Ian the Angel

In a previous post, I mentioned I had met an angel on the road and that I needed a whole new post to explain that day.
Well, here it is.

It was Tuesday morning and we had booked a wake up call with reception for 5.30am as we needed to be ready by 6.30am for the boat to take us from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh, a 6 hour journey of which we had little idea about what type of boat or conditions we would be encountering.

As I slowly opened my eyes, to my horror I realised it was already daylight. Right at this point the phone rang and the lady on the end of the phone said rather perplexed "didn't you book the ferry for this morning - the bus is here waiting for you?"
Ahhhhh!!!! "kids - quick - get ready - quick - ahhhhhhh"!!!
The bus waited and we received a few disgruntled looks from other travellers as we finally boarded the bus for the docks.
Then it hit me. My Camera!!!!!!
I had left the camera in the room and it's not one I really wanted to lose. I did however have the battery charger and the camera case???!! What good that was going to do me I have no idea, but hey, I'm not a morning person alright.

I asked the bus driver if we could call the hotel, so they could meet us at the dock with the camera (clearly it was their fault) and he seemed to nod and look like he had done this, however I soon found out this was not the case.

Ian, a fellow traveller who we picked up along the way, heard my plight and offered to help through friends/colleagues he had in Cambodia.
A ray of hope I thought.

Now the boat was not the relaxing ferry I had pictured, imagining myself catching up on blog writing, a spot of ready and kids listening to ipods. No, there was no way I was sitting down in the bowels of that boat without any fresh air, tiny windows and the smell of engine fuel. The steel roof was a much better option as a few of us decided, including Ian who had gone ahead to check it out first.
As we got talking I was handed a travel alarm clock to ensure this day didn't happen again as well as his smaller digital camera for the rest of the trip just in case I didn't get my other one back for awhile. Only on the condition I post it back to Perth on my return home.

Wow, how generous I thought.

As the day progressed on this steel roof I began to feel quite ill, more so than just the bout of gastro I had been suffering already.
Ian suggested I have a lay down and he would mind the kids (don't panic - he has children of his own etc, and by this stage knew he was someone I could trust).
At first I declined, but then realised it was probably a good idea.
By the time he came back to say we were nearly in PP, he looked at me and said "you're really not good, are you?"
Ah, No!!
Feeling absolutely terrible, Ian told me he would help us off the boat, staying with us until I was in some form of transport to get us to the hotel.
He then handed me his travel first aid kit complete with antibiotics and electrolyte satchets.
As he put me in the taxi that he organised and paid for (the docks are crazy on arrival, so this was a huge help) he just told me to get some rest and waved us off.

I got to the hotel and was quite ill, so after an hour or so popped the antibiotics and sipped Hydrolyte slowly. After a few hours I felt a bit better and concluded it was Giardia as the antibiotics had a pretty quick effect.

2 days later, my camera arrived safely in Phnom Penh.

How I would have made it through that day without this angel I do not know. Maybe had I been on my own, but with 2 children to entertain and organise, it could have been disastrous, but was turned into something quite wonderful.

So, thank you Ian. The world really is full of good, kind and generous people.
And thank you to my wonderful children for being so understanding and such great travel companions.

I want to tell you more about the fabulous town of Luang Prabang so why not start with a night market.
The daily night market in Luang Prabang runs from around 5pm until 10.30pm and although a bit touristy is still definately worth a visit or two.
The market is huge and the main items on sale are locally made silk scarfs, jewellery (mainly silver and semi-precious stones), hand woven bags, clothing and even some interesting antiques. The standard is pretty high and I wish I had more space... rather than just one well filled backpack..... to bring some fabulous pieces home.
The locals aren't pushy either, so you can really take your time investigating your possible purchases before you begin the bargaining process.
The highlight of the market however for us would have to be the food.
Whole Mekong Fish, chicken wings and large slabs of pork all cooked over the coals using these large bamboo skewer type implements. Rice paper rolls, freshly made to your taste Papaya Salad, as well as crepe stands and numerous other options.
Our Guesthouse owner was more than happy to accommodate a mountain of food brought back via Tuktuk, setting up an outdoor table for us to feast on our gatherings.
The whole BBQ Fish and Pork were mouth watering as were the fresh Papaya Salad and Rice paper rolls all of which added up to a princely sum of approx $6 (AUD) with steamed rice.

