We left Munduk at 9am and were ready for our drive to Padangbai. We wanted to see more of Bali and so headed north first towards Lovina, stopped there at the beach to see the falling down dolphin statue and got a little harassed by hawkers trying to sell tours or massages and so on. We didn’t stop for long but stretched the legs and had a little explore along the streets.

We drove through the very busy Singaraja but didn’t feel the need to stop until we reached the artful temple Pura Mdduwe Karang, there was a small donation on arrival and the locals who run the place were keen to give us a little tour for some extra cash. It’s all a bit staged but we did notice some tourists sneaking in the side and moved around the temple very quickly to avoid this. We didn’t know any better and so just gave them some money and left. The temple is really beautiful though with some very distinguished carvings including one of a Dutch man on a bicycle, the first to bring bikes over to Bali.

We then made our way southwards and drove towards the very tourist-centred Gunung Batur. Most people will visit this at around 5am to see the sunrise, and the surrounding village is full of hawkers, expensive buffet style restaurants and of course tourists. We asked our driver Ketut (our driver the other day was also called Ketut – perhaps it means ‘driver’) to take us to a local warring rather than a buffet place and he did not disappoint. In Kitamani he pulled over at a small place offering the local dish of Ikan Mujair; small sweet fish caught in the volcanic lake and grilled in spices served with rice and a side of fish head in broth. Okay the fish head wasn’t to our taste but the grilled fish was really good and it was nice to have the local dish. For all 3 of us to eat and have drink we paid 53,000 IRPS which is around $5, not bad.

He then took us to a look out over Gunung Batur away from the main look out areas, we had a good view out to the volcano and it surrounds of lava fields, rich farm land and the volcanic lake Danau Batur below. When we left the area completely we were moving towards our final destination Padangbai, and in total the drive was around 6-7 hours with stops. We went straight to Topi Inn at the far end of the bay and opted for a room costing 200,000 for the night, it was a family room and way too big for us (we actually felt a little bad for taking a room with 2 spare beds!) but we didn’t want to be wandering around too much searching for better deals.

Later on we realised we really should have found a room elsewhere, Topi Inn has a great backpackers vibe especially in the cafe and along the balcony, but at around 8-9pm they started playing the loudest bad euro pop which mean’t we literally had to shout to hear each other speak. The entire place is made of bamboo and so the music just gets everywhere. We recommend this place for food and drinks and if you want to party, but not to sleep.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0, 18mm f4, 90mm Tele-Elmarit f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

This was to be 3 days of sheer relaxation and fun with Vic and Dave. Starting early we all piled into “Po” along with bedding, food, booze and games and set off for Picton. Dave G had arranged with his brother for a boat taxi to meet us at a pier east of Picton, so thanks to his brother’s boss we got a free taxi ride out to their bach in the Malborough Sounds. This would have cost $90 between us if we hadn’t had this ride! It took around 15 minutes in the speed boat to get to the Gillan bach house and we realised we would have passed the area the day before when we were on the ferry coming in. Dave’s brother was waiting for us at the jetty as he was then getting in the boat to go to work.

For the first part of the day we just chilled out, sat around the decking area, chatting, drinking tea, eating lunch and reading. The boys rigged up the fishing rods and the girls had a good catch up. We went out in their fishing boat for a few hours in the late afternoon, early evening with each of us having our own rod. This was Helen’s first stint at fishing and it was pretty unsuccessful, but for Dave G he got a trout and another mean looking fish. The trout went back in the sea and we kept the bigger fish for dinner later on. Vic and Dave R caught some spotties whilst Dave G kept on bringing in the fish, they were all small so we had to put them back in the sea. It was a lovely day weather wise and it was fun being out in the boat.

Back at the bach Dave G got the barbecue sizzling and we opened the wine. We enjoyed a fishy dinner, more wine and more of Vic’s birthday cake. It was a very funny evening indeed ending in part 1 of Cranium taking place.

The next day was equally as relaxing and hot. So after a lazy start we enjoyed more tea, more chat and a dive off the jetty into the freezing waters of the Malborough Sounds. We couldn’t quite manage the full swim out to the buoy but it was refreshing enough for us to spend a little while in the water before getting out. Back on deck we enjoyed lunch, relaxation and reading.

Later on we went out in the boat again and this time round Helen did catch some fish, she managed to get about 4 whilst Dave caught about 7, Vic 3 and Dave G got quite a few too. We weren’t counting but we caught a lot of spotties and as they are so small we just let them back into the sea again. Not pleasant but it’s better than killing them.

