Sapa in July

Bamboo in Hanoi

The highlight of Hanoi this time around was the fellow guest at the Luxury Hotel. Would you believe, this couple from Spain who had come to Hanoi to work for 12 months, bought their pet with them, this very cute (sort of) pig. Her name was Bamboo and she was 4 years old. A very loved piggy. When we left they were going out to buy dog food for her and guess where she slept at the hotel, in their room. Hmmm!!!!

When we go back we will make sure we dont stay in room 602.

Hoi An Vietnam

These first photos show some of the places we dined at while in Hoi An. We mainly dined at the restaurants dotted along the river which had the best views night and day and also the constant parade of people walking along. These included the locals both children and adults trading their wares, tourists both vietnamese and other nationalities.

One day we walked along the river and saw an ice factory loading ice onto boats to be transported to the local restaurants.

The second photo shows interesting boats along the river.

We then found a local bar where we sat and had a drink with the locals. Always an interesting experience. The highlight of this bar was the most amazing garden surrounding it full of bonsai plants.

We also spent time sitting on little plastic chairs with the locals drinking beer. Our favourite place was next to the wharf where the boats ferried locals to the other islands.

The best time to be there was 4-5pm when everyone was on their way home. The boats would leave only when full t0 overflowing with people, motor bikes and bicycles. Some locals would jump on at the last minute so that they didn't have to wait for the next boat to fill.

We did a tour of the local temples and were welcomed by this very friendly spider. We think it was a turantula. It was huge and very scary, the size of a fist. But it didn't come out any further than it's nest thank goodness.

Below are some photos of the very ancient temples, a little reminiscent of the Angkor temples in Siem Reap Cambodia. It was a very hot day.

Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam

Our main goal in relation to Ho Chi Minh was how to get in and out again as quickly as possible. We did well as we arrived mid afternoon and checked out early morning. A few hours here was quite enough. The highlight was that we stayed at the same hotel and the same room as last year. That way we knew exactly where to find the travel agents to get our ticket out.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

The capital city of Cambodia. Pics here show the esplanade along the River and the exercise equipment which is constantlty in use by the locals.

A temple near the Palace which had a stone rhinocerous, an unusual decoration for a temple. Robert made friends with him.

The Palace was impressive. There was also a monastery and so here's the inevitable monk picture.

There was a large lake shown on the city map of Phnom Penh. We decided to go and check it out and found out why it wasn't on the tourist highlights. It was not very exciting but we enjoyed the journey and met a lovely couple from Russia who were also searching for the same lake. We enjoyed their company.

The elephant was in a park in the city available for rides.







Travelling in the bus you see some interesting sights. Here is a typical village and the carts being pulled by little ponies.

The sleeper bus blew a tire. Luckily very close to a mechanic who had it changed in 30mins or so. It was the inside tyre so they had to remove the outer tyre first. Luckily we were in a village when it blew, not on the windy road we had been on previously.