On our last night we decided to catch a dinner and 'floorshow', which was actually a traditional
music and dance evening at a restaurant called, wait for it.......... Roots & Leaves.
Yep... not joking here, that's what it's called.
So I had a chuckle all to myself.
It was recommended by a few different travel guides and I thought it might be nice for the children to have a bit of dancing to look at while we ate, especially for Phoebe.
Here we tried the local Buffalo soup filled with galangal and ginger, quite a cleansing taste, as well as fried pork rind with a green chilli dip.

I thought I'd cook a Lao-licious Chicken Curry the other night and it was fabulous, so I asked Haeny if I could share the recipe with you and she has kindly agreed, so here it is:

200gm Chicken (thighs are best & I actually added about 400gm I think)
1 cup water
1 Potato (chopped - about 1.5cm squares)
1/2 a large Onion (chopped)
250ml coconut cream
1 tablespoon oil (peanut/sunflower or grapeseed all work well)
2 Shallots (crushed in mortar)
1 Clove Garlic (crushed in mortar)
1 Small Piece Ginger (crushed in mortar - maybe around 1 inch)
2 Kaffir Lime leaves
2 Spring Onions (sliced to put on the top when serving)
1/2 bunch of Coriander (chopped for the top as well when serving)
1 Tablespoon Curry Powder (I actually did half curry powder and half tumeric which worked well too)
1 Teaspoon Chilli Powder

Seasoning:
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon fishsauce

Method:

1. Crush Shallot, garlic and ginger in mortar
2. Heat oil in a pot/pan
3. Add the shallot, garlic, ginger and kaffir lime leaves, stir for 20 seconds
4. Add the chicken, chilli powder and curry powder in the heated pot. Stir well.
5. Add coconut cream, water and bring to boil.
6. Add chopped potato, seasoning and then add the chopped big onion.
7. Stir constantly and wait for the potato to get soft, and serve immediately garnished with spring onion and coriander.
Serve with steamed rice or Roti bread.

Bon Appetite!!!

Oh and I forgot to tell you about the elephants floating down the river, interrupting our cooking class... here's a photo for proof.

Laos - past and present

Well, I've been promising you more on beautiful Luang Prabang in Laos and now I'm finally delivering.
The days have been so incredibly full that I'm conscious of not having devoted enough time to www.soulfoodjourney.blogpost.com, but I also didn't want to turn this into a chore and take away from this wonderful adventure. I'm sure that also wouldn't have provided you the best read if it was forced, so forgive me for the delay, but I hope it's worth the wait.

On our first day in Luang Prabang, we stumbled upon the UXO landmine Museum, thanks to a passing traveller who suggested it was an interesting and sobering insight into this beautiful country.
Now I knew a little of it's past but was completely shocked at the extent of suffering that had taken place in this country and which still continues to this day and beyond.
These stats are taken from the Museums website.
The reason for the relentless bombing suffered by this country: it was part of the supply route for the VietCong (Ho Chi Minh Trail). As the war raged in Vietnam and news spread across the globe, this went mostly unreported and was ruthlessly conducted.


