Singapore transit

After what was hopefully going to be the last buffet breakfast we’ll see for a while, we made the most of our 12:00pm checkout by massages for one and pedicures/manicures for the other. A final shopping collection and a rushed pack up and it was off to airport. We were told an hour, it took 20 minutes and as such we were there even before the check in counter was opened. As it turned out we couldn’t find a shipping container to get all the stuff home, so we decided to put it on the plane as luggage instead. Web site quoted price for over allocation was $2 per kilo. Check-in counter price quoted was $35 US per kilo. As we were collectively more than $10 kg over we were looking at pretty much wiping out the entire cost benefit of getting all this stuff cheaply in the first place. Luckily were not the first people to have experienced this and the advice given and the service offered was spot on.

So we took our bags off the belt, trundled over to the guy that has a large plastic wrap machine and we opened up the cases, removed 9 kilos of strategically weighed and sized items. Mr Cling(wrap) then spun them up, made a handy carry handle and off we went. We still had a ridiculous amount of cabin baggage that had to be consolidated but we figured it out, mostly in a relaxed calm mood. We had plenty of time and we’d just saved a bucket load of money (or conversely - we had just avoided spending yet more). The hop to Singapore seemed quite fast and we spent our 3 hour transit time in the (very expensive after Vietnam) bar on the roof of the airport. It would be an idealic setting if it wasn’t for all those loud planes taking off and landing all the time. The last leg home was OK. Not happy about having our Pineapple Jam taken off us at the gate lounge in Singapore (it was more than 100mg apparently – the more plausible theory is this how this particular lady does her weekly grocery shopping. Cheaper than Aldi. No sleep as such (why do people insist on taking babies on planes?). We did however have a smooth path through Tullamarine (relative to previous experiences that is). Minimal traffic delays and managed to be knocking on the front door by 7:30am. Early enough to say hello to the stay-at-homes before they headed of for another day compulsory learning.

So now all we have to do figure out where to put all this stuff that we haggled, sweated, toiled, tweaked, packed, moved, carried, repacked and paid for. And deal with the thousand odd photos as well.

Sunrise over the Delta

As the sun broke over the crystal clear waters, birds chirruped a song of morning delight and butterflies flitted gracefully around the ceiling of the cabin whilst a symphony of angels hummed softly in the background. We peeked out of our window to experience dawn over the Mekong Delta and reality set in. Yes, the sun was rising - the bonus here was it pretty much stayed unobscured by clouds the whole day (first time for the trip). No - the water was still the same humanfied putrid brown, the humming noise was the engines of the ship and the butterflies were a colourful picturesque way of creating a visual landscape. It was all still pretty cool though.

We had breakfast on the deck as we headed towards our next destination (shrug of shoulders was what anyone could tell us). Driving headlong through fishermen's nets, the never ending flotillas of waterborne plants and human debris we eventually ended up at an obscure bank surrounded by a swarm of sampans driven by local ladies all dressed in blue and wearing those conical hats. Two by two we boarded the sampans, donned similar hats and headed off into a small canal which can only be described (well maybe words fail me here) as an amazing experience. We had already seen local village life on foot - now we were seeing it from the veins (think life blood) of the region.

We were so lucky. our sampan driver was an obviuos novice who not only lacked the technique of this obscure rendition of gondola propulsion but also lacked the energy required to get us through the 30 minutes (normally) time taken to navigate this particular meandering, tree covered, occasionally congested back road. At some stages the old metaphor of being up a similarly coloured creek without a paddle came to mind. All good fun. we were passed a few times by others in the group but eventually we all made it to our waiting longboat where we headed off to view the floating markets which were well and truly closed for the day.

We then had a hair raising bike ride through a typically chaotic Vietnamese town to have brunch at an old rich persons house which had been handily converted into a tourist brunch location. They had pools of fish which we happily consumed a couple of before a walk through the stifling heat (sun was still out) to a last commute on the long boat for a short trip to our end of tour drop off point.

