A day in Hue.....Day 7

 Our day started with a tour of the City of Hue, our first stop was the seven storey Thien My Pagoda, next we boarded a dragon boat for a cruise down the perfume river. We then visited the Impressive Imperial Citadel which houses the Royal temple and Forbidden City.

 Lunch was the served in a beautiful, traditional Vietnamese restaurant and again consisted of seven courses. The afternoon began with a visit to the burial site of Emperor Minh Mang and Khai Dinh tomb. 

 Our final stop was at an incense and conical hat workshop in a small local village. Rob had a go at rolling an incense stick, it was real poor result that brought howls of laughter. We bid goodbye to our guide Hao and our fellow travelers as we made the drive from Hue to Hoi An. 











 We checked into the Impressive Vinh Hung Riverside resort, set in a stunning location on the river and the ladies at reception produced a birthday cake and sang happy birthday to Mandy. We just had time to stroll through the night market and then had dinner at the "Pause" cafe.     

Cruising Ha Long Bay.......Day 6

We left Hanoi and headed East on a three hour bus trip to the port of Ha Long. We then joined the Royal palace cruise boat for our overnight tour of the World famous Ha Long bay. On boarding the boat we had a lovely surprise by being told that we had been upgraded to a Deluxe suite of which there were only two on board.

 Leaving port we cruised out into the bay and soon found ourselves surrounded by the famous, huge limestone rock formations that seemed to grow out of the sea. Our first stop was To Top island where a fairly steep climb brought you to a viewing point that showed dramatic views of Ha Long bay. Returning to the boat we went on the sundeck to watch a glorious sunset between the rocks. 

On the second day we cruised further into the Ha long bay sailing between the 1900 islands, we stopped off at “ Surprising cave” an impressive three chamber complex of caves and took an interesting tour with Tony. 

We returned aboard to watch a Vietnamese cookery lesson before heading back to the pier and catching our next flight to the City of Hue. 

A tour of the City of Hanoi....Day 5

Today we joined a City tour of Hanoi with our guide, Bay and our driver, Chung. The only other guests were three lovely, 20 year old Belgium girls. Our first stop was the hugely impressive Ho chi Minh presidential palace area including the mausoleum, coy carp lake and his private quarters.

We then visited a museum that told the history of Vietnam and about all the different ethnic groups that still live in the country, thanks to Bay, he made it educational and his knowledge of his country new no bounds. 











Our third stop of the day was to a workshop that produces hand made tiles using lacquer and inlays of duck egg and mother of pearl, this was absolutely fascinating and the finished products were simply superb. While we were being shown around the workshop, the workshop guide said that Mandy and I had three beautiful daughters ( the Belgium girls), well we just all looked at each other and burst into fits of giggles. 

Bay and Chung then took us for the included lunch break at a local restaurant, we were just expecting a snack but ended up enjoying a 9 course lunch. Suitably replenished we set out and visited the temples of Ngoc son and One pillar, the former dating back to the eleventh century. All too soon it was time to say good by to our new Belgium and Vietnamese friends as we all boarded Cyclo's to be driven through the chaotic traffic of the old quarter back to our hotels after a hugely entertaining and informative day.

 In the evening we wandered through the streets of old Hanoi and stopped off at a bar for a tiger beer, as we sat outside a troupe of musicians and actor set up a impromptu stage and began performing a play using historical costumes and musical instruments. We then had a lovely dinner at the Hanoi food centre, a lovely little bistro overlooking the old quarter. 

A flight to Hanoi- Vietnam...Day 4

 We would both like to thank all the people we met in Bangkok, they were kind, helpful and so courteous, simply said they were a credit to their country.

Leaving Bangkok we took  a  one hour thirty minute flight on a Thai airways flight  to Hanoi, Vietnam.The first thing we noticed on landing at Hanoi airport was the number of military personal on the ground, but they were friendly enough and extremely efficient.

Our young driver collected us at  arrivals and sped us into the City centre and our base for our visit, the Tirant hotel.

Now we have all seen cities that are busy with traffic, but Hanoi is on a totally different level, it's utterly crazy, no lane control, no rules of the road and summed up in one word, chaos, with thousands of scooters moving in every direction and even more blocking the pavements. but somehow it works.  It's mad, it's crazy but it's fun.

