Saigon and the Mekong Delta

Hi again!

The camera batteries need a recharge before I can post any pics, but anyway here's what we've been up to:

We had a great time in Dalat. After my last message, we went off for a day of touring - up into the mountains, where Caitlin managed to convince Mummy to let her go for a horse ride... Rach didn't realise it meant she had to go along for the ride... Will definitely have to post some pics of that! :-)
Had a look around some more sights, and even went for a ride on a "bobcoaster", which is like a cross between a bob-sled/luge and a rollercoaster, which we rode down the hillside through the rainforest to Datanla waterfall. Grandma even had a go!

The next day, the drive from Dalat to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) was long, but interesting. We passed through some beautiful rainforest roads on the way back down the mountains, and stopped for lunch at a place called Bao Lao (not sure if that's the right name) where they grow tea and coffee. Hopefully the tea and coffee will get through customs... along with the 6358kg or so of luggage that we seem to have amassed!

When we finally got to our hotel in Saigon - the Riverside (definitely NOT to be confused with the 5-star Rennaisance Riverside next door!!!), we had to wait half an hour while convincing them to give us the room we had booked! Eventually they sorted it out and we headed up to the top floor, with fantastic views of the Saigon river from the balcony outside the room.
They do some things a little differently here - we asked for Orange Juice with no ice at breakfast, so they served us up some freshly made Tang (powdered Orange drink) in hot water! Mmmmmm
Anyway, the location here is great - we're right in the middle of the city, with restaurants, markets and everything from street stalls to fancy shops all around.

Our latest guide - Luong (not sure of spelling), took us for a tour of the city, including Notre Dame Cathedral, the HCM Post Office, the War Remnants Museum (some of the exhibits aren't for the faint hearted), and the Reunification Palace (which was formerly the Independence Palace, but after the tanks came through the gates in 1975, they decided a name change was in order!) The Reunification Palace is very cool - 1960s architecture with a Vietnamese slant.

Saigon city by night is different to what I expected - maybe I've adjusted to the hustle and bustle and the sound of a thousand motorbikes. Anyway, it doesn't seem quite as crazy as I expected - almost relaxed compared with the Old Quarter of Hanoi at night!

Today we drove to My Tho, and took a boat ride in the Mekong Delta. After being ferried across the river, we strolled through a little island village and then rode in little wooden rowboats through some narrow but busy creeks, with water-coconut palm fronds hanging over us on both sides. Then we headed to Ben Tre for lunch, where we had fried elephant-ear fish wrapped in fresh spring rolls, among other delights.

Tomorrow we have our last free day in Vietnam, so we're going to tackle the horrendous task of packing tonight. Once that's done, we'll know if it's physically possible to squeeze anything else into the luggage before we think about hitting the shops tomorrow!

On Wednesday, we head off from Saigon to Singapore at 12.50pm. After a few hours in Singapore, we're off to Darwin, then after a day or so in Darwin, back to Broome on Friday afternoon. I reckon I'll be ready for a beer by then... Come to think of it, maybe I should pop out for one now!

:-)

S.

Dalat - City of Flowers

Hi again,

No photos right now, but will try to come back to the computer tonight and put some up.

The drive from Nha Trang to Dalat took about 5 hours - through some beautiful countryside and areas inhabited by ethnic minority communities - tiny little kids herding cattle and goats along the roadside!

The drive up through the hills was scenic, if a little hairy - long, winding roads with not much between us and the valley below. I had to laugh when I saw a road sign up the top, informing me that we had passed through a place called "P.Rang" !!!!

Driving into Dalat is a bit surreal - the rainforests make way for pine forests, and once you pass the huge vegetable plantations, it's like driving through a town in Europe - French villas everywhere, and a totally different approach to town planning than we've seen anywhere else here.

It's much cooler up here - we're wearing jeans today, but still warm enough to need beer!

We went for a wander around the local markets - the flowers especially are amazing (and cheap - I bought 9 or 10 roses for Rach and it cost me 10,000VND - about $0.80 AUS... Didn't help my cause of course!!!)