We were lucky (yet again) in that we had our own car for the trip back to Saigon. This driver also pulsated along the highways, however this time it was less than the two hours before we were deposited back into the same hotel were were in a week ago (great location - thats why we came back). Already seriously over our baggage allowance we went shopping. Shopping shopping and more blinking shopping. Markets and arguments (still not allowed to walk way if you ask a price and decide not to buy) thus ensued. Exhausted (again) we went for a massage at our favorite haunt. not as good as last time and yet we really can't complain. Dinner in same Japanese fusion restaurant that we went to a week ago. It was OK but we really should have ordered vietnamese items (when in Rome... yadda yada). Ice blocks in urinals.... where does that come from? Is it because they can't afford the specifically designed cubes we have or is it simply a challenge? Last night of relaxing before we head home to grace Melbourne with our immediate presence. Enough of this blog stuff - it's time to see the real us. From now on if you want to know what we're up to....ask :) Just let us get there first though. We still have a morning in Ho Chi Min and then an 18 hour ordeal to get there. It's been a great trip - looking forward to getting home all the same. One more post due for this trip and photo's still to be added.

Cruising the Mekong Delta

We were up before the (Vietnamese) sparrows today. It was all quiet in the compound and even quieter on the roads. This may not happen in Saigon but the folk here do actually get some collective sleep. The highway was like a post apocalyptic landscape with only two other vehicles spotted on the entire trip back to Da Nang.

The airport was sparsely filled and we had to wait for the coffee shop to open before we could get our first fix. The saga of ATM's and available cash continued with no machines in the terminal. Penniless, we eventually landed in Ho Chi Min amongst drizzling rain and the never ending traffic chaos which defines this city. Needless to say the resulting four hour drive was quite tiresome as we had not eaten, had minimal sleep and less caffeine than normally prescribed. The bustling city traffic eventually gave way to green rice paddies, ramshackle buildings stretching along the side of the modern(ish) highways. We were lucky with our driver. He was once of these people who has some sort of neurotic twitch in his leg which means that he could hold his foot steady on the accelerator for more than five seconds. On average three. This is a very useful skill when navigating the milling throngs of congested Asian city traffic. It's quite simply annoying when going on a long country drive. And so we spent four hours pulsating down the highways over the Mekong Delta. Waterways define the landscape. Big rivers, small canals and everything in between. We travelled through many small towns, large towns, people, activity, industrialization, mostly poverty everywhere we looked. The whole country seems active and trying hard to move forward and good on 'em.

We arrived at the boat with an hour to spare (woo hoo! says us who got up at 3 am) and are cruising the Delta waterways in large vessel that caters for 24 guests but only has 12 on board. 14 service staff make the ratio reasonably comfortable. We are very happy with our room. Even having a gecko on our bed sort adds to the ambiance. A never ending photo-shoot is now taking place, Most have murky water as the defining feature, some highlighted by vessels of different shapes and sizes plying the water with whatever their trade or purpose may be. The variations in usage/need is amazing. All of us guests were ushered off the boat by tender at one stage of the afternoon and went for a walking tour of a local village. This was very interesting. Whilst we didn't see a traditional "village" as such we did get to see a variety of houses, farming techniques and one (very local) rice making factory. Also lots of chickens, ducks, dogs, children waving and saying hello and identification of the local flora.

After a sampling of the same we all treked back through the greenery to our tender to be transferred back to the cruise ship. Given we are only the people on approx 100000 sq km's of waterways wearing life jackets we must've looked like the soft, protected species that our insurance companies would have us being. Dinner with a nice young English/Irish couple and then more cruising until we have moored for the night - goodness knows where in the middle of the peaceful and serene waterways. We have no idea where we are.

A slow day

With nothing to to do today but relax and pack we slept in, had breakfast kimono style (pity about the bulge between the disks) and we drifted off to the beach for some serious relaxing.

