Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Darwin

We left from Bangkok to make the flight to Oz. We passed through Singapore on the way back and we headed into the city. The boat trip of the city was well worth it. The skyscrapers are pretty impressive. Not that impressed with the country though. We rushed back to the airport and just about made the flight onwards to Darwin arriving there at 4.30 in the morning.

In Darwin now. Just arrived Tuesday. Just seems like a slightly bigger version of Naas with stricter licensing laws so as a result the pubs are fairly hopping. Was in Shennanigans last night a madey uppey Irish pub. I don't think they even knew the Irish match was on on Wednesday. Was hoping to get up at 5 to watch it. I caught the last one in a combination of RTE on radio over the net and a streamed version although it wasn't moving very fluidly. Maybe that wasn't even the streaming? I saw the goal though.

Anyone reading this who has advice on what route down the West coast we should follow please get in touch.

Come on Ireland. Hopefully someone can step into the chant-starter role although sounded good on Radio on Wednesday.

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Koh Chang

Got out of Siem Reap. Lively enough spot and well worth a visit. It's small enough so by the end of it we were starting to get bored with it. We hopped on a taxi to go along the worst road/dirt track. It's a disgrace that the government doesn't look after this road. The one thing they have is tourism and they're doing their best to throw this away. I'll finish pontificating.

Well we arrived across the border to Poipet after the bus but it all worked out well as we met 2 Ozzie lads who we shared a taxi with to Trat. Here was a lovely spot which kind of caught us by surprise. We spent a night here before heading for Koh Chang the following morning. It's absolute heaven being back in Thailand. Everything just works that little bit better and it's alot less hassle. Not doing a whole lot here bar chilling on the beach. We're heading back to Bangkok tomorrow with our flight to Darwin via Singapore. I took few enough photos here but here are a couple of more sunsets along with among the worst roads in Asia.

Koh Chang

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Mui Ne, Saigon, Mekong Delta, Phnom Penh, Siem Reap

We´re in Siem Reap now. The town is very compact but it`s good craic. Went to see Angkor Wat today. Good to see but I think we`re a bit templed out so didn`t enjoy it fully. Kind of looking forward to Oz now. Our flight from Bangkok is on the 26th.

The government here is rotten to the core and it´s sad how they´re messing the people about. For example only 15% of the money you pay into Angkor Wat goes towards preservation with the rest going to a petrol company and the government. It´s very sad as the one resource they have is falling to the ground.

Well here are some more photos finishing with "I donät give a damn if we see another temple" collection
Mui Ne, Saigon, Mekong Delta, Phnom Penh, Siem Reap

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Nha Trang, Mui Ne, Saigon, Phnom Penh

I haven't been in touch in a good while and alot of the stuff I've done is even fading from the memory banks. I had to look at the photos to recap what I'd done.

More photos here:
Hoi An, Nha Trang, Mui Ne


We headed to Marble Mountain the following morning. Was very nice. Some of the carvings of Buddha in the caves were very impressive. Could see China Beach from ther top of here. This was the beach where the Americans were sent for R&R (Rest and Recuperation) during the American war. The beach wasn't too impressive and is really only an extension of the much nicer beach in Hoi An which is about 40 km south of here. We had to get back to Hoi An from here and then we were back on the bus for another 12 hour trip down the coast to Nha Trang. I tell you Magellan and Columbus had it easy.

Nha Trang was just fabulous. The beaches here were amazing although the water was a bit dirty with hints of the beach in Cahore when they open the gates of the canal. Alot of what we did here was lounging about on deck chairs working on our sunburn. The first night we were here we met a crowd of Irish and an American. It went downhill from here. Needless to say the next morning/afternoon was very slow to start. We had great craic here and the nightlife was super. We did mudbaths the following day. The heat of the water here was amazing. The 4th day night we were here we did a tour of the islands. The snorkelling went fine until a couple of jellyfish were blown in my direction. Didn't get badly stung but it messed up the snorkelling. On one of the islands myself and Caroline did paragliding towed behind a speedboat. The floating bar was also good with Caroline doing well at leading the band at a couple of bars of the Fields of Athenry. Some of the photos in the Aquarium on the way home were very good.

It was off to Mui Ne with us the following day for more beaches. This is a surfing kind of town. Nice and relaxed kind of place. The second day we headed for the sanddunes which are so big it's like a desert. Very impressive though.

