A slightly longer flight, almost two hours, and we were in Vietnam! My 40th country, not long after my 40th birthday (I'm now using a combination of the pointless criteria, with a caveat for actual separate stamps in my passport, so Hong Kong and Macau count separately, not as part of china, but I've removed the Vatican from the list.
Our taxi ride to the hotel was a lot of fun, with a thousand motorbikes swarming around us, lots of good natured tooting, and the enjoyable game of trying to outdo each other on the heavily laden scooters, our favourites being whole families of four, sandwiching children between adults and handlebars, huge boxes on the back, containing TVs, beautiful girls riding side saddle and my favourite, 15 full water-cooler bottles, strung on every available surface.
With three full days we didn't waste too much time, so we braved walking around the block in 35° heat, and buying crisps and sushi (and obscenely cheap beer) in a grocery store, and called it an afternoon well spent.
For the evening, we met up with Paul, who has been living in Ho Chi Minh city for a few years now, and had already provided us with all manner of useful advice for our arrival. He'd found a nice restaurant just down the road, and we ate honey chicken, tofu, and morning glory with garlic (our new favourite thing), and Lisa's wine was about a quarter of the total cost of the meal!
We walked back via the big town square, where pretty much everyone was just hanging around and enjoying the cool evening (it was down to 29° by 10pm.)
Day one proper we spent on a proper tour, taking a fast boat up the river to the Mekong delta, visiting families and drinking coconut milk and rice wine, admiring the various uses of the river bank, from rice production, timber treatment, heavy industry and general fishing and farming. Lunch was a huge affair with many courses of spring rolls, tofu galore for lisa, and chicken and fish for me. It was at an orphanage (although mostly it seemed to be more of a foster place, where kids can get an education without having to work on a farm as soon as they are old enough) so some of us played football with the kids afterwards
, before being dragged back to the boat. We took a ride on little rowing boats, and visited a farm, which was also home to the biggest snake we had ever seen.
Our second day, Paul was off work for most of the day, so he showed us some of the prettier outdoor bits of the city, taught us how to cross the roads, we visited the cathedral, and the post office and found little cafes and exciting lunch places. One of the cafes was just in what looked like an apartment block, but when you looked closely every apartment was a different cafe.
When he went to work in the evening, we visited the opera house, where they have the AO show which is pretty much the Vietnamese cirque de soleil- taking various aspects of Vietnamese culture and turning it into a thrilling set of dances and acrobatic skits.
That evening (having had a hefty lunch at a vegetarian restaurant, introducing us to wonders such as lotus flower seeds) we went to the bar on the roof of the xxxxx hotel and looked down at the fountains on the square, and the statue of Uncle Ho, while drinking cocktails (and in my case eating chips. Yes, sorry, I fancied some chips.)
Day three we spent the morning in the National art gallery (which was really good, contrary to the comments in our guide book) while the other museums were closed for lunch, then we visited the palace, and the War Remnants museum, before finding dinner at the Secret Garden - a rooftop restaurant serving amazing food with cockerels in (not too tiny) cages and nice views.
We left Ho Chi Minh city early the next morning to head to Hà Nội.
Tuesday, 4 April 2017
Friday, 31 March 2017
Malaysia
Malaysia
Back into uncharted territory and we took the very short flight from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, (although the airport is actually about a 45 minute drive from the city) and checked in to our room with a view. The traders hotel, a recommendation from friends whose photos we had envied, put us on the 13th floor (the hotel didn't have a 7th floor, but 13th is fine in asia) with a view both of the Petronas towers, and into the rooms on the other wing of the hotel.
The city itself was lovely, although getting around was most easily achieved via air conditioned walkways between shopping malls, and one time we tried to find an area with street food the whole outdoors of the city centre was full of smoke and ash from a car fire!
We browsed the malls (Lisa took a fancy to a rather nice Alexander McQueen handbag, which we discovered cost about £10000) and ate green tea ice cream and exciting curries in the food hall. On the second day there we went to the top of the towers, and across the sky bridge which made us both feel pretty wobbly, and we were quite glad that the ticket was for a limited time, and we were herded back down from the 88th floor.