Today the beach came into its own with crystal clear water (obviously the ocean stream was flowing away from the river mouth today), no waves and the swarms of dragonflies hovering in the lee of gentle breeze next to the beach umbrellas. Luckily they don't bite. Two finished customised items dropped off at the hotel by our (now) personalised tailors from within the town determined the timetable for the day (we had to meet them at reception for a quick fitting and confirmation of overall happiness). Massages across the road and collection of washing was one of the highlights, the other was the gift from the hotel of a birthday cake. This resulted in some serious discussion on who the recipient was, the one a month posthumous and one three days pending. Interestingly the past event was chosen as the lucky celebrator as the looming one is not to be recognised (due to a generalistic denial of the sands of time).

Packing has been interesting, we searched and searched for shipping containers, but to no avail. It looks as if it's up to us lug the tonnes of stuff back by ourselves. Dinner at the hotel was a gourmet feast of BBQ's seafood in the hotel. Tomorrow we get up at 3:30am! to get to the airport, to catch a plane, 4 hour car drive and then cruise on Mekon delta overnight. Will fully expect no WiFii for couple of days and as such no post ensuing.

Cooking up a storm in Vietnam

Up early and into town for a cooking class was the first order of the day. We arrived at the Morning Glory restaurant and the mass was broken up into smaller groups and given traditional conical shaped hats to wear before we headed off on a walking tour of the local markets. The purpose of the hats is open to conjecture.

Possibly for a bit of local authenticity, more likely to as some sort of practical joke the locals like to play on the hoards who invade their cramped market space, bumping into stalls, taking invasive photos and generally getting in the way of commerce. We started off looking at some seeds and then quickly breezed through the meat section. At this point we lost one of the party due to an upset stomach. Luckily he did not follow us into the fish sections. He might have been OK in the fruit and veg but by then he was long gone. The remaining seven of us were very taken by all the sights, smells and constant stream of information pouring out of our knowledgable guide.

We then traipsed along the river looking like a clan of oversized, garishly dressed, camera wielding, backpack toting, sweaty locals on our way to the classroom. This was a very interesting experience. Somewhat difficult to stay awake after being so exhausted from the tour - however we persisted. The room was laid out exactly the same as Master Chef with about 50 eager students all willing and keen to wield the razor sharp knifes and create huge billows of flames from their individual burners and frying pans. It was a minor miracle no one got seriously hurt. All good fun though. A huge range of local herbs and spices was presented to us each one explained as to why they are used and what impact they have on the dish in question. Also a fair amount of information as to the general health benefits of some of them (not quite sure why you'd want to rub turmeric on your skin as I would thought it would turn it yellow after a while...).

We learnt and participated in creating 4 dishes and devoured them whilst doing so. Pretty hard to get it wrong being under the watchful eyes of the many helpers and all the difficult parts pre-mixed. Luckily were given the recipes as well. So if anyone would like to try them - by all means ask and we'll provide copies for you :). After the resulting significant lunch (pretty much the first we'd had on the trip) - we lurched back into the heat of the town to start re-tracing our steps to collect goods previously ordered. The longer we spend here, the more we think we know where we are going, however it seems that shops that were there one day are gone the next. This is either confusion created by a combination of heat, similar buildings, shop fronts, streets and people or some sort of weird parallel universe conjuncture where things are almost the same but change ever so slightly. I'm going with the second one. It seems impossible to to walk along any particular strip without drifting sideways into some shop or another to haggle over stuff we don't need. This ultimately resulted in 6 visits to various ATM's throughout the day. Whilst dotted all over they don't actually dispense enough cash to be of any significant value - they do however charge fees every time and thus we also keep the financial organisations happy as well (who'd ever work for bank? one may ask). Laden with goods we struggled from one end of town to the other (sometimes in circles) spreading joy and goodwill wherever we went. Back to comfort of the air-conditioned room for two hours recovery. No time for a swim, but enough for the esteem building event of walking across the road to purchase water and deposit laundry. There would be about 10 small business there feeding of the cheapskates who look for less expensive services than those provided in the hotel and when they spot someone actually walking down the driveway a flurry of activity occurs all along the strip. Lots of waves, smiles and pleas ensue.

