Dalat

After a reasonably pleasant 5 hour bus journey we arrived in Dalat. This town really does feel like a town in the French Alps in the Springtime, absolutely lovely. We even lucked out with our great accommodation "Dream 2" which is for nothing and comes with the best breakfast ever!!!

We decided to brave it and booked ourselves an "Easyrider" countryside tour. Basically this involved each of us riding around the Dalat countryside on the back of our guides motorbikes. Sometimes a little scary with jeeps and lorries flying towards you on the narrow roads. We have to say it was a fantastic day though. We visited some coffee plantations, flower greenhouses, rice wine making (saki) sheds, mushroom factories and even a silk factory. We also climbed around (and under) the Elephant Waterfalls and visited a "Crazy House" Hotel - very hard to explain, perhaps a cross between Alice in Wonderland and Harry Potter land (how this ended up in Vietnam we have no idea)! Our bus leaving Dalat literally drove at 100 miles an hour even over one lane bridges, and interestingly enough had a large tree strappedto its roof!!!!

Mui Ne

Mui Ne was such a great surprise. It is a small town build along a lovely beach in South Vietnam and not totally overrun with tourists. We found great accommodation with a pool, which was great as the weather was amazing but sometimes the sea was quite rough. We liked the place so much that we instantly upped our stay from 2 nights to 3.

We rented bicycles, unfortunately Orla was forbidden from photographing Ronan on his girlie bike (the only one available) with a lovely basket at the front. They did the job though and we got to cycle out to a great sunset spot and then the next morning we got up early and cycled 15kms out to view some red sand dunes. These were great but the views along the way were also lovely, especially the small fishing village and harbor.

Mui Ne is a great place to chill for a few days with tasty seafood (at fantastic prices) and even some Vietnamese wine, which to our surprise is very drinkable indeed, so after tasting a bottle it was only right that we headed to the source about 1500m above sea level in the mountains of central highlands!

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) - Vietnam

We left one large city for another, so it was very unlikely we'd be overly taken by Saigon (as the locals call it) but it was fine. The border crossing from Cambodia was surprisingly pleasant (prob the best land crossing we've done) but despite the fact that there are literally hundreds of guest houses and hotels nearly all of them were booked out. We eventually found some grand accommodation and set about finding information on transport through Vietnam (we eventually organised an open bus ticket to travel up the country for ourselves).

Next morning we had an early bus out to the Cu Chi tunnels. This is where some of the Vietnamese soldiers and civilians lived during the war (some babies were even born here!). It is amazing how they even managed to build these, never mind live in them (the photo is a minature version of their layout). Obviously the set up and tour in this place is very anti-American (the tour guides are very proud of the methods they used to trap, injure and kill the American soldiers). Orla had no interest in crawling through these teeny and dusty tunnels (super claustrophobic!), Ro gave it a shot but the returned because the dust was really getting to his chest. The trip was really worth doing and the tunnels really are an amazing piece of history.

We then visited the War Museum which again was extremely anti-American and showed some violent, vicious and heartbreaking pictures of Vietnamese civilians being injured and some joyous pictures of captured American soldiers. The effects of the Agent Orange material was also heartbreaking to see (especially as this is still affecting the generations after the war).

That evening Ro was particularly delighted to catch a live Liverpool FA cup match (scraping a victory against a bunch of amateurs, no sign of the glory days returning to Anfield!!) . Next morning we headed off on the worst bus ever (the 5 hour journey felt like 25 hours - unfortunately as its new year soon the trains are all booked up!).

Phnom Penh

We got the boat from SR to Phnom Penh which was a little cramped but only took 6 hours, so was grand. We passed the floating villages on the way and saw kids walking the plank to go to school on little boats!!! We didn't really like Phnom Penh that much, but we did the tourist think and visited The Killing fields and S21 school and as inappropriate as it seems we were brought to a shooting range on the way, so I (Ronan) decided to fulfill a lifelong ambition and try my hand at firing a machine gun, I have to say it wasn't a particulary enjoyable experience especially knowing what was coming next.

The Killing fields are quiet haunting and despite watching the movie before we visited its still incomprehendible what motivated Pol Pot and his followers to kill 2 out of 9m people (mostly adults) at the end of the 70's, which explains why currently 40% of the population is under 15. We can't say they were really enjoyable places to visit but would have been wrong to skip them.

We also thought it inappropiate to take photos at the killing field so everyone will have to make do with this photo of a fine selection of machine guns!!