* Lao PDR is the most heavily bombed country, per capita, in history.
* Approximately 25% of villages in Laos are contaminated with Unexploded Ordnance (UXO)
* More than 580,000 bombing missions were conducted over Laos
* Over 2 million tons of ordnance were dropped on Laos between 1964 and 1973
* Cluster sub‐munitions or ‘Bombies’ (as they are known locally) are the most common form of UXO remaining
* More than 270 million bombies were dropped onto Laos
* Up to 30% failed to detonate
* Approximately 80 million unexploded bombies remained in Laos after the war
* All 17 provinces of Laos suffer from UXO contamination
* 41 out of the 46 poorest districts in Laos have UXO contamination
* Over 50,000 people have been killed or injured as a result of UXO accidents in the period 1964 ‐2008
* Over 20,000 people have been killed or injured as a result of UXO accidents post‐war period, 1974‐2008

http://www.uxolao.gov.la/

What really amazes here is how despite all of this, how peaceful and non resentful these people are.
I've decided I will wait until tomorrow to write more about Laos as this really deserves it's own post, however here are a few photos of this magical place.

The Killing Fields

I was in a bit of conflict deciding whether to take the children to the “Killing Fields” just outside Phnom Penh or not.
The owner of the hotel we were staying at recommended I don’t, but I also think that maybe it’s good for children to understand the history and culture of a region as well as educating them, hopefully ensuring something like this cannot happen again in the future.
I would also hope that they have a greater appreciation for the simple things in life and where they are fortunate enough to live.

I can only hope I did the right thing, as none of us are truly ever sure that we are always doing the right thing as parents. We can only do our best and I did put much deliberation into the decision.

Now, this place is certainly not for the faint hearted. I hired a guide to make sure I fully understood the experience and place I was visiting.

As he spoke, I felt tears welling and even as I write this, I can feel the same emotions emerging.
It is unimaginable that people can treat each other this way. The immense brutality of the Khmer Rouge is truly incomprehensible.
There was no discrimination between men, women and children and to see the spots where small children were killed (I won’t explain how - I can’t bring myself to do that), is sickening. This was happening as I was a small child, playing with my toys in Melbourne. These children could have been my friends had I had the misfortune of being born in Cambodia at that time.

It’s interesting that I struggled to connect with the Cambodian people more so than Laotians and Vietnamese and after visiting this place I now understand why. It is a country still trying to get over this fairly recent past. The sadness is still there, just under the surface. Don’t forget this brutality was inflicted upon them by their own people. I can’t imagine how that must feel. How a country recovers from this? They are doing well, but I feel (and it’s only my opinion of course) they still need some more time to really reconcile this. This happened in our lifetime (well, mine anyway), not generations ago.

As you walk around the 80 odd mass graves, you still see clothing and bones rising out of the ground as the rains and soil movements bring these to the surface.
There are 300 odd “killing fields” around the country.

One thing I couldn’t help notice here were the 100’s/1000’s of dragonflies swarming in the sky not too far above our heads. They provided some form of peace to this place.
I think I have already mentioned in a previous blog my love of these wonderous creatures, but i thought it apt to include it here again.

Dragonflies have many different symbolic meanings depending on which culture you look at, however one I remember is that they are the spirits or souls of the dead. Whether you believe this or not, it does provide a form of hope, yes, I think that’s the right word. Hope that these souls are now in peace after the brutality they suffered.

Other symbolic interpretations of Dragonflies are self realisation, and predominantly a time of and for change. They are also seen to represent living in the moment as they have such a short life and accomplish so much.

Let’s pray that humanity becomes wiser and more gentle as time moves forward.

It's a hat trick!!

Yes, we've all managed to throw up on this trip.

I wanted to finally write more about the wonderful city and surrounds of Luang Prabang tonight, gearing up to fill you in on some more adventures on the road with the family, and believe me we have had some adventures. This certainly has not been a boring trip.
However I now feel obliged to share the joys of our bellies.

As you will know from an earlier post, Declan managed to throw up in the taxi on arrival in Hanoi. That past pretty quickly thankfully.
Since arriving in Cambodia about 5 or 6 days ago, I have been quite unwell and came down with a case of what seems to be Giardia. Yippee for me!!
The symptoms have lasted for a few days culminating in a pretty bad day yesterday that had me knocked out. Luckily I met an angel on the road, well actually river to be precise, who gave me some antibiotics and I seem to be feeling a considerable bit better.
There is more to the story of Ian my 'angel', but I'll leave that for another blog, because the events of yesterday deserves a post all to itself, believe me.

