Cambodia to Thailand

Having experienced rail travel and air travel we were now going to make our way between Siem Reap in Cambodia and Bangkok in Thailand by way of coach travel. As is always the case in this part of the world the coach looked nothing like the picture in the travel agency offices. And it soon…

Angkor Day 2

Our second day at Angkor begun with a 5am pick up from our guest house. One of the major attractions is to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat. As Angkor Wat is Cambodia’s biggest tourist attraction we were to share the experience with thousands of other tourists. The sun rise was very pleasant, though not…

Angkor Day 1

For many years we have wanted to visit the various temples at Angkor. So the past 2 days have been a dream come true for us both. The mass of temples located at Angkor were built between the 9th and 13th centuries AD and there are said to number over 1,000. Many are small and…

Siem Reap

We are now in Siem Reap having travelled here from Phnom Penh by bus. The journey took six hours and as seems to be the case with all of our long journeys it was highly entertaining. The further we got from Phnom Penh the more rural the surroundings and it was fascinating watching the farmers…

Mark’s Take on Vietnam

I always described our start point of Vietnam as travelling straight in at the deep end and I suspect I was right! Life in Vietnam is so different to our western lives and as somebody who has barely left Europe it really was an eye opener. But I am proud of us for being brave…

Mekong Delta

We have now arrived in Cambodia by way of a 2 day boat “tour” via the Mekong Delta near Ho Chi Minh and up the Mekong river to Phnom Penh. The Mekong is the world’s 10th longest river and starts in China then runs through Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. I say “tour” in…

Brief Update

We have arrived in Phnom Penh in Cambodia by boat and are now settled in to our rather posh Christmas hotel. A summary of our final 3 days in Vietnam will follow shortly. In the meantime I hope you are all ready for Christmas and enjoying the snow! It’s a horrid 30c here.

Nha Trang

Our trip down to Nha Trang began with our third and final Vietnamese train journey. This was to be a long journey at 11 hours but as it was a daytime journey we opted for seats in “first class”. Luckily we got a table seat so we had room for our large bag, but we…

Hoi An

It is fair to say that the World Heritage Site that is the town of Hoi An is simply stunning. We arrived yesterday under a cloudy sky somewhat downbeat, as Hoi An is set on the South China Sea and we were looking forward to some time on the beach in the sunshine. But the…

Hue to Da Nang by Train

After our first experience with the Vietnamese trains we considered making this journey by coach, but as soon as we heard how good the scenery would be on the train journey we booked our tickets. This leg of the main line between the north and south is only 2.5 hours so we sat in first…

Hue

Upon departing the night train at Hue into what was a welcome 28c we made what can only be described as a schoolboy error. We were lazy and did very little. I wasn’t feeling too good after the train ride so after arriving at our hotel (which is pretty good) we strolled into town and…

Night Train to Hue – Musings of a Sleepless Train Travelling Man

I have never been to Glastonbury, but if I had it probably would have prepared me in some small way for the toilet facilities in carriage 19 of the night train from Hanoi to Hue. We had a few hours to spare upon our return from Ha Long so after a quick bite to eat…