Pixie Dusted in SE Asia TR

[zanzibar138]

Continued...

After Phong Nha cave, we set off towards our next stop. Soon we entered the national park, which was full of vibrant green jungle set against the backdrop of the limestone mountains. The little bus struggled up a few of the hills!





On this part of the journey, our guide told us about the role this area played in the Vietnam war. The cover of the lush jungle and the caves (many of which are actually not limestone, but a hard rock which could withstand bombing), this area was used as a bit of a hideout and an alternative route to the Ho Chi Minh Highway (which is where our hotel was). This area became very heavily attacked with bombs and agent orange, and everything died. There are still lots of lasting effects in the area, the jungle is actually very new, and will take a long time to grow back to its former state. This is an area where you still have to be very careful about landmines, and make sure you stick to the paths or have a guide. And there is still a very high rate of birth deformities in this area from the agent orange. Hearing him talk about it really gave me a higher respect for the Vietnamese people, and how they have moved on and now welcome westerners to their country. Our guide said he considers Vietnam to be very lucky to have come out of the war as one unified country.

The next stop on our tour was 8 Ladies Cave. This is just a tiny cave, where 8 ladies and a couple of men took shelter from a bomb attack. The explosion trapped them in the cave, and unfortunately they were unable to escape and all died. It has now been turned into a shrine. Given the solemn nature of the cave, I decided not to take any photos of the cave. I only got some of the surrounding jungle.



Our guide gave us some incense sticks for us to pray. I'm not really the praying type, but I used the opportunity to say my own little thank you to all the people in this world who have lost their lives in the name of peace.

On the way back to the bus, the guide told us stories about people who had disrespected the cave, and I was quite glad I had decided not to take photos!

And so ends the solemn part of the tour.

Our next stop was lunch, which was a huge spread of DIY pork and tofu rice paper rolls, with extra ribs and rice. Everything was so good, but there was just far too much for 2 people!



Where we had lunch was the start of the eco trail, which unfortunately wasn't part of the agenda. It looked great, and I was definitely keen to explore further. There were 3 dogs hanging around the restaurant, and one of the ladies there told us their names were No, Ki and A. This one is Ki.



After lunch it was back to the bus for the next destination, Paradise Cave. Our guide informed us that this cave is privately owned. It was definitely more touristy than anything else we had seen that day, with a huge carpark, entry turnstiles, and even little golf carts taking groups to the base of the cave. This was the jungle surrounding the carpark.



We didn't take the golf cart, but enjoyed the nice walk through the trees to the base of the cave.



Now when I say the base of the cave, I mean that the cave was high up in the hill, and there was a path from the bottom of the hill up to the cave. That was the part there should have been an alternative for! The jungle was really too dense to get much of a view, even though we were quite high up.





At the entrance to the cave there was an undercover area with some benches and a refreshment stand, where people could catch their breath before tackling the cave. Our guide took the opportunity to tell us a little bit about the cave.

Up until recently, Paradise Cave had been though to be the largest dry cave in the world. It has now been surpassed by Son Doong Cave, which is in the same national park. Son Doong Cave was only opened to tourists last year, and requires tourists to join a 6 day organised trek operated by one company. They are fully booked right through 2014. But back to Paradise Cave. This one was only opened to tourists in 2011, and has an amazing boardwalk through the first 1km or so. There is also a 7km tour which takes you further into the cave, which unfortunately we didn't find out about until too late.

Unlike other caves in the area, this one only has a small opening.





But it opens out into a massive space!





Like Phong Nha Cave, the lights in here have recently been replaced too. I preferred the individual formations of Fairy Cave, but there was no denying that the sheer size and en masse formations of Paradise Cave were absolutely spectacular.



















For anyone who's wondering, I used my good quality point and shoot camera without the flash, but I used the hand rail as a tripod.

We were so lucky with the lack of crowds in this cave too. There were parts of it when we couldn't see or hear another person, and it was amazingly peaceful and beautiful. Our guide did not join us, as he explained that he works for the national park, not the company that owns the cave. It was a bit weird. He came down the stairs with us, then just waited at the start. It didn't really matter anyway, we know enough about how caves are formed and stuff.