So we took our lives in our hands and crossed a busy roundabout to the Famous Legends restaurant that overlooks Joan Hoan kiem lake and  has a birdseye view of a major crossroad in the City.











We then moved onto the Garden house restaurant for a dinner of duck and pork washed down with a few bottles of tiger beer.

We then made our way along to a small bar  which has a terrace overlooking the Old Quarter and had an interesting decor and a balcony overlooking the busy streets of Hanoi.

We finished off our night with  a stroll along the beautifully lit lake with  a truly stunning Red bridge casting a lovely reflection on the water.

The City of Bangkok. Day 3

We woke up to a huge electrical storm and heavy rain, but after a late breakfast we ventured out in pac-amac and hats. We strolled down to the local pier on the river and hopped on the water taxi to the Wat Arum temple, this impressive temple and surrounding grounds was made all the more beautiful as we were just about the only people around. At last the sun came out and we shared a cooling drink with two of the tourist police in a shaded garden. 

We jumped on another water taxi that took us over to Chinatown, we mooched around the narrow streets taking in some unusual sights and some interesting local characters. We decided to have lunch at a local roadside cafe, well more of a table and plastic chairs in the middle of street really, Lunch consisted of 2 veggie stir fries and 4 beers at a bargain price of six euros. 

After our lunch break we continued our stroll around Chinatown and came upon a hidden temple down some narrow alleyway, inside a number of older residents were all dressed in white smocks and chanting in unison, that was something we both found quite moving.

Our final stop on our river “cruise” was the Sheepshank dockside pub which turned out to be a great place to watch the river and it’s people just flow on by. 

Arriving in Bangkok - Thailand. Day 2

 We arrived in Bangkok after a seven hour flight from Amman. Bangkok hits your senses as soon as you arrive at the airport, the people, the traffic and the humidity all play their part in this. Thankfully our driver was waiting for us at arrivals, he did not speak the best English but he was the most jovial driver we had ever met.

We were dropped off at our hotel, the Baan Wang Riverside and after a quick check in we set up to the roof top bar to watch the sights and sounds of the passing river. There is a huge amount of marine traffic on the Chao Phraya river and a constant buzz of the various crafts plying their trade.













We then wandered the streets of the local market that sits alongside the river with stalls selling a huge variety of goods and food. We returned to the hotel and enjoyed a lovely meal overlooking the busy river as the night lights of the Grand Palace and the City skyline made a magical background on our first day in South East Asia.

Time to travel. Flying to Jordan...Day 1

It is that time of year when we get on our travels for a few weeks. We left from Larnaca airport, Cyprus. Our first flight was to Amman, Jordan, we flew with Royal Jordanian airways and the smooth flight took 55 minutes.

We were both surprised to feel how cold it was when we stepped off the plane in Amman, there was a real chill in the air.

We landed at the impressive  Queen Alia International Airport at 22.00 local time. After a couple of hours we boarded our Royal Jordanian flight to Bangkok, Thailand.

2018 A New Year begins.

2018.....Well,  another New year rolls around, they seem to pass so quickly.

We would like to wish all our Family, friends and visitors to the Blog a very Happy, Peaceful and healthy New Year.

So now lets turn the page and let 2018 begin.

On New Year's day we took a walk around the beach at Petra Tou Romiou/ Aphrodite's rock.

The following day we went down to the village square and noticed that the Village Christmas tree had burnt down overnight.

New Year's Eve

This Year we decided to have a quiet NYE and were kindly invited to Sheena and Bryan's house for a wonderful meal. The main course Beef Wellington was delicious.

At midnight we stepped out onto the patio and watched the impressive firework display that came from the Colombia hotel down at Pissouri Bay.

Boxing Day - A Live interview and a Drone flies

Rob's cousin, Lisa, appeared on BBC 5 Live programme to talk about, as Lisa said...."Today marks 2 years since Controlling and Coercive Behaviour became ILLEGAL.

Listen to me discussing this legislation and how there is still much work to be done in recognising and prosecuting against this type of abuse (I feature 6 minutes and 30 seconds in).

Coercive control is more commonly known as psychological, emotional or mental abuse"

Rob picked up his first drone, eachine E58 and gave it its first test flight after a few minor crashes he managed to take the drone on its  maiden flight.