2002-2005 (c) GetJealous.com, All rights reserved. http://www.getjealous.com/royandsteph/rss.xml Life is short. It should not simply be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, champagne in one hand, strawberries in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming WOO HOO, what a ride!! Follow us as we continue the ride :-) http://www.getjealous.com/royandsteph http://www.getjealous.com/blog.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=2761745&go=royandsteph It"s now more than 5 weeks since our return to the cold, dull and damp of Britain. From a year of sunshine and temperatures that often went up to "Phew that"s Hot ", we got back to help everyone enjoy the coldest British winter since records began. (That"s since LP records began around the turn of the 1960"s by the way.)We were wondering what was going to be the most... http://www.getjealous.com/blog.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=2761745&go=royandsteph Sat, 30 Mar 2013 12:00:00 GMT http://www.getjealous.com/blog.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=2752014&go=royandsteph We"d like to tell you that we spent the last week or so of our year-long trip checking off yet another amazing place from our bucket list.We"d like to, but we can"t!One thing that was certain: we had to get ourselves to Bangkok, because that"s where our final BA flight back to Blighty would depart from.We"d actually arrived in Bangkok early - we had 11 days in which to do ... http://www.getjealous.com/blog.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=2752014&go=royandsteph Mon, 11 Feb 2013 12:00:00 GMT http://www.getjealous.com/blog.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=2750707&go=royandsteph The next steps into the Great Unknown that for us, was Cambodia, saw us on a Giant Ibis going from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh.Until recently, if you didn"t want to fly between Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, your obvious travel options were an "express" boat which was by all accounts one of the scariest and least safe ways to travel that"s ever been devised, or on board one of the, let... http://www.getjealous.com/blog.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=2750707&go=royandsteph Fri, 8 Feb 2013 12:00:00 GMT http://www.getjealous.com/blog.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=2749252&go=royandsteph And now, it"s Temple Time!We flew to Siem Reap from Dalat via Saigon, a fairly painless trip involving two nice new aircraft, one run by Vietnam Airlines and the other by Cambodia Angkor Air. We"ve had a few flights with these companies and, based on our experience, both do a damn good job and both are genuinely good value for money. Unlike Air Asia, who sell themselves as a "low c... http://www.getjealous.com/blog.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=2749252&go=royandsteph Mon, 4 Feb 2013 12:00:00 GMT http://www.getjealous.com/blog.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=2748837&go=royandsteph Dalat. Never heard of it? Well we had - but only because our mate Paul had been there!I was attracted by the sound of a "kitsch" city in the clear Vietnamese mountains. Roy wasn"t quite so convinced, but in the end he agreed to accompany me; and so, after a 50 minute flight in a Vietnam Airlines ATR72, we landed at Dalat"s brand spanking new airport.Oh the joy: as soon as we l... http://www.getjealous.com/blog.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=2748837&go=royandsteph Thu, 31 Jan 2013 12:00:00 GMT http://www.getjealous.com/blog.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=2748107&go=royandsteph After three weeks of hotel living, we thought it would be good to get ourselves a home-from-home again. The Organiser had found that there were a number of places in Saigon, err, sorry, Ho Chi Minh City, that offered fully serviced apartments for rent. The Riverside got particularly good write-ups and so we booked a week there. As well having a pretty good location, they included an airport pick-u... http://www.getjealous.com/blog.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=2748107&go=royandsteph Thu, 24 Jan 2013 12:00:00 GMT http://www.getjealous.com/blog.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=2747138&go=royandsteph We"d originally intended to continue our adventures with VietRail and let the train take the strain of getting us and the Luggage all the way from Hue to Hoi An. After our experience on the journey from Hanoi, we decided that we"d give the bus a try to see if that was any better.According to the very helpful Customer Services manager in the Gerbil Hotel (a Spanish lady called Maria), the... http://www.getjealous.com/blog.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=2747138&go=royandsteph Sun, 20 Jan 2013 12:00:00 GMT http://www.getjealous.com/blog.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=2747134&go=royandsteph The next bit of fun came when we looked at the options available for travel from Hanoi to our next port of call, Hue. Just for the sake of completeness (and so that some of the comments make a bit of sense), we should point out here that Hue is pronounced H’Way. And now, on with the story. After seeing how ‘interesting’ road journeys can be, and after reading Mark Smith’s comments abou... http://www.getjealous.com/blog.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=2747134&go=royandsteph Wed, 16 Jan 2013 12:00:00 GMT http://www.getjealous.com/blog.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=2746085&go=royandsteph Let"s start by saying that Vietnam was something of a culture shock after the excesses of the USA and the orderliness of the newly regimented Australia.The flight from Bangkok to Hanoi was relatively uneventful, if you put aside all the fun of check-in.We"d booked with Air Asia, who seemed to get pretty good reviews and, as an added bonus, were reasonably priced! Like most "budget&... http://www.getjealous.com/blog.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=2746085&go=royandsteph Sun, 13 Jan 2013 12:00:00 GMT http://www.getjealous.com/blog.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=2745439&go=royandsteph We were ready to leave Oz, and keen to begin the final part of our voyage to south-east Asia, so after a 5 hour Cathay Pacific flight, we touched down in Singapore.Co-incidentally our last visit there was 4 years to the day, so let"s see what"s changed we thought.The hotel we"d picked was very nice and, whilst we would love to have stayed at Raffles like our rich friends Al & De... http://www.getjealous.com/blog.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=2745439&go=royandsteph Tue, 8 Jan 2013 12:00:00 GMT