Beach time: Southern Thailand

We spent the last two weeks of our South East Asia trip effectively on holiday, relaxing and diving in the Thai islands. Flying in to Phuket, we stayed a few nights on Ko Phi Phi enjoying a more upmarket beach resort on 'Long Beach' that Ali's parents had kindly covered as his birthday present where there were magnificent views of the steep limescale cliffs that made this island popular in the film 'The Beach', and a beach front restaurant with good food and fireshows. Ali was also impressed by seeing several blacktip reef sharks whilst snorkelling in front of the resort!

Back on the mainland we headed to Khao Lak by the local bus where we stayed for a couple of nights. Here we took a nice coastal walk and managed to get laundry done only after scouring the town for the least overpriced place. It really struck us here that with their huge popularity the resorts in Thailand seem to be getting away with European-level prices for food, accommodation and even transport that it is very hard to travel on a budget, compared even with northern Thailand.

However this was our starting point for our two-day liveaboard boat trip to the Similan Islands, reputedly the best scuba diving in Thailand and it did seem to justify the premium. The islands are a protected marine park and there is an abundance of fish that swarmed around us whilst diving, including large eels, parrot fish, bat fish, scorpion fish, as well as a turtle, and even a manta ray on the surface. It is a great place to dive and we had very good conditions although unfortunately we weren't lucky enough to see the whale sharks which are occasionally present.

On our way crossing from the Andaman sea off the west coast to the Gulf of Thailand off the east coast we stopped for a couple of days at Khao Sok. This is a large national park with some well marked jungle walks and many monkey spotting opportunities and we found a family of langurs as well as several of the more common macaque. We took a trip to a lake house deep in the park which floats on a large reservoir formed in a valley flooded for hydroelectric power. We stayed in a small floating hut, relaxing and swimming in the lake. The scenery is incredible as you travel around an archipelago of small jungle islets looking for wildlife and we finally managed to see some gibbons swinging between as well as more langurs and macaques at home cleaning and preening each other. From a long distance we also saw a great hornbill flying between trees.

We finished with five nights on the east coast, staying on the island of Ko Phan-ghan, famed for its hedonistic full moon parties. Unfortunately we weren't there at the time of the full moon - and to ensure we weren't going to go too wild we stayed in a quiet family beach (Haad Salad) on the opposite side of the island. As luck would have it, there is a big party at the half moon as well, and we managed one big night out when Leila dug out her most luminous top and we had a good dance in the colourful outdoor club. We could afford one more dive trip and went to at Sail Rock, in between Ko Phan-ghan and Ko Tao which is known for its big fish although unfortunately the visibility was poor and the whale sharks eluded us once again. Otherwise our last few days were spent relaxing on the beach and working on the tan.

Our trip home took us via Kuala Lumpur where we stopped for the day and it was sombering that the Malaysian flight had gone missing after leaving there only a couple of days prior. We booked our next flights out to Panama for two months in Central America and have just one week back in the UK to get organised!

Crocodiles and commodities: Southern Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh City is the commercial centre of the south of Vietnam and a big city with a bewildering flurry of motorbikes and shouting people on every street. It seems a more modern region with a diverse population and tourists seem much more to blend into the background. The first MacDonalds has just opened alongside several Starbucks, which would be hard to imagine in Hanoi. On our first day we explored a Hindu temple and the city museum, where we learned about the major economic significance of the region as well as the political revolutionaries of Vietnam's history. 

Most interesting was the Independence Palace which was the seat of power during the war with the north right up until the famous tanks of the reunifying forces of the northern communist regime came crashing through the gates onto the lawn. Leila posed with the tanks and made friends with some school children and we enjoyed the tour of the underground bunker and war rooms. The independence palace was a striking contrast to the stark communist buildings of the north as it was a bright, open and colourful place with furnishings reminiscent of the west in the sixties designed for entertaining dignitaries of the United States and other allies. The city is still widely referred to by residents as Saigon, its name before the reunifying forces renamed the city and you suspect the politics of people in the south is actually more moderate even though they wouldn't say it.

We'd had to miss one or two coastal opportunities by flying directly to Saigon but it allowed us more time to explore further south, using the city as a base for excursions to the Mekong Delta and the Cat Tien national park. What we needed was a nice comfortable hotel that we could store luggage and look forward to returning to. Unfortunately this time ball of hotel roulette did not rest in our favour as the one we'd booked turned out to have tiny, claustrophobic rooms with no windows that was an assault on Leila's senses as much as the stale air with an aroma of cabbage.  Here the eccentric small man on reception in the evenings enthusiastically claimed it was no problem at all to leave our bags but two days later it turned out  he had not yet mastered the English to deal with us asking for our bags back and we almost snapped when he initially denied having them!