And then back into town for more fitting, tweaking and a lovely dinner on a terrace overlooking the river and the swarming night time throng congregating around the ornately lit bridge. Needless to say, we are now somewhat wiser in regards to the source of the flavours in the local cuisine. Our stroll (aka . shopping) after dinner saw us swimming in our own clothes as the humidity and heat rose to new levels. Armed with yet another load of purchases we eventually caught the shuttle bus back the sanctuary where we prepared for our stocktake and pack up the next day.

Hoi An fans

Yet another buffet breakfast started a hectic day. With hotel guests of all persuasions buffeting against each other for the pick of the scrambled eggs and ever sparse freshly squeezed fruit juice, it's plainly obvious where the name of of this gourmet social concoction originated. We hopped on the first shuttle bus into town because the pressure of clothes fitting and the need for more haggling was weighing heavily upon us. Being in town so early was a revelation.

As it turns out, there are advantages in being the first customer of the day in these shops. If you're the the first purchaser then you make their day "lucky" and as such are the recipient of a huge discount. This pitch lasts until around midday when the whole place settles into a sort of paralysis where only the new arrivals in town could be bothered cruising the colorful streets... because they know no better. By this time we had managed to make a myriad of store owners "lucky" and had our pending wardrobes tweaked, prodded, adjusted, refitted, re-ordered, re-aligned, extra items added and delivery times re-scheduled. Ah..good old Hoi An, the town where the ceiling fans almost outnumber the tourists (and there are a LOT of tourists).... It would probably more economical for the government to put a really big wind farm at one end, switch it on reverse and have a gentle breeze waft over the place continuously.... Given the amount of trouble they've gone in building extensive bare-boned suburbs in the area nothing they do in the future would surprise. We headed back to the compound armed with a baguette from Cargo and quite happy in the knowledge that we had made so many store owners lucky. Another few lazy hours on the beach ensued. Today the ocean was very calm, which resulted in no wave dumpings (and subsequent injuries). This was made up, however, by managing to get lost in the cavernous halls of the compound on the way back to the room.The stress and confusion of so many floors and room doors that are all exactly the same (apart from the obvious number labeling them) was soon overcome by a jaunt across the road for a relaxing massage and manicure. We managed to make another owner lucky by being the very first customer in their spa as they had just opened this day. Relaxed and nicely calm we slipped-slided in our thongs back across the road, roughly navigated up the driveway, carefully maneuvered up the stairs, skidded down the endless hallways into our room to wash the oil off so we could walk properly for the rest of the evening.

Back into town for dinner, at this time of the day the place hums with activity. Ceiling fans are just one contributor to the maelstrom. The restaurant (Miss Ly) was highly recommended, the food was superb and the sound of breaking glasses followed by the ubiquitous shout of "Taxi" made one feel well and truly at home (aka - Aus.). Tomorrow we get up early to learn the fine art of Vietnamese cooking. The aim here is to learn "signature" dishes which will be henceforth inflicted on any guest that dares to come to our place for dinner in the ensuing decades. Photo's and accompany stories will be an integral component of the entree's .

To the End of the World (Twice)

Another day of avoiding the hustle, bustle and pleading vendors of the town saw us both mount our trusty metal treadlies and repeated the adventure of the previous day. The twisting, winding street was much quieter in the late morning - probably because most people were at work or school.