We went a little further in the boat around to Lochmara Bay and had a hot drink stop at the Lochmara Lodge. The day before a pod of dolphins were making their way around the Sounds so we kept our eyes open but there were none to be seen. Alas the chai and hot chocolate’s were a very good distraction. Back for our last night at the Gillan bach Vic cooked a lovely lentil and pasta dish and we finished Cranium, only to be defeated! The following day we helped to tidy the bach in preparation for the Gillan family Christmas holidays, we read and just enjoyed being outside in the warmth.

To sum up our experience we really enjoyed the Malborough Sauvignon Blanc wines, we loved just relaxing in the sun, reading and chatting with friends and it was so good to have a taste of home. The Malborough Sounds are pretty idyllic and the idea of a bach by the sea is very tempting indeed.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0, 18mm f4 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

We left our hostel fairly early so we could get to Monterey as we could see that the weather was better up the coast. En-route we stopped by along the coast next to the surfers museum (which was closed the whole time we were there!). When we arrived in Monterey we took the 17 mile scenic drive around to Pebble beach, it’s $10 per vehicle and there are several stops to make along the way at this very beautiful coastline. The sea is wild against the rocky shores and we read about the ships that came crashing into the bay in search of Monterey. Some areas are inaccessible by foot as they are protected wildlife and conservation areas and it’s not exactly the type of place to go for a swim.

We stopped off at Pebble Beach resort to check out the golf courses and more fantastic views beyond, we looked on at people enjoying their champagne lunch on the veranda! They also house golf tournament trophies at the lodge. Moving on from Pebble beach we came to Carmel Bay, a more sandy beach to enjoy but the sea again was very rough, still it didn’t stop the surfers. After our scenic drive we checked into the motel we were staying at which at $69/night between the 3 of us wasn’t a bad find! We ate in a highly rated mexican restaurant that night, not exactly one to get dressed up for but the food is really good at a low price plus we had left overs for the next day!

We started the next morning with a trip to the Monterey Aquarium. It’s a huge place and so we set aside half a day to explore. This aquarium is the biggest in the world and houses much of what is local to the Californian sea including a juvenile great white shark. Highlights for us included the Deep Blue feeding time aswell as meandering around the sea horse exhibit. It’s a pretty spectacular place with several marine life experts dedicating their time to preserving the marine life in the Monterey Bay.

When we left Monterey we journeyed along the Big Sur with our end destination being Cambria to stay with Helen’s relatives Jill and Joe was again! We had intended originally to stay on the Big Sur and if we’d have been camping this would have been possible as campsites are fairly cheap given the location. However because there were 3 of us it was looking pricey for us to get accommodation at an affordable price so we couldn’t really resist Jill’s offer of getting into Cambria sooner and using their location as a base to explore.

Driving along the Big Sur was again fantastic, there are a lot of stops and a lot of cars wanting to stop, but we chose a few places along the way to explore and take in the views which were breathtaking. It’s tricky to get down to the ocean unless you’re hiking but the views from the road side do it justice enough. We stopped off at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park to walk to a waterfall and at the beach area where a waterfall pours onto the beach and into the sea . As we left the Big Sur we found the elephant seals on San Simeon Bay herding together in their hundreds and we eventually arrived in Cambria at 7pm welcomed by Jill and Joe and some good home cooked food and wine! Home comforts!

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM processed in Lightroom 3)

Leaving Oxbow State Park we ventured back onto the highway and headed for Cascade Locks which are situated along the Columbia River Gorge Scenic Route. The weather was closing in and it was all pretty foggy, no ideal for views over the river and the scenery. Along the way we spotted the Bonneville Dam which had a visitors centre, so we popped inside. It has a lot of history and information although it all appears a little dated. To allow the fish to swim upstream to spawn they have a “fish ladder” and a viewing area where they count the fish. The ladder was full of fish so it was quite interesting.

We opted to stay at a KOA campground which has amenities such as showers, wi-fi, laundry and a pool. It wasn’t long until the rain started so we ventured into the laundrette to do some much needed washing and some editing on the laptop. The rain did not halt and it was all quite depressing, so for only the second time whilst camping we ate out rather than cook in the downpour. We made our way into Cascade Locks, which is very sleepy, to look for some food options. We opted for a pub which looked to be the best option however we were both disappointed with the offering of a burger and a packet of crisps, all for $12 each! Not what we expected. Back to our digs and to bed in a slightly soggy tent.

