Photos

We have started uploading some of our photos of both the wedding and the honeymoon.

To see them, click this link.

You will see the different sets of photos we have created so far. You can click on the different thumbnail images, click on the larger image to see an even larger one, or view them as a slideshow. You can even leave comments, and we encourage you all to do so!

More photos will be added over the next few days, so keep checking the link above.

Also, if anyone has photos of our wedding day, please get in touch with us as we would love to see them and would like to put them online for all our friends to see.

View our photos

The Last Two Days

Hi Everyone,

We have had a whirlwind last couple of days. We left Mui Ne beach early yesterday by Taxi (3 hrs to Saigon). We had a couple of hours to kill in Saigon before heading to the airport, so we headed back to our original hotel The Continental. We loved this hotel. It is where The Quiet American was filmed and it is like stepping back in time. A few Tiger beers later, we headed to the airport and boarded our 2 hour flight to Singapore.

Being so late when we arrived we grabbed a hotel near the airport and stayed in. It was still 30 degrees at 10pm last night in Singapore! We were woken last night by the loudest thunderstorm I have heard in years.

We are now at the airport and sad to say our trip is over. We are looking forward to coming back and catching up with everyone as Mr and Mrs Mac!

See everyone soon ...

Mui Ne Beach

Hi everyone - It's Dave and Lorelle here...

We are up to day 13 of our trip and it feels like we have been away for a month!

We headed for Mui Ne from Nha Trang a couple of days ago. Another memorable experience on the train. We had to argue with the train conductor at 5.30 in the morning to get the sleeper we had paid for. He tried to put us in a cupboard right near the toilet which just had a straw mat on top of some plastic chairs. We were not going in there for quids! Luckily, Dave's negotiating skills have been nothing short of amazing throughout our trip and he managed to get us our proper sleeper eventually. The train was full of hundreds of uniformed army guys (Dave loved it) who were hanging out the windows and cheering at us as we walked up and down the platform trying to find a sleeper - very surreal at 5.30 in the morning, having had 4 hours of drunken sleep.

Our train ticket got us to Muong Man. This place is 40 minutes from our intended destination (Mui Ne beach). We were in the middle of nowhere, a complete stinky, hot, dusty shanty town. No one else got off the train with us, so we were alone on this platform where no one spoke english and there were no taxis. Eventually 3 young guys blackmailed us into accepting to pay $30 US to get to Mui Ne beach - we had no choice but to accept.

Got to Mui Ne and checked into a resort called Sunsea (recommended by Erica & Mark). Sorry guys, but we got off on the wrong foot with this resort and ended up checking out before the end of the day! There were no more bungalows, no hot water, our room had a door that did not close, no restaurant, but most importantly there was no bar! They were also charging us a whopping $60 US a night.

On our treck to find the town, we came to the realisation that there is no town in Mui Ne beach. It's a strip of resorts and dingy hotels. The roadside is pretty dusty, dirty and smells of dried fish! The beach also has a bit of rubbish scattered around, and the locals didn't impress us much. The idea here is obviously to find a resort and stay there!

Whilst exploring, we stumbled upon an amazing resort which had just opened a few weeks before. It is very beautiful with a big pool, amazing architecture and nice gardens with palm trees everywhere. Most importantly it has a bar! Lorelle described it as 'a haven amongst the shit'. We told the other resort that we had to go back to Saigon for business, got half our money back and moved into the new resort mentioned above. We also got a lot better rate at this resort.

We have since only left the resort to use the internet and buy water. We have done nothing but lie by the pool and swim, eat and drink. A nice way to finish our honeymoon!

We leave for Saigon tomorrow. We are not using the train ticket we bought, we are hiring a private car instead - Bugger it! We arrive back in Melbourne on Wednesday evening, after an overnight stay in Singapore. We are looking forward to catching up with everyone and boring you all with our photos and adventures.

Nha Trang

Hi eveyone - Dave here this time. We've loved reading all your comments on our blog. It's been a few days since we have had reliable internet access, so I'll update you now on what's been happening.

On the last day in Hoi An, we went to a travel agent on the outskirts of town - called Mr Tung - to book our train tickets from here to Nha Trang, then Mui Ne beach, then back to Saigon to fly out. All the ATM's were down in Hoi An, so we couldn't pay the bloke. He happily lent us $20 US and said we could pay his driver in the morning when he took us to the train station. That was enough to pick up the clothes we had bought and buy dinner! Thanks Mr Tung!