We needed another rest at the waiting area after climbing all the stairs to get out of the cave Then we made our way down the hill and back to the bus.

The drive back to the hotel was pretty spectacular, and we both decided that we really wanted to spend more time there (we had been toying with the idea of hiring bikes and riding around the local hotel area). When we got back, we found the manager and asked him what our options were. Unfortunately he could not offer us much. There were only one other guided tour available to the park, which also went to Paradise Cave. Our only other option was to hire a motorbike and drive ourselves. Unfortunately that was not an option as our travel insurance didn't cover motorbikes. We decided that we would have to book the other tour.

Next time, we'll probably make sure our travel insurance includes motorbike use, and also look at tour options available through other companies before we go (our hotel did share some tours with a nearby farmstay, but didn't offer all of their activities).

 

[PrincessInOz]

What amazing caves. That would have been such a special place to be in with hardly anyone in there.

 

[zanzibar138]

What amazing caves. That would have been such a special place to be in with hardly anyone in there.

Yep, it was really peaceful and nice.

 

[zanzibar138]

Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park

Today's tour was called the Adventure Tour, and would take us back to Paradise Cave in the morning, then to the Dark Cave in the afternoon. The description told us that there would be swimming involved and we would get muddy. I decided not to bother taking my big camera as I was pretty happy with my photos of Paradise Cave from the previous day, and just took my little waterproof camera. Unfortunately I hadn't thought about it the day before and hadn't charged my little camera, but I figured I had enough shots left in it to get some of the cave. So I'm afraid there won't be any photos until later in the day. I asked one of the hotel staff what I should wear, and she said what I had on was fine (light 'quick-dry' pants and shirt with hiking boots).

This time the bus was fairly full. There were 6 people from the other hotel already on the bus, then 4 of us got on from our hotel. The others that were joining us were the Austrian couple we shared our transfer with.

I was surprised that our first stop was the boat dock for Phong Nha Cave again, and wondered why we were there. It turns out we were there to pick up another guide, the same one we had the day before, who would be leading the Dark Cave tour. He was surprised to see us! We figured out that it would just be us and the Austrian couple doing the Dark Cave.

On the way up to Paradise Cave, we asked our guide if there was any chance we could be dropped off at the eco trail instead (we assumed we would be having lunch there again and it was only 5 minutes out of the way). Unfortunately it wasn't possible, so we tagged along on the Paradise Cave tour again.

When we arrived at Paradise Cave, we could see it was going to be a totally different experience to the day before. The carpark was full of tour buses! Also, this time we caught the little golf buggy shuttle to the bottom of the hill. DH and I actually did much better with the hill this time, and made it all the way up without stopping. The path was quite crowded and we did get stuck behind slow people quite a lot, so maybe that helped! We waited for our guide at the top of the hill, then made our way into the cave again.

There were so many people everywhere in the cave! People were rude and pushed past. So many people were trying to take photos on their phones, we tried to keep out of their way, but they were taking so long! They'd have to have more photos with different configurations of the group, everyone having a photo with each other, then a big group shot, then half the group, then just the girls etc. It drove me crazy

It was just impossible to avoid all the 'photographers', so we made a conscious effort to avoid the ones with proper cameras and tripods who were clearly trying to get professional quality photos of the cave, who were the most understanding lot anyway. It was the ones using their phones for 'happy snaps' who were rude about it, but we figured they could either wait for us to pass or just put up with having a random stranger in the shot too.

With much patience and a little assertiveness, we finally made it all the way to the end of the cave. *Insert sigh of relief here*. Then we had to turn around and do it all again to get back to the start! Nearly back at the start, we patiently waited for someone with a decent camera to finish taking a photo of a couple of girls, then started walking through, only to be rudely gestured at to hurry up! I nearly lost it and was so relieved to finally get out of there! It was only then that I truly appreciated the peace and quiet we'd had the day before.

We sat in the waiting area again, waiting for all of our group to emerge from the cave. Finally they all did, and we all made our way back to the bus in anticipation of lunch. Lunch was exactly the same as the day before, except today we shared with the Austrian couple and managed to get through a lot more food!

