Koh Samui

We booked ourselves on a fishing and snorkeling tour and after waiting an hour to be picked up our lift finally arrived. We got a tuk tuk with 2 other couples and thought it would be a good day with a small group and when we arrived at the beach and the boats, we were given our own guide and our own boat! Was a great surprise. So we headed out on a long boat and dropped our lines in. We were fishing “thai style” which meant we were using hand reels. In the first 5 minutes our guide had caught 2 small fish and Rudi and I were getting nibbled but that’s about all! About an hour or so in and asking Pop to help me catch a fish, I got a huge bite and actually thought I was snagged. I pulled it in and to everyone’s surprise I had a small ( but very very big, humungous and ferocious) shark! We asked the guide to throw it back and I don’t think he really wanted to but after showing it off to the other nearby boat and a brag photo for me, he threw it back! Rudi had a big bite too, that nearly pulled him and the reel into the water but it got away so I think he was just faking it! Hehe! Anyway our guide caught another fish and after a couple of hours we headed to a nearby island for a bit of a swim and some lunch. The guide cooked the fish he had caught for us, was pretty yummy and we had lots of other food aswell at our own private picnic on the beach! Oh and for the first time in Koh Samui the sun is shining today! After lunch we were supposed to go snorkeling but the sea was quite rough and cloudy so he said it wasn’t very good for snorkeling so we spent another half an hour fishing for Rudi to redeem himself and catch something! No luck…more nibbles but no bites! We headed back to shore which was a very rough boat ride. The waves were big, we got soaked and I’m surprised the boat stayed upright! Anyway we had an ice-cream and a beer then headed back to the hotel. After a quick power nap Rudi got me up and we headed to the beach as we hadn’t had a swim in the beach near the hotel and since the sun was out today and it was our last day we thought we better. We walked down and it was quite busy. We went to go in and as we got near the water the waves looked quite scary. They were crashing right on the shore and it was almost impossible to even get past them to calmer water. Rudi eventually succeeded only to be picked up and dumped face first into the sand! The funniest thing I have seen in ages after I knew he was conscious and ok! I didn’t make it past knee level! We had a sleep on the beach for an hour or so then headed back to the hotel for a swim in the pool! More drinks in the pool and our last swim in Koh Samui. We packed all our bags ready to go for the morning then headed into town to our fav restaurant where we shared a beautiful BBQ Red Snapper. Delicious! We walked back along the beach sad to say goodbye and now we are exhausted and looking forward to a good sleep.

Koh Samui

Well I woke up feeling a bit better after a day of rest and we headed out on the bikes about 9:30am and headed north towards Chaweng. I was doing a lot better on the bike than the other day and felt a lot safer now we had helmets! We stopped on the way when we found another shooting range and Rudi shot a .44 magnum. It was very loud and he loved it! He even got a bulls eye! We then continued on in search of Football Golf. We had seen a pamphlet and after asking a few times for directions and driving a bloody long way we found it. It was heaps of fun kicking a soccer ball into a large hole just like a pitch and put course! I was winning by 2 shots after the first 9 and the final score was a draw! Oh and I fluked a hole in one! Was really good fun! The weather was quite overcast but still very warm! We then headed down the road and we had a round of mini golf. Just as we paid our money it bucketed down so we sat and chilled for awhile glad that we weren’t on our bikes and waited about half an hour for the rain to clear. Rudi won by 2 shots! Next stop we went in search of Big Buddha, we stopped at a temple that had a Big Buddha and thought we found it but later saw a sign for big Buddha so we realized we saw a fraud! At the fake Big Buddha were the cutest puppies. As soon as we stopped our bikes they ran up to us and just wanted cuddles, we wished we could bring one home! Anyway so then we went to the real Big Buddha which was down a very muddy dirt track with hundreds of potholes, was an interesting drive! Big Buddha was a large gold statue at the top of a big flight of stairs that looked out over the beautiful mountains and beach. After that we were both hungry so we jumped back on the bikes and found a nice English Pub in a small town along the beach. We both ordered a roast beef and it was amazing! First lot of food I have really enjoyed in a very long time! After enjoying a very yummy lunch in a beautiful setting right on the beach we continued on our journey. We stopped at Chaweng to see what it was like but was just lots of shops so we kept going and stopped at a look out point and walked down to the rocks on the water. We sat there for awhile and enjoyed what we could of the very dark and overcast view! From there it was speed demon all the way home! No falls or near misses today although apparently I scared Rudi when I went flying into a big puddle which had a big pothole in it you couldn’t see and nearly went flying off my bike, I had it under control though! As soon as we got home we went for a swim and a drink in the pool and it was quite chilly tonight. Bit of a cold breeze so not as nice as the last couple of nights! Rudi is addicted to the bike so he has headed into town to buy some more drinks and we are going to chill here and play some snooker then head back to the restaurant on the beach we were at the other night and enjoy some more shisha and some yummy dinner. Only one day left in Koh Samui…very sad! Ok well I wasn’t going to write anymore but just got back from dinner and Rudi said I had to make an addition to the blog! So there were no accidents on the bikes today but you cant take me anymore. We are sitting at a beautiful restaurant with table and chairs on the sand, candles, waves crashing and out comes my beautiful sirloin steak. One bite delicious…second go I flipped the whole plate off the table and into the sand, knocked the candle and shisha off and our drinks! It was a clean sweep and very embarrassing. Rudi and the staff thought it was hilarious while I just wanted to run and hide! The lovely staff made me another one but I felt terrible and was such a waste of beautiful food. We asked if they could put the steak I dropped in a bag and we took it and left it for a stray dog! Not completely wasted!

Koh Samui

Well today was recovery day for me and boredom day for Rudi! I hadn’t been feeling great still so opted for a day at the hotel. As we went to breakfast it was pouring rain! Was a horrible morning so a good day to spend in bed. When it cleared Rudi jumped on the bike and went to town to get some DVDs to watch, Was nice just doing nothing for a day. We watched Dinner for Schmucks…was a funny movie but the DVD quality wasn’t good…that made me laugh more especially the subtitles! I was so lazy we didn’t even go out for dinner we opted for room service and had dinner on our balcony and played a few games of cards before going back to bed to watch another DVD, Fighter which was a little better quality!

