The last post

We woke up this morning a little sad to be leaving, but excited to be going home. It is Anzac Day in Australia and I like to attend the dawn service, so there were lots of thoughts of home.  We ran into most of our travel family over the course of the morning so we had a chance for a few more hugs and goodbyes. We were not leaving till 10 so decided to get rid of the bad memories and revisit Ta Prohm - the temple from yesterday where it all came unstuck. We caught a tuk tuk there and back and enjoyed the ride as much as the temple - it was good to get a last drive around to say goodbye to Cambodia.

We missed the streamlined benefits of travelling with the group on our journey to Singapore. We carried our own luggage, we waited in lines and there was no cold drink provided while we waited to board. Our flight was delayed, our bus to the Hard Rock Hotel was delayed, and our check in took forever. This left us with only an hour and a half to enjoy Universal Studios, but team Starrett rose to the occasion and went on a commando journey through the park. We rode Terminator, the Mummy, the Jurassic Park ride, Madagascar and Sesame Street Spaghetti Space Chase. We ate dinner at the Hard Rock (number 14 for Flynn) and crashed in bed. 

Our flight home (4.20am pick up!) went without a hitch and we were all happy to sleep in our own beds.

After dealing with a mountain of laundry, I spent some quiet time this morning reflecting on our amazing experience- it truly was the adventure of a lifetime. Thanks for travelling along with us.

The lost boys

All our travel today was by tuk tuk, which was a hit with the whole group. We started off with a two hour guided tour of Angkor Wat. It was seriously hot and humid but our guide Shorty was skilled in finding shady places to stop. We were all offered freshly cut coconuts with straws in them for a refresher. Not quite my cup of tea but Campbell enjoyed his. Flynn tried a can of sour sop soda. We all had a taste of that too. The temples were very impressive, with intricate detail everywhere. Shorty showed us a part of the temple where he lived for three months at age 7 to hide from the Khamer rouge.

After Angkor Wat, we gathered under a large shady tree and were told about the treasure hunt we were about to take part in. We were handed an envelope with a cut up picture inside. We had to glue the picture together and show it to our tuk tuk driver for him to take us to that location. We then had to find the right spot and replicate the photo to get the next clue. It started off very 'amazing race' but we had a little hiccup at the second stop. Our driver was not sure where to go and stopped at a few other temples before get found the right one. You may have seen pictures of this temple complex - it is the one with the huge tree growing in and around the temples. Flynn and Campbell ran ahead to try and find the photo spot, but this location was large, confusing and crowded. Josh and I followed behind but could not find them. After about half an hour we tried to find the way out, thinking they might be waiting there. We were not allowed to exit the way we came in and there were three different exits, each a kilometer or so apart. The boys were not at the first exit and I was getting anxious. It was super hot and were were out of water. We joined up with another family, the Hwangs, and we hired tuk tuks to drive us to the entry and the other exits. We saw one of our party at the second stop and she said everyone else was inside. By this time I had not seen the boys for 45 minutes. We trecked in and met up with the group, who had Flynn and Campbell safe and sound. I had a little cry and gave the guides a bit of a serve about the lack of information regarding the exits. Cambo and Flynn were fine, but Josh was a little upset because he missed seeing the temples and just got to see a frantic me pushing through the crowds looking for the boys. We are calling this part of the day the "could have been amazing race". Drama over we had a nice lunch at the Press club. The lost boys actually came second in the race and we won a little statue. 

Our last activity for the day was an elephant ride. The elephants had fancy red cloths over their backs and a kind of flat tray with a cushion to sit on. There were only three to an elephant so Flynn went with another couple in our group. Our elephant kept stopping for snacks (tree branches and leaves). The pace was pretty slow but it was a fun experience. Everyone was relieved to get back to the hotel for a cool down and a swim - the heat is gruelling here. All the kids met up at the pool and enjoyed some down time before our farewell dinner. The dinner was beside the pool and we were entertained by some traditional dancers. The guides had put together a slide show with the photos they had been taking and we could not believe how much we had experienced in the last 11 days. We said our farewells to the group and headed off to bed. 

Here with the Khmer

We started off today with a leisurely breakfast before our flight to Cambodia. You can stand your spoon up in the coffee so this morning I requested some hot water to slow down the potential heart palpitations. Our group gathered in the lobby and headed off to the airport. We have a great bunch of travellers in our group and you can sit next to anyone comfortably. To boys have been excellent and I have had a number of positive comments on their behaviour. One of the ladies told me on day 2 that "we have decided your boys are allowed to breathe the air". She is a scream and is always the person coming out with the comments no one else is game to say out loud. 