After lunch the group split into 2, and the 4 of us and our guide were dropped off at the dock for the Dark Cave. Our guide pointed out the toilets for us to change into our bathers. Umm bathers? No one said anything about that! The Austrian couple hadn't brought theirs either. Our guide disappeared then came back a few minutes later with a bag of bathers we could borrow. Unfortunately for me they were all tiny and would definitely NOT cover what they needed to. I decided to just leave my clothes on, as they were quick dry material. DH borrowed a pair of shorts from the bag. The Austrian couple with us were in the same predicament.

After that confusion, we were all given life jackets, helmets and caving shoes, and headed down to the kayaks. The river was an amazing turquoise colour.



Knowing how DH and I usually fare with kayaking (ie we spend most of our time going around in circles), I was very pleased that our guide got in with us and paddled with DH, leaving me free to take photos.





Unfortunately the Austrian couple were just as good at kayaking as us, so they went around in circles Luckily it was only a short distance, and we all arrived at the entrance to the cave in one piece.



There was a small amount of path before the real adventure began. At the end of the path, our guide told us to leave all our clothes there I was surprised to see the Austrian girl start undressing, down to her undies! I figured with the life jacket on no one would see anything anyway, so I stripped down to my bra on top, but there was no way I was taking my pants off, no matter how much the guide tried to convince me!

We walked along the rocks for a bit, and reached another point where the guide told us to leave our life jackets and shoes. It was then that the adventure began.

We headed off into a dark passage, and soon realised just how muddy we were going to get!





It was hard work walking through the mud. It was very slippery and some of the rocks on either side of us were very sharp. Some parts were quite narrow, and some were quite low. I was glad I had my helmet.



And there were a couple of sections where we had to climb over obstacles, which was really hard in the slippery mud. Good team building exercise

At the end of the passage was a mud pool, and our guide promptly jumped in and covered his whole body with it! The guys followed suit without too much prompting.



Us girls took a bit more convincing. We were so muddy by then it didn't really matter anyway, so I ended up sitting down in the mud too. We all turned our headlamps off for a few minutes, and the guys amused themselves by making flatulence noises with the mud

After a while the guide led us to the next point of interest, a small pool at the end of another dark passage. The water was pretty cold, but we all jumped in, keen to get all the mud off! I have a pretty good photo of us in the pool, but it pretty clearly shows me in just a bra, so I won't upload it. After splashing about for a while, we moved along.

I was pretty disappointed that we had to go through the mud again on the way out, but we came out to the main river part of the cave, so we were able to wash it all off again.



We had to go and get our shoes and life jackets again for the next bit, which was swimming a bit more into the main part of the cave. The others all climbed over some rocks to go a bit further, but it was a bit too much for me (I'm still pretty scared about rock climbing and heights), so I just waited for them. DH said they found some fish in the water a bit further up.



After a while they came back, and we all made our way back to the cave entrance. Swimming was pretty hard with the life jacket on, but I'm sure glad I had it. Our guide informed us that he actually can't swim, so he was definitely relying on his!



Eventually we got out of the water and climbed over the rocks again to get back to the entrance.





We picked up our clothes on the way back, got in our kayaks again and headed back to the dock.



It certainly had been an adventure!

The boys went and got changed, and I tried to dry my clothes off as best I could with one of those little microfibre towels from Kathmandu. It actually did a pretty good job. We had the bus to ourselves on the way back to the hotel, apparently the others hadn't finished yet. I sat on my raincoat so the seat didn't get wet. And only realised I'd left my hiking boots on the bus later that night.

FWIW, I did get my hiking boots back. The hotel got them from the bus and sent them back with another Australian guest. They arrived in the mail a couple of weeks after we got back.

That night was spent making arrangements for the next day, packing, and getting to bed early in preparation for an early start!

 

[PrincessInOz]

WOW! What a fantastic adventure. I'm not sure how I would cope with all that mud. For all my love of the outdoors and 'roughing' it, I do draw the line with mud. It seems pretty difficult to wash all that mud out of everywhere.

And boys will be boys.

So, what was the difference between yesterday and today for the crowd to be so different? Were you doing this tour on a weekend day?

 

[zanzibar138]

WOW! What a fantastic adventure. I'm not sure how I would cope with all that mud. For all my love of the outdoors and 'roughing' it, I do draw the line with mud. It seems pretty difficult to wash all that mud out of everywhere.

