mrandmrssimmonds

Around the world in 367 days Ed and Gemma Well here we are on the 4th July, a year and a day since the first leg of our trip, from London to Toronto, and many countries and experiences later. We still have to pinch ourselves that this has all happened. It has been an awesome adventure and one we will be remembering for the rest of our lives. As we return home jobless and homeless it has to be said that we do not regret this journey we have taken for one minute, and in fact we know how lucky we are to have been able to put ourselves in the situation that has allowed us the chance to travel in this way. The testing times that travelling puts any individual in can be dangerous ... read more

Remembering this time last year, we did not don our wedding outfits and hope The Leo Green Experience would turn up at the pool side to while away the afternoon. Instead we went on a morning excursion to the south part of the island, visiting places like the pearl farm that 'makes' pearls for the Australian market. Both of us learnt something new today about how the pearl is made - "a skilled technician implants a nucleus from a Mississippi pig toe mussel". Then we went to the most southerly tip of the island to the island's second town - ‘Coconut town’. There is also a prison here, named 'Coconut Prison’ even though there is not a coconut in sight, which had some very strong coconut walls that kept in 40,000 prisoners in its heyday. ... read more

So then, a full year since the last money went into our bank account, but we think we’ve had pretty good value for that money. Today we set about the main sights of Saigon and took in the Reunification Palace, the War Remnants Museum and the Ho Chi Minh City museum. The palace was better than we’d expected and was where the Communist tanks headed when they captured Saigon in 1975. It’s no Versailles though and makes us think of a 1960s hotel (with some influence from the Soviets) that used to be plush, has now clearly declined, but whose owners cannot see this. The War Remnants Museum is the highlight of Vietnam as far as sightseeing goes and is brilliant. Some of the photos are quite harrowing, and it is a very well managed ... read more