I was sorry to say goodbye to Laos. It has been my favourite place so far and funnily enough the one I had least interest in prior to the trip and would never have chosen on my own. It is completely unspoilt although I understand a 200 room hotel and a golf course is in the process of being built. It is a shame in one way, however the people are very poor so the tourist dollars will be welcome to them. Get in quickly while it is still small and charming!

Our guides provided a cute boxed lunch from a well known Lao bakery that was quite nice. We had to transit through Pakse but this was only a 20 minute stop. There was no one at the customs check in at  Siem Reap (!) so we headed through quite quickly and loaded into our bus for the short trip to our hotel. Our local guide here is Mr Shorty - he is a lovely, gentle man with a good sense of humour. When we arrived at the hotel he told us that when we was young he used to pick fruit from the jungle where the hotel now stands. Now the Cambodians pick dollars from the American tourists in the same place.

Our connecting rooms were missing again, but Tony and the front desk sorted it out and my room was upgraded to allow us connecting rooms. The hotel is lovely, with huge rooms and lush tropical grounds however we only had a quick refreshment break before heading off to our afternoon activity. 

Our destination was the moat around Angor Thom. We were provided with a drink (hooray wine!) and escorted onto little gondolas, complete with a selection of Cambodian afternoon tea treats. There was a drink boat, that punted around with us proving refills. One of the boatmen sang us a traditional Cambodian song. The moat area was picturesque and peaceful, and the song echoing across the water was magical. Tony encouraged us to sing back so team Starrett replied with a rousing rendition of Waltzing Matilda. Josh then revealed that he had always thought that the "jump-buck" that the swagman shoved in his tucker bag was a girl. He was quite surprised to find out it was a sheep, not a person. 

Dinner was 'on our own' so we caught a tuk tuk to a restaurant called "Sugar Palm" with Angela, Allan, Rose and Ginny.  Our meals were very good and the bill, which included two courses as well as drinks for the boys and a cocktail for me, was $10 per head.

Good karma bonanza

After coffee and banana bread we headed off at 5.30 am to offer alms to the local monks. The village provides all the food eaten by the monks and the "parade" happens every day. Giving alms is supposed to provide good karma to the giver. I understand there are 400 monks, but we were a little late and missed the first hundred or so. We were given a bamboo basket of sticky rice, a mat to kneel on and a checked scarf to wrap around our shoulders. We could see the line of orange clad, barefoot monks approaching so we took off our shoes and knelt down. The monks' ages ranged from quite young (8?) to middle aged. Each had a metal pot that they carried over their shoulder. As they filed by we put a small handful of sticky rice into each pot. They walked pretty quickly so it was a bit of a challenge - especially since women are not allowed to touch the monks. Flynn prepared between the groups by pre rolling the rice into balls. It was a fascinating experience but very hard on the knees.

We then climbed Mount Phou Si. There were about 400 steps and I am feeling the climb now....it was very beautiful however our camera battery ran out and I am photo less for the time being. After a quick stop at the hotel for breakfast and a change into fresh clothing, we headed off again - this time to the living land rice farm. This is an organic community farm and we were walked through all the stages of rice production. The boys all walked behind the water buffalo with the plough and even I waded into the mud to plant rice. One of our party fell in - not a good experience - and we all walked VERY carefully after that. The amount of work required to grow and harvest rice by hand / simple machine is incredible and we are all feeling a little guilty about wasting food. We finished off the farm experience with a tasting plate of rice treats.

We stopped at a small waterfall to eat a packed lunch (not good) and then continued to a bigger waterfall for some photos and a little bush walk. There was a bear rescue centre at the end of the walk, prompting a few versions of "the bear necessities". Our last stop was a school for hearing impaired children. Each family stood up and the children used sign language to describe us. My fringe was too long, Josh had a big nose, Campbell had a mole on his face and Flynn had cute dimples. We handed out treats to the children - fruit, snacks and some colouring books, stickers and pencils that people in the know had purchased. It was a little sad. We were told that the deafness us a result of inbreeding in the village families. The children live at the school full time although they go home in the summer. There is no programme to teach the sigh language to the families back home. 