And boys will be boys.

Actually after all that swimming at the end we all came out pretty clean Although I'm not sure the Austrian girl's nice white underwear will ever be the same

So, what was the difference between yesterday and today for the crowd to be so different? Were you doing this tour on a weekend day?

The second day was a Friday, not sure if that made any difference. And I also don't know if it made a difference in the morning vs. afternoon I'm not even sure it would be worth going on a weekend!

 

[zanzibar138]

Phong Nha - Phu Loc via Hue

Since we had already taken the train on our trip up to Phong Nha, we decided to take the bus back down to Hue. No, we hadn't entirely lost our minds - it wasn't a regular bus, it was a special shuttle bus organised by some of the accommodation places in Phong Nha, and would take us to visit some of the attractions in the De Militarized Zone (DMZ) on the way through. Unfortunately the bus left at 7am.

We were up bright and early, finished packing, and made our way upstairs for one last breakfast (one of the hotel staff, Nam, had offered to get up early to cook breakfast for us ). Unfortunately Nam was running a little late, and the bus was running a little early, so breakfast was ready just as we had to leave. Nam ran out to the bus and told the driver he would have to wait while we ate our breakfast We gulped it down quickly, said a hasty thank you and goodbye to Nam (who was still the only staff member up and around), and got on the bus.

The bus then went to Phong Nha Farmstay to pick up the other passengers, who it turns out, were also eating breakfast. Unlike us though, they didn't feel the need to rush, and we were sitting there in the bus for about 15-20 minutes waiting for them. In the end there were 6 of us in the van.

Finally we were on our way. As is usually the case with road travel in Vietnam, the trip was slow and tedious. There was a driver and one other person who we at first assumed to be a guide, but neither of them really spoke English. We eventually figured out that the second man must be the one to drive the bus back to Phong Nha.

After a couple of fairly boring hours, we arrived at our first stop, Vinh Moc Tunnels near Dong Ha. A second van joined us for the tour, which tripled our numbers. We were led by a tour guide there, and while the tour was brief and rushed, it was a worthwhile stop. One couple from our bus didn't join us as they had a proper DMZ tour booked from their Hue hotel. I wondered why they hadn't just taken the train if that was the case!

The guide led us past some tunnel entrances and other war relics on the way to the little museum. It was very misty, which really added to the atmosphere!





In the museum, she gave us a bit of a rundown about life during the war, and what role the tunnels played. It was very interesting, and I actually enjoyed it more than the Cu Chi Tunnels near Saigon. We could see from the 3D models and maps of the tunnel network how intricate the tunnels were.



We had about 10 minutes to ourselves in the museum, then we started our tour of the tunnels.



We were led past 'rooms' that served as family sleeping quarters, kitchens, bathrooms, bomb shelters, medical rooms, even a birthing suite! The tunnels were well-lit, and generally big enough to get around, although we all had to hunch over a bit in varying degrees! The tunnels were laid out over 3 levels, so now and then there were some steps to negotiate.







Luckily for us, we were towards the front of the group. The people at the back had trouble hearing the guide and kept yelling out questions or asking her to repeat herself. It's definitely not a tour for those who are keenly interested.

About two thirds of the way into the tour, we exited the tunnels at the bottom level, and were astonished to find the ocean right in front of us



We'd heard water movement from up near the museum, but because it was so misty, we hadn't been able to see where it was coming from. We had just assumed it was a river, and had NO idea we were so close to the coast!

We went back into the tunnels on the next level up, and after a few more passages and a long set of stairs, found ourselves exiting the tunnel system close to the bus again.





We all piled back on the bus and drove a bit further. We stopped again just near a river. This time there was no one to guide us, and nobody really knew what we were supposed to be looking at! Over the road there was a large building that seemed important, so we made our way over there.



The big building was a museum, mainly about the reunification of north and south Vietnam. After doing some investigative work in the museum, I realised that where we were was actually the point of reunification, and the bridge over the river we were parked in front of was highly significant. Once I'd made that realisation I was much more interested in the bridge and the river than the museum, and spent more of my time out there.



After a while I saw people heading back across the road, and thought I'd better join them or risk being left behind! We weren't quite leaving yet though, so I checked out the monument there in a bit more detail.



