TravelStream™ news feed for member gdvc on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/gdvc en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 24 Jul 2009 15:00:35 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gdvc/2/1246803916/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gdvc/2/1246803916/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gdvc/2/1246803916/tpod.html Fri, 24 Jul 2009 15:00:35 -0400 Pork Chops & Flip Flops :) x

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Phu Quoc Island, Vietnam

BOXING DAYCouldnt believe it we were up (6ish) and out (7ish)no hangover either after all the beer we drank.We realised yesterday that the day is quite short the sun seems to start to set around 4ish, we left the beach around 5ish so we decided to make the most of the day - which turned out to be a waste of time as nothing was open! ha ha ha haWe walked down to the beach and it was deserted so pretty cool walking along with no-one else on it.Around 8ish we walked to MAYS and had breakfast. The pancakes werent that good but the bread was delicious. Alos had some nice ginger tea, it was good the tea they use here is liptons so i think ill get some of that when we get home.After breakfast and busy planning our day doing nothing we walked to the Vietnam Airline office near the Saigon Phu Quoc hotel to see if they had any seats available on the flights to HCMC on 29th or 30th Dec. 30th was fully booked but they did have seats on 29th. On the assumption that we would have to do the reverse journey we would have been leaving on 29th anyway the only difference is we get into HCMC alittle earlier than if we get the bus but thats probably better because our sight seeing in HCMA wont be as rushed. Basically im just made up that we dont have to get that bloody bus! :)We booked another night at the hotel - for some reason we only booked till 27th Dec - dont know why - anyway booked an extra night! ***************************************************************************************************************The girl who i think is the owner of the hotel is really funny she doesnt understand what we are saying until you mention money. She sits smoking, crossed legged on a wooden settee (totally bigger and posher than a bench) with a pot of tea on the matching table in front of her. I know that she moves because she has a fresh pair of pyjamas on everyday. You see a lot of the women wearing these pyjama//leisure suits thingies - its just like being back home!!! haha :0) She has a little boy who is soooo cute :) and theres another girl who works in the hotel who just giggles everytime we talk to her!!! ***************************************************************************************************************After sorting out another night at the hotel and then looking at hotels in HCMC we walk to the beach and spend another perfect day chillin, swimmin, relaxin, swimmin, sleepin, swimmin.We have decided that tonight we are going to look on the internet at the hotels we have picked for HCMC and then walk to the night market to eat and then a few beers!Oh maaaan Ive started to feel a bit dodgy :( in the middle of my perfect day - i cant believe it! We moved back closer to the hotel just in case i needed the bathroom - and boy did i.. i thought i was dying honestly i felt sooo rough. After a while i did actually start to feel better so we went for a snack - i had a sandwich which was very good  - bad move i then started sweating something terrible and i had pains in my stomach so the best thing for me to do was go for a lie down. Felt a bit better so we went for a walk about 7pm i wanted some fresh air so we walked down to the night market, there are loads of food stalls so we decided that if i feel better tomorrow we will come down here for something to eat. We got cakes though! Yes i know Im ill but they looked so good :) i got carrot and DK got HONG KONG EGG wvhich in fact is just sponge cake with icing and a glace cherry on top! (i told him he should have got the banana cake!) We went to ROBINSONS for a drink - I had COKE - I know! but i needed something gassy to make me burp and it did and i feel a little better for it :) DK had a couple of beers and then we walked to the chemist to get something to settle my stomach -  a grey vanilla powdered clay seemed to be order of the day 3 x a day just for 1 day. Home and bed for me, DK stayed up and watched the match LIVERPOOL 3 - BOLTON 0! Cmon!!!**************************************************************************************************************Ha Ha Ha funniest thing ever that I forgot to mention - we were walking along the beach yesterday minding our own business when suddenly DK went down a big hole in the sand! I laughed my head off - in fact Im still laughing now "oh no help me & that I have fallen down a big hole in the sand"
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Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Up early and out for breakfast about 8am.Went next door to Elmundo the breakfast was nice actually. I had pancakes but they were more like crepes and coffee. Toast, jam, juice and coffee for DK. We started to call around looking for hotels on PHU QUOC Island, this was definitely harder than we ever imagined, still we kept on trying...and trying...and trying! The ones we did get through to were fully booked, so i think they were just picking up the phone to gloat:)Maaan its frustrating and Im not happy but TBH its our own fault, we knew we should have sorted this out before we left the UK. Hey Ho! we will get somewhere, like a million and one people do every year :)We did manage to get a room in HCMC though so thats good news - the BLUE RIVER  **************************************************************************************************************We got a tuk tuk to the KILLING FIELDS  - What a sobering experience! I took some photos, part of me didnt want to... Its quite gruesome and fascinating at the same time. I cannot even begin to understand what went on here.The surrounding area is really peaceful, lots of water and greenery, its surrounded by dykes which apparently have been built recently to stop any other graves from slipping and opening up! Not all of the area has been dug up and its believed that there are still many graves to be uncovered.