The final leg of the Big Adventure

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We arrived in Dubai before 5am on 5 July and had to wait an hour or so for Andrew to arrive from Auckland.  Luckily we had some time as we had to get from terminal 1 to terminal 3.  Once we'd met him (so nice to see him again - and he seemed quite pleased to see us too!) we caught the metro to the nearest station to the apartment we'd rented.  It's like the Singapore metro in that it's so clean and efficient and reasonably priced.  It's also a driverless train.  A short taxi ride from the station took us to the apartment block.
We knew we had to wait for several hours before gaining entry to the apartment as check in wasn't until 3pm and we were there by 8.30am.  The swimming pool opened at 11am so were were able to sit under umbrellas and cool off in the pool (the weather was much hotter than south east Asia and still quite humid).  Carol and Andrew went for a walk along the beach but soon returned as it was so hot!
We finally got in to the apartment and made ourselves at home.  It wasn't large but had everything we needed including a washing machine.  Unfortunately that was not working and despite phone calls we were unable to use it during our stay (an email of complaint was quickly sent to the company once we were home!)

On our first day in Dubai we booked a Desert Safari but the chap who picked us up was late and then faffed around so much that we gave up and walked away from it.  Instead we went out for an evening meal.  Our tradition (from when Andrew was quite little) has always been to have an 'end of expedition meal'.  It just meant this meal was a couple of days before the end of the expedition!
The next day we managed to book the Desert Safari with another company and had a good late afternoon and evening on that (dune bashing in a 4x4, sand boarding, camel riding, henna painting, BBQ, belly dancing etc).

We walked in the intense heat to get a photo of the Burj al Arab and we visited 2 of the Malls - Mall of the Emirates complete with its indoor ski slope, and Dubai Mall complete with huge aquarium, ice rink,.  Outside Dubai Mall are fountains which 'play' every 30 minutes from 7pm.  We thought Disney was good but this was far slicker.




We'd booked tickets to go up the Burj Khalifa which is the tallest building in the world.  This is accessed from Dubai Mall.  Unfortunately visibility for the whole time we were in Dubai wasn't great so we didn't get very good views.
The rest of our time in Dubai was spent relaxing in the apartment and around the pool.  We went in the sea early (8am) in the morning as it was far too hot after that.  (Carol and Andrew went in it on the second day and couldn't believe how hot the water was - not just warm, but HOT)
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Finally, Saturday 9 July arrived and it was the day that had seemed so far away when we left home - the last day of our Big Adventure! We were at the airport early as Andrew's plane left 2 hours before our's.  On the flip side he had to wait for 2 hours for us at Heathrow! The coach to Southampton was 30 minutes late but finally we were there.  Julia met us (with a bag of food to keep us going) and took us home - it was exactly 31 weeks since we'd set off!

 Here's how the garden looked when we got back!

Thailand revisited

When we first visited Thailand back at the beginning of May we only had a 15 day visa as we entered overland from Malaysia.  Because of that we didn't have time to visit the Bridge over the River Kwai so had planned to visit that at the end of our trip.
Arriving overland again (this time from Cambodia) we got another 15 day visa.  The bus dropped us in Bangkok near the 'infamous' Khao San Road from where we got a taxi to the southern bus station and a bus to Kanchanaburi.  We were able to do the whole trip from Battambang in Cambodia to Kanchanaburi in Thailand in one day and so avoid having to stay overnight in Bangkok.
We found a lovely guesthouse in Kanchanaburi which had a swimming pool right outside our room.
Although breakfast wasn't included they had a good restaurant with cheap food so we ate all our meals there (we would have looked elsewhere for an evening meal but each evening it was pouring with rain so we couldn't be bothered to get wet!)

 We spent a day looking around the war cemetry, the Death Railway Museum and the JEATH war museum.  Like Phnom Penh it was all quite sad, but a part of history that you feel you ought to find out about.  The next day (30 June) we booked a day tour which took us to Soi Yok waterfall (on the Death Railway) and to Hellfire Pass and its museum.  This place was very interesting and as it's administered by the Australian government it's all well laid out and explained.  A walking track takes you along the Death Railway and through Hellfire Pass.



After lunch (included) we went elephant riding and bamboo rafting (very tame).  The elephant 'driver' got off half way round and we had the chance to 'drive' the elephant in turn!  A free audio guide explained everything as you went.

 Following this we went to the part of the Death Railway where they've reconstructed the wooden viaducts - the excavations and constructions are unbelievable, particularly when you realise that the vast majority was done by hand and the whole 415 kms of the railway was constructed in little over a year from 1942-3.  We caught the train and travelled over the wooden viaducts and travelled along the Death Railway for about 30 minutes.





