Beers of the world #4

I found an Australian, other than Paul Hogan, who drinks XXXX. The beer in the microwave is a joke about English warm beer courtesy of the XXXX drinker.

Its nearly summer in Australia.........

Day 2 in Oz: Pies, Pies, Pies

Day 2 in Australia and we were straight to the best pie shop in Melbourne "Dinkum Pies" followed by a trip to the Vic market.

Greetings from Australia

We made it flying into Melbourne this morning. Relaxing in the back garden now at 25oC and planning the next part of the trip.

Lounge time again!

Do it yourself noodles and a Californian red.

Goodbye Vietnam

Its our final day in Vietnam were flying from the island of Phu Quoc to Ho Chi Min city and then straight to Melbourne on an overnight flight. From a nice 30oC to a cooler 20oC. This was our place in Phu Quoc.

G&Ts at the Rex Hotel

Friday night was a trip to the Rex hotel cocktail bar for a G&T. This was the place where the journalists uses to drink during the Vietnam war.

Beers of the world #3

Goodbye Intrepid, Hello Phu Quoc

After spending the last week with our intrepid group we said goodbye last night. We had a great time with Intrepid and made some fantastic friends. Our guide Phuoc was great guiding us round vietnam and acted as a one man encyclopedia for the "number 1", "five star" bars and restaurants.

This morning (Sunday) led to an early start number three in a row to get to the island of phu quoc - Vietnam's answer to the Caribbean. More pictures will follow this is the view from the restaurant......

Mekong Delta

Today (Saturday) has been a trip to the Mekong Delta. This involved about four different boats and tuk tuk racing. Here's some pictures...

Ci Chu Tunnels

Friday was a trip to the City Chu Tunnels. An amazing complex of tunnels used during the vietnam war. Its an hour out of Ho Chi Min city. Some of the pictures show the tunnels and some of the traps the Vietcong used on the americans.

Masterchef Hoi An style

Thursday night was cooking school night with our group off to the Gioan cooking school in Hoi An. Five courses were made:

Sweet & Sour chicken soup
Fried spring rolls
Green papaya salad
Salmon in banana leaf
Aubergine in a clay pot

Have a look at some of the pictures below to see the action.....

We didnt totally miss the rainy season then!

Happy House

The tourist toilets in Vietnam are called happy house......

Beers of the World #2

Dirty Donner Kebab Hanoi Style

Halong Bay

The first day of our Intrepid tour started with a 4 hour drive (over very rough and bumpy roads) to Halong Bay in the north of Vietnam. Given the approaching typhoon we were very lucky to have good weather for this boat trip. On the bay were lots of boats, seemingly all heading to the same spot. We had a lovely 5 course lunch and then sat on the deck and got to know our fellow travellers.

We then got off the boat and visited some caves. These were very big which was lucky because they were also very crowded.

Back on the boat then and we watched the sunset whilst enjoying a cold beer.

We had another 6 courses for tea, mainly local seafood.

We slept on the boat, at least until the engine started at 5am. (We had to return to port early due to the impending typhoon).

Hanoi to Hue express

We've beecn very lucky and managed to avoid the typhoon completely in vietnam by one day. We've just got off the sleeper train from hanoi to hue in central vietnam. The sleeper train was not what we expected but good fun. Off to explore hue now…...

Halong Bay & back to Hanoi

Fantastic overnight trip to Halong bay home of Christopher Lee and the Man with the Golden Gun. Pictures to follow back in Hanoi now.

Hanoi

Wow what a city the traffic is full on we only managed to get one photo as you're too scared of being run over!

Hanoi is a great city first stop this morning was the Hanoi Hilton aka Hoa Lo prison, where a lot of the american POWs (including John McCain) were kept. A wander through the old quarter and all the shops was an experience totally different from any south east asian city we've been to.

A couple more photos below......

Holiday beers so far #1

I don't think we're in Kansas anymore

Goodbye Bangkok

The last two days have been a blast with a trip to the Grand Palace yesterday which was absolutely amazing.  We followed that in the evening with a river boat cruise along the Chao Phraya river..... An easy going six course meal! And we got our first experience of Bangkok's manic rush hour on our one hour transfer to the boat.

 Today has been a chill out by the pool day before we head off to Vietnam tomorrow. Lunch was street food and dinner was at a local small (eg 6 seats) cafe run by an Aussie.

J also had a haircut - interesting experience....note when you are six foot plus it can cause issues with haircuts in Thailand.

4 tuk tuk rides and counting.....

And then there was more food

Today we visited the Jim Thompson house. This proved to be a bit difficult to find but was lovely once we got there. After this we went to the nearby MBK food avenue for lunch. This was a very civilised food court recommended by Lonely Planet.Jon and I both went for Indonesian food and a fruit smoothie.

My incredible chicken satays

Food, glorious food

Last night we went for tea at the infamous Cabbage and Condom restaurant.
http://www.cabbagesandcondoms.com/restaurant.php?type=environmental
The restaurant serves typical Thai food and promotes a safe sex message all over the restaurant. This can be a bit disconcerting when you realize the lamp shade which has caught your eye is made of condoms.  We had some lovely chicken dumplings then moved onto beef and pork stir fry.