Koh Samui

Well for the first time in a long time we were both awake before the alarm and headed to the resort restaurant for breakfast which put on an amazing buffet. I’m still not back to my healthy self so cornflakes and toast for me but Rudi enjoyed some eggs and sausages. We then came back and packed a bag for the day and headed off on our scooters we hired from the resort. We both got off to a wobbly start and Rudi nearly scared another scooter off the road with his attempt at crossing the road! Quite funny! We had some trouble starting the bikes too, Rudi’s didn’t like him sitting on it and mine liked to be on a down hill…the truth we were just idiots and didn’t know how to start them! We went north for a bit but didn’t see any touristy signs so we turned around, I stacked turning around, very funny apparently for some, and headed back south and followed the signs to a waterfall. It rained for a fair way of the journey and some of the roads were quite flooded. We turned off the main road to check out an aquarium and tiger zoo but when we got there it looked pretty lame and was quite expensive so we jumped back on the bikes and kept going. We eventually made it to the waterfall, Namuang Waterfall 2, and I was quite relieved to have made it in one piece! We walked about 30 minutes to the waterfall and it was quite amazing. The waterfall is 80m high and really stunning. There were quite a few tourists when we arrived but they disappeared pretty quick. We were standing watching on the side for awhile and a local guide came over to us and told us not to stand there because we were standing right under a massive coconut tree with heaps of coconuts just waiting to drop on our heads. Apparently more people die from coconuts falling on their heads than lightning strikes or something stupid like that! We climbed across some rocks to the other side of the waterfall and sat and ate our lunch and took some photos. Was beautiful and very peaceful. We headed back down and at the bottom was a Safari Park, which had an elephant show, monkey show and crocodile show about to start so we paid the expensive entry fee, bought some bananas to feed the animals and headed in. it was really quite horrible. The animals were kept in small bare enclosures some even chained inside the enclosures. We fed a couple of the monkeys and then wandered around. When we were sitting waiting for the elephant show Rudi spotted a tiger and we went to check it out. It was the most beautiful tiger in the tiniest of cages with absolutely nothing and it was pacing around in circles. Was really sad, there excuse was that it is temporary and they are building nice big natural enclosures but there was no work being done anywhere in the park. We sat for the elephant show now not really wanting to be there and it was an eye opener. When the young elephant came running in he charged a family past us coz he could see bananas then when they screamed and ran away it came for me and I rescued one bunch of bananas but he stole the whole other bunch we had! Cheeky devil! We took some photos and fed the elephants some more then the show began! They had elephants standing on two legs bum up and head up, playing hula hoops, tug of war against the crowd, soccer and then Rudi volunteered to go up. They laid him down on his back and then the elephant came over and they said he was getting a massage. The elephant starting feeling around with his trunk and they were making jokes…”that’s not a banana…so in other words the elephant attempted a happy ending! Anyway then it gently stomped, (not so gently Rudi said) to massage him, no kids for us anymore! We then went to the monkey show where they were dressed up and some had makeup on…was very over the top and not very nice. They had the monkeys jumping through hoops, fire twirling, playing basketball, singing etc. The kids loved it but was all a bit cruel for the poor animals. Last was the Croc show and the croc trainers were psycho. The crocs did seem rather doped out but the trainers were sticking there heads in there jaws and getting money out from not just in its jaws but down its throat (they opened the flap at the back of its mouth to put the money in and out) Pretty insane but the croc didn’t move once while they did it! Anyway we fed the rest of the bananas to the caged monkeys on our way out and were glad to get out of there. We then headed about a km down the road to check out the shooting range and Rudi shot a 9mm Special Handgun. It wasn’t cheap but Rudi hadn’t shot one before and wanted to give it a go! After he finished we had a drink and a game of table tennis…which I won! Hehe! Back on the bike and we were home on no time…I was setting the pace all day because I was scared so all morning I think I averaged about 25km/h with a one off max speed of about 40km/h. On the way home average speed about 35km/h with maz speed of 50km/h! What a speed demon! Once back at the resort we dumped our bags and then headed to the pool with a drink in hand! The pool was coolish but nice once in and we chilled in the pool admiring the beautiful view of the cliffs and the beach. After an hour or so we headed back into town on foot and had a lovely dinner on the beach! We shared a very good Shisha , a couple more drinks and great food in a beautiful setting! We headed back home about 8:30 and we were exhausted…such old folks! Off to bed for a good nites sleep and another day of adventures tomorrow!

Siem Reap - Koh Samui

So with good intentions of taking some nice photos today I got up at 5.15 and got a Tuk Tuk back past the already busy Angkor Wat straight to Bayon temple (one with the big faces) I got there at about 6 and it was still pitch black, headed straight into the temple and set up my tripod to take a photo of the moonlit ruins, go to turn the camera on and guess what! I bloody forgot to bring my battery! So after about 10 minutes of cursing and considering going back home to get it (would have taken too long) I decided to stay and just enjoy it, watching the sunrise with bats screeching and going to sleep, birds screeching and waking up, giant 1000 year old faces looking down on me and only about 4 other people there whom 90% of the time I couldn’t see! It was simply amazing, it felt as if I was the first person to be here in hundreds of years - then and there I decided I was coming back here next chance I get. I left Bayon at about 7.15, the sun had come up but it was fairly cloudy so no beautiful morning sunlight (I would have been cursing even more about not being able to take photos if there was) I headed back to the hotel and Bec was awake but still in bed. We had breakfast and then I had a quick sleep and then off to catch our flights to Bangkok, then after a brief visa scare in Bangkok we continued on to Koh Samui in another little propeller plane, an hour and a half later we arrived in Koh Samui where it was a nice hot 31 degrees, we were picked up by our hotel and driven to pretty much the other side of the island which took about 45 min. After checking in we headed out to check out whats near us, found the beach and a nice little pizza place on the sand so we had some pizza and beer on the sand watching the waves roll in, it was really beautiful.

Siem Reap

We left the hotel at the painful time of 5.20 today and headed straight to Angkor Wat, it was pitch black when we got there and pretty hard to negotiate the steps and cobblestones on the way in but we made it with about 400 other people! It was busy with way too many tourists who got there at God knows what hour to be in the front row as it was already packed at about 5.45. So we watched the sunrise which was actually really beautiful as it hid the huge scaffolding standing right in front of the temple and afterwards headed to a beautiful little temple called Banteay Samre, it was great as there was no one there! So we walked around in peace taking photos, you could only walk around this temple as there was ropes up to stop tourists from entering but for 5 dollars you could bribe the guard to get inside and take photos of each other, we decided to give it a miss. Next we had a quick breakfast and then headed to Benteay Srey, East Mebon, Pre Rup and Benteay Kdei, all were fairly impressive some because of sheer size eg Pre Rup and others because of detailed carvings. During the drive I asked the guide some questions about Pol Pot’s reign and he told us a story about his father who killed a cow to feed his starving children, the Khmer Rouge found out and his father was ordered to go report to the town hall the following day for punishment, his father feared execution and told his family he might not return, 4 hours before he was to report to the town hall the Vietnamese army rolled through possibly saving his life, very lucky! Finally the last temple on our tour was Prasat Kravan which is one of the first temples built, I actually thought it was a newer one as it has been heavily restored and so in very good condition. We then headed back to our hotel for a well earned rest. After a couple of hours sleep we headed back into town, we checked out the market and had a look around, bought a few more souvenirs and then had some dinner and finally home again.

Siem Reap

Well we got up fairly early after a false start where we both ended up going back to bed to sleep for another 30 mins. After getting some take away breakfast from our hotel we were on our way to Angkor Wat, we arrived outside the moat which surrounds the complex and walked up a little way where we crossed over the moat on a huge bridge to the main gate, after the gate you can see the 5 spires of Angkor Wat which unfortunately for us were obstructed by some lovely scaffolding covered in green cloth! So we headed in and were amazed at how steep the stairs leading up to the top levels were (our guide told us this is so that when people entered the temple it was hard for them so they appreciated they were entering into a place for Gods) at the rear of the complex there are wooden steps built for tourists (after some tourist fell off the original steps and broke their leg) we climbed the steps which don’t really look that big but once your up the top it is a great view and looking down from the top of the steps is a little scary. We walked around the top which has a few rooms with statues of Vishnu and other Hindu Gods. After taking plenty of photos we made the steep descent and left Angkor Wat and headed for Angkor Thom which is a walled in city and contains Bayon Temple, Bayon is very different to Angkor Wat as it was built by a Buddhist king, it contains huge statues of the kings face which face in 4 directions, again a lot of restoration work going on ruined it a little but the huge faces are quite amazing, following Bayon we walked around Angkor Thom a little more seeing various other ruins. After some lunch we headed to Ta Prohm which is definitely our favorite! It is left a little more to nature and has huge trees growing amongst the ruins, with the trees roots seemingly both holding the stone slabs together and yet slowly over years pushing them apart, it was really beautiful with the only shame being heaps of tourists. After Ta Prohm we decided to head back to the hotel as it had been a long and very hot day and we were both exhausted. Once back home we quickly headed out to dinner making a stop off at the fish foot massage place we went to yesterday, we again tried the fish massage followed by a $2 neck/back/shoulder massage which went for 30 minutes! Then we had Cambodian BBQ, we cooked our own meat at our table and it was delicious! We had beef and snake!! The snake was fantastic - like a mix between chicken and fish. After dinner we headed back home as we have a very early start tomorrow to get out for sunrise at Angkor Wat.

Siem Reap

Well we were back on the bus at 8am this morning…this time heading for Siem Reap. We were on a limousine bus….it was as far from a limousine as I could imagine. It wasn’t the most comfortable of buses but I shouldn’t complain either as it wasn’t that bad! So it was another 6 hours on the bus and we arrived in Siem Reap. We were expecting our tour guide to meet us at the bus station but we couldn’t see him or anyone with my name on a board so we ended up getting on another bus and then a tuk tuk to get to our hotel. They called our tour guide who was still waiting for us and he came and introduced himself to us at the hotel. We headed straight into town…a free Tuk Tuk ride in by the hotel and went to a photo gallery that had some beautiful photos of Cambodia. We then headed into the night market but as it was only 5pm it wasn’t really open yet. We had a cocktail at The Island Bar and then headed elsewhere to find some food! We were starving! We found a bar called Ankor What? Bar and I convinced Rudi to order a cocktail but it was no ordinary cocktail it was a jug! So we got a jug each and a free t-shirt! Mine was awesome…loved it but Rudi didn’t enjoy his at all and I did taste it, it wasn’t very nice! The bar is having an Australia Day party so we might head back there! We headed across the road and there was a restaurant that also had a traditional dance show so we had some dinner and enjoyed the show. I ordered “local beef” and Im not too sure what I ate but it was the toughest steak I have ever eaten! I am hoping it was buffalo! We then headed back towards the market where they had lots of massage places and fish massages. We braved a fish massage and stuck our feet in a big pondy thing and the fish swarmed on our feet. After a little while they weren’t interested in Rudi or anyone else in there…just me! Hehe! Disgusting really! It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t nice! We are now back at the hotel and off to sleep as we have an early start with our guide tomorrow to go and see the Angkor Temples!

