Sad faces all round - heading home today.

Been so busy since arriving in Siem Reap, haven't been keeping up to date, so here's what I can tell you, I'll update some more if I can get wi-fi in the airport.

Wednesday 28^th.

Leaving Dalat was uneventful, Mrs Zuung has taken such good care of us, and we like this place. The plane back to Saigon for our connection to Siem Reap was a bigger one, thank goodness. I’m not too keen on smaller planes and the Airbus got us back to HCM faster as well. I’ve been in touch with Janny and he has me worried…… our hotel still ‘has flood’ and maybe it’s better if we hire a boat!

It’s nearly 9pm by the time we arrive at Siem Reap and there’s no-one there to collect us. To add to the fun, Brenda has packed her visa in her suitcase, so she can't clear immigration till the bags come off the plane and Princess Carolyn has to get it out of Princess B's bag. Fun and games!! Princess B is definitely getting the award for most organised traveller!! A driver from Travel Indochina is there to collect someone else and makes a phone call for us then disappears into the night. Not impressed! We can catch a taxi, transit van size for $10, so as it looks like we don’t have many other options we go with that. I’m glad I packed my Tevas in my carry-on bag as we look out at the flooding all the way into town.

yep, that's 'flood'

We arrive at the Steung Siem Reap Hotel high and dry, thanks to the large footpath area at the front. Getting our rooms sorted takes a bit, but eventually, we all end up with the right ones. The princesses were given 426, but it wasn't a twin room and we realised we had a twin, so when we pointed it out to the hotel, they swapped us. How the mighty have fallen!! The princesses end up on the 2nd floor and we get the Princess room!!

Still unable to recontact Janny we hope the message on facebook gets through and prepare for our day of Temple touring tomorrow.

Thursday 29^th.

An early morning phone call from Janny is mixed news. He cannot be our tour guide today as he has urgent personal business to take care of in Battambang, so he has arranged for his younger brother Vana to guide us. 3 tuk-tuks are waiting out the front for us and we go to get our temple pass. Then it’s off to see the South Gate of Angkor Thom, the Bayon, walk past the Terrace of the Elephants and the Terrace of the Leper King. Can't walk around the bases of the Terraces like we did last time because of the flood water.

Never seen water here before!

Our hero, Vana, made a rock bridge for us to cross.

Next to Ta Promh after driving around the ‘long’ way due to the flooding. Vana tells us we can go a shorter way to Angkor Wat, but it will be bumpy because the roads are damaged by the floodwaters. It was one of the most interesting rides of the whole trip. The road was completely inundated and little kids were standing out in the middle in some parts to indicate where the safe way was, or were they leading us into the monster potholes lurking under the surface so they could charge us to help push us out?? 

Lead us not.........

One time our tuk-tuk arched backwards and the back wheel of the motorbike lifted off the ground, I’m not sure how we didn’t tip over. Another time we lurched so far sideways I thought we would roll. Eventually we made it through and went to a restaurant near Sra Srang for lunch, Rumduol Angkor Restaurant, then after a short rest, we head for the east gate of Angkor Wat and it’s a great way to approach this amazing place.

Angkor Wat from the East Gate.

This entry is used a bit, but not as much as the front entrance. Who do we see coming the other way? Yes, 'Hoi An Lady' and her family. We have a quick hello then move on. How much of a coincidence is that?

Our group picks up a stray, blatantly listening in at the Churning of the Sea of Milk.

Finally, on my 3^rd visit, I get to see the bas-relief of the Churning of the Sea of Milk, one of the most famous, and also finally get to climb to the 3^rd level, which we didn’t have time to do last visit. 

from the 3rd level

We've had another very busy day and we now look forward to a cool off in the pool. Surprisingly we all made it, I thought we were going to lose a couple of travellers to the heat before the 3rd temple!!

Bob likes to have a go at driving everything.

Although we are all dead tired, we are determined to make the most of our time in this town, so after a cooling schwim, we wade through the floodwaters to the Temple Club (upstairs to the Temple Balcony) to have dinner and watch the free traditional dancing. And of course, we have to have the jug of 'Tomb Raider' cocktail and get the free Temple Club t-shirt! 8pm and we're nearly asleep at the table! I think Bob and Anke are just ordering more food because eating is keeping them awake! Realising their cunning plan, I order some ice cream. Unanimous decision for a quiet day tomorrow, then maybe go out on the Tonle Sap (lake) the next day.

Friday 30th.

