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Hoi An part 2
Food: There was much good food in Hoi An, but I’m going to give the award to the 30000 VND ($1.50) pho and tea two doors down from the hotel/resort we were staying at. Lovely fresh flavours, lots of fabulous chilli paste, and very unpretentious – the owners’ small child was running around (at least we thought it was the owners’, it could have been anyone’s) and was happy to be picked up and smiled at. It wasn’t an official recommended place, just somewhere we wandered into walking back one night. Also not official but very popular with our group was the local fresh beer hall, 3000 VND (15 cents)…
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Days 7,8,9 – Hoi An 1
Condensing all the days in Hoi An into one post, as a way of catching up and also for continuity reasons. Hue to Hoi An by bus, a fairly long but pretty drive, three mountain passes and at the top of the tallest one remnants of French bunkers and an even older gate. Lunch stop was at a bakery along the beachfront in Da Nang, had a steamed bun and a vol au vent type thing, nothing special but apparently the baguettes were fabulous. Also had a quick break to take some photos of the little boats the fishermen use to get to the bigger boats, groovy little half balls.…
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Day 6 – Hue
Hue. Pronounced Hway. As in the sound a sleep deprived traveller makes when stepping off a train into bright light, holding a backpack, trying to balance. Hue. Hue’s schtick is that it’s an old and cultural city, the capital from 1803-1945 or thereabouts, home to 3 loved kings, 1 hated one, and 9 others who generally seem to have been treated with a mixture of reverent indifference. It’s a bit of a weird city, trying to figure out the whole narrative — there’s a lot of emphasis on the damage to the city from the American and French Wars (and always the damage caused by the invaders, not the local…
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Day 5, Halong Bay to Hue (the longest day)
It’s good to be writing this from a mostly comfy hotel bed (I probably haven’t mentioned they like hard beds over here) in airconditioned comfort, as this day was a killer. Woke up in time for breakfast on the boat in Halong Bay, followed by a short demonstration on vegetable carving. The chef does an impressive trick making a fish net out of a carrot. We then toodled back to the shore, hopped off the boat into the waiting bus for the long drive back to Hanoi. There’s only dual carrigeway for part of the route, the rest is just a lane each way and all the trucks, cars, buses…
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Day 4, Halong Bay
Have fallen a few days behind as it’s not easy typing on the bus, not quite being built for us larger western types. Am writing this on the road from Hue to China Beach (nowadays called Da Nang Beach). We’ve passed a few war graves on the road. A couple of days ago we were in Halong Bay, the pristine wilderness, World Heritage listed etc place. Looks fabulous, lots of dragon teeth peaks rising out of the ocean. Had a fantastic seafood lunch, with a local baked clam as a favourite. Took t Worked it off in the afternoon with an hour or so kayaking with L around the Bay,…
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Day 3 Hanoi
Writing this from day 4, on top of a boat cruising Halong Bay. Yesterday was food food food. Morning was an early start, down the lobby at 745am for a quick stroll around the corner for breakfast pho. A perfectly civilised breakfast it is too, with extra doughnut crouton type thing. Yummy soupy goodness. Next stop was some local coffee, VN is one of the world’s biggest exporters of coffee, and we had a taste of the local brew. Not too bad, nothing too special but I think a bunch of that is down to the drip brew. We followed this with a stroll through the markets, quite busy, some…
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Hanoi – Day 2
First full day in Hanoi. Started with breakfast in the hotel, where I made a fusion breakfast of pho, crispy bacon and smoked dried fish. Quite yummy. Then a leisurely stroll down to the Temple of Literature, Vietnam’s oldest university, where the guidebooks say it’s possible to escape the bustle of Hanoi for a while. It really just swaps the bustle of the city with a bustle of tourists, less noisy but still a lot of people around. A handful of possibly Japanese young women wanted their photo taken with L and myself, not sure why. Strolled back, via an icecream parlour where I had durian frozen yogurt/icecream. Quite tasty.…
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Hanoi Day 1ish
Made it to Hanoi, through customs and I’m again in the old communist block. Not that it really shows, anyone wanting a totalitarian/nationalistic look and feel these days might as well check out Australia on January 26 — there are a bunch of flags around here right now but none on cars. Interestingly, judging by the building developments going on at the airport, they are less strict on branding than Western Australia. While I’m talking branding, Vietnam is a land of few fonts, it really is. There’s one used all over the place, somewhere between franklin condensed and impact. See it all the time. Sans serif rules the roost for…
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Transit – Changi – Vietnam Day 1
With Country Joe and the Fish in my head (Feel like I’m fixin’ to die rag http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xuUBCF3KKxc) we’re off to Vietnam. It’s our honeymoon, so first a huge thanks to everyone’s very generous contributions to our travel registry. We’re here because of you all, thank you. Here is presently Changi, the Golden Kris lounge at Terminal 3 (in true Singapore Airlines style, the posh lounge is the Silver Kris, the partner members are gold). I’ve just eaten congee for third breakfast. I succumbed to its charms. I’m no big fan of congee, if I want to consume something that kind of feels like warm vomit, well let’s just say I…
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vietnam -1 day
Almost packed and ready for a new adventure. A quick stop in Changi and then it’s two weeks in Vietnam. Stay tuned.
