One Life ...

The morning started with a rustling outside our window.  We took a peek to find 3 little kittens playing.  Then the usual routine of breakfast followed by research for onward travels and trying to sort out the mess airlines are making of our bookings by changing flight times without letting us know!!! We only found out when we were about to book a bus from the airport and logged onto the app to check the flight time, which had moved by 8 hours! After a frustrating morning we wandered off to find some lunch and ended up chatting to the lady and her neighbour for ages about life in the Philippines and typhoons, which hopefully we won't get to experience. Next we headed for Danao beach. There were lots of boats moored but no people so we picked our spot. Darryl went off snorkelling but the reef was very far out and dropped off a deep wall. On the way back we stopped off for pizza. Like everything in the Philippines it was slightly sweeter than we would have expected but it went do

Today's task was to extend our Philippines visa at the immigration office. We ate breakfast at the accommodation but it started to rain. We decided to stay put and spoke to another guest about diving at Balicasag island. Eventually the rain stopped and we hit the road. The immigration center was approximately 3 km away - a 45 minute walk and on the way we grabbed lunch for a beach picnic. We also stopped to visit Saint Augustin's church and there was a wedding. The inside of the church was beautiful and there was a nice park beside it. The immigration center was busy and people were waiting two hours for their passports to be returned. We gave our passports in, paid the fee and waited for a short while and then were told to return in the afternoon to pick them up. Next we walked to the pier where the boats go to Balicasag. We watched people collecting seaweed amongst the mangroves. Next place we were heading for was Doljo point. It was a little too far t

Hotel breakfast today with a slight variation of rice, a burger and an egg instead of a sausage. Followed by a banana and chocolate Energen. We like Energen, it is a cereal drink flavored with chocolate.  We decided to go to a different beach today. In fact we headed to the main Alona beach when most of the boats had gone to Balicasag island. We went snorkeling on the reef which is about 200 meters from the shore. It was a steep wall with plenty to see. We took it in turns whilst the other sat in the shade. Lunch today was rice and vegetables at a small store. On the beach there was a table set up with a big heart and roses plus fairy lights to decorate the sand...someone was in for a romantic evening! As darkness fell we headed for dinner. At the restaurant we met a young Australian man who was trying to order half a roast chicken but the restaurant would not sell it to him - you have to order the whole chicken. We told him we would eat the other half and share the cost. We sat and ch

Breakfast was included in our room price. Today we enjoyed a sausage, fried egg, rice and coffee on a cute little table just outside our room. As everyone else started to stir, a couple from Chile headed upstairs to have their breakfast. We overheard them speaking to the owner as they passed. It appears the hotel sent the girls laundry to be done and it never came back! She now has no clothes. Apparently someone must have picked up the wrong washing. We spent some time planning our next stop before lunch and stopped en route at a local stall to eat. Mungo was our choice, cheap and tasty. We imagine it is made with mung beans but we found other things too like potato. To get to the beach we followed a long, thin lane and at the end a small little beach with a few locals. The main Alona beach is packed with tourists but the one we found had only a few couples. There was lots of boats coming back to the main beach so snorkelling was a little hairy sometimes. There was a coral wall quite a

We left Ho Chi Minh city in our dust. We have done a little hub flying through KL. Here we spent a long time going through the transfer process from one budget airline to another. Though, the flights aren't that cheap anymore. The flight is almost free sometimes but after airport taxes, eco taxes, fuel surcharge and adding on of other options you didn't ask for mounts up!  An expected12 hours at KLIA isn't really that long believe it or not. Once you have walk through the huge airport from the plane an hour is gone. Another hour at immigration and another at security because you can't enter transit. You do this again as you switch carriers, so that is 6 hours gone! Flights are usually late so deduct another hour, eat lunch another hour gone. Oh yeah, switch terminal from KLIA to KLIA2 the Air Asia hub on a shuttle bus ... 12 hours almost GONE! Lunch at KLIA 1 was great. We ate lots of rice and pumpkin in a coconut sauce for £1, everything else worked out a lot more expe

Today we didn't do a lot. Well we didn't do any sightseeing but helped our hosts paint the walls of their downstairs apartment which very soon will become a classroom. After nipping out for breakfast in the rain we got a quick painting lesson and moved the last of the furniture out of the way before starting to paint. The paint is quite strange, it is a mix of glue, colour and water. The colour we were painting with today was pink. The final effect of the infinity sign brush strokes looks really nice on plain white walls and is so simple. We stopped for lunch (but the rain didn't) which was fried rice with deep fried chicken followed by a very nice egg, milk, bubble tea. The egg (whipped like meringue was toasted with a torch and it tastes great!) The rain was on and off all day today which is quite unusual ... In the evening we were guided to some of the best local eating places for crispy fried noodles followed by sweet soup. Yummy! Money issues appeared to be the topic o

A relaxing start to the day. Coffee and conversation followed but we needed to drag ourselves away. We had a long day before us. Our first lesson of the day was one we appreciated a lot. How to cross the road. We are not even joking. Our host gave us a lesson as it's so crazy! 4 of us marched across lane after lane of motorbikes, cars and lorries with hands held high. Everyone avoided us, just! The first local bus took us to a bus station so that was easy. Breakfast was taken from a small lane across the main road. Luckily this time there was a pedestrian bridge to cross. Pork, rice, soup and a few vegetables. Nice. The next bus also left from the same station but we couldn't find it. It will remain the ever elusive number 13. They don't seem to use the number 13 as they believe it is unlucky. There is no 13th floor in the lift, it is always 12a. Was there really a 13 bus? Who knows. We found another bus that went to where we needed to go. This again stopped at a bus statio

