Well life's like that!

OK so 2 months into our trip with little problem is probably asking too much, sonot really unexpected that at some stage we would encounter some problem.  So we have!  Unfortunately both of us at the same time have hit the unhealthy wall,  Chris has developed Hoi An belly and has suffered quite vigorous attack of the runs, thanks to Dave Brook and his contact who gave him advice on a quick remedy she tried it out and things have improved fairly quickly, the tip was to boil up some coke, ( not the stuff you see on Miami vice) let it cool and drink, this apparently then clears out all the bugs in one go and then you can concentrate on getting better.  So it seems to have done the trick and she is now much better although wind has been an after affect so watch out, the results may hit Britain in about a week - take cover!

I developed a hurty leg after our flight from Samui and it got progressively worse until we arrived at Hoi An when I knew I needed attention, so after several trips to the docs and one trip to the hospital I now have enough tablets to supply the whole of Asia, and am having to rest my leg much of the day so that it improves,  we had to cancel our plans to visit Hue as I was advised not to travel till it had improved, so we moved hotels in Hoi An and are remaining here for another 3 days until we fly to ho chi Mhin city and stay with Emma Sheppard who is currently teaching there for a 2 year period, so that will be good to see her and to have a sort of home from home rather than living out of bags in hotels which is not always as relaxing as it sounds especially when your not 100%.  So I hope it continues to improve so we can see more than the inside of our hotel, we have been our for a couple of hours this morning and am resting before another session of sight seeing later, it is a pretty little place here, so all being well we move on Saturday and we will have to play it by ear from then on depending on my condition then, - getting old really is a bugger! Still onwards and upwards.

Hello Hanoi

So from the extreme heat to the cold and wet Hanoi, Vietnam, and I do keen cold in comparison, we are now wrapped up in anything we have that is warm and have unpacked the emergency cagoull and waterproof ponch for Chris.
Yesterday was spent looking round Los Hanoi, but it was drizzling most of the day so not a pleasant environment to go sightseeing, however we did see much of the town and it's inhabitants going about their business frantically particularly at rush hours which was quite dangerous to walk around the streets in as it so packed with bikes and cars all going their own way and the avements are blocked by parked scooters in enormous numbers there is no way through without walking on the road, - I'm sure that's not legal!
Although I didn't know I still had any, I seemed to have pulled a muscle in the back of my leg so at present I am struggling around with the aid of Chris and Ibuproven so I hope that does not continue for too long.
I thought I may change the name of the blog to suite Vietnam so I asked the chap at the hotel what Gordon goes east is in Vietnamese, he gave me two versions the first was Phat Buoy an Viet Nam and the second was Well Hung Dong Her an Viet Nam, overnight I thought deeply about which one to use and decided that the first was not very complimentary, perhaps he knew more English than I thought and that the second was perhaps over exaggerated so I am leaving the blog title as it is for now!
Today we were following the Ho Chi Minh trail starting at his mausoleum, where he lies in state for 9 months of the year the other three he spends in Russia undergoing "maintenance", that aside he looked just as he did in real life, it was almost like I know him, wired!  We viewed the surrounding site with the French colonial palace, Ho's simple house and office within the grounds and subsequently his house on stilts where he ended up living by choice - very very minimal and stark.  Unbelievably we met a couple from Canada who we chatted to at the airport coming out here and then in the streets yesterday - maybe we are being followed!.  PS sorry no pictures of Ho - not allowed apparently and neither were my morning break bananas which were confiscated on my way in - boo hoo!

The weather has been better today with no rain and a slight bit warmer so much better for getting around enjoyably and tomorrow we are off to Halong Bay and will be staying over on the boat for a night and returning to Hanoi the following day, make a quick recovery and a flight onto Danang (final destination Hoi An) I asked Chris how far it was and she said Halong Hue!!!!  So will report how we fair hopefully in a bit warmer environment of Hoi An and Hue. Hopefully ( if I manage to get them added) photo's show a bit of yesterday and the major bits of today.