Reaching the end of the road we checked out the End of World restaurant and decided we would definitely return in the evening. We peddled slowly back to the compound where we noticed they have a series of subterranean tunnels servicing the place. Obviously not as small as those created by the Viet Kong down south but they have certainly learnt from their experiences and are now employing them in somewhat less controversial ways. This did not stop us envisaging the locals popping up from camouflaged exits in the middle of the plush lawns and firing shots at the vistors (B52's, rusty nails and tequilla's - similar names but somewhat more polite than 40 years earlier). Afterwards we collapsed on the beach. This typer fell asleep for about 3 hours - completely unaware that it is possible to get burnt lying under a beach umbrella on a cloudy day. We headed into the the sanctuary of our room from a pending rainstorm which never eventuated. The weather in this place certainly had us in a tiz today.

Whilst it was still light we we summoned a taxi and showed him how to drive to the End of the World - possibly the poignancy of our efforts were lost on him. Never mind. We had the restaurant to ourselves until some boisterous Taswiegans invaded our quiet solitude. Prawns as big as lobsters (really), stuffed calamari and crispy fish washed down with cold local beers - all for about $35. This is why we came here (the tailors are an added bonus).

A 5 minute taxi ride back and we are now ensconced in our room, feeling more stuffed than the calamari which caused it and for some reason - totally zonked out. An early night will therefore ensue as we recharge our batteries (no, not the ipad or the phones ..us) before we head back to town tomorrow just so we can say "no thanks" about two hundred times to total strangers.

A tailor made holiday

Toady was the nominated day to take full advantage of the plethora of custolmised clothes manufacturing facilities which have shop fronts in the town of Hoi An. Without performing a detailed census one would suggest that one in three of the retail outlets in the vicinity are dedicated to this trade. The rest being made up of bars, restaurants, jewelers and a never ending array of outlets selling exactly the same t-shirts. We were thrown out of our hotel shuffle bus with nary a "By your leave Madam" and were duly cajoled into the first shop across the road. A hour later we escaped with a heavy debt and the promise of some likable threads. Our next mission was to to apply some new treads to our paws.

Being somewhat directionless actually resulted in wearing out our existing ones until we located shop no 12 in the shoe strip. The proprietors eyes almost popped out of her head when we mentioned a past customer (Cindy) and the 23 pairs of shoes she purchased there. Obviously were were following in the footsteps of a legend. The resulting service was fabulous. The actual quality of the outcome will be determined in a few days time. And so with a somewhat more restricted credit allowance we ducked around an obscure corner and into the markets to make another locals day. We had met this one on the street 2 days earlier and promised to return. When we did she actually came up and hugged us both as she was so happy to see us. With figurative cash registers ringing we spent yet another hour surrounded by colourful material, colourful characters and whizzing tape measures. Half expecting a text from the bank as we walked away with yet more promises of materialistic constructions(?) we slunk back to our favorite watering hole for a quick recovery session before heading back to the security of the compound. 50% of the party then had a lie down (recuperation) whilst the remaining % jumped on a push bike and toured the local surrounds (exploration). Not much happened back at the hotel whilst on the road was an amazing experience into local Vietnamese culture and livelihoods. The road (concrete) was as narrow as double bed. Not car to be seen, open air abodes lining both sides, people everywhere, fornicating dogs (well not all of them), shops with no english on the signs, young children yelling out "Hello" (reminiscent of Bali) in a never ending cacophony of lower socio-demographically based visual experiences. The road meandered for a seemingly long time (probably 3ks all up) before it ran into the End of the World (more on that later). Heading back a different way the treadly eventually made it back via the coast to the sanctuary where from we headed off back into the main town for dinner. Having got lost, then found, then to discover our restaurant booking was a fallacy we ended up in a quaint place with good food and an ambience befitting it low prices. Interestingly at 9:00pm on a Wednesday night there are public announcements telling everyone to go home. Thank you all for your money but now it's time to remind everyone that you will all do as you're told.

We decided to test the communist boundaries a bit further when we got back to the hotel by having a swim. Reckon we would have got away with it too, unfortunately a French family rocked up (10 minutes later) accompanied by a security guard. Obviously they didn't sneak around the outside unnoticed like we did to get to pool. Could've still been in there if they hadn't of sauntered through the middle of the complex effective waving banner saying "hey we're going for a swim". Was fun regardless - we got 10 minutes in and cooled off bit before heading to bed.