After a restless night with cars, trains and rain hammering the tent we decided to have another night at the KOA to let the rain pass over. A hike was in order for the day to get ourselves out of the campground, especially the laundrette, and stretch the legs. We found the 400 trail and hiked through the forest up to a peak overlooking lots of fog. A river walk to a waterfall with lots of salmon trying to make it up stream was cool to see.

After chatting to a couple who we met along the way they informed us of a fish hatchery (the things you have to do when its raining!) not far away from our location so we headed over to have a look. We did not stay long and headed back to the camp for some lunch. After an evening of more editing in the laundrette we were ready for some sunshine and warmth, hopefully tomorrow will bring both.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM processed in Lightroom 3)

This is the first in a series of reviews taken from our experiences of several cooking classes that we participated in whilst travelling through Asia. We’re both foodies and love to explore new cuisine, this could have something to do with creativity. We both love to photograph and create nice imagery and design and we both like to design and create new and exciting food, and then photograph it! It all seems to be very complimentary!!

Whilst on the road, living out of our bags, on buses, trains and in hostels we didn’t get to cook and prepare our own food nearly as much as we would do on an ordinary day back home. In China we were really luck whilst staying in Beijing, we had an apartment for a month which mean’t we could go out and choose our ingredients from the local farmers market, this in itself was such a fantastic experience. Eating out all the time does take it’s toll but this is also part of the experience of exploring a country and it’s delights.

Taking part in a cooking class every so often mean’t we could explore further into the way the region or the country works with their local ingredients and taught us about the principles of their cuisine.It also mean’t we could eat everything we cooked!

We’re going to start with a course that we both loved and rate very highly in our travelling and food experiences. This was at The Yangshou Cooking School in Yangshou, Guangxi Province, China.

Their location on the banks of the Li River is stunning surrounded by karst peaks, bamboo rafts, and tourists! The course we did was a half day class starting at 8am with a local market tour. This is something that is very consistent with cooking courses in Asia, always starting with a market tour to give you an insight into where they source their ingredients from, what is local to the region and the atmosphere of a busy market place can be absorbed. Our chef and guide Kelly picked up on key ingredients that we would use such as bamboo shoots, chilli, chinese mushrooms and chinese eggplant before taking us back to the school.

We were informed about the morning, what we would be cooking and how we would do it. We each had our own cooking station with a wok on a gas stove, our own chopping boards, knives, bowls, oils and sauces for cooking with. The ingredients were portioned out for us and we would then prepare each dish before cooking it. Kelly demonstrated and then we cooked, and then we ate! For the final 4 dishes though we cooked them one by one and then had our own little banquet sat outside with the riverbanks below us – pretty idyllic!

Chinese cooking is all about sharing and dishes are served as a matter of balance. Hot and spicy dishes such as chicken with ginger and chilli should be offset by cooling preparations such as steamed fish or stir fried vegetables. A little bit of Yin and Yang occurs and equal attention should be paid for the balance of the food’s taste, texture, size, shape and aroma.

We had previously noticed how much oil was used in Chinese cooking, but on this particular course there wasn’t quite so much oil used and the dishes were very tastey and true to the Guangxi region. Not all Chinese food is the same, as we travelled from region to region we experienced subtle and strong differences in the presentation, spice, and taste.

There were around 10 of us in the class with a good mixture of young and old, and vegetarians were catered for equally. All in all we learned a lot about the values of Chinese cooking as well as picked up on some new and exciting recipes, which we think we could cook when we’re back in our own kitchen again.

Below are a few of those recipes! We hope you enjoy! Please do let us know if you manage to cook any!

Steamed Stuffed Vegetables

50gms minced pork / use finely chopped firm tofu for vegetarian option
1 tablespoon of Chives – chopped
One quarter teaspoon of salt
Mixed vegetables – peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, courgette,

Mix the mince/tofu, salt and chives together. Stuff vegetables and steam for 15 minutes in a steaming basket. (Can use boiling water in a pan with an oven proof glass bowl instead and place vegetables in the bowl and then cover)

This dish is great as a starter and would be good at a barbeque or for a little tray of canapes!