Rest day, probably the first 'official' one for the whole trip.We've set a cracking pace! Now I know why backpackers never seem to be rushing around, they couldn't go for months on end at the rate we went round!
After a bit of a sleep in and leisurely breakfast, we hit the markets!! Not like we haven't had enough shopping opportunities! Siem Reap is now suffering a shortage of orange scarves, thanks to P1, and shortages of other items have been noted, along with the growing girths of our bags. Some more than others, just quietly....... Trevor and the Princesses have a 'Dr Fish foot massage', where the fish nibble at the dead skin on your feet. Lo and behold, who do we see? Yes, 'Hoi An lady' and her family. We compare notes on Siem Reap and she tells us about the chill out room upstairs in the Blue Pumpkin. That's sounds worth a look. Her husband is heading home tomorrow and she's taking the kids on to Luang Prabang in Laos. I'm sure they will love that place too, it's somewhere Trevor and I will go back to one day.

The lake trip for tomorrow is booked and we will be picked up at 7.45am. Janny comes into town, finally being able to leave his hometown of Battambang, and we sit with him in the place next door, "Viva" and have a couple of beers each and a plate of 'fries' for $4.50 total. Gotta love happy hour!

Me and my mate Janny.

We discover many good places to eat, not difficult in this town and also note how friendly the people are. When we compare notes at dinner, the chill-out room upstairs at Blue Pumpkin has many votes. We eat dinner at Banana Leaf on Pub St. Trevor has been longing for a crocodile steak here ever since he had one early last year, and everyone except P1 1/2 orders crocodile of some description. Unfortunately, Cambojam isn't playing a gig here tonight, we'll just have to come back again one day. Janny has offerred to show us around Battambang, so we're going to have to! Also on the menu is a banana and choc pancake from one of the many street vendors, then venture down to the night markets, along drier streets as the floods subside. It's hard to keep track of everyone and stay together so we head off in different directions.

No Bob, this isn't the night market, this is just the road leading to the night market.

Saturday 1st October.

Trevor is sick during the night and bails on our day out on the lake. Lake is an understatement - this place is like Port Phillip Bay, even when not in flood. We never do find out our guide's name, because we are all certain that at the start of the day, he tells us he isn't our guide. Although the waters are receeding in town, the countryside is still devastated and the roads are barely passable in places. We have to go the long way round to get to the dock in the morning. This looks like the lake, but our guide says this is not the lake, just the floodwaters. It's not till you get out of town that you realise how vast the floods are. We count ourselves lucky for the town to have escaped so lightly.

Our tour today will take us to Kompong Phluuk, a stilted village which is built many metres from the ground and now has water lapping at the door, and  also a paddle through a flooded forest, which is amazing. Little kids call out to us and wave as we go by and blow kisses which is really cute.



little cuties

Getting this far on the lake is a bit tedious and we are all thinking 'are we there yet?' We note there are only 3 lifevests on the boat..... that's interesting, there are 3 crew too.......

Over an hour later, we arrive at Kompong Phluuk and putt-putt round the houses and down the main street to the local pagoda where we hand out school supplies to the kids and are co-erced into buying a few bags of chip type snacks to hand out to the kids as well. We all question the health value of this, it's not the cost or the way we are co-erced, but is it any good for the kids?

A man speaks to me. "Hello madam" to my face; "where you from?" to my breasts......... seems it's not just a Vietnamese appreciation!!




this little guy seemed a bit overwhelmed



The flooded forest of Kampong Phluuk



We then balance ourselves onto much smaller flat decked canoes to be paddled around the flooded forest. What an amazing place, we've never seen anything like it. 

Lunch on the main boat 'Tara' is included in the cost and while the beef lok lak is a bit tough, the others have a good meal. Anke has a chicken curry that is terrific, not too hot, just right. Plenty of drinks included as well, good in this heat.

Princesses relaxing on 'Tara'.

The boat ride back the Tara is as tedious as the ride to the village, but we have a very capable engineer aboard who gives a very acceptable massage to those who wish to partake. The engineer is the guy who goes overboard should the need arise to clear the prop of the ever present water hyacinth, and also keeps the water cooled engine running, which he is called upon to do at times. After Bob flashes a photo of his boat at home, they let him have a go of this one.

Captain Bob at the helm.

One stop on the way back to port - Chong Kneas - the floating village/fish farm/croc farm that all the tour boats stop at. Just what we need!! Another shopping opportunity, but the prices are pretty good, bit cheaper than in town. It's been a long day and we're all ready to go back to town, so we drop some hints to our guide by getting back in our boat. By this time, the water levels on the roads back to town have dropped a bit, so we can go the way we would have under normal conditions. The water in town has gone down more as well, we won't get our feet wet tonight. Apparently the government has gouged some channels to assist the draining of the town. We wonder at what cost to the outlying areas.