A day of doing nothing

All went according to plan today. We went to the effort of leaving the resort twice. Once to cross the road to check out the small shops (appearing to be corrugated iron shacks) and spa and again later to go to the spa for massages. Oh the stress of it all.... Drifting slowly awake to see if the sunrise was as beautiful as Katut's Rhonda (wasn't great so we drifted off again) our first real sleep in was rudely disturbed by the cleaners wanting to bust in at 8:30. Luckily Rosemary interpreted the immediate response to something more polite and printable and as such advised them to come back in an hour. So they clattered off down the cavernous hallways with the sounds of their invasive behaviors echoing off into the distance.

We have since discovered that in order to keep these troublesome intruders out of our privacy (day and night) we need to hang a card on the door advising not to enter. That was pretty much the bloggable highlight of the day. Breakfast in the overcrowded restaurant was typical of an international hotel, people everywhere, too much food of many choices and general contention for attention at the egg chef counter. Note to self : do not come here in peak season. A quick look at the gym (well we we made at least the effort of seeing where it is!) and then across the road for the first time to book the massages. After that exhausting ordeal we headed all the way to the beach (just past the layered pools, spas and bars) where we duly deposited our tired bodies and recuperated by reading books and having the slight sea breeze minimize the heat. The beach is lined by huge sandbags - obviously there to stop erosion as the waves crash against them and managing to pretty much destroy the vision of an idealic tropical seascape (then again - being Aussies we may be a bit highbrow as to what makes a good beach). Needless to say - the waves crash in with enough ferocity to catch the unawares with enough force to dump them unceremoniously onto the (possibly imported) sand. This happened to 50% of of our party. To the other 50% this was quite funny - however this type of humor must be contained and expressed instead with caring concern. Lesson learned. Lunch was smoothies under the palm frond beach umbrellas and was followed by our second journey out of the compound for the aforementioned rub down.

Afterwards, we trudged back to the beach for more lounging around and wave dodging. We had pre dinner drinks in our room and then carried our weary bodies all the way back to the beachside restaurant for dinner and general debrief. The beach at night under the full moon was spectacular. Tomorrow we head back into town to see what all the tailoring is about. With any luck - this may provide something interesting to blog about :).

Out of the deluges

As we expected - Saigon was a lot more lively on a Monday morning than our previous weekend based exposure had shown us. Nevertheless we made it the airport with only a couple of frights and two engine stalls (always a heart-stopping moment when you have a plane to catch). We bode adieu to Ho Chi Min amid another torrential downpour in which our cramped but powerful jet cut though with ease. The trip was so short it felt like an animated flight path link they did in the Kill Bill movies and later plagiarized in the Gap Year series. The landscape around Da Nang seems to be mostly defined by new suburbs, lots of roads but strangely devoid of any thing else (sans houses, bitumen, people etc etc). After the chaos of the southern city it was surreal to be driving along the wide roads with barely any traffic. This continued as we headed south to Hoi An. The main highway runs conveniently one standard resort width from the beach and it's obvious that someone has plans to have an continuous chain of huge luxury resorts running the entire length of the coast. Interestingly the un developed landscape appears very barren. We suspect agent orange but are unsure of the facts here.

Our home for the next week is in a huge luxurious complex strategically placed in the afore mentioned allotments. Luckily we are in the off season and as such the few guests we saw today seemed very happy lolling around on their sun lounges, splashing around in the pools or enjoying their cocktails whilst the sea breeze counteracted the humidity. The weather here seems much more pleasant and we have been informed that rain will desist for the next for days (yay). Heading into Hoi An itself (the resort is a 10min drive away) we saw typically Asian landscapes re-emerge. Chaotic roads, squalor and general good will. The town itself deserves it's own post and as we are here for a week that will be forthcoming. We spent a couple of tiring hours reconnoitering various shops in preparation for future purchases.