And another

And a few more

These are a selection of some of the older pics I could not get onto the blog at the time

Onwards and upwards

After 10 days at Koh Phangan of sun, rest and recuperation and I have to say disappointingly a little rain at times ( well actually a lot of rain in a very short space of time - swiftly followed by sunshine) we move on to go back to Koh Samui for a few days as we have not previously stopped there for a look round.Our journey to get the boat was ok but as we arrived at the harbour the heavens opened and it lashed it down for about 40 mins, we thought we were going to have to get onto the boat whilst this was taking place so Chris dug out her trusty waterproof poncho and set off through the envious crowds all wishing they had one too, I could not be arsed digging out my waterproof so I just thought I would get drenched, luckily just as we moved outside the booking hall the rain stopped but the long walk down the pier was through water which at times came over my sandal sole so my feet were soaked as were Chris's in her flip flops. The journey to Samui went without incident and then we had a taxi waiting to take us to Lamai Beach, very organised they are at sorting all the travellers out.On the way we were discussing where we were stopping and I asked Chris what I should tell the driver when we got nearer to our hotel, being a bit mutton! I thought she said " I want a bitch" so I quickly became very concerned that our hotel was either dealing in Thai brides or running a meeting agency, so that quick marriages could be arranged.All my concerns were quickly put right as Chris reminded me that I was a deaf old git, and that the hotel was called lamai wanta beach hotel, so I was sort of right! A good couple of days were spent there and we moved on from Samui to Bangkok on a turbojet bangkok airways flight, ones with propellers are quite scary now we are used to jet engines. We have been to Bangkok before so have seen all the major tourist sites so on our first day we decided to visit Jim Thompson's house - no he's not a friend! - he apparently was an American who set up house in Bangkok after being posted here in the war, he subsequently set up a silk business and being interested in art and culture, saved a number of original Thai houses and rebuilt them to live in and store his art and artefacts, very interesting, he disappeared on holiday in malasia and has never been seen since, but the business continues and his house is now a museum, sort of.Today I am catching up on the admin as Chris is not feeling great and the weather is absolutely scorchio, and is very draining when walking around, we did venture out for a couple of hours but abandoned our plans to get back to the hotel for a cool down and rest, we will go out later to eat and then pack up and have an early night as we have an early flight to Hanoi tomorrow, GGGOOOOOOOOD morning Vietnam!!!!! Looking forward to it, HOPE Chris is a little more sprightly and that the lowering of temperature may help to get her back on track.

A good decision!

Well we decided to go to Haad Mai the next beach along, for the day and that we would get a long tail boat round there and have a day out of our normal environment on Salad beach, so we got all packed up and ready to go with water, cameras, towels for the beach and sun cream. We trogged down the beach till we came to the water taxis and there were two couples with children having a discussion with one of the boat ladies, me being deaf, meant I heard non of this conversation but big ears! overheard that they were heading the same way so asked if we could share the boat and they said no problem so we all piled in an off we went.  They were going snorkelling from the beach we wanted to go to so we got dropped off and they did their snorkelling and the boat waited to take them onto another beach further round the island, we all agreed that they would pick us up at our beach at 4 pm. We had a good day at the beach and headed up to where we were going to be picked up and there was our boat waiting for us with no one else in it,  anyway we jumped aboard and and had a semi understandable conversation with the boat lady, enough to find out that there had been some problem with danger and the waves had become too big for the others to take the boat so they had returned by car.  Bit odd we thought as the waters seemed to be as calm as when we came.
The following morning we had breakfast with one of the couples who said that the waves further round the island were big and that even the boat lady had put a life jacket on, then as they approached their destination a body was spotted floating in the water, he said they were told not to look but couldn't really do that, and the children saw the chap who had been chopped up a bit, he was told by the boat people that he was probably a fisherman who had been in a fight and lost!!!! Due to the kids and them being upset about this, and the weather they had got a taxi home.
So we were really happy that we had not decided to join them on the second leg of the journey as that would have spoiled our day too. Winner!

