San Diego to Vegas

From San Diego, we weren't sure whether to head up to Yosemite and stay a few days, or take a diversion through Nevada... We decided on Neon over Nature, and hit the road to Vegas!

First stop was Temecula, in wine country just outside San Diego, but we were heading to wine country out of San Francisco in a few days, so no time for tasting just yet.

Along the way, we passed through Corona, California - home of Fender guitars. I couldn't resist the pilgrimage, so we took a short diversion to the birthplace of my Stratocaster to pay my respects and witness the magic!

The factory tour was great, and recommended to any rock and roll nerds out there... The guitar bodies might be precision cut using robotic machines, and the environmental management systems are state of the art (the air coming out of the factory is cleaner than the air going in!) but pretty much every step of the build is hands-on craftsmanship. We even met a lady who has been hand-winding the magnetic pickups since 1956 - she's something of a celebrity there!

 


Best of all, I got to spend time in the ultimate guitar players toyshop... you can pull down any guitar from the wall in their "playroom" and plug it into any amp... Nice!

The rest of the day's drive was long... not helped by major traffic jams that added a few hours to the trip, but before too long, we were rolling out of the desert and into the insanity of Las Vegas!

This is a heavily condensed version of events - hopefully once I catch up on the blog we'll start updating as we go again. Next chapter... Vegas and Yosemite!

Steve.

Time for a catchup!

Things have been a bit quiet on the blog front, so I'd better post an update...

Our princess in hollywood, as promised:

 

After LA, we swapped our little convertible for an enormous Chevy Suburban SUV, and hit the road for San Diego (with one more stop off at Disneyland for good measure!)

Flying by the seat of our pants as usual, we rolled into San Diego with no accommodation pre-booked. We wandered around and found a place called the Handlery Hotel, which ended up being exactly what we needed - our room stepped straight onto the (huge) pool, where Caitlin and Estella made some new friends, and on our second night they even had a live band poolside!
Seaworld San Diego was great fun, but by the end of the day we were all theme-parked out.

Given how close we were to Mexico, we decided to slip over the border for lunch in Tijuana... If you're in that neck of the woods my advice would be "Don't bother!!" Apparently it used to be a happening place, but since the rise of the criminal cartels, there's an eerie air of dread around the almost empty streets on the Mexico side of the border. Still, we pushed on to the main street and stopped in for a bite of lunch. Not sure if it was authentic, but as far as Mexican food goes, we had much better in Hawaii and later in New Orleans...

As we came back across the border after lunch, the US Customs guy was quite amused that we were there... wondering if perhaps we'd got lost and accidentally stumbled across to Mexico!

Next stop... Vegas!

A windy New Orleans

I write this post from the very nice bar at the Loews Hotel in New Orleans.  Jazz music echoes through the hotel however the atmosphere is quiet.  The music is a little muffled by the TV's which are all on the weather channel.  We are currently expecting Hurricane Isaac which is about 80 miles off the south east coast of Louisiana... where New Orleans happens to be!  The staff are smartly dressed and polite.  They also seemed relaxed but with a hint of apprehension (I believe the hotel management invited the staff to stay at the hotel with their families and pets - which I think is fantastic). 

Six or Seven years ago I watched on TV the disaster that Hurricane Katrina bore on Louisiana and Mississippi so I can certainly understand their apprehension. Isaac is not as powerful as Katrina but it is big in size but I have just read that $15 billion dollars has been spent on building, repairing and strengthening the levies and barriers. I hope that they work and I'm sure they will but I understand that New Orleans is below sea level so I guess it is always going to be a struggle to keep the waters out.  Anyway I'd love to tell you more about New Orleans but we can't leave the hotel until probably Thursday... hopefully (its Tuesday lunchtime right now).  Its OK... the barman makes a sweet 'Zen Garden'... mmmmmm.

p.s We have a great view of the Mississippi from our hotel room on the 14th floor so I'll try to update on whats happening.  Oh... and poor mum who was suppose to be here this afternoon will not make it past Dallas as all flights in and out of New Orleans are now cancelled.  Hope to see you tomorrow mum!

R.

Adventures in the City of Angels...

Probably about time I updated the blog! What day is it???  :-)

We arrived in LA on Tuesday night local time, and decided to spring for a limo given that the cost wasn't that different to a taxi... Caitlin and Estella were impressed!

Our hotel is in Glendale, on the way to Pasadena in the North East corner of LA. It's a little 2 story place built in 1924... before elevators were widely available by the looks! Oh well... all this climbing up the stairs is probably doing us good. There's a nice little Jazz bar/restaurant underneath the hotel http://www.jaxbarandgrill.com 

Cruisin through the Hollywood hills with the top down!

We've spent the week braving the insanity that is LA traffic... It's not too far to Universal Studios and Hollywood etc from here, but a bit of a hike to Disneyland, as we found out on Friday. We might go down to Anaheim tomorrow night so we can finish our Disney adventures without worrying about night traffic on the freeway.

