TravelStream™ news feed for member jaykythlionas on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/jaykythlionas en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:06:16 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaykythlionas/2/1258641923/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaykythlionas/2/1258641923/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaykythlionas/2/1258641923/tpod.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:06:16 -0500 Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos (oh and Kuala Lumpur too!)

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Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

We slept especially well last night, considering we had spent the best part of 24 hours in transit. Glad to sleep in a bed, to be honest.We went down to have our breakfast and enjoyed scrambled eggs and bacon. The kids ordered pancakes each. All was going swimmingly until Ophelia decided she was not going to eat her pancakes and started playing with them. After repeated warnings, she would not behave and was taken, kicking and screaming, back to the hotel room. Not a great start to the day.It was decided that we would go for a walk to get the oxygen pumping and have a look in Ben Thanh Market. Kythera did some bargaining and came out with some nice earrings and I picked up a Vietnam soccer shirt for Jojo. We then headed back towards our district and walked slowly through Saigon Park. The kids decided that they were very tired and we stopped to take in the scenery and people. A nice old lady offered Kythera a pedicure which she gladly accepted. We sat in the beautiful Saigon Park and watched the Vietnamese exercise, sleep and go about their daily business. Ophelia wanted her nails done and chose a nice pink colour. Jojo then decided he wanted his toenails done and got a pretty green colour. Something about that kid...After our little pampering session, we headed back to our hotel for a snooze. All of us had a bit of a nap before 3pm when we rose and went for a light late lunch at Sozo, our favourite cafe' here. We loved it here last time and it hasn't changed. Service is still slow but the food is good, they have Dr Pepper and it is all about helping the disadvantaged. A recommendation.I bought a new hat From Sozo, we went to the Saigon Playground, hoping to find the place that the teams went to on the current season of the Amazing Race. We walked around a bit after being told that it was closed except for Saturday and Sunday. Then we actually found the playground and it was open. Strange. Ophelia and Jojo had a go on some electric fishbikes, and then we found the actual playground part. The kids went wild and played on the jumping castle, swings, slides and a massive (MASSIVE) ball pit. We let them play for ages to tire them out a bit. All funned out, we caught a cab (Ophelia nearly walked out into the middle of a busy Saigon road) to our favourite Indian restaurant from last time, Ganesh's. We ordered the same things but something had changed. The food was a bit different, not as nice, smaller servings. Disappointing. It had just opened when we visited last, and maybe because of it's reputation as being great they kind of went a little downhill to save money. We went to Milwaukee's to have a nice ice-cream dessert and wind down for the night. After our little extravagance, we walked back to our hotel and, after searching for some accommodation in Phnom Penh, fell asleep. 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaykythlionas/2/1258639944/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaykythlionas/2/1258639944/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaykythlionas/2/1258639944/tpod.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:27:28 -0500 Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos (oh and Kuala Lumpur too!)

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Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