The final part of the trip was the Bridge over the River Kwai.  A very interesting day.

Our final day in Kanchanaburi was spent at the 7 tiered Erawan waterfalls.  We travelled by local bus.  We swam at levels 2 and 3 and then decided to walk to the top.  Unfortunately it began to rain at about level 4 - it is the rainy season after all.  We walked as far as level 6 before turning back and having a final swim in level 2 again before catching the last bus back to Kanchanaburi.On Saturday 2 July we returned to Bangkok for our final 2 nights in south east Asia.  We decided to travel by (3rd class) train!  It was OK except the train was 1.5 hours late so instead of catching the river ferry in Bangkok and then walking to the hotel we had to get a taxi.  We'd booked the same hotel in Bangkok we'd stayed in 8 weeks previously.  At the time we said how fantastic the hotel was - we'd stayed in various backpacker hostels before that.  When we returned the hotel was still good but not as good as we'd remembered as we'd managed to find some really good places to stay in Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.
On our final sightseeing day (Thailand election day) we caught the river ferry and visited Wat Po.  This temple is the biggest in Bangkok and housed the largest reclining Buddha in the country.
We'd lost count of the number of temples we'd visited during our 11 weeks in south east Asia and the number of Buddhas we'd seen, so were pleased to return to the hotel and make use of the swimming pool!





On Monday 4 July having had a final swim and checked out at midday, we caught the airport shuttle at 1pm to the airport.  Our flight wasn't until 9pm but at least the airport was air conditioned!
The flight at 9pm took us to Singapore and then a quick change and we were on our way to Dubai where we were meeting Andrew and spending 4 days before finishing our Big Adventure.

Foreign Correspondents reporting

Once we arrived in Phnom Penh we managed to negotiate a tuk tuk fare to our hotel - luckily the guy who owned the hotel had told us what we should expect to pay.
We'd booked the hotel on someone's recommendation while we'd been in Saigon and it turned out to be OK.  Basic but very clean and large bedroom with an attached bathroom with hot water and very near to the riverfront.
On a recommendation from Pauline who we'd met on our trip to China we went to the Foreign Correspondent's Club for Happy Hour (had to go a second time just to make sure it was good!)
Phnom Penh is (in)famous for the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot's regime, so although it's pretty grim we visited Tuol Sleng prison (S21) where people were held and tortured prior to being taken to the Killing Fields.  Prior to 1975 it was a primary school and now it's exactly as it was in 1979 at the end of the regime.  Only 7 people survived S21 and that was because they were photographers or artists and were useful to Pol Pot and his cronies.




  The next day we went to the Killing Fields and that was just as grim.  So many mass graves have been excavated and the skeletons have been put in to a shrine which is the centrepiece of the Killing Fields.  Although grim it is something you have to see if visiting Cambodia if only to make you aware of history and what some nutcases are capable of.  It is amazing that the Cambodians have succeeded as they have after only 35 years of freedom from the regime.  During the 4 years of the Khmer Rouge something like 23% of the population were killed throughout the country.  The manager of our hotel was born in 1973 and his family escaped to the country in 1975.  He said they were always hungry and finally (because his mother spoke Vietnamese) were able to escape to Vietnam.  Once there, via the Red Cross they wrote to various countries.  France were the first to reply so in 1978 they all went to Paris.  He returned to Phnom Penh a couple of years ago to run a guesthouse but most of his family are still in France.
We also visited the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda which was much nicer!

From Phnom Penh we went to Siem Reap and stayed in a hotel recommended by the guy from PP.  This hotel was really good - large twin room with A/C, breakfast and swimming pool all for £10 for the 2 of us.  Actually breakfast wasn't great but it was free!  The hotel also provided free tuk tuks in to town whenever you wanted!

The main reason for visiting Siem Reap was to go to Angkor Wat.  We hired bikes one afternoon and cycled out to buy our tickets (purchased after 5pm they can be used that evening and all the next day) to see the sunset.  Unfortunately sunset wasn't great (too cloudy due to the rainy season) but we got a taste of the temples.
The next day we were up before the crack of dawn and had hired a tuk tuk for the day to take us in for sunrise at Angkor Wat and then to take us around all the other main temples.  We were there by 5.30am and following sunrise (nothing great!) we looked around Angkor Wat, Angkor Tom, the Bayon, Terrace of the Elephants, Terrace of the Leper King and various other temples.  Books recommend spending 3 days at the temples and suggest you are very unlucky if you only have 1 day there.  By 2pm we were really 'templed out' and were more than ready to return to our hotel and the swimming pool!  Maybe we're just heathens!