Siem Reap - Cambodia

After dreading the journey from the border (Poipet) to Siem Reap (SR) for so long it was no surprise that it wasn't too bad (a bit bumpy) but the road has been slightly improved in recent times and we saw the construction of the new road so future travellers to SR are in for a treat ! Even though our bus slyily dropped us off at a guesthouse out of town, we decided to stay as it was really nice and only $4 a night. The main attraction of SR is definitely Ankor Wat but the town itself is quiet nice and almost tranquil. We took the first day to relax and headed out to the temples for sunset which wasn't too bad but we were shocked by the number of tourists (come to think of it there is an unbelievable amount of 5 star resorts in the area).

After sunset it was only fitting that we also visited for Sunrise (only about 5000 other tourists came up with this plan), love those 5.30 starts!! The temples come with quiet a reputation but I have to say they were incredible (easily on a par with Machu Pichu), we visited about 8 different sights over the 12 hours and still weren't bored even if we got a little tired. I could well imagine spending 2/3 days there but we were happy enough with what we saw even if we missed out on some of the temples on the outskirts. We were also privlidged enough to visit the temple that featured in tomb raider (something to be really proud of!!)

Here are a few of the literally hundreds of photos we took.

Bangkok

Our first visit to Bangkok was mostly taken up with getting our Vietnamese visa and X-rays for Australia visa (which have been approved), so we spent more time in taxis than sightseeing but now have some concept of where everything is and Ro ordered a few suits that he'll collect in Feb. So after we secured our Visas we headed to Siem Reap and were promised a 10 hour journey on one of the worst roads in Asia!!!!

Phi Phi - Thailand

When we arrived in KL we never got an entry stamp for Malaysia so we arrived at the border to enter Thailand a little worried especially as it rumoured to be a little dodgey but luckly enough everything was fine. Our bus left us on the outskirts of Krabi so the company could sell us some tours (some 20 mins before the ferry to Phi Phi was supposed to leave), but we managed to find a tuk tuk to take us to the ferry and after rushing like headless chickens it left 30 mins late!!

Phi Phi was a bit of a shock as we expected all of Asia to be really cheap but a room on Phi Phi cost us more than any night in NZ, but as its quiet small and we did have a nice air-conditioned room. The island itself doesn't offer as much as the surrounds and a 8-hour 500 baht snorkeling trip was unbelievably cheap as we got to see Bamboo Island, monkey bay, Phi Phi ley which are just magnificent and we also paid a visit to Maya beach (where the beach was filmed). The snorkeling in Phi Phi is fantastic (considerably better than the barrier reef) and as we've spent a bit of time in tropical waters were getting better at knowing what to look for and identifying the fish, we even saw an Anemone (Nemo) fish.

We went to a fireshow which was pretty cool and tried a few buckets of local whiskey which went down far too well (one of those "never drinking again" hangovers!!). So after 4 days we headed to Bangkok ....

Singapore & Malaysia

After a random stopover in Darwin on our way out of Oz we reached Singapore. My god this city is so clean - we literally didn't see a single piece of litter anywhere. The transport here is also amazing with a fantastic monorail running throughout the city. We didn't have a chance to do much here as we only stayed one night but we did of course have the obligatory "Singapore Sling" in Raffles and wander the city before we took a sleeper train to Kuala Lumpur.

We stayed in Chinatown in Kuala Lumpur which was very busy. It rained heavily during the day and so we weren't too impressed as this made the place feel a bit dreary but luckily it cleared up and the market really came alive at nighttime so we had dinner (Orla had delicious Satay chicken - mmm) and a few beers in a street side restaurant and a few more beers on the roofgarden of our hostel where we had some good views. Unfortunately due to the monsoon season being in southern Malaysia the boats going out to some of the supposedly fabulous islands were all shut so we got a train (and then a boat) up to Georgetown which is just another colonial city but it didn't have much to offer (our hostel was rather zoo like with rats, mice, lizards etc.) so we caught an early morning bus up to Thailand.

Cairns

The best thing about Cairns was Adam and Fiona visiting us there, we all rented a super apartment with a pool and air conditioning (essential in this part of the world!)! Cairns is super sticky hot and unfortunately as its stinger (jelly fish to the rest of us) season there was no chance of swimming on the beaches. There is however a fantastic huge swimming lagoon built just off the beach thats free for everyone and has great bbq facilities surrounding it!

We all headed off on a boat trip to the Great Barrier Reef, the boat was fantastic and not too bumpy (on the way back anyway!). Meals were great but unfortunately the outer reef was quite rough and this made snorkelling quite difficult. A reef shark swam past us but that was about it. We did a scuba dive which was going fine until Orla got seperated from the rest of the group (scary!) but sure it was all fine in the end!