Dinner was great (traditional Vietnamese of course) and we struck it lucky with the full moon bringing out the locals and thier monthly lantern festival. After sending a candle floating off down the river pushed by our wishes of long life and grandchildren (well that's what she said!) we hit the night markets for more haggling and general related hilarity. Exhausted we caught the bus back to our palace and we are looking forward to a day of doing nothing tomorrow.

Into the pits

Up early (so much for a restful holiday!) To meet up with our personal guide and off we went to the Cu Chi tunnels. City scapes slowly gave way to open fields and general asian country ambience.The tunnels used to be swarming with Viet Kong. Being highly successful in their misson of annoying the begeebess out of the imperialist invaders they are now being the highly successful in milking the swarming hords of tourists that frequent them. A short 20meter stint was enough for the claustrophic 50% of our party.

The exprience was very educational and we felt very special having our very own personal guide helping us bypass the busloads. Leaving the site with visions of deadly man traps traps and B52 bomb craters behind we headed back through yet another deluge and miles and miles of rubber plantations. Vietnam is now the worlds largets producer of this valuable resource. Without the latex it produces tyres would be weaker, plebotomists gloves would be harsher and S&M parties far less colourful (so we are led to believe). Back in Saigon we stopped in a cafe for a refreshing iced coffee and a smorgasbord of tasty treats which invariably led us to purchasing the goods on offer from an hilarious host who was learning english from similar travelers over the years. After being deposited back at our hotel by our friendly personal guide we headed out on the town for a stroll via the waterfront and ended up on the rooftop of the Majestic hotel for drinks and superb views of the river and distant surrounds.

Massages, pedicures and more shopping followed. it would be very easy to stay in this area for quite a long time. Dinner was fabulous in an elevated private balcony in an almost deserted cafe' surrounded by the constant sounds of traffic chaos and twinkling fairy lights. More frustration with crappy internet connections and the continuing issue of being unable to upload pictures wrapped up the evening. Funny how this was easier in the middle of outback Australia seven years ago. Tomorrow we head off to Hoi An with the hope of sunny beaches and working internet.

Good morning Vietnam

Up early for an interesting breakfast in the hotel(can't go past crumbed scallops at any time of the day).The weather is warm and humid but nice and pleasant before the deluge early afternoon. So we strolled through the bustling streets up to the American autrocticies museum for a couple of hours education.

Lest we forget. Oh sorry..given thier exploits in the Middle East recently one thinks that maybe they have conviently forgotten what they did to this place only a few years ago.

Ejected from the museum by the lunchtime bell and the lights turned off we headed back into the rich cultural life that the locals have managed to build without the tyrany of the invading hoards from over the eastern waters. Smoothies for lunch and a ripoff taxi in the deluge saw us at the market for a haggle or two. Considering the amount of rain they get here you'd expect to see umbrella's for sale. Not so. Go figure. Anyway, we eventually found one on the way to the rooftop bar at the Hotel Rex. Massages. Shopping. Dinner and an ongoing saga of trying to upload photos filled out the rest of the day. We are in great location in the middle of the heart of Siagon. The buildings litterally gleam in shimmering cascades of colours at night.

Arrival (finally)

Arrived in Ho Chi Min after a roller coaster approach (something made the pilot try an abort maneuver 10 mins away from the runway). We had the best incoming experience into a county ever. No immigration forms to fill out, walked past the increasing queue of those people who didn't pre-arrange their visas. Luggage was in the first batch through and we were out of there whilst the rest of the plebs were still back in the visa queue. Straight to the hotel via taxi to head off to sleep with the dull roar of traffic and incessant car horns beeping their way through the city streets.

Great central location and once we get the technology sorted (hopefully soon) we can include some pics.

Half way there

Sitting in bar outside in the muggy heat at singapore airport. Next stop - Siagon :)

Next adventure

Off to Vietnam.