I had looked forward to our Hoi An, everyone I spoke to who had visited Vietnam all spoke romantically about how much they loved Hoi An and wished they spent longer there soaking up the atmosphere. Sadly, we only had two full days there… there was a lot that we wanted to get through. We arrived at our hotel, the Thanh Xuan , it was really cheap and really wonderful. The staff were friendly, big room, clean, perfect. We set about exploring the old town, the kids had just come out of school and were all dressed in their fantastic [View Full Entry]

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Singapore I was very excited about Singapore, the last time I had been was 9 years earlier. We were staying at the Pan Pacific which was really great. With only 24 hours we had a hit list of things to do: shop, night safari and eat chilli crab. We weren’t disappointed on any of these... Starting with the shopping, the malls from our hotel all the way to Orchard St were incredible. We also paid a visit to the Moustafa centre in little India where you can truly by anything you want under one roof! Dinner was at Sinma’s Live [View Full Entry]

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Bali Back on Bali we avoided the extortionate taxis at the airport and walked out of the parking lot with our luggage. We eventually hailed down a cab to take us to Nusa Dua which would be our home for the next night before flying on to Singapore. We got on so well with our cab driver that we decided to hire him for the rest of the day. We had a busy day planned, first stop, was the temple at Uluwatu, this was quite pretty, but to be honest not that great, too many plastic fires being set off. We [View Full Entry]

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After a 10 hour flight with the very excellent Cathay Pacific we landed in Hong Kong… Whilst waiting for our connecting flight we stocked up on Starbucks! We finally landed in Hanoi a few hours later… We already arranged for our hotel, Hanoi Elegance 2 to pick us up at the airport. We found our driver and off we went. The drive into central Hanoi was an eye opener of what was to come! We saw all sorts of moped drivers carrying the most awkward things on their bikes. The best of the bunch were, pigs in a basket, ducks, fish, [View Full Entry]

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Lombok The fast boat to Lombok on Blue Water Safaris was a smooth ride, the water was calm, the sun was shining and I went to sleep for the two hour ride. When we arrived to Lombok, the only way I realised it was Lombok and not any of the other islands that the boat drops off at was because I saw one of the crew grabbing my bag and giving it to some old lady who had waded into the water to get it! Bleary eyed form my 2 hour sleep, I shot up, climbed the length of the boat [View Full Entry]

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Seminyak, Bali We eventually arrived on the hot and humid island of Bali after a 12 hour plus 2 hour flight from London via Singapore. Throughout our journey we were reminded by fellow travellers that the execution of the Bali bombers were due at any moment and that because of this all governments were advising travellers not to visit Bali during this time. So with a little trepidation we stepped off the flight at Densapar airport only to be met by a huge poster that alerted newcomers to the fact that they will be executed if they smuggle drugs in or [View Full Entry]

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The focus of my long weekend in Sweden was Mads and Jakob's wedding in Ronnang. We touched down in Gothenburg with a big bump and was soon hit with fresh Swedish air and glorious early morning sunshine. We made our way to our hire cars, good old Volvos, put on the latest Killers album and set off for the island of Ronnang. We finally made it to our destination after getting lost several times. Locals were more than happy to give us directions, the only problem was that they often sent us in completely the wrong direction! Amusing at first, but [View Full Entry]

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Having escaped the drama of the Discovery Channel I had two free weeks until starting a new job... So, I thought why not go visit my good friends in Australia! And that is exactly what I did. I booked a Virgin flight and off I went, what was even better is that I got a cheapo upgrade on my way out there...brilliant! The flight was a smooth 20 odd hour trip, finally arriving in Sydney. My friend Sam met me at the airport and took me to my hotel , it was located a stones through away from Darling Harbour. Sam [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City from Danang airport, HCMC instantly felt more developed, and although we didn’t feel it could be possible, it was so much more chaotic than Hanoi. We had heard that if you visit Hanoi and fall in love with it this will ultimately mean that you will dislike HCMC. We were reluctantly ready to not like HCMC one little bit…but what do you know, we absolutely loved it just as much as Hanoi! We stayed at the newly opened Elios hotel which is a business style hotel found in the backpacker area on Pham Ngyu [View Full Entry]

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From Hanoi, we flew south to Hue. Although only an hour away by flight, Hue’s climate was very different to Hanoi. Hue was humid, wet, very cool in the evening and cloudy. We took a taxi to our hotel, the newly opened Orchid Hotel. I had booked the “romantic room” not because we were on honeymoon but because at $20 a night it was the most expensive room they had, can’t complain there. When we arrived the manager looked happy to see us and was very friendly and inquisitive of our holiday so far. He soon started to talk about the [View Full Entry]

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