Author: odohertyelaine

Day 11: Today is our last day cycling and our first with rain – they’re only showers and it’s still hot so it actually feels nice to be on the bike getting cooled down by the rain. As we cycle from the hotel, away from Tissa and through part of Bundala National Park we cycle in packs in case we encounter wild elephants – alas we don’t but maybe that’s a good thing!

We have a number of stops along the way for some snacks one of which is homemade curd with honey which is delicious.

After departing with our bikes, changing out of our wet clothes (well some of us!) and having some lunch of, you guessed it, rice and curry, we board the bus for our drive to Mirissa. We find out that tomorrow night is a full moon which means a holiday and no booze will be served in bars or restaurants…..ahhhhhhh …. we hit a bottle shop (separate part of the supermarket) and load up on wine, beer, arrack (local liquor) and gin as if it’s about to be Good Friday (for the last time)!

Laden down with booze we arrive to our hotel which is newly built and on the beach. The rooms have four poster beds and sea views and it’s a bit of luxury (except for a lack of hot water in the showers!!). There’s a rooftop pool that overlooks the sea and is a favorite spot for the group to “chill down” and have those few drinks we purchased!

This evening I try an Ayurvedic massage and I love it. Badora spa is an outdoor spa with rooms separated by bamboo. Most of the therapists are male and are clearly very experienced. My sore shoulders and screaming calves are rubbed with vigor and I feel like a new woman after. He spends a lot of time on my feet honing in on certain pressure points and even puts his fingers through all my toes – all at the one time – that felt weird!

Day 12: We have a free morning so hit Mirissa beach, some for a swim, me for a paddle and a jump over the waves!!

It’s a lovely beach and a popular tourist spot. The fishing boats are crazy small.

We try a coconut water from a roadside vendor which is a great thirst quencher and have a swim in the pool before getting ready for an afternoon in Galle.

On our way out of Mirissa we stop to watch the parade that’s been moving through the streets since early that morning in honor of the full moon holiday. It’s very colorful with lots of boys and men dressed as girls!!

Galle is home to a Dutch fort which is a UNESCO world heritage site. It’s a huge fort and we walk around the walls and see the historic gates, the old Dutch hospital and the lighthouse.

There are lots of shops and bars in the small paved streets so we have time for a bit of shopping and try to find somewhere to get a drink. Because of the full moon holiday nowhere is serving alcohol 😩 but when we get to the restaurant for dinner they serve us wine and beer – looks like they are allowed to make an exception for a group of tourists. The food is excellent and we have a local musician play some songs for us. You gotta love an Asian style sing song!

Day 3: We leave Mirissa and board the bus for a three hour journey to Colombo. It’s been hot on this trip but the heat in Colombo is stifling and after a cloudy couple of days the sun is blazing in the city. We walk around the Petta bazaar which is hectic and busy and see Independence square.

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bo is a busy city with lots going on but it's clean and friendly – nowhere near as dirty and grimy as India or Kathmandu. It's tiring walking around in the sun so I'm very happy when we check in to the really nice hotel (Fairway Colombo) and take advantage of a cool air conditioned room and a nice long shower. We have our final dinner tonight and it's one of the best meals so far. It's in the old Dutch hospital in an outside courtyard and it's quite fancy. I have a final arrack cocktail with my girls……

We have another birthday celebration for one of the ladys on the tour and then it's time to say my goodbyes and get to bed early so I can wake up at 4am! This trip has been amazing and everyone on the tour was lovely. I met two couples from Wales who I will definitely be visiting some time soon and am hoping to catch up with most of the Aussie gang in March. Everyone was great and got on really well and I was genuinely sad to say goodbye. A group photo which I'm sure no one will mind me posting on here:

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xt morning as I attempt to leave Colombo for Borneo I manage to somehow get to my gate, that's passed security and immigration, without checking my large suitcase – seems insane right…. but there I was being asked to lift up my huge bag onto this security check going into the actual gate waiting area and being told there's a scissors in it … I was still looking for baggage drop and I was through to the gate…. really not sure how that happened – obviously I was still half asleep (4am wake up call) but no-one thought to question the huge carry-on I was lugging around. I couldn't go back because I'd gone through immigration so I had to sit at the gate desk until they figured out how to tag my bag and get it onto the plane. It was like a comedy of errors. The two girls sorting things out were absolutely lovely but it took forever for them to understand that I was transiting through Kuala Lumpar to Kota Kinabalu. They brought me into another area to weigh the bag and couldn't plug in the scales so they decided to forget the weight and just tag it but only to KL so I'd have to pick up and recheck in. Eventually when they get the bag tagged they tell me all is fine and it will get put in the cargo. An hour later it's still there and they announce my name and tell me I have to take it on the bus with me and drop at the steps to the plane…. at least I knew it got on! After all that when I arrived in KL my onward flight was cancelled and I was put on another later that evening.. probably a blessing in disguise as it took, what would have been all my transit time, to get through immigration and get to the baggage carousel. As I type this I'm just about to land in Kota Kinabalu.. it's 9pm and I'm knackered – am looking forward to my bed!