**************************************************************************************************************From there we went on to the S21, the high school that was taken over by POL POT and the classrooms were made into cells and torture chambers. Some of the rooms still had iron beds in that people were chained to, blood stains on the floor... Again gruesome.After looking aroud the first block we headed over to the second which for me was worse, it had photographs of all the prisoners the prisoners that walked through the door, row upon row of innocent people - when you see the faces... i hated it, it really upset me. Whilst in that block i noticed that i never heard anyone speak. its such a powerful place i defy anyone not to moved by what they saw ... I think that its somethng that everyone has to see, theres a whole generation missing, a lot of hurt and anger and yet on the outside and back in PP you can see how people have built there lives up again. From there we headed back to PP the closer we got the lighter my mood although 7 months on its still with us and I know I havent written a lot about but i really dont think i could do it justice.  **************************************************************************************************************we went to Beaujangles for lunch, we had noodle soup with chicken for me, pork for DK. It was really really good, delicious, so looking forward to having at again. Also had a fruit salad and a couple bottles water - $9!After filling our bellies we went to the internet cafe to try and get a hotel in PHU QUOC again. We confirmed our booking at the BLUE RIVER and we think we may have booked a hotel, the confirmation hasnt come through yet so fingers crossed. Last chance - we tried to get a flight to PHU QUOC but all fully boooked so we looked through the LP and RG and planned the alternative route, we think we can get a bus from HCMC to Rach Gia late in the evening and travel overnight getting the early morning ferry from RACH GIA to PHU QUOC. That means we dont need the hotel room so how shady do we feel :( 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gdvc/2/1246803336/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gdvc/2/1246803336/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gdvc/2/1246803336/tpod.html Fri, 24 Jul 2009 14:54:48 -0400 Pork Chops & Flip Flops :) x

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Siem Reap, Cambodia

After a lovely long sleep we got up showered and went out for breakfast. We decided that today we would walk into town and have a look around there for something to eat. As we left around 10 is its still quite cool out even though the sun is shining so it’s a nice walk. We decided on a place called CENTRAL CAFÉ. It’s quite a modern place, cream coloured, exposed brick, rattan furniture, bug whirring fans. Niiice. I had, you guessed it pancakes and fruit, DK had cinnamon toast and fruit 2 x ginger tea – all for $7.50. Yey!The place has only been opened for a couple of days so all feedback was welcome – the only criticism for me was – the fruit we had was chopped into really really small pieces which is fine they are trying to d something different but you only got like a spoonful! Fruit is so plentiful and cheap that I would have thought they could have afforded to me more generous and not so arty! We were talking to the manager for a while he was originally from Mumbai via Aberdeen .We may go back tonight for a drink there’s a group on. The bar looks ok and they sell wine so I might have a little glass later for a change, and also it seems reasonably priced – but by UK standards… We can’t have too much to drink as were travelling to PP tomorrow  - our bus leaves at 08.30 am and I can’t be doing with travelling with a hangover. A minibus is picking is up between 07.40-08.10 to take us to the bus station to get the express to PP. So yeah up early for us. ***************************************************************************************************************After breakfast we walked around the market – clothes, jewellery, watches – the usual…We walked past some fish stalls and that seemed pretty harmless – As I have only just started eating meat again I made DK walk in front of me in-case there was something I wouldn’t like – Like the 2 turtles on their backs!!!! Oops said DK I didn’t think you would notice!At that point he decided it was best that we didn’t venture into the ‘’butchery’’ department.After picking a few presents we walked towards home and picked up raisins roll from the bakery… lovely with lots of cinnamon and egg glaze. We split that and are now sat eating that in the park  - me writing this and DK reading. Very Notting Hill…**************************************************************************************************************Back at the hotel we sat on the balcony and planned the next stage of our trip. 2 nights Phnom Penh. We get there tomorrow afternoon so plenty of time to explore what we want to – we will get our tickets for the onward journey tomorrow afternoon. The day after we plan to go to the killing fields and S-21. Leave the day after for HCMC. So tomorrow is the best time to get the tickets so we know we should have a food chance of getting the early express bus again. One we have looked at in the LP is called an International  us, from what I gather this means that whilst you have