So, the last time we put in an entry we were at a kid's playground in KL International Airport. After the kids had worn themselves out at the playground, we headed back to the Low Cost Carrier Terminal. Before that, however, we enjoyed ourselves by playing a new trademarked game: Lift Losers. The aim of the game is simple; find everything except what you actually want to find by visiting as many floors as possible by way of each lift in the airport except the one you require. It's fun and will while away the hours in Kuala Lumpur. We found it in the end, and it was the first one that Kythera had pointed to... masculine husband ignored her. We then found a nice little cafe called Chocolate in the terminal and gave the kids some lunch. We then put them to sleep - Jojo stretched out on the couch, Ophelia in the pram, each with their blankies - and put on Dexter for us to watch. Kythera fell asleep halfway in for ten minutes. Catch the z's when you can, I guess. After the kids were woken up by a stupid family who had everywhere in the shop to sit but sat RIGHT next to us and let their kid crawl over our sleeping Jojo, we wandered off and did some looking about. We checked in and sat in the arrivals lounge. Our flight was scheduled to board at around 5.00 for a 5.45 flight. Both of those came and went, before we were told our flight would be delayed. The kids were going mental at this point, breakdancing and running around. I got out my ukulele and played San Dimas Highschool Football Rules to the other waiting people, and of course to the kids, who danced around. Some guy came up to me afterwards and asked me to autograph his jacket. Strange.Eventually, we boarded the flight and we were off to Saigon. Ahhhhh. There were empty seats everywhere so the kids stretched out and slept and I did too. I don't think Kythera did. She was filling out the entrance forms for Vietnam. We landed at Saigon (Tam Son Nhat) and, after organising visas, we got into a cab and headed for our hotel. Jonas on one side of the taxi, windows down... yelling out the window... "Motorbike motorbike motorbike motorbike". Ophelia on the other side, windows down... "Look at that, look at that, motorbike, motorbike". Very funny way to come back to Saigon. As we drove through the streets, I remembered how much I love Saigon. The place is so alive, buzzing with people and neon lights. We headed into the tourist district (where our hotel is) and were amazed at the changes on De Tham, where we stayed last time. There is a massive three floor nightclub and lots of more upmarket fashion stores. It's only been 11 months since we were here last, but it could've been a couple of years.Checked into the hotel. It's nice, with free wifi. Thanks to Sandra, Dave, Keiran and Jamie for paying for it. So nice to have a luxurious place to start our trip (it's all downhill from here). Pretty much hit bed as soon as we got in and got showered. Busy 24 hours. Tomorrow, it all begins. 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaykythlionas/2/1258576159/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaykythlionas/2/1258576159/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaykythlionas/2/1258576159/tpod.html Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:47:25 -0500 Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos (oh and Kuala Lumpur too!)

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Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia

So here it is! The start of our second amazing family adventure.Thanks to Sandra, Jamie and Keiran, we arrived at Tullamarine Airport quite early for check-in, but there was still a line about two kilometres long.After a fair wait before our check-in, we said goodbye to Sandra who had waited with us and headed in through passport control. We boarded late and took off late due to an overwhelming number of people on the flight. However, we were pretty much first to board. Gotta love the kids sometimes.Ophelia fell asleep on me almost instantly, whilst Jonas took a little longer to settle. Kythera and I just could not get comfortable... we slept all up about an hour each on the 9 hour flight. At one point I went to the floor and curved myself around the bags on the floor and the seats to get some sort of comfort spot. No can do. My iPod started working again though. We arrived in Kuala Lumpur at 7.15am local time (about 10.15am Melbourne time) and realised we had two very overtired, out of control kids with us. We decided to just go with the flow and went for a breakfast at some cafe place whilst the kids went mental and breakdanced to Black Eyed Peas songs. Not exactly a very Asian start, but we enjoyed our cafe lattes. We then caught a bus over to the main terminal and have just found a playground for the kids which happens to have a free wifi connection. Cool. Not sure what the rest of the day has in store for us, but will update you all tomorrow. 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaykythlionas/2/1258060149/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaykythlionas/2/1258060149/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaykythlionas/2/1258060149/tpod.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:24:22 -0500 Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos (oh and Kuala Lumpur too!)

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Frankston, Victoria, Australia

So we have five days left until we leave and it is pretty much all I can think about. Jaymz has an exam today, so understandably his mind as been elsewhere the last few days. However, Ophelia's enthusiasm about the trip has been a source of pleasure; when she speaks of the trip her face lights up and her voice raises with excitement. Jonas tells me he wants 'to go on da oliday' and on the plane. It is much harder for him to comprehend, but Ophelia loves to look at the maps and hear about all the different countries. Apparently she is looking forward to Laos the most, but I am not sure why, maybe to do with the fact I told her that elephants live in town with people there and not in zoos. If we dont see a elephant on the street I will be in trouble! Clothes have been soaked in permethrin. Toiletries, meds and other misc items have been sorted and packed. Airplane outfits decided on, flight details printed and cash exchanged into foreign currencies. Still more than enough to do over the next five days though, just hope we have time to get it all done. Next entry will be from Melbourne airport where we will fly out at 1:20am on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning.   
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaykythlionas/1/1231036380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaykythlionas/1/1231036380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaykythlionas/1/1231036380/tpod.html Sat, 03 Jan 2009 22:32:31 -0500 Vietnamarama