Phnom Penh

Well after 5 hours sleep we were up and on the bus to Phnom Penh, Cambodia! We got to the border and the bus driver did a bulk departure of Vietnam as he collected all our passports and handed them to customs. We then got back on the bus and drove 100mts to Cambodia customs where we got through with no dramas, even got taken to the front of the line in front of all the ‘locals’ who pushed in front of us to get off the bus and in front of the line. They weren’t happy! It was all a little too easy and we were back on the bus. The bus was a 6hr trip and was quite good except we had a horn happy driver so sleep was at a minimum. We also had one ferry trip to cross a small river and the locals were up alongside the bus selling everything and anything you can think of to the cars beside us! We got a Tuk Tuk from the bus to our hotel and checked in to our room which is pretty big, and a nice balcony looking over the museum which is a beautiful temple like building. We also booked our ticket for Siem Reap…we couldn’t decide to go by boat or bus but bus was a lot cheaper and the lady said there wasn’t much to see by boat so we thought we’d save the money for something else. We headed straight out as we only had the afternoon to explore Phnom penh. We went for a walk along the river….a little industrial on the other side so not so beautiful but the river itself looked pretty clean. It was boiling hot and the locals are walking round in hoodies and jeans!!! We then headed to the Royal Palace and had a look around. We were interested to see the Silver Pagoda with an Emerald Buddha but when we did we weren’t sure we did! Hehe! The pagoda was not silver in any way…very gold and the Buddha didn’t look emerald but we’ll go with it! There were many beautiful temple like buildings, Rudi not so impressed with the Asian architecture after India but I quite liked it. When we left we got greeted by a Tuk Tuk driver (who we later were shown has an Australian flag adorning his roof…was meant to be!) and we asked how much to get Tuol Sleng (Former Office S-21) a prison/interrogation/torture place which before being taken over by Khmer Rouge was a primary and secondary school! It was really quite horrible but very interesting at the same time. There were a lot of cells, torture instruments, photos of the prisoners and skulls of the victims. We got followed around for about 15minute by three local children. They were so cute and very funny just smiled and followed us everywhere. They didn’t ask for money they just liked us and we started pretending to go down the stairs so they ran down then we went up so they ran back up and then we told them just tricking and went back downstairs. They were adorable…we wished we had some more pencils to give them but already given them all away! After a few hours looking around the site we headed back to the hotel for a cold drink as it was boiling! We wandered the streets for a bit but nothing too interesting so we headed back and Rudi had a few beers as we sat on our balcony and watched life go by underneath us on the streets. We the headed across the road and enjoyed several cocktails….my first drink in a very long time because I was sick. Rudi has been laughed at and measure up by the waitress lady as he is so tall…she measured his leg and he is drinking girly drinks and my glass is bigger than his! She is pretty fun but silly too! Think she is playing us for a big tip…or possibly a happy ending! Hehe! Anyway about to head back and get an early night as we are back on the bus at 8am tomorrow morning!

Saigon

Well up even earlier and at the tourist office by 7:20am (the time we were supposed to be there for a 7:30am pickup.) It got to about 8:10am and I asked where our bus was and she said they came but you weren’t here so they will come back at the end and get you…she could have told us this 45 min earlier so we could have got a coffee! Anyway I was now angry and not long after the guy came to pick us up. We headed on a small bus to the Mekong Delta which was supposed to be 1.5hrs and was over 3hrs. We made it safe though so that’s all that matters. Our guide wasn’t very good and didn’t really like his job so he was a little short with everyone. When we arrived at the Mekong I bought a conical hat to get in the mood for the days excursion! We boarded an old motor boat and headed over to one of the islands, Unicorn Island and went to a family’s house where they are bee keepers. They showed us the bees and Rudi and I stuck our finger into the honeycomb covered in hundreds of bees to get some honey to taste….not so sweet as our honey. A few others braved the bees but not many! We then had some honey tea and then Rudi and I had a wander around. We saw a big python in a cage which was quite beautiful, they had it out when we arrived for another group but we didn’t get to touch it! We then saw the bottles of snake wine which is wine with a dead cobra in the bottle and often a scorpion as well. Rudi and I both tasted it….it just tasted like really strong, cheap and nasty wine! We then headed to the small canal and boarded small row boats to get back to our bigger boat. The canal was crazy…tourist peak hour with hundreds of these boats in the small canal. Would have been quite beautiful with a few hundred less people! We then headed to another island to another family who made coconut candy….supposedly “better than chocolate in your country.” It wasn’t! We got to taste it and see how they made it! We also found a bottle of coconut wine so of course we had to try it, wow was it strong! Definitely not what we would call wine. We then got lunch which was average but ok and then headed to watch some traditional Vietnamese music…it was terrible! I think it was the people who didn’t make Vietnamese Idol…it was hard not to laugh but we kept it together pretty well! A few of us had chosen to boat it back to Saigon and some were getting the bus back so we left to a faster boat which was pretty good. The view was beautiful, lots of boats and it was about 3hrs back on the boat to Saigon. We headed out for dinner and now home just packed our bags for an even earlier start tomorrow! On the bus at 6am!

Saigon

Well I struggled to sleep last night as for the first time in days I was feeling better. Anyway after not much sleep we were up and on our tour about 8:30am. Our first stop was a Cao Dai Temple about 3 hours away. It is a religion which is a mixture of Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism and Muslim. We got to watch in on there midday mass and there were probably about a hundred followers all wearing white and the priests of different religions wore different coloured robes. It was boiling hot standing up on the balcony watching the ceremony but was good to see. After that we got back on the bus and headed for a quick lunch stop at a little shed on the side of the road. A little scared and not wanting to get sick again I went for the fried rice and didn’t eat too much but it seemed ok. We then headed about another 90 minutes to Cu Chi tunnels to see life through the Viet Congs eyes! We watched a 1970’s communist propaganda video with the Americans described as Crazy Devils killing beautiful innocent young women and children. We then got to wonder around the area which is now Jungle but was completely bombed and cleared during the war. They have since replanted trees and now trees are regrowing from the original plants. There were quite a few massive bomb craters from B52 Bombers and there were different huts set up to show what life was like with a hospital and where they made there weapons etc. While we were walking around the jungle there were guns going off and echoing around from the shooting range but it added to the atmosphere of trying to imagine what it was like back then. We saw some of the VC’s traps they used against their enemy and they were quite gruesome. To Rudi’s excitement our next stop was the shooting range and as we got to the kiosk next to it the sound of guns being shot was almost deafening. I couldn’t believe how loud they were. Anyone who wanted to shoot different guns could purchase bullets…not cheap for Vietnam but very cheap compared to shooting ranges at home apparently. Rudi chose to shoot an AK47 and a M60 Machine Gun. We headed down to the shooting range and still no ear protection so was even louder. Rudi quickly grabbed me some ear muffs because I wouldn’t take my fingers out of my ears to grab them myself and we headed over with our Gun man to the AK47. One guy went before us then Rudi had a go and the bullets jammed a few times or they were defective so a few no fires but he got to shoot about 7 or 8 and then I very nervously stepped up and the man showed me how to hold it and I fired my first bullet! It was pretty cool! I got to shoot about 4 shots. We then headed over to the M60 and we had purchased 10 bullets and we were going to shoot half each. Rudi shot his 5 in less than a second so I let him have mine as it meant more to him then me to shoot it! Was a pretty massive gun and looked pretty crazy as Rudi shot it! Got it on video but it was all over pretty quickly! We both loved it! We then joined the rest of the group out of whom not many chose to shoot the guns! We wandered around more and came to a tunnel entry that had been widened and had steps going down for tourists. We had a very small young man guide us into the tunnel and I was first in! hehe! Even though the tunnel had been made higher and wider it still was very tiny. I was walking crouched down as small as I could go and Rudi had to crawl and in parts go on his back. Was quite the experience. We went 40mt in the tunnel and then we decided to get out as it was a sauna down there and not the easiest to breathe! It is hard to imagine how they survived in these tunnels when they were smaller. We headed back to the bus and were very happy to have the A/C blasting! The drive home was slow as the traffic was unbelievable. There were just motorbikes everywhere! We had a nice Italian dinner and now home to rest up for another tour tomorrow to the Mekong Delta!