Next morning we left Hoi An, and where driven back to Danang where we caught the train to Nha Trang. We were in a 4 berth sleeper with two other locals. One of them spoke (barely) recognisable English and we had a chat with him. He was a Christian, which is rare here, and said that he had been jailed before for his beliefs. Mr Tung, the travel agent, had told us that the train should take 8 hours. It actually took 13 hours, but we saw the most amazing scenery we have seen yet. Hills, mountains, palm and banana trees, bright green rice fields and rivers. Pity our camera memory was full! We also saw a beatiful bright red sunset, followed by a bright red full moon on the other window. The other thing we saw was the effects of Agent Orange, which are still apparent. Large blotches of countryside are still bare - 30 years later.

We finally got to Nha Trang at 11:30pm and checked into our room, which had a great balcony view of the beach, but a very hard bed and pillows.

We had heard reports Nha Trang wasn't that great, but we really loved it. The ocean is bright blue, the beach is great, lots of palm trees, and there are lots of islands nestled around the bay and good bars and restaurants.

We hired another motorbike (look out Gary and Jo - we're hardcore bikers now!) and cruised around town where we fortunately found some more memory for the camera. I'm getting pretty good at bargaining now. You basically have to take the price the Vietnamese offer you and divide that by about 4 or 5 and then reach an agreement from there. Lorelle is leaving the bargaining to me - she says, "I'll just get my husband" and 'Dave the negotiater' steps in.

Nha Trang is a little like a mini surfers paradise, and you can see by all the development happening that in about 5 years it will be exactly like Surfers Paradise. Glad we got in now.

There's lots to do in Nha Trang, such as windsurfing, snorkelling, diving and parasailing, and we didn't do any of it! We decided to relax at a nice beachside bar called The Nha Trang Sailing Club (they don't have any boats though) and eat and drink Tiger beers. We ended up meeting an older Canadian couple called Janice & Bill, and went bar hopping with them and didn't get home until 1:30am. We weren't in the best shape when we had to get up at 5:30 am to catch our train to Mui Nei beach!

Hoi An

Dave and I arrived in Hoi An yesterday. We are half way down The east coast of Vietnam now. And it is warmer!

Hoi An is a coastal town most famous for its clothes shops. You can have anything you like made in these shops for next to nothing. There is also a great beach and lots of good bars.

Dave has been in his element in Hoi An as he has hired motor bike. He is fitting right in on the road...

Festivals seem to be following us around Vietnam. There was Valentines Day in Saigon (a big deal here), The Tet festival (New Year celebrations) in Hanoi, and we stumbled into Hoi An on the night of it's moon festival. We found out about this festival ironically when Dave's motorbike was taken off the footpath and 'put away' while we were in a pub. We were informed when we tried to get the bike that it had to be left where it was for the next 3 hours as a festival had started in the 'Old Quarter'. This festival involved all the shops turning their lights off and cars and bikes stopping (to restore the town to its original feel). There were lanterns and incense lit along the streets and lanterns floated down the river which runs through town. The whole town came out and enjoyed music - some very weird singing and pantomimes.

Our second day in Hoi An, Dave got a close shave in a barber shop then we rode the bike to the nearest beach (Cu Dai beach). This is just near the famous 'China Beach'. (Dave relates almost everything we see to the war... The beach was beautiful with lots of large thatched umbrellas spread along to sit under. We dipped our feet in the South China sea, then sat under an umbrella for another 'Tiger'. Of course as soon as we sat, we got hounded by people trying to sell us bits and pieces. One lady who was selling 'beauty' tried to epilady the hair from my legs by twisting cotton between her teeth and fingers. It bloody worked!

We are not heading to Dalat now, as we cant get a flight. We are catching the train down to Na Trang. It looks like we will have to catch the train all the way back down to Saigon over the next 5 days, which will be something new for us. Flights are just not working out for us.

Saw an elephant on the beach (it was there for organised rides), which was amazing.

We ran out of memory for our camera today. Dont suppose we will find another memory card in the places we are heading to. It also occurred to me over dinner tonight that Dave has managed to travel through the whole of Vietnam and managed to avoid eating rice!

Hanoi (North Vietnam)

Hi All,

Its Lorelle here. I feel priviliged that Dave has let me write on our blog again. :)

I am still slightly sick since the Mekong Delta, so my plan to try authentic experimental vietnamese cuisine has been put on hold for the moment. (Bread and beer is as far as I am going).

