Hello from "Happy Guesthouse", Siem Reap, Cambodia.
It is currently a cool afternoon with lots of evil thunder threatening us with rain which believe it or not is a nice change from the extreme heat we have been experiencing!
Now to pick up where I left off...
Our next stop after Hoi An, Vietnam was Nha Trang. We boarded another sleeper bus and set off on another long journey south to the beach town. We arrived at 6.am in the morning and to our suprise the beach was heaving with people. It seems that 6.am is a great time to play beach sports, do some aerobics, practice dance routines and swim in the sea! We found a hotel straight away and then decided to follow suit and head onto the beach our selves. We lay under huge thatched umbrellas on some surprisingly comfy sun loungers and read, caught up on sleep and when we were ready had a lovely dip in the sea! The sea was actually a lot colder than the sea in Hoi An and the beach wasn't as nice but I can't complain it was still lovely! The next day we decided to take a trip over to a small island called 'Vin Pearl Island'. Vin Pearl belongs to a millionaire who thought it would be fun to have his own theme park, sort of like Michael Jacksons Neverland if you ask me! We took the worlds longest over water cable car and reached the crazy island after about 15 minutes. Our first stop was the water park! We were all really excited and practically ran towards the huge gates feeling like little kids going to a theme park for the first time. Daniel, Chris and I decided to be super brave and go on one of the biggest slides (one that makes you go head first might I add) only to have a small disaster at the end! The ride is scary enough as you can imagine going head first, a million miles an hour, water splashing in your eyes only to get to the bottom and see that a strange lump has appeared on Daniel's elbow! We all automatically thought the worse,"the lump was bone, he has broken his arm, wheres the travel insurance!?" Fortunately he was rushed to the doctor who didn't speak a word of English who poked and prodded, bandaged him up and within about 10 minutes sent him on his way with us so we could all enjoy the wave machine. We went on a few more rides that we all highly questioned the security of before heading on to the aquarium for a little rest and relaxation. We enjoyed the long cable car journey back and that evening found something we had all been dreaming of...CHEESY CHIPS AND GRAVY! Oh yes! Who would believe it in Vietnam we could find a treat as good as that. It sounds very sad I know but when you've been away for a while its the small things you miss and it was a great taste of home!
We only stayed for a few days in Nha Trang before moving to our last city in Vietnam, Saigon (otherwise known as Ho Chi Min City). We had plenty to do in Saigon and we made sure that we made the most of it. We did lots of walking around, visited the war museum, found lovely parks to stroll through, made friends with a monk, enjoyed Edward Scissor hands style trees and bushes and visited the royal palace and this was only in the first day and a half. Chris and I had a great trip down the Mekong river visiting a coconut candy factory. We rode on a horse and carriage, rode down the Mekong in a tiny boat, ate "Elephant Ear" fish (well I did), tried loads of amazing fresh fruit, listened to the locals perform music, tasted coconut liqueur and honey tea and saw how rice paper is made. The next few days in Saigon were great, we met our dear friends Mike and Ellie again who took us to the most amazing street cafe where Steph and I ate the HUGEST most amazing prawns and lovely garlic rice. We obviously had a few beer and laughter filled evenings with our pals and managed to visit the amazing Cu Chi tunnels before we left. The tunnels were crazy, I cannot believe that people actually lived in the tiniest tunnels under ground for 20 years. Chris and I only managed to crawl through 25meters worth of tunnels before getting really claustrophobic but Dan and Steph managed the whole 100. Quite a horrible experience but 100% worth a visit just to see how brave the people who lived in them were.
By the time we were due to get our bus to Cambodia we were all VERY excited to be moving on. I loved Vietnam and really enjoyed all the different things it had to offer but after 3 weeks I was itching to see another amazing country. Arriving in Cambodia was wonderful, I experienced my first ever tuk tuk ride and we were taken to our $3 a night hotel...what more could you ask for!? The amok curries are delicious and even though the beer isn't as cheap as Vietnam you can still get a cold can for 50cents. We had a cultured few days in Phnom Penh. We visited a few difficult places like the s21 museum and the killing fields which were extremely hard to not be affected by. The brutality and murder that took place at these sites is just shocking and it is so strange being allowed to walk around mass graves and especially to see bones and teeth that the ground brings up every time it rains. The most awful thing to see was a huge tree called the killing tree where soldiers would hold children and babies by their feet and hit their heads against the tree to kill them. We also visited the Royal Palace and saw some beautiful architecture, strolled round the Russian Markets and sampled some street food, walked round the huge temples and checked out the cool museum.
Cambodia is such an amazing place and we wish we had loads more time here to visit all of the small towns and spend longer in the cities. I will write next time about our visit to Angkor Wat as my eyes are going a little blurry from the computer screen and I can hear Chris's belly rumbling for some food! We are off to Thailand tomorrow and I cannot wait!!
Until next time!