Lee and our driver have taken us around to see a pagoda/monastery above a lake (name escapes me right now, but will check it when I post some photos), from which we caught a cable car back over the hills to Dalat. We've been for a look through Bao Dai's palace (the last emperor/king here, who lived with his royal family in a big art deco place on the hill), and had a look through the Dalat Flower Gardens.

Tomorrow we're off to see some more sights around the area, then the next day we're off to Saigon. Have been warned that the drive could take between 5 and 7 hours!

As long as the computers at the Novotel here hold out, I'll come back and post some more later...

Til then

Steve

Nha Trang

After saying a fond farewell to Hoi An (and promising the staff that Caitlin would come back one day!), we headed up to Danang, for our flight to Nha Trang. We watched a nice shiny Boeing 777 take off for Hanoi, and wondered where they had put our plane, as there was nothing left on the runway except for an ancient looking twin turbo-prop.... (An ATR-72, not sure if it's US or Russian built???)

Anyway, we made it! After being picked up by our new guide, Lee (who is the same age as Rach and I), we went for a wander along the beach. Nha Trang bay really is beautiful, and a pleasant surprise all round. There are a couple of great restaurant/bars along the beach - our pick is the Louisiane Brewhouse... Mmmm a brewery on the beach... Rachel suggested to me that we should build a pool area like the one at Louisiane - nice thatched bungalow style and big white stones around the pool - I'd include the big stainless steel brewing vats too! We've also managed to get out to a couple of bars at night, while Grandma and Caitlin hung out at the hotel... Crazy Kim's is across the road from our Hotel (Asia Paradise), run by a Vietnamese/Canadian lady and dedicated to educating local kids and stamping out abuse. 2 for 1 cocktails for $2 AUS was an offer too good to refuse! We also checked out the nearby Guava lounge, which was full of beautiful people - so we fitted in just fine!

Lee took us along to the local Mineral Spa, where we were treated to a soothing mud bath and 38-degree-plus swim :-)
We also checked out the Oceanographic Institute, where we found that most of the ocean life here is very similar to what we get in Northern Australia, albeit dwindling due to a complete lack of adequate policing and management. Still, you can't really argue with someone over minimum size restrictions when they earn less than $10US a month and need to feed their family...

We're having a quiet day in Nha Trang today, then setting off in the morning for Dalat.

Love to all,

Steve, Rach, Yvonne and Caitlin

Shopping fatigue

Well, obviously I'm the only one with shopping fatigue - I have no doubt that Rachel, Yvonne and Caitlin could happily spend another couple of days being fitted up for clothes and shoes!

(Rach has just told me that I'm not the only one with shopping fatigue... she went to try on 2 pairs of custom made shoes yesterday - one was about 4 sizes too big (!!!), and the other pair... well let's just say that the final product didn't quite match the intended design!)

Shoes aside, we're loving Hoi An, which has a much more friendly and relaxed atmosphere than Hanoi or Hue. There are very few street touts, although some of the tailors and shoemakers do their best to round up tourists and drag them off to their shops.

We're staying at the Vinh Hung Resort, and can thoroughly recommend it to anyone travelling through Hoi An. The facilities are great, with comfortable rooms, a nice swimming pool, free boat rides down the river to the main street (takes about 5 mins), good food etc. But most of all, the staff have been fantastic, especially with Caitlin.

Can't remember where I got to in my last post, and for some reason this computer won't let me open it up, but I'll give a quick re-cap:

After Hue, we drove down via the Hai Van pass , through Danang and on to Hoi An. The HaiVan pass is normally a scenic drive through the hills along the coast, but it was very overcast and wet, so we ended up deciding to take the new (2years old) 6km long tunnel instead.

From Hoi An, we took a half-day trip to My Son (Pronounced something like "Me Shern"), which is a spectacular series of ancient Cham ruins - something like Angkor, but on a smaller scale and not as well preserved. Everywhere around this area was hammered during the war. Driving through the countryside here is a bit like driving through North Queensland, only with rice paddies instead of sugarcane, and a few other obvious differences...

