Our Last Days; destination Saigon

Shells left over from the War.

Dean at one of the many entrances to the Cu Chi Tunnels.

A Viet Com booby trap.

The building here was the one in the famous photo of an American helicopter landing on the roof to evacuate Americans, thought to have been the American Embassy, but it actually wasn't.... it is so strange to see this building with such a modern sky scraper behind it.

This picture is a building near to the hotel where we stayed and looked lovely when lit up at night.

We found Saigon much more modern than Hanoi, and whilst there are more people (and motor bikes), it somehow seems less busy as the city is much bigger and more spread out. There also seems to be more of a structure to the traffic, the roads are better and have more traffic lights and on the whole people seemed to follow more traffic rules than anywhere else we had been in Vietnam and Cambodia.

We had a tour out to the Cu Chi tunnels and found this fascinating. The maze of tunnels covered a far greater area than we expected, covering 250 kilometres, with 12000 people living down there at one time. It was ingenious how the tunnels were built and how they were structured to protect those living down them. In the afternoon we visited the War Remnants Museum, and once again we were both very moved by the ravages of war. It makes you wonder why we are still sending our soldiers into places like Iraq and Afghanistan.

The food in Saigon was just as good as anywhere, and whilst we had eaten local food throughout our tour, at this stage we were perhaps a little bit more adventurous, trying lots of different dishes on our last night - some not quite to our tastes.

Our honeymoon was drawing to a close and whilst we had enjoyed our tour immensely, we both felt ready to head for home. Saigon was a little too modern and polished from what we had been expecting and they seemed far more money orientated than anywhere else. We had travelled through the wilds of Cambodia, and the more rural north Vietnam and in all of the places we stayed there was free wifi internet in all our hotel rooms, yet in the hotel in Saigon we were required to pay for it!

So here we are, our final entry, having had a truly amazing experience, from two travel weary, tired but happy and contented tourists, farewell. xxx

Wedded Bliss in Hoi An Paradise

We have just completed our last full day here in Hoi An and we are both now feeling very chilled and relaxed, my sleep in the giant moses basket on the beach helped enormously (see picture above). Dean reckons he is now a 'very' bronzed Adonis, however I am sure I am browner than he is!! (And as I am writing this blog, I guess that must be true!)! We went into Hoi An last night and had an excellent meal at the Cargo Club, Dean feasted on a spicey local curry and I had beef with crispy noodles, mmmmm, delicious. We visited the market during the day and I am amazed at how it brought back childhood memories of visiting the food markets in Hong Kong with my mother - health and hygiene? What's that? The hustle and bustle of the day in Hoi An was transformed into a wonderful lantern experience by night - still incredibly hot though. The main square had a large full screen TV for the World Cup, and whilst the locals were waiting for the game, this was turned into a large Karaoke. We have never seen anything like it, there were hundreds of mopeds parked in front of the screen and the audience were transfixed by both the karaoke and later, by the football. We have really enjoyed our time here but are already looking forward to the adventure of Ho Chi Minh! TTFN xx

J & D's arrival in Hoi An

Well we are here - sorry no piccies as I am writing this on the hotel computer as Dean inadvertantly spilt half his Marguerita on my laptop and I now can't use the keyboard.... I know, I know, what a waste of Marguerita, and the laptop is suffering hugely from a hangover, but we will take it to the doctors when we get home.

The guide who picked us up at the airport was lovely, his English was superb and he made sure we had a map of Hoi An as he left us on our own for a few days. He was very knowledgeable about this part of Vietnam and I wish we could have spent a bit more time with him.
The hotel is truly amazing, a honeymooners paradise. We have a fantastic chalet right on the beach and the staff went overboard on the room decorations (you would be able to see them but.....) We went into Hoi An this morning on the free shuttle bus and we visited one of the many tailors and Dean was measured up for a suit and a jacket. We did a bit of souvenir shopping, but the heat just got the better of us, and we retreated back to the hotel and collapsed by the pool/beach for the rest of the day. There is a slight breeze on the beach and I am sure brings the temperature down to a balmy 39 degrees! We are both now looking very bronzed and are chilling and enjoying the relaxing atmosphere of the Victoria Hoi An Beach Resort, on our 'beach' part of the holiday. After all the sights we have seen it is rather nice to blob on the beach. The hotel is really amazing and if anyone is thinking of visiting Vietnam, then this is a fantastic place.