Yes, that's a chandelier on the street... Glendale (or more specifically The Americana at Glendale) is a bit "Pleasantville"!

Universal Studios was awesome - we all agreed that the Simpsons ride was even better than the high-tech 3-D Transformers one. Between us we managed to make most of the rides... We couldn't face the lines, but worked out a loophole... we could buy 2 front of line passes, and one of us could stay with Estella at the "Kid Check" area, then swap over... so neither adult had to wait, and Caitlin got 2 rides on most of them! Sweet.

Estella has proven to be the biggest wuss we've ever seen... We even had to leave the Shrek 4-D movie with her screaming in horror... Oh well, Caitlin more than makes up in the daring department!

Disneyland was fun, but hard work... temps in the 30s, with bugger all shade, and awful long lines everywhere. At least they let you pick up a "fastpass" on the busiest rides, so you can come back an hour later without waiting. 

I'm quite surprised to find that most of the themepark menu options are reasonably priced and pretty healthy, but even without sugar, Estella managed to pull off a mega-tanty nice and early in the day when I refused to pay double the normal price for a princess dress for her - Oh, and did I mention they don't sell beer at Disneyland! (Well not in the main park)... Screaming kid, hot day, long lines and no relief... it didn't get off to a good start! Still, we had a lot of fun in the end, and are all looking forward to going back for California Adventure Park over the next few days.

Santa Monica Pier

Oh my god... We went to the Getty yesterday... Beautiful place, with an amazing restaurant (best food of the trip so far in my book), and they had a Klimt exhibition... We were all enjoying the gallery until Estella went into absolute meltdown mode... Ended up with security chasing her and Rach out after she tried to handle the artwork... Oooops. The tantrum didn't end there of course... Not before we'd carried the screaming beast out of the gallery and down the steps to the tram (which takes you down the hill to the carpark), and one of the nice ladies who work there came over and somehow defused Estella.

 

Today we took a trip to Downtown LA, and wandered around the fashion district... reminded me of the markets in KL or Singapore a bit... then over to Beverley Hills for a look at the other "fashion district". After lunch on Rodeo Dve, Estella put on her new Princess Rapunzel dress, and hit Hollywood Blvd!

:-) Everyone was very impressed to see a "real" princess out in public!!! Will copy the photos over in a moment and post them tonight.

Will also try to keep up the posting, instead of trying to cram it all in at the end of the week.

Having a great time!

Steve, Rach, Caitlin and Estella

Aloha Amigos...still on the North Shore, Oahu, HI.

Aloha,

Sunday afternoon on the North shore... we are worn out from walking, beaching, swimming and ledge jumping!!  No ledge jumping for me...  too many teenage boys to weave through to get to the edge... thats my excuse anyway.  I'll post pictures of Steve and Caitlin jumping off the ledge.  Caitlin shamed all the adults and older kids who were standing up there too scaredy to jump!

Yep, that's Caitlin mid jump!

Earlier we spent the morning walking and swimming albeit very briefly at the Waimea Falls.  The walk through the very well looked after gardens in the valley was worth it but the pretty small pool at the bottom of the falls (the pictures are a little more exciting than it is + $37 for 3 of us to go in).  Special mention has to go to the over zealous lifeguard(s), they told me off as Estella was about 3ft away from me... not in the water... not even near the water but sitting down with a life jacket on... it was weird.  They wouldn't let Caitlin hop in without a life jacket -13+ you have to be.  I could dive in and be across the other side in about 4 seconds.  We know America is a litigious society but at this place they are OTT... made it uncomfortable ... no problems, off to the beach again!   Worth a look around the beautiful gardens but if you have seen any waterfalls or swimming holes in Australia you would be disappointed.  Don't prioritise the falls but if you love nice gardens the mile walk in is worth it.

But the beaches.... I'm not so much a beach person but even I haven't resisted being on the beach everyday since we have been here.  I have never seen such great snorkelling off the beach and I've sat on a few beaches!  Turtles everywhere... apparently you can go to jail if you hurt a turtle here and as a result they cruise in the shallows and surf the waves... its a beautiful sight.  It's difficult to explain the north shore but there is no where too fancy looking, the best mexican I have ever had was out of a van on the beach, chooks weirdly wander everywhere, parking is a nightmare, the weather is pretty much perfect day and night!

I'd like to come back, rent a place directly on the beach with a few mates and just chill out.  Snorkel, do nothing, snorkel, drink beer, have a snooze, eat, drink beer, go for a swim... the next day would be much the same - I'm sure you get the picture.  You'd have to toss a coin about who gets in the car to go get more beer and food but at $20 for a carton of Corona you can be the big spender!

The most stress, and I wouldn't exactly call it stress is looking for a place to stay at our next location.  I read that the key to happiness at disneyland is a good strategy therefore I am going 'Walt' and doing some more planning.

So, any good ideas for the next 5 weeks based on the following places and datelines would be appreciated.