Beer Fish

100gms fish (firm white with skin on)
2 tablespoons of peanut oil
Half tomatoe – chopped
Half green, half red pepper – sliced
1 tablespoon of sliced garlic tops or spring onions
1 tablespoon ginger – sliced
2 cloves of garlic – crushed
1 tablespoon of soy saice
Half teaspoon salt
Half glass of beer

Heat the wok, add oil and leave on full heat. Turn down the heat, put fish into work skin down, add salt on top of fish. Fry on each side for about 3 minutes making sure skin is brown. Put all veges, garlic and ginger on top of fish. Pour on soy sauce and beer. Cover with lid and cooking for 5 minutes. Remove lid add spring onions, reduce liquid for 2 minutes. Serve.

This is a really tastey dish indeed!! It’s so easy but we found it’s all about timing, adding the ingredients at the right time. A useful hint on the crushing of garlic – all we did was smash it with a large flat knife and that was that – no extra chopping required.

Eggplant Yangshou Style

100gm eggplant
2 tablesppons of peanut oil
Half red pepper – sliced
One quarter teaspoon of ginger – sliced
2 cloves of garlic – crushed
2 spring onions – sliced
Quarter teaspoon of salt
One teaspoon soy sauce
Half teaspoon oyster sauce

Heat wok and add oil. Heat until oil is smoking and then add eggplant and fry until browned and cooked. Move eggplant to side of wok, reduce heat and fry garlic, ginger and pepper for one minute. Mix eggplant with vegetbales, salt, soy sauce and oyester sauce. Add spring onions. Serve.

All of these dishes are for 2 persons, so double your quantities if you’re cooking for 4!

We were picked up at 8.30am or so from our guesthouse and much to our delight there were an extra 4 people booked on the trip and so we received $10 refund each off the original trip price. We were able to take our main bags and leave them at the Tourist Office securely whilst we would b out on the trip, after dropping them off we went on our way to the first stage of the trek.

There were 8 of us in total and we were a good mix of people with 2 cheeky tour guides carrying our food from place to place. We took a Song Thaw for about an hour towards the national park and stopped at a wooden bridge, this presented us with a problem; we couldn’t go any further in the vehicle over the bridge with all the food and people packed inside of it, so we off loaded, carried the food and walked to the village around 1km away. When we got there Mii was waiting with a scooter and took the food from us in preparation for the lunch-time spot.

After a short introduction to the village and our guides we walked for around an hour and a half and landed at our first cave of the tour. It wasn’t so big in size but was good enough to explore with head torches. Onwards from there we continued to walk through forest and farmland and ended at the lunch time spot which was at another cave, here there was also a lagoon going into the cave and so everyone stripped off and went for a swim. Helen wasn’t feeling up to getting into the water and was still surviving off re-hydration drinks. The lunch was served on a long picnic bench and we fought off the flies whilst eating barbecued fish, chicken, sticky rice and vegetables, it was okay but the flies didn’t help! We stopped at this spot for over and hour and then continued to walk to another cave. This cave was very impressive, for 15 minutes we all sat or snoozed letting the lunch settle in the peacefulness of the cave. Dave went off to explore a little and photographed the rest of us snoozing away. The tour-guides then led us through one part of the cave guided by torch-lights and out into another much larger section of the cave. There was water and a sand-bank that led towards a large exit point. At one side of the cave there are steps leading up to a Buddah shrine and fantastic views across the cave to the other-side where we snoozed. We were told that once a year there is a festival that happens in this cave and around 3000 people go there to celebrate for 3 days, as always in Laos style, we could only imagine what this would be like.

After leaving the cave we walked another 5 km to a Stupa and then a further 1km to the village where we were staying that night. The village farmed tobacco and we were surprised at the presentation of the village homes in comparison to those we had seen and stayed at in Cambodia. There are around 90 people living in this village with mostly young children under the age of 11. When we asked where all the older children were the response was that in the dry season they go to the town or city to work and send the money back to their family, coming back in the wet season to farm. The children were good fun to photograph but we got the impression they’re used to westerners coming into their village as they showed off, grabbed at the cameras and were quite cheeky. Still it’s all good for the purpose of photographing.

Our accommodation comprised of an eco-style hut with great views from the village of the surrounding mountains and we enjoyed chatting on the balcony of the hut whilst the sun went down. The bed’s were made for us with mosquito nets and bed covers provided. We will say one thing though; always carry a sleeping bag liner or inner sheet as they don’t clean their bed linen very well and we noticed a few bugs crawling around!