After having eaten very little for a few days and not wanting to risk another bout of anything nasty, we decided on a reputable Italian restaurant for dinner tonight in Phnom Penh, recommended in Lonely Planet and various other guidebooks.
I have to say first impressions were not great. They stated they opened for dinner at 6pm , but sent us away for 10 minutes, even though it was already a smidge past 6pm.
We ordered a pizza, thin crust, tomato with a few slices of porcini and a couple of pastas.
They were no better (actually nowhere near) the standard of what i could wip up at home, let alone expect to be served in a good Italian restaurant that was charging decently for the place it's located in.
I don't know, maybe it's because I'm from Melbourne perhaps, a city that has an amazing array of good Italian food, from fine dining through to fabulous pizzerias that has set my expectations high. It was Ok, but I wouldn't return.

Now, I'm getting somewhere with this story so stay with me.
After dinner we had a lovely stroll along the Mekong waterfront illuminated by the full moon reflecting off the water. Quite a beautiful sight with lots of locals also enjoying the atmosphere, accompanied by fishing boats and cruisers meandering along.

As we were getting ready for bed, Phoebe says 'I don't feel well' then proceeds to release the contents of her stomach on the bed. I tell her to run to the bathroom, Declan to quickly go and grab a towel, thinking that would be the worst of it.
As the poor little munchkin runs to the bathroom she leaves a thick trail of everything that she could possibly have eaten in the last 12 hours.
She did get me to add extra parmesan to her pasta too. As if that doesn't have a pretty funky smell under normal conditions, regurgitated all over the room... not so good, let me tell you.

Here we were thinking we were playing it safe. Back to Khmer food for me tomorrow i think.

Night!

Hope you're all well.

xxxx

Laolicious

I'm devoting todays blog to the tasty delights of Laotian cooking.
Every meal we ate was a joyous adventure into the delights of Laos. I truly cannot say we had a bad meal.

After hearing mediocre reviews on the cooking school of choice, and with so many wonderful things to see and do in Luang Prabang, I had pretty much given up on the idea of learning the art of Laotian cooking.

As we wandered along the waterfront in search of another massage for little Miss Phoebe (think I've created a rod for my own back here), we stumbled upon a very humble sign advertising cooking classes for maximum of 5 people.
We were greeted by two young sisters who didn't seem perturbed at all with running a class with 2 small children, so we decided on booking for the following day before flying out of Luang Prabang.

When we arrived at 8.30am the next morning they were eagerly waiting for us to take us on a tour of the morning food market.
Interesting!!
A beautiful array of fresh veggies and fruits and then a very interesting assortment of 'meats'.
Haeny informed us that most of the meat would have been slaughtered that morning hence the lack of need for refridgeration. Can't get any fresher than that.
The fish receives a much higher price if it is still alive, so they are placed in large buckets with water to keep them alive and then killed (whacked on the head with a stick) once you decide on your victim.
We stumbled upon a whole cooked and butterflied forest rat (photos here of most that I've mentioned) along with an assortment of cooked smaller rats. There were buffalo legs still with fur and hooves, buffalo skin, bags of blood and an array of intestinal matter.
A great find that proved a winner with the children was dried Mekong River weed. It's sprinkled with tomato, garlic and sesame seeds and best if quickly fried, although the children thought it pretty tasty straight from the bag.
The taste is reminiscent of spinach.

It was then back to the open kitchen along the river to cook up Papaya Salad, Chicken Laab, Sticky Rice, Fish Mok and Mango with Coconut Sticky Rice.
Haeny and her sister Tong were fabulous and patient teachers, ensuring all questions were answered and enough guidance offered to be able to replicate the recipes at home. As it was only the 3 of us, the tutoring was personalised and professional. I loved the fact that due to not remembering to get Coriander from the market, Tong ran down to the veggie patch below us, on the banks of the Mekong to pick some.
Sitting down to enjoy our lunch with these entertaining and extremely friendly girls was a wonderful experience and I'd certainly recommend attending Lao-licious.