The next day we used the subway, and a train to get out to the Batu Caves, a complex of temples utilising some spectacular caves in the cliffs we could see from the top,of the towers.
The first was full of life size models of the Hindu gods, and told various stories about waking a giant to fight in the war, and the monkey god not realising his tail was on fire.
The second was up a flight of about 300 steps (in 32° heat, with monkeys jumping all over people- at one point a monkey tried to jump on a lady's hat, discovered it wasn't solid, so bounced off her shoulder, leaving a tiny poo on her nose. She was not impressed. I laughed.
At the top it was like being in the bottom of a volcano, with open air above, and monkeys and chickens around, and some sweet little shrines around us.
A cornetto and a bottle of strawberry Fanta later, and we headed back into town. We tried to see the historic quarter of KL but it was surrounded by a building site so totally inaccessible.
The second part of Malaysia involved a plane to Penang, for a laze by the pool or on the beach, some reading of books and chilling out, and an enjoyable day trip to Georgetown, the old capital of the island, which is now a unesco world heritage site so protected to ensure it retains its colonial charm. Unfortunately, and for only the third time of the whole trip so far, rain stopped play, so we hid in a cafe and braved the storm, making a juice, an iced tea and a plate of (spectacularly good) waffles last a good hour and a half, with only the local cat to entertain us.
Eventually the rain subsided, and we happened upon a hairdresser called "son and dad" and realising this might be my last chance for a while, I allowed a man who spoke barely any English to have his way with my Barnet and beard. He did an excellent job, and I rounded the price up to something resembling what I used to pay for a haircut 10 years ago in Cardiff. Lisa was happy looking round the shops, and sheltering from some more rain.
We drank cordials and compared pokedexes with the old men who were camped out in the pokemon cafe, before eating some excellent Italian food (slightly randomly) and heading back to the resort on the 101 bus.
The final whole day we once again lazed around the hotel, only going out in the evening when we got hungry, exploring the night market, and eating curry from the hawker centre.
Back into uncharted territory and we took the very short flight from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, (although the airport is actually about a 45 minute drive from the city) and checked in to our room with a view. The traders hotel, a recommendation from friends whose photos we had envied, put us on the 13th floor (the hotel didn't have a 7th floor, but 13th is fine in asia) with a view both of the Petronas towers, and into the rooms on the other wing of the hotel.
The city itself was lovely, although getting around was most easily achieved via air conditioned walkways between shopping malls, and one time we tried to find an area with street food the whole outdoors of the city centre was full of smoke and ash from a car fire!
We browsed the malls (Lisa took a fancy to a rather nice Alexander McQueen handbag, which we discovered cost about £10000) and ate green tea ice cream and exciting curries in the food hall. On the second day there we went to the top of the towers, and across the sky bridge which made us both feel pretty wobbly, and we were quite glad that the ticket was for a limited time, and we were herded back down from the 88th floor.
The next day we used the subway, and a train to get out to the Batu Caves, a complex of temples utilising some spectacular caves in the cliffs we could see from the top,of the towers.
The first was full of life size models of the Hindu gods, and told various stories about waking a giant to fight in the war, and the monkey god not realising his tail was on fire.
The second was up a flight of about 300 steps (in 32° heat, with monkeys jumping all over people- at one point a monkey tried to jump on a lady's hat, discovered it wasn't solid, so bounced off her shoulder, leaving a tiny poo on her nose. She was not impressed. I laughed.
At the top it was like being in the bottom of a volcano, with open air above, and monkeys and chickens around, and some sweet little shrines around us.
A cornetto and a bottle of strawberry Fanta later, and we headed back into town. We tried to see the historic quarter of KL but it was surrounded by a building site so totally inaccessible.
The second part of Malaysia involved a plane to Penang, for a laze by the pool or on the beach, some reading of books and chilling out, and an enjoyable day trip to Georgetown, the old capital of the island, which is now a unesco world heritage site so protected to ensure it retains its colonial charm. Unfortunately, and for only the third time of the whole trip so far, rain stopped play, so we hid in a cafe and braved the storm, making a juice, an iced tea and a plate of (spectacularly good) waffles last a good hour and a half, with only the local cat to entertain us.