We played Putong with the locals (boules) and managed to beat the French couple from our group, one of whom plays it every summer with his brother!! Not bad! The locals cooked us dinner and we all ate together along with them on the balcony of the guesthouse. Later that evening we participated in a traditional Laos Bacai ceremony, this involved the group sitting around a circular table with a candle and flower arrangement in the middle. For each person there was a portion of sticky rice and chocolate bar that we would accept as a gift.  The head of the village came to each of us one by one accompanied by his two deputy leaders, he prayed for us, spoke of good things to come and all of us were predicted we would ‘live long liiiife’. He placed a cotton bracelet on our wrist and the gift was in the pal of our hands. Following him his deputy’s did the same so we ended with 3 bracelets each and many many wishes of a long life!

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

We got an early bus to Koh Kong, although as per usual it took over an hour to leave the city and then we were still stopping along the way to pick up other passengers, many of whom didn’t have seats so were sat on plastic chairs in the aisles. After around 5 hours or so we landed in Koh Kong at a bus stop a little way out of the main streets, tuk-tuk drivers once again were hassling us to take pick up into town, but we knew from the scale of the map that it wouldn’t be too far to walk. We met Ali and Carl who’d been traveling mainly in India on the bus and we all decided to walk in together. We landed at The Dugout Hotel, which is quite easy to find on the main street leading towards the market. The manager is Australian and pretty helpful when it comes to advice in the area, we opted for a room that was more than we were hoping to pay but thought we’d just stay there the one night. They have a small pool there too so we were keen to go in for a dip to cool down from the afternoon heat.

Later on we met up with Ali and went to have a chat with a local eco-tour operator ran by a friendly chap called Mr T, his office is located at Dugout, and they are owned by the same guy who runs the Oasis Bungalow resort a little way out of town. We found out about tours on offer and what was possible for us to do and see on Koh Kong Island, after going back and forth and realising we couldn’t stay on the Island, Mr T made a few calls and pretty much made up a tour for us on the spot. We could take a 2 day boat trip to Koh Kong Island, visit the beautiful beaches, have barbecues on the beach, all of our food and stay at a fishing village called Alatan that is connected to the island via stilts and wooden bridges. For the 4 of us to go it would cost $55 each! This was a good price considering the tours we had paid for in Vietnam. So we agreed and decided to leave the following day. If you do go to the tourist office at The Dugout please note that this isn’t a tour they do on a regular basis so don’t expect it to be advertised. They offer other types of tours including jungle treks and mountain biking in the area, Koh Kong itself doesn’t have much going on, it’s a small town which can be used as a handy base to go off and explore.

We were picked up at 8am and taken to the harbour where we had a boat, driver and guide waiting with us along with a fridge full of food. It was a long boat that they had decked out for our comfort, Mr T came along to make sure everything was ready and set up for us and off we went. The first part of the boat trip took around 2 hours and on the way we even bought our fish from a local fisher-mans boat! We took a brief stop at beach number 1, we all jumped off the boat and went for a swim in the crystal clear waters. The beach was beautiful with no-one else around so we were excited about going to the further afield beaches.

After around half an hour we carried on towards beach number 3, here we stopped and the driver threw in the anchor. We had until around 4pm here, and so we swam, sunbathed, ate a fantastic fish barbecue meal, swam some more, the guide built us a shelter from the sun, Carl tried to catch a crab and so on. All in all it was absolutely gorgeous, we had the whole place to ourselves, the sea was beautiful and clear and it was so serene. At last we had found a paradise. We had heard that not many people come to Koh Kong Island other than on day trips because the military operate the Island so it’s not the safest place to stay, also the trips only go when there are more than 4 people so this meant we didn’t see any other tourists, only fishing boats.

After a lazy afternoon on the beach we got back into our boat and made the hour journey to Alatan fishing village. We weren’t expecting what awaited us at all. The village is build up of around 50 or so houses all built on stilts going away from the Island for around 1km. As we arrived many local children were waiting for us, all shouting hello and smiling and laughing nervously in anticipation of our arrival. We instantly felt very humble and privileged to be there and were taken into the house which would be our base for our stay. As soon as we got inside the children were posing for photographs, asked Dave to do some English spelling and took us up onto the Island where their school is based. We were quite overwhelmed by the whole experience, they were so happy for us to be sharing their home with them, showing us around their school and attempting to speak English with us. The photography opportunities here were fantastic.

After an hour or so of playing with the children we sat down for dinner and enjoyed more fish, rice, salad and fruit. We had previously seen two full size snooker tables in one of the houses a little further away from where we were and asked if we could play some snooker/pool. We have no idea how easy or hard it was for them to get those things in there, we were amazed that they had them and they clearly kept them in mint condition. It was also amazing to see how each family have some way of making money; either by fishing, selling groceries, a little cafe at one end and then the snooker hall!

