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Phnom Penh

28 Jan

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No clever or silly rhymes for this blog title I’m afraid, as it feels wrong to make light of some of the things we have learnt and seen this past 48 hours. Phnom Penh has experienced some horrific things, and all as little at 35 years ago- it’s mad to think that this city was basically in ruins in 1979. But before we share anymore of the history of this place, we’ll tell you how we got here.

Well. An early morning boat at 8am from glorious Phu Quoc saw us dock in Ha Tien at around 10am where we believed we would be led straight onto a bus for Cambodia. Simples, right? Oh how naive we were. After being bundled into a minibus (er… where’s the luxury bus we were promised?) we were offloaded a mere 5 minutes away at a hotel with a travel agency in the foyer. A small and scary Vietnamese lady (who smoked cigarette after cigarette, as if she might die if she didn’t have one in her hand) informed us she would be processing our visa’s here and sending them ahead ‘to save time’. Brilliant! So when will we be leaving? In 3 hours. So, not arriving in Phnom Penh at 4.30pm as we were told, arriving at 6.30pm? And we are stuck in this hotel foyer until we leave? Good. Great. Excellent. Of course, the wait was nothing to do with our Visa’s and more to do with us having to wait for another minibus load of tourists to arrive, and of course we would also be persuaded to spend money on food here since there was nowhere else to go, and that’s what you do when you wait around for hours on end isn’t it? You eat!

So, not wanting to bore you with tedious detail, (I had a fried egg sandwich. The Vietnames don’t really do breakfast as we know it) I shall cut to the chase. Eventually we were piled into a minibus. And i mean sardine-can piled. A space for 3 at the back had to squeeze in 4, and that included all 6ft 2″ of Kieran and 5ft 9″ of me, so you get a vague idea of the comfort level we were dealing with here.

The border was actually very close, and our smokey friend herded us off the bus and marched us to visa control with all of our passports in her hand. I’ll tell you now, you follow a person VERY closely when they have your passort (especially when they continue to smoke with the same hand, and you can just see it going up in a blaze of Marlborough), and all seemed to be going smoothly until we reached the Cambodian end. Suddenly our smoky friend was screaming ‘CORRUPTION!’ and waving her nicotine stick around dramatically. Now we weren’t sure if these dramatics were for our benefit, or if she just liked to make an entrance, but we stood around in the blistering heat for quite some time wondering what on earth was going on as she and the guards screamed at each other in… Vietnamese? I don’t know, I am guessing it was Vietnamese.

It seemed after much probing, that the issue was the Cambodian guards wanted each of us to have our temperature taken to check we didn’t have yellow fever, and for us each to give a dollar to the ‘Doctor’ for the privilege of being tested. Frankly, we were all happy to just hand over a dollar to speed things up, but apparently ol’ smokey Jo had principles, and she was sticking to them. About an hour passed in the dusty heat before finally the guards aquiesced (probably just to get rid of your woman waving her cigarette about and yelling at them), and we all were tested for yellow fever by a fella in a surgical mask (who i suspect was not a genuine Doctor) and let through into Cambodia to continue our sardine can journey for the next 5 hours. You’ll all be thrilled to hear that Kieran and I don’t have yellow fever (I mean, wouldn’t it be kind of OBVIOUS if someone had yellow fever? I think so. But then I’m not a doctor.) I do apologise for the lack of photos to illustrate this last tale, but they get a bit funny if you take photos at borders it seems… We saw someone else try. It wasn’t well recieved.

Arriving much later than planned, we arrived at ‘Fancy Guesthouse’ (loving the name) at 7.30pm for a much needed shower, and then we went in search of food and BEER!
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Guess where we are?

We bypassed a lot of very Western friendly restaurants and bars in favour of a little place that was virtually empty, and had a big table of locals having a bit of a party inside!20140128-181940.jpg
Party people on the left. We weren’t invited to join in 😦
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We had a curry in a coconut! And very nice it was too.20140128-182236.jpg
Chef for the evening.

We had a really good meal, even if we were persuaded to order far more than we needed by the 14 year old lad serving us. You’ll soon learn why, but we are a bit soft in Cambodia.

The next day we had a quick breakfast (poached eggs on toast! Yes! A point for Cambodia vs. Vietnam), before taking a walk to Central Market which has had a bit of a spruce up thanks to French Funding.20140128-182926.jpg20140128-182950.jpg
Although the snacks weren’t really doing it for us.
After a good long wander around, I settled upon a stall for lunch which looked to have a nice noodle and spring roll thing going on…20140128-183210.jpg
Except it was served cold. With some kind of *gag* ‘porridge’ thrown on top! Actually, i really quite liked it, but Kieran wasn’t so keen. Well, you can’t win ’em all.

So, to the first really difficult part of our trip; Tuol Sleng, Genocide Museum. Or S-21 as it would have been known, was a high school that the Khymer Rouge turned into a security prison and torture chamber, the largest incarceration centre in the country. Walking around it is hard to believe the horrific things that happened here; the torture that men, women and children were subjected to for days and weeks on end for no reason, and for many it was the end of the road. 20140128-183941.jpg
A small cell made from wood.20140128-184132.jpg
The barbed wire is to stop the prisoners from jumping to attempt suicide. 20140128-184259.jpg
Everything was documented and has now been preserved, and the faces of tortured souls stare at you as you walk through.
Needless to say, there are plenty of things we haven’t taken photos of as they were too horrific, many pictures of bodies that have been tortured literally to death, and children, as the KR wanted everything documented in pictures. It’s hard to comprehend that this all happened such a short time ago, and that the rest of the world let it happen at all….