After a swim and a refresh at the hotel, we took a quick trip in to the night markets. The guides gave us  $5 each to buy a "white elephant" gift. The markets were fun and everything was amazingly cheap. Our ride home was in a tuk tuk. We finished off the night with a buffet dinner by the pool and the white elephsnt game. Both Josh and I managed to end up with the presents we had bought (a lantern and a hat) and we were both very happy. Flynn scored a ridiculous hat, which he likes and Campbell ended up with a little frog that croaks. 

After a day of giving gifts we hope we have earned many good Karma points. 

Laos with the mouse

I didn't give many details about our dinner at Opera Club last night. Many of the meals came with beautifully carved carrot animals. There was a 20 cm dragon that the boys smuggled out without my knowledge to take "alien" exploding chest photos with. I heard the giggling in their room last night but only saw the photos today. A funny thing did happen with the music at the restaurant - some members of our group were having a quiet singalong to the music. All of a sudden, the music was changed to an album with no words. A while later, some of our group were having a little dance in their chairs. The music stopped completely. Coincidence?

We left Hanoi this morning, after breakfast, to fly to Luang Prabang in Laos. As usual the airport process was a breeze, with our Adventure guides taking care of everything. 

I had a quick reread of my posts this morning and realised that I omitted to explain who our tour is with. We are travelling with "Adventures by Disney" - a tour company run by Disney from the USA, with tours that cater to families. The tours are expensive, but the accommodation and activities are all first class and the service levels are amazing. For those a little skeptical about mixing the mouse with overseas travel, I stress that there is no "Micky" element to the trip. What Disney has provided is their expertise in logistics (moving crowds around efficiently) and their ability to predict and anticipate people's needs and wants. Everything is pre arranged and paid for already, and the activities cater for both adults and children. For example, at the Ethnic museum, we all explored the first floor and then Drew took all the kids outside to play on the bamboo equipment while the adults carried on with Tony in the upstairs part of the museum. Ok - advertising plug over, but I highly recommend these tours - I think we will definitely be back for more!

Luang Prabang is the second largest city in Laos, but it is only a small village, with narrow dusty roads, lots of greenery and only a few cars. A tour bus will not fit on the streets so we have little mini vans to take our group around. It is hard to describe the feel of the town - it looks like photos I have seen of Nepal. We are surrounded by hills and it feels quite rural. The Lao writing is curly and interesting and there are few English signs. We had lunch and then were taken on a guided tour of the national museum, which is actually the palace of the former kings. The last king and his family disappeared 50 years ago but the palace is furnished, ready for him to come back. The throne room was amazing - red walls and ceiling with detailed mosaics everywhere and a gilded throne. Sadly no photos were allowed inside. We continued on to a temple next door where our local guide, who spent 8 years as a monk, explained the opportunities for boys to be monks. 

Our hotel is beautiful and we settled in for a relaxing afternoon. The boys met up with the guides for some fishing (success was had by all) and then headed off with them for another junior adventurers night. The adults had Lao beer tasting and dinner in the hotel restaurant. Most of us sat together and there was a lot of laughing and trying each other's food.

We had an early night - tomorrow we meet at 5am for our next adventure....

Saying hi to Ho

We started off this morning with a tai chi session in the park. Our "uniforms" were waiting in our room when we returned from dinner last night. Flynn tried his on and announced that it was too small - his head did not fit through the hole. Once we unbuttoned it, all was fine! 

The boys spun and kicked their way down the hallway to the elevators, with some "hy-ya" noises. The lobby was full of equally ridiculous looking adventurers and we walked out and around the corner to our class. The class went for about half an hour and was very fun. We were the subject of many photos from walking tour groups, who looked a little envious. At the end of the session, the master showed us how the moves we learnt (or attempted to learn....) were fighting moves. He demonstrated with one of his students. The boys eyes lit up and we have since had a number of repeat performances throughout the day. 

We changed back into normal clothing and had a quick buffet breakfast. There were a number of interesting juices (green pumpkin and pineapple, lime and lemongrass) that we all tried. Everyone had worked up an appetite during Tai Chi and breakfast tasted great.

Our next activity for the day was a tour through the old quarter in little golf cart style buggies. Many of the streets were organised by product - a toy street, an electronics street etc. The buggies were open and quite low and we felt part of the action. It was far better than a bus ride although the traffic was a little scary close up. We were dropped off at the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum. Our group had donated a wreath - one of only 13 allowed per day- and we were taken past the huge lines straight to the front of the line, to watch the wreath being presented. You can see the wreaths in the photo below. We then filed into the chilled mausoleum, up some stairs and past Ho Chi Minh's embalmed remains. He looked a little waxy to me but it was very interesting. We continued on with a walk through the grounds (Ho Chi Minh's house, his cars, the one pillar pagoda etc).