Bye bye Sri Lanka – Hello Malaysia!

For any of you who’ve traveled to countries a little further afield than your regular Spain, France etc I’m sure you’ll be familiar with the “so where have you been?” conversation… or more to the point “well I’ve been here and I’m going to…” On my recent trip to Southeast Asia “travel competing” was the main topic of conversation!

While eating our dinner in a lovely restaurant in Kathmandu an Australian couple who’d been sitting at another table in the restaurant called by our table on their way out to tell us they’d just been to base camp. We had had no contact with this couple – not a smile or a hello but they wanted to stop and chat.. fine! Once they asked where we were from they then launched into telling us about their trip and where else they’d been and where they were going.. pretty much one way conversation.. it was quite bizarre!

The funniest incident occurred while standing in line at the security check in the tiny airport coming back from Chitwan. A couple of men (late 50’s / early 60’s at a guess) from San Francisco started taking to us, well more talking at us, and felt the need to share where they had just been (same place as us although our resort was more elephant friendly so clearly better!) and showing us photos! One of the two was particularly excited to tell us about this “Hillmans list 100 Places To See Before You Die”. We’d never heard of it so he proceeded to call it up on his phone and go through the list shouting “done it”, “done it”, “gonna do it” – it was hysterical. He had no interest where we’d been just kept going through the list and telling us about all the places he’d been and that he was on track to get through the list… the only thing that stopped him was getting to the top of the queue and having to put his phone away for the security check. We had a good giggle about it later and of course as soon as we had WiFi I googled the list.. those of you who know me know I love ticking stuff off a list and so we calculated our Hillman Number.

We had great fun with our Bhutan tour group as most of us had just been or where going to somewhere else that someone on this trip had just been to or where about to go to!! This meant we could share tips and get first hand recommendations which were insightful and invaluable. Being a very well travelled bunch we decided one night after dinner to see who had been to the most places on the Hillman list. Suzanne and I already knew our Hillman numbers (which were in the high 50’s) but we were among some very seasoned travelers! Our new friend Shanshan won the crown having visited I think 60 or over. It was a bit nerdy but with a few glasses of wine and beer in the mix it was great fun. Listing the countries visited put in a few hours traveling on the bus too. I’m happy to report that I was right up there with the best of them coming in at 51 at the time of the Bhutan trip and soon to be 52 by the time I’m home from this adventure!!

On the Sri Lanka trip we had a lot of very well traveled folks too, all very modest about their traveling expeditions I must say. We had some more fun with Hillmans list:

Day 9: Another 7am start as we have 55km to cover before the heat catches up on us. The first part of the ride is downhill which is not a favorite of mine. I’m squeezing the breaks as I really don’t like the speed and have to stop regularly to rest my hands and wrists – my fingers go completely dead from the tension. Beautiful surroundings though:

The terrain changes from downhill to uphill climb and it’s challenging for all of us (I think!).

The countryside we pass through is beautiful tea plantations so it takes our mind off some of the climbs:

We are all tired by the time we hit the town of Balangoda for lunch but from there we are on the bus for 100km to our next destination. The bus is unusually quiet and most of us are dosing. An hour and forty winks later we stop to visit the “Elephant Transit Home”

We see approx. sixty orphaned and/or injured elephants get fed milk – it’s the cutest thing! The elephants are allowed into the milk station four at a time for their feed..

Most of these will be released into Uda Walawe National Park once they are well and can fend for themselves.

Another hour and a half on the bus before we hit our next destination but we do have a stop off at mile 71 for a quick happy birthday to one of our riders. What a legend – this woman really can cycle – she’s celebrating her 71st birthday so we sing and eat cake – happy days!

We arrive to our hotel in Tissa and it’s the nicest one yet. It’s quite new, overlooks the lake and has a really nice pool. That’s where we head to watch the sunset.

We enjoy more of a western dinner at the hotel (pasta) which is really good and since one of the staff went to the local “bottle shop” in anticipation of our drinking requests we can all have a gin and tonic.

Day 10: After breakfast we cycle to the holy city of Kataragama which is considered a “holy land for all faiths”. It is colorful and vibrant with a mixture of Hindu and Buddhist icons in the complex and the main temple. We are lucky enough to be there when a particular ritual is going on, where a group led by a woman, dance their way around the grounds and toward the main temple bringing offerings.

In the afternoon it’s time for our Jeep safari to Yala National Park. I’m very excited and hoping we’ll see a leopard as Sri Lanka has the most in the world. I’m loaded up with devices. I’ve got my phone, camera, go-pro and power bank in case any of them run out of battery….. I’m taking no chances!