On a more positive note, there are wonderful pictures that children drew to inspire peace, and I shall leave you with these as i pass you over to Kieran, and drink a much needed beer.

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Have a second one Bex. So, having visited Tuol Sleng and lunched we had been told about an Irish Bar which coincidentally happened to be two blocks from where we were staying.
We headed to “Rorys” and sidled up to the Bar.We soon made ourselves known to the owner Chad from Seattle and had a few pre dinner drinks

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Michael Collins there above the bar, Dublin Jersey to the right.
We paid our bill but Chad very kindly bought us another after which we had to make our excuses and flee to dinner.
Upon arrival on Sunday night we had discovered that we were two blocks from Ph 172 which features lots of backpacker friendly places with happy hours etc, and I had noticed a Shwarma place. So with Bex’ permission we headed there and got a warm welcome. It was lovely to put noodles aside and enjoy some hummus and eggplant. We had a lamb and chicken Shwarma followed by an Apple tea.
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I think she’s happy.
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For 40 minutes we could have been in a corner of Istanbul (kind of). We loved every bite and then it was back to hotel and Bed.
Having experienced the museum yesterday we decided today would be our trip to the Killing Fields of Choung Ek. Everybody has heard the name and it does evoke Humanity at its most barbaric.
We organised a tuk tuk there and braced ourselves for what we would discover.
These killing fields were the place of execution for thousands of prisoners of the KR. They were brought here by trucks and usually executed within minutes of arriving and dumped into pits. They didnt use any bullets as they were expensive, instead the executioners (murderers) would use whatever was to hand to get the job done. Pieces of Bamboo, garden hoes, axes would be utilized. Choung Ek is just one of hundreds of Killing fields around this country.
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Upon arrival at the entrance everyone is given an audio guide which in a very sensitive way aims to help you understand the magnitude of the Horrific deeds committed here.
The haunting fact is that within this City and indeed this country anyone over 40 would have been affected by what happened. 1 person in 4 on average were exterminated by this utter madness.

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Please forgive the graphic nature of some of these images, we would be lying if we tried to sugar coat anything we heard or saw. Needless to say we were both overwhelmed.
After leaving such a site we decided to visit the Wat Phnom, meaning Hill Temple, it is a place locals flock to for good luck. We climbed the steps and enjoyed the peaceful tranquility of this place of worship.

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Despite the sad sights of history we have enjoyed our first taste of Cambodia, the Khymer people are absolutely wonderful, they are incredibly friendly, helpful and welcoming. A smile goes an awful long way here when negotiating and our hope is that they can overcome the dark past which so much of the West left them to endure. We head to Siem Reap tomorrow via speedboat (yeah baby!) we have been told to whack on the sunblock and enjoy. Angkor Wat, perhaps the greatest collection of Temples in the world, awaits us. Who are we to refuse?

One love.

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It’s hardly a shock- we LOVED Phu Quoc!

26 Jan

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And who could blame us? Golden sands, blue skies and the clearest ocean water I have seen in a long time. We cheated and flew here as the flight was a bargain, and we just couldn’t wait! We arrived on Thursday afternoon and found our little bungalow just off the beach (a bargain at £13 a night) and went for a long walk on the beach to feel the sand between our toes (and to find an ATM).

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Oh and to take in a beautiful sunset- stunning hey? (Beware the floating Russians)

We also bumped into a German couple (Elizabeth and Felix) who we met on our overnight train from Hanoi, and decided to go for a little dinner together that night. The beach is lined with restaurants displaying their catch of the day, and we put or money down on a couple of rather large red snappers:

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Here little fishy!

The nightlife here is pretty non existent and by 10pm everything is closing down and the lights start going out along the shoreline, so we were definitely going to get the rest that we wanted. We arose bright and early on Friday to get straight onto the beach and bask in the sun all day…

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Kieran is as happy as a clam.

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It’s midday- you know what that means. Beer o’clock! Apologies for the gratuitous bikini shot 😉

We also had a really lovely lunch of coconut shrimps (shrimps here it seems are enormous prawns)

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As you can see, this blog is entirely based on pictures of us in the sun, and what we ate and drank. But the purpose of this 2 day break was to relax before we hit Cambodia so just bare with us a bit longer…. Kieran? Would you like to share some pictures of food and cocktails?

Indeed i would, as our plane came into land at Phu Quoc we were told it looked a little like Cuba, i dont know about that but having left the madness and noise and beeping of Saigon this place was such a welcome relief. We had wondered about just landing at the airport and kind of “looking around” for a place to stay but for piece of mind and in order to hit the sand as soon as physically possible we had decided to book ahead. We had a room made of solid concrete, flat screen telly, hot water. All the gifts you could need.

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Becky failed to mention above that the red snapper we ordered came with a skewer of Beef , Garlic bread (sometimes spelt “Galic Bread”) and a Caipirinha cocktail. All for 199vng (just under £6)
Needless to say we went to this particular place two nights in a row, and yes, we did have the red snapper option each time….
It was very interesting to note the range of prices on offer regarding the fish, as we found in Goa the restaurants loved to display their wares out front for you to investigate but the same piece of fish might be £3 cheaper next door! We did sniff out a very funky looking place which had a happy hour from 7-8. Boy do we love a happy hour…

Mango Daiquiri anyone?