to get off the bus at the Cambodia//Vietnam border and walk through immigration you get back on the same bus… We also looked at getting flights to PHU QUOC but they are full, so I think we’re going to go the bus option – we have an LP and a RG book so between the books and us we should be able to sort  it out – failing that go to a travel agent! – last resort though! If I understand correctly it works out a 9.5 hour bus journey and 2.5 hour on the boat – not sure about the waiting time either :( this could be a long trip! **************************************************************************************************************As we had to be up quite early and didn’t really want a late night we went to CENTRAL CAFÉ and had beer and snax – oooo I had a mojito – very very happy!From there we went to IN-Touch for a drink – this is on bar street opposite the Red Piano. All our good intentions went out of the window when we went to the supermarket for goodies for the bus tomorrow an bought a bottle of wine also. Back at the room drank the wine ate the goodies and watched a film… ROCK N ROLL 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gdvc/2/1246803143/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gdvc/2/1246803143/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gdvc/2/1246803143/tpod.html Fri, 24 Jul 2009 14:53:26 -0400 Pork Chops & Flip Flops :) x

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Siem Reap, Cambodia

Maaaaan it’s been a long day!Got to Angkor for about 5.15am. It’s quite strange as there aren’t actually any instructions in what to do – we ‘’just followed the crowd at chow time sir!’’ There are no sign boards or lights to guide you along the path, which being old is quite uneven. As you look to Angkor Wat you can see the towers dominating the skyline  - you walk along a path, over a bridge and from that point we made our way over to the right hand side. Then on the advice of a coffee seller we made our way to the left hand side of the path near the waters’ edge. Many people had got there before us and were lined along the waters’ edge to get the money shot of the sun rising over Angkor. We never actually got to see the sun rise properly as it was too cloudy but the changes in colour form the inky dark night to daylight were pretty spectacular! We moved away from the crowds as towards Angkor as people continued to take pictures – best idea ever – the temple itself was deserted and we managed to spend the next hour or so looking around with minimum intrusion, very peaceful indeed – in some parts we were the only people. By the time we had seen what we wanted here it was time for food and the crowds were descending. We stopped at the Angkor Reach for breakfast which is opposite the entrance to Angkor Wat. Crap – not good at all – shocker I had pancakes and jasmine tea DK had scrambled eggs and they said it was coffee but the jury is still out on that one. We never actually finished our meals. We had to wait for Mr Savay to finish his breakfast so I went outside to talk to 2 cute kids who was waving at me to come out of the restaurant and buy postcards off her. I guess they weren’t allowed in because when I waved her in she wouldn’t come. So anyway I went to buy postcards (10 for a dollar) She then wrote me a poem – I think she probably had many copied of this in her bag – but nice all the same. With the money I gave her she went to get her breakfast from a vendor – it was a bright pink ball of dough – looked disgusting. She told me it was a PHO CAKE and gave me some to try – pretty rank! Its savoury dough – I thought it would be sweet. I took a couple of photos and then we left to go to Angkor Thom. This is where the turrets are, from there to the Bayon. This I really liked and from there to Ta Phrem – this is the ‘’tomb raider’’ place. It was really good – very atmospheric, it’s amazing how the trees grow and claim the land back. After exploring there for a while we went to Ka Toa. Ka Toa is where we met dollar girl... everything she sold was one dorrar. She had the most annoying whiney voice ever - i recokn people gave her money so she be quite. After escaping her we had a quick look around Ka Toa but had enough and we decided to go back to the hotel. Templed out. Mr Savay is picking us up from here at 4.30 of the sunset. I think he’s got a bit of a toot on with us because he wanted to take us on a longer tour and charge $40 but we said no yesterday he said $17 all day. Then DK asked if we had paid for sunset trip and he said no $5 – I said, yesterday you said $17 sunrise-sunset. And then I added that you charged us $8 for sunset last night and tonight you want to charge $5 so do you owe me $3 –He in the end agreed that I was right. (DK at this point had walked off leaving me to argue ha ha) I know it’s not much to be arguing about but it’s not about the amount it’s about being ripped off.  Your getting ripped anyway aren’t you being a foreigner and that you don’t mind so much but to be double ripped - not good***************************************************************************************************************Back at the hotel we had coffee and went on the internet to look at a couple of places that Dave and John had recommended last night, we decided on the PARAGON HOTEL. After booking that we booked our coach for the 21st $12 each and as we had booked a couple of days in advance we were lucky enough to get the express leaving at 8.30 so here’s hoping it’s a good journey. We then had a walk into town to get some lunch – nice walk took us about 20 minutes maybe. We ate at the KHMER Kitchen we had dumplings – not good I then had pumpkin & coconut soup with chicken. DK has veg soup with fish. Both dishes came with a portion of rice. DK had a mango lassi and I had a lemon tea but didn’t finish it not very nice. All in all the bill came to $10.50.