We are now in North Vietnam and the climate here is the total opposite to the South. It is as cold here as a very cold Melbourne winter's day. Dave and I were not prepared for this and we are wearing almost everything in our suitcase. I have on 5 tops and two pairs of socks!

Hanoi is a pleasant relief after the South. It is very clean and civilised. Hanoi is like a little city in France (the French used to rule here so the architecture is very French). It has beautiful little streets, full of little shops, and great cafe's scattered everywhere. It is very relaxed here although still busy with motorbikes everywhere.

Tonight will be our 4th night in Hanoi as we cant get a flight out. It is the end of the Vietnamese New Year (Tet) and everyone and their dog is flying out of here at the moment. Just as well there are great cafe's & bars. Dave and I have found some great places with very interesting cuisine. Yesterday one of the places we went to served, ' Bull Penis and testicles steamed with Chinese herbs' - YUM!

I did the most stupid thing when we arrived in Hanoi and left my bank card in an ATM at the airport. Yes, I was very tired. No money was taken out of my account though. Looks like Dave is paying for the rest of the holiday...Ha Ha. We have decided to skip Halong Bay as it is too cold and we are running out of time to get back down to Saigon. Tomorrow we are off to Hoi An. Hopefully it is a bit warmer so I can take some of these layers off!

Cantho and the Mekong Delta

Hi All,

This is Lorelle here. This is my first entry on our 'blog'. Dave says I have to write my thoughts on Cantho and the Mekong Delta.

That is simple. Cantho stinks and The Mekong Delta is fantastic.

Cantho is a town along the Mekong which is full of old fishing boats with loud motors. It is poor, busy and dirty. These boats run up and down the river all day and night. (Not the best place to get some zzz's) and the place does literally stink!

Anyway, on a good note...
The Mekong Delta was fantastic. Dave and I hired a little fishing boat to take us around the Delta. We were accompanied by a Vietnamese lady named 'Ha' and her brother Muen (Moon). Ha was a crack up. She spoke basic english & she thought everything was funny.

They took us down tiny canals with the most picturesque landscape either side with little shacks dotted along the water and fantastic 'monkey bridges'. We went through 2 floating markets where the locals buy all their fruit & veg. You pull your boat up next to the farmer's boat and bargain. We bought some fruit which we ate all afternoon. (Please Note: I have been sick since)

It was stinking hot along the Delta, even Ha and Muen were complaining. Dave took his top off later in the day, Ha and Muen cracked up and joked in Vietnamese to each other. I think they were impressed with Dave's hairy body. Dave still reckons they were impressed by his tattoo.

We met some little girls out that night in town and they were also fascinated by Dave's hairiness. They were patting his arms and legs. I told them in vietnamese that he was a monkey boy. They thought that was hysterical. On the other hand, they thought I looked like Christina Aguilera.

Co Chi Tunnels

We've been doing a bit so, Dave is going to talk in this post, and Lorelle in the next one:

A driver, named Tung, in a very nice private car, took us to the Cu Chi Tunnels, about 50 Km outside of Saigon. These are the tunnel systems that the Viet Cong built during the Vietnam war, and they are unbelievably deep and intricate, and stretch for miles underground. We got to crawl through a section of them and they are very small - we just squeezed through them and you feel very claustrophobic inside them.

The whole are of Cu Chi was constantly bombed, napalmed and had Agent Orange dropped on it, but most of the tunnel systems remained intact. There are huge bomb craters everywhere and the jungle growth is only just starting to grow back now, but on a limited scale. They say it will take 100 years at least for the jungle to fully restore.

My highlight was the firing range, where you can choose between a variety of guns and fire real bullets at targets, for $1 US a bullet. I fired 10 bullets on a AK47, which was great, and very loud, and 10 bullets on a Thompson M1. I had some serious Nam flashbacks - it was great.

In the afternoon, we checked out of our hotel in Saigon and got a minibus down to Cantho, in the Mekong Delta. The trip was 167K, took four hours and cost us $4 each. Highway 1, the main highway in Vietnam, feels like you are in Iraq with traffic madness and trucks everywhere.

Lorelle will post for us tomorrow, and talk about Cantho and the Mekong Delta.

Saigon

It's our second night in Saigon, and we're loving it. Lorelle describes it as "relaxed chaos", which is pretty accurate. Lots of shops, shanty areas and people selling fruit, vegetables and live fish. There are girls wearing head to toe white silk outfits with masks on their faces on bikes, and lots of friendly people.