Ha Long Bay

We spent last night on board a Junk, sailing through the amazing structures that make up Ha Long Bay. These majestic pieces of rock that emerge from the water are truly amazing, and I for one would certainly vote (as the Vietnamese ask you to) that these should be one of the 7 wonders of the natural world! We spent 24 hours on the Junk, the only tourists on board and had a very 'chilling' time sailing, swimming and sight-seeing lazily as the world sailed by. The food on board was a local culinery feast, and each meal seemed to be made up of at least 10 dishes!!! We flew to Da Nang this evening and checked in to our 'Honeymoon' Suite a beautiful chalet right on the beach. We are here until Saturday morning and plan to enjoy our beach time, with a couple of shopping trips to Hoi An!!! Thinking of all of you big time as we are now sat at the beach bar sipping our cocktails.....

Hanoi City - Day 6

We arrived last night after an hour and a half's flight, feeling hot and tired... we arrived at our hotel and were upgraded to the honeymoon suite, with a free 'honeymoon' cake awaiting us in our room (gobbled up very greedily!) We woke up bright and early, polishing off a lovely breakfast before meeting up with our tourguide for our tour of Hanoi. We were first taken to the Mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh, and joined the queue of thousands of people wanting to visit the 'father' of Vietnam. A strange experience to say the least! We were then taken to a temple, which is the oldest college in Vietnam, before walking around the streets of Hanoi, being taken down streets such as Tin Street, Buddha Street and Towel Street. Dean and I played the game of guess the name of the street we are on now!!! They even have a Toy Street and a Candy Street (thankfully we didn't go down that one, or I would still be there). Having spent many years in Hong Kong as a child, I would have thought that I could cope better with the heat, but it got the better of me, and we retired back to the air conditioning of the hotel by 11.30 am. Dean then ventured out again and explored the lake, but even he was back here within the hour. The hustle and bustle of downtown Hanoi is beyond belief. There are 6 million people who live here and 3 million of them own motor bikes! The sound of cars and bikes tooting and the sheer bad driving is a sight and sound to behold! I took comfort in a full body massage this afternoon (wonderful) and Dean fell asleep on the bed.... we are now contemplating where to eat this evening to sample the local cuisine.

Last day in Cambodia

Sadly this was our last day in Cambodia, and we are sitting in the airport at Siem Reaph waiting to fly to Hanoi. We have had a quiet, relaxing day by the hotel swimming pool, after the rounds of sight seeing over the past few days. I even had a foot massage! (courtesy of the hotel.) Cambodia has been a really amazing experience, seeing sights I thought I would never see and whilst we shall be sorry to leave we are both looking forward to what awaits us in Vietnam. We have a City Tour in the mornning, looking around the sights of Hanoi!

Wow, what a day. This is a word I keep saying, time and again as we explore this amazing country. We are now sitting in the bar, with frozen margueritas in our hands, reflecting on the images we have seen today. This morning we visited Angkor Thom, which means 'Big City', a walled city dating back to the 1200's, with an incredible Bayon Temple in the middle. This temple was built dedicated to Buddha, but it is amazing how close the Buddhist religion is to Hindu here - we have both learnt quite a lot about the Hindu gods!!! We then went on to vist Ta Promh, and we both really enjoyed this temple; the temple used for Tomb Raider, and it really was spectacular, not much restoration has gone on here, leaving the trees growing through the structures, knocking some of the buildings down, but also the roots hold a lot of the buildings up. Our tour guide was incredibly knowledgeable about the whole place, and you hear the pride in his voice as he talks about the temples. Thankfully, we have our own tour guide and airconditioned car (very important), so we have our guides full attention as we tour around. Another lunch stop at a local eatery and then we are back on the road, well almost. We are taken to the river where we catch a boat for a 20 minute boat ride which takes us to the biggest lake in South East Asia, called Ton Le Sap. Living on this lake are whole communities, the children living on the house boats go to school on a floating school - it is quite remarkable to see. The people have fish farms and also small crocodile farms to make a living (well, those who aren't begging from the tourist boats that are in abundance). Apparently, the fish, along with rice are a big export from Cambodia, the fish is dried or used in paste! By the time we returned to our hotel we were both exhausted with the heat, it is about 38 degrees and so humid. We collapsed by the pool, swimming to cool down, waiting for the onset of 5.00 pm and the start of Happy Hour - so from 2 hot, tired but Happy tourists - CHEERS!