 One plus point of both Phnom Penh and Siem Reap is a French Bakery called the Blue Pumpkin.  At 8pm each evening they reduce the price of lots of pastries (croissants, Danish pastries, etc) by 50%!  Loads of backpackers are in there then buying up the bargains and we were no exception!
From Siem Reap, the Lonely Planet guide suggests the boat ride to Battambang is a 'must do', so we did it.  It was OK but ......... the views were nothing extraordinary, the boat would have failed all safety tests, it was VERY noisy and the only place you could see anything was on the roof which had no shade so was extremely hot!  Oh well, you win some and you lose some!

 In Battambang the main thing to do is to ride on the bamboo train.  This is due to close in 6 months once the line has been upgraded but in the meantime it was great!  A tuk tuk took us to the line.  The 'train' consists of two sets of wheels on axles and a bamboo platform on top on which you sit.  It is powered by a motor bike engine!  The trip is about 30 minutes each way and is very noisy and bumpy (noisy due to the engine and bumpy because the joins in the rails are not at all aligned) - great fun though. 

 If you meet a 'train' coming in the opposite direction then the least laden train has to be taken apart and then reconstructed on the far side of the laden one!  At the end of the line there are refreshment stalls (fresh coconut - yum) and also a brick 'factory'.  Then a noisy/bumpy ride back to the tuk tuk.

 Later that day we had booked to do a cookery course.  It was completely different to the one we'd done in Chiang Mai, but just as good. 

 There were only the 2 of us which was a shame but we still thoroughly enjoyed it.  Again, we began with a trip to the local market and then we cooked 3 dishes (no choice this time). 

Once cooked (spring rolls, fish amok and beef lok lak - the last two being traditional Khmer dishes) we sat down and enjoyed the fruits of our labours!


 

The next day (Tuesday 28 June) we bade farewell to Cambodia and travelled back in to Thailand, to Kanchanaburi (River Kwai) via Bangkok.

Don't they know it's NOT Christmas?

We got to Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum, but though the Lonely Planet said it was only closed on a Friday it turns out it's closed on Monday and Friday and we were visiting on a Monday!  Oh well, at least there were no crowds and we were still able to visit his house and grounds and see the mausoleum from the outside.  We only missed seeing his body and rumour has it they it may now be a waxwork anyway!

 The sleeping bus to Hue was fine and Carol managed to sleep most of the way, though Jon maintains he got no sleep as usual.
We found a lovely hotel in Hue which cost us the princely sum of $10 for the room, including A/C, breakfast and internet - not bad!  Across from the hotel was a cafe recommended by the Lonely Planet which was really good - one evening we had 2 meals, 2 drinks, 2 coffees and 1 dessert for the equivalent of 3GBP!
We checked out the citadel in Hue on the afternoon we arrived which was huge, interesting and hot!

 The next day we went on a day trip along the Perfume River visiting the inevitable temples along the way and also the tombs of various kings of Vietnam.  We also saw conical hats and incense sticks being made which was fascinating.

 

 Hoi An was only a short bus trip (4 hours) from Hue and proved to be a lovely historical town with lots of very old buildings.  It's another World Heritage Site. 







 













The riverfront comes alive after dark with lots of street entertainment and cheap beer - 12p for 0.5pint!  The hotel had a swimming pool so we were well set!

 We hired bikes one day and cycled the 4kms to the beach which proved to be really lovely with crystal clear water.  The only downside was the black clouds that rolled in at 2pm but by then we'd had plenty of sun anyway so we headed back and arrived just in time before the heavens opened.

 From Hoi An we'd decided to give Nha Trang a miss as we'd met a Spanish couple who described it like Benidorm.  Instead we decided to go up into the hills again to Dalat.  That was a mistake!  It's a place where Vietnamese go for their holidays and there was very little, if anything to do.  We went on a day tour which turned out to be very contrived and took us to a couple of waterfalls and a couple of Vietnamese 'theme parks' full of concrete animals and not much else!  Never mind, the hotel was OK with a very good buffet breakfast!

On 15 June we caught the bus for the last leg of the Open Tour to Saigon - known officially as Ho Chi Minh City, but the southern Vietnamese call it Saigon still.
We visited the War Remnants Museum (interesting but full of propaganda) and the Reunification Palace and did a half day tour to the Cu Chi tunnels.

 This is where the Viet Cong dug tunnels (250kms worth) to live in and hide from the Americans.  A section of the tunnels has been made safe (and widened) so tourists can crawl through to see what it was like.  Very interesting and scary!