There are millions of people on bikes, cyclos (people on pushbikes with a seat at the front), and in cars - all with no traffic lights and no road rules. However, everyone politely dodges everyone else and we haven't seen an accident yet.

We're very impressed - the local beers are about $1.70 a stubbie (though we are probably getting ripped off) and taste pretty good, and the food is cheap and interesting. We were forced to eat with our cyclo riders last night for a Valentine's dinner (very romantic), and at one stage we thought we were eating what the guy described as "puppy". To our relief, we found out that "puppy" means "duck".

The weather is a beautiful 34 degrees, and really humid - we've decided that it is too hot to hold hands in the middle of the day (again very romantic).

Things we've seen:

Reunification Palace - an absolutely amazing palace, where the South Vietnamese ran the Vietnam war from. The decor is very 60's - straight out of an Austin Power's movie. It's where the North Vietnamese ran their tanks through to and finally ended the Vietnam war.

War History Museum - Lorelle decided to skip this one and have a massage instead. Actually used to be called the War Crimes Museum, but they changed the name to attract some tourists. Very hard hitting and interesting.

Saigon Post Office - Beatiful old French architecture. We bought some phone cards here to call home, but we still haven't worked out how to use them - so thanks to our Mums and Dads for accepting our reverse charge calls.

Ho Chi Minh Museum - once again, the building is like something out of an old movie. We would have spent more time here, but we realised we had set our watches wrong by half an hour and they almost locked us in for the night in a room with a mummy.

The language is interesting, as they say sentences backwards to what we do. For example, the Addidas slogan here is "Impossible is Nothing". We've had a laugh at this one all day. We've almost mastered how to say thankyou, but we're still getting laughed at when we say it.

The Continental Hotel where we are staying is a beatuiful old French hotel built in 1880 - the architecture here is amazing.

Singapore Airport

We've just arrived in Singapore Airport, and are waiting around for four hours until our flight to Ho Chi Minh City.

We had the noisiest bloke on the plane sitting right behind us. He coughed, sneezed and spluttered the whole night. And they weren't just little coughs, they were loud, whooping, throaty coughs. We thought we'd got rid of him when we got off the plane, but he followed us everywhere we went. Lorelle went to the bathroom and I waited outside and sure enough, he went into the same bathroom. We think half the airport could hear him coughing from in the bathroom.

We then went to a bar to have a quiet OJ, and next thing, we heard the sound - a flemmy, throaty growl and cough, and there he was, in the bar with us, spluttering away. Singapore airport is huge, and he has so far managed to turn up where ever we go here. We're going to keep avoiding him and have a look around - here's hoping he's not going to Vietnam on our flight!

We're Off (and married) !

We're now Mr & Mrs McDonald!

We had an absolutely fantastic wedding yesterday - everything went well, our good friends were there, everyone had a great time and of course, Lorelle looked beautiful.

We are just about to head off to the airport for the start of our honeymoon - stay tuned for updates along the way.

The Start of an Itinerary

Here's what we know about our trip to Vietnam so far:

• 14 Feb - Depart Melbourne at 12:50 am
• 14 Feb - Arrive in Singapore at 5:25am
• 14 Feb - Depart Singapore at 9:45am
• 14 Feb - Arrive in Ho Chi Minh City at 10:45am
• 01 March - Depart Ho Chi Minh City at 4:50pm
• 01 March - Arrive in Singapore 7:50pm
• 02 March - Depart Singapore 9:55am
• 02 March - Arrive in Melbourne 8:15pm
  

So far, on arrival we plan to stay in Ho Chi Minh City until the 16th Feb, where we are looking at travelling south into the Mekong Delta, most probaly around Cantho.

From there we need to head back to Ho Chi Minh City to get a flight up north to Hanoi.

After spending a few days in Hanoi, and surrounding areas, we plan to spend the rest of trip making our way down the coast by rail, with plenty of stops, back to Ho Chi Minh City again, where we begin our trip home on the 1 March.

If anyone has any suggestions on where to visit, or tips on travelling in Vietnam, we'd be happy to hear them - please make some comments.

Not Long To Go Now...

Well there's a little over a week until we're married!

A day or so after the wedding, on the 14th Feb, we leave for our honeymoon to Vietnam.
This blog will (hopefully) be a diary of our honeymoon there - where we've been, where we're going, what we've seen, photos - that kind of thing.

Lorelle's not to keen to visit internet cafes everyday, so we will update the blog every couple of days, unless we've got better things to do!