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Frankston, Victoria, Australia

After spending an hour or so at Darwin Airport, going through customs etc, we boarded our final flight for Melbourne. Ophelia slept pretty much for the whole of this flight too, and Jonas slept for a good three hours. I hadn't slept more than 15 minutes by this point and Kythera had got only a couple of hours. Was really nice being met off the plane by Mum &amp; Dad who took our baggage and children and took them home. Kythera and I caught the Skybus and train home, listening to some more Life of Pi and music before getting back to our house in Frankston, thus ending our adventure.A truly amazing and lifechanging trip. We now know that we can do this again. This was just the beginning. Next stop: Road trip to Central Australia, and then either India or Saigon/Cambodia/Laos/Thailand.You can travel with kids and have fun! It's true!Here is the list of things in Vietnam that we loved/loathed....Best 3&nbsp;places1.&nbsp;Hue <i>- great food, amazing sights, laidback, modern young fresh city with life in it. Artsy as well. 2. Halong Bay <i>- incredible caves and serenity, the only time in Vietnam when we weren't surrounded by people.3. Hoi An - <i>ancient town was terrific, felt really slow, great tailors and an awesome spa!Worst 3 places1. Dong Ha - <i>terrible food, unfriendly people, depressing sights and sounds (grey), nothing to see, nothing to do except the DMZ tours (which isn't part of Dong Ha anyway)2. Cat Ba Island - <i>too much of a seaside village, completely tailored to tourists. 3. Can't name a 3rdBest&nbsp;5 touristy experiences/memorable moments1. Trekking in Sapa - <i>incredible sights and sounds, can't believe that we did it with two kids - it was a really hard, gruelling trek2. Halong Bay - <i>waking up at 4.30am on the bay and seeing the awesome view around us - moonlit limestone islets, also the caves and kayaking with the kids3. Visiting the Citadel in Hue - <i>this place was really big and pretty cool. Made up of heaps of temples and pagodas. It was so old and awesome - in that it filled us with awe. Was fun to dress up like the Emperor too!4. Cooking class in Hue - <i>we learned some yummy recipes to cook when we get home, and we had some time without the kids5. Visiting markets in Bac Ha, Hue, Danang, Hoi An and Saigon - <i>markets in Vietnam are incredible, so colourful and full of amazing sights, sounds and smells. The kids got top treatment and attention. Bargaining for items was a lot of fun too. Worst 5 touristy experiences/forgettable moments1. DMZ tour (except the tunnels and cemetery) -<i>&nbsp; Khe Sanh combat base left so much to be desired, the wet, muddy walk to a concrete building, it was raining the whole time, shit food2. Sapa Homestay - <i>Was set up like a dormitory, didn't get to spend time with host family, place was empty and personality-less, dogs barked all night, nothing to do or look at if you didn't drink rice wine3. Overnight train from Ninh Binh to Dong Ha - <i>Mattresses so thin they couldn't even be called mattresses made for a night of pain, people were in our bunks, I got my ankle stepped on by people getting up to their bunks, no room for our bags so we had to sleep with them4. Bus ride from Hai Phong to Ninh Binh (nearly died) - <i>Driver was a Vietnam vet for sure, he had a glazed, demonic look in his eye and in his driving, swerving only at the last minute, the whole ride was two and a half hours of playing Chicken5. Ophelia vomiting - on the bus in Sapa and in the hotel in Ninh Binh - <i>On the bus, Kythera caught the vomit on Ophelia's jumper and stank of vomit for the rest of the day. Was just