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These were simply delish and we could easily get two into us before dinner.

Our last night came far too quickly and we both agreed another day would have been delightful, sure there were boat trips to “explore the island” but we were more than happy to sit, relax, listen to the sea and count our blessings.
On our final day we bumped into our German friends again and decided we would part ways in style. We headed out for a lovely meal and Felix decided to get a seafood hot pot cooked at the table. It looked a bit difficult but he seemed to enjoy it.

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Bless.

So with a little colour on our skin and our batteries fully charged, it’s onwards to the next part of the adventure: Cambodia!

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The Heat is still on in Saigon….

23 Jan

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Ok so now it’s called Ho Chi Minh City, but for the purposes of our blog title the old name works better. Plus, i have been singing the opening number from the musical Miss Saigon since I got here, much to Kieran’s joy.

So when we arrived the heat was most definitely on- a kind of smoggy humidity that you only get in a sprawling city such as this. But hey, it wasn’t raining so it was fine by us! The first job on arrival, as always, was to find food so we hit the streets. It didn’t take too long for us to spot the usual tiny stools on the pavement and people tucking into a brothy concoction so we went for it. This time we had lucked upon a seafood noodle soup (don’t you just love how we sit down somewhere without having the slightest clue what we are about to eat?).

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It was a bit pricier than your usual street fodder, about twice what we had been paying elsewhere in fact, but that’s what you get when you are in the capital I guess. And to be fair, there were huge chunks of fish and some massive prawns in there. We especially enjoyed it when the staff started rushing around and grabbing our lunch, and our table from under it, whilst shouting ‘police!’ and hustling us indoors. It seems maybe they didn’t have a license to trade, but we got to finish our broth in peace after this flurry of excitement thankfully. Never a dull moment.

On this first afternoon we decided to just have a general explore as most of the museums close at 4pm and 5pm, and to save our history lesson for tomorrow. Kieran had heard of an Adidas outlet store selling last season’s stuff dirt cheap so we trekked what felt like miles to find it. We finally arrived, only to discover the stuff wasn’t on sale at all! Very apologetic for dragging me out in such a fruitless mission, Kieran fed me a beer and all was well. At least we got to take in a few sights along the way…

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That’s right, it’s gotten dark.

We went home for a very quick change before heading out to dinner at ‘Nha Hang Ngon’ which was recommended in the good old Lonely Planet guide and was placed inside a gorgeously lit leafy garden.

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This wasn’t everything we ate, but they just bring stuff as soon as it’s ready so we only had a chance to take this one quick photo. As most of you know, once food is on the table Kieran and I can’t focus on anything else. We had an early night after dinner as we were up bright and early the next day to see the Cu Chi Tunnels!

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Yes it was an early morning, and there was a long bus ride (50km worth of bus ride in nasty traffic), and my darling Kieran took this deeply unflattering photo of me asleep on his shoulder. (Also, Jackie Ostocke is that you photo bombing us?!)

So the Cu Chi tunnels are a network of underground tunnels developed by the Viet Cong in the 1960’s to help them defend the area of Cu Chi from American attacks during the Vietnamese War. The tunnels spread across a whopping 200km, reaching back to Saigon, and in another direction out to the Cambodian border.

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A hidden tunnel entry point. Pretty tight wouldn’t you say? Our guide wanted a volunteer to squeeze themselves in and guess who stepped up?

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Kieran did of course! Obviously it was pretty distressing for the Americans when the Vietnamese would just pop up out of nowhere then disappear into thin air again…

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Where’d he go?!

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Not one to be outdone, i stepped up for a little peek inside the entrance to another tunnel…

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And peeking was all i would be doing here as the tunnel was just big enough for you to crawl through on your belly, and I wasn’t really up for that.

One of the tunnels had been widened and heightened so we fat Westerners could squeeze through and get the full experience. Even so, it was still a tight squeeze and a slow crawl!

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There goes Kieran! As he was leading the way, I’ll pass you over so he can share his experience with you…
So, as you can see above they have laid out about 140 metres of tunnels for us to wade through and experience what the vietnamese did. The earth in this particular area was particularly good for tunnels as it had a high clay element which kept them solid. another reason they kept them small was that they would be less likely to collapse if the gaps were smaller. They had miles of tunnels reaching right over to the Cambodia border. The complex we visited was well laid out, we saw a film about the life in the tunnels then various traps and defences they used. The Vietnamese would take old bombs that had fallen and not exploded and recycle the materials in them against their enemy.
It was a very informative trip and well worth the time if you Visit Saigon.
On the ride home our guide offered us a lift to the War Remnants museum which came highly recommended in the Lonely Planet.

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Within a few minutes of arriving I felt a bit overwhelmed to be honest. On the ground floor are a bunch of exhibits and photos from around the world showing the protests in other nations againstthe Vietnam war, there are accounts of US citizens who self immolated and also the two soldiers who intervened at the My Lai massacre.

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On the 1st floor were images of torture and brutality which were pretty devastating. Of course there is an element of propaganda to it but it is so rare that we see the other side of this conflict.
Also on the 1st floor was a series of images about the devastation of Agent Orange, the chemicals used as defoliants during the War which continue to cause birth defects and horrible deformities even still. We had to step out after about a 1/3 of this exhibit. Needless to say we didnt take any photos.

