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Nha Trang

A 10 hour day time train ride took us to the beach resort of Nha Trang.

Its a big Russian tourist destination, so everything (Hotels, Restaurants, Tours etc) are geared up for the Russians. That being said the beach is really nice and it was great to just chill for a good few days on the beach.

On our penultimate day we got the cable car across to the VinPearl Resort. The cable car is the largest over sea cable car in the world and actually goes really fast!

The resort has a waterpark, aquarium and some theme park style rides - it feels a bit like a tacky version of Atlantis the Palm in Dubai. We went on the one person rollercoaster, which is like nothing I’ve seen before! You get in a car on your own, which is on a rollercoaster track. You control the car using a break. The coaster goes to the top of the mountain which has amazing views, and then you fly down the hill. FUN!

Hoi An

We took an overnight sleeper train from Hanoi to Hoi An which takes about 14 hours. The last part of the train journey has amazing views over the coastline.

Hoi An is a small city, with an ancient town on the river, where the old buildings are preserved beautifully. The town was an old silk trading port, and is now full of tailors ready to create you a made to measure outfit. I initially didn’t really like the place, I think mostly down to the hassling by the shop owners and street hawkers.

However, I soon grew to really like the place, it has really good coffee shops and some really interesting shops (if you move away from the river you don’t get hassled at all).

It was mid autumn festival whilst we are there. Group of children and teenagers dress as lions and dance in shops, bars and in the street. Also one evening all the shops along the river turned off their lights and everything was lit only by lanterns. Its really pretty.

Hoi An also has a great beach, called An Bang beach. We cycled there in the hot sunshine, then spent the days chilling on loungers and swimming in the sea. The beach area is quite undeveloped. Lots of beach shack restaurants, but no multi-story modern buildings. It was so quiet, it really felt like paradise.

#travel #vietnam #hoian #starttheadventure

Ha Long Bay

We booked a trip for 2 days & 1 night to Ha Long Bay from Hanoi. The bus picked us up in the morning in heavy rain and took us to the port in Ha Long. Fortunately the rain eased up a bit as we pulled into the bay.

We got on a small boat which took us to our Junk boat - the A Class Legend. The boat was quite nice, we had a nice room with air con and a decent shower.

We sailed through the bay as we ate a huge lunch, the feel of the place is hard to describe. Its peaceful even though there are lots of tourist boats, but it feels a bit creepy to - hard to explain!

We pulled up close to Tito Island, took the small boat over to the island and climbed the 400+ steps to the top of the mountain to see the view. The climb was hard and sweaty but totally worth it!

We headed back to the Junk boat again, and travelled to an old fishing village. Apparently the Vietnamese government have now provided housing for the people who used to live on the water so now its just there to show tourists. The good thing was that we got to kayak around though - but Steve and I are useless at steering a kayak!

We had a huge dinner on the boat and then headed to bed. In the morning we were up early and headed to the “Amazing Cave”. Personally i don’t think it was that amazing. Full of tourists walking really slowly, and it was really hot!

After that we headed to back to the bay, had lunch and then were back on the bus back to Hanoi.

#hanoi #halongbay #vietnam #travel #starttheadventure

Hanoi

We flew into Hanoi from Luang Prabang. The flight was only an hour long. We had arranged a transfer from the airport to the hotel, and there was a young guy waiting to pick us up in a nice new Toyota! Driving into Hanoi everything seemed so much more modern than Laos. And as we got the near the old quarter we encounter the motorbikes!

We checked into our hotel and were given directions to find food, so we ventured out. Nothing can prepare you for this experience! There are hundreds of motorbikes and scooters whizzing through the streets, 3-4 deep in each lane. It seems impossible to be able to cross the road, but you just have to be confident and walk slowly out into the road. They will drive around you - it is scary at first but after a few days I kind of liked the chaos!

Our hotel (Tu Linh Legend) was great, in a perfect location in the old quarter. The staff we so friendly alway chatting when we got back in and they all knew our names.

My favourite thing about hanoi must be the Bahn Mi! There was a pavement stall a few blocks from our hotel and the guy made the best most tasty Bahn mi. Crunchy bread, pate, ham, sausage, salad and mildly spicy sauce. Food heaven.

The second thing was Bia Hoi. We were the only foreigners in the place. Basically the guy has a tank of beer, and pours it into the classes using a hosepipe! At 23 pence a glass - it is very nice!