After a while we get word that there’s a leopard close by….. we tear over there and quietly focus on where the driver is pointing – he’s lounging in a tree but it’s hard enough to actually see him (well for me anyway). Check out his tail hanging below:

I struggle to see him as he seems camouflaged to me but Sam our guide manages to get some good photos with my camera:

The best view is when he decides to climb down the tree and move away. That I saw very clearly but once he was on the ground we lost him.

We see lots of birds my favorite being the bee eater:

A Tucan:

Quite a few elephants:

We also see water buffalo, crocodiles, deer, wild boar, loads of peacocks and peahens (creating a separate post with photos for you animal lovers).

Halfway through the five hour Jeep tour we get lashed on with a heavy downpour and we have to close in the sides before we get soaked – a bit too late for my shorts which are drenched. We get in a quick game of Heads-Up though…. great fun!

It’s been a long day and on the way home I’m starting to think about that nice cold white wine I told the guy at the hotel to put in the fridge. When he told me yesterday he had white wine but “not very cold” I suggested (fairly strongly) that he put it in the fridge so I can have it today.. turns out it’s cold and doesn’t taste too bad so I’m happy out. Another meal at the hotel on the outdoor veranda finishes our time at Tissa.

Day 8: We take a train from Kandy to Hatton which should take approximately two hours but ends up taking more like four! Trains are renowned for being late and today is no exception! Apparently there’s a broken down train on the track ahead so our train has to go out there and tow it back to where the line splits. The train journey is as you’d imagine – bumpy, noisy and hot!! It’s a slow train stopping at every little station along the way. The fans are ridiculously noisy so we turn them off and have the windows open instead. Each time we stop at a station some vendor sticks his head in the window to offer samosas or fruit or nuts – it’s very entertaining and the platforms are like a scene from slum dog millionaire!

Once out of the city we see some really nice scenery though

On arrival in Hatton we disembark and meet our team with our bikes and of course The Force. We get straight back into cycle mode and cycle a short 9km to lunch. Because of the delay with the train, those intending to climb Adams Peak cannot complete the rest of the cycle. It would be a shame if we missed sunset so the “climbers” – five of us out of the group, set off toward the sacred mountain leaving the rest of the group to cycle to the hotel.

The mountain is a place of pilgrimage for Buddhists who believe that Buddha’s footprint is up there. Others believe its where Adam first came from Heaven to earth. Either way it’s a really busy spot for both locals and tourists.

Adams peak sits at 2,243 meters above sea level and its quite a climb from the small town to get up there. Seven kilometers and hundreds of steps lay in front of us and so we set off. It’s a tough slog but thank god the sun is behind some clouds this afternoon. even though our view isn’t great as we start, the clouds blow away and we can see the top.

The views all around as we climb above the clouds are amazing.

Our youngest tour member Caroline (legend!) stays with me the whole way up and we’re delighted when we reach the top:

The sunset sky looks magnificent from so high up:

It’s a challenging descent, hard on the knees but we get down as quickly as we can as we have about an hour drive back to the hotel. The roads are bumpy and windy and on more than one occasion a wild boar jumps out in front of the bus but we make it home by 11ish and head for bed as we’ve another early start tomorrow!

Day 6: We have our earliest departure so far. At 6:15 just as it’s getting light we quickly munch a banana and set off on our bikes for the fourteen kilometer cycle to Sigiri Rock aka The Lions Rock. The cycle is lovely as there’s a cool breeze and no hot sun out yet.

When we reach the rock it looks like we’ve beat the crowds so we start climbing.

King Kashaba built his palace on top of the rock in the first century and later it became a monastery. It is a world heritage site since 1982. Halfway up the rock there’s an open-air spiral stairway that leads you to a sheltered gallery of frescoes painted onto the rock face. Most are in great condition considering how old they are and where they are but we’re not allowed to take pictures.

There are a lot of steps but it’s not a bad climb and the lions paw which was the original entrance to the kings palace is a good photo opp:

View of lions paw as we climb

Everyone is delighted to reach the top and we spend a bit of time walking around the various areas and enjoying the views before the decent

There’s a great view of the rock as we cycle on toward Kandy.

Another 30km or so on the bikes before boarding the couch toward Kandy. An hour or so before Kandy we visit a spice garden called Luckgrove. This is a state owned enterprise with a cafe, shop and guides to show you around and explain what’s what. After another curry and rice lunch (which had the most delicious fried aubergine) we were given a tour of the garden by a very polite local who talked a mile a minute and addressed us as “sirmadam”. He showed us cinnamon, nutmeg, turmeric and various other plants and trees. He suggested that people from our countries must ask how the Sri Lankan’s are so slim and honestly I thought he was joking… everyone I’ve seen so far has a belly!!! We were in stitches!

We learned what the Sri Lankan’s use for various different ailments and Ayurvedic remedies and were treated to a short massage using red oil and tiger balm. It was heaven… I was a bit surprised when the guy (allegedly a student) suggested taking off my t-shirt as we were among our full group but the shoulders needed it and everyone ended up stripping off! It was so worth it – my poor shoulders were aching and they got a really good going over. Back on the bus for a snooze before hitting Kandy.

