sanur. First impressions for me of the Townhouses......all I could think of what are all the rave reviews about? This was not really what I was expecting. Looking out from the reception desk I felt a little overwhelmed and not all that confident that I’d chosen well. After the spaciousness and relaxed feeling of the Tegal Sari, the Townhouses seemed very modern and closed in. There were a few sunbeds around the pool, but not a lot of people. During our stay we rarely saw many people around the pool. The apartments are ok themselves...maybe could be a ... read more

Whilst in Hoi An, poor old Issy was never all that well. Her toe that she injured on the slide at the Mekong hurt when she had to walk, so she had a bandaid on that (and I was still putting detol on it each evening). Couldnt wear closed in shoes, so had to wear Sam's trendy bright green hairy thongs, and generally was a little on the whingy side. We had a dreadful flight from Danang (Hoi an) to Hanoi, she was chucking up everywhere. Finally, checked into the Golden Sun Hotel, and its got a lift! (yes there is a god!) lucky for us as the boys are on the 7th floor and Issy and I on the 6th! Again its a nice clean hotel and this time the staff could not do enough ... read more

Jason our tour guide picked us up on time and was the same driver as last year in the van. Unfortunately, it is abit on the squishy side and hot in the van with the 12 of us (and our luggage) and Jason and the driver (they have the best spots!) Didnt take long to leave the city and our first stop was Cai Dao temple. Its a multi religion, budhism, hindu, catholic, taoist, confusiousism and I think two others....but don't quote me on that! Then it was a truckstop for a coffee and the fish toilet (similar to the one in slumdog millionaire). I thought this was going to be a touristy gimick thing, so when I said to Jason, "where is the real toilet" he said "this is it!". No way in the world ... read more

Well, it was an awful long wait at Siem Reap airport, even if it was business class lounge! (We were the only ones in the lounge!). Forgot to tell you about a incident that happened on our last day in Siem Reap so very quickly before we get onto Vietnam I'll quickly tell you about it. During lunch on our last day, a young girl probably about 10yrs tried her best to sell us some bracelets, but we didnt want them and she got talking to kyle. Before we know it there are about 10 girls ranging in age from 10 -15 chatting to kyle. Not sure he understood what they saying, but he was having fun. Phil and Len decided to find Mr Ratha and go for a ride around Siem Reap with him taking ... read more

I finished off the last blog with it bucketing down. Continued to do so for the rest of the afternoon. So we had a chilling out afternoon. Len and Glenda went down the road just before the rain started to get our washing (was only 300m away). On the way back they got caught for over a hour as the rain was that heavy. Some nice man invited them into his shop to wait it out. The food we've been eating has been really nice, most of it really fresh and tasty. Breakfast is included in the hotel tariff and usually is pretty basic, egg and baguette with tea/coffee and fruit to finish. We stayed at the Golden Banana in Siem Reap and they charge extra for other dishes (eg musli and pancakes). Len has been ... read more