http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/mrandmrssimmonds/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from mrandmrssimmonds en-us Sat, 30 Aug 2008 04:35:18 BST Sat, 30 Aug 2008 04:35:18 BST In the morning we experienced a large ball of fiery gas in the air we believe some people call it a 'sun'It was a lovely way to spend the morning of our last full day messing about in the sea and pool as well as allowing the body to get some vitamin Ds is that the right vitamin you get from the sun rays we are not too sure.We celebrated our last evening with a bottle of Moet and a fantastic http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Mekong-River-Delta/Phu-Quoc-Island/blog-176691.html 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 tec http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Mekong-River-Delta/Phu-Quoc-Island/blog-176687.html Today was a lot like yesterday afternoon just with more thunder storms and A LOT of rain. Gemma read and read and Ed worked on his plan of attack on the Fund Management world.The resort here is great maybe not worth the money we are paying for the service we are getting the staff have to pass a 'Say yes to anything whether you understand it or not' test to work here but the place is virtually http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Mekong-River-Delta/Phu-Quoc-Island/blog-176686.html So this is our last onward journey to our final destination of this year away Phu Quoc Island. We have been looking forward to this lsquobreakrsquo and destination for a while now as this means we are coming to the end of our trip and we are now able to get our heads around returning home.After the hour long journey to the island we were met at the airport and taken to the Le Veranda resort http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-176685.html Today meant we went on one of our last guided tours of our year away. This we did in the exact way we have liked all along privately. We drove the 70km out of Saigon to Cu Chi which is home to a labyrinth of tunnels that the locals have developed since the French resistance and grew with avengence in the Vietnam war. The tunnels played a major part in the survival of the guerillas and prolongin http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-176676.html So then a full year since the last money went into our bank account but we think wersquove 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 wersquod expected and was where the Communist tanks headed when they captured Saigon in 1975. It http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-174997.html The train arrived in Saigon officially Ho Chi Minh city but the people who live here ignore decrees from the government up north and still prefer Saigon at a nice and practical 5am. Since we hadnrsquot had the best nights sleep see yesterday we were keen to find a guesthouse that would let us checkin early or very early in this case. We tried one that wersquod been recommended but there http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-174996.html We wave farewell to the resort not exactly thrilled at the prospect of another overnight train. It was going to be our final use of public transport though planes excepted so that was good The trains were delayed and for some reason our train the 1pm S3 to Saigon turned up before the 11am S1 to Saigon. Understandably plenty of people wanted to change from S1 to S3 but they werenrsquot allow http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Hoi-An/blog-174992.html A day of little action except for collecting all our newly made clothes. The only other point of note was the massage that came as part of our honeymoon package. Gemma enjoyed the relaxation if not the vertebrae separating but for Ed it was half an hour of feeling very very uncomfortable. A return visit to a massage parlour is a long way off. However that does remind us of a story we heard from http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Hoi-An/blog-173162.html Details can be spared but breakfast in bed and time in and around the pool played significant parts in our day. We had some cards to open which was nice and quite a few emails and it is a funny feeling that our wedding definitely doesnrsquot feel as long as a year ago but some parts of our trip away feel like they happened several years ago. We reminisced about the 2night accommodation we http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Hoi-An/blog-173161.html Da Nang is the transport centre that serves the town of Hoi An that is arguably Vietnamrsquos prettiest. It probably isnrsquot anymore because as soon as a reputation like that emerges the tacky stalls appear by the dozen but here even those are kept under wraps and itrsquos certainly the nicest town we visited. Anyway we got off the train to be met by our hotel transfer which even includ http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Hoi-An/blog-173160.html Our last day in Hanoi today which was our only chance to visit the superb Museum of Ethnology. Neither of us would qualify as a big fan of ethnology and to be honest we skipped most of the information on the countless different ethnic groups that make up Vietnam but some of it was brilliant. One section in particular was all about living under classic socialism where the state decides what y http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-173158.html An early start with an open air breakfast overlooking the working harbour. Then we began the long journey back to Hanoi. What with bus then boat then bus it took a while and it was late afternoon when we got back and went off to find a hotel. For dinner we visited a place called Green Tangerine an old restaurant in a building full of colonial charm where the food is incredible where West meets http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Cat-Ba-Island/blog-173157.html It was great waking up early on the junk with the temperature still cool but the sun shining and hardly any other boats in sight. We had breakfast and then transferred to a smaller boat which took us to a very secluded spot where we got into our seakayaks. These were very good quality another reason to choose Handspan and we set off exploring the islands with the sun beating down. The kaya http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Halong-Bay/blog-173156.html An 8am start ahead of the 3 hour journey to get to Halong Bay. The tour company we went with Handspan favour the approach that we like of having everyone meet at their office. The alternative which is to offer hotel pickups and which might sound better invariably means sitting in a minibus for an hour picking up everyone else before driving past your own hotel once you finally get going towa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Halong-Bay/blog-173155.html Now that we are booked on a tour that will let us explore Halong Bay this meant that we only had two days Monday and Friday to explore Hanoi. However as we found out of all the days of the week these are not the good ones most if not all the museums close on a Monday and Friday We were staying in the lsquoOld Quarter' which is an area of Hanoi that is bustling with street vendors sellin http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-173154.html We have made a vow that we will not stay anywhere where we cannot have aircon on in the room. You cannot get the rest you need to enjoy the next day when you cannot find any refuge in your own room especially when the humid high temperatures persists constantly. Anyway...Our afternoon flight to Hanoi on Laosrsquo airlines prop plane rudely awakened us to be back in honking and scammingville. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-173153.html And we did this in true caf hopping style. After a cheap nights accommodation that did not disappoint in the uncomfortable stakes just a ceiling fan moving around the already hot air we found refuge in an air conditioned caf for breakfast and a good read of our books. Wandering the streets and lanes of Luang Probang in the glorious sunshine we would quench our thirst sampling the differen http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-173152.html We didnrsquot do a lot today except wait for our afternoon flight to Laos although Gemma did have a relaxing hour of Thai massage a first for her and maybe a last. How is pain relaxing Once out of the airport in Luang Prabang we felt like wersquod just emerged from a time machine. It really does feel completely different to most other Asian countries in the sense of being untouched by anyth http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North/Chiang-Mai/blog-173149.html We woke up early to the beautiful sounds of a group of 10 Irish boys and girls playing in the pool after enjoying an allnight lockin. Gemma went for a morning swim and struggled to explain that shersquos not always up that early and in fact the only reason she was there was because theyrsquod woken her up. They seemed genuinely surprised apologised for their noisiness and were then quiet http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North/Chiang-Mai/blog-173147.html