miserable. dishonourable mention: Massage at Vien Dong Hotel in Saigon - <i>Terrible ambience, chainsmoking old men who were probably there for a "happy ending". Really uncomfortable place.dishonourable mention: Argument with Lan Anh Hotel manager - <i>Just really obnoxious and frustrating.dishonourable mention: When Jonas's pram got caught by a passing motorcycle and dragged away from my hands - <i>Really scary. Kythera looked up and saw me chasing the pram down the market aisle. I had to rip the twine from the guy's motorbike to get the pram back as he didn't listen to anyone&nbsp;yelling at him. Thank goodness Jojo didn't&nbsp;really seem fazed by it.&nbsp;Top 3 nights out1. Around Saigon when Vietnam won the Suzuki Cup - <i>a sea of red flags, streets shut down by motorcycles, friendly people all united by their passion for football2. Christmas Eve, listening to Karl play music in Hoi An - <i>fun to just hang out and not feel like boring-ass parents, even though the kids were there with us. Also a lot of fun to play a couple of songs in another country!3. Dinner with Lawrence and Lucy in Saigon - <i>Great people with similar interests, loved our kids, great conversations and fun to relax and laugh with someone other than each other. Top 5 funniest moments1. My hotel not annoying! - <i>At the wharf in Cat Ba, heaps of people on motorcycles come up to you touting their hotels. One particularly aggressive tout followed us for ages, until this happened - MAN (for the two hundredth time): You come! Look at my hotel! KYTHERA: No! You're annoying us! We won't come and look at your hotel!&nbsp;MAN (strange look): My hotel not annoying! KYTHERA: NO! YOU'RE ANNOYING! Man drives off... Just a sincere "my hotel is not annoying" look.&nbsp;This triggered off a&nbsp;joke for the trip.&nbsp;We would occasionally say to each other "my ....... not&nbsp;annoying!" to be returned with "No! You're annoying!"2. Man! -&nbsp;<i>In Hoi An, we pretty much got&nbsp;sick of being pointed at and looked at, which culminated one day with a man&nbsp;clapping and pointing to Jojo, saying "Baby!" Without missing a beat, Kythera clapped and pointed at the guy, saying "Man!"3. Swan - <i>In Hanoi, Kythera attempted to board a paddleboat shaped like a swan.&nbsp;Holding Jonas, she stepped onto one side of the swan and promptly fell backwards into the water - Australia's Funniest Home Videos style.&nbsp;She held Jonas out of the water though.&nbsp;At first, I didn't do anything until Kythera told me to take Jonas.4. Hand Gestures - <i>In Hoi An,&nbsp;it was raining and I was sick of people telling me to put a hood on Jonas. Finally, a woman came to me and did funny hand gestures to tell me to get his head&nbsp;covered. I promptly did some hand gestures back, telling her to get back to&nbsp;her stall. 5. Benign Girl - <i>At our homestay in Sapa, Ophelia was playing with a toy phone. We had a look and it said "Benign girl" on it above the picture of a Barbie-looking blonde. Way too funny. Best "big impact" place- War Remnants Museum in Saigon - <i>a sombre reminder of the casualties of war. Fetuses on display, photographs of kids and people affected by Agent Orange, photos and stories of My Lai massacre and other war crimes. Hard to believe humans can do that to each other.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaykythlionas/1/1230949440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaykythlionas/1/1230949440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaykythlionas/1/1230949440/tpod.html Sat, 03 Jan 2009 21:33:15 -0500 Vietnamarama

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Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia

This morning marked the beginning of our final day in Vietnam. With heavy hearts, we went down to breakfast and enjoyed a hearty breakfast before heading out to visit some sights.We quickly checked out and put our baggage in storage and then&nbsp;grabbed a taxi to head to the Southern Vietnam Women's Museum, where they had many famous Vietnamese women and gave a good idea of what it was like to be a woman in Vietnam. It was interesting that, apart from the war-related women, it was all about cooking and making clothes. It was an interesting experience and we took a few photos and then headed for our next destination, the Jade Emperor Pagoda.On the way, we saw a cafe called Galaxy and had some Vietnamese food for lunch before visiting the Jade Pagoda. Kythera had told me that this was the best pagoda in Saigon, however, it seems to be under construction so it wasn't as cool as some other places we've visited. There was a pond at the front with some live fish and some dead fish, as well as a pond on the side with the most turtles I have ever seen! Ophelia was fascinated. We then headed back to our hotel and spent a final afternoon walking the streets of Saigon before heading to dinner at our favourite Saigon restaurant, Milwaukee's. After dinner, we went back to the hotel, picked up our baggage and headed to the airport.We checked in to our flight, did some duty free shopping and hopped on the plane back to Australia. Jonas didn't settle for the whole 4 hour flight from Saigon to Darwin - he slept properly for maybe an hour or so - and I found Ophelia some spare seats and she laid out and slept pretty much the whole flight.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaykythlionas/1/1230866040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaykythlionas/1/1230866040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaykythlionas/1/1230866040/tpod.html Sat, 03 Jan 2009 01:22:19 -0500 Vietnamarama

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Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

This morning, we woke late (after having a late night, of course) and headed into breakfast. It was pretty good (even with our kids running about everywhere) and we headed out into the day.Being our second last day, we had some last-minute shopping to finish so we visited the Ben Thanh Market again to pick up a couple of little things for our loved ones (and for ourselves!). It took a while but we got there. Kythera decided to continue shopping whilst I took the kids back to the hotel for a nap and watch some more 30 Rock. She came back and decided to go down to the Beauty Centre for a massage. After being told "5 minutes" and then "30 minutes" and sharing the room with chainsmoking men, she came back to the room and I decided to go down for one. I got the massage and steam room and sauna etc but it was a most uncomfortable place. Smoking people everywhere, and surrounded by men. Except for the masseur who was a skimpily clad girl. After further thoughts, Kythera and I decided that for Vietnamese men this is a "happy ending" massage place - wasn't offered to me (nor would I have taken them up on the offer!). My friend Lawrence had a similar experience in Cambodia today too. Strange.We decided to go somewhere new for dinner and headed to the Hoi An restaurant. After looking at the prices, we left the Hoi An restaurant and kept walking down the street, where we found Ganesh's Indian restaurant. The food here was absolutely fantastic and worth every penny (cheap too!). Kids enjoyed salad and naan, Kythera and I had little buffets to ourselves. Very yummy and very nice staff. We headed back to the hotel and the kids went down for sleep. Kythera and I packed our bags, showered, watched a movie for a while (can't remember which one) before we fell asleep.... last day tomorrow! Dammit!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaykythlionas/1/1230777480/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaykythlionas/1/1230777480/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaykythlionas/1/1230777480/tpod.html Thu, 01 Jan 2009 21:56:23 -0500 Vietnamarama

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Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