The most important thing to see in Kandy is the Tooth Relic temple. The best time to go is when there’s a prayer service as you can queue up to give an offering and see the silver container that allegedly holds a tooth of the Buddha. It was interesting to see and to be part of the ritual.

For tonight’s dinner we have dosas in a very basic fast food looking restaurant but they are really delicious… have been thinking about them ever since!

Day 7 is a cycle free day which is welcomed by everyone on the tour. After breakfast we head to a tea factory to see how tea is produced. It’s very interesting. The main leaf they pick makes both green and black tea which I never realised.

From the tea factory I hit the town with a couple of the girls for some general rambling around and exploring. We haven’t been away from the group for a week so it feels a bit like hostages escaping!!!! After a look around town we walk around the lake and climb the hill back to our hotel.

The afternoon is spent poolside in the shade and lunch is a monstrous club sandwich. This evening we hit the cultural show and see local dancers with some traditional music and some fire eaters… not my favorite thing watching someone run flames over their body but the dancing was entertaining.

After an ‘elephants ride’ cocktail at the fancy Queens hotel we have another great meal…. yes more rice and curry but also roti, fried rice and hoppers – delicious!

Day 4: A 6:15 breakfast and a 7am cycle start meant that by 12:30 we had cycled 70 kilometres. What a fantastic morning. We cycled past paddy fields and Buddha statues and again lots of people saying hello, which as of right now, is my favorite thing about Sri Lanka. The locals on the rural roads definitely think we are in a race and they cheer us on and tell us to go faster – it’s brilliant I’ve never waved and said hi and “bye bye” to say many people in my life!!

On the way to Ritigala we see lots of birds and peacocks and have a great view of the mountain

Time to explore the ruins of the 2,000 year old monastery which involves climbing up through the various platforms

Back on the coach we have another 60km to Polonnaruwa…… At various times over the last few days our guide Sam has told us about the conflict that exists in Sri Lanka – the conflict that is between man and elephant. Apparently around 50 people die every year due to wild elephants and approximately 150 elephants are killed. There are signs warning about elephants but it does seem like a bit of a joke and for sure a photo opportunity…

When I asked Sam how likely it was that we’d see one he said very but I didn’t really believe him. Cut to an hour later and we have elephants on both sides of the main road on our way to Polonnaruwa. It was amazing to see them just walk along the side of the road beside the traffic but when they decided to cross the road it was a little scary. We managed to get past them safely but a small car behind us who stupidly tried to get closer for a photograph got a belt of the elephants trunk.

After the excitement of the elephants we arrive at our hotel – Hotel Syricano which again has a lovely pool that we all head straight for. After a quick splash and a little downtime we head to dinner at a family home. The mother and daughters show us how to make dahl and prepare a feast of food for us to enjoy in their “back garden”. It’s spicy and delicious and with a few beers we’re ready for a bit of a sing song on the bus home.

Day 5: Next morning we set off to explore the Polonnaruwa heritage site. So many monkeys as we cycle between the sites

A couple of highlights are Lankatilaka which has this giant Buddha missing its head

and the Vihara temple with an impressive reclining Buddha

After a quick pit stop back at the hotel we set off again for approximately 20 km starting on the path along the lake which goes on for quite a while as it’s a huge lake! We pass more rural homes where families and kids wave at us and we see the presidential cavalcade pass by as the president is in the local area

Lunch is quite an experience today : as we enjoy our delicious picnic of rice and other delights wrapped in lotus leaf we are surrounded by monkeys looking for food! Our guides act as guards keeping them at bay but at one point it’s like a scene from planet of the apes

The last 7 km of today’s 45ish is bumpy and passes by roadworks with gravel and holes on the road. It’s not very enjoyable and I’m delighted to get off the bike and out of the blistering sun to get on the bus for an hour. Before we hit our next hotel we visit the fruit and veg market where we see lots of interesting vegetables and of course lots of bananas

There’s an optional extra for those interested to visit another temple, shattered as I am I jump at the chance and when we see it (one other person came with me) I’m very happy I didn’t miss it. There’s a hefty climb of steps to get to what they call the cave temples ….

…. but it’s definitely worth it. We see amazing Buddhas:

There’s some great views looking out from the cave temple

We finish the visit by walking downhill to the golden Buddha – not the prettiest looking Buddha I’ve seen and honestly a bit tacky.

Dinner tonight is at a place called Mango Mango which has pizzas and quesadillas which are a welcome change from curry!

Dinner tonight is at a restaurant downtown called Mango Mango where they have pizza and quesadillas – everyone is happy to have

I love the feeling stepping off a plane in a new country… excitement mixed with a little anxiety of what might lie ahead….. Arriving in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo was easy peasy. There were no crowds, the building was air conditioned, a very pleasant man greeted me at immigration and any worker I passed by smiled and said hello. I’m off to a good start! As you make your way to baggage reclaim there’s a duty free shopping area on one side and on the other a row of electrical shops selling TVs and washing machines.. quite bizarre!