So, I hope you enjoy the photos and here's a recipe for a very popular and very Laotian dish of Fish Mok, taken from the handouts from Haeny. More recipes will follow soon.

Fish Mok:

300gm Fish (a white fish like snapper would work well)
Banana Leaves
2 red chillies (crushed in mortar)
1 clove garlic (crushed in mortar)
1 stalk lemongrass (crushed in mortar)
2 shallots (crushed in mortar)
1 tablespoon uncooked sticky rice that has been soaking in water for 3 hours. Crush separately in mortar till rice becomes a powder.
200gm mince Pork
3 spring onions (chopped)
1/2 handfull of dill (chopped)
1/2 handfull of basil leaves
2 raw eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Fish sauce
1/4 cup water

1. Mix garlic, chillies, lemongrass, shallots and pound in mortar (slice thinly first)
2. Put above ingredients in a large glass/stainless steel bowl
3. Add the uncooked powdered sticky rice, minced pork and fish
4. Add the eggs and then the spring onion, dill, basil and water and then add the seasonings.
5. Stir well and pack the mixture tightly in banana leaves close with bamboo toothpick (this is the tricky bit - so good luck! Maybe some greaseproof paper with a couple of elastic bands to make a pouch might also work well and if all else fails, a souffle dish or dariole mould could also be substituted but certainly won't look as good)
6. Steam for 1 hour and serve with some steamed bamboo shoots/chinese cabbage or even choko.

Enjoy! and a big thank you to Haeny & Tong at Lao-licious

One night in Bangkok

Due to a delayed flight out of Luang Prabang we missed our connection to Siem Reap, Cambodia, so we have now added Thailand to the list of countries visited on this trip.
The airline (Bangkok Airways) have put us up at the Novotel, so I figure it's a good night to get cleaned up.... wash hair etc before we go back to $30 a night accommodation.
Always a silver lining if you look hard enough.

Before we left Laos today, we attended a fabulous little cooking class situated along the Mekong water front offering stunning views to accompany our cooking lesson.
I'll leave the details of this for a separate post tomorrow.
I think I'll just do a food one as I now have enough material and photos to make it an interesting one (hopefully) for you, including tasty Laotian recipes.

A couple more photos included here for you. The hard part is choosing which ones to include. I have taken so many.

Looking forward to sharing the next update ..... stay tuned : )

Lisa

xx

Greetings from Luang Prabang

Well hello there from Luang Prabang.
tonight will just be a quick post as it's midnight and we have a cooking class at 8.30am on the Mekong River that includes a shopping expedition to the local food markets. Could be quite eye opening. I hear there are bags of blood and even green bile, so I'll have to find out what that is used for.

I have to say that I have completely fallen in love with this place.
This town just unfolds itself before your eyes, hour by hour, day by day.
It is breathtakingly beautiful and serene. The people are laid back and yet there is so much that you can do if you're like me and struggle to sit still for too long.

Today, I decided on a last minute 1 hour boat trip along the Mekong as we were strolling along the waterfront, in search of yet another massage place for Phoebe.

With 2 children in tow, I'm missing the time that you would normally have to just sit quietly and reflect, to stop and just be, in those quiet moments where you find your peace and your clarity, but I steal them when I can like today on that boat. I managed a brief escape as they entertained themselves to just sit and soak up my surounds.
Don't get me wrong, I relish the fact that I can show them the wonders of the world, exposing them to different cultures, experiences, foods, people and landscapes. I'm hoping it helps shape them into broad minded, free spirited humans and I certainly wouldn't have experienced riding that bloody elephant without them. I think in this instance I would have given into my fears.

