The Road To Vietnam

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Well, the end of yet another season, and what a season!! We had a good one, had lots of familiar faces passing through and in general had a great time. The last few days in Goa were spent packing away the bar and apartment, we also found time to have a Staff night out (or three) and said our goodbyes.

After a hectic few days we flew out of Dabolim to Colombo (Sri Lanka) where we were put up in a lovely hotel over night free of charge - thanks to Air Lanka! The following morning saw us boarding another flight to Bangkok where we planned to stay for 3 days in order to get our visa sorted out for Vietnam.

We'd pre-booked a room at the New Siam II and arrived intact with baggage at the Hotel early morning. The Hotel was just off Khao San Road so was handy for all the usual stuff but at arms length and away from the madness. After dumping the bags we headed off for a Burger King (what else) and promptly bumped into a couple of lads that we've known for the past few years from Goa - needless to say we had a bit of a chinwag over a beer and picked their brains about the pro's and con's of Vietnam - they'd travelled there the previous year so had some valuable info to offload.

I managed to pickup a head cold type virus whilst in Bangkok so it put a dampner on things, luckily we'd done Bangkok previously so weren't too bothered about sightseeing and getting out and about. We did do the Grand Palace and temple - one of the things that we'd skipped on our last visit, it was nice to see but we were both surprised at how tiny the Emerald Buddha was and there were so many tourists around that you couldn't get a decent pic.....not to worry, when you've seen one temple you've kind of seen them all!!

We managed to do a bit of shopping - essentials for the Vietnam trip which included a fleece jacket for me and a pair of Crocs for Barry, we were also forced to buy a new camera because Barry dropped the one that we had (only bought it in Hong Kong last May) and we managed to get the visas without any hassles so we were now all set and ready to roll.


Our flight out of Bangkok with Air Asia was early evening which meant we were due in Hanoi at 20.50, we'd pre-booked a room at the Tung Trang Hotel in the old quarter and they promised to send a car to pick us up. When you fill out immigration forms entering Vietnam, one of the questions is "Do you have a cough", which obviously with the head cold thing I did so obviously on the form I put "No". Standing in the queue at immigration Barry told me to stifle any coughs that I had and if possible pretend that I had tourettes......bad idea, Barry entered Vietnam with the female version of Pete from Big Brother and was in fits of laughter every time I coughed and shouted W**KER....the immigration guys probably thought we were a bit mad!!

The driver was out front waiting for us but wasn't amused with the fact that we had to use the ATM before leaving the Airport, actually he was a bit of a miserable git and didn't speak a word for the whole of the journey. This, plus the fact that it was dark and raining wasn't the best of welcomes to Hanoi.
The Hotel was set up a tiny pedestrianised alleyway and our first impression was a good one, our room was on the fourth floor and involved a steep climb, apart from that it was OK, nothing too bad to complain about.
Dinner was now calling so after dumping the bags we stepped out into the rain in search of some hearty grub, UNLUCKY!!, it was too late so we made do with a couple of beers and a bowl of complimentary peanuts.

We'll update soon and add some pics, hope you're all well out there and not working too hard.

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Comments

[June]

I'm soooooo jealous
Bev, you should take up travel writing. You're a natural. Your tourettes story made me laugh out loud at my desk - not an easy feat! Sounds like you're both having your usual lovely time. It's raining here in Wimbledon and I have an in-tray that's doing a very good impression of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Have fun. Lots of Love. June

[Jon Redmond]

Uncle would do his nut!
Well you have certainly landed somewhere exotic now! Uncle Jim would be green with envy as he was a great traveller when he was alive(!) Hope you enjoy meeting the lovely Vietnamese people, I believe they are very friendly and keen to eat, sorry 'meet' people from Widnes! We go to Ireland on Monday for two weeks, so we will have some good tales to tell when we return! Enjoy the rest of your vacation! John