They even have gum trees! Apparently they were planted to quickly re-forest some areas which were devastated by Agent Orange.

I have just tried to upload some more photos, but the computer won't play the game, and it takes ages to upload! Will have another try later on.

Steve.

Hoi An - (And a computer that works-almost!)

:-)

With a bit of luck, I'll be able to post some more photos today.
We're staying at the Vinh Hung Resort in Hoi An all this week, and can recommend it to anyone thinking of visiting Hoi An. Caitlin is having fun - pestering me to go swimming in the resort pool at every available chance, and being absolutely spoiled by every person she meets. As I write this, she's playing with one of the reception ladies, who has given her a little purse with a little green carved stone starfish, and is showing her around the reception area (and giving her bags, shoes and hats to dress up in!).

We ended up booking most of our trip through Tonkin Travel in Hanoi. Hien (the girl who arranged our booking) was lovely, and so far everything is on track. They were also about $1000 AUS cheaper than the guys we were originally looking at, and we've got separate rooms at each place, rather than our original plan of squeezing all 4 of us in to 1 room.

Anyway, for a recap of what we've been up to:

Hanoi:

After a couple of days by ourselves to get oriented, Tonkin sent along our guide around Hanoi - A really nice young (30-40 at a guess) guy, whose name sounds like "Lap" or "Lep".
"Uncle Lap", as he became over the next few days, took us to see the sights of Hanoi, down to Phat Diem to see the amazing old stone cathedrals there.

The area around Phat Diem has the highest concentration of Catholics in Vietnam, and the cathedral there is something to behold, with a mix of European, Chinese and Vietnamese architecture, and some interesting history.
The it was off to Tam Coc for a boat trip through some beautiful countryside (but nothing to rave about at the nearby restaurant, where we were offered goat satays among other things), along to Bat Trang (pronounced something like "But Chung") pottery village, and various stops in between.
One of the highlights food-wise was a visit to the Hoa Sua training restaurant, where former street kids are given training in the hospitality industry to give them a second chance at life.

On our last night, we went out for dinner with Lap and his wife, Phuong (pronounced something like "fwer"). They are both teachers, and Caitlin had lots of fun playing rock paper scissors and other games with Phuong. If you're ever in Hanoi and want to have a few top-shelf beers with a great view, check out the "Legends Bar", where they brew their own beers and even serve some reasonable steak and lamb rack if you're that way inclined.

After Lap saw us off at the station, we had a 13 hour trip on the Reunification express train. The 4-bed soft sleeper cabins are the only way to go, and even then the facilities are pretty basic. There's no doubt at any stage that you're travelling on a train in a communist country!

Next stop - Hue (pronounced "Way"), where we met up with our next guide Thach (pronounced "Tuck"), who is probably in his late 40s, early 50s. We visited the old imperial city, then braved the rain and took a boat ride up the Perfume River to one of the nearby Buddhist Pagodas.

We stayed in the Asia Hotel in Hue, which has a fantastic view from the restaurant/pool bar on the top floor. Unfortunately, Rachel and I scored the smallest room in the hotel, and had no electricity in the room (or in the lift down the hall!) for most of the first afternoon! Eventually, everything was sorted out of course, but I had to laugh when the receptionist suggested she could send a fan to our room until the power for the airconditioning came back on... an electric fan of course!

Will post some more pics later, and fill you in on our travels around Hue and Hoi An...

Til then...

Steve.

The internet access here in Hue is pretty atrocious, so will just post a couple of pics and try again in Hoi An - we are going there tomorrow, and there for about a week.

The pics I am trying to post (v.slow and it posted the wrong one before!) are a street scene in Hanoi, Rach and Caitlin on the Reunification Express, and Caitlin being mobbed by Kids in Hue)

This slow internet connection is insane!!!!!! I think we must have 10 people sharing a 64k connection. Too hard! Will write again from Hoi An.

Steve

Here we are in Hue

We made it... 13 hours on a Vietnamese train was fun!

