Bangkok

Bangkok Thailand - 21 Dec 2010

Well here we are in a Holiday Inn! I've never stayed in one before. This one is really really big! I booked it months ago when we were only going to be staying here for a couple of nights but with the India fiasco and having to rearrange all our plans we now have a layover of 10 days here before we head down to Krabi for a bit of sunbaking and relaxation before coming back to Oz.

Bangkok seems like a pretty cool place and I'm sure we will be able to amuse ourselves. We took a 8km walk around today just getting a feel for things and we are going to ride the skyway tomorrow and maybe the water bus.

One thing that has me seriously annoyed is they make you pay for Internet here. We just spent a month in Vietnam where every single Hotel we stayed in (none of which cost even half of what this place does) had free wireless internet.

We are talking a dual tower, 27 story Hotel in which the cheapest room is $80 / night and you have to pay to use the Internet. A beer from the minibar costs $10 and they have a wonderful paper foldup map in the room which is yours for a mere $8.

Luckily there is an awesome supermarket across the road so we've stocked the room with good food and drinks at normal human being prices.

I will post some photos when I have some decent ones.

Best of Vietnam

Best Things in Vietnam

Today is our last day in Vietnam. We didn't plan to come here so we've mostly made it up as we've gone along with the help of a Rough Guide's book and the Internet. Google Maps on iPhone has been our best friend along with Agoda Online Hotel Bookings. Other helpful iPhone apps are Wikipedia, Food Near Me, Google Earth and Trip Advisor. Dropbox (for keeping docs and info), Gmail and Facebook are the high rotation apps on the Macbook. Of course we've used the HD camera's in the iPhones which have provided some surprisingly great photos when I haven't been carrying the little SLR Rick so generously loaned me.

                                        Saigon River

We spent our last day walking around the French and Old Quarter's of Hanoi and talked about the best and most memorable things about our time here. So here is our best of list from what we could remember as well as a photo from each place we've been.

Best Springroll

Pho 24 - Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) - crispy fried middle bit served with salad, mint, lime and fresh wrappers to wrap it al up in. Awesome.

We had a cooking class on the boat in Halong Bay and made our own.

Fresh Springrolls anywhere pretty much.

                                                 Mui Ne

Best Cake

Sweet Mung Bean Paste / Coconut Cake,  - take away bakery Hanoi

Bananus Donut, - Danang

Profiteroles  - Street Bakery Hanoi

                    Nha Trang, Islands in the distance.

Best Coffee

K's homemade in the hotel room with her Vietnamese Coffee drip filter. I thought she was mad when she bought the coffee maker but I admit, it rules, especially here in Hanoi where you can buy fresh ground beans on the street everywhere.

Illy Coffee - Hanoi - classiest expresso, can't beat Illy coffee.

Joes Cafe Mui Ne - coolest soul music made up for the just ok coffee.

                       Danang Markets

Best Meal

I say the BBQ Snapper at the outdoor food court at Ben Tan Market in Saigon. Honourable mention to Phat Burger Mui Ne.

K says Chicken Breast with Mushroom Sauce at Jibes in Mui Ne or Tuna & Salad on Rye Sandwich at La Doree in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon).

Must mention the Mango Lassie's which saved our lives on the first day in Saigon.

Best Restaurant

Lam Tong - Mui Ne - From the Omelette at Breakfast to the Fried Seafood Noodles, everything was good and no meal we ate there cost more than $5.00, drinks included.

Joe's Cafe Mui Ne for the super cool soul music and the DVD, beanbag room.

Avalon Cafe Hanoi - Super Trendy, great view of the lake and nice food.

Honourable mention to  and the great little place we went to in Hoi An that played everything from Hendrix to Creedence to Johnny Cash.

                                      Ba Na Hill Station

Best Tour

Equal Best - Halong Bay overnight Junk Cruise, Ba Na Hill Station Cable Cars.

Cu Chi Tunnels River Cruise - Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon).

Best Sight or Monument

Big Buddha's -  Ba Na Hills & Nha Trang

Han Suspension Bridge -Da Nang. Beautiful lit up at night.

