Asia Scenic

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Asia Scenic Arias Jordens
Cathedral & Saigon Post Office
May 18, 2016 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C
The Basilica of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception (also known as Mary) and the central post office are right next to each other. Both seemingly a bit out of place surrounded by the hustle and bustle of one of SE Asia's largest cities. One a modelled after a European Cathedral and the other an American 60's post office (although the latter probably is a 60's American post office built during the war). Nonetheless both an experience, especially dealing with the clerks trying to ship our gifts back home!Read more
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Asia Scenic Arias Jordens
Mekong Delta
May 20, 2016 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C
This was the last time I would be at the Mekong river for the foreseeable journey. From Thailand, through Laos, into Cambodia and now Vietnam. The lifeblood for countless people in this part of the world, It's role cannot be overstated.

The tour took us on an exploration around 4 islands and a small offshoot inland. Starting on Unicorn Island we saw the local bee production whose honey is renowned in Vietnam. We were ferried between the islands in small boats paddled by little old ladies who were as hard as old boot leather. We fed some crocodiles, who are pure reptilian coldness - you can see it in their eyes, they'd eat you in a second. Took us on a tour around a coconut sweet fudge/chocolate factory and sampled some fruit picked from the orchards whilst we listened to some traditional Vietnamese musical instruments. It was all very nice but very setup and lots of other tours and tourists doing the same things but in different orders so as not to congest the place. It was a nice outing but overpriced for what it was, probably much cheaper to rent a bike and do it yourself.Read more
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Dalat, Vietnam
May 21, 2016 in Vietnam ⋅ 🌙 11 °C
Dalat is a town nesteld in the mountains north west of HCMC inland with dappled with French colonial architecture in beautiful surroundings, also the first place since I've been travelling I have worn a jumper because it was actually cold which was actually a nice feeling after 4 months of heat. The wolfpack smashed out a night bus and headed to out homestay when we arrived where we met fellow English(wo)men one of whom was from Barnet and knew a few peeps as me...small world!Read more
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Swan Lake
May 21, 2016 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C
We were a bit tired on our first day due to our night bus, early start and general sleep deprivation so we decided to walk around dalat see what's up but no bike riding or hardcore exploring. On our walk we saw a lake and swan pedalos and so grabbed a few beers each, rented out 3 pedalos and hit the water. Now, somehow, this turned from casual ride to a 10 swan chain swimming on the lake. We had joined forces with the locals out enjoying the weather and transformed into one cohesive super swan unit patrolling the waters! Again I don't know how but it was a very enjoyable if surreal moment, one that all the kids in the other pedalos thanked us profusely for as their parents slowly dismantled super swan and went their own ways.Read more
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Crazy House
May 21, 2016 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C
WTF?! Pretty much covers it. This house is considered in the top 10 craziest houses in the world and is like stepping into the physical manifestation of Lewis Carroll's mind before he organised it into a plot. Very cool and very crazy.Read more
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Journey to Elephant Waterfall
May 22, 2016 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C
On the way to the waterfall the rain hit us, hard. Jess had a slight slip on the bike and fell so we decided to stop, eat something (that was very questionable) and suit up for the remainder of the journey...

On a side note, the suits are actually meant to cover your entire body and do for the Vietnamese. Enter the 6'4 noodle.Read more
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Elephant Waterfall
May 22, 2016 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C
Epic waterfall that you can stand just behind and feel the raw power of the water. Tried to take pictures of it but risky with the old phone. Cool hike down to see it as well.
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Pit Stop
May 22, 2016 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C
For views, a lake and general frolickment.
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Asia Scenic Arias Jordens
Canyoning
May 23, 2016 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C
A mix of hiking, climbing, abseiling, swimming, sliding & free jumping in a natural environment. What a ride!! If you look very carefully on the last picture you can see the moment josh has squashed somethings very dear to me.Read more
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Trúc Lâm Pagoda
May 24, 2016 in Vietnam ⋅ 🌙 17 °C
Possible the most peaceful temple I have ever been too. The energy there was serene, the gardens, architecture and artwork beautiful, the surrounding environment stunning. Wind chimes were hanging from the various structures attributing to the mystical and spiritual feeling of the place.Read more
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Datlana Falls
May 24, 2016 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C
Without knowing it we had returned to where we had done our canyoning which was a good thing because we got to explore the rest of what the rest of the park had to offer which included waterfalls, archery, a luge, sampling some artichoke tea (and Jack peeing over the edge of a waterfall).Read more
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Mountain Ride & Tiger Falls
May 24, 2016 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C
This was the last bike adventure of Da Lat. This was also Josh's first ever day of riding a moped and he'd already seen Chris take a little fall. We decided to try and summit a mountain that we could see using a contour map.

