Now sitting in the Qantas Club in Singapore with a red wine waiting for our cheap arse Jetstar flight home (good with the bad)!

Our last 24 hours in HCMC saw some shopping, with the kids and especially Jacob trying his hand at negotiating a good price on some souvenirs.  He did a good job and got a good price on a hat for himself and a mate.

Also a last couple of Vietnamese meals.  We have not given the kids with McDonalds or western fast food on this trip, although a promise of McDonalds for breakfast on arrival back into Australia may have helped!

Our last meal in Vietnam was Bun Cha again.  Great speciality of Northern Vietnam, but we found a little cafe where no English was spoken just around the corner from our hotel.

View from our hotel room during the day.  Probably can see more people at once than lives in our entire town!

Bui Vien Street, Ho Chi Min City – sort of like the Ko San Road of Vietnam.  Cheap beers, and some good food to be found.

Our last meal in Vietnam.  I love walking into a place where no English is spoken, no menu and getting a meal.

And the Qantas Club….

Overall, both we all loved Vietnam.  Very similar to Thailand, yet completely different.  Much much more to see, we will be back!

HCMC (Saigon) is definetely an East meets West city, with much more western influence visible than what we have previously seen.  Modern hotels and coffee shops with trendy settings, but still with the typical Asian food stalls and shops scattered in between.

9 million people call HCMC home and 11 million motor bikes call HCMC home.  A very busy place.

View of the Ben Thanh Markets from our hotel room.

First day we went for a bit of a walk and came across the Bitexco tower.  A very quick elevator ride had us at the 49th floor.  Great views of the city.

We also stumbled across a statue of Ho Chi Minh.

On Monday we did a bit of a walking tour of the city.  Took the kids to a games world to hopefully allow them to let off some steam, went to the War Remanents Museum and went and saw the latest X-men movie (only $3 a ticket!).

The War Remanents Museum was a haunting place, presented from the perspective of the Vietnamese people.  There were some horrific presentations on the brutality of war and the effect of Agent Orange and Napalm on the people of Vietnam.  Luckily there was a children’s room where Jacob and Brianna could wait, as we would not allow them to see some of the photos.

Tuesday we went on a tour to Cu Chi tunnels, the famous underground tunnels where the Vietanmese gorilla fighters lived for many years during the war.  There are over 250kms of underground tunnels throughout the area, and American bases were set up on top of some of these.

The Viet Cong were very creative with some of the traps they designed to kill the opposing forces.

Jacob and Brianna enjoyed walking around the place, but only Sharon and Jacob (and myself for a shorter distance) went underground through the tunnels.

The tunnels were very cramped, designed for the small Vietnamese people.  They lived in the dark for up to 30 years.  The ground above was controlled by the Americans during the day, and by the Vietnamese during the night.  Another humbling experience.

This afternoon relaxing before our last Vietnamese meal tonight and our flight back to Darwin via Singapore tomorrow.

After one of the shortest transfers between accommodations we have ever had (5 minutes) we arrived at our new accommodation in the city at Hoi An.

It is here that Sharon started feeling sicker and sicker and unfortunately wasn’t able to partake in our fun for the next two days.

That night was the full moon festival in Hoi An, and Brianna, Jacob and I wandered around the street enjoying the festivities.  We even went on a small boat ride where we placed candles in the river to help us prey for good luck.

Next day was fairly relaxing, Sharon spent all day in the room, Jacob and I had a wander around the markets, and the three of us enjoyed a few meals.

Before our flight Monday Sharon started to feel a little better and even managed to keep down some breakfast.  The hotel we stayed were fantastic and looked after us all really well, especially Sharon who they cooked special meals and offered to drive to the doctor if necessary.  Very lovely people…..

After a bus ride from Sapa to Hanoi that seemed to take forever, which included seats in what is called a sleeper bus.  Great for anyone under 5ft 5 but any taller and you are a bit cramped…  Needless to say the kids and Sharon had a great trip.

Another night in Hanoi, and a plane flight from Hanoi to Danang we have found ourselves in a little village on a beautiful beach.  An Bang is around 5 kms from Hoi An, but a tranquil little back spot, where every morning the fishermen return in their little boats to sell their catch to the locals and the fresh food market is alive with locals purchasing their goods for the day.

The kids have loved swimming on the beach (with waves and no crocodiles) and we have loved the relaxed nature of the place, a nice little local red wine (Dalat), and trying the food each day.  Would love to buy a house here!

Food….

And the occassional beer on the beach….

Hoi An is well known for its tailors.  We borrowed bikes from our accommodation and rode into town to get fitted for a few items of clothing.  Not exceptionally cheap by Vietnam standards but hopefully good quality and made to order!  Will pick up in a couple of days.  Even Jacob had a shirt made for him!

Tonight is our last night at the beach accommodation before we head into Hoi An for a couple of nights to catch the full moon festival – very excited about that.

Sapa is one of those places growing on the back of tourism, littered with hotels and hill tribe people trying to sell you stuff.  Saying that, it has a nice feel to it.

We arrived after catching the overnight train from Hanoi.  Whilst OK, very stop start and noisy due to a squeaky coupling near us so not the best overnight sleep.  Was a novelty and fun for the kids, but will catch the express bus back to Hanoi!

First day we walked around the town a bit, was accosted by many a hill tribe person saying “shopping” “maybe later?”.  My answer to all was I don’t do shopping!  Didn’t have the desired effect, but if you buy off one I am sure the seagulls will swarm.  But you must realise this is their living and approach it all very positively with a smile.

