I am writing this on a minibus heading back to Hanoi. These guys know how to provide internet accessability! Australia take note! We are having such a good run with the weather. Another beauty! We packed after breakfast ready for midday checkout. Decided to walk up to the local gardens, a high point in the town. A steep walk up but nice views and interesting plants and also a cultural performance. Lisa even had a go at archery! Later a H'Mong family wanted thei...

Awoke to a beautiful day in the mountains. Had breakfast in the dining room overlooking the highest mountains in S.E. Asia. Breakfast was a buffet with all sorts of amazing things to try (which, sadly for our ever increasing waistlines, we did) Tried to buy a travel SIM for Lisa's phone but the shop we went to didn't seem to have any. (even though they had a sign outside advertising the product!) Eventually, the kind hotel concierge staff went out and came back w...

Slept surprisingly well on the train which rattled and rolled along, but we were so tired that we dropped off pretty quickly, that and a Sleep Well pill! Shouldn't have had those beers at the Golden Silk Hotel as I had to get up twice and dress to head down the carriage to the loo. Had to concentrate to hit the target in a constantly moving train! The crew on the train roused us at about 5:45 and then offered us coffee before we arrived at 6:20am in Lao Cai. Unf...

It was 9:30PM that our 10:20AM flight finally left Melbourne! Some of my fellow australians behaved rather badly to the poor Jetstar girl who tried very hard to keep from rioting. Lisa said that if it had been her she would have been in tears. Most of them bailed out and got transferred to a flight leaving for Singapore via Darwin but that would have meant that we would have missed our connection to Hanoi. So, when the plane was finally given the OK to fly there...

While I was idly checking the itinery from Jetstar I noticed that we didn't have any checked baggage! OK I will purchase some but then the credit card was maxed out after paying the second installment of the Vietnam tour bill. So, a simple matter to transfer some funds? No, not an instant transfer but might take up to 24 hours. Gulp! Our flight leaves in LESS than 24 hours! Tried PayPal, that didn't work either! Finally I remembered that I had a Travelex card. Su...