 
That evening we ate in a restaurant called Pho 2000.  It serves Pho which is a very tasty noodle soup and is famous because Bill Clinton and his entourage stopped there for lunch in 2000.  There are photos of him all over the walls.

Here's a photo of a typical traffic scene in Saigon.  
To cross the road, you have to wade out in front of the huge mass of motorbikes.

On Saturday 18 June we joined a 3 day/2night tour to the Mekong Delta. 

 This was a really good trip which took us in various boats on the Delta to visit a floating market, a fish farm, a coconut candy family business and a fruit farm. 

 The trip included bed and breakfast (x 2), a lunch, a couple of lots of tropical fruit, a local folk group, transport in rowing boats and motor boats and a trip on a motor bike cart.  It was good to let someone else do the organisation while we sat back to enjoy the passing scenery.

The tour took us through the border in to Cambodia and finished in Phnom Penh on Monday 20 June.
Throughout our travels in south east Asia we have come across many hotels and cafes with 'Merry Christmas' and 'Happy New Year' banners and even the odd Christmas tree.  In southern Vietnam we were in 2 different hotels where they were even playing English Christmas Carols while we ate (complete with words).  Very bizarre for a country that is mainly Buddhist!

What Green Cross Code?

Well, here we are in northern Vietnam.  The decision to fly was certainly the right one for us in our advancing years - apart from the usual hanging around at airports it was a breeze and we were soon in the mayhem of Hanoi.  We'd previously booked a guesthouse so were able to check straight in without having to wander around looking for somewhere suitable.
We are now multi-multi millionaires as there are 30,000+ Vietnamese Dong to the pound.  If we were careful with the '0's in Laos it's even worse here and Carol regularly tries to give 10,000 Dong instead of 100,000 (better that than the other way round!).
Hanoi's traffic is crazy!  They seem to drive on any side of the road and regularly go across red lights and certainly don't stop at crossings for pedestrians.  The Lonely Planet guidebook suggests that if you don't want to end up like a fly on the windscreen then you don't rush across the road between vehicles but walk slowly and steadily - the idea being that the vehicles will then drive around you.  Somewhat scary the first time but amazingly it does work and we're still here to tell the tale.  Vietnamese are worse than Italians with the hooter so as well as being crazily busy it's also very noisy!

We went to a water puppet show on our second evening as it's traditionally Vietnamese and specifically from Hanoi.  It was quite strange but interesting and accompanied by a group of musicians playing traditional instruments and singing traditional songs.

 After only 1 full day in Hanoi we headed out on a 3 day/2 night tour of Halong Bay.  It's another World Heritage Area and is absolutely beautiful karst scenery.  It was a thoroughly enjoyable few days with someone else doing the organising and not having to worry about where to sleep and what to eat.  What made it even better was that we were upgraded for the first day and night on the junk boat (the second night was staying in a beach resort).  It seems the boat we booked was full so 4 of us were moved - the 4 older people, so it is good to be old sometimes!  We were told not to tell the others what we'd paid as 'they'd paid a lot of money for the trip'.  The cabin was fantastic and so was the quality and presentation of the food.  The next day we were back with our original group but the facilities at the beach (a bamboo beach bungalow on a private beach) and the food were still very good.

As soon as we returned from this we had a 2 hour turn around and were then off to catch the night train up in to the mountains.  This was a 4 night/3 day tour organised for us.  We were in a soft sleeper with 2 others and while we didn't sleep all night we did get some shut-eye.
As soon as we arrived in Sapa we went on a walk led by a lady from the local Black Hmong hill tribe.  There was the inevitable hard sell of their souvenirs but we got hardened up to it after buying from the young girls who accompanied us.  Their English was amazing - all picked up from talking with tourists - and puts us to shame.  We had a free afternoon and evening in Sapa at the hotel and the next morning set off with the same local guide for a longer 'trek' through rice paddies and stayed in a homestay.  We really enjoyed this and it made us realise how much we all have and how little they have.  The lady who was our guide is married with 2 young children, but she and her husband can't afford to buy a pig or a water buffalo and only have enough land to grow rice to feed them for 5 months.  Rice then has to be bought at around $2 per kg.  (A pig costs $5 per kilo).  Many children don't go to high school because 'it's expensive' ($80 per year).

Last night we returned to Hanoi on the night train.
Today we've been to the Prison Museum (where the Vietnamese were held as political prisoners during French rule and where the Americans were held by the Vietnamese during the Vietnam War).  Apparently the French treated them very badly but they treated the Americans extremely well!
Tomorrow we plan to visit the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum and then catch the night bus south to Hue (it's a sleeping bus - the seats lay out almost flat so hopefully we'll get some sleep).