We were dropped off for a look at the temple of Literature, where there was a hunt for a large plastic Easter egg for the kids. It was filled with Hershey's kisses. I think that was as close as we could get to Easter in Hanoi. We finished off the planned part of the day with a trip to the Hanoi Hilton - the jail, which was worth a look. 

The afternoon an evening was free so we had a relaxing time with lunch at the pool, a swim, and a walk around the lake. Dinner was at the Opera Club Nouvelle and was very tasty. 

Hello Hanoi

We took a short flight to Hanoi this morning and then headed to the ethnic museum. On the way, Tony told us about different Vitnamese ceremonies and then he put on his wedding video and sang karaoke to the video. Quite touching and very fun! Hanoi is his hometown so we had excellent commentary about different buildings, housing prices, work conditions and family outings. He guided us through the Ethnic museum giving us a good overview of Vietnamese history. Outside the museum were a number of huts built in the traditional Vitnamese styles. There is one with a huge high roof, designed so that it could be seen from far away and help people find there way back to the village. 

We then did some mask painting. I did NOT enjoy this activity. Ours were all rubbish and we managed to get paint on three shirts and one pair of shorts. It was that school paint which does not come out once it dries. A lot of people had paint on them. I was a little unhappy about the wrecked clothing and suggested to Drew that we should have had aprons or paint smocks. When we reached the hotel, the boys wisely left me alone in one room for some cool down time and stayed in the other room to watch TV. 

 We are staying at the Sofitel Metrapole and it is just lovely. We did not get connecting rooms which is a bit of a pain, but apparently none were available, although the other families in our parties had them. The staff at the desk told me Disney did not request them for us on the manifest. In any event, since that is the first thing that has gone wrong on the trip, I was happy to run with the rooms as they were. 

We met in the lobby at 5pm for a short trip to see a water puppet show. The sticks for the puppets are under water and the puppeteers are standing waist deep in water behind a screen. All the songs were in Vietnamese but the stories were easy to understand. There were some dragons that spit water and one of them spit on a musician and her instrument. She was not happy and stomped off to get a cloth to wipe it down. The boys were giggling.  Some of the puppets were clever (loved the shiny fish) and it was worth seeing once. I appreciated the logistic service from our tour guides - dropped at the door, whisked through big crowds, guided to third row seats and then whisked out again. Nice!

For dinner we were invited to choose any restaurant in the hotel that we liked. We went to the Spices one (Vietnamese) and had a lovely three course meal chosen from the menu. Josh had frogs legs and squid steak and ate the biggest meal I have seen him eat yet on this trip. The service was very good and it was a nice change to have a "normal" dinner out, in a small group, ordering from the menu. 

We didn't take many photos today. I have included one showing Hanoi as we drove in from the airport. I think I need a good sleep tonight to take away my vague feeling of irritability. 

Marble mountain

Today was the best day yet. We headed off at 9am on an optional tour to Marble Mountain. All but three of our group attended and it was well worth the effort. We climbed about three hundred steps up the mountain, with stops at various stages to look at temples, giant Buddhas and caves. There was a lot of huffing and puffing but everyone was taken with how spectacular it was. The little cave entrance pictured below is the entrance to the "gate to heaven" after climbing up two of the three stages in there I suspect that the name refers to the possibility that you are half dead by the time you get to the top. I piked at the last hurdle ( too steep) but the boys all went up and said it was great. We then went down some stairs into a huge cave about 10 stories high with more shrines and a giant stone Buddha. It was a cross between Indianna Jones and tomb Raider. The last stop was a little temple where the monks were chanting and low slow a bell was chiming. The boys were still full of energy and climbed up to the little pagoda you see below. Just a side note - regular risers and treads were clearly not a feature of 17th century building.

The trek down again (a different path) was just as pretty and a little less difficult.

We were all hot and sweaty at the bottom, so after a quick bus ride to the marble shop, Drew and Tony bought us all ice creams. The rest of the day was "on your own" time so Flynn, Campbell and I headed back into the old town to pick up the tailored dress I was measured for yesterday (love it!) and to buy souvenirs. While we were out, our laundry was delivered to our room. I wish I had taken a photo - it was expertly folders and packed into sealed clear plastic bags - it looked like we had purchased a duffle bag of new clothing.