California (we have plans for LA for at least five days.. except a hotel which I will try to finalise by tomorrow) so cruising out of LA from about the 13th August to 26th August around really a 500 kms radius I guess...
Nawlins aka New Orleans 26th August - 3 September
New York (and maybe east Canada) 3 September - 18th September
Then...Europe for 8 weeks... I can't think that far ahead but will take all advice given as I haven't been back there since AD (after darlings... or demons...).

Maholo.

XXOO
Rachel

North Shore

Nice.

I can see why people come to Hawaii to retire... Forget Waikiki or golf courses or gated communities (although we are staying in one for the next 6 nights, complete with 3 pools, tennis courts and a fancy resort next door)... This is a beautiful part of the world.

We've been a bit stressed the last couple of days, as our "she'll be right" approach to booking accommodation - we booked a total of 3 nights for our entire 5 months away - started to look fatally flawed when we found out that Hawaii was facing an influx of defense (sic) personnel and end of summer holidayers. Most of the big accommodation websites had nothing at all available this week. Yep... Nothing! Still, our initial fear that the only thing we could get would cost us $400+ a night (or sleep in the hire car) gave way to a happy find... A two bedroom (kids upstairs in the mezzanine) apartment for $125++ a night right where we wanted to be in turtle bay.

We're 10 minutes away from the famous Banzai Pipeline (yes, THE pipeline for those surf guitar tragics out there), but this time of year the surf is pretty small. Rach and Caitlin even saw some turtles off the beach while "diving" off the beach in 6 foot of water without even the need for snorkels and flippers - just the trusty old Zoggs.

Will post some photos soon... Just doing this update from my phone while having a quiet beer on our "lanai" or verandah.

Life's ok.

Cheers
Steve

Tech tip for Aussie iPhone in USA

To use your iPhone with decent data speeds, go to AT&T, ask for a prepaid gophone microsim. They'll say "doesn't work with iPhone" tell them you want one anyway and don't take no for an answer. Pay $25 for voice and text (doesn't cover calls to Australia - they are extra) and $25 for 1GB data. Find some free wifi, click to register the SIM, then go to www.unlockit.co.nz and choose the AT&T APN settings.
That's it. 4G working nicely on my iPhone 4S, but no ability to create a hotspot (yet).

Aloha!

Greetings from Hawaii! We arrived Sunday morning about 9am local time ( about 3am Monday WA time!), and took a day or so to get over jetlag and acclimatise, but nearly there now... although I'm still the only one awake this morning at 9.13am local time :-)

I think we had the oldest plane in the Qantas fleet, but we made it...

I expected Waikiki to be insanely busy and over-developed, and to some extent it is, but I can see why it's so popular. The beach is fantastic... way too crowded for me, but beautiful clear blue water at just the right temperature. We've been very restrained with shopping so far, but prices are pretty good.

One thing I'll say for sure - don't bother buying duty free alcohol before you come here!... Check this out:

Yep... $12.99 for a 750ml bottle of CC... The small bottle to the left was $6.99, but I paid $9.99 for one duty free in Australia before we left... bummer

We're staying at Aqua Bamboo Waikiki at the moment, which is a nice little hotel a couple of streets back from the beach. We can see ocean glimpses from our balcony on one side, and off to the hills from the other side. Probably the best view on our floor is from the outdoor laundry just outside our room!

So far, we've been for walks, had a couple of quiet drinks at a beachside bar, eaten at Denny's diner (pretty average really), the Cheesecake Factory (awesome - great menu and service...no it's not just a cakeshop) and BBQ with John, Sarah and Gianna, and checked out Ala Moana shopping centre.

Today we're organising our travels for the next week... hoping to head up to the North Shore for a few days. Will post soon.
Steve.

Further adventures of the Broome Mob Abroad

We're back! And this time we're off around the world - first stop Hawaii - arriving Sunday 29th July 2012...

watch this space!

And if you're a twit, I may even get around to posting our travels on Twitter - @broomemobabroad

:-)

Steve

McKinleys in South America

For anyone who might be looking for the continuing adventures of the Broome Mob - Wendy and Greg in South America - check out:

WendyMac on Travelpod

Goodnight Saigon (re-posted)

Hi all,

For some reason I can't log into the blog site to post photos or comments... Wendy - what have you done??? :-)

Anyway, tonight is our last night in Vietnam, so it's "Goodnight Saigon" for now...

Rach and Yvonne have done the team proud today... still shopping in the face of extreme luggage and sore feet!

We've all had fantastic time here, and would recommend it to anyone and everyone. As long as you come armed with a little bit of patience, a bit of forward planning and a willingness to eat and drink more than you thought possible back home, a great time is guaranteed!

Looking forward to getting back home, but I know it won't be long before we start thinking about the next trip out into the big wide world!

Thanks to all for your comments and questions...

Watch this space for the McKinley's South American Odyssey next!!!!

Cheers
Steve

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.