2 days in Mui Ne and then we were back on the road to Saigon. The highlight of the bus trip being when the bus driver was trying to force her into a seat she says "same same" in her best Vietnamese which has the tourist section of the bus in stitches. Saigon was lovely. Much nicer than Hanoi. I went to Cu Chi tunnels outside Saigon/Ho Chi Minh city which were very interesting.

After Saigon we did a 2 day Mekong delta tour to Phnom Penh in Cambodia. Was decent in parts but was a bit too long. Phnom Penh is grand. It's alot less hectic but with the pricing of everything in dollars it's quite dear compared to Vietnam anyway. Saw the killing fields and S-21 or Tual Sleng prison where the Khmer rouge tortured their victims. Very scary. From estimates they reckon between 750,000 and 3 million were massacred here.

Paddys day was quietish but we met an Australian and his Irish girlfriend which made it good enough. Had the Irish stew in the Irish bar and got to see the rugby. No harm that they lost. It might wake them up for the world cup. Good result with the cricket.

In my fact finding mission for St. Patricks Athletic I have found out that Charles Mbazi Livingstone is playing in Hanoi. His heart defect has sorted itself out!!!

Well off to Siem Reap tomorrow so must go for a Beer Lao now. Slan. If anyone else has news let me know.

Sunday, March 4, 2007

Caroline loves Dublin

Nothing to report here bar Caroline has finally turned to the dark side as far as ye Cork based people are concerned. She was spotted in a Dublin top in the beach outside Hoi An today.

Other than that nothing much new. We went on the tour to My Son today. This is the site of old Cham ruins. There wasn't much to see as the Americans had purposefully bombed it bringing in a helicopter gunship to finish the job. It was only stopped when one of the professors involved wrote to Richard Nixon to stop the bombing although to tell the whole story the Viet Cong had a base close to it.

Other than that just back from the beach.

Saturday, March 3, 2007

Ninh Binh, Hue, Lang Co, Hoi An

We headed to Cuc Phuong National Park the following day to do trekking for the first half of the day. It was sold as being easy but it ended up being quite hard. It was very good and we were glad to get out of Ninh Binh as it was a bit of a dive and there was very little craic in it. After the trekking we went off to an Endangered Primate Rescue Center. After this it was back to Ninh Binh to head for Hue. It was a long enough journey about 10 hours.

Hue was lovely and was alot more laid back and less hassle than Vietnam had been up to this point. The Citadel was very interesting to walk around. Like a Motte and Bailey kind of job. This was the old capital pre World War II. There were nice bars and restaurants here. The DMZ bar was good craic. The next day we went on a tour of the DMZ to see places like RockPile, Khe Sanh, Ben Lai River and Vinh Moc tunnels. This was the separation point of north and south after World War II and alot of the fighting in the american war took place here.

We were off on our travels again the following day to Lang Co. There was a beach/lagoon here but it was too dangerous to swim. We instead set off to the Suoi Voi (Voi Springs) on motorbikes up in the mountains. It was more like a waterfall though. There was a lovely part where we were able to swim and the views were lovely. Into town then and we could only find this one restaurant to eat and we were the only ones there. We were thinking this'll be a quiet night and we just stopped for the one drink on the way home. Before we knew it all the locals were talking to us or more like playing charades with us as they had very little english. The thought I was Mr. Universe with the size of my arms. It'd do wonders for your self confidence. Then the whole family came out and they brought out a bucket of Oysters. They were lovely. The father distrusted us for a while but when he heard we were Catholics he was over the moon. Ended up a mighty night that came out of nowhere.

We were onto Hoi An the following day where I still am. We arrived on the 14th day of the lunar month which is a big celebration. The town is a UNESCO site. The highlight is the Japanese covered bridge. Anyway that night down by the river the place was crowded with the locals playing what looked like bingo with the caller calling out the numbers in a Vietnamese tone that sounded very like Sean Nos singing. They were also lighting lanterns and floating them down the river. Was a great night.

Just lazed around the town today and am heading for My Son, Marble mountains and China Beach tomorrow. The following day we'll head for Nha Trang.

More photos up here:


Glad to have this finished as the first time I typed it I lost it and had to start again. See Brian it can happen to a saint, a supersaint.