Yes, we decided upon an Elephant adventure with a company called "Elephant Village"
This included Mahout training, a 1 hour basket ride and a bare back ride down to the river to wash our elephants.
Have you ever tried getting up on a full standing elephant from the ground without any items of leverage, like a stool/chair etc??!! It is not an easy task.
Then sitting on the neck, completely bareback was another odd experience. I constantly felt like i was going to plummet to the ground and break every bone in my body.
I had a short reprieve with a ride in the basket, although going down hill in one of those is also not the safest feeling in the world.
After a coffee overlooking the banks of the Nam Khan river, it was time to ride our elephants bare back down to the river.
I was actually quite terrified and nervous by this stage and very nearly pulled out of it, opting for a boat ride to meet the others.
However as I had my children there ecstatic about the experience, I had to overcome those fears and 'hop on'.
My Mahout understood how nervous I was and was very patient with me, occasionally resting his hands on my shoulders reassuringly.
It's such a steep decent on pretty rugged terrain and you have absolutely nothing to hold onto. Your hands are pressed firmly into the elephants head to stop you from falling forward and your knees are pressed in behind it's ears. As it walks, it's shoulder blades/neck bones (have no idea what part this is called) move around which in turn moves you around. I had to try and focus on my breathing to get me through, almost like trying to meditate whilst bungy jumpy really.
Anyway.... I did it!!!! Declan says he has never seen that "look on your face before, you know the one of terror and fear!" Ha!!
Once we made it to the river, it was beautiful and I could relax. If you fell off at this point you'd just be falling into water, not a problem for someone who can swim.

So here's to overcoming your fears although maybe not conquering just yet.

It's time for me to say goodnight, even though I have so much more to tell you about this wonderful place. It will have to wait for a plane trip or a moment when I stop, which I should do I know. I'm disappointed that I haven't made time to do any yoga or meditation yet, but hoping that will come soon.

Lots of love to you all and hope everyone is safe and well

xx

Lisa

Vietnam

Well it seems like it's been quite awhile since I've stopped by the blog. We've been so busy, filling every moment of everyday, that there just hasn't been time to write anything decent, but I have to say the universe is smiling upon me, providing me with many memorable moments to feed into here.
I've been wee'd on (think my daughter has a bit of a bladder infection or bug), had tea poured all over me on the airplane and ended up with blue ink over my hands and arms from a dodgy pen.

I'm sitting in my hotel room in Luang Prabang,Laos now, enjoying the peace that this place seems to naturally and automatically bring, but back to Vietnam for now.

HANOI & SURROUNDS

Gosh, thinking back over the last few days, my mind is trying to pick through the most memorable and entertaining moments to share here on this post and I don't think I've yet told you about the attempted hotel room break in.
It must have been around 3am when I awoke to someone quite aggressively trying to get into the room. Luckily I had the large latch across the door as well as locked. Eventually I asked what they were doing as they were rather persistent. I got a broken English apology and then just went back to bed.
Once we went down the next morning for breakfast, it turns out it was the security guard who had forgotton we had moved rooms and was probably trying to find somewhere for a nap.
My impressions by this stage of Hanoi were not particularly great I have to say.

We spent a day touring Ninh Binh, including some beautiful old 16th century royal temples and took a 2 hour rowboat ride along the river through limestone cliffs from Tam Coc, rowed by a mother and daughter team, the mother 64 years old...... all in bone chilling 10 degree weather.
Now, I'm really not a cold weather person and would never intentionally take a holiday in a cold climate unless there was a specific reason like skiing perhaps. I'm not unlike a bear, I'd much rather sleep out the winter and wake up in spring really, so this cold snap of weather was rather torturous.
Luckily I was kept distracted and entertained by some fantastic sights, like the motorbike rider who had a cumquat or possibly mandarin tree on the seat behind him. Not a small tree, quite a large tree in a heavy cement pot with a diameter of around 45cm's.

