One night (left) in Paris

I last left off on my lazy day in Paris where I'd bought a camera and basically sat around doing nothing but writing this blog.

That day was, as you can probably tell, pretty uneventful. The following day I headed off by myself to see Sacre Couer, the surrounding area of Montmarte and Notre Dame.

I started the day off bright and early, my first stop was Sacre Couer. As I emerged from the underground metro stop at the base of the steps that led up to the basilica I was absolutely shocked at the sheer size of it. For some reason I hadn't expected it to be such a huge building. The entire area was crowded with people but this didn't detract from the majesty of Sacre Couer at all.

I'd planned on going in but a service had just finished and the area was packed, so instead I walked around it and wound my way down the hill towards the Moulin Rouge. Along the way I stopped off at a square named after Salvador Dali that had all sorts of artists sketching and painting. I ended up getting a drawing done which actually doesn't look a whole lot like me but is nice anyway.

The Moulin Rouge was well, how can I say this? A massive let down! It sucked. I took a few photos but it was hardly worth it. Quite quickly I left and headed for Notre Dame. No let down here! It was amazing. The detail around the doorways was phenomenal and I couldn't believe the sheer size of it. I went inside and felt a little religious for about 10 minutes... Then I left. But it was beautiful inside, very awe-inspiring.

That night Pru and I cooked a great carbonara with plenty of garlic in it. We had our last meal with Jayne and Bunny before they headed off the next day back to Melbourne and we to Brussels.

Hoi An to Paris and everything in between

Having not added anything to my blog in quite some time is going to make this very lengthy and difficult. I created a whole new blog post the other day and my mobile phone completely stuffed up and I lost all of it.

So here goes...

The rest of our time in Hoi An was fantastic. We cycled down to the boulangerie and got some great tiramisu and ice cold Vietnamese coffee. Cam and I spent the morning cycling around Hoi An then went for lunch at a restaurant called Sunshine across the road from our hotel. Lunch was awesome! That night we did a private cooking course for USD$8 each, and we got to eat everything we made; spring rolls, pho bo (Vietnamese beef noodle soup) and marinated pork cooked in banana leaf. Very yummy. The cooking course was a lot of fun. We went down to the market with Hoi, the lady who ran the restaurant - which also happened to be on her front porch, and wandered through that crazy place with her. The smells made our tummy's rumble and by the time we returned to the restaurant we were definitely ready to start cooking. And for those of you that are interested, I have all three of those recipes written down and ready to go for when I get back to Melbourne.

The following day we left for Nha Trang, which turned out to be quite a disappointment. The bus ride to our hostel from the airport was very scenic and comprised of beautiful coastline reminiscent of our very own Great Ocean road. The hostel, however, was an entirely different story. It was a hostel designed for backpackers that wanted to sleep all day and party all night - nothing like us. We'd planned to stay there for 2 nights but left the next morning for Mui Ne, Vietnam's prime beach destination.

Mui Ne was gorgeous, the beach was nowhere near as good as any Australian beaches but if anyone can find me a beach anywhere in the world that IS, I'd like to know about it. There was a main street that was a few kilometres long and we spent most of our time by the pool while at night we'd walk along the road until we found somewhere nice to eat or drink, which wasn't hard.

Mui Ne's claim to fame are the famous white and red sand dunes that create a very unique micro-climate in the area. We visited these on a motorbike tour (we didn't drive obviously, passengers all the way). It was like being in the desert with the ocean on one side, a lake on another and shrubbery the rest of the way round. Very bizarre. Cam thought it was a great idea to hire a plastic slidy thing, as a way of sliding down the sand dunes. Bad idea. It broke pretty much straight away and he bunny hopped down the dune. Not very impressive. We watched the sun set over the red sand dunes and then made our way back. Photos of all of these will be published on facebook VERY soon.

We left for Saigon the next day. Crazy, crazy, Saigon.

With the amount of motorbikes we'd seen in Hanoi there was no way we believed people when they told us that Saigon was far worse. Well, they were right and it was. I had a great video of the traffic which is on my lovely long lost camera so you'll just have to You Tube it to find out just how hectic it really is.

We arrived late at night after a 6 hour bus ride and had a pretty crappy street meal for dinner then went off to bed, the following day was going to be a busy one.

We started it off by walking to the Reunification Palace, where the big bosses surrendered at the end of the Vietnam War. It wasn't a particularly beautiful building - very sixties with far too much mission brown - but it was interesting to wander around. After that we headed to the War Remnants Museum. It was very informative, perhaps too informative, and quite depressing. It basically chronicled all the horrible things that happened during the war and had a lot of photos which were pretty confronting. Outside they had a collection of tanks, guns and artillery left behind by the Americans.

That night we made our way over to Ben Thanh marketplace. During the day it's a huge enclosed market, much like some of the ones we saw in Thailand and by night the inside area shuts and everything is set up outside. There were great seafood restaurants set up everywhere making it very difficult to choose somewhere to eat. But we did, and it was delicious.