We can't find B & A at dinnertime, so Trevor and I, and P1 and P2 go next door to Viva for dinner thinking that B & A might walk past and see us. They don't. Another great meal, huge for the very cheap price, and we also check out the accommodation this place has on offer. No pool, but a definite possibility for next time. A little girl comes round the restaurant selling single long stemmed roses, one dollaaar each. Trevor asks if he can have 3 for $2. She's a tough little bargainer, probably betting he won't have any local currency, her best price is 3 for $2.50. Trevor has riel, so can pay her the right money. She offers a 'high five' then dodges it, a handshake and dodges that as well, we all laugh so much, she's such a smooth operator. Eventually Trevor gets a high five and a handshake and the interaction with her has been well worth the money, plus us girls got a rose each.

Sunday 2nd October.

Today's the day. We are going home..... Seeing that Travel Indochina stuffed up our arrival transfer, we hit them up for the return transfer and it is all confirmed. We have to be checked out by midday and will be picked up at 3.30pm. The Steung will mind our bags for us. One last chance to get last minute purchases. 'Helping out the local community' is what we have come to call it. Good for us, good for them. One final pass of the Old Market and Trevor and I go to 'Soup Dragon' for lunch. They give a percentage of their profits to the local children's hospital.



Lunch at Soup Dragon.



So many places to eat and so little time this visit. We haven't had time to go back to Khmer Kitchen, our favourite spot last time. We want to be some of the 'beautiful people' lounging in the chill-out room upstairs at Blue Pumpkin and make our way over there, only to find among the 'beautiful people' are B & A, with the Princesses not far behind. Talk about great minds!!



Upstairs at the 'Blue Pumpkin'.



So, we're waiting in the lobby of our hotel at 3.15, 3.20, 3.30. 3.35. 3.40....... where is the bloody driver??!! We can't believe we've been let down again. The TIC office number is unanswered on the weekend and the 'emergency' number doesn't connect, so we're left to our own devices again!! This is not what any of us need right now! The hotel hastily arrange a transit van taxi for us and we get to the airport with time to spare, and now the flight is delayed anyway. At least our bags are checked through to Sydney and we don't have to muck around with them in Saigon. From the air you can get a better idea of the floodwaters, it's staggering! Water as far as you can see! We are scheduled to arrive in Sydney at 8.45am next morning allowing for the start of daylight savings, it's going to be a l-o-o-o-o-n-g night. At least our limo is waiting for us when we get through all the arrival procedures. 

We are home!!    

P.S. I don't know if anyone is reading this judging by the shortage of comments posted. Please feel free to add one.

I'm still adding photos and a bit more text now we're home, while I've got a bit more time and the memories still shine. Cambodia is a winner over Vietnam, although we've had a great time all round.

Another day on the road

Today we have a morning of leisure, ha, ha, in Dalat until our transfer to the airport at 1.30pm. Our flight will take us to Siem Reap via Saigon, so we will be having a late night.
The princesses decide on a cable car ride so head off in a taxi for a 10 minute ride to the base station. From there it is a short ride to the other end over pretty patchwork farmland to a lake at the end. Trevor and I wander around town and have a coffee in a cafe on the far side of the lake in town because we really need to use a clean loo!

view of the lake from the cafe

We chat with the waiter about his English skills which are quite good and he disappears and literally skips back with the book he is teaching himself from. Anke and Bob also go for a wander and are the first ones back to Dreams. Uneventful transfer, check-in, flight and transit in Saigon, except for Trevor being caught out in the ladies loo at Dalat airport. Luckily it's Carolyn and Anke who alert him to the fact he's in the wrong place! 'Smooth as silk' Brenda is heard to say. Now, who has packed their Cambodian visa in their suitcase??? I wonder.........

And where is our f**king transfer from Siem Reap airport to our hotel??? Sorry about the language, but I'm tired..... Someone spoke faaarrr to soon. Siem Reap is a little underwater, the road between the Steung Hotel's 2 buildings is under, but luckily we are in the reception building so don't have to get our feet wet tonight getting to the other side. Breakfast is served here too. I want to go to bed - it's late and I've had many annoying little things going on, so I'm over it. But I'm waiting up to see if Janny, our guide for tomorrow is going to contact me. We've had some problems and Facebook is all we have at the moment. All we can do is be ready in the morning and see what happens. I'm sure if Janny has a problem getting here, he will send someone to cover for him.