And just as we were about to leave, we saw the flag at the top of the monument being raised. Great timing!



After that it was time to head back to the bus, and settle back in for the rest of the long journey to Hue. I even managed to fall asleep for a short while!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Amazing tunnels!

 

[zanzibar138]

Amazing tunnels!

It was a long and tedious bus ride, but that stop made it worth it for me.

 

[zanzibar138]

Continued...

We finally made it to Hue and were dropped off outside the backpackers hostel. I had arranged to be picked up from there by our next hotel, but DH had insisted that we allow ourselves a couple of hours. As it was 12:30pm when we arrived, we had some drinks and ordered a pizza at the hostel. DH enjoyed his first real Vietnamese coffee of the trip!



While we were enjoying our drinks and pizza, we were kept entertained by the general happenings in the street. We saw a group of British girls hire some motorbikes, and the vendor's surprise when they then asked him how to ride them



We wondered how they would go learning to ride a motorbike in the Hue traffic which, while nowhere near as bad as Saigon, was still fairly undesirable.

We were approached by a couple of people trying to sell stuff, mainly prints and sunnies. It was entertaining watching the interaction with other people.



Then a load of beer showed up. Of course.



When we'd finished eating, I wandered across the road to a little tailor shop, wondering if it was worth having another go.



I immediately felt more comfortable with this tailor, and she had heaps of dresses hanging up that I could choose from. After getting the ok from DH, I ordered 2 dresses, which we would pick up in a couple of days 'on our way' to the airport.

Eventually our driver arrived and we were on the road to the next hotel, which was about an hour south of Hue. This resort was basically in the middle of nowhere, and we planned to just stay put and have an indulgent and relaxing couple of days before returning home.

We were given the usual treatment when we arrived, including welcome drinks.



We were whisked away to our villa in a golf buggy.



I had spent a long time trying to decide between an overwater villa or a hillside villa with private pool. In the end I decided to go with the overwater one for the novelty factor (it also worked out slightly cheaper). The water was a large lake, so wasn't any good for swimming, and there was nothing to see in there.



The room was luxurious and beautiful, even though it was showing some small signs of ageing.



The bathroom was huge and contained only the bath (overlooking the lagoon) and basins. The toilet and shower were outside. We've enjoyed having an outside shower before, but the toilet took a bit of getting used to!





Finally, out the back there was a large deck overlooking the lagoon, with plenty of comfy chairs.





The lagoon was 'fenced' off a few metres away from the overwater villas. We assumed it was to stop local fishermen entering the resort.

After settling in, we decided to take a look around and maybe get some pre-dinner drinks. There were bikes provided for our use with the villa, but we weren't far from the communal area, and decided to just walk.

The pool looked beautiful, and I hoped that we would have an opportunity the next day to try it out.



There was a small lounge area near the pool which was deserted.



The restaurant was next door, and there was another larger lounge area underneath it, which we decided to check out. It too, was deserted.



There was one staff member who kind of followed us there, and she had to get our drinks from the restaurant.



We felt kind of odd just sitting in the lounge on our own, it wasn't very atmospheric! So we decided we may as well go up to the restaurant for an early dinner.

On the way we noticed this little jetty, which is where you can book a private dinner.



Up in the restaurant we got a table on the balcony overlooking the water, and enjoyed more drinks and an average dinner. Having paid such great prices for everything for the whole trip, we were really struggling with the prices here! The room itself was great value, but the extras were definitely 'resort' priced.

There wasn't really much else to do, so after dinner we called it a night.

 

[PrincessInOz]

A room over the water? I take it there wasn't a glass floor in that hut or you would have shared the picture of it.

Were there mosquitos?

 

[zanzibar138]

A room over the water? I take it there wasn't a glass floor in that hut or you would have shared the picture of it.

Were there mosquitos?

Only one of the overwater villas has a glass section of floor, and it wasn't ours. I really don't think there would have been much to see anyway.

We didn't have any problems with mozzies, though there was the usual mosquito netting over the bed.

