Got to Freedom Resort after dark, the last stretch involving a stumble down the beach and a climb up flight after flight of super-steep stairs – challenging with the full packs, but we made it, to be greeted by smiling faces and a room with a view. Also a shit-spattered toilet, which even travellers less […]
Yes, it’s Shangri La time Read More »
Last morning in Colombo, what to do? Ah! The red mosque that we went to yesterday, early, as advised by the guide book, only to find it closed to visitors till 10.30. Ok. Today that works for us. We could drop by the market, go to the mosque, then not much hanging around for our
Our second day in Colombo started well – we woke to find both of us had slept well, which makes all the difference. After breakfast at our friendly local restaurant we set off to visit the street market, only to find…the street market. Except that it wasn’t quite as markety as we’d expected – basically
Slightly farcical, still fun Read More »
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – here we go again! Arrived in the (very) early hours, and felt the heat the moment we left the plane. And the humidity. Cab to the hotel, to discover that our room won’t actually be available till early afternoon, so we camped out in the
Well I thought that was that. But I’d forgotten the stopover in Hanoi. How could I forget a stopover in Hanoi. Only a few hours, but a few hours in Hanoi is different. We had only one specific planned: a trip to the market, for the interest but also with vague intentions of picking up
Not the most promising start, as we opened the curtains to the first pouring rain we’ve seen in many a week. Oo-er. But the forecasts were promising all day sunshine! But the forecasts have been consistently wrong. But, but… Oh well, it’ll be what it’ll be. We’re going to have a great last day, whatever
The finale – and it worked out grand Read More »
Well that was full on. We’d decided to hire a bike and head off to the national park, and go for a bit of a trek. First stop was ‘Hospital cave’, which we’d been told was ‘hardly worth the visit’. But I for one was keen to see it. A hospital built inside a cave,
A hospital in a hill and a walk in the park Read More »
And now we look like a pair of tomatoes. We’d forgotten how long it’s been since we did any serious sunnery. We’ve been mostly doing things, as against soaking up rays. And the weather’s been pretty so-so for a long while. So even though today has been mostly whispy sun, with patches of overcast, we’ve
Well, we got our day on the beach! Read More »
Virle had a rougher night of it than me, sleeping fitfully on the bus, which proved to be a fairly elderly sleeper, lacking basic amenities like curtains to keep out the LED displays which seem to adorn just about any Vietnamese settlement of any size. Sleeper seats are never the best at best – just
Somewhat sub-par in a mizzly Cat Ba Read More »
The bus for Cat Ba isn’t till seven this evening, so we decided to take a little trek up to the viewpoint above Ha Giang. And it did prove quite a trek – up and up and up to the top of what turned out to be a pretty sizeable hill. By the time we
A little exercise before the night bus Read More »