There were no tracks or roads showing on or phones and so we just headed up along small winding dirt paths. As we got higher the road definitely became less travelled to the point where we weren't following a specific path, more just trying to stay on an even surface. The drop offs beside us were staggering and if we had tilted a little too much one side our bikes, and most likely us, would have been written off smashing into trees down a very steep slope.

I almost had a fall when my back tyre kicked out after getting caught on a root, Jack almost went off the side when his back tyre kicked out because of water and skidded with a third of his bike hanging over the precipice! Josh got stuck in a huge puddle as he tried to drive straight through it and got bogged down in the mud needing to be dragged out.

We made it to the peak which is awesome but unfortunately it wasn't a summit with a view. We could just see forest all around us and the coffee plantations that were nestled in the troughs below. "It's about the journey, not the destination" sums up this completely. It sounds like an ordeal and there may have been trace amounts of stress during the experience but it was so much fun. This is what dirt bikes are for...next time.

Our way down was the same but in reverse, just a hard brake on while rolling constantly! We went to find Tiger Falls which was nearby and as we arrived a local tried to overcharge us for parking. After we saw that bartering wasn't going to work we headed down the way a bit left our bikes, headed through the bush to get there. It was an average waterfall, not too much water but lots of rocks to laze about on which was needed after our little jaunt. After we left we headed back to Da Lat.Read more
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Maze Bar & Karaoke
May 24, 2016 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C
So the artist that designed the crazy house had a student (more like acolyte) that designed the Maze Bar following the same themes and it is awesome! 4 storeys with a bar on the first at the entrance and then the main bar on the third, you have to find your way through this crazy ass maze to reach it and it's a lot of fun, especially when a bit inebriated and playing hide & seek. Afterwards we grabbed whoever we could, dragged them to karaoke and sung until we got kicked out for closing time 😁Read more
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Hội An, Vietnam
May 26, 2016 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
Hoi an is a town in central Vietnam and was a good slog to get to from Dalat. Its old town is a world heritage site and is fsmous for its latern festival every full moon. Also rated as the best place to get tailor made clothes. Again strong French colonial influences, yet situated on the coast rather than the mountains. $1 beers in the bars/restaurants, free beers in some, free whisky at our hostel and a very social atmosphere. We spent a long time here, more than we probably would have, as we were meeting Petras who was flying out from China to meet us. But definitely wasn't a bad place to spend out time 😁Read more
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Da Nang
May 27, 2016 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 38 °C
Da Nang is the capital city of Central Vietnam and is about 40 min drive from Hoi An along thee coast with a lot to do in and around both as well as in between. This is also the city where we lost Petras on his moped because the roundabouts are ridiculously busy the Asians are fearless and will just cut you up by going for the smallest space. This led to a search that could of come out of a movie spotting each other going the other way, inopportune timings & misunderstandings. All's well that ends well, we got him in the end 😉Read more
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Marble Shop
May 28, 2016 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 38 °C
This is just one of the many that are selling fine marble wares and they are all huge! Marble mountain which is nearby has been mined for it for years now and so marbleists? have been flocking here to make use of the material.Read more
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Ba Na Hills Resort
May 29, 2016 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C
The drive to this place was incredible purely for the unexpectedness of the scenery but the end result was definitely the suprise of the day. We were following a map which just showed walking trails and viewpoints and so as we crested the hill closing in on our destination we saw a huge wall that looked as though it had been taken out of medieval China but brand new with a car park full of cars, coaches and bikes next to it. We drove down and discovered it was a holiday park resort thing but that it was seemingly catered to Chinese people who wanted to experience Vietnam all in one place without travelling Vietnam as it had architecture, temples, activities & events from across the country and its history. All of it premeditated and designed. Bit of a shame really, we couldn't get in to the viewpoints or walks without paying so we just rode off again enjoying the spectacular view all around us.Read more
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Marble Mountain
May 29, 2016 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C
We'd been meaning to climb the "mountain" for a while and we finally did it. It wasn't too hard a walk and there were lots of caves, temples, shrines & viewpoints to explore. Yeh, it was cool.
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Surprisingly Eventful Journey to Class!
May 30, 2016 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C
One of the this has I wanted to do when I left for travelling is take a cooking class in every country I went to. Thailand I did, then Laos and Cambodia I didnt. Laos because the food was very similar to Thai just not as nice and Cambodia I just didn't get around to it although the Lok Lak is delish. Vietnam it was happening for sure and Josh, a culinary expert, wanted to do one as well so we booked it and went off.