Saigon

Yet another sleep in today and then we headed out for a couple of sandwiches which we brought back to the hotel room to eat as Bec still was feeling funny, after breakfast Bec decided she wasn’t up for walking around in the heat so she stayed home and I went exploring. First stop was the Reunification Palace which before 1975 was Independence Palace and is built on the site of the French Norodom Palace. It has been kept exactly the same as it was on April 30th 1975, the day when Saigon fell to the north. The building is fairly big with 4 levels, it has beautiful presidential quarters, meeting rooms, dining rooms etc. in the basement is the war room and communication rooms, these have huge detailed maps all over the walls, telephones, telegraphs and radios everywhere. After the palace I headed to the war remnants museum which has a heap of US tanks, planes, helicopters, howitzers etc out the front which was interesting to look through, on the inside is a photography exhibition of the ongoing effects agent orange has had on the Vietnamese population, then there is a very one sided version of events told through photographs with blurbs and exhibits of American small arms eg. assault rifles, land mines etc. and finally there is an amazing exhibition of powerful images taken by over 100 war photographers all of whom died in the conflict, there were a few eerie images where it was literally the photographers last as moments later they were dead, I probably only got ¾ of the way through these photos before being kicked out as the museum was closing but it was a really interesting and moving exhibition. So after being shown the door I headed to Notre Dame which while lovely doesn’t compare with the real one! From the outside anyway - it was closed already so I couldn’t go inside. By this stage it was about 6 so I headed back to the hotel and Bec was looking and feeling much better! Yay! So we headed out for some dinner and that’s about all for today. Tomorrow we go to Cu Chi tunnels and I get to shoot some assault rifles!

Hoi An

Had a bit of a sleep in today and after some breakfast and as Bec is still sick I headed into town alone to pick up Bec’s dresses from the tailors, I made a few detours to take photos here and there and then picked up the finished dresses and headed back to the hotel as we had to pack our bags and be ready to leave by 4.
Our airport pickup was about half an hour late but it was fine as we had planned to get there early so we had plenty of time. Our flight was about an hour or so and we landed in Saigon to lovely warm weather which we have missed! After getting our bags we headed out and were picked up by a man with a sign saying Bec Monica which we assumed was us! By the time we got to our hotel it was past 9 so we decided to stay in tonight as Bec is still feeling sick. Hopefully she will be better tomorrow to go exploring.

Hoi An

Well 4.45 start was definitely hard! I was picked up by a minibus at 5 and met Etienne (photographer) and headed to another hotel to pick up another photography nut! Then it was off to the river for a boat ride to the other side where the fisherman come in from the previous nights fishing to sell some fish, it was definitely helpful to have Etienne there whom the locals knew, as often when you ask to take a picture people pose in ridiculous poses and in Vietnam often give the peace symbol?! So after taking some photos of the fisherman we headed for a coffee and then to a place that makes fish sauce, well as I’m sure you guessed it reeked! The fish are mixed with salt and water and then left for weeks, after this the liquid is strained and presto fish sauce, apparently the left over fish mush is sold as pig food as due to the high level of salt the pork then tastes much better and pigs fed with fish mush go for a lot more then those fed by corn, so again we took plenty of photos and then moved onto a dry dock where boats were being fixed up and painted. Then we headed back across the river and the minibus took me back to the hotel where Bec was still sleeping! But feeling a little better, so we headed out to town again so Bec could try on her dress and jacket which were good but the dress needed slight adjustments so we went to get some lunch and then went back to try the dress again which still wasn’t perfect so we left it again and headed back to the hotel as Bec was feeling sick again. By the time we headed out to dinner it was about 8 so it was fairly dark and Hoi An was beautifully lit up with lanterns hanging at all the restaurants, its such a beautiful town and definitely our favorite part of Vietnam so far.

Hoi An

Well Bec is sick again, so she stayed in bed today. I headed out on our tour to My Son at about 8, it was a little under 2 hours drive to get there. Once there we passed through a café/gift shop and then had a jeep ride closer to the My Son temple ruins, the ruins are very old (older then Angkor Watt) but are in fairly bad condition with only 1 group of temples still standing (apparently the area was heavily bombed during the war which destroyed many of the temples), most of the carvings are all worn off but the buildings that do remain are still beautiful amongst the lush green forest. I only had about an hour or so to wonder around and then it was back on the jeep and the bus as we headed back for the boat ride, which took about 30 minutes to a wood carving village where we had a quick look around and saw a big fish statue being carved and also some relief carving, the tour finished up with a boat back into town. The tour went so some nice places but all up it was too rushed and the guide was very rude to other people in the group. Once off the boat I headed back to the hotel to see how Bec was doing and she was worse! So after an hanging around for an hour or so I headed into town to have a look at our clothes being made which all seemed to be going well, tried on my jacket and pants and they fit so I’m guessing Bec’s will be fine too. After checking on our clothes I walked around town a little longer and noticed the river has flooded so took a few pics and then headed back to the hotel for some dinner. Bec has booked me into a photography thing tomorrow morning at 5am so early night for me!

Hoi An

We were up at 5:15am and out of the hotel at 5:30am on the way back to the train station. After joining many locals in the waiting room we were eventually let out onto the platform to wait for our 6:12am train to De Nang. We boarded the train and guess what…more old business men in our cabin. We climbed onto the top bunks and as it was only a 3 hour trip we didn’t worry about getting too comfy. We did manage to get a couple of hours sleep though as the men left us to go and have tea with their friends in someone else’s cabin…yay it wasn’t ours for once! So it was pretty good. They were probably the nicest people we have shared a cabin with. We got off pretty much exactly on time…it is very hard to know when to get off because there are no station names! We were greeted by someone to take us to the hotel and it was about an hours drive from De Nang to Hoi An where we were staying. We were greeted with some Vietnamese Tea and Coconut cakes that were delicious then shown to our room that was very nicely decorated with towels folded into swans that made a love heart in the middle and some weird koala toy thing on our bed…maybe to make us feel at home! We chilled for a little bit then headed out to go exploring. We didn’t have a map we just decided to walk around. We actually stumbled across the Old town that was very beautiful, it is an amazing place on the river with lots of boats. We had some breakfast and walked around some more. We booked a tour for tomorrow to go to My Son coz Rudi thought it was a funny name! We went to find an ATM and after what we thought was another run in with a dodgy ATM ( ended up ok) we found one that worked and even better one that had some money in it! I then dragged Rudi into a couple of tailors and we are both getting a winter jacket made, Rudi is getting two pairs of casual pants/shorts made and I’m getting two party dresses made…all so cheap its amazing! We then had some lunch at a really nice Vietnamese restaurant probably the best food we had eaten here. We walked across the river and looked around a bit and found some day spa places, we took their brochures and headed home to decide what we wanted to do. We had some coffee and hot chocolate with some more coconut cakes then decided to wander and pick a day spa for a massage. We found a street near the hotel that was full of day spas and restaurants so we had a few to pick from. We went into one and it looked great and very cheap so I got some well over due waxing done, a massage, pedicure and manicure and Rudi had a longer massage. Was very relaxing. After our few hours at the day spa we found a restaurant still open and had some dinner. Was nice again. We headed back to the hotel and off to bed as we had an early start for our tour tomorrow morning.