More pics

And more rain!

Oops it even rains here!

Well after several days of really good weather but slow starts to the day with cloudy stuff early on, yesterday we had a big surprise as the heavy grey clouds came over and all of a sudden the heavens opened and it seemed that monsoon had arrived and the covers were put up double quick on the balcony ( the public one not ours) and it just rattled down, people were running down the beach with no chance of staying dry, they would have been better enjoying the tingling feeling of rain and then dropping their clothes at the door as they arrived back home.

It was of course still a lot warmer than when it pours with rain in England! And it was very humid afterwards.

More photos

Here is the Gate of India

And Taj hotel

Photos

Here are some long awaited photos, they take ages to download then put onto blog, no doubt an easier way, but we are still novices!These are the famous Chinese fishing nets at Fort Cochin, and next is St Francis church.

Mama OK, Papa fall!

Now it's really not what you think and I am actually OK too but I did have a moment and fell over on the way home, Grant and Nic will know the dangers of the trip and the extreme need for energy, in order to get to bed, especially for older generation that we are approaching!.
Any road up,  I was on my way up the very steep hill following Chris who was keen to get to bed that night and I was following after a grand meal and a few drinks ( but not that many) for some reason I lost my footing on the steps and started to tip over so in order to stop myself falling I reached for our neighbours balcony to halt my progress, but sadly missed, one occasion that I have not been tall enough, so as a result I went under the balcony heading for the WALL! In an extreme feat of agility to miss the wall I turned and fell onto a small tree, which broke my fall, but the tree also.  I must have said something like whoa what is going on and moaned abit as I went down as my neighbour jumped up and looked over the balcony to see me floundering on my back unable to get up as I am impaled upon the tree, but Chris by this time had realised my absence and come back down the hill to search for me.  After helping me recover from my tortoise like position I recovered one of the cans of tonic I was carrying at the time of the fall and Chris recovered the other would you believe stuck between a fork in the branches of the tree, great place to put a can on your way down!
Apart from a graze on my back and the embarrassment with the neighbours all is OK in Koh Phangan. Incidentally the weather is good although slow to start up in the morning, but still a sort of desert island, good job I didn't slip my disc!

The drug dealer - part 2

We landed in Bangkok and as usual went through the normal processes of getting through to the carousel eventually, and guess who came along and started to speak to us. - yes the germ in the next seat.  He started to explain that he was from Berlin and had done some traveling before and got all his holiday together to go again this time. Then he started to reveal all about our flight - it vould appear zat eat was I'm zat ad nicked ze pouch, ( now I can't keep that up for long but now you are into ze germ langage mentally you just translate for me)  zo he tells us that he was  first on the plane, and in my seat there was a flight document and a pouch, which being a nosey little brute he decided to look inside at which point he established that it was loaded with lots of cash - a lot!!!! So he worked through his experiences and knowledge of travelling and came to the conclusion that the plane had probably been roaming around India before we picked it up and he knew that there were drug dealers working internationally from India and also that there was much money laundering.   His conclusion was that either one of these could have left the pouch on the plane by mistake ( yeh right!).  So he decided to as we say 'av a bit' and put it in his pocket - yes the coat pocket that he was fumbling around with throughout the flight. Then after the search and the announcement he changed his mind and thought it must be something to do with the stewardesses so he gets it out of his pocket again and then has a secret meeting with the girls behind the curtain and admitted that he had the pouch. The crew were obviously over the moon and told him that the loss of the pouch meant that they would all have been sacked so he was pleased that he had saved them that fate but disappointed that the money had gone - he was already planning what to do with it.  Hey ho not to be. As for us it just goes to show that cheap flights can be fun - sort of - drug dealers and money launderers leaving money on a plane my arse - what planet is Wolfgang on??