Today we didn't have to be up for the dance or Tai Chi class. However, we had to be up to leave our host behind and move out. We didn't actually make it very far to begin with ... At the bottom of the lift we grabbed a banh mi from our regular spot. As we were paying one of the ladies from the dance class appeared. She was also getting a Banh mi and wouldn't allow us to pay. She very kindly treated us to breakfast. Exceptional kindness! We sat in the park and ate but before long we were approached by a second lady from the dance class. We chatted on Google Translate but the last message wasn't translated very well. We think it said will you speak with my daughter. We said yes and she disappeared.  She was soon to return with her daughter following on behind. Wow, a great English speaker she had been hiding from us! We had a lovely chat and took lots of photos. What a wonderful way to start the morning! A short walk through now familiar streets took us to the bus stop. S

Beep,  beep and beep again. It was one of those annoying alarm clock days again. Vietnamese dance lessons were calling at 6am. We strutted our stuff for an hour before being excused. The banh mi van was calling and once collected we headed in to eat. As soon as we had left the building for our day of exploring we found a group of people crowding the space just outside of the foyer. It was a local fruit and veg. stall promoting their produce and online app. They were giving out free fruit and a free pack of salad for those that downloaded the app. We tried the fruit before we left for the main road. We weaved and weaved and went the wrong way. Back on track we managed to make it to a small temple and pagoda. It was pretty quiet and it looked like it could have been a cemetery. On we went heading for a group of religious buildings. Some were temples and others churches. Once templed out we decided to cross to the other side! When we say the other side we just mean the other side of the r

After we woke up our first stop was the local market. We were guided by an expert and it was our opportunity to try and find all of the foods we had not tried before. The fruit and vegetable market was bursting with amazing fresh produce and the mixture of colours mesmerising! We collected a variety of strange and wonderful things made with rice, small fried buns, and odd vegetables! On the way back from the market we stopped to buy crabs. These little fellas live amongst the paddy fields. We were shown the difference between the male and female and how they are cooled in ice to 'put them to sleep' before they are peeled. It was very interesting! These little critters seem to share their home with fish and snails and everything is for eating. We continued our journey past a small nursery school and as tomorrow is teachers day in Vietnam, the school was full of flowers from parents and local businesses. The teachers will be given some special treatment. It was wonderful to see h

5am the alarm clock woke us up. We had been offered the chance to join the locals for their daily Tai Chi class. What a great opportunity, even at 5am. We were surprised to see lots of people at the park and when we arrived the Tai Class was underway. Cautiously, we watched for a while before joining in. After we had completed our Tai Chi it was dance time again, so we got ourselves dragged into a dance lesson too! Next was a well deserved bowl of noodle soup. After taking a short nap we caught the bus into the centre to do a spot of sightseeing. Our phone map was marked with all of the things to see in Ho Ch Minh. First stop was KFC for a strawberry sundae before visiting; the fancy post office built by the French, the war museum, independence palace, opera house and the Tuborg (beer) promotion area! We actually stumbled on the latter. We were invited to play a game and we could win a prize. The music they were playing was pretty loud to attract customers. We were the only people ther

After a slightly restless night at the airport, having arrived around 1.30am to a quiet departure lounge, by 5am it was manic with people checking in. We left the airport and found the bus we needed right outside the door. We got on and had to pay for ourselves and our bags. We showed the conductor where we needed to get off and off we set. It seemed like we had only been on the bus a few minutes when the conductor told us this was our stop. It didn't feel right but everything is done in a rush in Vietnam and before we had a chance to check, the conductor had taken our bags off and put them on the side of the road. So off we got. Having checked where we were, we think the conductor had read the wrong message on the screen relating to our next bus -104. The bus had dropped us off at the 104 bus stop. We jumped on the next 104 that showed up. Again we showed the conductor where we were heading and she immediately told the driver to stop and pointed to the other side of the str

A steady start to the day once again. The usual breakfast routine but today we have to leave Da Nang so our bags are coming exploring too. Throughout the day we slowly walked to the airport. We stopped in various places including KFC to eat ice creams and to use their WiFi. We needed WiFi to try and check our email to find out our options because Vietjet had just sent an SMS stating a 3 hour flight delay! We didn't really discover anything so just assumed the flight would leave at 10.30pm. We spent our extra 3 hours exploring and eating. When we did find a Vietjet office they confirmed the delay. Tonight we sleep at the airport! We found a good Vegetarian restaurant for our last supper which raised our spirits before finally arriving at the airport. In the end the flight was delayed by 4 hours. Whilst we waited for the plane we watched the locals enjoying the airport massage chairs. They loved it and everyone knew! A brand new plane took us to Ho Chi Minh City where we slept. They

Same morning routine today. Breakfast, coffee, banh my ... We once again left our hotel at lunchtime and headed to the beach. Walking on the sand all afternoon was great. We saw a group of fisherman hauling in their nets to the beach and waited to see what they'd caught. In the net there was lots of small fish and a couple of big ones. A few days ago we noticed that some of the beach had areas covered in rubbish. It suddenly dawned on us that this rubbish was being dragged in by the fisherman in their nets! It was shocking. Plastic bottles, aluminium cans, plastic bags... VERY BAD! If this is just dragged in from one small area of ocean then we are in real trouble! As we travelled a little further we found more on the beach predominantly dragged in by the nets. Many elaborate crabs and shells, fish, shrimp, eels ... DEAD and just lying on the beach discarded from the nets...VERY BAD! Quite upsetting for us ocean lovers to see. Eventually we came across a beautiful temple. We spent