Day 1 of the tour is the arrival day and as I arrive late I just about make our welcome meeting, have a quick look at the beach and hotel and then head to bed in the hope of a good nights sleep. In reception a wedding couple were having some photos taken:

Day 2: Our tour group is 14 mostly Australian and British (Welsh in fact) and we have two main guides with extra drivers and support team. Everyone seems lovely so far. Our first day starts with a cycle to the beach beside the fish market. The market is closed on Sundays but you can see all the dried fish laid out… delightful smell as you can imagine!

Leaving Negombo we cycle 42 km to a town called Chilaw. It’s a pretty cycle with some parts by the beach and some through nice neighborhoods by the Dutch canal.

Our lunch stop is at a huge home with traditional Sri Lankan food – namely curry, rice and veg followed by pineapple and banana.

From here we take the bus to Anuradhapura and get some chill out time at the hotel. Time for a dip in the pool, a beverage and some mingling with my new friends!

Later we went to a local hole in the wall restaurant and although the place was really basic (and there was no alcohol) the food was amazing. We had hoppers along with curry, rice and veg.

Day 2 we set off at 8am to explore the ancient city and UNESCO World Heritage Site of Anuradhapura. It’s a vast area like visiting the Angkor temples but not as splendid (I think I’ve been spoiled) it has a very different style and many ruins. Cycling is definitely the best way to get around and it feels great with the wind blowing as we whizz around.

The first stop is at the huge Ruwanwelisaya stupa surrounded by elephants:

We walk barefoot around the stupa (clockwise of course) and make our way, still barefoot to the bodhi tree temple to see the sacred old bo tree which is 2,000 years old and the oldest tree on record in the world. It’s a fig tree and said to be where Buddha attained enlightenment. We get a blessing from the family who are the original keepers of the tree.

I’m not a fan of walking barefoot when there’s gravel and sand, have you ever seen me on a beach?!! I’m slowly tip toeing my way between sites which suits me fine as there are monkeys everywhere to see. Lots of baby ones playing in the trees:

And bigger ones sitting in our pathway:

On the way back to the starting point and toward our shoes (thank God!) a young local girl approaches me in an attempt to try out her English. She asks where I’m from and what I’m doing here and giggles when she hears I’m by myself (well I’m kinda by myself … at this stage there’s thirteen others waiting on me further ahead) and wants to know if she could have my email so we could be pen pals or email pals I suppose. I gladly give it to her… hopefully she’ll drop me a note and try out her English, which by the way was excellent.

Lunch was an outdoor picnic by an ancient bridge with more delicious curry, this time with jackfruit, beetroot, aubergine and of course rice. Followed yet again my pineapple and banana. The cook also gave us fresh lime juice which was delicious.

In the afternoon we visit other parts of Anuradhapura including the museum and Abhayagiri stupa

After a busy day some pool time was on the cards and another enjoyable meal and drinks was had.

This post is from my last adventure and I had intended to post over Christmas but you know how it is with intentions over Christmas so I’m updating in Abu Dhabi en route to Sri Lanka…..

This one is for my foodie friends – you know who you are! And the good news is this is not going to be a rant about getting a good cup of tea… that continues to be a bit of a nightmare.. although in fairness it wasn’t too bad in Nepal and it was hot but pissy in Cambodia. Bhutan was also pissy but again if you got the right person you got a hot cup.. ok ok sorry this post is NOT about tea it’s about the all the yummy delicious food we tried…

NEPAL:

For our first meal in Nepal we threw ourselves straight into a traditional Newari meal. The restaurant was called Bhojan Griha and it was a set menu of about 6 courses, starting with popcorn (yep popcorn!) it and included a curry, momo and lots of vegetables – it was very tasty. We sat on cushions, traditional style and were entertained by a band and dancers.

The only thing I didn’t like was the rice wine poured in this crazy fashion :

One thing I wasn’t mad about was that everywhere you ordered chicken it was on the bone. No breast of chicken.. half the time it was hard to find any chicken on the bone in the curry dish! We had a nice meal in a place local to our hotel in Patan that was highly recommended by trip advisor : it was called El Mediterranean and the food was decent but the staff were fab. It also had great wifi so we relaxed and planned some future adventures while having a nice glass of wine.

Another restaurant we happened upon while looking for somewhere else in our neighbourhood was “Vesper”. It was really a wine bar that looked like they added food later. It was an outside bar with wicker chairs and low tables.. not ideal for dining. The food was served on fancy plates but was just ok. The bathroom was the nicest we saw on our whole trip and I told the waitress who appeared to be thrilled!!!