The guides organised a rousing game of capture the flag on the beach and our newly clean clothing was spoiled by the addition of three wet sandy sets of tshirt and board shorts. The boys had a ball though and will sleep well. The day finished with a BBQ dinner out in the beach area.

Culinary journey

The plane landed an hour later than planned, so we abandoned our luggage for Tony to collect and headed straight to the resort for dinner (really loving the service!). The boys went off with the guides for "junior adventurers' night" and I sat with our travel family for some adult time.

I picked up the boys at 9pm and we settled in to our new quarters for the next few days. There was a bit of confusion about the toilets in our rooms - no one could find them. Josh opened all kinds of doors and cupboards and then announced there were none. I couldn't find them either. Campbell saved the day. There was also some confusion over the water sprayer in the toilet. The jury is out as to whether it is a toilet cleaner or a "butt cleaner" (Campbell's words not mine). Who would thought I could write a whole paragraph about toilets?

The resort is lovely with high ceilings and lots of dark wood, glass and gauzy white curtains. It feels very beachy and tropical after the chaos that was Saigon. The front beach was destroyed in a recent typhoon so it is closed off while they rebuild. There is a little side beach however with flags and a man all dressed up in red and yellow like an Aussie lifeguard.

Breakfast was buffet style and the sticky rice with peanuts was a hit with Josh and Flynn. All the boys were excited by the sign on our table, promising free cocktails if you wore a "freedom shirt" of red with a yellow star - illustrated with a picture of the mother, father and child all wearing the shirts. I suspect they might acquire the shirts today and try for the free cocktails tonight.

We met in the lobby for a short bus ride to the Good Brother Cafe, where we were introduced to our chef / teacher. He took us for a walk through the markets to look at produce. The fish area was pretty stinky! Campbell had a chance to carry a basket load of vegetables. It weighed about 40kg and the lady had to carry it about 10 k to get to the market. ( photo below)

We then had a boat ride back to the restaurant were we were all provided with a fresh white apron. We made rice paper wraps and then filled them with fresh fillings. We then made Vietnamese pancakes and eggplant hotpot. I tried to leave the mint out of the hotpot but I got in trouble and they put it all in the pot. Campbell's pancake was pretty impressive and everything tasted delicious. Drew had purchased some silkworms in the market and our chef fried them up with peanuts and some greens. All the boys tried them but I could not quite bring myself to go there...

We then went to a lantern making workshop. I was thinking dodgy cardboard weaving, but you should see our professional silk lanterns! Our little table had two helpers and I suspect the quality of the finished product was directly related to the fact they they grabbed it out of our hands at each step and performed running repairs. 

Dinner this evening was "on our own" so we scooped up Ginny, who had lost her group, and caught the free shuttle into the old town. It was very charming and picturesque. Cars are banned from the area so the streets are perfect for wandering. There is a proliferation of tourist souvenirs but we ARE tourists, so no problem there. We had dinner at a place called Cargo ( not bad and quite cheap) and then wandered back to catch the shuttle to our hotel.

History Lesson

We returned to the Saigon Cafe for breakfast this morning and the boys consumed a mountain of Eastern and Western selections. They were quite taken with the "bagel tree" (sorry forgot cord to transfer photo fom Flynn's camera)) and the spinning wheel of heat to warm it up.

Our first stop today was the War Remnants Museum. There were some particularly disturbing photos and some even more disturbing formaldehyde specimens. Flynn skipped the most graphic room. We came face to face with the impact of the war when a land mine victim "shook hands" with us all and offered us some books for sale. How can you not transact when he was missing both arms below the elbow, an eye and a leg. Back on the bus, we discovered that most of our party had been approached and the guy had made a few hundred USD in about 10 minutes. Not a bad money earner but I would still rather have my body parts. The boys were a little thrown by the whole museum experience and we had some interesting discussions about the Vietnam war (called the American war by the Vietnamese).

The bus took us for an hour long trip into the country to the Cu Chi Tunnels. Flynn led the way down the first tunnel. I was glad I gave it a miss when a few bats flew out the other end. I tackled the second tunnel, which had a slightly bigger entrance. Tiny, claustrophobic and hot, it was nonetheless a pretty amazing experience.  The boys particularly liked the booby traps.I can't imagine trying to fight against people using this tunnel system.

