Our synopsis of the last day in Cambodia is as follows - late breakfast, swim, tuk tuk to the shops, a good lunch at the Blue Pumpkin, final shopping, 2.00pm room checkout, kicking game at the hotel front for the boys, 3.00pm pickup, flight to Ho Chi Min Vietnam at 5.20 and took one hour, 9.25pm flight to Melbourne....that's it....all over and it was fantastic. Note: Tony the tailor of Hoi An Vietnam returned monies to our Visa.....faith restored and we are happy To close, below are some photos taken of Cambodian people..... [View Full Entry]

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A day of rest in Siem Reap in fantastic Cambodia. The morning went like this. • Keagan slept until 12 • Kerri read • Declan swam and watched TV • I blogged Lunch was spent at the Butterfly Garden Café. Encased by a large net the café is in a beautiful garden setting with butterflies in abundance. The owner pays local children to catch butterflies which is nice. Shopping followed at the central market - dresses, scarves and t-shirts. Swimming followed then the boys and I heated things up by going for a bike ride. Traffic is easy to navigate and [View Full Entry]

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HCM to Siem Reap. Pickup time from the hotel was 8.30. We wake here at 6.00 each day so no trouble packing before leaving. The plan departed on time which maybe is the norm as there is not a lot of aircraft traffic here. In 40 minutes (barely enough time to complete official travel documentation) we landed in Cambodia. Quickly though immigration it’s only 7km from the new small airport to the city centre. We are staying at the Day Inn Angkor resort (everything has Angkor in its name - the love the temples). It’s a major culture shock for us [View Full Entry]

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Top of the agenda today is a day trip to the Mekong River delta. We had booked a trip in the back packer’s area. An 8.00 am departure ended up being an 8.30 start. A normal level of confusion for the Vietnamese was present in a bustling area. For 2 hours we traveled across flat country with the only hills being bridges over numerous rivers. We boarded a small boat and there were eleven of us on the tour following a well worn tourist path to visit a number of small islands on the Mekong. A short distance across the delta [View Full Entry]

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Here are a few photos of the people we have seen in this great country. Some are posed and others are captured from afar so as not to be intrusive. They show emotions such as happiness, sadness and calm. [View Full Entry]

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Hoi An - Ho Chin Min City Our last few hours in Hoi An was spent walking the streets dodging intermittent showers left over from the storms from the previous night. Hoi An is a busy place and has great character - well worth spending a few days here. The predominantly yellow colour of buildings and water makes it a visually interesting place. Whilst there are many shops you are never hassled to buy to any uncomfortable level. Keagan finished off his stay with a quick banana pancake at Miss Lay’s Cafe whist we had banana shakes. Our transfer to the [View Full Entry]

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Day 10 - 11 Hoi An Central Vietnam We had learnt of a good tailor from Paul and Rachael (nice English couple) and Kerri and I went off in search of them straight after breakfast. There are hundreds of tailors here so a recommendation made choice easier. We were given directions and it was still hard to find as Vietnamese map making skills are still developing. Measurements were taken for two suits $80 US each, two shirts $14 each, two dresses $35 each and two skirts $18 each. It took awhile so the owners took us on the back of motorbikes [View Full Entry]

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Hue - Hoi An Our last full day in Hue was a relaxing one. A slow start to enjoy the buffet breakfast overlooking the perfume river at our hotel. The later morning was spent in cyclo’s touring a small part of the city. Sitting up front of a rider on a small seat was fun. We used the cyclo’s for two hours which cost us $2 each. First stop was the local market which bustled with many sights including animal internal organs (freaked Keagan out), clothes and other wares. Next stop was a supermarket to by supplies to save using the [View Full Entry]

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Hanoi - Hue Are last day in Hanoi. The morning was spent at the water puppets show followed by milkshakes by the lake. I had woken at 6.00 to walk around the lake to watch people slap each other again but alas it was raining. Back to bed for awhile then we were off to the “cultural” show. It was a good experience with Vietnamese artistry executed in a very different way. With four performance a day the puppeteers stand in water behind a screen to execute their puppets moves. (The water did not look to clean so not sure about [View Full Entry]

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Note: Photos were taken at various times since arriving. Day 5 Hanoi Kerri and I were up at 6.00 for our morning exercise to walk around the lake with many of Hanoi's older folk. Activities included aerobics, body slapping, Tai Chi, wheel chair races, pajama fashion parades, dancing with fans, body building, badminton, combined fan and ball thingy, sitting, praying and just straight walking. Kerri and I just stuck to the later. It was a good 3/4 hour walk. Breakfast with the boys and then we were off again to explore the old quarter. Under a hot sun, high humidity, narrow [View Full Entry]

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