We're staying at the "Asia Hotel" in Hue.

Will definitely post some pics and a bit of a rundown later today. For now, we need to get some lunch and a beer (more sensibly priced at around $1 per 500ml bottle here!)

Will write soon...

Steve

Hanoi to Hue today

We have been using a really dodgy old computer to post messages the last few days, so apologies for the lack of photos or updates!
We have done a day tour of Hanoi on Wed (said a quick hi to Uncle Ho), then off to Phat Diem and Tam Coc on Thurs. We're off on more sightseeing today, then we catch the train to Hue at 7.00pm

Will post an update and hopefully photos from Hue

S.

Good Morning Vietnam!

We made it!

Customs etc was pretty straightforward... We had to wait in line a while for our passport check, but once we had our bags,we were allowed straight through. Caitlin even managed to get a smile from one of the immigration people!

There was a bit of a mixup, as the hotel only sent 1 x 4-seater,instead of a minibus, so we had to take 2 taxis.
The ride in from the airport was a good warm-up. Nothing quite prepares you for the free-for-all at busy intersections!
Our room is very nice and clean.We've got the top floor of our (relatively small) hotel, with views on 2 sides,including glimpses of Hoan Kiem Lake. There is also a nice little shared balcony downstairs on the 7th floor. We discovered that there is also some kind of temple next door, and the chanting seemed to go on all night, which drove us a bit mad, but we've been assured it doesn't happen every night.

Will write later once we've had a look around.

Til then...

Steve

Singapore's Budget Terminal gets the thumbs up from Steve...

Wow, I wish all airports were this easy...
We got here at 1.45pm, for our flight to Hanoi departing at 4.00pm. We were able to check in right away, with no queues at all.
Security was pretty straightforward - the usual sort of thing, but again with no queues.

Once inside, there are the usual suspects in terms of bookshop, duty free, clothes, food etc.
But... the only people here are the people going on our flight this arvo, as Tiger are the only ones using the BT at the moment.

There are free internet terminals (requesting that you only use them for 15 mins at a time), as well as desks setup for laptop users.

Best of all in my book though, I got a Laksa for $3 SIN, and a can of beer for $2.10 SIN - ie. lunch for under $5 AUS!

That's pretty unheard of for an airport!

Anyway, must go as I still have at least $4.20 left in my pocket....


:-)
Steve

Our last weekend in Singapore

So here we are at the end of week 1.
We've all had a great time in Singapore, and I know Caitlin is really going to miss Van and Geoff.

We've been pretty busy the last couple of days. Have been out for dinner every night - great Pizza at Robertson's Walk one night; awesome seafood at Jumbo, opposite Clarke Quay - I've gotta get a recipe for Singapore Pepper crab... mmmmmmm; and tasty Indian at Ras in Clarke Quay last night. It still stings having to pay close to $10 a beer, but not enough to turn me back to water ;-)

This weekend, we've been back to Chinatown for more shopping and exploring, off to Orchard Rd for a different shopping experience, down to Raffles for morning tea (we didn't make it for high tea this time), fed the Koi and ourselves in the Suntec complex, walked through the Durian and round to the Merlion.
Last night was the first night of fireworks over the harbour to celebrate Singapore's 41st birthday next Tuesday, so we headed down toward the Esplanade Park to catch the show.








For those who don't recognise the slogan in this photo, they've opened a "Hooters" restaurant at Clarke Quay, and we couldn't resist the photo opportunity...

Oh well, we're off to Hanoi this afternoon, so packing everything up now. We've heard a few reports on the news about "Prapiroon", the typhoon which passed through the Southern part of China last week. Hopefully the rain forecast for Hanoi will ease off during the week, otherwise we might be riding in boats instead of cyclo!

We'll be back in Singapore for a few hours nearer the end of our travels, so if anyone has any special requests, we might catch a taxi into town for some last minute bargains!

Will post again from VN. For the first few days, we're staying at The Church hotel in the Old Quarter of Hanoi - http://www.churchhotel.com.vn

See you all soon!