***************************************************************************************************************Oh earlier when I was on the internet I was talking to Ruben who asked how we were finding it money wise – I asked he explain and he said he comes here a lot and this was his most expensive year so far, he was shocked at how much the prices have increased. Must admit that after India I tend to agree with him. It definitely wasn’t as cheap as I was lead to believe but that said still cheap. ***************************************************************************************************************After lunch we walked through alleyways of shops and restaurants and right in front of our eyes was the BLUE PUMPKIN. We had saw this in the LP book and decided we were going to try should we ever find it as apparently it does good ice-cream. I had mango, DK had choc, caramel and mint, drink-wise coffee for DK, lemon & ginger tea for me – it was the best but maaan $8.50! ***************************************************************************************************************Bought some suntan cream and then went exploring bookshops – I bought DK a LP Philippines – HAPPY CHRISTMAS! We think we may fancy there next year.Back at the hotel we showered and changed, our washing is ironed and ready for us and we are now going to watch the sun-set…Woohoo!!!!I know that lots of people will call me for this but I was totally underwhelmed by the sunset – we did a big traipse up this hill (at first I thought we were going to Angkor Wat, so when we drove past there my next thought was that we would be able to see the sun setting over Angkor Wat from the top of the hill.No we didn’t even see Angkor Wat… I suppose I’m being a little dramatic because we could see lots of the countryside and it really was beautiful… Once on top of the hill there’s a WAT that people were climbing all over to get good pictures I didn’t really manage to get that many. What was quite funny was on the opposite side of the WAT from the entrance the steps off the WAT are really steep and watching people climb down was the funniest. There was a Japanese man climbing down in front of DK clinging on for dear life! I surprised he didn’t want guide ropes a pick axe and crampons… After laughing at these people climbing down we decided there was no point staying up here so we started to make our way down the hill. I think this was one of our better ideas as in true KHMER style just like Angkor Wat no lights to guide you. The people coming down after us I feel will really struggle down the path and there were people still going up as we were coming down.  Once we got to the bottom of the hill a young couple asked if we would share a ride with them back into town, we explained that as Mr Savay was waiting for us nearby we didn’t see this to be a problem and of course agreed. Mr. Savay however did see this as a problem. The couple offered him money and he argued the price – we said we have already paid and your going that way anyway so what’s the problem! In the end he agreed but it was painful getting him to do this. So as not to be put out we agreed that we would all get out of the tuk-tuk at the church and from there walk to our respective hotels – fine by us it wasn’t a big distance for any of us. But then he never went that way – he took us all to our hotel and then refused to take the couple into town (even though he was going that way)  We were a bit miffed about that but the couple didn’t seem to mind, we apologised and off they went. We quickly sorted ourselves out and  decided to go into town for dinner. When we left the hotel Mr.Savay was still outside and asked if we needed a tuk-tuk into town – we politely declined and said no we were walking. He then asked what time we needed him tomorrow – we said we didn’t want him tomorrow. Ha! No more Mr. Nice Guy! If he had not tried to rip us off and then be horrible to the couple we met we would have both given a generous tip and also used him for the last day but as it turned out we did neither… We walked into town for dinner and went to a bar called ‘THE RED PIANO’ it was a nice place all wood and exposed brick. We sat upstairs overlooking the street and people watched! Not really being hungry after our big lunch we just got a couple of baguettes to pick at – chicken and steak ones. They were ok.  We had a couple of beers and walked back home. It felt rather strange being in this bar – it’s in BAR STREET for a start which of course could be in any resort in the med. I think people who came here say 10 years ago would be horrified at people like me n DK staying in $20 a night hotels as we in turn are horrified at the number of large luxury hotels that seem to be springing up around the area.***************************************************************************************************************I never mentioned the nice couple from before – they were lovely he was Swiss she was Chinese – they couldn’t speak each others language but could both speak Korean! Totally mental if you ask me!HEE HEE  We chatted about our trips – they had just left PP and loved it so that was encouraging, they also recommended SAPA in Vietnam as a beautiful place. We said we were going to HCMC which they also enjoyed And then he said ooh you should go far south and try PHU QUOC – It was fate. I must admit we got a bit giddy about this , he said it was AWESOME – Yey! We feel we should definitely go there now. He said we should go now before it turns into PHUKET! He recommended there place to stay which was at the bottom of the long beach but we couldn’t find it in the guide book or on the internet so we will just pitch up and see!DK so hopes we will not be disappointed about this place as we have got out hopes up from reading a tiny article in the Sunday paper to finally meeting people who have been.  
