We really are getting to see the height of monsoonal weather here. I took the plunge (literally) late yesterday afternoon and swam in the pouring rain in the pool on board. So refreshing. I wouldn’t be bothered doing that at home 🙂 . This morning’s tour I had reservations about going on. I spoke with our tour guide yesterday and he assured me I could minimise my exposure to the things I wasn’t keen to see. We went to the…
Another early start today where we were tendered in a Sampan across to Thoi Binh Island where we sampled local produce from the community. The island has a network of canals dug from the Mekong to irrigate the fruit trees. First stop was to sample honey whisky and cooked rice paper with honey tea made from honey sourced from the property. Next we sampled a variety of fruit, most of which we don’t see too often back home. The most…
Before I start on today’s adventures, we’ll start with Sandra and Glenn’s tour from last night…. We had a group of 10 (6 from our group and 4 from another tour) for our street food experience which started in the old quarter at a family owned shop front. We started with Vietnamese tumeric pancakes then sampled rice paper spring rolls and cupcakes made of rice. Local pizza then dessert of coconut icecream all while walking through seafood markets and flower…
Early start today to head to the Cu Chi tunnels. It was another interesting bus ride out of Saigon (the locals still call Ho Chi Minh City this). Even on a weekend the city is bustling. Once out of the city centre underground power was replaced with overhead as we transitioned to less dense towns and finally villages with crops and produce. I’m still in awe at the state of the power supply which still seems to work as required. …
Today was spent travelling. We headed out for one last walk this morning after breakfast and the boys picked up some ‘The North Face’ shorts. Apparently Bob’s clothes are feeling a bit tighter than they were at home… We piled into our bus and headed back to the airport. Travel is ridiculously slow in the traffic and we all were just glued to the windows watching the sights of daily life in a busy city. We passed by the famous…
Another day in Hanoi today that wasn’t on the original itinerary. We have had a full day of exploring with lots of information from our lovely tour guide ‘Tom’. We almost made it through the day without rain 🙂 . The day started with a visit to Turtle lake. We walked across the red bridge to the Ngoc Son temple. The lake has a long history as the home of rare large turtles, which have died out in the lake…
After the disappointment of finding out our 3 day cruise was being reduced to less than 24 hours, we got up this morning and caught the tender across to Ti Top Island where we walked up 400 straight steps to get a vantage point from the peak. It was a heart starter for sure! And the weather stopped raining for the duration of the climb which was a bonus. The 360 degree view from the top was once again amazing….
We were excited this morning when our tour guide informed us that the Halong Bay tour was confirmed for the next 2 nights. Everyone we have met over the last 2 days have had their tours cancelled (understandably), so we are feeling quite lucky that it is all coming together. A perfect start to Sandra and Glenn’s 30th wedding anniversary. We departed Hanoi at 9am and watched the change in urban density and typhoon damage over the next 2.5…
Today we headed out on foot for the 2.3km walk to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. The staff at our hotel told us it was too far to walk but we were keen. However, even though we had been out and about in the rain yesterday, today I (and I think the others too) found the combination of temperature, humidity and lack of breeze oppressive. The locals don’t walk around at all – hence the insane number of vespers on…
Before we start on today’s adventures, I need to finish off yesterday’s update…. After finally taking off from Sydney yesterday afternoon we had a bit of a bumpy ride across to Vietnam. With a couple of hours to go we were advised the weather in Hanoi was still too severe and the airport hadn’t opened. We were diverted to Da Nang where we sat on the tarmac for 2.5 hours until the weather had passed in Hanoi. Eventually at 330am…