Steve.

Chinatown and the Night Safari

On Thursday morning, we headed off for some more shopping and exploring, this time heading towards Chinatown. There are some amazing shops, especially in the Handicrafts section of one of the big shopping centres (can't recall its name). I'd suggest hitting the markets first though, as there are a few things in the shops that can be found for about half the price at the nearby markets.
Satays and beer for lunch in the Chinatown market, then back home to rest and get ready for the zoo.

We jumped in a taxi around 6.30pm to head off to the Night Safari at the zoo. Unfortunately, it was peak hour! Still, the trip only cost about $16SIN, even though we were going to the other side of the island.
The Night Safari was great fun, with Caitlin's favourites being the tigers, leopards and snakes.

Caitlin has asked me to say that she had lots of fun! :-)

Singapore and Sentosa

Hi again,

Last night, Van and Geoff took us for a wander around town. First stop was the Zion Riverside hawkers markets, where the average price for a really yummy meal is $3 Singapore (!) Mmmmmmm.....!
Then we boogied over to the Bugis St markets for a look, which was a rabbit warren of cheap clothes, souvenirs, fruit and vegies and assorted trinkets.
We wandered a bit more, discovering that once the shops shut at 10pm (they open around 10am), it can be hard to get a cab. Poor Geoff and Van ended up calling a cab for us and walking home themselves.

After wandering around for an hour or so yesterday before the shops opened, we decided to start a bit later today. After the humidity of the last few days (and it's pretty extreme even by our standards!), we got some welcome rain this morning.

I dragged the girls down to the Funan IT Market, which is basically a multi-storey shopping centre with 90% of the shops devoted to electronic toys and gadgets. After another great feed (about $20 SIN for the 4 of us), I set off to find some toys... Most things seem to be about 10% less than they are in Aus, with a few bargains and a few things much the same price. Saw some nice LCD and Plasma TVs at good prices, which would look nice in our lounge room, but maybe not today... After an hour or so, Rach dragged me kicking and screaming out of there...I'll head back again when the girls are otherwise occupied ;-)

Then we jumped in a cab for Mt Faber, to ride the cable car to Sentosa Island.
Cost: $46 SIN for the 4 of us (return), but you do get a great view on the way over.

Caitlin and I jumped into a luge and took the fast track down the hill to the beach.
It was thirsty work, but at $10 a can for a beer at the beach bar, we decided it could wait!

We wandered some more, checking out the 5.00pm fountain show, and then made our way back up to the cable car.

If you really want to, there are plenty of ways to empty your wallet on Sentosa, but we're saving ourselves up for VN.

Feeling a bit weary after all this walking, but I figure that every half hour of walking equates to about $5 worth of food and $50 worth of beer... Might have to revise those figures when we get to Vietnam... or not!

Not sure what we're up to tonight, but I'm sure it'll involve something that threaten's Rach's supposed "holiday diet"

:-)

Steve.

Hello, Finally got some sleep this afternoon! Got the 3am flight out of Darwin this morning!Thats a fun experience. Can't wait to do that again! Got a taxi from the budget terminal to Geoff & Van's place. They have a fantastic place right in town and definitely a monumental change from the Darwin motel (it was more like a refugee camp... I kid you not there were guards minding some indonesian looking folk) Tiger Airways plane was pretty good - no frills and a free for all getting a seat on the aircraft, which can be a bit disconcerting at 3am! All in all it was a pretty good flight for $28 dollars return for 4 of us (plus $740 in taxes). We had lunch at a place called 'DinTai Fung' a Taiwanese restaurant that is the most hygenic efficent place I have ever eaten at, some of the waiters had masks on when they served food - little bizarre but yummy food - they have a claim to fame for being ranked one of the top ten restaurants in the world by the New York Times. Recommend it. Singaporeans appear to be a highly efficient bunch. We are here until Sunday afternoon. Currently slugging down a "Bombay Sapphire" (duty free 1 litre for $27!) We are off to eat again in a moment.... I'll post some piccies. Love Rachel ;-p