Upstairs there was a photo exhibit called “Requiem” which was dedicated to the Photographers who have died in conflict covering the War. Some images by Larry Burrows in particular were incredible.

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This image was of a young gunner who had seen his pilot and co-gunner killed in front of him.
Burrows himself died in Laos on a job, his images of Vietnam were used in Time and Newsweek and his use of colour brought home to Americans the human cost of the war.
We stepped outsdoe the museum into daylight, our heads were spinning and we were a bit numb.
In the courtyard outside are all kinds of US air combat vehicles.

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In light of what we had just read and seen any feelings of awe were swallowed up by feelings of revulsion . It was that kind of an afternoon folks.

We quickly found a place to have a Pho and a Saigon Beer (apt).
We then retired back to our hotel to wash the day off our bodies and freshen up for dinner. We had such a good time in Bangkok at the Banyan tree rooftop bar that we were keen to repeat the experience here in Saigon. We skipped the recommendation of the book which was the Rex Hotel and instead hit the AB tower and the CHILL bar. Good choice.

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Beautiful eh? (and saigon looks good too)

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Some stunning views were had and we also made it in time for Happy Hour!
Anyway, having eaten our fair share of noodles and pho for the past few weeks we decided to have a change…Pizza!

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Thin crispy cheesy and delicious ( the Pizza, not me)
We indulged and had a ball, it was a perfect way to end our time in this city.

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And after a perfect night Becky had a little cornetto which matched her dress

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And she also found a little slice of home

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Bless, now we head to Phu Quoc Island… Lets chase that sun.

Consult the weather man, before you go to Hoi An

20 Jan

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It’s January, it’s Vietnam. It’s meant to be sunny; or at least it’s meant to be DRY. It wasn’t. It still isn’t. Obviously, I dealt with this like an adult and I didn’t throw a diva strop about the fact that we had paid for a room in a guesthouse by the beach 6km out of town, because it hadn’t ever occured to us that it would bloody RAIN pretty much the whole time we were here. Oh wait no, I DID have a strop, for about an hour actually, until Kieran piled me into a cab to town and bought me a beer. Ah if only all of life’s problems were solved so easily…

My mood was further improved by the fact that we had a drink on a boat with a live musician and i ordered a glass of red as a treat. The glass was only half full, and as it seems there are no measures here I asked for a bit more wine, and the lad filled it up to the brim at no extra cost! I do love Vietman, even in the rain. To enhance my delight further, during the singer’s recess Kieran had a microphone thrust in his face quite out of nowhere and treated us toa delightful rendition of ‘House of the Rising Sun’, for which he received a beer on the house. Boom!

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Note the creepy boy peering at us from the hatch at the back. Spooky.

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But despite the crummy weather, Hoi An is very pretty at night all lit up.

The next morning the sun was mercifully shining so we grabbed the bicycles provided by our guesthouse and we went to see some stuff before the heavens opened again! Hoi An is a lovely town, with a river running through the middle and lots of little side streets lined with shops that is pedestrianised during the day.Unfortunately, due to the pituresque nature, it is also a bit of a tourist trap, and a lot of the shops and hawkers are shouting at you to come and look at all of their (very similar) tat. But hey, it’s still very pretty.

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Big dragon

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Me posing with a big fake horse in a temple

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And Kieran with a warrior. As you do.

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Kieran and I posing on the little bridge.

After seeing all we could, we retired for a little afternoon tipple and a snack, which was very well timed as the heavens shortly opened again.

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2 for 1 margs… Seemed rude not to.

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A local delicacy called ‘White Rose’- kind of a shrimp dumpling.
And Kieran was VERY impressed by the local happy hour arrangement:

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Now those are Happy Hours I can get used to! People come to Hoi an to see the various temples, pagodas and old community halls but there is a pervading sense of dollar signs in the locals eyes. The restaurants by and large have laid on quite westernized menus which are a little more expensive then we were paying in Hanoi. But its been lovely to take in the sights even if its a bit of the Vietnamese Bruges (i.e. you can see most of it in a day).

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We did enjoy these lovely pork skewers for 15 pence a go. Another thing which Hoi an, and Vietnam in general is famous for is its clothes shops and tailoring. They are as ubiquitous here as coffee houses and every one of them wants to bring you in for a fitting. I did notice quite a funky jacket yesterday in one place and remarkably Becky herself managed to find something she liked…

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Not bad eh? Now i cant put on a single pound in weight if i wanna still fit into it…Genius Kieran.
Anyway, the damp weather has changed our plans somewhat, we were hoping to hit Nha trang and a few more spots on the east coast but the wet weather has shaken things up somewhat.
So tomorrow we are on a flight to Ho Chi Minh (aka Saigon) where we hope, to quote a famous tune “the heat is on…”

Thats all for now folks..

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‘Halong, has this been goin’ on?’

17 Jan

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Halong Bay. UNESCO World Heritage Site. Lots of big pretty rocks coming out of the ocean. We spent quite a lot of time procrastinating about which company to go with for our trip to Halong Bay. We had many glossy brochures thrust in our faces with promises of luxury and excellence for ‘very good price’, but in my experience, you don’t usually get either of these for very good price, you just get disappointment and dirty sheets. Also, who trusts Travel Agents? No one. Especially not in Southeast Asia. And so we found ourselves at Ethnic Travel, recommended by our old friend Lonely Planet. We weren’t given a glossy brochure, just shown a few pictures on the computer and a promise to avoid the ‘touristic area’ (is touristic even a word?). The price was fair, the lady seemed nice (she gave us sweets) and so we took the plunge (hopefully only metaphorically).