The next day we didn't plan to do a lot, mainly because the heat was suffocating and we just couldn't be bothered. We had a little wander through the market and then ended up deciding to go to the Saigon Zoo. It was great and was very reminiscent of our own Melbourne Zoo. We saw rhinos, a few hippo's, lots of monkeys, elephants and plenty of big cats. The most exciting thing about this zoo was that the animals were right up close, possibly too close, meaning we could almost touch them. Obviously we didn't but it would've been nice to have a cuddle with a tiger.

Finally, it was our last night in Vietnam. We went to the market for dinner again because there was just so much fantastic food on offer. We had barbecued squid, pork, beef and meatballs, the amazing spinach with garlic and oyster sauce and some DIY rice paper rolls. Very yummmmmyyy!!!

It was a sad goodbye the next day because Cam and I wouldn't be seeing each other until after Xmas. I had a pretty uneventful flight to Hong Kong and there it was that I lost my camera, but, I've just returned from buying a new one! Anyway, Hong Kong wasn't too exciting. I did a bit of retail therapy and that was about it, mostly due to the terrible weather there and I was just getting too excited about getting to Paris.

I've been in Paris for almost 5 days now and I'm absolutely loving it. My flight and arrival was nice and easy and the minute I dumped my things at the hostel I headed off to meet up with Pru. It was night time by this stage so we had a little wine and some tapas and then I returned to the hostel.

The next day we went to the Louvre. Luckily for us there had been strikes on all over Paris in the museums and tourist sites but on that particular day they decided to let people into the Louvre... For free! We also did a FREE guided tour of just a very small part of the museum then had a wander around ourselves, of course seeing the Mona Lisa (majorly overrated), Le Libertine and a whole bunch of other great artworks. Our lunch was fantastic as we ate in the Louvre restaurant. I had cooked tomato on brioche with goats cheese and a garlic crouton stick thingy - for entree. Then for the main had a braised pork (crackling and all) with some lovely chicory and a really rich plum sauce. Mmmmmm.

The following day was the day for Versailles (and yes, I have heaps of photos) which, luckily for us, we got in to for free as well. It was absolutely stunning. The Hall of Mirrors was especially beautiful. We saw an exhibition they had on the Sun king, Lous XIV, which was very informative and impressive. The portraits and sculptures were great and the history of it all was really interesting. We wandered around outside a little and saw the gardens and some of the 'mini' palaces they had around the grounds.

By this stage I was just aching to get to the Eiffel tower, which I'd seen from afar but hadn't officially visited yet. We decided to go there the next day. When we emerged from the metro there was a huge building to the left and I knew that when we walked around the corner of that building the Eiffel Tower would be in front of us. It was breathtaking! I couldn't stop taking photos as it was pretty much the most photogenic structure I'd ever seen. I couldn't believe the size of it - it was HUGE! We made our way down and stopped off at an artificial ice rink that had been set up and Jayne and Pru had a bit of a go on that. We walked through the Xmas markets down towards the tower and the closer we got the more excited I became. When we got there a sign said that the top level was closed, this was very disappointing, so we bought tickets to go to the second level and headed up. After about half an hour just looking out at the amazing city of Paris we were told the top level had been opened, so up we went. It was spectacular, you could see all the way to the outskirts of Paris, the Arc De Triomphe (which we visited later that day), Les Invalides, Sacre Couer and more.

This pretty much brings me up to date as that all took place yesterday. Today I was planning on visiting Notre Dame, Sacre Couer and the surrounding area of Montmarte but I may leave that for tomorrow. I bought a camera and have to wait for it to charge.

In a couple of days Pru and I will be leaving Paris for Belgium, which is exciting and a little sad at the same time because Paris really is such a lovely place. Well, except for all the snobby French people!

Ha Long Bay to Hoi An

I'm currently sitting in the lobby of our lovely hotel called Phuoc An in Hoi An, but before I write about Hoi An I should probably fill you in on everything we've done up until now starting with Ha Long Bay.

The tour we took wasn't great, probably because it only cost us $35 US, but Ha Long Bay itself was pretty amazing. It took about three hours to get there. In a minibus. With no air-con. And a mental driver! Mum and Dad can probably relate to this as it was very much like our transportation in Thailand in terms of craaazy driving.

So we finally arrived at Ha Long Bay and set sail out to the central part of it. The huge limestone carsts were similar to what I saw in Thailand, but this time there were far more of them and they weren't quite as large. Once we finally got out there we did a bit of kayaking as the sun set which was really great.

The following day we returned to Hanoi for another treacherous 3 hour minibus ride. That night we ate Fanny's. Yes, that's right. Fanny's is a French-style ice-cream restaurant in Hanoi by the way. In case you didn't know!

We explored Hanoi a little more that night and the following day and then left in the afternoon for Hoi An, which is an anagram of Hanoi but couldn't be more different.