So we played for an hour until going to bed at around 10pm, we had an audience watching us the entire time and Helen didn’t play well at all. We kind of just wanted to be unseen at this moment in time wishing for a game of pool on a snooker table to end!! Unfortunately for us Ali and Carl beat us 2-0, but Helen always makes a point that pub sports…just ain’t her thing! ha ha!

So to our bedroom which our hosts had vacated for us for that night, 4 of us all lined up on a thin mattress, with water underneath and noises from loud televisions, babies’ crying and the like meant we were on for a restless night. Still the experience of being there far outweighed any of this and we were very happy to have stayed in Alatan that night.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

We booked a 3 day 2 night tour with Sinhbalo tours (tour – “SBL8 – Cycle from MyTho to Cai Be, Vinh Long and Can Tho (3D/2N)”) along with new best friends Justin and Jules. We had been recommended the company by other travellers we’d met in Halong Bay who’d actually made the statement that it was the best thing they’d done in Vietnam, so based on this we thought they would be a strong bet for a good cycling tour. Other companies tend to charge more for similar tours and we didn’t want to stretch our budget too much.

The first day involved a mixture of bus, boat and cycling. The bus took us from HCMC to the Mekong Delta and took around 3 hours, as soon as we arrived we took a boat journey along the Mekong to an Island where we were introduced to local life, food and animals! We had some lovely very fresh fruits and tea as well as some baked rice cakes (a little like sweet poppadoms), our guide Duat talked us through the family home and traditions, they were getting ready for festive family celebrations leading up to TET. This led onto a little boat trip through one of the Mekong canals, the whole route to ourselves led us back peacefully to the boat where we had got off. So it was a pretty leisurely start to the day that ended seeing us having lunch at a crocodile and coco-nut farm. Crocodile was not on the menu fortunately but they were there for us all to see and others to tease. The food served was fairly good, but we almost expected a little more, especially after the food of the Halong Bay tour.

We made another crossing of the Mekong river via boat and met the tour bus which had a fine selection of mountain bikes ready for us to explore the area. Our guide lead the way on a 20km ride along roads and trails which included plenty of “hellos” from children along the way, this is something you get used to very quickly when cycling around. Another boat journey landed us at the home-stay for our evenings stay. It was more like a simple eco guest house on stilts rather than a homestead but non the less it provided double beds with mosquito nets. A short walk around the local area gave a flavour of local life and then it was time for our evening meal. This was quite similar to lunch which was a little disappointing as its nice to try different menu items, however it was well received by everyone. Some card games, beer and a glimpse of fireflies in the trees finished the day off nicely and we were all looking forward to the next installment of cycling.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

Up early at 6.30am and then breakfast was served, consisting of bread, jam, eggs and watermelon. We climbed aboard our stallions for the day (21 speed mountain bikes) and started off the 1.5hr bike ride through the delta area. We passed many little villages and homes with yet more screams of “hello” from the kids we passed, rice fields and cows. The heat of the day was quite oppressive however we had plenty of water supplied by our tour guide and eventually we arrived at a town and increased our energy with a good feed. We were informed that it was 35C by a local who was sheltering from the midday sun.

After a good rest and a rendezvous with the support (ford transit) van we stocked up on bottled water and then headed off along sealed roads towards the suspension bridge. This was a great climb to the top and certainly got the blood and sweat pumping, but we were rewarded with a lovely view of the area, and the best thing about going up, is the knowledge that you go down on the other side! Much speed and fun.

We arrived at the next town and settled into the provided accommodation which was very nice. Our guide met us after some rest time and took us to a nearby restaurant on the water front of the Mekong. The food was again great with lots of variation and options for the vegetarians. We had a walk around the town which was in preparation for TET and very busy, a few beers and then bed time.

On our last day of the tour we started early again with a 6am breakfast followed by a short bus ride to a taxi boat that ferried us to the famous floating markets. The boat journey took around 10 minutes and as we arrived at the markets there was a real buzz in the air, people shopping for their store supplies, pulling up alongside bigger boats in their small long boats, transporting vegetables, fruit and other wholesale items between each other. Some of the boats are huge and in between you’ll find a little lady selling street food from her tiny boat. We stopped at a pineapple sellers boat, got off ours and onto the top of theirs, we sat and they prepared freshly picked pineapples for us to eat there and then, they were so juicy!! After this we got back onto our boat and continued to drive past other sellers and vendors. It was a really impressive and insightful start to the day, just seeing how this type of community trade and all between boats is so different from what any of us expected. It’s good to get to the markets earlier in the morning or as early as you can manage as they finish at around midday having started at something like 4am, by 10am many tourists appear and it gets really busy. We were there at around 7am and there weren’t too many other tourists around.

