Heathrow

We have arrived back at Heathrow after a 14 hour flight from Singapore. 

This will be the last posting in the blog. We hope you have enjoyed following where we have been over the past 11 months. We are really looking forward to catching up with all our lovely friends and family over the next few weeks.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all.

PS our landline number is no longer valid but our mobile numbers will still work. We will have new landline number next week.

Changi Airport Singapore

So here we are on the last leg of our long journey at Changi airport Singapore waiting for our flight back to the UK. The current temperature here is about 30 degrees so I think we might find it a little cold when we touch down at Heathrow!

Mekong Delta overnight cruise

We are now in southern Vietnam in the Mekong Delta. After a four hour drive from Saigon we arrived and were greeted onto our boat Bassac III. There are only two other couples on board, one from Australia and the other from Belgium. The staff are very friendly and attentive. We cruised down the Mekong River for four hours and moored near a small village where we were taken on a tour, being shown many of the fruits and other vegetation growing wild. including 10 vaieties of banana, chiiles peppercorns jackfruit pomello banana fllower water coconut amongst others.

After a night aboard the boat the following morning we went to a floating market and a saw how to make rice paper popped rice and coconut milk. We also drunk some snake wine!

Ho Ci Min City aka Saigon

This morning we flew from Danong down to Ho Chi Min City also known as Saigon. It is the largest city in Vietnam with over 10 million residents. It is a much more developed city than Hanoi with quite a western feeling and many high rise buildings. However the roads are just as chaotic and congested, possibly a bit worse the Hanoi as the are far more cars.

After lunch in a noodle bar we had a tour of the Unification Palace, a 1960's building used by the leaders of south Vietnam during the war. We then moved on to the War Remnants Museum, a quite sobering and difficult to look at exhibition featuring the war atrocities during the Vietnam American war. 

We also visited the catholic cathedral and the Saigon Post Ofice.

The Nam Hai

Today was billed as a leisure day on our busy itinerary, but we decided to use the time to do a cooking demonstration with one of the chefs at The Nam Hai. After an early breakfast we were taken to the local market and shown around by the chef and saw all the many and varied ingredients available from fruit vegetables meat fish herbs and spices. We the returned to The Nam Hai and were shown around the extensive herb and vegetable gardens where the hotel is able to grow many of the ingredients that they use in the kitchen. After a short break we went to the Beach Restaurant kitchen where we helped prepare three dishes; fresh spring rolls, banana flower salad and my quang, a hot chicken prawn and noodle dish. We were then able to sit in the restaurant and eat our own prepared meals.

This afternoon we went into Hoi An for a final fitting for our tailored clothes. Then time for a lazy afternoon and a swim in the 50 metre olympic size pool.

My Son and Hoi An

A much better day today with only slight drizzle in the morning but warm and sunny this afternoon.

In the morning we drove to My Son (pronounced Me Sun and meaning beautiful mountain) the site of the 6th to 12th centuary Cham temples. Only a few remain and have been recently partially restored, but many are ruins, destroyed by a combination of time weather and war.

We returned to Hoi An for lunch and then a walking tour of the old town, with many picturesque streets old wooden houses a Japanese Bridge and Chinese temples.

We went back to the taylors for our first fitting of our new clothes before heading back to he hotel for a dip in the fabulous pool, although Lindsay seems quite relaxed on the outdoor sofas by our villa!

Hue to Hoi An

A very wet day in Hue today but we had a full days sightseeing. Firstly we visited the local indoor but leaky market, where you could buy anything and everything and eat street food.

We were then taken and shown around two mausoleums where past Emperors are buried. There are extensive and elaborate decorations all around.

After lunch we visited the Cham sculpture museum where there are many Hindu statues rescued from temples at My Son where we are to visit tomorrow.

After a four hour drive we arrived in Hoi An, and visited a taylors where we have both been measured up for clothing to be made up for us tomorrow.

We re now in the rathur fantastic Nam Hai resort, although its still raining heavily with no sign of a let up.