Independence Palace - Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) - For the retro furniture and the photo exhibition in the basement. For some reason the old photos and press clippings seen in context with the period furniture, old phones and radios gave us the most authentic sense of the war than any other museum or place.

Ancient Houses - Hoi An - 200 year old Merchant houses full of antiquities.

                                             Halong Bay

Best Day and / or Moment

Just about all our best moments were during the long walks we took around every place we were in. We usually walked for at least 4 hours each sightseeing day and clocked up 11Km's in one haul in Danang.

For me the one I remember is a quiet coffee during a walk in the pouring rain in Nha Trang. Some backstreet cafe I could never find again, the heaviest rain I've just about ever seen. We just sat there on the sidewalk under an umbrella next to some Vietnamese people who couldn't speak a word of English and looked at the rain. For some reason I was just completely at peace.

For K the day we went ten pin bowling in HCMC (Saigon). We had set out for the Independence Palace but found it closed and for some reason wandered into a mall which had a 10 Pin lane. We bowled and had junk food and it was just a lot of laughs and a great day.

For both of us, running home in a deluge in Ho Chi Minh City after a 4 hour walk. It was hot, sticky for most of the day and we crossed some of the busiest roads we were to see in all Vietnam. The rain started about half way home but the rush hour traffic was so intense it would have been pointless catching a taxi as we could walk faster. The rain turned to a tropical deluge and we finally ended up jogging then sprinting the last  km or so home. We were like drowned rats when we got to the hotel lobby.

Definitely the toughest moment was crossing a very long bridge in Danang that had no footbridge. We put our heads down and just walked into the traffic. It was incredibly nerve racking but somehow satisfying when we made it.

                                        Hanoi Streets

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Thanks for all the nice feedback about the blog and photos. Makes it more fun when you know others are getting a vicarious thrill from our travels.

Next stop Bangkok!

Halong Bay

Halong Bay, Vietnam - 18 Dec 2010


"Ha Long" is literally translated as "Bay of Descending Dragons." 
500 years ago, Nguyen Trai praised the beauty of Ha Long Bay in his verse Lộ nhập Vân Đồn, in which he called it "rock wonder in the sky". In 1962, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Vietnam listed Ha Long Bay in the National Relics and Landscapes publication. In 1994, the core zone of Ha Long Bay was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site according to criteria vii, and listed for a second time according to criteria viii.

We (like most other tourist in Hanoi) visited the bay on an overnight tour aboard a Junk. They take you by bus to Halong City where you board the Junk and cruise out to through the bay where you moor overnight and do various activities including visiting a huge cave, Kayaking and climbing to the top of the one of the larger rocks.

We had a diverse group of great people on our boat from Switzerland, Singapore, America and Vietnam. We were, surprisingly the only Aussies on board. There was good spirit and interesting conversation at mealtimes. The crew on the boat were efficient and friendly and the whole thing was really well put together.

 It was a great tour and an amazingly beautiful place. Definitely a highlight of the trip.
Tomorrow we get ourselves organised to leave as we fly out to Thailand Monday morning.

More Photos in large format here.

Hanoi Sightseeing

Hanoi Vietnam - 16 Dec 2010

Well it's 12C here today. Cold & miserable. We are off to Halong Bay tomorrow and having walked around the City for 5 hours yesterday, we are taking a rest day, huddling in the hotel room eating chocolate and making coffee. 

                                         Hanoi Streets

I'm listening to Australia getting caned by England in the 2nd Test from the WACA via a cool little Radio Streaming App called Radiotime I downloaded for my iPhone. It's quite amazing how useful an iPhone with GPS and a net connection is for travelling. Google Maps/Earth, Wikipedia, Trip Advisor, Food Near Me, Facebook, Radiotime Apps, all getting daily use.

                           Temple of Literature

We visited The Temple of Literature, Ho Chi Minh's House and the surrounding Gardens, Mausoleum / Museum yesterday. In the Evening we went to the Water Puppet Theatre and had dinner at a lovely restaurant overlooking the lake. We saw and exhibition of prints by Japanese Artist Toba Mika at the Temple of Literature.