Day 3 - Travel to Siem Reaph - Visit Temple at Angkhor Wat

An early call (considering we are on our honeymoon)! We left Phnom Penh at 7.00 am amidst the rush hour traffic, dodging the motor bikes and the Tuk Tuks. At 9.30 we stopped for a rest room break, and as we left the car we were swamped by hawkers trying to sell us their wares - not least of which, heading in my direction was a young girl carrying a tray of deep fried terantulas! I didn't last very long outside the car and headed pretty quickly back to the safety of it.... Dean managed to capture a stall selling the spiders and deep fried crickets - both of which are a delicacy here in Cambodia. The remaining journey passed remarkably quickly given that the drive took approx 4 and a half hours. We stopped once more en-route to look at the Naga bridge, now closed to heavy traffic. It was built in the 12th Century and is still in remarkable condition.
We arrived in Siem Reaph in time for lunch; Pork Curry followed by the freshly grown fruit that we are now coming to recognise. We were then taken by our friendly tour guide to the temple at Angkhor Wat. What an amazing experience this was, it was truly awesome. Words cannot describe the full effect this place had on us. Construction started in 1113 and lasted for forty years, involving 100,000 people in the building of it. The intricacy of the carvings on the stone work was amazing. The heat was overpowering, and by the end of our tour we retreated to our airconditioned cab for a short ride back to our hotel where a dip on the pool was top of the agenda.

Day 2 of our honeymoon and we were up at 7.00, showered and breakfasted before being picked up by our guide, Rith and taken on a tour of the Royal Palace. The architecture was breathtakingly beautiful and the throne room was incredibly oppulent; not really what I was expecting at all. We visited the Silver Pagoda, called so because the floor is made of silver! We were then driven to Cheong Ek, home of one of the many Killing Fields in Cambodia - the closest one to Phnom Penh. It was a similar feeling to when I visited Bergen Belsen, one of eerie disquiet. The picture above of the tall, white building is called a 'Supra' and is a burial place for the dead; here inside, lie some of the skulls and bones of the 20,000 victims, killed at Cheong Ek, having first been detained and tortured at a prison in Phnom Penh called S-21. We visited this prison next and I was more moved by this than the actual Killing Fields. Photographs were on display of many of the detainees, along with an artist's impressions of the tortues that occurred. I was left quite shaken by it all. Dean and I met one of only 7 survivors from Prison S-21. He has only just been able to return to the place, after the trial of 'Duch', the Khmer Rouge commandant of the Prison. Mr Chum Mey has spent the last few months as a chief witness of the War Trial of Duch. This trial was recently on the news and Duch has been found guilty and will be sentanced in July this year.

We were then taken to a lovely little restaurant in the heart of Phnom Penh and sampled some local cuisine - all meat and vegetables were recognisable!! After lunch we visited the National Museum and saw artefacts dating back to the fifth century.

The city is like a sauna and upon returning to our hotel a cold shower was in order and time for a relax in the cool airconditioning of our hotel. We leave for Seam Reaph tomorrow to explore the temples of Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom. xx

Still Day 1, just before bed

Well dinner wasn't quite as exotic as expected, no fried spiders on the menu, so I had fried noodles and vegetables (I'm too scared to eat meat in case it is dog); Dean had Beef and onions in a peanutty sauce with noodles. Now back at the hotel and Dean is fast asleep, but jet lag has set in so thought I would finish today's post. Will try and add some photos with each post, my favourites from the day. Looking forward to looking around the Royal Palace tomorrow and then it's on to the Killing Fields in the afternoon, probably a sobering time.....

Day 1 Arrive Phnom Penh

Arrived in Phnom Penh, tired after long flight. Temperature 32 degrees centigrade (bloody hot)! Fell into exhausted sleep, as soon as head touched the pillow! Woke to explore the room; very nice with rosewood floor boards and hugemongous bath which was quickly sampled. Heavens opened and torrential rain the like of which is never seen in the UK!
Hired a TukTuk (local taxi type thing in the shape of a motorbike pulling a trailer with seats). What an amazing experience that was. No traffic rules here, just keep going and hope no one hits you - as you arrive at a junction it is first come, first go! Had a couple of beers in a street side pub and are now off to sample the local cuisine - hopefully not deep fried spiders or roasted sparrow!