Our final lunch in Nepal was at a place called Lahkpa’s Chulo. It was actually the place we’d tried to find for dinner the night before.. no wonder we couldn’t find it – it was down a dirt road and very much off the beaten track but we were so pleased we found it. It was an oasis away from the dirty road and the food was great

We had some guacamole to start .. sure you couldn’t pass up those avocados which were massive and really delicious. Then I had a local dish that was very spicy called chhoyela – it’s meat marinated in Nepalese spices and served cold. It was really hot (spicy not temperature) but very nice. Suzanne had the fish.

TIBET:

In Tibet we had a home cooked meal in someone’s house which was interesting.. the food was great (although I wasn’t eating much) but I did taste a dish with potato and yak which was really good. It was called Lhasa Kitchen.

The breakfast at the hotel was awful – it was in a big half empty hall which was cold and miserable. It was very much a “Chinese breakfast” with mostly noodles and vegetables. Bread was sparse, the toaster was broken and there were no utensils!! Luckily I was on bug killing starvation rations and Suzanne found yogurt at the store next door that she liked!

BHUTAN:

The food in Bhutan was served buffet style 90% of the time – breakfast, lunch and dinner. Breakfast was nice – there was always eggs and some cereal and always veg!!! There was a really delicious home made apple and citrus jam in Paro that everyone loved.

Lunch and dinner were identical. Soup to start and then the buffet. There was always vegetables in soy sauce, some sort of chicken and rice. They do a “red” rice which was actually more like brown rice and it was really nice. They also served a chilli and cheese dish that was super spicy and had a bowl of hot sauce (like salsa) available so you could spice up a bland meal. I think this one was called eazy! In fact a lot of the dishes we had were spicy. In general the buffet food was good but often it was cold (well let’s say not hot!) and served on cold plates (arghh!). By about day eight I was losing my mind with the want for something different ….. so I bugged the guide to find us somewhere with a yak burger and of course he did. In Thimphu, the capital, we found a restaurant called Zone One which apparently had the best yak in town! Oh my goodness it was so worth it – I was happy out after my burger and chips and was able to skip the buffet that night.

The next day low and behold we had our first non buffet dinner at a restaurant where we could order pizza.. woo hooo.. I shared a local specialty spicy meat pizza and spicy beef fries – they were spicy hot and delicious!

I did love the little mini bananas that we got everywhere and it was fascinating seeing all the chillis getting dried on the roofs of houses and sold at the market:

Our guide never let us go hungry.. he always had snacks for us on the bus – chocolate bars including kit Kat and cadburys dairy milk (these were usually produced just before a hike – I think he was afraid we might not have enough energy for the climbs!), also delicious oranges. We also tried a couple of fruit growing on trees at various places we visited – guava and some others I can’t remember the name of!!

CAMBODIA:

The food in Cambodia was fantastic. From our first dinner in Phnom Penh to our last lunch in Siem Reap. We tasted amazing Khmer food…We went to a number of “responsible dining” restaurants (listed by lonely planet) and I had my first chance to taste Crocodile burger. I loved it!

In Phnom Penh airport there was a Krispy Creme donut counter.. get in there – had a sneaky little custard filled chocolate (aka Boston Creme) that was an unexpected treat.

In Siem Reap we had surprisingly good food and even more surprisingly good wine in a place on the very busy Pub street beside the night market.

We had a wonderful meal at Maram where we were served by disadvantaged kids getting training and support from an organization running various restaurants across the country.

“Nest” recommended by our hotel was a trendy bar with loud music.. great cocktails but not really our kind of dinner spot so we headed to FFC which although more up our street there was some kind of teenagers party on so that was interesting! There was a live singer and then more loud music as they played party games.. most entertaining to watch from the balcony!

Our last meal in Cambodia was our favourite.. and that’s saying something as we had a lot of good meals. We had wanted to go to a restaurant called Haven (another responsible dining opportunity where disadvantaged kids are taken in and trained for jobs in the hospitality industry) but it was booked solid for dinner so we were delighted to get a spot for a late lunch before heading to the airport for Vietnam.

VIETNAM:

Oh wow the food just got better and better on this trip.

Hanoi : The breakfast at our hotel in Hanoi served mini ban mih sandwiches so I was in heaven. On our first day exploring, for lunch although we could have stopped at a place a bit more authentic I had the most delicious papaya salad. The mango salads, papaya salads and Vietnamese fresh spring rolls were amazing everywhere we went. Around the corner from the Hilton we found a really good low key place called Vi Quang. I had a recommended local dish which I think was banh hom noi liu (or something like that) – it was a plate of salad, meat and rice paper that after some basic instruction I turned into really tasty wraps. Not sure what happened to the photo of the food but here I am looking delighted with myself!

During a visit to the old town oI tried some local fried dough…. not quite the donut I’d hoped for and definitely not worth the calories. It was more fun buying them than eating them!

HOI AN: Amazing food in Hoi An especially the famous banh mi… it was truly the best. I think the photos say it all!

The food on the cruise in Halong Bay was outstanding and there was a lot of it!

SAIGON: My final meal of the trip was a banh mi from a takeaway joint. It wasn’t the best one I’d had but it was pretty good and I just love a takeaway sambo!

