Well we back home and not happy. David set a stop watch going when we woke up in KL yesterday morning and as we write this at 5pm Thursday we have been up 40 hours straight and if we manage to last until the planned 9.00 we'll do 44 hours. The flight back is a bit hard work; takeoff at 1:10am KL time 7hours to Dubai, 3.5hours wait in Dubai then another 7.5hours to Newcastle. The Dubai stopover was an eye opener and David nearly bought a $5833 gold iPhone6, but decided it was a little ostentatious (see this blogs photo)

Things we would recommend from our trip.
1 visit Vietnam, it's a must see but changing fast so go soon. Our particular favourites were Hanoi old town and Hoi An for culture and experiences and Nha Trang for a bit of beach life.
2 eat the local food no matter which country you are in. The fresh spring rolls in Vietnam are great and David did enjoy the Aussie pies.
3 fly Emirates (modern planes with good leg room). Malaysian Airways and Virgin Australia are also good.
4 visit Malaysia, fantastic food and easy to travel around. KL is one of the must see and must eat Asian cities.
5 use internal flights in Vietnam but do try the train for at least one section of the journey.

Things we can't recommend.
1 avoid Tiger Air in Australia both flights were altered (1 by 5 hrs) and the space is cramped.
2 don't bother staying in Patong Beach for any length of time if you don't like your resorts loud and crowded.
3 didn't really take to HCMC (Saigon Vietnam) can't put our finger on it but it's no Hanoi.
4 Oz if you are on a tight budget. Of course there are some bargains but to get the best out of it you need to spend.

Observations
English is widely spoken in Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia and smiles, menus and pointing worked as a back up.
Don't be put off by monsoon / rainy season. Take flip flops, easy dried clothes and a brolly. In the tropics it rains a lot anyway.
Alcohol in Malaysia is comparatively expensive in a country where food and accommodation is so cheap, a pint of beer is between £4-5 Beer. In KL airport even David declined at £7 for a half. That said it is a Muslim country.
Australia is very British, the costal towns are like Brighton or Torquay and the big cities are similar to any large American city. So why travel 24 hours plus when you can go local or to the USA, the weather might be a draw in winter time but for us it just wasn't foreign enough, we did enjoy the novelty of eating the local animals, but even then you can buy Roo and Emu in UK supermarkets.
And so dear reader we hope you enjoyed our blog and photos. We really enjoyed sharing our daily adventures and hope they gave you some entertainment and thank you for your kind comments.
Happy travels
David & Yvonne