Eventually the rain subsided, and we happened upon a hairdresser called "son and dad" and realising this might be my last chance for a while, I allowed a man who spoke barely any English to have his way with my Barnet and beard. He did an excellent job, and I rounded the price up to something resembling what I used to pay for a haircut 10 years ago in Cardiff. Lisa was happy looking round the shops, and sheltering from some more rain.
We drank cordials and compared pokedexes with the old men who were camped out in the pokemon cafe, before eating some excellent Italian food (slightly randomly) and heading back to the resort on the 101 bus.
The final whole day we once again lazed around the hotel, only going out in the evening when we got hungry, exploring the night market, and eating curry from the hawker centre.
Monday, 27 March 2017
Singapore
Part three of the trip (in our heads it was always 1- New Zealand, 2- Australia, 3- Southeast Asia) began in a familiar way, with Singapore, one of only two places we had both been to before, but one we had unfinished business with from last time, so this time we made a bee line to the gardens by the bay, which weren't in our guide book last time we were there, and we only found out about them when we got back.
They didn't disappoint, with spectacular sky trees, each being a vertical garden in itself, connected with terrifying walkways, an added bonus was that they were surrounded by colourful animatronic dinosaurs. And hoards of children, but that wasn't so bad.
We ambled around there, then went into the huge glass houses (climate controlled to be nice and cool - my glasses only steamed up when I went out again). One was full of flowers, with the emphasis on the Japanese cherry blossom, and the other was more rainforests, with a 7th floor walkway around the inside (Lisa didn't partake).
It rained mightily while we had coffee and cake, but we didn't mind a bit. Got the tube back to find out luggage, and headed over to our friends Bert and Adrienne, and e settled into their beautiful 20th floor apartment.
After lots of wine and Mexican food by the river on Friday night, we were nicely prepared for the early start for Singapore's nicest parkrun (they have two) where we stumbled round, ended up as a pair of sweaty messes (Lisa beat me!) and had coffee and cake at Starbucks.
We showered and then headed out to little India, visited some temples, (one Buddhist, and one Hindu) and stopped for wine, then found an amazing veggie restaurant, where we ate masses of dosas and vadai and then we had more wine.
On Sunday morning, Lisa and Bert went running in the other (proper) botanical gardens, and Adrienne and I met them later on. We had breakfast, and then did some more exploring, finding the orchid garden, and a palmetum. It was lovely, and we found monitor lizards and chickens too.
They didn't disappoint, with spectacular sky trees, each being a vertical garden in itself, connected with terrifying walkways, an added bonus was that they were surrounded by colourful animatronic dinosaurs. And hoards of children, but that wasn't so bad.
We ambled around there, then went into the huge glass houses (climate controlled to be nice and cool - my glasses only steamed up when I went out again). One was full of flowers, with the emphasis on the Japanese cherry blossom, and the other was more rainforests, with a 7th floor walkway around the inside (Lisa didn't partake).
It rained mightily while we had coffee and cake, but we didn't mind a bit. Got the tube back to find out luggage, and headed over to our friends Bert and Adrienne, and e settled into their beautiful 20th floor apartment.
After lots of wine and Mexican food by the river on Friday night, we were nicely prepared for the early start for Singapore's nicest parkrun (they have two) where we stumbled round, ended up as a pair of sweaty messes (Lisa beat me!) and had coffee and cake at Starbucks.
We showered and then headed out to little India, visited some temples, (one Buddhist, and one Hindu) and stopped for wine, then found an amazing veggie restaurant, where we ate masses of dosas and vadai and then we had more wine.
On Sunday morning, Lisa and Bert went running in the other (proper) botanical gardens, and Adrienne and I met them later on. We had breakfast, and then did some more exploring, finding the orchid garden, and a palmetum. It was lovely, and we found monitor lizards and chickens too.
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