We left the markets after an hour and continued up-river to a point where we met our trusty driver once more, he was there waiting with our bikes ready for us to ride on the last leg of our cycling trip. The last bike ride of the trip was quite tame and took around 2 hours, going through more villages, over more bridges and passing my many children shouting ‘Hello…what’s your name?’ and so on. At around 11am we found ourselves back at the hotel where we had time to shower and check out before starting the journey back to HCMC. The journey back took around 4 hours with an hours break for lunch at a posh service area called the Mekong Service Area where it seems most upper end tours take you too, it was a little like a 4 start resort made up of just restaurants. The food was good and Helen even had her own fish and vegetarian menu, they made some rice balls that came up into big balloons probably the most interesting thing about it. It was also our last supper with Justin and Jules so we toasted to good times in Vietnam.

Back in HCMC we said our goodbyes to our 3 week travel buddies and went our separate ways to our hotels. Later on we managed to get to the post office to send on our winter gear to Australia (we shouldn’t be needing it until then!?) We sent two 2kg parcels costing around $25 for airmail delivery. We ate at Zen once again for a tasty vegetarian feast, walked around the area and then went back to Luan Vu to get ready for our trip to Phnom Penh the next morning.

We were due for a pick up at 7.30am but it wasn’t until around 8 that the bus turned up, we ended up doing the rounds of the town picking up fellow travellers and en-route passed our place about 3-4 times! Once on our way it was a pleasant journey, we were pretty chuffed as we had the whole of the upper back row sleeper seats to ourselves – that’s 5! It’s a good tip actually when you’re doing the sleeper buses over in Vietnam the upper top or lower back end of the bus means you get a little more room and windows to get rid of the smell (if there is any!). Helen was feeling ill so slept and awoke for a few photos every so often, Dave happily snapped away through the back window and was rewarded for his efforts we think!

We arrived in Mui Ne at around 1.30pm and it was scorching, somewhere around 30 degrees or so. Very nice indeed but we had to look for somewhere to stay so onwards we walked to find accommodation, fortunately we bumped into Justin and Jules and they let us put our bags in their room at Mellow. A nice vibe place that is what its title says; Mellow! Oh and yellow!! We booked to stay there for the following nights as they had availability and found a room at the back of a restaurant a few doors down from Mellow for $15. For the ease and the fact that it was clean we stayed there for the night.

We managed to walk along the beachfront to catch a glimpse of the sunset before meeting up with J&J at The Lam Tong restaurant for dinner that night. Lam Tong is nicknamed ‘Long Time’ for good reason, the service is pretty poor, they don’t always get the right food to the right table and you may have to wait a while to eat. Still it’s cheap and pretty good for what you’re paying, they also do an excellent fruit plate which is tour 5 a day right there. We went along the beach for a few drinks and then went off to our beds!

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

We had our breakfast which was not very good, although they did have a lot of fruit (always a bonus). We checked out as had booked to stay at the same hotel as Justin and Jules for the rest of our stay in Hoi An. We confirmed the next leg of our journey to Nha Trang and checked into our new place, Hoi An is conveniently small so it was only a 5-10 minute walk from our last place. We decided to hire bikes for the day as a group and head to the beach, before doing this though Jules and Helen wanted to look into getting some clothes made up in town, we chose the shop that was recommended by the hotel and is also in The Lonely Planet called Phuoc An. It doesn’t look much from the outside, in fact it looks a little too smart if anything and Helen was a little dubious as to what type of clothes they would be making. After going through various cookbooks (next catalogues and gossip fashion columns) we decided on a blouse and a dress. Jules was going for a whole new wardrobe but Helen had to think about budget!!

I sketched out the dress so that they would know what style I was after and the blouse was to be kept quite loose, more like balloon style sleeves and nothing too clingy. Choosing the fabric was a nerve-racking experience. We were taken out to another shop area and Jules was swept off to a separate room, suddenly I felt a little alone in deciding what material to choose…so much choice, not exactly what I had in mind…second thoughts going through my head. In the end though I opted for a floral pattern on the dress with a green hem and a white blouse with small polka dots all over it. I was excitedly nervous about what the final garments would turn out like. We had to pay half of the money up front and the remaining amount was to be paid upon collection.