We continued on to lunch at a lovely riverfront restaurant, Ben Nay. We ate in separate bungalows that were built out over the river. Team Starrett has been completely adopted by our friends from yesterday - Angela, Allen, Rose and Ginny. They are all ex law enforcement from LA and have a huge bank of great stories. Angela is the ringleader and has sweet talked the waiters into extra rice cakes and led our group in a bad joke telling session. 

We climbed back in the bus to head off to the airport for our flight to Da Nang. Going through with the tour group was very easy - I think they shortcut the check in and security process somehow. Rose has a grab bag of American candy so the boys munched their way through the short wait till we boarded.

Our resort at Hoi An is lovely but I am ready for bed so will cover that tomorrow

Boating on the Mekong

Breakfast today was in the Saigon cafe in our hotel. The boys chowed down on an eclectic mix of breakfast food - BBQ pork, rice, sausage, beef samosas and waffles. Flynn noticed that the sign at the toast station said  "glutton free" so we made sure not to eat too much. After breakfast, and a vigorous game of table tennis, we met up with our tour group. Our two guides, Drew from Hawaii and Tony from Hanoi, are very upbeat and fun. We have a group of 23, with 8 children in total. 

We started off with a bus trip to the Mekong river. On the way we passed rice paddies with randomly placed graves (quite elaborate in some cases). Tony said that this practice was traditional but was cracked down on now. We also passed many roadside coffee houses with hammocks instead of chairs. The guides had a grab bag of Vietnamese snacks which we were allowed to choose from.  When we reached the boat ramp, we were issued with a bamboo hat - there is a photo below. 

The river was brown and full of water hyacinth and there were boats selling vegetables everywhere. The glimpse of life on the river was fascinating. Our group managed to ask all the questions we secretly wanted to know - what do they use for toilets, do they give birth on the boat, etc etc. we bought a durian from one of the boats and everyone smelled it. Then we were each given a tidy, clean, cling wrapped dish of fruit to sample. There was a tiny banana, a longan, a rambutan and a rose apple. 

 We then stopped at a family business that processed coconut and rice. I sampled the snake rice wine (metho anyone?) and we all tried the coconut candy and the rice candy. Campbell was chosen to try stirring the rice husks to pop them. The boys held a giant python for a photo opp but I managed to avoid it. We then hopped back on the boat to go downriver for lunch at a lovely river cafe. We had made a number of friends by this time and lunch was fun (and tasty!). We tried Durian (urk) and jackfruit (like melon).

The bus ride back was enlivened by snacks, a few games and a good differentiation session between the east and the west. We had a bit of downtime in the hotel and Flynn and I sneaked out to buy a red bean ice block. Apparently it was "bad".

Dinner turned out to be at the top of "Stark tower". From floor 51 we could see all of Saigon laid out around us. To my chagrin, Josh wore his tuxedo shirt, which was quite a hit with some of our group. We sat with 4 people we had made friends with earlier in the day - twin siblings from LA and two of their work colleagues. The boys were troopers and made social conversation as needed. We are now settling in for the night.

Below are photos of the graves, the one of the hammock cafes, and team Starrett in their fetching hats

Playing Frogger

We started off today with breakfast in the club lounge. The choice included Pho, chicken soup with glass noodles and banana flowers, and red curry prawns. No one was feeling adventurous at 6.30 am and we went with more conventional breakfast choices. We needed those adventure points later as the morning activity was a walk to Ben Tahn markets. The road crossing is super challenging and I am not a confident road crosser at the best of times. The decision about when to cross was too much for me, so I handed over the reins to Josh who led us fearlessly across the treacherous stretches. 

The markets themselves were culturally challenging. The smells and the in your face sales people were difficult to cope with. We managed to purchase some shirts for Cambo and Flynn although I am rubbish at bargaining and she kept hugging and kissing me. I would have paid anything just to get out of there.

It was extremely humid so we retreated back to the hotel for a swim and some ping pong. We then ventured out again to tick the 13th Hard Rock Cafe off Flynn's list. At first view it was a little disappointing but when the waitress heard that Flynn was on a worldwide HRC crawl, she took him downstairs where the good stuff was kept. Our lunch cost one million dong (about $50) and the boys were quite excited that we had a "million dollar lunch".

We had a lazy afternoon with some wifi time for the boys and a little snooze for mum. 