We woke up in our luxurious hotel room completely refreshed and went down to a buffet breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Not too bad!It had been resolved that today we would spend more time seeing the sights of Saigon, and we had decided to visit the Reunification Palace and War Remnants Museum. We hopped onto a couple of cyclos and asked to be taken to the Reunification Palace (agreeing on a price first, of course - we learned that the hard way in Hue). A nice ride was taken in which we were nearly killed by the crazy traffic surrounding the crazy roundabouts that they have here for NO GOOD REASON!The Reunification Palace is a restored five-floor time warp to the late-60s, early-70s. It's been left largely untouched from the day before Saigon fell to the North (construction started in 1962 and finished in 1966). Formerly South Vietnam's Presidential Palace, the Vietnam War ended on April 30, 1975 when tank #843 - a replica of which is now parked on the lawn outside - crashed through the gate.It's a crazy place - it's literally stuck in the 70s, with the Presidential quarters, map rooms, and "gambling room" all left the way they were when the tanks bashed down the gates.A great part of the Palace is eerie basement, full of vintage 1960s phones, radios, and office equipment, supposedly left exactly as it was found when the North took over. It is very cool and we enjoyed looking at all the old equipment and walking the corridors. There was no other tourists around either, which added a creepier feeling to it all. After we finished the Reunification Palace, we grabbed a light lunch and headed to the War Remnants Museum. This Museum used to be known as the&nbsp;Exhibition House of American War Crimes, and it shows.&nbsp;It was opened in a hurry, less than five months after the fall of the South (yep, back in 1975). This disturbing display of man's cruelty during the Vietnam (American) War includes halls full of gruesome photographs (I took some but had to stop when they started being of the infants who were infected with Agent Orange), a prison, and jars of deformed fetuses blamed on Agent Orange. Outside, there are helicopters, jets, tanks, and other bits of armament. This place had the most impact of any museum we've been to so far in this country. The Agent Orange stuff absolutely floored me and I had to stop walking past all the photos (and jarred fetuses) to have a hug with Ophelia and Jonas. Heavy stuff. As we finished the museum, the rain started to come down (of course, it's 3pm!). We caught a cab back to our hotel and the kids napped and I caught up on some internet stuff. We then ordered in Italian food for dinner (beautiful cannelloni) and I went out to get some party food for New Years. Picked up some Tim-Tams, Skittles, M&amp;Ms, Reese's Pieces, Dr Pepper and Coke. It was a good amount of food and Ophelia had a couple of lollies before bed. After watching a 30 Rock marathon on TV until 11.30, we woke Ophelia up and went out on the balcony to see in the New Year. It was great to see the countdown (in Vietnamese) and we are looking forward to a great 2009. Happy New Year, everyone!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaykythlionas/1/1230683280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaykythlionas/1/1230683280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaykythlionas/1/1230683280/tpod.html Wed, 31 Dec 2008 03:58:16 -0500 Vietnamarama