Unfortunately any trip to Halong has to begin with a 3.5 hour bus trip on some of the worst roads in the world. Apparently they are under improvement works, which whilst is beneficial to those of you travelling in future years, only prolonged the agony for us. Very close to hurling into the paper bag provided in the seat pocket (the bus has SICK BAGS people. This should tell you everything you need to know), we finally arrived at the pier and thank the lord were led straight to our boat with no dilly dallying..

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Kieran bought me an ice cream to settle my stomach. I am happy 🙂

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There she blows! The good ship Ethnic Travel.

Upon boarding our new home for the next 24 hours, we were quickly shown to our cabins and sat down to lunch before setting sail:

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Now one thing we will say about this trip, the food was delicious, and very plentiful, which made for very happy sailors indeed.
After lunch we went up to the top deck to enjoy the scenery roll by, and ok so it wasn’t exactly bikini weather but we are British/ Irish, and a little sea breeze won’t stop us from going alfresco.

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Here’s a fella rowing a boat with his feet. Brilliant! Over to Kieran…

Yes indeed Becky, he was quite brilliant. So after lunch, around 3pm we made our way to a floating village,

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Which we thought would be a bit pants to be honest, a Bit “for the tourists” fake village. Actually, it was very impressive. 600 people living in 160 dwellings in the shade of some very large Karsts (rock formations) on each side of them. They had chosen this site due to the shelter and calm waters and it meant that they had access to the fish in these waters over the locals all the way back at halong bay. Our guide had to buy a ticket for us to visit them and soon we were shuttled onto a dinky little row boat to visit “Waterworld” .

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As you can see it was quite surreal to imagine a place where everything has to be shipped in and/or improvised. They have generators to power their tvs etc, they have dogs , they have a school!

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Which had girls outside playing their version of cat’s cradle. Not a care in the world except that by 12 most of them would have to stay put on this floating community as the cost of secondary school on the mainland (transport,accomodation etc) is prohibitive for a simple fishing family.
We stepped aboard the village at one point to glance inside a “typical house” but in reality it was a bit of a shakedown. I mean, i respect you live on a boat and all, but dont ask me for money to support your choice.. Still, we were glad to have seen their way of life and once back on board we headed to the bay where we would spend the night.

After three hours, we arrived at a peaceful spot and dropped anchor. We were invited to swim if we wished but the presence of jellyfish put me off.Our spanish colleague Xavier did jump in though and told us it was “a bit cold”…no kidding!
We sank into our books as the sun came down and then it was time for dinner and an early night ahead of tomorrows 6am call for brekkie and kayaking.
Sadly, due to the fear of soakage we declined to bring our camera with us as we kayaked but believe us when we say we saw some amazing caves and got a fantastic workout on our upper arms as we paddled. A hot Shower followed and then It was harbour bound to the awaiting bus. We took in the beautiful sights around us for a final time and felt glad to witness nature in all its glory.

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Bia Hoi in Hanoi

15 Jan

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Ah Vietnam. A country where beer is cheaper than water- now that’s our kind of country!

But firstly, we must apologise for our recent absence. On Saturday night at the Chiang Mai market we ate some chicken that is seems was not entirely safe, since we both had a very unpleasant 24 hours following. I shan’t gross you out with the details, but let me just say that if you are travelling and like to brave the street food (or are stupid enough to eat suspicious chicken) then an ensuite toilet is a must. And that’s all I’ll say on the matter. Anyway! We still had to brave the overnight train on Sunday to Bangkok with our tattered insides, all 15 hours of it, but praise god we had a sleeper carriage so i crawled into my little bunk bed too sleep off the rest of the nasties. They bring round food and beer most of the night on the train and we sadly couldn’t enjoy either as we sipped on our water laced with Dioralyte and nibbled our dry biscuits. Joy.

By the time we arrived at Bangkok airport we were back on form and hungry as animals, so we strided our way through to the nearest Burger King (don’t judge us, we were needed a large calorie injection pronto), and just as we were getting close and I could almost taste my flamgrilled grilled Double Whopper, I heard a shout of ‘GOUGHER!’. Kieran’s school pal Simon Sheeran is only sitting in a cafe having a cup of tea and spotted us literally jogging through departures! It’s a small world isn’t it?

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I’m sorry if i cut the reunion short Simmy, but i was about to eat you.

And so onwards to Hanoi. We arrived at our hotel at around 7pm exhausted after 26 hours of travelling, and after a quick shower stepped out to see what we could find to eat on the street… We didn’t have to go too far before spotting a little place doing pho (noodle soup) and whilst this is traditionally eaten for breakfast in Vietnam, I never was one to stick to tradition.

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I had the chicken pho (no amount of food poisoning will ever put me off chicken. EVER!) and Kieran went for the beef. I was highly amused by the little stools- they really don’t make any allowances for Westerners here.

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Bless him.