We also did a rainforest tour into the Daintree forest (after a few too many drinks in a bar the night before - painful!) which was great (too many mosquito bites after though), swam in a lovely creek (great for the hangovers) and saw the creepy eyes of some crocodiles on a boat trip down the river.

All in all there wasn't much to do in Cairns and the weather wasn't great (what can we expect in the tropics) but it was great to have some Irish friends with us and we certainly ate (and drank)well for the week! Next stop Singapore for some proper travelling (We've had it quite lazy for the past month!) so hopefully the next leg will be as great as the last one!

Sydney

We loved Sydney so much so that we have decided to live there!! We were treated to some wonderful hospitality (thanks Duff & Aine). The flight in was a little hairy but think it was a particulary windy day and otherwise the weather was grand.

We paid a visit to Manley Aquarium to see some sharks up close. This was great but thankfully we were seperated by some 6 inch glass!! Manley beach and the whole area is lovely and the weather was great. We got the ferry out there which gave us a great view of the harbour bridge and opera house.

Christmas Day was great. Duff and Aine played chefs and treated us to a fabulous seafood extravaganza! Mmm!! It felt quite Christmassey despite the lack of turkey and thanks to Ronans parents we even had christmas pudding and mince pies! The weather wasn't great so we'll have to have a bbq on the beach next year instead!

Next day we hit the races which was different to leopardstown in that no coats and scarves were necessary!! It was lovely to sit on the grass with some beers but we didn't bet too much as the favourite seemed to always win.

We planned to head up to the Blue Mountains to get out of Duff and Aines hair but alas they decided to join us so no break for them. We got a grand train up to Katoomba where we found a great bar with amazing views of the valleys, a few bottles of cheap champagne were drank here! With some sore heads we decided to do the main walk here which was lovely and only 2 and a half hours so it really wasn't too strenuous.

Back in Sydney we didnt do much except plan our move here. New Years Eve was great fun, Aine located a great spot for us to view the harbour from, more drinking occurred and obviously the fireworks were fantastic!

After a drink in the Opera House Bar, swim on Bondi beach and a quick visit to the casino we had to pack up and leave but not for long!

Melbourne - Australia

After a few delays and 2 hours on the plane before take off we eventually arrived in Melbourne at about 2 in the morning, luckily there was someone at the University to let us in.

For all those who haven't heard the storey yet, Orla's great grand Uncle was a Chancellor of Melbourne University and Master of Ormond college, over the years was a generous benefactor and there is a library named in his honour, so when we asked for more information about his life and enquired about accomodation they very generously allowed us to stay as their guests in a wonderful apartment and offered to provide Orla some information on his life. We really felt like royalty arriving to a packed fridge with loads of cheese and some wine, especially good after not eating for 12 hours!!! Have to say this was prob the best start we had anywhere, the University is only a half hour walk to the city centre and it was great to have somewhere to dump our bags for yet another week.

It was great to see Deirdre and Danny again who as you can see from the photos haven't changed a bit and we got to enjoy some decent Melbourne pubs with them. We also met up with our NZ chauffeurs Philip & Helen, who roped us into a night of strangness at Dracula's Cabaret, but we really enjoyed it and only got the piss taken out of us a few times for being Irish!!!

The weather turned while we were in the middle of a picnic at the zoo and continued to rain for about 4 days, this was heaven for the locals who'd been having droughts for 4/5 years but us paddy's have seen enough rain at home that we don't need more on our holidays!! This was the start of Orla's birthday extravaganza and seeing the Kangaroos and Koalas was well worth the few quid. To avoid the rain we popped in to the biggest casino outside of Vegas we'd ever seen, we only spent an hour or so there, it was jammed with drunken work partys betting their Christmas bonuses but we managed to leave with more money than we arrived with. Deirdre & Danny met us for some birthday Fajitas in the evening and managed to produce the worlds most annoying singing candle (thanks lads).

The next morning one of Orlas childhood ambitions was completed when we found ourselves at 9 in the morning standing on the famous "Ramsay Street". We also visited Erinsborough High and then headed on to Lassiters. You will see from the photographs Ronans lack of enthuasiasm (misspent youth watching sports programmes and transformers instead of Neighbours!!!). To make up for being dragged along on the Neighbours tour our net stop was the MCG for a cricket ground tour. The stadium was huge and the entire complex was very impressive, we even got a great view of the city.

Headed to a Christmas party in friends of Dee and Dannys which was great and put us in a proper Christmassey mood and they even had a real tree.