Da Lat countryside tour

The showers in Dreams Hotel have many heads which spray you from all angles, very different to what we are used to, just in case anyone was wondering.
Breakfast is served in the basement kitchen, around one big communal table. Very good way to chat with your fellow travellers, but this morning there was only one, a young woman from Scotland who is here on a break between doing volunteer work in Saigon and Hanoi.
Hieb is our guide today, a 25 year old fellow, married with a 6 week old baby, so he is not interested in any of our breasts. We have a great day, visiting a flower farm, local village where women rule, coffee plantations, a rice whiskey still/coffee processor who process weasel coffee, you've heard of it I'm sure..... the weasel eats the coffee 'fruit' poops out the coffee beans and someone goes through the poop and collects the beans which are cleaned and made into coffee. $100USD per kg. Their rice whiskey comes in 3 strengths - 65%, 35% and 15%. What they sell to the tourists is a blend of all 3. If only there was some green mango slices to go with it! A cute little boy wearing his father's big shoes 'shoots' Trevor with a pop rivet gun, It's a great game!

'weasel coffee'

We enjoy a break with a cup of Vietnamese coffee, just the standard issue, not the weasel.
The Elephant Falls are our next stop. A very substantial waterfall but we only walk down a little way because Hieb tells us he doesn't think it is safe for us to go to the bottom. It is slippery. We think he doesn't want to have to carry any of us back up! There are fabric weavers on-site. How convenient! She's a sweet lady and of course we fall for her and buy stuff. I get a scarf which she has draped over me when I walk in, Brenda buys the most amazing wall hanging, all hand made by the woman's aunt with embroidery and applique. I think the others buy something too.

her family will eat for a month!

A very happy weaver, with Brenda's wall hanging. After we are parted with our money, we visit a pagoda, that has lovely gardens, and a very big happy Buddha. This is Bob's favourite thing. 

Hieb asks us if we are hungry and if we'd prefer to have an 'authentic' lunch experience or go back to town. We opt for the 'authentic' experience, after all, that's what we're here for. We walk a short distance to a little place that overlooks a big fishpond (small lake) and sit down. In a repeat performance of last night's dinner, the plates of food just keep coming!! How can we eat all this?? We ask Hieb if he will help us eat it all and he says he is sitting out the front with the driver. 10 courses with rice we count and there is no way we can finish it, but we give it our best shot. With beer or a soft drink, it costs us 70 000VND each - not even $4.00!
Barely able to move we lumber back to the van and climb aboard. The cricket farm was to be our next stop, but they were closed for some reason. And yes,  it's a cricket farm in the same way we have pig farms or cattle or sheep! They maybe don't need as much room though.........
On our way back to town we stop in at a mechanical silk weaving factory where the girls earn $100 per month with no days off unless they work a bit harder to accumulate some extra cash and can afford to take a day off. Man, we have a good life! Another buying opportunity.......yawn...........

Hang Nga Crazy House back in town is our 2nd last stop and it's as crazy as I'd hoped it would be. You can also stay here overnight if you want. We all agree, the creator of this vision must have had access to some pretty good drugs!! You have to Google this place or better still come and see it to appreciate it.

Hang Nga Crazy House

more crazy

and more........

Last stop was the XQ silk hand embroidery 'shop' and while the weavings they make and all the other items on display were simply stunning, we were all a bit over by now and wanted to call it a day. Hieb kept leading us around, and finally out the door to the outside world. Hooray!! Home time! We had a really good day and saw so much. We ate alone at the Peace Cafe and had another top meal for very little dong. The others went to the Sunflower Cafe just up the road.
It's been drizzly rain and much cooler here which has been really nice. The sellers aren't pushy either, but that could just be the rain too.

I spoke to Janny, our guide for the temples in Siem Reap. He tells me that our hotel still 'has flood', so that's going to make an interesting angle for SR.

Head for the hills!!