We visited the Ho La prison which has a lot of history. The way the vietnamese were treated in the past was horrific. Strangely when americans were held there during the conflict they were treated well.....

We arranged a trip to Halong Bay (Covered in my next post!), and after two days we returned to the hotel which seemed like home. Unfortunately I was ill that night (i’ll save the details) so we spent the night in the hotel before catching the train to Hoi An the next day.

Luang Prabang

We stayed in Luang Prabang Laos for 5 nights. Its an old french style town which is a UNESCO world heritage site. The old buildings are protected from development and it really is a pretty place. At times it does feel like you are in France more than Asia though! There is a big tourist scene and there are lots of wine bars and bakeries lining the main street.

The people in Laos are really friendly, more so than anywhere else so far in Asia. The staff in our hotel were great - giving us details of all the best places to go and eat. They also like to sit with us to practice their english.

The first night we ate at Tamarind Restaurant. Owned by an Aussie and her Lao husband, they do a really good job of explaining the Lao cuisine to diners. We had foods we’d never eaten before and really enjoyed it....fried bamboo and sour pork anyone?!

In the centre of town is Mount Phousi, where you can climb nearly 400 steps up to a temple with a panoramic view of the city. The view is worth the very sweaty climb, but unfortunately it was cloudy on the day we went up so we didn’t see the sunset.

We took a trip to Kuang Si Waterfalls around 30km out of town. To get to the waterfall you walk through a bear sanctuary. The bears have been rescued from poachers and are so amazing!

The waterfall itself is stunning. You walk up through various pools and falls until you reach the top waterfall. The water flows so fast and the spray is immense so you get soaked! The water is turquoise in colour which is inviting for a swim in one of the pools. The floor is really slippy though and the water not that refreshing so I only went in up to my knees...

#travel #laos #kuangsiwaterfall #luangprabang

Slow Boat Down the Mekong - Part 2

We woke early the next morning, and as promised by the hotel owner the previous night, there were elephants bathing in the river right across from our room! There is an elephant sanctuary on the other side of the river, and the owner takes the elephants down each morning for a bath - this suddenly made up for the bad nights sleep! We made our way down to the boat pier at around 7 am and were first on the boat, shortly followed by many more tourists and locals. A couple didn't have tickets as they booked through a tout so we were delayed leaving by over an hour whilst this was resolved (it was quite entertaining though!) Finally we were on our 6 hour journey to Luang Prabang.

It seemed slower than the previous day I think as we were used to the scenery! The boat stopped to drop some locals off, and there was an elephant on the beach! The elephant had a harness on and was pulling logs, but then it's owner took it down to bathe in the river - this was magical!

After hours and hours we reached Luang Prabang "new pier", which is actually 10km outside the city. We were aware of this and had read that a tuk tuk into town would be 20k kip. When we climbed to the top of the pier we were informed that it would be 20k kip each and that the tuk tuk had to be shared with two other people! We got in and had a very bumpy ride into town. We were then dropped right in the centre of town not at our hotel, and we had no idea how to get there! After 15 mins wandering around and asking people we finally reached Nam Khan riverside hotel.

#travel #laos #elephants

Slow Boat Down the Mekong Part 1

After Chiang Mai, our next destination was Luang Prabang in Laos. Its quite a long journey and there are various options e.g flight, bus etc

We chose the slow boat, as we had the time and I liked the idea of taking in the scenary slowly on the river! We booked the trip from an agent in Chiang Mai, knowing full well it was going to be a pretty basic option. Mini Van to Chiang Khong > Transfer to Thai/Laos Boarder > Public Slow Boat to Pakbeng > Public showboat to Luang Prabang.

So the mini van driver was in a hurry for lunch, driving at 120 kph+ down windy hills with 40 kpm speed limit. Luckily we reached the lunch spot after an hour so he could eat! The food was good but very over priced and we then continued on to Chiang Mai. We were staying in the Nam Khong Guesthouse which I guess you can’t complain too much about due to the price. But the walls between each room were wooden, so you could hear your neighbours. The room only had a fan so it was unbearably hot and the shared toilets/showers were gross.

The next morning we were up early and headed through the boarder to the pier. We had to wait a couple of hours for all the passengers to board before we finally departed.