Hue

Well just like in India we were woken early by our lovely kind friends sleeping below us that thought because they were awake then we should be too. But it wasn’t enough to talk loudly on their phones and each other, stink out the cabin with their breakfast, test out all the ringtones on their phone for the 10th time, they invited in their mates from other cabins to come in and have some tea and chat! Think we must have been invisible! Some how Rudi manages to sleep through some of it but I couldn’t get back to sleep. Anyway our train arrived almost on time only about 15minutes late. We had a guy waiting for us at the train station to take us to the hotel. When we got off it was raining and a little cold but no where near as cold as Hanoi. We arrived at the hotel and checked into our room which is very nice. We got changed and headed out in the rain to do some exploring as we only have today in Hue. We walked across the river and headed to the Citadel where we were greeted by a man on a Cyclo. He told us that the old city was about 10km and he would peddle us around for 150000dong! Since it was raining and we wanted to go on a Cyclo for fun anyway we agreed and boarded the Cyclo! The Cyclo is really made for one person but we squished in and I don’t know how he peddled us! He worked hard for his money! Anyway he took us to Ho Chi Minhs house, some nice gardens, Citadel, Forbidden Purple City and the American War Museum (Vietnam War) We were absolutely drenched by the time we got back and when we paid him he told us that he quoted us for 1hour and we were very long time. We refused to give him anymore as he hadn’t told us at the start and we had already given him extra without him asking which was still not up to his liking. We eventually got the money in his hands and walked off. We headed back to the hotel via a pub where we had a few beers, a shop where we bought a bottle of wine and a detour because we got lost. We have decided since the weather is so yucky outside we are getting room service which consists of a breakfast menu! Oh well its dry and warm in here so we are happy. So that’s us going to enjoy some wine and breakfast and hopefully we can find a good movie on TV. Early night as we have a train at 6:12am…Arghhh!

Hanoi

Well up a bit earlier for a smaller breakfast at 7:30. We then got taken in the small motor boat to the beach near where the boat was anchored and we climbed up the stairs on the side of the hill and had a great view over the bay and the limestone karsts. Our boat looked tiny! We then went into a massive cave that used to be the home of a couple of fisherman families. The boat company had bought them out and built them a floating home to “protect the cave” as apparently they didn’t know how to look after it and were destroying the stalactites and stalagmites. It’s a little sad to think they were kicked out as it was a pretty amazing home and it would have kept them nice and warm in winter and cool in summer. Anyway the cave was beautiful and they had all lights fitted through it so it was lit up a little. We were followed around the cave by the island dog! We headed back down to the beach and jumped in our kayaks again. We just rowed around for about 40 minutes and had a bit of a race with our guide which he kinda won! We headed back to the beach then jumped back into the motor boat back to our Junk. We had about half an hour to pack up our stuff and check out of our cabin so they could get it ready for the next group. We quickly had showers as we wouldn’t get a chance tonight as we were going on the train and packed our stuff and checked out. We sat on the sun beds on the top of the boat in our thick jumpers and beanies and enjoyed the clouds!!! It really was beautiful though but we would love to go back in warmer weather. We had an early lunch at around 10:45am and pretty much straight after lunch we were motor boated off to the mainland. We got into our minivan and hit the road for 3 hours back to Hanoi. We went back to the hotel we stayed in previously and left our bags there as it was only 4pm and our train wasn’t until 11pm. We wandered around and then stopped to have a hot choc and coffee which we ended up waiting an hour for! We then went back to the pizza and pasta place we went to before the boat trip and had the all you can eat buffet for under $5 each. Rudi did better than me! We had an hour or so to kill still so we wandered around a bit more and found a massive nite market which was quite busy and the people were very pushy…not selling you stuff but literally pushing you around and out of their way. We headed back and sat at the hotel for a bit and then they called us a taxi which took us to the train station. We got jumped on straight away by a youngish Vietnamese boy who told us to sit and he took our tickets and got them stamped and then came and grabbed our bags and told us to follow him. He took us onto the train and into our cabin where waiting for us were two middle aged Vietnamese men….we were reliving our train trip form hell in India and I decided we must have killed a china man. The young man asked us for money and fakes exhaustion from carrying our bags to get more money from us! Very funny! We piled onto the top bunks with our bags…no argument this time and settled in for the night. He ride was a lot bumpier than in India but it wasn’t too bad…we both managed to get some sleep.

Halong Bay

We enjoyed a big breakfast today at about 8, it consisted of a Vietnamese dish which was a rice noodle soup with chicken followed by a more western egg on toast. Shortly after breakfast we were picked up by a few small wooden boats from the local fishing village. The skillful oars women took us into a small bay area where Bec and I both had a go at rowing the boat, it was fairly hard to control but I got the hang of it fairly quickly and Bec was quite impressed as she could only manage to make it spin in a circle! Ok its Bec here now Rudi ran out of writing power and I generally ramble on a bit quicker! So after I did a few burnouts and tricks in the boat that require more skill than rowing straight…just kidding it was very hard…. The fishermans wives took over again and rowed us to their floating village. There are about 35 families that live in this section of the bay all with floating houses and a school and a fish farm, we got to have a translated chat with a local fisherman in the schools classroom and more clapping to things we don’t know what they said. We then wandered around the fish farm and had a look in one of their houses. It was small but had a pretty big tv, massive speakers and a DVD player! Impressive! We donated a few packets of pencils from Australia we had left to the school and the women rowed us back to our Junk, We then had the chance to go kayaking again so Rudi and I were definitely in for that. We got to kayak into a couple of small caves which were pretty beautiful and fun to kayak in and try and get out again! We paddled for about an hour and it was in an open section of the bay so was a bit harder to paddle with a stronger current than yesterday! We made it back to the boat which had moved to a new spot where we were having lunch. We quickly got changed into some warmer clothes and then jumped on the small boat which took us to the beach where there was a table and chairs beautifully set up with an umbrella and the chefs cooked us a bbq on the beach! It was absolutely beautiful but a little cold! We were all rugged up in jackets and scarves and beanies! Lunch was huge again but delicious! We then went back to the boat and after consuming a few beers at lunch everyone headed to their cabins for a siesta! Rudi and I played some cards trying to stay awake but we gave in to and had a nap! We were planning on a quick jump into the cold water just coz we are here so why not but once the boat stopped again and we were lying in our bed with the heater going we decided otherwise! We had a chat with all the others while we waited for dinner and as always we ate a massive dinner! The only difference because it was our last night on the boat they had all these magnificently carved pumpkins and watermelon creations that came out lit up with tealights. First was a very detailed dragon out of a pumpkin that was amazing, then an eagle and last was our junk boat which was incredible! We enjoyed a lovely dinner and great conversations with everyone! Now back to bed in our sauna…its great!

Halong Bay

Well after a horrible nites sleep well for me anyway, with strange noises that rudi said sounded like a dog vomiting and I thought it was an electric fan gone crazy, we were up bright and early. The room itself wasn’t too bad but the nite before also we had construction work 24hrs….they work hard in Vietnam! Anyway enough complaints about lack of sleep….who needs sleep on holidays anyway…ME! See I’m rambling coz I need sleep! Hehe! Anyway we got picked up from our hotel about 8:30 and boarded a mini van with 5 other people and we headed off to Halong Bay about 3 ½ hours away. I thought the driver was a very safe driver but the other Aussie couple not accustomed to Indian drivers freaked out when we were fairly close to a head on with a small truck and told the driver to cool it and slow down, which he very kindly did and it turned into a very slow but very safe drive! We boarded our boat a smallish boat with only 4 rooms so 8 guests in total and just as many crew members which we all met once on board with a clapping parade and a speech in Vietnamese from the captain which we clapped after…probably told us we were all going to sink like the titanic and we cheered and clapped…idiots! Anyway we are on the Junk with 4 other Aussies, a youngish couple around our age from Melbourne, a older couple around mum and dads age so PRETTY OLD….from Canberra they are all lovely and two older men from the states who don’t say too much but are nice also! Once on board and introduced to everyone we got given our cabins and they are amazing. Small but beautiful with our own ensuite…nicest room we have had all trip. It is absolutely freezing but our room has a heater so it has been cranking all day! We went up on deck to take some photos and freeze then we were called back downstairs to lunch. Lunch was the biggest lunch I have ever eaten and Im glad I am feeling better because it was a lot of different foods. Sorry for the run down but just so u get an idea…..1st Sweet and sour seafood soup, 2nd Clams, 3rd Vietnamese chicken salad, 4th Prawns, 5th Oyster Cake, 6th Bassi? Fish and steamed rice, 7th Vegetables, 8th Fruit. Seriously was so much food and we ate it all! After that we got changed because we wanted to go for a kayak. We were a little scared it would be freezing but we put on our bathers with our rain jackets and we jumped in. Was actually not bad at all and we kayaked for about an hour through the amazing limestone karsts. Would be nicer with a blue sunny sky but still so beautiful. Rudi and I paddled into a small cave and then decided to try and turn around and got wedged….we made it out after changing our plan and back paddling! We came back and jumped in a very hot shower and then had a snooze in our room which was now a sauna. We woke just in time for dinner and joined the group in the dining room. Rudi didn’t get far into his meal before he felt sick so he hardly ate. I got about half way but had to stop because I was so full. Tonight in not so much detail, a lot of seafood, chicken, pork, vegetables, rice, fruit again. We went round the table discussing our favorite travel destinations, and where we would like to travel to next. Was interesting but Rudi and I are definitely the least traveled…we have some catching up to do! We talked to our tour guide for awhile whose name is Ha…Ha Ha Ha! that’s what he does to his own jokes….he laughs more than anyone else but he is lovely and it cracks me up to watch him laugh so much at himself! Anyway we have retired to bed early for us….well everyone else called it a night too. Rudi isn’t feeling great but hopefully not too sick and just ate too much different foods at once! Sleep time…need our energy for more kayaking tomorrow!