Monday.
Today we leave Saigon for Dalat, or Da Lat as the locals say, Central Highlands, Vietnam. I've heard it referred to as "Dull-at" which is very unkind and totally untrue. Morning at leisure after packing and checking out, leaving our bags with the hotel. We all go our separate ways and meet back at 2.30pm to catch a cab to the airport. 115 000VND each taxi and they had a station wagon kind which took 3 of us and our luggage, so we only needed 2 taxis.
Recounting our morning stories, the princesses won with their story of paying a man one dollar to help them cross the street, only to walk further down the road and realising they had to cross back! L'il old lady to the rescue and another dollar later, they're where they wanted to be. L'il old lady walked ahead of them, holding her hand up stopping the traffic for their safe passage.
Smooth check-in and time to sit and relax, before our boarding call to walk down to the tarmac and board the bus to be driven to the outer reaches of the airport where our turbo-prop plane is waiting. The look on the face of one of the passengers (not us) was priceless - her chin hit the floor and her eyes bugged out on stalks............. 'that's our plane????!!!!!!" I remember feeling the same way when I saw our first one of those planes!

Great views of Saigon after take off, we must have gone nearly 360 degrees. The clouds looked beautiful and we experienced a little turbulence, but no worries. Dalat Airport was a surprise, so big and new. They are certainly preparing for the future. Maybe a bid for the 2032 Olympics?? Always nice to see someone waiting for you at the airport. We had arranged for our hotel to collect us and at first we thought $30 USD was a bit steep, but it was easily a 30 minute run, so in the end, we reckon good value and have booked for the return trip.
We are staying at Dreams Hotel, which is where I would have stayed if we were travelling  with just the 2 of us, not knowing how the others would cope with it. It's a basic hotel, what do you want for $25USD per room, per night?? It's clean, warm, and the included breakfast is terrific. Bob and Anke have the 'Presidential Suite' and the princesses, of course have the Princess Room. Only problem is, there is no lift and we are 3 floors up , B & A only 2. They could have had a room on the first floor, but the window wasn't big enough. They ended up in a front facing room, which looked very nice. It's late by the time we get here, just time to arrange our tour for tomorrow, give Mrs Dung (pronounced Zuung) our laundry, $1USD per kg and find some dinner.

Our room at Dreams hotel

We found the 'Art Cafe' just up the road and order several dishes to share. We want some fried spring rolls, so jumping right in, Brenda orders 6 spring rolls, thinking one each. We are taken aback when 6 serves arrive, each holding 8 small spring rolls. We burst into laughter as the plates keep coming, and the staff can barely contain themselves when they realise our mistake too. It was like something out of the 'Sorcerer's Apprentice'.  I think we will all be talking about that night for a long time to come!
Trevor heads home and the rest of us have a little explore, but we are tired so we drag our tired selves back up the 3 flights of stairs and go to bed. We are being picked up at 8.30 tomorrow for our 'countryside tour'.

Mrs Brown, you’ve got a lovely daughter.

Sunday.

“You very lovely. You have big breasts.” No we weren’t watching the X-rated channel on TV. This is what was said to one of us today. Read on……

Thuong, who will be our ‘host’, arrives to collect us from the hotel and take us to the Saigon River Express boat waiting for us. We end up in a group of 11, the 6 of us, a very westernised Chinese couple, an older American man, his son and the son’s friend. The manager Phuong tells us we can pay by card, so hooray, we can save our cash, which has evaporated quicker than we expected this trip.

Manager Mr Phuong

Chau is to be our ‘guide’ and she is another lovely Vietnamese girl who was born in the north and has worked this job for 2 years. Before that, she used to guide Vietnamese tourists to Thailand – Bangkok and Pattaya, one of the few we have met who have travelled outside their country. The speedboat is fitted with a 200hp Mercury motor, and along for the ride, apart from No 1 captain, is an engineer which is a bit of a worry until Chau tells us that it’s not uncommon for the prop to get tangled in river weed or the odd fishing net. The engineer will deal with these issues should they arise.

We take the 2^nd river to the right from the main Saigon River and hit the throttle, this boat CAN go! We slow at times because we pass riverside houses, other boats who we might otherwise swamp, the water police office or boat, or large patches of water hyacinth which can hide all sorts of submerged obstacles. We are offered drinks and some fruit.

Our first stop is a Buddhist temple with ‘happy house’ that we are allowed to use. Squats. Oh well, at least they’re clean. Back to the boat for more drinks, some delicious iced coffee and a croissant before our next stop, a local riverside market. We are well off the tourist trail now and we are greeted by many curious looks but the people are very friendly, they might see a small group of ‘whities’ most days but the novelty hasn’t worn off yet. Trevor finds a large sized pair of chopsticks used for cooking and for only 30,000dong he gets them. The Chinese lady buys a round wooden chopping board for a few dollars, very nice. The children here love to have their photo taken and a pair of little girls that we see in one part of the market pop up again to pose for us. They’re cute and so funny.

These 2 cut across the market to see us again!