LOADS OF LOVE
E XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Thursday 26 August 2010
Sunday 8 August 2010
Phosphorescent
Hello from Hoi An Vietnam!
Sorry again for the lack of blogs-it seems very hard to have time to sit down and tell you all about our adventures!
Firstly I will tell you all about our amazing Ha Long Bay experience. It really was one of those trips that I will remember for the rest of my life! We booked our tour with an agency called Kangaroo Cafe- (I highly recommend if any of you are in Vietnam to check them out, not only do they do great tours they do the best breakfast in Asia!) We met our group, a lovely Dutch family, a Spanish couple, a newly wed American/Australian couple and two fellow Brits called Jenny and Pat. The bus journey was around 4 hours long to Ha Long Bay and we got to see some great views of the city and the more rural areas. Arriving at the dock we all got giddy with excitement when we saw our ship- it looked like an old pirate ship and we really felt like we were off on an exciting expedition! They fed us a HUGE lunch, bringing out about 8 courses including fresh crabs, prawns, salads and noodles. After lunch we were shown to our rooms on the boat which were spacious, lovely and clean. We freshened up, sat on the front of the ship and enjoyed the journey through the bay to the "amazing caves". The caves were really interesting to look through but we soon felt pretty weary as there were about a million other tourists there and it was SO hot we all looked like we had taken a shower! Our guide realised that we all needed a bit of a break and a cooling down so we got back on the boat- anchored for the day and spent the rest of the afternoon jumping from the top of the boat into the warm sea! The whole evening was lovely and we got to know our group really well over a few beers, we had another fantastic feast for dinner and the boys even took part in a spot of night fishing! Our guide told us all about this amazing coral called 'Phosphorescent Coral' that at night shimmers when you disturb it. (If you have ever seen the film 'The Beach' its the stuff that surrounds Leo and the chick when they have a little kiss in the water!) I have to admit I thought it was a bit of a myth so we all decided to see for ourselves if it was true! Laura and Stephen (the newly wed's) were brave enough to jump into the dark water first followed closely by Chris, Dan, Steph, Pat, Jenny and myself! We had two pairs of goggles that we shared around and crazily enough it was 100% true!The phosphorescent shimmered like bits of glitter when you waved your hands in the water and was really, REALLY beautiful! We all considered ourselves very lucky to have seen such a magical thing and went to bed very happy after having such an awesome day.
The next day was just as great- The boat took us to Cat Ba Island and we set off to look at some more caves. This time we were the only people there and we explored spotting bats and glittering rocks. Our guide realised that our group was getting along really well and we all liked going to places that weren't over run by tourists so he offered to take us to a different part of the bay where we could rent kayaks and find our own beaches! Apart from our little night swimming adventure this was our favourite part of the trip. We were taken to a secluded area where a guy had a little floating house surrounded by a fish farm (where the biggest fish I have ever seen lived). We all rented kayaks and after about 30minutes found a deserted beach that was completely empty. We swam in the sea again, collected a few shells and then set back off for the boat. The rest of the afternoon was spent jumping off a higher point of the boat (very scary but super fun!) and drinking beer with our new friends. We were left to our own devices for dinner and the four of us plus Pat and Jenny found a place to eat on the island where we had about a million spring rolls and great conversation.
The next day we got up early to get back on the boat to mainland, we had a buffet breakfast and I have to say 6am is a very strange time to eat noodles and soup (the Vietnamese don't do breakfast like we do!). When we got to the boat we were all greatful as the weather was amazing and we took the opportunity to do a little bit of sunbathing on the top deck. The views were incredible and we were so lucky to have perfect weather so we could see everything clearly, (apparently two days before we arrived it had been pouring down with rain and some of the tours were cancelled!). We took some photos and swapped tips with Pat and Jenny who gave us some great recommendations of places to eat/stay etc. When we reached mainland we had lunch and then set back off on the bus to Hanoi fully content with our personal wonderful trip!
After Ha Long Bay we stayed in Hanoi for another three days walking around checking out the sights and enjoying some good food (and margarita cocktails!). We decided to get an all inclusive sleeper bus ticket that you can use to travel all over Vietnam. Our first stop was Hoi An with a five hour stop over in Hue. We were all dreading the sleeper bus but when we arrived at the bus stop we were all very pleasantly surprised at the amount of space we had. The journey was fine and we felt pretty good when we arrived in Hue. We found a restaurant that served ice tea for 1000dong (about 3p!) so after about a million of them we passed the time wandering through the sculpture park until our bus was ready to leave to Hoi An.
Hoi An has been wonderful so far- we got to catch up with our friends Mike and Ellie who yet again showed us some great places to eat and took Chris and I to a beautiful beach. We have had some clothes tailored (the best being a navy blue duffel coat with gold lining and initials on the front pocket for Chris for 30pounds!) and eaten the best aubergine hot pot known to man. Next stop is Na Trang so updates soon!!!