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Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Up at 5.15 to get the bus to HCMC, managed it ok considering we had a few beers last night :)At the bus station you fill in immigration cards when you get on the bus you give your passport and card to the bus guide so he can check everything before we get to the border.The journey was ok, closed the curtain over, put the seat back and slept!Like the bus from Siem Reap to PP a little packed lunch was provided - not very good one but hey ho... Just before the border crossing the coach stopped, we got cash out of the ATM, bought fruit and water, had a little walk round and then got back on the bus to go ooo the 100 yards to the crossing.The border crossing on the Cambodia side was fairly straightforward . You get off the bus and an immigration officer shouts your name and you get back on the bus!!! Simple!The Vietnamese side was er.... not so straight forward! You get off the bus, get all you bags and belongings and go through immigration which in itself is a trauma. You wait for ages its hot and sticky and there bus after bus after bus coming  in... So there you are on one side of the immigration desk, you wait until you get called through,passport checked,your bags are scanned and eventually you get back on the bus! A couple of hours later we arrived in HCMC. The bus stopped at a lovely little park and as we got off the bus a tourist information guy pointed us in the direction of the hotel and then started getting arsey when we didnt want him to take us, probably cos he gets commission or something - i dunno :)As we crossed over the road we decided to checkout the buses going to RACH GIA (rats ear) as there are lots of travel agents on this street. We were advised to go to the main bus station for the ticket (mein tay). When we asked the tourist info guy he said it was far away and the best thing to do was go to the Mailinh Express bus station to get the ticket as its closer.  You never know what to believe do you so we thought we might as well give it a try :) So in order to get to the Mailinh Office we get a cyclo each which was real fun. The cyclo guys agreed with what the tourist guy said so goes. The cyclo cost $5.00 and it was worth every penny the ride was really funny - the traffic is mental its a lot like Delhi. We eventually arrived at the office and got a ticket for 10pm tonight - apparently it takes 7 hours so we should get to RACH GIA about 5pm. The first ferry is 6pm so at least we can get there get the tickets and be off straight away - in theory anyway.  From then on we are in the hands of the Gods for a hotel - Ha ha. That was plan B of course plan A was that we would have room booked! Oh god shut up about it!!!As were not sure of the layout of PQ were not bothered if we near the beach or not, last year we liked that we travelled from PANJIM.Annnyway we paid for the tickets for the bus (seats 10-11) $6 each. We have to be back at the office at 9pm tonight for the bus to take us to the main bus station (inc in price)  We hung around the office for a bit as there was plenty of room and it was nice and cool, DK went for a walk about got some cash and checked out a few food places. We then went for a walk to find something to eat.The office wouldnt let us leave our bags so we had to haul them around with us which wasnt ideal. After walking through the little alleys and getting lots of funny looks and smiles we agreed on a little food place to eat our lunch. We looked at the food on offer, bearing in mind that the lady spoke no english and we spoke no vietnamese i dont think we did to bad :)  We had rice, veg and meat 36,000 for 2 meals which is about 1.40p!As we were eating we realised that lots of people were watching us, I feel like the main event, we reckon that this area probably doesnt get that many tourists, felt a bit like in a zoo, I got my camera out and started taking pictures of some of the kids, they ran off giggling like mad but loving it i suspect - all in good fun though.As we were leaving i looked at some fruit (jack fruit) that the lady on the next stall had - she gave me a piece, i liked it so she gave me a big bag! I have to admit that after a few pieces i couldnt face any more so I left it in the waiting room.  OOOO forgot to mention yesterday i had Durian fruit, that really really smelly fruit that cant be exported! Mmm acquired taste - the best i can describe it as is onion flavoured custard - ha ha ha ha ha!!! AWFUL!!!!After we left there we went for a walk and ended up in a coffee bar where the coffee tasted like petrol but it was good to be sat down and have our bags off our shoulders. Went to an internet cafe so i could use the loo and we looked to see of the confirmation of the hotel had come through  - it couldnt be confirmed so we havet got anywhere to stay.At this point we had to decide if we were going to go back to where we got off the bus or hang around here for the remainder of the time left, we decided to stay saving the tuk tuk fare which is only $20(riiiip off) but its a saving. Plus i feel a bit dodge, I dont think it was the food we had just eaten