• Everyone has a motorbike or scooter… seriously there are millions of them.
• You can get an uber bike or a “grab” – you jump on the back of a motorcycle!
• You have to walk out in front of traffic to get across the road and trust that the scooters will go around you!! You also have to be brave and walk in front of cars… the trick is to put your hand out so they know you’re going to keep walk, then just hope for the best!!!
• A lot of houses have a tap outside the front door where you see people washing stuff.
• Apparently people stand on the toilet as there are signs in a lot of the toilets saying “Don’t stand on the toilet” – I can only assume it’s for our squatting neighbors!
• My UK plug worked and again US works.
• You will be a millionaire! 50 Euro got me 1.3million local VND!
• The accent was the hardest so far to understand as the Vietnamese struggle to pronounce a number of letters. I also felt myself wanting to say “sank you” every time they said it to me!!
• The people of Saigon prefer that name over Ho Chi Minh city.
• There is definitely a more liberal feel to Saigon than Hanoi and the people from the south (i.e. Saigon) are very clear that they are different to most from the North!
• Motorbikes don’t follow the rules of the road – they will go straight through a red light – they do this all the time.
• Motorbikes park on the footpaths.. not just one or two but rows of them and they take up most of the space so a lot of times you have to walk on the road… by the last day in Vietnam I had a little rant shouting at traffic and people lying on their motorbikes on the footpath!
• People drive their motorbikes on footpaths (not the ones covered in parked motorbikes) and they will beep you to get out of their way… you, the pedestrian on the footpath.. arghhhhhhh… OK enough on the motorbikes.
• My hair is still bad in Vietnam!
• In north Vietnam they eat cho…. that’s dog!!

Another short 1.5 hour flight and we were back in dry, hot country and away from Hoi An’s rain! Saigon is a big city with a population of approximately ten million. We were met at the airport by our guide who I could only describe as flamboyant. We caught about half of what he said in between his smiles and giggles… this was going to be fun!

As we were fairly late arriving we just had time to explore our local neighbourhood and grab a bite to eat. Our hotel (Silverland jolie) is in District 1 which is the centre of the city and where most of the action is, so a great location. We walked along the river and found a nice restaurant for a glass of wine and yet again some great Vietnamese food. On the walk back we took a different street and appeared to be walking through a red light district. There was massage parlour after massage parlour with young girls dressed in very fancy dresses and high heels sitting or standing around the doors.. it looked very dodgy!! When I asked our guide the next morning if we were staying in the red light district, he said “there is no red light district in Saigon, prostitution is illegal, yes I agree these girls are trying to attract men (in particular western white men) but we just don’t know what goes on in there”…. hmmm I think we do!!!

Next morning we were picked up to start our tour. We started with a drive out to the Cu Chi tunnels. This is where the Viet Cong (also known as the national liberation front), the army of the communist political organisation fought the US troops in the Vietnam war or as they call it here the American war.

On the nearly two hour drive from the city our guide gave us some information on how the tunnels were built and how they were used. In fairness the 250km of tunnels is ingenious. He kept mentioning the trunkle and it took me a while to realise he was referring to the jungle! He talked fast and got very excited about certain things so it was hard to catch it all but it was highly entertaining considering it was a very dark topic we were discussing.

When we got there we were shown a 15 minute video, made in 1968 with a voiceover of a particularly well spoken British woman! I found the video almost comical…. obviously it was very much from the Vietnamese point of view and the communist point of view so it was all very “hooray for the amazing communist soldiers”… I lost count of the amount of times it mentioned a soldier who was a hero for “killing Americans” … and “this young soldier, she got a medal for her role in killing x number of Americans”.. it was very bizarre. Another piece of footage showed how the soldiers enjoyed living in the tunnel “setting traps and playing around by day and killing Americans by night”.. honest to God, no joke – they were the words!! Even the music in the background was jubilant and very jolly hockey sticks!

It was all fun and games until we got inside the grounds. We were shown the famous tunnel entrances which would fit a tiny person and had a chance to walk into one to experience how small and claustrophobic they were. How people survived for weeks on end is hard to believe.

Another part of the grounds showed the various methods the Viet Cong used to capture the enemy (which was always referred to as the Americans even though the civil war went on for a lot longer than the Americans were involved) . They had all sorts of contraptions leading to holes in the grounds with stakes to trap legs etc… it’s no wonder there were so many wounded after this war with lost arms and legs.

There was an original tank and a display of guns and it seemed odd to me that anyone would want to pose for a holiday snap but sure enough, people posed at the tanks and guns smiling and giving thumbs up…. you’d have to wonder if they really understood what happened here.