 

[zanzibar138]

Phu Loc

We really had nowhere to be today, so we allowed ourselves a luxurious sleep in. We looked out the window to see a dull and dreary day. There was a constant fine drizzle, which I found out on the way to breakfast, was actually enough to get wet. There was a great buffet for breakfast, not the best we've had, but definitely a good variety of offerings. We were just leaving the restaurant when a golf buggy went past. They stopped and offered to give us a lift.

Today I had plans to spend a bit of time at the pool, maybe take the bikes for a spin around the local village, and admire the view over the lagoon. Unfortunately it was too cold for the pool, too rainy for the bikes, and too misty for views Neither of us could justify the cost for spa treatments. We both spent the morning catching up on facebook, emails etc, and even turned on the TV which was basically a live coverage of the MH370 incident. When house-keeping came, we tried to sit out on the deck until they were finished, but the chairs were pretty damp, and the drizzle was coming in under the eaves. It was kind of depressing really



We'd managed to fill in the morning and went to the restaurant for lunch. We splurged on a bottle of sparkling. I had one glass with lunch and planned to take the rest back to the room for the afternoon. The restaurant called a buggy for us since we had the bottle and a couple of champagne glasses as well. I thought I'd take the opportunity to use the great bath!



Late in the afternoon the clouds started lifting, but it was still cold and getting kind of late for venturing out. And the damage had definitely been done with the deck furniture!



At dinner time we went back to the restaurant. I ordered both mains and dessert from the specials menu, and really enjoyed my meal this time! It also came with an amazing chicken garnish made out of vegetables. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera to take a photo.

After dinner we packed what we could while finishing off the wine, and called it a night.

 

[zanzibar138]

Phu Loc - Melbourne
(via Hue, Saigon, Singapore and Sydney...)

This morning we packed up our little bags and said goodbye to our resort.



We had organised our morning transportation through the resort. We were going to Hue airport, but first we had to go into Hue city to pick up my dresses. The hotel only charged us for the transfer to Hue (as the airport was on the way back to the resort), which was good of them.

As we had a morning flight out of Hue, I had organised to meet the tailor at 9:30am (they didn't usually open until 10am), to allow plenty of time to try on the clothes and make any last minute alterations, and still be on the road by 10am. Unfortunately she was about 15 minutes late. I hurriedly tried on the dresses, and they needed letting out slightly around the zip, and one of them needed to be a little shorter. The tailor busied herself at the sewing machine while I waited with DH.



It took a little longer than anticipated to do the alterations, and then she insisted that I try the dresses on again and ironed out the areas where she'd made changes. I have to say she was very thorough, and did a great job under pressure. Unfortunately though it put us a fair bit behind schedule, and we were stressing all the way to the airport.

Luckily it was only a small airport, the check-in desk was right at the front door, and there was no line. We just had time for a quick bathroom break before heading through to the gate lounge, and boarded pretty much straight away.

The flight was ok until the landing, which seemed to take forever and was quite bumpy. I was really struggling, and even DH was looking a little green Finally we landed in Saigon, picked up our bags, and made our way to the international terminal. DH was ok as soon as we landed, but I took a while to recover!

As our flights weren't connecting, DH had left a few hours in Saigon as a buffer. But since all had gone smoothly so far, we still had enough time to catch the earlier flight. DH went to the Vietnam Airlines desk to ask if we could be bumped to the earlier flight, and it was not a problem, or much of an expense. Once we had confirmed that we would be on the earlier flight, I left DH to sort out the details and joined the queue for check-in. Like Siem Reap airport, it was taking FOREVER to check people in. We had been standing in line for nearly an hour (and still had a couple of groups in front of us), when someone came around asking for people on our flight to go to the priority check-in desk. I know they do that at Australian airports, but wasn't expecting it in Vietnam. I was pretty pleased they did though! Once we'd checked in, we made our way to the gate lounge and managed to fill in about 20 minutes there before boarding. After a pretty uneventful flight, we landed in Singapore.

At Singapore airport we had to grab our bags again, and change terminals to check in with Qantas. It was crazy busy at the airport, and we were feeling pretty smug that we would be able to use the priority check-in this time around. However, because it was so long until our flight, the Qantas desk was pretty empty. We just walked right up and checked in straight away.

After checking in we made our way straight through to the Qantas lounge, and settled in for the next few hours. It was a great lounge, and we had afternoon tea, dinner, and several drinks there, and made good use of the free wifi. The lounge overlooked the check-in area, which was just continuously busy.