At least the hotel bath provided a good location for Leila to take the clippers to Ali's hair for a much needed haircut. Her skills are improving and Ali thinks he may never need to pay for a haircut again. It turns out that land prices are so high in Saigon that modest properties in the centre are worth more than $1m resulting in the cramped locations and a great deal of redevelopment. Hunting for vegetarian restaurants that Ali had seen mentioned on the internet ended in failure (and ridicule) more than once when they'd turned out to have been demolished.

We took a two-day tour of the Mekong Delta, where the great Mekong river reaches the sea after passing through five countries, and a major area of agriculture for Vietnam which the guide proudly claims make it the biggest exporter of rice. We had to swallow our pride a little to take an organised tour rather than go independently but this turned out to be great value and included visits by boat to producers of honey, coconut sweets, rice and noodles as well as a floating market where fruit and vegetables are traded from boat to boat. Leila took an active part in participating in production of noodles but her favourite part was the ride along a narrow canal by rowing boat, although this had Ali fuming as the rowers passing by colluded to hint shamelessly to each other's passengers for big tips!

Our last few days in Vietnam were spent visiting the Cat Tien national park which we managed to do entirely by local buses and self-guided walks and cycling through the jungle to the idyllic crocodile lake. Here the endangered Siamese crocodiles have been successfully bred and can be easily seen, especially surfacing near the tourist row boats - we decided to observe from a safe distance. We also visited the Primate Rehabilitation centre where monkeys and gibbons rescued from mistreatment (usually caged as pets or for tourist entertainment) are retrained to swing, hunt and breed, apparently with some success as around thirty have been released into the wild. Our riverside guesthouse, Green Hope lodge, provided a very comfortable bungalow that made this a delightful refuge from the city and were very kind and helpful, even providing a free river ride where we encountered a poor water buffalo put to work heaving big truckloads of potatoes across the river, and Ali discovered how cashews are grown.

The trip back to Ho Chi Minh City allowed just enough time before flying for a visit to the War Museum where many visitors come to learn in graphic detail about the atrocities of the Vietnam war - in particular those committed by the United States. The exhibitions use a lot of powerful photography and even allowing for the propaganda element, its a damning record of the use of chemical weapons especially and shocking to see the disfiguring effects of Agent Orange on children even in recent years. On that note we said goodbye to Vietnam and took our flight back to Thailand where we finally planned to hit the islands and ride out the last couple of weeks in Asia with some beach bumming.

Lights, lanterns and watering cans: Historic Hoi An

We arrived by train into Danang, a large and prosperous Vietnamese city. From there it was just another 1 hour by local bus to our next destination Hoi An. Hoi An was originally a wealthy trade town with a busy port. However, since the emergence of Danang as a much larger more industrial port just down the road, Hoi An has re-invented itself as a charming town irresistible to tourists. It has done so very successfully and it remains one of the wealthiest towns in Vietnam. The river-side town is full of ancient houses, ornate temples and bridges and all the streets are lined with brightly coloured lanterns. It is a beautiful town with so many picturesque images. We timed our stay to coincide with the monthly full moon lantern festival when in the evening all street lights stay off and the old town is lit only by the lanterns and the hundreds of candle lanterns which are lit and sent down the river are even more beautiful. This is big business for the lantern sellers, boat owners and cyclo drivers (see photo of one very large organised cyclo tour we encountered below!) but there isn't too much hard sell or hawking so the town is a real pleasure to walk around.

We found an incredible family run restaurant that offered all the local specialities but fully vegetarian. We visited several times and enjoyed the food so much that we signed up for a cooking course there. The class was run by the mother of the family and it took place in their living room where we made traditional Vietnamese noodle soup as well as tofu stuffed with lemongrass and mushrooms and grilled in a banana leaf.

On our next day in the town we cycled to the Tra Que herb and vegetable village. This is government owned land which is rented to local families, a lot like allotments but much tidier and used to produce for small scale trade. We tried our hand at the traditional method of watering the crops and Ali was even offered a full time position! Sadly Leila did not receive such an offer, despite being the one open to new career opportunities. From there we continued our cycling to the local beach but it was far too windy for sunbathing or swimming, and then on to a local pagoda.

Anyone who has seen that Top Gear special where they take motorbikes from the south to the north of Vietnam may remember the Van Hai Pass. It is a spectacular coastal road that winds its way up the mountain. Thanks to a relatively new tunnel that provides locals with a far speedier route through the mountain the Van Hai Pass is also exceptionally quiet by Vietnamese standards. Bikers for one day, we hired a motorbike and enjoyed the breathtaking views of the coast. Ali was delighted to receive a compliment on his driving in conversation with a passing Vietnamese lady also on a motorbike, although later worried it might not have been sincere.

From Hoi An we again took the budget internal flight option to Ho Chi Minh City, deciding that avoiding 17 hours on the train justified the $20 dollar price difference between the rail and air tickets.