The drug dealer !!!! Part one

Soooooo, you would expect a fight with a cheap airline like easy jet would pass off as usual, like just get on and with the other rabble sit down and get on with it, but no this was not to be!
Early in the flight this fidget bum next to me ( three seats - Chris on the aisle then me then the germ! )(From Germany!) young guy about 30, glasses and bit geeky.  Started to get up and mess around with his two jackets ( two jackets on a flight to Bangkok is even worse packing than us) It was just not right he fiddled about and put one jacket inside the other and the folded it and then did it again and the put it in the the locker and sat down.  Ten minutes later he was up again messing about with his coats, of course the process of getting past us to do this was somewhat annoying, I would have preferred it if he had been going to the toilet but no the coats were the target of his activity.
Forgot to mention when we sat down initially there was a piece of paper obviously an in flight document which the stewardesses had left on my seat so Chris handed it to them as we sat down.  Shortly into the flight we were asked by the stewardesses if there had been a pouch left on our seats, we said no and forgot about it for a short time.  Then the stewardesses started discussing stuff in their seats, we were at the front, and then looking ( not very nicely) at us. Then one of the girls started to sort of cry and talk to her mate clearly upset by something.  I suspected that the pouch mentioned earlier was important  so offered to get out of our seats so they could be searched properly as well as underneath, this took place and it seemed to no avail.  Next we heard a call go out on the tannoy to all on board that a pouch had gone missing and could everyone check their seats and look for this item.  No go! So there was another confab at the front between the girls and the curtain pulled for privacy and discussion, clearly things were not going well and the main stewardess was in a real state.  Shifty bum was still messing about with his coat - very annoying, but things in the crew seemed to get more relaxed as we approached Bangkok. Shifty bum was still pissing about so we were glad to hear that we were descending and landing soon!!!!  To be continued !!!!!

Mumbai

Well after an uneventful trip from Trivandrum to Mumbai, we arrived at the Trident hotel with fluffy towels and bathrobes and ingratiating staff and it was Gordon's birthday! We had street food for lunch some semi wild guess at its contents but Chris had samosa with IT and I had cheese with IT -  it was served in a cone shaped foiled covered card and the outer layer was made from line printer paper AND a tea spoon provided by the vendor which has got to be suspect a s you give it back when finished and they dip it in water ready for the next user!!!! Anyway tasted good and no Mumbai melee afterwards.
The location was ideal as we could walk the next day to Gate of India, see the Taj Hotel  and the arty district.  We had no idea that when the taj was attacked so was the Trident - there is a memorial stone by the pool for the 30 dead staff and clients - will research that when I get back as apparently the taj took all the press attention at the time.
We had a walk along the promenade then ate at one of the restaurants and had our first glass of wine since away - very nice merlot/ Shiraz from the Sula vineyard!
Next day we had street food breakfast, this consisted of 3 slices of buttered bread sprinkled with sugar and toasted over a Bunsen burner, actually very nice! And only 18 rupees!
After a short nights sleep we left for the airport in some type of  Lada with a roof rack not big enough to take our baby's so they went on the roof and got tied down with a clothes line -  I did expect at least one case to be lost on the way as the roads are really rubbish and the driver decided to save the too on the good road and take us on and early trip through the slums,  the shock absorbers were also non existant so the bum and back took a bit of a hammering - still here ! but were we glad to get to the airport!!!
So up and away again !!!!! Little yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeee oh does that look too big!

Breakfast with a view!

This was the view every morning as we ate our breakfast in Varkala!
We are now on catch up with the blog, so more to follow about Mumbai and our trip to Bangkok etc.

Breakfast with a view!

This was the view every morning as we ate our breakfast in Varkala!
We are now on catch up with the blog, so more to follow about Mumbai and our trip to Bangkok etc.