So Day 1 in Hanoi, and we were excited to check out this new city as we had heard such mixed reviews; that and we knew there was cheap beer to be had. We began with a stroll to the Hoan Kiem Lake, and I think the forst thing to note here about Hanoi is the bikes. The MILLIONS of bikes. Mopeds, Vespas, motorbikes- they park them all on the pavement so you are forced to walk in the road, which is an adventure all on it’s own.

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They even have little ramps leading into each establishment so you can drive your bike INTO THE SHOPS. Madness.

Anyway, luckily we ducked and dived our way through the chaos to the lake, and had a lovely little stroll around it.

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We spotted a bit of a temple yonder (The Ngoc Son Temple evidentally) and upon reading that there was a giant embalmed tortoise inside, knew we had to get a look at that bad boy.

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You don’t want temple pictures do you? You want to see the big fella!

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There he is! (I’m referring to the turtle of course 😉 )

We read that he used to live in the lake, apparently protecting a sword that some godlike entity had given him (uh huh…) and that his great grandfather now lives in the lake! Let turtlewatch commence:

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Come on turtle…

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Still no turtle.

Kieran eventually dragged me away because he wanted to go to see an old prison. Right, because that’s going to be better than a real life GIANT TURTLE. Whatever. Here’s Kieran to tell you about a prison whilst I dream of my giant turtle….

Yes indeed, turtles…Well folks what a place! With a climate similar to Europe we have chucked off the shorts for now and are doing a fine line in dodging taxis, buses, bicycles, mopeds vespas et al. Its a war zone folks (em, not a great choice of words Gougher..) Anyway, after checking out some Travel agents yesterday to try and sort a trip to Halong Bay we spotted one of the famous “Bia Hoi” spots, these are pretty much street corner bars, steps outside houses where folks serve you a glass of beer for pennies. Our friend yesterday charged us 7,000 dong a glass, about 20p. He pulled out his funnel and filled our glasses….

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How dodgy does this look eh?
After a quick glass (ok 2) we had a lovely lunch of Bun cha which is fried pork served with a bowl of Vermicelli noodles. The noodles are cold but youre meant to dunk them in the sauce they get served with ( i think). Its a tasty dish and very filling!

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We also had a portion of spring rolls which were simply delish and off we bounced The Hoa Lo Prison aka “The Hanoi Hilton”. Built by the French originally (and boy do they get a tough time here) it is now open to the public to demonstrate the lives of prisoners, the methods of imprisonment and torture used and also contains images and artefacts of the Americans who were kept here including Republican John McCain.

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I couldnt get a word from these lads

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A plan of the prison from above

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Mc cains flight suit. The prison info on the walls was a touch on the propaganda side but who can blame them? It was a fascinating insight and one I was glad we saw.

We awoke this morning on a mission to see the Mausoleum housing Ho Chi Minh. The Father of present day Vietnam he is honoured everywhere and against even his own wishes to be cremated when he died he was embalmed and is now on display in here.

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Its a hugely impressive building, befitting the mans status and we were led inside in groups of about 50 by soldiers in immaculate white uniforms. There is a pathway we follow which goes past his display case on three sides, on the back wall of this high ceilinged room are the Hammer and Sickle embossed on the wall, and there , inside this case, is his body. Eyes closed, wispy goatee still on and its like something from a film, very powerful. What was even more moving was the reaction of the Vietnamese when they got to face his body, bowing and nodding like you wouldnt believe. It was very interesting to see.

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After a quick coffee we headed off to the famous Temple of Literature which was historically a seat of learning where Emperors passed oversaw teachings of Confuscius to the most gifted and able. It was a series of buildings and courtyards with some beautifully detailed structures. I think Becs was disappointed there werent more Ninjas a la “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”

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So far no Ninjas

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Is Becky thinking of Confuscius or is she just Confused? (answers on a postcard)

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I think this fella was in “big trouble in little china”
After leaving the Temple feeling very Enlightened we decided to throw caution to the wind and , wait for it, risk buying train tickets to Hoi An ourselves! This was quite the thing as you cant buy online though the national Vietnam rail and your alternative is to give a fee $20 to some middleman, not us! After some pointing and jabbering Becky soon got her point across and so there was only one way to celebrate…
A trip to Lenin Park!

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Yes indeed folks, our poor feet were falling off us but we decided to push on and visit this green oasis. Imagine Hyde Park divided by 20 and full of some slightly rusty fairground rides and you get the idea. To be honest we were happy to sit, have a beer, watch the fishermen and enjoy a 20foot high statue of Lenin and Ho Chi Minh (i think). Somehow Ho Chi Minh is taller.
So, our last evening in this great city awaits us. We leave tomorrow for Halong Bay and will no doubt have pictures galore for our next Blog. For now keep reading and sharing.
One Love.

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Don’t go chasing waterfalls….

10 Jan

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Unless you’re on a 2 day jungle trek in Chiang Mai of course, that is. Now whilst I know that this photo is going to make those of you in less tropical climes a tad on the envious side, it might make you feel a bit better to know that we trekked HARD for this refreshing dip. It doesn’t? Ah well, was worth a try at least.

So, we had booked ourselve onto the 2 day trek with Panda Tours, and we had been assured that the option we had selected was of moderate difficulty- perfect! Well, if moderate means climbing a mountain for 4 hours then sure, it was moderate. As those of you who know me are well aware, I’m a sweater. And boy did I lose some fluids on this bad boy! Luckily, our efforts were rewarded by some stunning views.

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Wrecked.