Hanoi

Well as Bec predicted we had a bit of a sleep in, got up about 11 and headed out for some breakfast, after a little walk around we had a bite to eat and headed back to the hotel as Bec was still feeling funny. I headed out alone for a walk around for a couple of hours, there is not a lot around town in the way of big sights but just walking down the streets looking at all the shops and food stalls is interesting, so many different things to see and buy, amongst the many things I saw was some snake wine which is a bottle of wine with a real cobra fermented inside, some of these also had scorpions inside. After getting lost I headed home to see how Bec was doing and as she was feeling better so she came out for a walk. We headed down and had a look at the river, I’m sure it looks nice in better weather but today it was so gray and cold it just wasn’t the right day so we just walked around the streets more browsing the shops. Later on we headed to a bar nearby our hotel and had a couple of drinks and finally headed out for some dinner. After dinner we made a quick stop to buy some scarves as its freezing here and tomorrow we will be on a junk on the sea so we thought it will be even colder. Fairly lazy day today so not too much to write about!

Luang Prabang

Our last day in Lao! Rudi was very kind or maybe he did it for him and not for me but he let me have a sleep in because I had been sick and we got up about 9am. We had some breakfast and then went back to the hotel and packed up our bags and left them in reception downstairs. We headed for the mountain in town called Mt Phousi which has lots of Buddha statues and shrines and some temples all over it. There were about 300 stairs to the top, which wasn’t too bad but considering it wasn’t really too hot, it was bloody hot climbing the mountain! There was a great view over Luang Prabang and of the river! There were some huge Buddha statues that you could up really close to that were amazing too! Was a good morning! We headed back and walked around town a little then stopped at a bakery for some lunch and a drink before we left for the airport. Rudi ordered some more river weed and I was still not great so ordered some French fries and couldn’t even manage to eat many of them! Not like me at all! We walked back to our hotel and our Tuk Tuk was waiting for us so we grabbed our bags and jumped in. the airport was only 4km away so not far at all. It was such a tiny airport, with the flights hand written on a whiteboard! Two small counters with old school scales to check in and a small waiting room. We checked in no problems and had a bit of time to relax before boarding. We walked out onto the tarmac to board our plane and the plane was the smallest plane I have ever been on. It had propellers and looked like a toy plane compared to all the others we had been on. We boarded and inside was small too! Rudi could hardly walk without hitting his head. The flight was great though and very smooth. We arrived on time and we had a driver waiting for us to take us to our hotel. It was about an hour drive to the hotel in the middle of town. We checked in walked down the street just to the next corner where we stopped for some dinner. We didn’t want to venture too far as it was dark and we didn’t know where we were and I still was not feeling great. Dinner was nice though and super cheap. We decided not to do any day tours tomorrow but just have a quieter day and explore the city at our own pace! Probably means we wont wake till lunch time! Nite.

Luang Prabang

Well we got up early and headed downstairs for breakfast! We were supposed to be picked up at 8:30am but while we were eating breakfast they told us we were not being picked up till 9:30am. Rudi was annoyed as he was very tired! We eventually got picked up and headed about 15minutes out of town to a Mahout Eco Lodge. We walked around the property and found where all the elephants get fed. They were so beautiful and VERY hungry! Rudi patted one and we took lots of photos while we waited for our elephant ride! We then got to jump on our elephant with our Mahout (the driver). Our elephant was called Kumdi and was 46 years old and very lazy! Our Mahout had to keep throwing food on the path in front of her to make her move! We rode through some beautiful scenery and it was absolutely amazing! Then the Mahout told me I was swapping with him and I was Mahout! I nervously slid from my seat up onto the back of the elephants head…no saddle or anything to hold on just you and the elephant! Its quite bumpy when you are up near its head and often feels like you are going to fall off the side! We stopped in a small field where our Mahout took some photos for us and then I got kicked out of Mahout position and Rudi slid in! Rudi rode the elephant the rest of the way home, and even through quite a large and deep lake. The water went up to the elephants head and rudi was quite scared when our elephant refused to walk through the water and the Mahouts were getting quite rough trying to make her move and we thought she might flip. All went ok though and besides some very sore and cramped legs Rudi loved being a Mahout and I was jealous coz he got to ride longer than me! Hehe! We were hoping to feed our elephant after we got back but we were told the rest of the group was waiting for us because our elephant was so slow and we were last back! So we had to leave. We were quickly given some lunch to scoff down as all the others had eaten and jumped back into the mini van which headed back to town to drop off a few people and then the rest of us headed about 30km out of town to Kouang Si Waterfall. We had a few hours here so after Rudi took some photos we decided to go for a swim even though we felt the water and it was freezing! There was a couple of people swimming and jumping off a rope swim but mostly people just watching not game to brave the water. It looked absolutely amazing though, so blue and just stunning! So we swam around and it was cold but we did get used to it. After that we walked further up the hill and saw more of the waterfall, there was no more areas to swim though. We headed back down passed some rescued bears, in an enclosure like at the zoo. They were pretty cute, ferocious but cute! We met the rest of the group and headed back to town in the mini van! Back in town we went and Rudi had a beer and I stuck to OJ and we tried a local delicacy, seaweed from the river deep fried with some flavoring! Looked gross but I tried some and was great, Rudi loved it! I wasn’t feeling great though not sure if it was something I ate or the bus ride so didn’t eat too much! We headed back to the hotel for a power nap, hoping I would feel better and we would head out to the night market and have some dinner after a sleep but unfortunately I wasn’t very well at all. Slight dose of ‘Delhi Belly’ or since we were in Lao, I named it Lao Foul! We stayed in and Rudi watched some movies and I slept in between trips to the bathroom! Was an amazing day though just a shame it ended down the drain!

Vang Vieng

We got up at about 830, Bec feeling fairly seedy. Went to get our tubes for our 2nd tube ride down the river, we were number 3&4 for the day! So we were pretty much first ones, the ride down was so calm, there was hardly anyone on the river with only some locals fishing and collecting seaweed along the way, it was beautiful and we were both sad to leave the river at the end. Next we quickly had some breakfast and then headed to our pick up for the bus to Luang Prabang, which ended up being a tuk tuk to the bus station and then our comfy mini bus for the next 6 or so hours. I thought the ride wasn’t too bad, its meant to be hair raising as you are riding on a cliff edge most of the way but I didn’t find it too bad till the very end despite the driver being fairly psycho (really he was) at the start a few people over took him and then about an hour or so in it was almost as if he snapped and after being over taken by another mini van he chased them down and got back in front! He was taking right angle turns driving in the wrong lane! Despite this the scenery was amazing amongst the mountains. We got to Luang Prabang at about 730 after about 30 minutes of small straight bumpy roads at about 90-100k (that’s when I was scared) and we checked into our hotel. We quickly headed out and had some dinner, booked in for a tour tomorrow and then had a wonder around town searching for the night market, we eventually found it and were both surprised to see it was huge and had fairly decent things to buy. After that we headed back home for some sleep, as we have another early start tomorrow.

