Monday 10 December 2007 An early taxi from James’ apartment in Saigon took us to the airport for our flight to Bangkok. We don’t know whether it was the food on board Thai airways or the pork porridge for breakfast but something hit Barbara when she arrived at Bangkok airport. Of course the queues at immigration were a mile long so she faked a smile for the immigration photos and recovered a little while later - they don’t let you in the country if you’re ill. Our next challenge was to find our guesthouse. Towards the end of our long harrowing [View Full Entry]

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Sunday 2 December 2007 After finally crossing the border into Vietnam we continued on the bus to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) or Saigon as the locals refer to it. It was a much smoother ride on the Vietnamese side of the border as the Cambodian highway had been undergoing road works - which is great for development but bad for trying to nap on a bus. Before arriving we managed to converse with our bus hostess and determine which one of four bus stations at opposite ends of HCMC we were due to arrive at and were pleased that it [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday 28 November 2007 First thing in the morning we had something very important to do. We needed to see if the boat was being run back up to Siem Reap, if it had indeed made it to Phnom Penh eventually. We caught a tuk-tuk to the ferry wharf and found that different boats were doing the run that day. This was of some partial relief. It meant that the boat was temporarily kept out of service. But we still have no assurance that the boat actually ever made it to Phnom Penh or if any passengers had completed the journey [View Full Entry]

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Tuesday 27 November 2007 Having toured the temples of Angkor, it was time to head back to Phnom Penh before continuing on to Sihanoukville. An early morning start saw us picked up by minibus from our hotel at approximately 6:30am to be taken to the ferry terminal - after half an hour of driving around the city picking up other travellers we realised this was once again an exercise of ‘how many people can you fit in a minibus?’ Fortunately it was tourists, so there was one seat per person, except for the last two who got on. Unfortunately for them, [View Full Entry]

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Saturday 24 November 2007 Travelling is tiring, so we had a small sleep-in before heading to the temples of Angkor. All the superlatives in the various guidebooks, websites and blogs do not exaggerate the wonders of this World Heritage site. Mr Sopheak, the tuk-tuk driver arranged by the hotel, proved an excellent guide suggesting a temple itinerary that yielded the best visiting opportunities, dodged the peak tourist overloads, and yet still covered all the main temples. Our first temple was Ta Phrom. Partially restored, it suggests that the jungle is only lending us the temples, [View Full Entry]

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Thursday 22 November 2007 We woke at sparrows for a crazy drive to Ha Noi airport not complete without a spot of road rage - our driver tried to ram a motorcycle into the highway barrier after being cut off. That was enough excitement for the morning, we then enjoyed a hassle-free transit in Bangkok before arriving in Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia. We weaved our way through the chaos of Phnom Penh airport and found a very good taxi driver to take us to our hotel. On the way to Rory’s Irish Pub (where we were staying - yes, for [View Full Entry]

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Saturday 17 November 2007 We lazily spent the day wandering around Ha Noi and preparing for our night departure for a tour of Bac Ha & Sa Pa. Barbara’s lazy packing was cut short when we were notified at around 7:30pm that our train time had changed from 9:15pm to 8:40pm. After a little scurrying around, we braced ourselves for a hectic taxi ride (6 people including the driver) to Ha Noi Railway Station (photo). Glad that an assistant from the hostel was accompanying us, our train was easily located and we settled into our soft sleepers for a not-so-quiet night [View Full Entry]

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Monday 12 November 2007 After bidding farewell to Alan, we departed KL with a transit stop in Bangkok (during which we walked off all the delicious food we had consumed so far on our trip to catch our connecting flight - it is a very big airport!). Our flight arrived in Ha Noi at sunset to give us our first glimpses of the Vietnamese haze (photo). After finally finding the right customs queue and haggling with taxi drivers, we had our first harrowing experience of Vietnamese traffic during our 45 minute drive to what we thought was our hotel. A two [View Full Entry]

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Thursday 8 November - continued from KL After Vicky finished working (3 hours earlier than local time thanks to the joys of international telecommuting), we flew to Pulau Pinang, or Penang Island. The local airport firemen were playing beach volleyball as we taxied past (photos). Georgetown, where we stayed, was a short drive to the north and we settled into the Traders Hotel. Friday 9 November Vicky worked from the hotel (hooray for internet and IT jobs) while Barbara and I spent the morning nursing upset stomachs. Feeling the need for a little pampering, Alan, Barbar [View Full Entry]

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Tuesday 6 November 2007 We left Betelbox Backpackers on a drizzly tropical morning for Singapore’s Changi international airport. The highlight (for Michael at least) was seeing the new Airbus A380 parked at a nearby gate (photo). Less than an hour later, we landed in Kuala Lumpur. However it took another 2 hours to get to Michael’s friend Alan’s apartment from the airport. No wonder many people catch the bus or train between Singapore and KL! Wednesday 7 November 2007 We undertook an improvised self-guided tour of the city in search of the American Ex [View Full Entry]

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