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Hoi An - tailor town
Packed with more than 200 tailor shops this gorgeous little town was the perfect place to get a suit made. And of course, a beige linen suit would be essential attire come G&Ts on the balcony of a Raj-era hill station in India. Ahh, the glory days of the British Empire... |
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Checking out the Kingdom of Champa
Cheryl applies a finishing touch to a Cham statue My Son ruins. The temples were heavily mined during the war with America. To this day, poor local cattle carry out an unofficial mine clearing programme as they graze the fields around the ruins. Moo! BOOM!!! There goes another one... |
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Look, we have the beach all to ourselves!
Mainly because no one else would plan a sun, sea and diving holiday on the powdery sands of Nha Trang beach during December's monsoon rain and terrible underwater visibility. So much for taking a break after 3 months of non-stop travelling - 24 hours later with our tails between our legs, we were back on the road! |
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Apocalypse Now!
Saigon hosts a draining museum that chronicles the Vietnamese view of the 'American War'. Shock at the horrors of war and American excesses is only slightly tempered by the noticable local bias (the museum used to be neutrally titled the 'Museum of American War Crimes'!). |
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Playing with an inflatable doughnut
We caused a sensation as the only foreigners (err, and the only grown ups!) splashing it up at the Saigon Water Park. According to Magnus his apparent near-total baldness in this shot is merely a trick of the light. Hmmm. |
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Cruising the river highways of the Mekong Delta
Much of daily life on the banks of the Mekong river hasn't changed in 1000 years - locals still live in bamboo huts built on stilts and trawl the river in wooden canoes. As a new river border crossing has just been opened at Chau Doc we hopped on a 3 day boat expedition to get us to Cambodia. |
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Trading licks with the next Jimi Hendrix
Speaking the international language of music, we hung with the locals on Tiger Island at our Mekong Delta homestay. The sounds of Hendrix, Dylan and Vietnamese folk songs were intermingled with heart stirring choruses of everybody's favourite spiritual classic - altogether now: 'Kumbaya, my lord, Kumbaya'.... |
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Crazy hat salesman proclaims victory
But over who or what we weren't sure - we didn't even buy a hat from him! |
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Vietnamese floating markets - bring a boat
Traders typically incorporate their products in strange rites in order to bring good fortune. Here the two mystics in the foreground practice fruit-levitation skills from times long past. |
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Ladies - get covered up!
For Vietnamese women, pale skin is a must have; pasty foreigners frying in the sun to get a tan causes much bemusement. The odd result is women wrapped up in hat, scarf and gloves on punishingly hot days. |
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Arms across the Atlantic
En route to Cambodia we met up with Jill and Barry, a couple from New York taking a year to tour the world. With them we braved the giant spiders of Tiger Island, navigated the Cambodian border crossing and then celebrated with cocktails at the Foreign Correspondent's Club in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. |
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