PeterCHP

Monday 10th March Having finished breakfast, our last meal on RV Amalotus, we disembarked and passed through a guard of honour manned by the crew. A few gratuities were handed out here and there to our favourites. It was the start of an extremely tiring thirty six hours. We boarded our buses (we were moored in Kampong Cham) and set out on the five hour journey to Siem Reap (See-em Ree-ep). On the way we passed through quite a few towns and saw Cambodians more dependent on agriculture than fishing and trading on the Mekong. Our first touring location was the Spean Praptos Bridge (Kampong K dei. A relic from the Khmer Empire). The bridge is a functional survivor from the 12th century. It was amazing to see the stone structure in such terrific ... read more

Monday 3rd March We were welcomed aboard by invitation into the Saigon lounge to have a Welcome drink (or two … or three!) followed by lunch in the Mekong Restaurant on board. After lunch the anchor was raised and our ship was headed for Cai Be. As usual, settling in took time that included the welcome drink, unpacking, briefings and exploring the ship took up most of the afternoon. There are now 119 APT Tourists on board so our original group of 38 has been outnumbered with 2 newcomers for every one of us. It’s not a problem though as RV Amalotus is very spacious. The additional numbers come from new arrivals into Saigon, another group that has been following us and a group doing a Botanical Tour. So, for us, many more people to get ... read more

HUE’ Friday 28th February Our next port of call is the old capital of Vietnam called Hue (whey). It was the home of the Nguyen (phonetically the ‘win’) dynasty. The trip passed ‘China Beach’ (now called Lang Co Beach by the Vietamese). The Chinese are not well liked by the people of Vietnam so whilst China beach is on the South China Sea, the Vietnamese only recognise the Eastern Sea and not the South China Sea. It’s all very complex. As we pressed on we found ourselves in the Hai Van Pass and entering a 6 klm long tunnel built by the Japanese. From this mountain range we were able to see the ocean waterfront and inland freshwater lakes at the sam... read more

HA LONG BAY Monday 24th February It was and early start for the 3.5 hour bus trip to Ha Long Bay. Wake up call at 6am, bags out at 7am and on the road at 8am. Monday morning and the traffic was incredible! Fortunately it was far worse for those going into the city than for us. It was our first real look at the rice paddies and vegetable gardens that followed the road all the way. The weather was still foggy and damp but the temperature a mild 17-18c. On the way we had a ‘happy room’ stop at a large complex set up to employ disadvantaged young people. They made most of the product available for sale and the quality was very good. The complex was modern and ... read more

Well, this is it, we’re homeward bound! After five very eventful months there are a few regrets that it is all coming to an end. We have circled the country except for 600 klms between Mt Isa and Three Ways (NT) in our rig. Both the car and the van have more than met our expectations. We plan to cover those 600 klms in 2011 when we are bound for Cooktown. BROKEN HILL The trip to Broken Hill from Hawker was a typical 420 klms day seeing us in for lunch. We crossed to the Barrier Highway and that became an easy and relatively flat road (even though through some mountain ranges). Having stopped for a coffee at Yunta, we were surprised to see David, Carole and Kristie Small walk in. They had spotted our rig ... read more