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Day 1 – Transit to London
delayed on tarmac olympic screamer leg room culture swap bizarre night club delayed landing run to Holborn checking in the flat the neighbourhood the noise the fruiterer Trying something different, I figure if I put a bunch of dot points a the start then I’ll try to write to these and remember everything. Or most things. Or something. It wasn’t the greatest flight from Changi to LHR, which had nothing to do with the lovely SIA staff. Got on the plane with plenty of time, though furiously chugged water at the gate before the screening, forgetting the whole liquids thing. Remind me next flight to pack an empty bottle. It’s…
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Transit: Changi Airport, Singapore
Global lounge hopping. Got to check out the KrisFlyer lounge at Perth Airport, now in the Gold KrisFlyer Lounge at Changi. Airport lounges are, to use the words of Jason Fischer, a place of “free toast”. I didn’t actually check if the Perth one had a toaster, but it had food basics (bread, sushi, noodles, rice, curry, bombay sapphire) everything a growing traveller needs. The flight was fine, and came with the luckiest of luxuries — a spare middle seat, so I had a bit of extra room. The flight was at 1.10am, so we didn’t get dinner (thankfully) but did get breakfast. The Gold KrisFlyer lounge at Changi is…
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TiconTour13 is nigh
I thought I’d have a bit more time to post the lead up to this, but am almost all packed and off to the airport tonight. Tomorrow morning I’ll have 2.5 hours at Changi airport, then it’ll be next stop LHR (London Heathrow). I should be arriving around 3.30 pm GMT (none of that UTC stuff here for this trip!). The cat is being pouty beside me, she knows what suitcases mean: one less slave. As to the cases, I’m taking two: a small, almost hand-luggage sized one full of books (14.7kg), and a larger one with everything else (12 kg). I’ve also gone to the darkside, travelling with a…
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Ticontour13 – coming soon
Stay tuned for more info. Brighton, London, and other places. Flights are booked and paid for, from late October and returning early November. Had originally booked to leave London on 5 November. Worked out it was Guy Fawke’s this morning, and changed my flights. This turned out to be a challenge, as the Singapore Airlines website cheerily changed my flights to London as well, not the dates or times, just the ticket type. Yay. In the process I lost my lovely seat on the A380 SIN-LHR, the one I paid extra for a good seat. So Singapore Air got a rather terse bit of feedback from me. Flights all sorted…
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Day 32 – London – Transit – Dubai – Transit – Perth
The end. Woke up in London, packed all the last minute stuff, and had out last continental breakfast. Also 5 minutes for my last errand, leaving behind the contained mum’s ashes were in. Took this to the church around the corner, St James. Tried to find someone to speak to, in the end I wrote a note, lit a candle, and put my remaining coinage into the donation safe. Had a miniddrama at the airport, as Emirates wanted to slug us extra for the upgrade (apparently the UK has a tax on upgrading to business class). Us, being simple, honest folk who believe if we’re quoted a figure, we’ll pay…