HALONG BAY


There was also the day when we were returning to shore from our Halong Bay cruise that we spotted one of the boats in flames.  At first we saw some smoke which got our attention, but then the flames became quite clear.
The trip to Halong Bay was beautiful if a little more crowded than I had expected. Once you get over that, the beauty of this place can still be appreciated because it is truly majestic.
There was a visit to a very large cave that offered fabulous views over the Bay as well as a visit to a floating village where you can buy seafood from the 'farms' straight out of the sea.   These people live on the sea with no heating at all and winter can get very cold, so I'm sure they relish the arrival of the warmer months.
The cruise/boat company we used was Oriental Sails www.orientalsails.com and I have to say that they are a wonderful operator (no kickbacks here). The food was delicious and plentiful, the rooms very comfortable and a nice size too with only 12 rooms maybe at the most all at a very reasonable price. I think I had one of the best sleeps I have ever had on that boat, in spite of the fact we had a 'party boat' next to us - yay for ear plugs!! The beds were so comfortable with big fluffy doonas and great heating. We were all supposed to sleep in the one room and they ended up giving us 2 separate cabins, one twin (for the kids) and a double to myself.
We also met some great people on this trip. There was the older couple from Paris who got stuck with us at most meal times, the Brazilian family from Copacabana (which Declan found highly amusing due to the Barry Manilow song) and the young couple from Holland who Phoebe befriended and entertained at one lunch by leaving us and sitting with them on her own. She also insisted on sitting with them for the bus trip back to Hanoi and invited them to join us for dinner. Nice to see she's getting into the swing of this traveller mode.

 BACK IN HANOI


 I feel like I've finally found my groove in Hanoi/Vietnam and now it's time to leave, but I've definately enjoyed my time and have now made friends with the Hanoi Lake View Hotel after a rocky start www.hanoilakeviewhotels.com.
It is a 'what you see is what you get' kind of place. They say they are 3 star and that's what you get in terms of the rooms and amenities, but what you get in service surpasses that. From providing extra blankets, changing rooms, booking tours, booking taxis, wake up calls at 6am etc, all with smiles and genuine interest in your welfare and happiness. The rooms were quite large too and it's a good location for the price. Around $70 a night for the three of us.

FAST FACTS


The visa on arrival was pretty painless, but make sure you have USD and a couple of photos with you, which you'll be advised when you apply on line anyway. It added about 30-40 mins to clearing customs but the luggage was just coming out anyway when we reached the carousel, so no real delay.
www.myvietnamvisa.com

Stick to the reputable taxi companies and avoid the private operators. The main taxi companies are of a pretty good standard.

Unfortunately it was way too cold to eat out on the street, so I can't give you any advice on that, but maybe when we return to Hoi An and Hanoi later this month.

There are HEAPS of ATM's. There would have to be about 10 at the airport including an ANZ one and they are liberally scattered throughout the city, so don't stress about changing money etc if you haven't thought of it.

 FOOD


I think it would be hard to go wrong in Hanoi in terms of food. There is so much to choose from and it's all delicious.
I was recommended a great restaurant by our Halong Bay tour guide called Ngon Restaurant, 18 Phan Boi Chau, Hanoi, frequented by a mass of locals and travellers alike. I've noticed it coming up in lots of web pages if you google it.
We ate whole steamed fish, rice paper rolls with Roasted pork that you roll yourself, noodle dishes and soups. Highly recommend it.
http://www.anan-vietnam.com/en/hanoi/f000038/

In Halong Bay we ate incredibly well and tried Kingfish bought straight from the farm, where we watched it's demise. It was $100 for the fish and was bought by a wealthy Saigon family on holiday, who generously shared it with the rest of the group.

We also ate a type of mollusc that they referred to as a mussel, but was more like a pipi/clam or cockle. Rather strange looking but very tasty cooked in spring onion, garlic and ginger. It was like one half was pipi like and the other end was almost squid or abalone like.


Ok, well I think that's about all for tonight. If there is anything you'd like me to look further into or describe in more detail, please let me know and I'll see what I can do.
The cooking classes are still to come and I can't wait to tell you more about Laos, but you'll have to wait a day or two for that.