I’d heard some pretty bad stories about the public slow boats, but I think the boats themselves were fine. We had a double old car seat between us and there was plenty of room on the boat. The locals were all at the front and the boat was loaded with their live chickens, bags of fruit and scooters!

The scenery is spectacular, large areas of jungle and it actually looks a bit like a Norwegian fjord even though the water is very muddy!

It was great stopping of in the middle of nowhere and the lao people getting on and off and loading/unloading their goods.

In about 5 hours we reached Pakbeng which is where we were staying for the night. We hadn’t booked any accommodation and unfortunately got a bit disorientated when we got of the boat. I think the guest house we stayed at is one of the most expensive even though we knocked him down from 400000 LAK to 200000 LAK. The room was nice but open to the elements and with only a fan we had another very hot, sweaty and insect filled night.

#travel #slowboat #laos

#chiangmai #burgerbox #thaiboxing #thailand

Chiang Mai

I love this little city. It was such a welcome relief from hectic Bangkok.

We stayed at Sakorn residence, which was a really peaceful place. Just across the Ping river from the main city meant it was nice and quiet and as a bonus it had a really nice pool area. Perfect for cooling off when you get back from a day in the city.

There are so many beautiful temples in Chaing Mai, we saw quite a few which are dotted through the main city.

The night bazaar is good, same kind of thing for sale as in the Bangkok markets though. We did find an amazing street food market, which had great food for really cheap prices. Great Pad Thai, and Satay but but favourite was actually the Burger Box. Lush burgers and the best chips ever! Hand cut really thin and delicious.

On the Friday night we went to the Thai boxing, which was so much fun. We had great seats sitting next to one of the schools that had pupils fighting that night. The locals were all standing behind us betting on the various bouts. The fights were good, a great KO by a chinese fighter. There was also an english guy fighting a thai fighter and that was a great fight.

#chiangmai #thaistreetfood #thaiboxing

Overnight Sleeper Train - Bangkok to Chiang Mai

So the day had come to catch the train up to Chiang Mai. We had chosen the 2nd class AC sleeper train - a 13 hour journey.

When we got onto the carriage I was really impressed, we had a huge chair each (these later convert to the bottom bunk). The train was really clean and if anything a bit too cold as the AC was on really strongly.

We had a great dinner for 180 Bhat each, served at our seat. Soup, Chicken & Cashew nuts, Duck Curry and fruit.

The guard converted our beds for sleeping and I climbed into the top bunk. It was comfortable, but the train is so bumpy its almost impossible to sleep. I think I got a few hours before climbing down to the bottom bunk to join Steve to watch the sunrise through the window.

#travel #bangkok #grandpalacebangkok

Bangkok

Our flight to Bangkok was great - 3 seats between the 2 of us on an A380. There was some scary lightning in the sky as we descended into Bangkok airport though!

Bangkok was as crazy as I’d expected. Hot (but not as hot as Dubai thankfully), smells of amazing street food at every turn and the crazy Thai people who are so friendly.

We visited Chutuchuk weekend market which was epic! Absolutely huge and such a wide range of stuff for sale. The best bit is that the stall holders don’t even hassle you like they do in a lot of markets, so its a much better experience.

We got a ferry up to the Grand Palace. The streets surrounding the area are full of touts telling you that the palace is shut, they were so annoying! The palace itself is amazing. The detailed pictures in on the walls, and the gold + the Emerald Buddha. The place is really really crowded though which makes it hard going.

#travel #bangkok

Dubai

Steve's Leap of Faith

#atlantispalm

Dubai

Hot Hot Hot! Wow 45 degree heat is unbelievable. Unable to really walk around outside. The heat was unbearable.

On our first day we went to the Burj Khalifa, which is the tallest building in the world. The view from the 148th floor was incredible, but like everything in Dubai it was very expensive.

Day 2 we tried to cool off by going to Atlantis the Palm water park. The hotel is incredible, almost like another world, but so westernised. The park was great though and Steve had a lot of fun going on the scary waterslides. Afterwards we went to the lost chambers aquarium which is really good. The tanks they have to keep the fish/sharks/rays etc in are huge and I thought it was good.

#atlantispalm #leapoffaith

Dubai - old town (view from our hotel window)

The Start

Our last week in England was manic. Moving out of our house and saying goodbye to family took way longer than we thought! But on 1st September we boarded the plane to Dubai....

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