Our group of 9 (an eclectic yet pleasant mix of Americans, Danish, English, Estonian and Italian) was led by the lovely Wai, and part of our jungle adventure included visiting an elephant camp.

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Having a lovely splash about

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Ah look at the little fella!

And of course we got to ride them, but in all honesty we weren’t mad about this part of the experience as our fella was so tired and fed up he took quite a bit of convincing to cart us around. Despite the smiley photos, we actually felt pretty bad for the big fella, so we let him off early.

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But not before posing for some super touristy photos of course. Hi there!

There was one other attraction at the Elephant Park, and I wonder if it wasn’t one of Kieran’s favourite parts of the experience, so I’ll let him tell you about it….
So after our trip on our quite indifferent elephant we got back to the boarding area only to find the other men in our group crowded around the monkey cage there. Somehow, the lone monkey, who only had a pretty roughed up teddy bear for (ahem) companionship had discovered that he could reach his lower torso with his head.Look away if youre squeamish or easily offended.

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Pretty gross huh?
So after this strange beginning we set off over land and through beautiful vegetation upwards into thick forest. If we werent ducking we were diving (not quite so easy wearing a backpack) and climbing higher into the woods. our guide Wai dressed in jeans (!) just sped ahead and would sporadically stop for us all to get our breath back before heading off again. At one point we came across a bat cave which featured some beautiful formations but to be honest we were just glad of the rest.

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As Becky mentioned above we would conside ourselves pretty fit but walking at that angle in that heat just ruined us! Wai our guide had said that the waterfall would be on the second day so we didnt even have that to spur us on.Eventually after a million insects had nested on our arms and face we made it to camp. It was a simple affair and we were to sleep in a room with another couple but we were indoors and we were thankful just to be horizontal to be honest.

Dinner was a tasty yellow curry soup with chicken and potatoes along with rice and a sweet and sour vegetable mix which was hearty and wholesome and sent us to bed in no time. We slept ok and woke up to omelette, toast and coffee again prepared by our talented guide and we were off again into the woods. We swung on a few branches..

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Our camp.

But finally we came across our Excalibur aka the Falls.what a sight they were! The water was freezing yet refreshing and we were grateful for the chance to wash off the forest.

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Pretty cool huh? From there it was a short hike to lunch, more rice, then on to the rafting site:

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The tide was too low for white water rafting apparently so we had this very sedate trip down the river watching elephants work and feeling the sun on our faces.

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What a way to wrap things up eh? The drive back to town was quiet as we contemplated a hot shower and perhaps a beer, we had met some good folks along the way and got to marvel at the stunning countryside Thailand has to offer. All in all, a great adventure 🙂

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Pad Thai?Blue sky? Chiang Mai!

7 Jan

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We love it here folks. We decided pretty much upon arrival that Chiang Mai is much more ‘us’ than Bangkok. It’s slower, it’s greener, it’s simpler- much like us you might say. Upon arrival we checked into the Top Garden Boutique guesthouse (which comes highly recommended should you ever visit, but book early as this little gem fills up fast. Our cool and clean fan room comes in at 390 baht a night, just short of £8, and the husband and wife team running the show are beyond helpful.) We went out for a little explore of the area and i very quickly found sushi on sale for 5baht a piece! That’s about 10p!

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As you can see, I am delighted with my find.

We then took a stroll through the town towards the river, where we found somewhere called ‘Good View’ to relax with a cheeky little beer and take it all in…

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On the walk back to Top Garden we managed to snap a few interesting things along the way…

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Chair anyone?

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Or how about a doggy on a moped? I used to have a dog similar to this who was exceptionally lazy, and would have been more than happy with this situation. I’m guessing it’s something to do with the breed… There are more dog photos to follow, just to warn you.

As we had arrived on a Sunday we were very lucky to be able to visit the Sunday Walking Market, which is totally epic, and literally goes on for miles.

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We spent about 3 hours walking down this road, but luckily for us there were plenty of food stops along the way…

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Green curry pit stop

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Chicken skewers pit stop

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Gyoza pit stop! Ok so there were quite a lot of pit stops. But street food is so cheap, it seemed rude not to. And we’re supporting the local economy too, which is important to us.

As well as the various food items, you can buy bags, jewellery, ornaments, shoes, trinkets, clothes for you, clothes for your dog……

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I was having a lot of love for the teeny tiny dogs, as you can see from my joyful face. Kieran was less impressed as he saw the very real possibility developing of me smuggling a tiny dog into my bag.
After all this exertion, we decided we had better have a foot massage on the side of the road- everyone else seemed to be having one and we are not ones to miss out.

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Kieran here, so the following morning we found a lovely spot to breakfast called Cat House.Great Omelettes and Smoothies as you can see..

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Glorious sunshine

We also found a cracking spot across the road to have an hours massage, they also do Laundry (standard) and we were pinched and pummelled to our hearts content. Dinner that night was eaten at a place which was a stones throw from our guesthouse, we have called it the Blue Place. Our guesthouse owner thinks its one of the best Pad Thais in all of Chiang Mai, how could we disagree?

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Whats interesting about portion control here is that you get enough on your plate to satisy you but they never go overboard. You come away feeling full up with the option of a cheeky snack en route home….

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Even the bags of fruit rock!

There are some beautiful temples all around Chiang Mai and we did visit some:

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But looking good has to take priority right?