but i have been bit for the first time this trip and as we know i always feel ill after the first bite! :) Prevention is better than cure so you know me self medicating, Ive whapped on the Odomos and Anthisan taken headache tablets and anti-histimines so hopefully thatll help me stop feeling sick and get no more bites. I also never slept good last night and im soo hot so I think this is probably all going to me being a big mard ass and feeling sick.We have another couple of hours before we get the tickets so just hanging around, writing this reading and going to the shop to waste time. I asked at the desk if there was a loo on the bus (like the last 2 we had been on) and yea there is - thanks you that lady whoi understood what i was saying!Sa there we have a little time to think and I cant quite make up my mind about HCMC. I think when we get back to where we got off the bus and have chance to explore Ill like it more but im not that fussed at the moment so glad that were moving on. Its really manic, a bit like India, everywhere else hasnt been as busy. Just been to the shop to get water - 6,000 for 2 bottles - bargain -5,000 is about 20p!!! The weather is really warm and sticky, feels like it should rain but it hasnt. I noticed a big air-con unit in the waiting room so we moved infront of it to stay as cool as we possibly could otherwise I feel like we would melt! Just realised that this is the furthest south i have ever been - yey! Hurry up 9pm I want to get moving..Finally the lady from behind the desk gave us our tickets and put us on the mini bus to take us to the main bus station - what a shit hole! Asked a few people which bus we were on but just got grunted at mmm thats promising! Whilst we were in the MAI LINH office we met a lady called Su from San Fransisco, who is Chinese but living in Vietnam. She helped us a bit. Basically you have a number on your ticket and you match it up to the number on the bus... thing is you have to go round looking at the buses to find the correct one :)The 40 seater mini bus with aircon and bathroom didnt materialise - we had a 16 seater ''local bus'' As we were getting on the bus a guy showed us where to  put our bags and put us in our seats. We were on a 3 seat and the guy that put our bags on was sitting next to me but he sat in a seat behind us to give us more room which i thought was really sweet of him. We thought it would have been good and we would be able to sprawl out only we couldnt! My god I think it was the worse journey i have ever been on we bounced around the seats for all the journey although DK seemed to sleep through it. Dont believe it myself i cant believe anyone could sleep through the rattling round we did... coupled with the radio being on full blast and the lights around the dashboard :)We stopped around midnight (DAY 15 Wednesday 25th DEC - **CHRISTMAS EVE**) to have a break and get some food. Toliets were ok so i was relieved to say the least - ha ha ha. Just picked up some water and biscuits and found it rather strange that people were watching us eat :)From this point the road seemed to get worse, i think they were re-surfacing it or it might have actually been a new road. At the time of writing it was just sand and part of it was one way and you take it in turns to go across the one way part but instead of waiting the traffic was coming form all directions and a coach or bus or something had turned over so we had to take turns going around the turned over lorry and this meant going over the banks of sand that were on the side of the road ready to be laid. On the plus side it was nice that we had stopped! We had another stop although we didnt get out of the bus, a ferry crossing, agian we didnt get out of the bus although others did for a smoke and eventually we got there RACH GIA! Well we didnt actually know we got there - everyone including the bus driver got off the bus and started going off in different directions the busdriver then came to the back of the bus and threw us and our bags off  - talking to us in vietnamese - he was quite horrible actually. We finally gathered that we were at the bus station at RACH GIA. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED the journey should have taken 7 hours it took 6 including the traffic jam!!! Its now 4am - and im tired! The minute we gt off the bus we were surrounded with people wanting to give us a lift to the ferry port. We look for the free bs shuttle that Su told us about but couldnt so eventually agreed to get 2 scooters to get us to the ferry. That was fun - no seriously I enjoyed it i havent been on a motorbike for years :) $10 though! total rip off. And as we zoomed out of the bus station i saw the MAI LINH office therefore the free shuttlebus!We went for the ferry tickets - THE SUPERDONG! ha ha ha ha yes it still makes me laugh! The ticket lady asked if we were tired so i sadi yes not thinking anything of it, we carried on down towards the ferry and the guys went down an alley to a hotel for us to sleep - we said no we decided to go to the port and wait there. A couple of minutes later we were there - picked a bench and crashed!Thoughts so far - ask me when im awake!!!