As we made our way through the “trunkle” I could hear gun shots in the distance which seemed very peculiar so I asked the guide what it was. He explained that there is a shooting range where visitors can try out a gun that was used in the war – you just have to buy the bullet!!!! The sound of the gun shots, as we got closer, was so loud and honestly I found it terrifying – it totally freaked me out and I was horrified by the fact that no one seemed to think this was inappropriate. We were standing were people were shot and killed all around us.. not that long ago… and everyone was talking as normal (well loudly over the sound of the shots) and behaving like this was just another fun tourist attraction. I had a bit of a meltdown. I was surprised at how upset I got but I realised later that was the first time I’d ever heard a gun shot for real …. it frightened the crap out of me, my heart was pounding and I instantly started crying and wanted to get out of there. We continued through the exhibit but I couldn’t get far enough away from those gunshots quick enough. On reflection I think the other reason it upset me so much was that the whole thing was presented like a celebration. No matter which side you’re on I don’t believe that killing people should ever be celebrated, but that’s just me. In the words of Barret Strong & Norman Whitfield “WAR, HUH, GOOD GOD, WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, SAY IT AGAIN”

Before we left the grounds we tasted tapioca – fresh from the local trees. It didn’t have any great flavour:

Back in the car we continued to have great chats with our guide who continued to get very excited about all sorts of things. As we drove past some Christmas decorations he let a roar “Merry Christmas” out of nowhere.. it was hysterical – he’d cheer up anyone! He was really knowledgeable and was able to answer all of our questions, all of which he prefaced with “thank you for your question”.

Back in the city we had an amazing lunch and then it was off to see the city highlights. We started with the Reunification Palace. Not a palace like we saw elsewhere, more like a 60’s soviet building.

Very interesting to walk around and see all the differooms where meetings took place and guests were entertained.

Including the secret bunker in the basement – I don’t think they’ll be using this equipment any time soon:

Next was the post office a striking French building allegedly designed by Gustav Eiffel but the locals say that’s rubbish!

Opposite the post office is Notre Dame Cathedral which is closed for refurbishment but still a popular photo stop:

Next stop Ben Thanh market which had everything from clothes, shoes and souvenirs to fruit, veg, coffee, lots of dried fruits, nuts etc and fish.. the smells (as you can imagine) were delightful!!!

As an added bonus, as it was just around the corner from the market we stopped for a quick look at the Mariamman Hindu temple – really colourful:

We were so full from the lunch that we ended up going for cocktails that evening… again!! Sure why wouldn’t you.. only a short time left on the trip!! We went to the famous Caravelle hotels’ rooftop bar which had great views of the city. View of Bitexco building where we had a drink the next night!

On our last full day in Saigon I started out with crocodile for breakfast and as yesterday the tiniest cup of tea was put in front of me (and nearly brought me to tears) I was armed with a takeaway cup and a Lyons teabag… aha… best cup of tea of the entire trip (39 days in!!!)

After a quick stop at The People’s Committee Building:

We set off for the museum of fine arts. The building itself is quite unusual – in parts it was beautiful but along the side corridors it looked like a prison. It had a lovely air flow as all the windows were open so was very comfortable to walk through the rooms. It was all relatively modern art, a lot of it revolutionary and then post revolution (their words, not mine). Ho Chi Minh was referred to as Uncle Ho when he inevitably turned up in some of the paintings!

In the afternoon we had a cooking lesson at The Saigon Cookery School. It was great fun. There were six of us getting instructions from the chef and we made fresh spring roles, green mango salad and fried rice in lotus leaf. Then we got to eat it… delicious!

Considering we were fed we decided to head for some early cocktails and hit a couple more rooftop/sky bars. (There are a lot in Saigon) Firstly the Bitexco building which is the tallest in Saigon. It was really far looking down from the 50th floor.

Then we hit the Grand which had a lovely view of the river with some nicely lit up boats:

Last day before flying home we hit a couple of final tourist spots. First the Emperor Jade Pagoda which is a Taoist temple, built in 1909.

It had the strangest menacing looking statues

Unlike Tibet where there’s money all over the statues here they have a safe in front of each alter!

They had a separate security guard in the room with the Buddha:

Outside the temple was a pond with a lot of turtles:

Last on our list was the Vietnam History museum. There are a number of museums in Saigon most notably the war remnants museum and another Ho Chi Minh museum but I couldn’t face anymore that so we opted for the wonderfully charming and interesting antiquities museum:

On the walk back to the hotel I had a final banh mi (Vietnamese sandwich) and we said our goodbyes to Vietnam.

I’m typing this as I sit on the plane heading for Abu Dhabi. I can’t believe I’ve been six weeks on this amazing trip through six countries. I had a wonderful partner in crime to share it all with – thanks Suzanne! We had a great time from start to finish with no flight issues or major problems along the way just fun and adventure the whole time.

Goodbye Saigon, I hope to be back again some day (in my head I’m already planning a return trip to Vietnam).

Bye for now everyone – I hope I didn’t bore you all too much. Now that I’ve got the hang of this blogging – I literally got up to date yesterday so getting this done by the skin of my teeth – I’ll try it again on my next adventure starting in January. Until then…