Vang Vieng

Well we managed to drag ourselves out of bed at 6am and headed into town to our pick up point for the hot air ballooning, after getting a little lost (silly as the town is tiny) we found our spot and were worried to see no one in sight and no pick up! We got even more worried once 630 passed and we were still waiting. Eventually a mini bus came and picked us up and we were off, after a short trip we got to a open field with the hot air balloon out on the ground, it wasn’t long before the flames got the balloon in the air and we all piled on, everyone looked a little nervous as we took off and quickly reached dizzying heights. To my surprise it actually wasn’t scary at all and very smooth the whole way, the views were stunning with tiny Vang Vieng to one side, the river below and the beautiful limestone cliffs to the other side. The only annoying part in the whole trip was whenever the pilot fired the flames I felt as if my hair was about to be burnt off! It was bloody hot! Before we knew it our 40 minutes of peaceful flying was over and we were heading down to a slightly bumpy landing. Next we headed back into town for a quick breakfast and then onto the pick up for our next trip. We were picked up in a tuk tuk with 8 others and headed off to the same rickety bamboo bridge we were dropped off at yesterday, except this time we headed to a different cave which is called the water cave, you cant walk in this cave as its full of water so you are each given a tube and there is a guide rope along the inside and you pull yourself along, the water was freezing and we were moved along fairly quickly (the problem with going in tour groups!). Once we got out we had a short wait and were served a very early lunch which was delicious but we couldn’t eat most of it as it had only been about 2 hours since breakfast! So we ate what we could and left the rest, after eating we headed back to the tuk tuk again stopping at the Elephant Cave we had already seen yesterday. The tuk tuk took us back down river as dropped us off for our kayaking, we were given a quick briefing and we were off, Bec had the front and I had the back, most of it was fairly smooth sailing except for some small rapids and parts where the river is so low you scrape along the bottom! About half way we all stopped at one of the many bars along the river where all tubers go, we both had some drinks and then continued on down the river after the bar Bec was more up for dancing then paddling so I gave the momentum and Bec provided the entertainment. After another quick stop where Bec needed to get into the water, it was all over and we had to return the kayak, shame as I would have been quite happy to keep going down stream for at least a few more hours! After a quick stop off home to get changed we went to a nearby bar on the river and had a few drinks and some pizza, then we headed into town and stopped at another bar to use their free wifi, this bar also had a part at the back with big screen tv’s where you could pick a movie from a huge list and they would play it for you, we ended up watching 2 movies and after Bec had a little too much to drink we headed back home for some well earned sleep.

Vang Vieng

Well this time we managed somehow to get up early, the alarm went off at 7 and we got up! We both felt terrible and made a deal not to let each other drink Lao vodka again! It tasted ok last night but didn’t taste so good this morning! Anyway we went and had some breakfast at the Aussie Bar and we were very disappointed in the Aussie bars bacon and eggs! Anyway from there we tried to get a Tuk Tuk to some caves we had looked up in our book and the guide said it should only cost us about 30000 kip but when we asked a driver how much he said 150000 kip so we kept walking and another told us the same so we were about to give up on the idea when we went into a travel agent and he told us 150000 was ok and that he would wait there for us for 4 hours and bring us home again! This sounded reasonable because to do one of there tours was going to cost us a lot more. So off we went still feeling very seedy! We arrived and had to walk cross a rickety bamboo bridge only to be told we had to pay to walk across it at the other side! Was cheap but quite funny! Then we were greeted by a local Lao man who started to follow us so we assumed he was our guide! Hehe! We went first into Tham Xang ‘Elephant Cave’ a very small cave with a large Buddha statue and an elephant shaped stalactite which gives the cave its name! Was actually pretty cool looking elephant. From there the local man lead us through a little village and some fields and into another big cave, Tham Hoi that was very dark. We had to get head lights before we entered! We soon realized we were not prepared for this adventure. I had sandals on and big baggy Ali Baba pants that were just not good for caving and Rudi slid around with his crocs on trying to carry his camera and tripod! Anyway in the end after Rudi and I slipping and sliding everywhere and me falling in a small stream of water the guide started holding our hands and helping us and carrying all our stuff for us! We walked for about 2 hours into this pitch black cave through streams of water over big and small rocks, through mud pits where we got bogged and through tiny openings that Rudi honestly nearly could not fit through as he was too tall and couldn’t crouch little enough! It was really really hot in there too and we were sweating terribly and because we were feeling seedy already we both thought we were going to throw up. Just when we were about to say we wanted to go back we heard water running and he told us that we could go for a swim. We got to a small pond in the pitch black cave and we set our lights up so we could see a tiny bit and stripped down to our bathers and headed in. Felt so cold at the start because we were so hot but was actually really beautiful after you got used to it The water was so clear and quite deep in parts. It really was beautiful and worth the horrible hike in! We wished we could have stayed longer but swam around for about 15minutes and then headed back! We made it out and it was already time we had to go back to the Tuk Tuk so we missed out on two other nearby caves we wanted to visit! We headed back to town and had some lunch then we set out to go tubing down the river. We paid for our tube hire and got in another Tuk Tuk that drove about 10 of us about 5km up the river. We walked down to the river and jumped in our tubes. The river and all of Vang Vieng is absolutely stunning! Beautiful, huge limestone cliffs along the magnificent river! You can see the cliffs from anywhere in town! Anyway so we jumped in our tubes and headed down the river. There were bars everywhere on the side of the river and they all yell at you to get you to come over. If you say yes they throw you a rope and pull you in! We had decided we weren’t drinking today as we felt sick so we just went for the float! At these bars there is music blaring and most have these massive swings and flying foxes and slides that you can jump off and they are really quite scary! One guy on the flying fox when you hit the knot in the middle of the river did about 4 somersaults then did a back whacker into the river! We stuck to our good old tyre tube! It took us about 2 ½ hours of floating and a fair bit of paddling down the river to reach the end. Was very relaxing and quite fun in parts where there were little rapids so you went quite fast! The river is quite low at the moment so in parts you bum ram the rocks! That was not fun! It got cold by the end of the trip as the sun was starting to go down! We passed many drunk people in the bars and on the river and one young girl was talking to another boy on the river and asked where he was from….he told her to guess. She said America…no but close…her next guess cracked us up….Canadia! We were in hysterics for ages! We then saw her pull about 8 cans of beer up from a plastic bag in the water! Think she had already had a few! Anyway we came back and took some photos of the sunset! It unfortunately wasn’t as nice as the sunset we had seen from the car yesterday where the sky was a very deep pink. We then walked back into town to book a trip for tomorrow and we decided on a kayaking trip and some cave tubing! We then decided on a hot air balloon ride! Hopefully we will still be around to tell you about it tomorrow. Next stop dinner and fruit juice…no more Lao vodka! While we ate dinner Avatar was playing on about 5 big screen Tvs in the little restaurant! We headed back via a few shops and now getting ready for bed coz tomorrow is a 6oclcok start for our big day! Wish us luck!

Vang Vieng

Well the getting up early part didn’t happen! Rudi set his alarm for 8am then when it went off I said I didn’t want to get up kinda joking coz I never want to get up and next minute I know we had both fallen back to sleep and I woke Rudi to ask him what time it was and it was 12 noon! We both jumped out of bed as we had to be checked out of the hotel by 12. We quickly packed up our bag and got organized and headed down and left our bags at reception so we could get some breakfast/lunch! We looked at a couple of little market stalls on the way home and Rudi bought a singlet and we headed back to the hotel to wait for our bus to Vang Vieng. We were told to be there at 1:30 for pickup by 2 but at 2:30 we were still waiting! Eventually a little people mover turned up with 7 people in it already and in we squashed and our bags got jammed in the non existent boot! We thought this was the pickup bus from the hotel to take us to the big bus but to our surprise this tiny ‘bus’ was our vehicle for the next 4 hours. We had quite a few English and other Aussies on the bus and it was quite an entertaining, cozy trip! We arrived at Vang Vieng just after sunset and wandered to find our hotel. After asking for directions we managed to find it fairly easily considering it was dark already! We checked in and dumped our bags in our room and headed back to the Irish bar suggested by the English on the bus who work there! We ordered again on suggestion, but something we had said we miss from home…a pie! Rudi had steak and ale with mash and I had a beef and veg cottage pie! They were absolutely delicious! The “in thing” in Lao is to drink horrible concoctions out of about 1lt buckets…so as my nickname is buckets and I was quite thirsty I ordered the most horrible sounding one! It had vodka, Lao wine, Lao Lao which is a horrible kind of whiskey drink, fruit and orange juice! It was horrid but I got it down and then went on to $2 red bull and Lao vodka! I lost count of how many of these I drank because every two you got one free so they were ridiculously cheap! Rudi had some Lao beer then got stuck into the Lao Vodka and Redbull whilst swinging in a hammock! I wasn’t so lucky to have a hammock but was quite comfy lying on cushions on the little sitting stage we were on! We left when the bar man wouldn’t serve us anymore because we were the only ones there and he wanted to close! He was nice though and we talked to him for quite awhile! We found our way back home and went straight to bed as there is no opium or illegal drugs, gambling or sexual intercourse allowed in the room!