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This chick near scalped me!The whole time Bex was trying to whisk her little doggy away, back to the UK.

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She did warn you.. Ah yes its a dogs life…

(Here follows an aside from Rebecca to finish up…. I would like to apologise for the rushed ending to this blog, but Kieran is desperate to go for a beer. Again, apologies. We are off to trek in the jungle, build rafts and ride elephants for 2 days starting tomorrow so that ought to whip him into shape 😉 Night all! X)

Hasn’t Kieran got lovely buns?

5 Jan

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More on the buns later.

So, we had a packed day of activity on this sunny Saturday in Bangkok. We rose early to catch the skytrain to the river taxi starting point, Saphan Taksin. We had heard that Venice and Bangkok were pretty similar…. well, they aren’t really, but it does beat arguing with taxi drivers, or freezing your bits of on the over air conditioned Skytrain. A change is as good as a rest after all.

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My excellent map reading skills are making a comeback. Nice shine to the old forehead too- no make in Thailand! Woo hoo!
So we alighted the boat to visit Wat Pho, a temple housing the largest Buddha you ever did see. All 46 feet of him, reclining away there.

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A few other interesting bits at Wah Pho included some lovely colourful buildings, and some statues of lads with swords. Or are they bananas…?

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&
After all the temple related excitement we were in need of some refreshment, so stopped for a quick coconut ice cream- served in a coconut no less!

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FYI, those of you who pay £5 for a coconut in London, they cost 30baht here, which is about 55p 🙂

Kieran here, so after our little treat we went further upstream (im sounding all “Apocalypse now” arent i?) in the hope of getting to a train station called Bang su. We got off the boat and began to walk to the station.. We stopped off at a brilliant street stall where we were served “pig” by a very smiley (flirty) lady and were duly served up some lovely Pork Balls (no giggling at the back please)

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4 bowls later we were paying the flirty lady 70 baht, about £1.20 for her custom, we tipped her and she fought us to give it back! Love these people. Anyway, the short walk to Bang su was an epic journey and so after an hour or so we threw in the towel and got a tuk tuk.

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Anyway, to Chatachuk market, or is it Chatachak? Anyhoo, this weekend market goes on for ages and sells pretty much anything, with something like 10,000 stalls.

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Its a shopaholics dream

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We escaped with SOME money intact (Rebecca got a lovely dress though *RK*) and then after a quick pitstop at the hotel decided we would hit Chinatown. Again we went for the oul BTS aka the skytrain and once we disembarked we trailed down block after block in order to find those neon lights. Would we find them?

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Oh yes, what a sight to come across! A buzzing bewildering chaos which was charged with atmosphere, we saw some ducks in a window and had to get involved

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And of course, everything needs to be washed down with our old friend, Mr Chang.

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Hi all, Becs is back, because after our 3 bowls of duck and noodles, we still had a little hole to fill….cue Kieran, and his buns!

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Afteer a very successful day, all that remained was for quick fashion shoot on the MRT, and home to bed.

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Told you my new dress was lovely 😉

We’re back with a BANG(kok)!

4 Jan

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Hi y’all! Did you miss us….? Well, it’s January, we spent 5 weeks running around with Santa and the elves (he is SO demanding), so we thought we had better continue with tradition and fly half way round the world to sunnier climes, and make you all sick with jealousy. You love it.

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Yay! Its a photo of food! Ok so this is a seafood pad thai, and was our breakfast on Friday after we recovered from a very long New Years Day and beyond journey to get here. For those of you who may have followed my adventures in 2011, this fishy feast was enjoyed at the MBK shopping centre- home to 7 floors of tat.

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Afterwards we decided to even the score by visiting a slightly more salubrious shopping centre- the Siam Paragon. The following is the most instagramed photo in the world apparently:

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Ok, maybe not this EXACT photo, but something close to it.

Hi Kids, uncle Kieran here, so into Bangkok we had dropped, all 32 something degrees of it, after the siam paragon we returned to our hotel and had a nap by the pool on the 12th floor (did we mention? Our room is on the 12th floor too…) we had been given a recommendation by Lisa Byrne in Dublin to check out the Banyan tree hotel, especially the rooftop bar, we were off!

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Hold your breath and welcome to “the Moon at Vertigo”. Its pretty feckin spectacular, you grab a menu and wonder how will i read this?then this happens…

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God damn it they love their toys!
We lucked out in securing a pair of seats by the bar and just enjoyed craning our necks like idiots as we breathed in the smog free air ; ) and toasted being there. One of those pinch me moments.
A very kind american lady saw us hopefully trying to find a photographer and her fella obliged

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Too lucky feckers eh?
After the altitude we got straight back to reality by jumping into a taxi driven by oul scrooge himself, he wanted 200bht to get to the khao san road! We insisted on the meter and then he started trying it on and telling us he needed 50bht for the highway, anyhoo, after taking us the scenic route we stopped him and jumped out. The famous khao san rd, bit of a kip, like being at a zoo and seeing the animals in their own habitat. We did a lap and settled for food at “silk” bar. A thai green for her and a massaman for myself, by the third spoonful i had spotted a rat about 5 feet away so decided we were in the best place…no doubt he would end up on one of the street vendors karts soon enough.
So home to bed via a lovely taxi driver ,
We picked up brekkie for the morning to stick in the minibar.

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Dont worry folks, I was sure to inspect his food hygiene certificate 😉