We walk round the market, down a side street and over the ricketty sounding bridge that we had walked under in the market. No wonder the Pope kisses the ground after a flight! I felt like doing the same, although I’m sure it’s quite a sturdy bridge, it just makes a lot of noise.

Continuing upriver, we are disembarked for a short walk (2km) along a small tributary to see some local rural life. The engineer also comes in handy for lending a steadying hand on and off the boat. It’s Sunday so no school for the kids and they all come running when they hear our voices, although they don’t venture past their front boundary. Chau says it’s ok to take photos of them. It's along this walk that one of the princesses, I'm not permitted to say which one, asks Thuong (who is 25 BTW) to take a photo for her. He gets close to see the explanation of how the camera works and whispers in her ear what you read above. To say she was shocked would be an understatement!! But we all got one of the best laughs of the day!! Not sure if the princess was flattered or stunned, probably a bit of both! She certainly didn't expect such a 'compliment'.

Lunch at the Kung-Fu school

One of 2 whole fish for lunch

The sun is so hot away from the breeze on the river, but we are loaned brollies to shade us. They think of everything. Back to the boat and head upstream to another village where we will be having lunch. No tourists come here as a regular thing, so there are no 'tourist' restaurants, and the local restaurant is not 'safe' for tourists, so Chau tells us. They have an arrangement with the Kung-Fu school to use their community room to set up tables and serve lunch. The chef rides her motorbike 2hrs each way from Saigon to prepare our food. We start with fresh spring rolls, sour soup which isn't sour at all but very tasty, followed by steamed rice, a fish dish and a chicken dish. We are nearly full already when we are presented with 2 whole fish, deep fried so that the scales are edible too. OMG!! How many people were they expecting??

Chau tells us to save room for dessert..........More food!!?? A fruit platter is dessert and the pineapple is a bigger fruit down here in the south and the salt to sprinkle on it has more chilli in it, so watch out. The papaya is good too. Not wanting to sound ungrateful for all the wonderful food we've eaten, but I miss the food in Hoi An, I think it's been the best so far. Love the Cao Lau, but you can only get it in Hoi An.

Another visit to the happy house and lunch is over. We take a very short walk to the Cao Dai temple, and it's so colourful and happy, and the basic principles of this religion are so appealing, we think we may all convert! 

Cao Dai Temple

Every time we get back on board, we are offered cold drinks and refresher towels. They have taken such good care of us all day, we are happy travellers. The captain turns the boat for home and we are exhausted, even Tina. Some find the room to curl up for a siesta and it's a quiet trip back.

Nap time - every man for himself!

We are delivered back to the Duxton and go to our rooms for a cool off and freshen up. I'm keen to go to a fabric shop we saw up near the Ben Thanh markets and Anke wants to have a look as well. The princesses want to go into the markets and Trevor wants to check out a stingray keycase he saw earlier, so off we go, leaving Bob to rest up. I find some nice fabric, 60 000 dong per metre, so cheap!! We end up splitting up and don't plan to meet up again till breakfast tomorrow. Trevor and I go back to the first night market food place and have the coconut prawns, the princesses go to the Barbeque Garden and Bob and Anke find a spot to eat close to the hotel. A good day was had by all.

Erections in Saigon.

Saturday.

Happy surprise. Even though the Duxton charge a ridiculous price for broadband in-room it’s complimentary in the restaurant, so there are lots of laptops out at breakfast. Good breakfast, all the sorts of things we’ve come to expect.

On the to-do list today is organise our Mekong Delta boat trip tomorrow and figure out how we’re getting back to the airport on Monday. Anke got the Delta trip sorted and it’s a toss up between just taking a taxi to the airport or book a transfer with SaigonTourist. Taxi might be the go.  Pick-up time tomorrow is 7.30am. An early start! Hoooorrraaayyyy!! NOT!!!

Bitexco Tower

great view from up here

Our first erection (sorry, it's all the phallic shapes around town) for the day is the viewing platform at the Bitexco Tower. Inspired by the lotus flower bud, it’s 68 floors tall and costs 200,000VND pp to go up, cheaper for seniors. It’s a clear day today, some high cloud but visibility is good so we are treated to an amazing 360 degree view of Saigon from the 49^th floor. Very handy location for us, just around the corner from our hotel.