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Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Last night was our final night in the blackness that is the Lan Anh Hotel. We can't say that we will miss it at all. Terrible room, terrible service, awful internet connection. I could live without a good internet connection if the room was good enough.We went out for an early breakfast back at Sozo (the restaurant we went to a couple days back). Yummy bagels... truly a place to eat at if you ever travel here.After breakfast, we went back to the Lan Anh to collect our bags and collectively check-out. I went to the front counter, ready to pay my bill, when to my surprise he hands me a bill for over $200 AUD! "I think you've charged us the wrong room rate, we're supposed to be $24 US a night," says I. "Yes, but you did an international phone call for 15 minutes on the 26th December," says the stupid manager. That was a reverse-charge call to Travelex in regards to our CashPassports when we had money problems the other day. Read that? REVERSE-CHARGE. I told him in no uncertain terms that this was absolute bullshit. It's a reverse-charge call! He said to Kythera, "if it was a reverse-charge call, why didn't you go to the Post Office instead of making it in your room?" His logic was flawless. Why didn't we go to a place where you mail things to make a reverse-charge phone call? We never thought of it. It seems so obvious now.&nbsp;Einstein Award goes to Lan Anh manager at this point - massive ceremony and everything... tooting horns, trophy handed over by buxom ex-actress (Brooke Shields perhaps). Sarcasm ends here.I must admit, things got a little heated at this point, especially when he started mocking Kythera behind his back. I had to remove myself from the situation otherwise I would've hit him. Hard. We ended up checking and paying the bill - he'd overcharged us anyway, by about $30 AUD, by the way... we told him to change the bill and give us our passports back before we called the police - and resolved to do a couple of reviews on TripAdvisor, AsiaRooms and Lonely Planet websites to advise people not to visit. This was not only for the ridiculous phone call charge, but for the service, the rooms and the mockery. End stupid, crappy start to day here. Begin nice part of day here.We walked our baggage around the corner to the Vien Dong Hotel, a 3-star luxury hotel. We checked into our room (we'd chosen a deluxe room) and to be honest, it wasn't what we expected from a luxury hotel. It was an inwards-facing room, with no balcony. We immediately rang through to reception to ask for a balcony room. No chance until tomorrow, they said. Kythera decided to check out the Executive Suite room which we thought was a bit more pricey ($175 US per night which I think is around $360 per night) and perhaps out of our price range really. We looked it over. Luxury doesn't half say it. It's two rooms, both with massive LCD TVs, a kingsize bed, a jacuzzi in the parents bedroom (of course!), and two balconies. We asked the price and got a discount down to $135 US per night. Considering that for the other room we were going to pay $117 US per night, we decided to pay the extra $13 US and live in the lap of luxury for the remainder of our trip. That sucks, the remainder of our trip. We haven't much time left now! I am going to miss this place, it's really starting to feel like home. In a touristy way. We relaxed for the rest of the afternoon (it rained anyway... in Saigon, at around 3pm every day, it rains buckets) and watched a couple of movies. The kids napped. After a couple of relaxing hours, we went out to look for dinner. It started to rain buckets again so we decided to go back to Milwaukee's for a fourth time (the most we have ever visited any restaurant in this country). We watched the rain come down onto the street below and slowly watched the water rise before the street was flooded and water was coming onto the streets. I went down to see how deep it was on the street and it was halfway between my wrist and elbow. That is a crazy amount of water. It didn't seem to faze the motorcycle and taxi drivers, though. They went through at breakneck pace. Amazed we didn't see any accidents. After dinner, we went back to the hotel and put the kids to bed (they had their own room with TV, so they watched Cartoon Network to sleep) and watched a couple of movies. Later on, we had a jacuzzi bath and reminded ourselves how awesome it will be when we get home to have a room to ourselves again. Oh, one thing I didn't mention. We heard some music and talking coming through REALLY LOUDLY at about 11pm at night (we were still up). We thought it might be some more performances in the park opposite (they've been doing them daily up until NYE) but I looked out the window, over into the park, and saw a TV on, with a few Vietnamese people watching it. It was so loud that we could hear all the words and music (and it was louder than our TV)... but we were 300 metres away and five floors up! Incredible. Vietnamese kids don't seem to have a bedtime, and people don't seem to spend too much time in their homes. They eat out three times daily as well as socialise with their huge extended families and friends... and of course work. Many people do not work a 9-5 job here. It's more like 5 or 6am until 2am. Some people even sleep at their places of work - especially hotel staff. There's been many times here that we have stepped over sleeping hotel staff as we exit early for breakfast or&nbsp;a taxi to the airport. It's a strange thing that's unique to Vietnam. Nice, relaxing day today - apart from the shitty morning. Tomorrow, we head out to see some more Saigon sights - including the Reunification Palace and War Remnants Museum, which is supposed to be the best thing to see of all the sights.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaykythlionas/1/1230605280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaykythlionas/1/1230605280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jaykythlionas/1/1230605280/tpod.html Tue, 30 Dec 2008 04:14:40 -0500 Vietnamarama

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Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