Loads of love
E xxxx
Sorry again for the lack of blogs-it seems very hard to have time to sit down and tell you all about our adventures!
Firstly I will tell you all about our amazing Ha Long Bay experience. It really was one of those trips that I will remember for the rest of my life! We booked our tour with an agency called Kangaroo Cafe- (I highly recommend if any of you are in Vietnam to check them out, not only do they do great tours they do the best breakfast in Asia!) We met our group, a lovely Dutch family, a Spanish couple, a newly wed American/Australian couple and two fellow Brits called Jenny and Pat. The bus journey was around 4 hours long to Ha Long Bay and we got to see some great views of the city and the more rural areas. Arriving at the dock we all got giddy with excitement when we saw our ship- it looked like an old pirate ship and we really felt like we were off on an exciting expedition! They fed us a HUGE lunch, bringing out about 8 courses including fresh crabs, prawns, salads and noodles. After lunch we were shown to our rooms on the boat which were spacious, lovely and clean. We freshened up, sat on the front of the ship and enjoyed the journey through the bay to the "amazing caves". The caves were really interesting to look through but we soon felt pretty weary as there were about a million other tourists there and it was SO hot we all looked like we had taken a shower! Our guide realised that we all needed a bit of a break and a cooling down so we got back on the boat- anchored for the day and spent the rest of the afternoon jumping from the top of the boat into the warm sea! The whole evening was lovely and we got to know our group really well over a few beers, we had another fantastic feast for dinner and the boys even took part in a spot of night fishing! Our guide told us all about this amazing coral called 'Phosphorescent Coral' that at night shimmers when you disturb it. (If you have ever seen the film 'The Beach' its the stuff that surrounds Leo and the chick when they have a little kiss in the water!) I have to admit I thought it was a bit of a myth so we all decided to see for ourselves if it was true! Laura and Stephen (the newly wed's) were brave enough to jump into the dark water first followed closely by Chris, Dan, Steph, Pat, Jenny and myself! We had two pairs of goggles that we shared around and crazily enough it was 100% true!The phosphorescent shimmered like bits of glitter when you waved your hands in the water and was really, REALLY beautiful! We all considered ourselves very lucky to have seen such a magical thing and went to bed very happy after having such an awesome day.
The next day was just as great- The boat took us to Cat Ba Island and we set off to look at some more caves. This time we were the only people there and we explored spotting bats and glittering rocks. Our guide realised that our group was getting along really well and we all liked going to places that weren't over run by tourists so he offered to take us to a different part of the bay where we could rent kayaks and find our own beaches! Apart from our little night swimming adventure this was our favourite part of the trip. We were taken to a secluded area where a guy had a little floating house surrounded by a fish farm (where the biggest fish I have ever seen lived). We all rented kayaks and after about 30minutes found a deserted beach that was completely empty. We swam in the sea again, collected a few shells and then set back off for the boat. The rest of the afternoon was spent jumping off a higher point of the boat (very scary but super fun!) and drinking beer with our new friends. We were left to our own devices for dinner and the four of us plus Pat and Jenny found a place to eat on the island where we had about a million spring rolls and great conversation.
The next day we got up early to get back on the boat to mainland, we had a buffet breakfast and I have to say 6am is a very strange time to eat noodles and soup (the Vietnamese don't do breakfast like we do!). When we got to the boat we were all greatful as the weather was amazing and we took the opportunity to do a little bit of sunbathing on the top deck. The views were incredible and we were so lucky to have perfect weather so we could see everything clearly, (apparently two days before we arrived it had been pouring down with rain and some of the tours were cancelled!). We took some photos and swapped tips with Pat and Jenny who gave us some great recommendations of places to eat/stay etc. When we reached mainland we had lunch and then set back off on the bus to Hanoi fully content with our personal wonderful trip!
After Ha Long Bay we stayed in Hanoi for another three days walking around checking out the sights and enjoying some good food (and margarita cocktails!). We decided to get an all inclusive sleeper bus ticket that you can use to travel all over Vietnam. Our first stop was Hoi An with a five hour stop over in Hue. We were all dreading the sleeper bus but when we arrived at the bus stop we were all very pleasantly surprised at the amount of space we had. The journey was fine and we felt pretty good when we arrived in Hue. We found a restaurant that served ice tea for 1000dong (about 3p!) so after about a million of them we passed the time wandering through the sculpture park until our bus was ready to leave to Hoi An.
Hoi An has been wonderful so far- we got to catch up with our friends Mike and Ellie who yet again showed us some great places to eat and took Chris and I to a beautiful beach. We have had some clothes tailored (the best being a navy blue duffel coat with gold lining and initials on the front pocket for Chris for 30pounds!) and eaten the best aubergine hot pot known to man. Next stop is Na Trang so updates soon!!!
Loads of love
E xxxx
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