So with the little fashion moment over we met the boys a few streets down and set off to find the beach. It was around 5-6 km to the beach and the scenery was rather lovely along the way with lush riverside banks and palm trees. As we approached the seaside resort town we were whistled off the road to a parking area, this is because the locals want to make some money from those of us on bikes. We decided to ignore them and carried on, we soon realised we weren’t allowed to park our bikes pretty much anywhere on the main stretch of beach. So we went onto cycle further up the coastal road until we found a path that led to the beach without being charged to park up the bikes. When we got to the beach it was pretty wild stretch with mainly bowl like fisherman boats ready to go out to sea and one lonesome fisherman fighting against the waves. It was too rough to go in and a little too windy to play frisky, but we found a spot and enjoyed the warmth. This was the hottest it had been for us so far on our travels so it was nice to be there. Unfortunately there are quite a few spots of oil on the beach which is hard to avoid. Perhaps in the more touristy area this wouldn’t be there.

After an hour we set off back to the village to get some grub. The boys decided to take us off on a detour to other villages which didn’t appear to be serving food, so another hour later and we were back at the main strip eating at one of the first restaurants we passed on our way in. Still it meant that we had worked up an appetite. Food done and we went back to Hoi An and got ready to join up with Jules’s brother and wife for some cheap food at Cafe 43 located next door to the Phuoc An Hotel. You can eat here very cheaply indeed at around 50p for a reasonable vegetable curry and beers that cost 15p for half a pint. No drinks for Helen due to antibiotics but the rest got nice and merry and many laughs were had with the local beer staff.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

The following morning we were up early for an 8.30am cookery class with The Morning Glory Restaurant. We met at the restaurant and as a group of around 15 were split into two for a market tour. We had a delightful guide who showed us around the local market, some of which has been kept to resemble it’s original appearance and features from the 1940′s. You can buy pretty much anything at the market throughout the various levels and areas, first we came to the fruit stalls, were talked through the different fruits and their uses, then onto spices which were all fresh from their plan form, from there we went to pick out some herbs and we ended in the fish section. Parts of the market are covered under cloth and other areas are in newer built multi-story buildings. We always enjoy doing a market tour as it gives you a great insight into the local culture.

Back at the restaurant we were taken through to a class area, at the front of the class was a table with a large mirror positioned above so we could see what was happening on the head chef’s cookery area. We all had our own stations with herbs and ingredients ready to go. We started with some fresh spring rolls which we have both learned to love over here, Helen had shrimp and vegetables and Dave had some pork in his. The herbs and dipping sauces allow for a bursting of flavours and we followed this up with a pancake on a similar scale, again tasting very deliciously. Another course was fish or chicken on skewers accompanied with a spicy mango salad, reminiscent of a Thai Sam Tom papaya salad. We prepared the marinade for this and made the salad and then it was taken away to be cooked. We did some cooking with instruction from the main chef and her fellow helpers and the food was extremely tasty. The head chef also gave a demonstration as to how to make a beef pho – the local noodle dish, it was introduced as a desert which is odd to think about.

It was a pretty good class all in all but as always improvements could be made; there was quite a lot going on in the classroom with other chefs moving plates, food around and so on, this became quite distracting as the teacher was only ever based at the front of the class. We would have liked to do more hands-on preparatory work and cooking, and the head chef was a little bit of a diva…she was quite impersonal and like to boss around her fellow staff.

After we left the restaurant it started to rain, we cycled quickly back to the dress shop where Helen’s pieces were ready to collect (we’d been in the night before to make a few changes – all of which had been performed) we were very satisfied with the service and quality of the clothes. We took advantage of the rain and did some editing back at the hotel before going to our favourite cheap eats next door, we followed this up with a lemongrass ice-cream from the Cargo Club deli. Our market guide had talked about it earlier that day on the tour so we thought it would be rude not to follow it up, she was surprised and pleased to see us there that night enjoying the ice-cream – oh and it was very good indeed.

The next day the rain continued to pour, we packed our bags, did some more work on the blog and strolled around the town before getting ready for our overnight bus journey. Before we left we went back to the deli to pick up a sandwich and chocolate brownie pack lunch (we also got a piece of fruit and water with it too) so that was our treat for the day. Helen wasn’t feeling too good so we intentionally did very little.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)