Articles from this Category
11 August 2012
We did two days of diving while staying on Perhentian Besar. The two days are the perfect illustration that one’s choice of dive operators and dive sites can make or break one’s experience of diving at a destination. Today, we did two dives with Alu Alu Divers: Our first dive at the Sugar Wreck had […]
10 August 2012
Going snorkelling Due to not being able to go diving today, we went snorkelling with two Italian girls. We left at 1000 by speedboat and went to five spots: Blue Lagoon, Tanjung Genting, Turtle Point, Fish Garden and Shark Point. The water was crystal clear in all places except Shark Point (which was still quite […]
9 August 2012
With the Tune Hotel’s checkout extended from 1000 till 1100, we thought we’d have a leisurely morning having breakfast and repacking so we’d bring just the minimum to Pulau Perhentian Besar (literally Big “Stop” Island). After checking out, we were to taxi to Kuala Besut. Kim didn’t want to take a first or second generation […]
8 August 2012
Above: Dedicated queues for men, women and families at the supermarket. It was an early start with a 0545 wake up. The hotel kindly offered us breakfast before their normal serving time and despite us having eaten our entitlement yesterday. We can certainly recommend the Hanoi Holiday Diamond Hotel; the staff are amazing. They bend […]
7 August 2012
Above: Typical Hanoi street in the old area near our hotel. We arrived in Hanoi around 0430 and taxied to the hotel where we camped in the lobby briefly. I did a lot of errands on the internet so time flew and soon breakfast was served. As we have an early departure tomorrow, I asked […]
6 August 2012
Above: On the road from Sapa to Lao Cai. We had a late departure at 2015 on the night train from Sapa back to Hanoi. We had considered doing a walk or a motorbike ride to another village but the weather wasn’t conducive. We did our morning in slow motion and checked out at midday. […]
5 August 2012
Sunday is market day at Bac Ha. It is meant to be the most colourful market n Vietnam so we decided it couldn’t be missed. With a 0730 pick-up, we were up around 0630 to catch breakfast at 0700. We got to Bac Ha (via Lao Cai) at 1030. The actual driving time was around […]
4 August 2012
We woke to a modern arrangement of Fur Elise piped in through the PA around 0530. There are worse ways to be woken up. Our arrival into Lao Cai (next to the Chinese border) was uneventful. We found the shuttle desk for Sapa easily and bought our tickets. We waited briefly for the van to […]
3 August 2012
There’s nothing touristy in Hanoi that we wanted to do as we “did it all” only a year ago. Perfect for shopping and relaxation then! Over the last couple of years, I find myself holding pages further and further away as I read. Last year, Kim found glasses in Hanoi to be of extremely good […]
2 August 2012
We had chosen the 1730 flight to Hanoi to avoid an early wake-up. The day went pretty quickly with a walk around town, checking-out, a massage and late lunch before using the shuttle to the airport. The shuttle at VND40,000 per person was a great deal as taxi would have been rather pricey with the 30km […]