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Liverpool, England, United Kingdom

Yey! We have been waiting like forever for this day to come. Its finally here, we are DK & BL and we are on our next adventure.We are going to Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Unlike the other trips we have taken the only thing we have booked this time is the return flight, first night hotel and the return train Chaing Mai.The rest well - lets just see what happens!We are currently sat on the loungers in Schipol Airport Amsterdam waiting for our flight to Bangkok, we only found out at the beginning of the week that we would be allowed to fly into BKK airport, there has been demonstrations over the last week or so and the airport was stormed.The flight to here from Manchester was pretty uneventful, apart from the man in front of me pushed the button on his neighbours seat to make the chair go back.The neighbour wasnt very happy - and probably not happy about me giggling either :)If anyone remembers the Cinzano adverts with Leonard Rossiter & Joan Collins will know exactly what I mean - ha ha ha, funny.Whats not funny is being delayed an hour whilst they unload someones luggage because they missed boarding. I dont understand that do you? Why would you get all the way to the airport put your bags in and then NOT get on the flight. WEIRDOS :)We finally get going - yey no turning back now we are on our way. Im so tired but cannot sleep
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gdvc/2/1246804041/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gdvc/2/1246804041/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gdvc/2/1246804041/tpod.html Thu, 16 Jul 2009 06:42:47 -0400 Pork Chops & Flip Flops :) x

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Phu Quoc Island, Vietnam

officially SLB birthday!!!Happy Birthday SLB!!!I have to keep an eye on the news today as i have a bet on the celebrity 'death pool' sick i know :)Up nice and early today, its lovely and sunny so yep i think we will go to the beach for more chillin, swimmin, relaxin, swimmin, sleepin, swimmin We had thought about travelling around the island to BAI DAI beach so might go there later, in fcat i think this is the reason that we came here, DK had read about it in the SUNDAY TIMES and i think we pretty much planned Vietnam around it!This is our last full day here so were going to make the most of it :)***************************************************************************************************************Went to the womans stall i mentioned yesterday for breakfast - i just pointed at the bread and said 2 she pointed at the eggs and i said 1, so the butty had something that looked like stuffing on ity followed by greens, strtips of meat, cucumber, onion , carrot, chillis,chilli sauce fish sause and coriander for decoration (DKs had egg on top of that) and all for 13.000VND (about 52p). Delicious! Ill be sad to leave Ive had a realy good time even though ive had a bit of a dodgy tummy. The weather and the food have been amazing!!! :)Went to the woman selling coconut bananas  - they were good and the onto MAYS for ginger tea. We stayed in there for ages we just couldnt be bothered moving but evenytually decided to go to the beach - we walked on from what had been our usual sunbathing spot and came across 2 beds and a hammock! how much fun!? This fab spending my last day on this island on a hammock! the sky is blue im in the shade but the breeze is nice - pretty perfect.We have just sat for the last 2 hours not saying a word watching the sun going down - PERFECT! ***************************************************************************************************************We went to the market again for dinner tonight  - good food and couple of beers - life is good. We watched the final of the Southeast Asian Championship in which Vietnam won their first ever International title beating Thailand. The locals went MENTAL!!! It was great, the roads were chokka with cars and bikes racing up and down the street honking horns.There was singing and dancing in the streets - a proper party atmosphere!  A great end to our last night!!!
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Bangkok, Thailand

OUR LAST DAY!Up about 8.30 this morning, had a stroll around the block to find somewhere to eat but nothing seems open so we went back and chilled out in the hotel for abit. When we finally decided to move we went back to the centre cafe and had breakfast there, its an organic cafe i had really good museli fruit and toast for me scrambled eggs for DK.We also had a heakth drink, i had apple and cinammon and DK had apple and celery. We really couldnt decide what to do so we went to PATUNAM Market (like going to St. Johns ha ha) and then across the road to the PLATINUM market. DK didnt like it of course cos it was shopping but i thought it was pretty good, we then decided to go to the cinema again and went to the CENTRE WORLD (think it was called) WOW this is like the best shopping ,mall ever - i loved it - if only i was with my girlfriends :) We watch ''bedtime story'' Adam Sandler - DAFT but i enjoyed it.Cinema was well posh!We got a txi back to the hotel and i went for cup of tea in the Diamond Houseand chill out whilst DK had a head and neck massage, i couldnt be bothered having a massage.Just packed and ready to go, i hate this waiting around dont you? To waste some more time we decided to go to the KHO SAHN and buyy a few last minute gifts. ***************************************************************************************************************Journey to airport pretty uneventful, flight delayed which meant that we wouldnt meet our connection so we got moved into business class so we could get off the fight first and make our connection - yey! life is good.When we got off the plane a lady was there to tell us that if we ran we could make the flight... just! So we ran and my god am I glad for my sunday running around Sefton Park!!! We got to the gate and guess what they hadnt evn started boarding.., never mind were here!