It is very hot and humid and we are all struggling a little with the smells. Below is an example of the typical electrical cabling at the street corners and a building the boys swear is "Stark Towers" from Iron man

Home to Ho Chi Min

Our departure from Newcastle airport was fairly painless, although, to his great delight, Josh was selected for the explosives security screening. The waiting area was full of the Melbourne Storm youth team in matching purple jackets. Flynn and Campbell wanted to know why the flight attendant said "roosters" to everyone as she checked their boarding passes and let us out on the tarmac. Flynn thought that perhaps she didn't like the Storm and was having a go. After I explained that she was saying "Rear Stairs" we had a bit of a giggle. During the safety briefing, Flynn was keen to watch but was in a middle seat and could not see. Josh, who was on the aisle, mimed the whole thing for Flynn. It was pretty funny and we all had the giggles again.

We had booked a night at the Parkroyal, across the road from the airport, so in no time at all we had our bags dropped in the room and were off into the city for dinner with my friend Chis. He met us at the edge of Chinatown, which was jam packed full of Saturday night diners. We waded in and headed toward our destination, Supper Club, which had hopeful patrons lining up the stairs and out into the lane. We had a booking, so waltzed up and in to a dodgy venue with good Chinese. Other than some chopstick battles, the boys were great and shovelled their way through the mountain of food we ordered. Chris gave the boys $50 to buy something dodgy in Vietnam. 

We snoozed or way through the taxi ride back to the hotel and settled in for the night.

Breakfast on Sunday morning was enlivened by the "cool machines" - an automatic pancake maker, a toaster conveyer belt and a juicer. I think we spent an hour at the breakfast buffet before walking across to the airport. 

Many hours later we landed in Ho Chi Min city. It is very humid here, with that faint rotting smell that comes from the heat and the wet. Our transfer escorts were waiting as we came through passport control and did ALL the bag collection, loading and offloading through the scanners and loading into the van. Our driver was a soccer fan and named his way through all the notable Aussie players, checking if we had seen any of them play. The drive to our hotel was an experience. I have read about it, but the scooter / car interaction madness has to be seen to be believed. There were a few scooters with whole families on them and one with a small baby between the parents being bottle fed as they scooted along. There are a surprising amount of neon lights - we are on the 14th floor of a tower and from there the city looks like any other. 

Our hotel is gorgeous, with a full range of service options. Should we desire there is complementary unpacking, re packing, ironing and shopping. We took advantage of the free dinner in the club lounge, with sate sticks cooked to order and many cute tiny desserts. 

As usual when we travel, the boys have been amazingly cheerful - the only one a little bit tired and cranky is me. Shower and bed is next on the agenda.

The adventure begins again....

This weekend, a slightly reduced team Starrett will head off on our 2014 adventure to Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Weary of travel and uninspired by the destination, Jason has elected to stay home this year. It was a big decision to do family travel without the full family but we took a deep breath and forged ahead with our plans. The boys are wonderful travellers and I am not worried about being down one adult. Both the boys and I will miss Jason terribly but the blog and modern technology will keep us all in touch.

For those not particularly familiar with team Starrett, the cast members for this adventure are as follows:

Me - 42, group activity leader

Josh -14, teenager with dry wit and a veneer of indifference that disappears quickly when anything interesting happens

Campbell - 12, friendly, cheerful and voted most likely to spend all of his souvenir money on day 1

Flynn - 10, engaging and thoughtful with an advanced sense of humour 

Jason - 41, keeping the home fires burning while we jaunt around the world.

This is the first time we have chosen an organised tour. Generally I spend months planning the itinerary for our annual trip, with my sidekick Campbell providing the junior input. This year, apart from a desultory flip though a couple of travel books, we have done no preparation. This may come back to haunt us later, but my understanding is that our guides will handle everything, including dinner suggestions for 'on your own time'. Work has been crazy busy, so it has been handy to drop the time consuming planning.

After 4 years of an annual holiday, the pre-trip jobs are almost routine. Someone always discovers that they have no underwear (what HAVE they been wearing?); someone else has no shoes that fit (ditto) and one of the zippers on the suitcases is magically broken, although it worked fine last time we used it. All the minor dramas have been taken care of now though, and we are ready  to head off.

The temptation here is to give a summary of our planned trip, however I have decided to leave the first post at this and let you follow our journey as it unfolds.

I have attached the most recent photo of our family (February this year) and one of the boys filling in their outgoing passenger cards.