WE LOVE HOI AN!

Basically the entire old town of Hoi An is a UNESCO world heritage site and has a big ol' river running through it. The central area is completely pedestrianized and is filled with cobblestone walkways and beautifully maintained old buildings. There are restaurants galore and the food here is sensational. We've been eating things like fried wontons, cao lau (a traditional Vietnamese dish made up of noodles, greens, herbs and spices and pork - with crackling on top!), squid with garlic and onion and all sorts of other really yummy things! The food here is even better than Thailand. There's much more variety and it's actually a lot tastier, which might be because we're eating a lot of street food rather than eating in restaurants.

Our first night in Hoi An we decided to go and have a few drinks and met an Irish couple and a British couple who we hung out with for most of the night. Needless to say we didn't feel too crash hot the next day, but despite this we did our fair amount of walking around and seeing sights.

This brings us up to date with yesterday when we went to the ancient Hindu temple complex of My Son. It out dates Angkor Wat but isn't anywhere near it in size. It was located in amongst thick tropical jungle and the monuments themselves are another UNESCO world heritage site. They were beautiful, and I plan to post photos up as soon as we find a computer with a memory card slot. We took a boat back to Hoi An from My Son along the river which was quite beautiful. In the afternoon we decided to hire a couple of bicycles and rode down to Cua Dai beach, about 5km outside of Hoi An. It was very similar to the beaches we saw in Thailand but probably cleaner and more scenic.

Cam and I are off to get some bikes now so that we can ride down to a boulangerie near the water - yum! Tonight we're probably going to do a cooking class and tomorrow we head off for Nha Trang.

Hanoi, Vietnam

After just over a year in Melbourne I've finally left the country again.

At the moment I'm sitting in the Little Hanoi Hotel in, well... Hanoi.

So far, Cam and I are absolutely loving it. The journey here pretty much completely sucked (except for the NZ wine on my flights) but it was certainly worth it. After about 30 hours of transit I was well and truly exhausted by the time I arrived. I met Cam at the hostel as he had the amazing opportunity to fly with Air Asia almost all the way here. Unlucky. Very unlucky.

We woke up this morning at the ripe hour of 6:30 and began our day at the same time most people normally do. Odd for me waking up before 10am. For brekky we decided to try pho bo, which is beef noodle soup. Something a little different to corn flakes but ten times as good. We ate at a streetside vendor and sat on the smallest chairs at the smallest table - ever. It was great! After that we made our way to Hoan Kiem lake which was beautiful, though the ph level of the water was questionable. From there we took a cyclo, which is a three-wheeled cycle with a seat for two on the front, to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum complex. Unfortunately for us it's closed on Mondays - great. But regardless of that, it looked pretty impressive from the outside.

After that we headed to the Temple of Literature. A Confucian temple built around 1000 years ago. I'll be posting photos on facebook soon but cbf at the moment. Needless to say, it was sensational!

For lunch we ate at Koto. It's a good cause restaurant that hires young Vietnamese people and trains them up to work in the hospitality industry. It was good to know our money was going to a good cause!

From there we decided to walk back to our hostel, getting pretty lost on the way. It didn't really matter though because it was worth it for the sights we saw on the way. The streets here are bustling and motorbikes rule the roads. It's pretty crazy and horns are honking constantly making crossing the road pretty interesting. We took a great video of the traffic which I'll post at some stage. Maybe. Let's be honest, probably won't get around to doing it - takes way too long.

We came back to our hostel and had a nap mid-afternoon and have just gotten back from dinner. We decided to try Cha Ca, which is a traditional fried fish dish. They brought a pan over to the table and it basically cooked in front of us. We were given a few bowls with vermicelli, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, peanuts, chilli and fish sauce in them and a huge bowl full of spring onion and dill. The waiter made it at the table for us, it was pretty obvious we had no idea what we were doing. She threw the dill and spring onion into the pan with the fish and filled our bowls with the other ingredients. They were then combined to create the *BEST MEAL EVER*. It was unanimous, both Cam and I decided it was one of the best things we'd ever eaten, ever, in the world, of all time. Yum!

Off to Ha Long bay tomorrow and really looking forward to it.

I have to write something.

I don't have a choice really.

My next trip doesn't start until the 22nd of November but having gone to all the effort (not so much) of creating my blog and then doing nothing with it for 5 months is a sacrilege.

I have to say, it was pretty 'exciting' setting this up, especially because it's FOR a holiday that I'm very excited about. My HTML skills have improved radically in the last 5 -10 minutes. Though, to be fair, I did just follow some preeetty simple instructions somebody else had written.

Anyway, this will most likely be my only post until I travel because, after all, this is my travel blog and at the moment, I'm not going anywhere.

Until then, I can be stalked on facebook. Like the other few million people signed up to it.

Note to self: Must add countdown timer to blog.