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Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Up and out for about 9 this morning, slept really well which i wasntsure i would do with all the noise.Went to the HIGHLANDS cafe on the opposite corner to the ALLEZ BOO for coffee, this place is very much like a *bucks, went on the internet there and then decided we should head somewhere else for breakfast. Didnt head very far - just to a stall opposite our hotel for a breakfast sandwich - niiiiice.We had a mooch round and bought a few gifts, then back to pack!I wish we had longer here it really has been amazing - I LOVE IT!***************************************************************************************************************After checking out we stayed relatively local to our hotel and I had a manicure whilst DK had a head and neck massage.  We have a taxi booked for 3 to take us to the airport so this is a lovely way to waste a couple of hours. Went down a small side street again and had some food and tea to waste more time and then back to the hotel to get our bags. The airport is really good, dead modern our fight is with AIR ASIA which is a budget airline like our good ol'easyjet so make sure you book your bags in like we thought we had way back in the day in Bangkok but in fact as it turned out we hadnt!!! no worries i just had to go to a desk across the way pay $5, bring a stamped bit of paper back to the desk  - job done... we didnt need to buy anything so just sat watching the planes taking off and landing before boarding our plane. Again like easyjet its first on best seats... we werent bothered where we sat as its only an hour or so flight.***************************************************************************************************************Woohoo - got the our BKK hotel no problem and now sat in JOES (just around the corner) eating TOM YUM SOUP and drinking beer - life is good!)We left there for the central cafe and had a couple of drinks there - in fact i think I just had the best MOJITO ever!!!
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Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

All ready - justr waiting for the taxi to take us to the airport - ooo that journey took all of 10 minutes.The airport is ok actually, apparently they are adding to it and making it an international airport. It was deserted really apart from one very small plane on the runway which i imagine is ours. Flight ok, we landed at RACH GIA where we have to nteed,get off the plane and go to the canteen where we wait to be called back on the plane. I wondered why we got 2 boarding passes :)Eventually back on the plane and fly to HCMC. All pretty painless! ***************************************************************************************************************We get a taxi to the DE THAM district and  get him to drop us off where the coach did on our arrival the other day hotel we picked out of the book the LAN AHN - they had a room so was please ab out that because it saved us trekking round looking for somewhere to stay. After booking in and dropping our bags off we have a walk round and go up this side street and sit in a small cafe having PHO (me) SPICY SOUP (DK), from there we made our way to the WAR REMNANTS MUSEUM. Like the killing fields and S-21 I found some it quite horrific and thought provoking. You must see it. You cannot believe the horrors...From there we took a very sobering journey to the REUNIFICATION palace - again that was interesting and well worth the journey.here we decided to go for a walk and just see where we end up! We had noticed a cinema so got tickets for ''the day the world stood still'' I love Keanu Reeves as much as the next girl but if you havent seen it dont bother its rubbish. We had about an hour before the film started so we went to a little cafe and had a drink - maaan the heavens opened and it absolutely lashed down - it stopped after about an hour though which was good as we didnt have coats :)after the cinema we got a cyclo  - that was fun - the 2 of us in a 1 man cyclo- totally exposed to the traffic around us but was a good laugh until he tried to rip us on the price. we had agreed 50 VND and he tried to charge us 150VND - WE GAVE HIM 100VND, he wanted to keep the other 50 but we took it back off him much to the amusement of his fellow cyclo owners... I know it seems tight not giving hm the change from the 100VND note but he was trying to rip us, if he hadnt we would have probably gave him a nice tip... Ah well!***************************************************************************************************************We went into the ALLEZ BOO for a drink which is on the corner of the road our hotel is on and after a drink we went for a mooch on the neighbouring streets to see what was happening. Had a KEBAB! Can you believe it??? All the way to Vietnam and we have kebabs, but i must stress they are not like the rubbish we get at home.Went into another bar and had ice-cream and a couple of beers before hading back to the hotel!Today has been a very long and tiring day, from the peacful PHU QUOC to the manic HCMC and to be honest I have loved it!!! YEY
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