We met our guide and she immediately named us Ping & Ming (I think!) which meant baby and hero (she said...) obviously I was hero 💪

Anyway it was just the two of us and she took us away on a boat along the river where I saw fishing nets blowing in the wind and I don't why but it looked really beautiful. We soon stopped and switched into a bowl boat made from bamboo which Josh and I wearing our token rice hat's were paddling very poorly until the boatman took over and our guide was laughing at us. He then stopped and showed us how to make a fricking grasshopper from the long grass growing out of the water, flax I think? It was pretty impressive although I couldn't tell you now how it's done. He carried on through the waterways with long grass all around us and finally broke through into this beautiful little area with a small lake and an outdoors cooking area. We had arrived.Read more
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Cooking Class
May 30, 2016 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C
While we were here we learnt how to make a Vietnamese summer roll properly so that you could see the prawns after it was wrapped. Banh Xea which is a fried rice pancake with shrimp, chilli, onion egg and some other things, banana leaf salad and roast pork and noodles and Vietnamese dipping sauce which goes well I with anything and is hot hot! Just the way I like it! All of which we got to enjoy and was delicious if I do say so myself. We also went fishing with a bamboo rod, string and hook, the most basic fishing rod ever but we managed to catch a few. It was a really fun day out and I think Ping would agree on that!Read more
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Hue, Vietnam
June 1, 2016 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 38 °C
Hue is the old capital city of Vietnam and is home to tombs, world heritage sites, abandoned water parks and a palace complex. It is connected to Da Nang via the Hai Van pass which is one of the most epic drives I will probably ever do.Read more
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Old Imperial City
June 2, 2016 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 37 °C
The old capital and residence of royalty, the imperial city still boasts an impressive defensive wall and gardens. Once inside as the grounds are large and thr buildings sparse it does seem to give the whole place a forgotten feeling despite the fact that this is a place of cultural significance. Maybe it would of helped of we had taken a guided tour to appreciate what we were seeing a bit more but nonetheless it was still impressive to see. The theatre that still holds shows was particularly cool displaying old theatrical masks and instruments used in entertainment of a bygone age.Read more
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Royal Antiquities Museum
June 2, 2016 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 36 °C
This musuem was pretty sparse as musuems go for Vietnam without a lot of information on what you're looking at, still nice to have a look around.
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Bike Ride to Than Toan Village
June 3, 2016 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C
Than Toan Bridge - Oldest tile roof bridge in Vietnam over 200 years old.
Cycling through the rice paddies
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Tomb Raiding
June 4, 2016 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 37 °C
This was pure boys fun...jump on a bike go driving around on dirt paths and exploring things that looked really old 😁 we stumbled across a tomb that was nesteld behind some trees, up a crumbling staircase, with a huge iron door. As we heaved to try and push it open it finally gave way with almighty "wooooaaaawww" a noise I still here in my dreams. And we wondered into a small complex of strange symbols and stone engravings. As we continued exploring further we found ourselves accidentally inside the boundaries of a world heritage site, again not knowing what we were looking at but whatever it was, it was cool. We wondered around for a bit, half walking, half riding until we were shouted at by a aged security man, we got on our way pretty sharpish upon exit realising that people were meant to pay to enter the WHS.Read more
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