Eventually it was time for our flight, premium economy back to Sydney. I actually managed to get a little bit of sleep on this one, not nearly enough though! I was struggling badly by the time we got to Sydney. We managed to get out of the international terminal quickly enough, and headed to the Qantas transfer desk. Again, DH had left hours in Sydney in case of delays, but we were keen to get on an earlier flight. Having OneWorld status probably helped, and we were able to get on the flight an hour earlier at no cost to us.
There was a big line for the shuttle bus to the domestic terminal, and we had to wait for about 3 buses to leave before we could fit onto one for the quick trip over the runway.

At the domestic terminal we checked in and made our way straight to the lounge, where we had some drinks and snacks before boarding the flight to Melbourne.

And that brings us to the end of this TR. I hope you have enjoyed reading it and gotten some helpful hints

 

[PrincessInOz]

Thanks Zanzibar. Great TR and I'll certainly be thinking about Vietnam. Sadly, it won't be on the cards for us for quite a while.

 

[austraveler]

Thanks for the report - very fun to follow!

 

[WanderlustNZ]

I've just caught up on your last 3-4 days and want to thank you for such a great TR.

I love the trip you did down the river, even though the boat was a bit rickety. Such beautiful scenery. It reminds me of the Li River in China.

The kayak/mud trip looked very intrepid. I'm not sure if I would have loved the mud or hated it because I get embarrassed being half naked in front of strangers.

Loved the last resort you stayed at. It's a shame about the weather, but at least you had a relaxing end to your trip.

Finally, any pics of the dresses you bought? Also, if you don't mind me asking, roughly how much do places over there charge for dresses and suits? I will have to make clothes making a priority when I finally get to visit that part of the world. I can never find clothes off the rack that fit me properly.

 

[austraveler]

I bought a custom made dress in Hoi An for $38 USD. I love it and it fits me perfectly. Wish I had time to get more!

 

[zanzibar138]

I've just caught up on your last 3-4 days and want to thank you for such a great TR.

I love the trip you did down the river, even though the boat was a bit rickety. Such beautiful scenery. It reminds me of the Li River in China.

The kayak/mud trip looked very intrepid. I'm not sure if I would have loved the mud or hated it because I get embarrassed being half naked in front of strangers.

Loved the last resort you stayed at. It's a shame about the weather, but at least you had a relaxing end to your trip.

Finally, any pics of the dresses you bought? Also, if you don't mind me asking, roughly how much do places over there charge for dresses and suits? I will have to make clothes making a priority when I finally get to visit that part of the world. I can never find clothes off the rack that fit me properly.

I was not comfortable on the cave tour without my shirt, that's for sure! But you do have to keep in mind that the cave was pitch black and we really couldn't see each other. The flash on that camera is great! And if I'd have brought my bathers it would have been fine.

This is the only decent picture I have of me in one of the dresses. It was at my SIL's hens party so excuse the sash.



The other dress was the same design but in a more formal satin material with an oriental type print. They were USD $25 each, but I managed to get her down to $45 for the two. The tailors are not easy to haggle with, and I think they're generally more expensive in Hoi An than they are in Hue (which is where this was). The dress I got in Hue that I don't like was $35 I think and the skirt was $20. DH got a great winter woolen coat for about $50.

The other thing I'll say about tailors is it's worth looking around until you find one you're comfortable with. The first one didn't understand how to work with my body shape and didn't make the dress low cut or short enough, so I look short and stumpy and about 3 x bigger than I actually am in the chest The second one actually suggested some great alterations to the original patterns to work with my body shape.

Next time we go we're going to stock up! I should be at or close to my goal weight by then so I'll feel more comfortable spending up on clothes

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Catching up - I never realised the height and vastness of the Batu Caves. We missed them as had Mum and dad with us on our stopover visit and it was a bit much for them to make the trip so we stuck to more local sightseeing (Jurong Bird Park etc). We didn't get up the Towers either (hadn't pre-booked) but enjoyed looking up at them from the park at the bottom and liked the fountain show. Interesting to hear about your train trip -can you do one that leaves more earlier am so you get to see more en route rather than overnight?