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Published: January 24th 2024
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We arrived in Hanoi without an onward ticket as we are still making this trip up as we go. The only definite is that we will fly into Perth from Singapore on January 15th, everything between now and then is subject to change. It was raining in Hanoi, and we actually appreciated the change in climate following the relentless heat of Thailand and Cambodia. It was the beginning of December, Christmas decorations were up in all the shops, bars and hotels and Christmas songs were played in every bar. All the locals were wearing winter coats and scarves and the place had more of a feel of a Christmassy European city break as opposed to being 6000 miles away in South East Asia.
Speaking of Christmas, you announced one day that your name is on Santa's naughty list. We asked how do you think you can get yourself off it and on to the nice list, thinking you might consider behaving better. But you had clearly already thought it through and answered 'I'll scrub it off'.
We ventured around the streets of the Old and French Quarters before making our way to the Hanoi War Museum and Train Street.
Train Street has evolved into a tourist attraction whereby you can sit at a cafe, (or in a local's house in our case) at the side of a railway track, as the local train passes by - literally inches away.
After a couple of days in Hanoi, we moved on to Nimh Binh where we took the Tam Coc boat trip through the river network and cave systems on a small tin boat. It was difficult to keep you still which wasn't ideal on such a tiny boat. It didn't help that it was supposed to be a 90 minute tour but ours seemed to take much longer. Probably because our driver/guide made a habit of answering her phone while rowing with her feet which inevitably slowed us down. Still, you did say to me 'this is not boring' which is as good as it gets when it comes to you and compliments.
The hotel was nestled up against one of the many limestone cliffs that make up the region, it was a beautiful backdrop. Although it was situated outside of town, we hired bikes to get back and forth and you liked to pass the time by
shouting suggestions / complaints in my ear from your seat behind me. 'Hurry up' being the recurring comment. Whilst in Tam Coc, we also visited the nearby Lotus fields and Nua cave and climbed the 500 steps to the summit of the Huang Mua viewpoint with you on my back in the carrier. Not bad for a 'Daddy Pig'. On a personal note, one of the highlights of our time in Nimh Binh, if not the entire trip, was undoubtedly paying the equivalent of 23p for a beer in one of the bars.
Leaving Nimh Binh, we continued back to Hanoi in order to catch a short 55 minute flight south to the city of Hue. Situated on the Perfume River, Hue was a key supply route for the Americans and was the scene of one of the longest and bloodiest battles of the Vietnam war during the Tet offensive - with the bullet holes were still visible in the walls of the Imperial City. Most of the city was destroyed in the war, including the Truong Tien bridge, which was built by the French Eiffell company.
From Hue, we drove south through the Lap A Lagoon, Deo Ha
Van pass, stopping off at marble Mountains before arriving in Hoi-An.
In Hoi-An, we were attempting to negotiate for some souvenirs when the price suddenly shot up. The vendor's reason was '2 million Dong for you, because you have a cheeky daughter.' I don't know what you were doing or saying said but you're not a great help when it comes to bartering. We ended up buying 2 stubby holders, which you insisted on wearing on your fists as boxing gloves, in order to 'fight like Casper'.
We stayed by the river in Hoi-An old town and did a day trip to Ba-Na Hills, location of the famous Golden Hands bridge amongst other weird attractions. An Bang beach was a 15 minute drive from the old town and after a visit, we decided to extend our time in Vietnam. We had been lucky with the weather; at this time of the year, there is usually a lot more rain. We chose to make the most of our luck and added 5 days by the beach rather than returning to Thailand straight away.
When we did land in Bangkok (yet again), we drove straight down to Hua Hin
a coastal city about 2 and a half hours south. After 4 days of not doing a great deal, we prepared ourselves for the longest journey of the entire trip - a 9 hour cross-country drive to Khao Lak. We were due to meet up with Melissa and Dean here to spend Christmas together and the severe weather warning for the district for the 5 days of our visit was unwelcome to say the least.
For Christmas day, we had booked a day trip to the Similan Islands but we received a phone call the night before to say it had been cancelled due to weather conditions out at sea. Thinking nothing of it, we proceeded to have a bigger Christmas Eve than planned at Memories beach bar outside of town, located on the edge of the jungle besides an elephant camp. The following day, with the first hangovers of the trip kicking in, we discovered the extent of the weather conditions. The high winds in the Gulf of Thailand and Andaman Sea had resulted in 7 boats sinking in 4 days. So, our trip was rearranged for the 27th and luckily the conditions had improved enough by that
time. We had a great day on the beaches and snorkelling, although you were a bit wary of the size of some of the turtles.
New Year was spent together on Ko Lanta, our second visit to the island during our trip, before saying our goodbyes to Dean, Melissa and Thailand to make our way south to the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.
Our time in Malaysia saw us move north from Kuala Lumpur, taking in the cities of Ipoh, Penang and Langkawi. We had visited Kuala Lumper and Langkawi before but Ipoh and Penang were new destinations for us all. We hired a car again in Langkawi and spent 4 nights on the island seeing as much as we coul before the penultimate flight of our trip down to Singapore.
As our journey nears the end, here's some examples of how your vocabulary and personality is developing at this moment in time:
- You've taken to addressing me as Jay recently, thinking it's perfectly normal to ask 'Jay what do you fancy for tea?'.
- We sat down in a restaurant and you looked straight at me and said 'fancy seeing you here'.
- Trying
to decide where to go one night, I asked you what type of food you fancied eating. And you replied 'Let's just see what's on the menu'.
- I said to you that we were going to the pub and you were getting the first round in. Your reply - 'Not on my watch'.
- We tried to wake you for an early flight and you refused to budge from the bed 'Give me a few more hours' was your suggestion.
I think you've been watching more than your fair share of Bluey - which might stand you in good stead for Australia - because when your mum was accidently blocking your path, you decided to push past adding the comment 'move big fella'.
As far as development goes, you're becoming proficient with chopsticks, it's impressive to watch your shovelling technique.
As we depart for Singapore to finally reach our destination of Perth, we can look back on the previous 124 days that took in almost 17,000 miles of travel across 10 countries, changing accommodation 39 times. By way of numerous forms of transport including: taxis, trains, buses, trams, furniculars, cable cars, ferries, motorbikes, boats, tuk tuks,
9 hire cars and 19 flights. I think we were just missing a helicopter and a hot air balloon .Australia will be the 18th country you've visited, which by the age of 3 isn't bad going.
Travelling with you has been an incredible adventure and we definitely have a sense of achievement having reached Perth with our sanity (relatively) intact. We've been amazed by how you have taken everything in your stride, from mosquito bites to 'places that are stinky'. It is going to be strange not to spend every waking moment together, but unfortunately, it's time to get back to real life.
Maybe we'll do this all again in a few years.
Definitely maybe.
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