Anke has caught a cold and is not feeling like having a big day so with Bob, she goes back to the Duxton to change and have a cuppa and a rest. The rest of us head in the direction of the next erection, a Hindu temple we saw from the tower, Sri Thendayyuttha Pani. The people there are very welcoming and invite us to go up onto the roof platform to see another shrine. It’s lovely. We pick up the trail of the Lonely Planet walking tour which takes us past the Rex Hotel, so we just have to go up to the Rooftop Bar for a drink, after all it’s very hot. And the prices are a lot more than we've become used to. The walk takes us past the Museum of Ho Chi Minh City, might have been worth a look if we had more time, then we find our way to the Reunification Palace and decide to go in, 30 000 VND each, so pretty cheap. Getting hungry so seek out some food. We find a terrific place between the Reunification Palace and the Notre Dame Cathedral, our next stop. The Restaurant is called Au Parc, we think because there is a park across the road. The food is great and it’s a top find.

Notre Dame Cathedral

Reunification Palace

We’ve still got time to see a few more erections, so it’s over to the Cathedral and across to the Post Office, which was originally built to be the train station, but the train track never came to town. Brenda’s keen to go to the Ben Thanh market, I could go with her, Carolyn wants to call it a day, so with a bit of thought, we decide to head for home and try to get in a swim, but once we get to our rooms, that’s it. Bob and Anke are in their room following a mammoth shopping spree but I can’t say what they’ve bought, except that Anke has some lovely fabric that she’ll make into a couple of tops, and they’ll look very nice.

We enjoyed the night market so much last night, we head there again, but by the time we get there it’s already being set up. We’ve missed seeing the mad rush to claim their spots. Maybe they start a bit earlier on a Saturday? Anyway, we find food, probably not as good as last night, but you don’t know if you don’t try. It could have been better. If you stood out the front of the Ben Thanh, we went to the food place in the side street to the right of the markets the first night, and the side street to the left tonight. Bob and Anke hit the stalls again for more shopping (watches) so we leave them to it and go for ice cream at what's becoming our 'regular' spot, Blue Cafe in the street behind the Ben Thanh market. Time for bed for an early start tomorrow.

The Princess Diaries.

I forgot to mention earlier the reason why Brenda and Carolyn were given the title of ‘Princess’. This was due to the fact that in Hanoi and on the Halong Bay junk, their room was noticeably larger due to it  being a twin room. Then in Hoi An, when their room faced a school where the most irritating mechanical sort of ‘music’ was played from about 6am till 9pm, they enquired about changing rooms, then when a similar room for the same price didn’t really suit them either, they enquired about paying a bit extra for an upgrade. They were moved to another wing and given a junior suite. Basically a larger room with a sofa and a magnificent bathroom, where visitors weren’t allowed to use the toilet if it was for more than a ‘number 1’. We have decided that in future, we are booking twin rooms. Keep the princess tag in mind for later.

Our transfer to Danang airport was arranged for 11am so all we had to do this morning was have breakfast and pack. We see 'Hoi An lady' at breakfast with her family, it's her birthday today. They are leaving today as well, and looks like we will be in Siem Reap at the same time. Any thoughts of finding the well for the Cao Lau water were washed away with the rain, which hasn’t stopped since it began last night. If anything it got heavier. We saw a radar image on the news this morning and the rain cell heading for Central Vietnam was bordering on red. On the way to the foyer to check out, we saw the smallest frog we’ve ever seen hopping across the path – it would have been lucky to be the size of your pinky fingernail – just hopping along, minding his own business. So cute!

So the pick-up arrived on time and we were loaded and on our way. 5 minutes into the trip, cue Bob: “are we there yet?” This is becoming a continual question for Bob. The minute he sits in any sort of vehicle, that’s the question. It’s getting to be quite funny. You can nearly set your watch by it. Anyway, for some reason we had a driver and a guide. We figured they must have had a backload from the airport. He was a very safe driver and we thought he did a great job in the crazy traffic. Driving through Danang, he did battle for right of way with a truck bigger than him, which usually isn’t the done thing. The bigger the vehicle, the more right of way they have. Anyway, we all caught our collective breath till we won and continued down the road. The guide said something which we couldn’t really figure out and as we mulled it over, we realised he had called the driver Schumacher, as in Michael Schumacher!! I don’t think that’s the right spelling, I’ll have to ask Carolyn again, she knows. Anyway, we all thought that was so funny! These guys don’t know much English but what they do know is bloody hilarious!

We arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare, the check-in counter hadn’t even opened. Great! We can get through security and sit down and enjoy a relaxing cuppa and maybe a bit of lunch, except, at Danang airport there’s stuff all to eat. We find a shitty cup of coffee and a beautiful baguette filled with shitty ‘ham’ that didn’t look like ham, some tomato and cucumber. It’s now late at night and no-one has been sick, so it must have been ok.

shitty airport lunch

I think that this was the first check-in process that flowed smoothly. In Sydney, Brenda had her visa headache, and flying out of Hanoi, Bob and Anke had problems finding their passports and ticket.

As sometimes happens, the ride from the terminal out to the plane had it's annoyances. The weather was still threatening and it was lightly sprinkling rain as the bus stopped and we were all meant to get out. What is it with the Asian culture and getting wet?? They really hate even a few drops of rain - bit like redheads going out in the sun! These girls were squealing and trying to get their umbrellas up, even before we were off the bus! It took all my strength not to give them a shove!! Unkind thought probably, but come on, it was just a few drops of rain!

After a short flight with only a little turbulence and a bottle of water, we land in Saigon. If only getting out of the airport was as easy as it was to get in at Danang. They are very consciencious  about people having the right bag and they check your luggage ticket stuck to your boarding pass against the tag on your bag. We all get through no problem, except for Brenda. She can’t find her boarding pass and therefore has no luggage ticket. She can’t exit until she finds it which she eventually does….. her Princess title is slipping……… The nice man holding up the sign with our names on it goes to get the van and off we go into Saigon city and the Duxton Hotel. It’s s’possed to be 27 degrees with a clear sky, but it’s actually 23 degrees and threatening rain. No-one minds because it’s much cooler and we’ve seen what real rain looks like in this country, so we’re not scared!

We get settled into our rooms and make plans to book a Mekong River trip but can’t access the details we need because we have no wi-fi in this hotel and they want an exhorbitant amount to use their broadband. We need to find a café with wi-fi. Brenda wants to look at spectacle frames so off into the mad Saigon afternoon traffic, we know there’s a street full of spectacle shops behind the Ben Thanh markets. Many streets are crossed successfully but Brenda can’t find the frames she wants. We are all getting hungry and we know there are night markets due to be set up in the streets on the sidestreets of the market block. Shame they don’t close the road to motorbikes as well as cars, but you can’t have everything. It was an amazing sight to see all the market holders race into the street at the appointed time to claim their spot and get set up as quickly as possible so they can start trading. Worth going back again tomorrow night to watch. 

We wandered around a bit and found a food vendor who had quite a good range of choices. Trevor had mussels and the rest of us ordered banh xeo, the crispy Vietnamese pancake. We had them in Hoi An and they were terrific. I’ve gotta say, these ones tonight weren’t as good. Brenda thought the ‘turned over egg cooked with tamarind' sounded good so she ordered that as well. It came out first and this is where the ‘princess’ title slipped in a major way, and Carolyn is going to take great pleasure in reminding Brenda of what happened next for a very long time. The ‘egg’ came out first and looked quite nasty, truth be told. You could see the white and the yolk, disjointed from each other but pushed together during the cooking process, and a grey squishy looking thing sort of attached to it all. The white and the yolk had all grey veiny things running all over them, and Brenda tentatively put one of the little lumps which didn’t look like egg, into her mouth. It was nice. She passed the plate over to me for closer inspection and I cut through the white and the yolk to confirm that’s what they are. The girls were making ‘icky’ noises, so I called them all big girls and ate a piece of yolk. It was nice. Brenda felt a bit bolder now so she ate the rest of the egg, then started poking the grey squishy thing about trying to decide exactly what it was. Trevor sitting next to her, reckoned it had a beak and was an unborn chicken!! Yuk!! The look on Brenda’s face was priceless!!

"oh no!!"

The waitress had very limited English but when Carolyn asked her if it was chicken by making chicken movements and chicken noises, the waitress responded with similar movements and noises. Yes!! It was an unhatched baby chicken!! Again, cue the horrified look on Brenda’s face as the rest of us laughed that much we nearly fell off our red plastic chairs!! OMG!! Laughing so hard I couldn't keep the camera still for a photo! Bob asks what’s for dessert, can we go to the icecream shop we saw earlier? Only problem with that is, we have to walk past all the other market stalls selling all the usual stuff. Bob buy another 2 watches, one for himself and one for Anke, Brenda gets one too. Carolyn buys a t-shirt and Bob buys one too. Are we ever going to get to the ice-cream shop?? It’ll be time for breakfast soon! We finally get our ice cream, and very nice it was too, head back to the Duxton and agree to meet for breakfast at 8am. Tomorrow’s another day.

P.S. We find a café with free wi-fi internet just down the road at Angel-in-us Cafe.