We did organise a day trek with a Hmong (hill tribe) family, which was an awesome day.

We estimated we walked around 15 kms, Brie and Jacob did a fantastic job.

The country side was fantastic, and a highlight being the lunch we had cooked for us in a Hmong household.  Basic but really flavoursome food.

At the end of the day we all enjoyed a foot massage!

Now we are returning to Hanoi (by bus this time) and onto Hoi An the next day (plane).

Darwin – Hanoi

Early start, 3am, very difficult but made easier when we arrived at the airport and the kids realised we had scored an upgrade to business class for both legs, Darwin – Kuala Lumpur and KL – Hanoi.
I think we are spoiling the kids a bit, they expect a high quality service and seating when flying now. How disappointed they will be when we return home via Jetstar!
Hanoi is full on, around 7 million people and 4.5 million motor bikes. Nice feel to the city though.

First day we had a bit of a wander, found some good food, visited the night market.
Second day fairly relaxed, had a cyclo trip around the old quarter and visited the water puppet show in the arvo.

Lunch we found a Bun Cha shop, awesome dish of vermicelli, pork and broth. Fantastic flavours – a real highlight.

Next day we visited the Hao Lo Prison, used by the French to hold activists during the uprising in the early 1900’s, and then by the Vietnamese to hold American POW’s shot down over Hanoi during the Vietnamese war. Pretty horrific place.

Relaxed in the afternoon and saw the latest Captain America film, for roughly $3 each…:)

Ha Long Bay
Tuesday, travelled bus to Ha Long bay for a 3 day tour to see some of the awesome scenery of the area.
Going well so far, not too much drama with the kids, although getting Brie to eat anything different still remains a challenge. Figure she is not starving yet!
Ha Long Ba
Booked a three day tour on Ha Long bay, one night on a boat, one night on an island. This is really a spectacular place, beautiful scenery, many fishermen around still living on their little boats, and many many tourist boats.

Jacob loved jumping off the boat, and even jumped off the top deck.

We did some kayaking, hiking up to very precarious mountain tops, which I am proud to say Brie managed to get up and back where some adults would have not made it, and some walks through some beautiful caves.

Next part of our journey is the return to Hanoi and the overnight train to Sapa…

Last couple of days has seen us floating around Hong Kong to a few markets, and a day at Hong Kong Disneyland, which the kids loved.

Disneyland was pretty good, although probably a lot smaller than I expected.  Saying that we were there all day and didnt see everything.  I think Oceanworld was a lot better.

Hong Kong is an interesting place, but probably a rich mans version of Singapore.  No real bargins here, but interesting to see the markets, the harbour and the sites.

Also a couple of photos of our last day in China (Yangshuo), where we enjoyed a nice meal (chicken feet, duck liver etc) and walked around the very touristy West Street Markets.

Now sitting in the Qantas Club Singapore enjoying a red wine which will help me sleep on the way home!  I think we are all looking forward to getting home, although I still look at the departure screens at the airport planning our next holiday…….

Sadly we left China yesterday, after just on 4 weeks in the country.

Once we became familiar with China, even with language barriers second to none that we have encountered in our travels, it was disappointing to leave.

Took 9 hours of travel to get to our hotel in Hong Kong; a taxi from Yangshuo to the train station in Guilin, bullet train to Shenzhen, subway in Shenzhen to the border crossing from China to Hong Kong, a walk from China to Hong Kong across a bridge, then subway to down town Hong Kong (also including two hours clearing immigration and customs in China and Hong Kong).  Long day, but now settled into our Hotel in Kong Kong.

A bit of market browsing today, Disneyland tomorrow….

And the kids are happy not to be eating Chinese food!!!!

Surrounded by limestone karst peaks, Yangshuo is a great little change from the intensity of China. It is a bit of an east meets west town, with little pockets of commercialism, but a small walk brings you back into true China.
West street is China’s version of Koh San Rd in Thailand, Pub Street in Cambodia or even the Gold Coast in Australia, bit of a novelty…
Yesterday we went on a large bike ride around the country side led by a local guide. It was a great, if not tiring day, but we saw some magnificent country. Another special place we have found in China.
Unfortunately our trip is coming to an end, just as we are settling into the travelling/backpacking ways. Tomorrow off to Hong Kong.  Either I ask my boss for an extension of my leave, or we plan for 3 months next year????

Today we climbed to the top of one of the local peaks, where the TV and Mobile transmitters are located.  Over 1000 steps, very exhausting but worth it for the views.  All returned very sweaty.

Kids are doing an awesome job with the climbing and exercise we are asking them to to…

We continued our trek around the Forest Park, the scenery whereever you go is amazing.  We walked down a couple of lesser used trails, involving numerous steps (one with over 8000 steps – lucky we only went down the hill). This was great as we managed to get a few spectacular lookouts all to ourselves.

After a stopover in Wulingyuan we caught Okay Airlines from Zhangjiajie to Guilin, then a taxi to Yangshuo.

Okay Airlines reminded me of the Mel Gibson movie Air America with dodgey planes flying around Asian countries. The safety announcement started while people were still sitting, mobile phones were ringing mid flight, people got up and walked around whilst the seatbelt sign was on and the plane was taxiing, and the seats were to be used as lifejackets in case of emergencies – all great stuff….

Yángshuò is a very picturesque place, Karst limestone mountains surrounding the township – great scenery and a very laid back feel to the place.  Looking forward to our bike ride tomorrow.