                                   Water Puppet Theatre

More Water Puppet Photos Here

Assorted Hanoi iPhone Photos Here

All Photos of our Trip Here

Last Stop Hanoi

Hanoi Vietnam - 14 Dec 2010

Days are becoming a bit of a blur at the moment. Been on the road now for nearly 6 weeks. Time seems to slow down and speed up at times when travelling. It seems an age since we were wandering around in the rain in Nha Trang but only the other day since we left Australia.

We got to Hanoi on Monday afternoon after a short flight from Da Nang. It takes way longer to get organised and to and from airports than it does to actually fly internally in a country the size of Vietnam. We've started to enjoy the airports here.The Nha Trang airport is miles out of town was the smallest and quietest airport we've ever seen. We got there early and there was literally about 6 other people in the airport. We were sitting around in the coffee shop for ages just reading and chatting to an American guy about the inanities of language and trying to pronounce Vietnamese phrases. When our flight took off it was the only plane on the tarmac and people were taking photos of each other boarding the plane while the crew looked on amused. Fun stuff. The Hanoi flight was a little busier but still room on the plane to spread out and relax.

It's winter here and a bit grey and rainy and really we've just been wandering around the streets taking in the incredible amount of little shops, cafes, hotels and restaurants here in the old quarter. It's a really old City Hanoi and we are right in the oldest part of it where some of the streets are just wide enough for one car to get down. Not that many people actually drive cars around here. It's a city of Motorbikes much like the rest of Vietnam. It kind of reminds me of Bladerunner here at night, not exactly sure why, just the constant drizzle and the juxtaposition of the oriental with the occidental, the really really old and dirty against the new and shiny. I'm going to try and take some night shots of the lights and narrow streets, try to get it on film, see if it translates from my head to the camera.

Tomorrow we will visit the mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh, the Temple of Confucian Literature and whatever other notable destinations we can fit in. Thursday we are going on an overnight cruise to World Heritage Listed Halon Bay. The weekend we will fit in whatever else we can and Monday we leave Vietnam for Thailand.

Full Size Photos Here

All Albums From This Trip Here

Ba Na Hill Station

Da Nang Vietnam - 12 Dec 2010

Ba Na Hill Station, 20 Km North West of Da Nang, discovered in 1901 by Frenchman Marin Debay. It was used as a cool respite from the fierce heat of summer by French Military Personal and Civil Servants, the site of more than 200 private villas during it's prime in the 1940's. The French and American wars and the economic crisis that followed saw it fall into disuse eventually crumbling back in to the thick jungle.

In modern tourist oriented Vietnam, Ba Na is having a renaissance and in 2009 the worlds longest cable car, 5042 Metres was built, stretching from the base of the mountain to the peak making it easier to ferry tourists to the new luxury hotels and the under construction alpine village and adventure park. For now there is the largest Buddha in South East Asia (27 Metres), a Temple as well as the remains of the French Villas to see.

For our last day in Central Vietnam we took the day tour to Ba Na, riding the amazing Cable Car to the summit with it's amazing views and a pretty decent lunch in the resort restaurant. It was a great tour from start to finish hosted by "Singh" our 62 year old tour guide who once worked as a translator for American Marines. We haven't done much in the way of organised tours on our journey but Karen really wanted to ride the Cable Car and despite my reluctance (read 'grumpy old man-ness') to participating in tours I'm  really glad I let myself be talked into it - Definitely a highlight of our trip so far.

Tomorrow we fly to Hanoi for a week, our last stop in Vietnam (with a possible side trip to Ha Long Bay) before we head to Thailand. 

All todays photos here (follow the link Nikki-lea).

Hoi An Pics

Hoi An Vietnam - 11 Dec 2010


We spent the day wandering around Hoi An looking at the old Chinese Merchant Houses and Trade Association Halls. I'm too tired to write so I'll let the pics do the talking. Unfortunately I didn't have my good camera with me so it's all iPhone snaps. Fortunately iPhone 4's take pretty decent pics. These are from mine & Karen's phones.
They are all upoaded in a Picassa Album HERE
Have a look at the other albums in our collection while you are there if you haven't already.

You know you've made it when Tin Tin visits!