Vientiane

Well we are at the airport again! This time at KL waiting to board our flight to Vientiane in Laos. We got up about 8am and repacked our bags and headed out to get the train and bus back to the airport. Rudi is feeling better but still not great but has made it here with no dramas so far. He ate a few chicken nuggets and a banana but that’s about all he has had in the last 2 days. Ok so skip forward about 8 hourz and we are now in Laos. We got a taxi from the airport for a set price of about $6 which apparently is way over priced but we were happy to pay it. Checked into the hotel no problems and room is quite nice! India has made us appreciate the normally unappreciated! We went for a walk and probably did the most walking we have done all trip. We went to check out a traditional laos dance theatre we were going to get tickets for tonight but it is temporarily closed so we went down the road for a beer instead. For about $1 Rudi had a beer and for about $3 I had a tequila sunrise! We then stumbled, no we walked about 2km to Laos Arc De Triomphe! It was made from some concrete that the Americans gave to Laos to build an airport. Instead they built this monument and it is known as the ‘vertical runway’ It is very much like Paris with a long road (no expensive shops , mostly hotels) lights all down the street and the Arch in the middle of a roundabout. It was too late so we didn’t get to walk up to the top and enjoy the view but we walked around and it was lit up and the sky from the sunset was absolutely amazing. We didn’t stay as long as we would have liked because there were mosquitoes swarming us! We walked back towards the hotel and stopped at a restaurant Rudi had chosen out of the lonely Planet guide for dinner. He was hungry for the first time in 2 days! I enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine for the first time in almost 6 weeks and they were poured just to my liking…right to the brim! Rudi had a couple of soft drinks and we ordered some chicken spring rolls for an entrée. The plate came out and I reckon there was about 12 or more of them on the plate….almost enough for dinner! We had already ordered a main each as well so we ended up with a lot of food left at the end but for all that it was about $20. It is crazy the prices! We came back to the hotel passed market like stalls all lining the street and booked our bus for tomorrow to Vang Vieng. So off to bed now and see how we go getting up earlyish so we can do some more sight seeing before we leave tomorrow.

Kuala Lumpur

Well we survived our 5 hr flight from Delhi back to KL! We arrived in KL at 5am and I was very happy to see my bag come out after the last experience in KL! We arrived at our hotel about 7am after a bus and train ride and we were told our room had someone in still and check out was at 12noon so depending when they check out we could have our room. We had only slept about an hour on the plane so we had missed a whole nights sleep and were absolutely exhausted. Rudi was feeling quite sick…think he has bought a case of Delhi Belly away from India with him! Anyway lucky for us we got to move into our room about 9am and we went straight to bed! I slept like a log but Rudi not so good! He has become best friends with the communal toilet and with the rubbish bin in our room… I’m starving and feel very guilty for wanting to eat while he is so sick. Anyway I am quite happy as we have free wifi so just catching up with all the goss on facebook, updating the blog and chatting to my mummy! Anyway that’s all for now, think I will go and eat alone…don’t think Rudi will be eating today!

Goodbye India

Well its our last day in India and we are sitting waiting at the airport, we didn’t do much today just slept in and then walked around near our hotel and got a couple of tiny last minute souvenirs.

Impressions of India:

The Good
- Very friendly people
- Amazing historical sights
- Beautiful arts & crafts
- Yummy food
- Cheap alcohol
- Animals everywhere!
- Everything looks broken and yet it still works, the people are very resourceful and fix anything and everything
- 75% of our hotel rooms (for other 25% see ugly)
- The sense of freedom compared with Australia (anything is possible in India)


The Bad
- People constantly trying to sell you things
- Not being listened to when for the 10th time you say NO
- The dust & dirt
- Treatment of stray animals
- Womens role in traditional India
- Lack of education
- Almost all the people we have meet have been lovely but the ones that are rude are very good at it! Generally they are either rich or work as security guards.
- People using religion to try and extort money from you
- Chewing tobacco, almost all the men chew it and then spit it out, the streets are covered in what looks like red/orange vomit
- The morning ritual of cleaning the nose/throat combined with the vomiting noises
- Having to climb a tree in the desert for wifi

The Ugly
- Extreme difference between rich and poor, eg. Ram Babu is what we would consider quite poor but there are people here who have a lot less and live in appalling conditions in comparison
- Blatantly being charged 10x for anything and everything from entrance fees to monuments (5-10 rupees for Indians, 250-750 for foreigners) to rickshaws, to drinks where we are always without fail charged the maximum retail price (if a shop doesn’t have something we want they will go down the street and buy it from their competition for the local price and then resell it to us for maximum price)
- The Caste system which whilst not officially legal in my opinion still exists and is practiced
- Police corruption
- Traffic
- Pollution
- 25% of our hotel rooms
- Our mates on the train! VERY UGLY!

Delhi

We had a sleep in till about 11 today and then went out for some breakfast at Subway, after that we headed back to our room to recover from last night, we ended up watching a movie and I did some more henna on Bec’s hand. At about 330 we decided to head out to the lotus building which is a multi faith temple that kind of resembles the Sydney Opera house and is meant to look best at dusk, well when we got there is was absolutely packed! Apparently Indian custom is to go to a temple on new years day which then brings you good luck etc in the year to come. We lined up and got in fairly quickly, it is an interesting looking building, probably a little smaller then I had expected but still nice none the less. After that we headed back for dinner and tried a place that is similar to TGI Fridays or Taco Bill, we tried a couple of drinks and then had some food and then headed back to our room. The centre of Delhi is absolutely packed tonight so we are thinking maybe the locals celebrate more on new years day then new years eve as it’s a stark contrast to how it was last night.

Delhi

We ate left over pizza for breakfast and then headed out to find a rickshaw to take us to the Red Fort. We asked one how much and he said 150 rupees, us experienced tourists bargained him down to 80 rupees, after a small conversation and then walking off, he called us back and accepted our offer! We got to the Red Fort and bought our tickets…really funny that Indian price is 10 rupees, foreigner price 250 rupees! (which is why Rudi thinks the country is racist) We joined what we thought was the end of the line to get into the fort through security but was in the wrong line so moved across into the right one and think we cut in half way! No one said anything to us so we went with it. We got split near the gate as men had to go one way and women the other side. It is because they frisk search you before going in and women have a woman do it behind a curtain! Once making it in we walked around the Red Fort which was very unspectacular from the inside! It looks huge and quite amazing from the outside but inside all the buildings are roped off and we couldn’t really see much. We are getting a bit picky now as we have seen so many forts and temples that they all start to look the same. We spent just under a couple of hours there and then bargained another rickshaw to take us home! We headed straight for McDonalds and it was crazily busy! We ordered and took it home as there was nowhere to sit. It was very average McDonalds! We are now in bed watching a movie and about to head out for a nice dinner, then start a quiet NYE celebration at the hotel. We aren’t going to brave the festivities on the street as we are a little worried it could get ugly out there with the 21 million people that live in Delhi! Ok so just got back from going out for dinner! So much for not braving the 21 million people. In the whole city centre there was about 10 people wandering around when we came out of dinner and 1000 police guarding and blocking off all the streets. It was quite eerie there was absolutely no life in Delhi at all. Anyway we found a nice restaurant for dinner and we had jugs of cocktails and a lovely big fat juicy beef steak! Who would have thought you could get steak in India….but anything is possible and it was amazing! The restaurant was pretty quiet but they had a DJ playing 80’s music so we bopped away and didn’t want to leave! We thought we should get home before midnight and left about 10:30 to walk home. As I said the streets were so quiet it was spooky and when we got back to our hotel the door was locked. After a few seconds of freaking out they opened it for us…must have heard us. We had more drinks in our room and had a dance…kinda on the bed coz our room is so small and played some cards. We had a really fun night and will definitely be a NYE that we will remember. Hope everyone had a great New Years Celebration and that 2011 brings lots of good health, love and happiness to everyone!