We awoke - late again - and headed out to breakfast. We were originally going to go somewhere new, but chose to return to Milwaukee's after yesterday's excellent breakfast. We had the same thing again. Once again, yummy!Today we decided that we were going to visit the Dem San Water Park, on the outskirts of Saigon. We grabbed a taxi to take us there (7 kms, $8.50 AUD fare - not bad by Vietnamese standards). We realised that we were out of nappies, so we headed quickly into the local Co-Op Mart (Vietnam's Wal-Mart) and picked some up. Strange, visiting a supermarket. We should've done it a couple more times on this trip. We entered the Park and got changed. Kythera's old cozzie was falling apart so she bought a new one (I like it!). Dam Sen Water Park is absolutely incredible. So many slides. So many different pools. If they did it in Melbourne they'd make a fortune. Ophelia and Jojo explored the water fountain at the front (Ophelia loved putting her foot on the hole and making go everywhere). We then went to the top to take the kids down a slide or two. "No children" we were told. Damn. We would have to go seperately whilst the other looked after the kids. I went first, Kythera waited at the bottom. It was SOOO fast. I'm glad we didn't take the kids. After I went, Kythera had a turn. After putting our toes in the water with the slides (so to speak), we visited the little kids pool. Full of elephants (complete with little slides), rhinos and lizards, it was fantastic! Ophelia and Jojo loved it (both could stand up in the water). Both went down the small slides and then Ophelia decided to do one of the bigger "kids slides". I took her to the top and helped her push off and off she went, sliding manically around before turning backwards and heading into the waiting arms of Kythera and Jojo. "Again!" she yelled. So she went on again... and again. We then went and got into some tubes and had a relaxing time going around the "rapids". Basically you are taken along on a current - there are some fast (not scary) bits and some slow relaxing parts. It goes around the park and you don't have to do anything except lie back and relax. We loved it and so did the kids. After this we went and hung out in the wave pool for a bit. Ophelia didn't like it much. She couldn't stand up in it... we went and looked at more of the slides for the "big kids". I decided to go down a really long one which requires you to lie on your stomach. Very scary and I smacked my ankle on the way down. A little painful! Kythera said she was too scared to try any other slides, so I tried a couple more. The Twister was crazy. It seriously goes diagonally downwards for a good 30 metres and it is covered over, with a fast turn on the end so you can't see how much longer you have to go - you just go faster and faster. At the end it spits you into a big tea-cup thing with a hole at the bottom. You spin around and around the teacup before it just dumps you unceremoniously into the water. Scared me absolutely shitless and I wouldn't go on it again. I didn't recommend it to Kythera either. I tried the Giant Slide next, which was long but less scary. Kythera decided to go on that one, and then another one. We then walked across to the other big slide and realised you could only go down if you were "two people" and the "no children" rule still applied. I went up and tried it out, resting my feet on the back of a Vietnamese girl and probably ruined her afternoon. It was a really good slide, a bit scary in places but a nice "pond" halfway down before the slide continued. Kythera asked a nearby American woman to watch Ophelia and Jonas and we went down it together. Was the highlight of our day to do this one together. Ophelia really wanted to go in the kids pool again so we went back to it and took some photos. We were by then ready to go but I wanted to try one more slide, so I chose the Kamikaze. You can see it in the photos. It's FREAKING SCARY and FREAKING HIGH! You go so fast and can't see for the last 15 metres because water just splashes in your face. A great way to finish my sliding for the day. We decided to take a family pic to finish off (which you can see in the photos). Unfortunately, straight after the photo was taken, Ophelia decided to RUN across the floor and slipped and banged her head on the concrete. An immediate "egg" came up on her head and she cried hysterically. Poor girl. It still hurts (one day later!). We took a taxi back to our hotel and went to Pho 24 for a late lunch. Funny, Pho is the Vietnamese's staple food and it's sold on every street corner, but they still have a chain store for it. Didn't taste any better, but $1.50 AUD dearer! Pfft!The kids had some dinner when we got back to the hotel and went to bed. They fell asleep about two hours later. After they were finally asleep, we went out for a quick dinner (not worth a mention, except to say that mashed potatoes turned out to be potato deb - yuck!) and shopping on the street which our hotel is on before returning to back to our room for our final night in the Lan Anh Hotel. Don't like this place. No natural light. United 93 (the movie) was on and for some reason I watched it. Kythera finished her book.&nbsp;We fell asleep, looking forward to checking out of this place and into our new luxurious hotel tomorrow.
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