The A380 BIG Plane!!!

Adam and I had seen the in the news the hype about the new plane for Singapore airlines. Our whole trip has been mostly with Singapore, and we new the big plane was flying the Singapore Sydney flight. We didn't get our hopes up too much, but when we did some research we realized we got to fly on the plane! It is massive. Two full decks, with suites with the double beds. Unfortunately we didn't get to see the suites, but we did see business class and it was impressive! We didn't get window seats but did get seats on the upper deck. We were so high off the ground before we even took off! The take off was SO long but very smooth! I still don't understand how a plan that big gets off the ground! The landing was good too, and it really didn't take any longer to de-plane or get our bags, even with 450ish people on the plane!

Angkor Wat

Our main reason of going to Cambodia was going to see Angkor Wat. We decided to do a one day tour. We hired a "tuk tuk" driver to take us around. The area that the ruins cover is huge! In the morning we went to see some of the lesser known ruins. They were very impressive. Some had huge trees growing right around and out of them. We spent the whole day driving and walking around. We could not get over how many people were there though. It became slightly frustrating trying to take pictures but we got a few. In the after noon we went to see the famous Angkor Wat. It was impressive, however didn't wow us like we thought it would. It was smaller than we had both pictured. Our plan was to stay until sunset as that is when it gets the best colour, but the day we went it was cloudy and the sunset was not going to be impressive. We both are very glad we went to see the ruins and we both really liked Cambodia. It was much more westernized than we thought, however much more expensive than we thought.

Mekong Delta

Adam and I decided to see some of the interior of Vietnam and did a day trip to the Mekong Delta. It is on a river but thankfully it was a sunny day. The tour first took us to a coconut candy making place and then to a floating market. Both were not that impressive, but it was nice to see the countryside. We also got to ride bikes around the small villiages. The picture is from a bridge in one of the villages. After we went in a row boat and rowed down a narrow part of the river. Well, we didn't row, the lady in the back did all the rowing. We just sat back and took in the scenery!

Floods....Continued

Well we definately spoke too soon with the floods. The day after the last blog entry we woke up to knee deep water in the lobby. (will add a picture later....computer wo't let me) This was at 6:00am. By 10:00am the water had risen so it was now waist deep. It was neck deep in the streets. We could see behind us people on their roof tops being rescued. The water came up to their roofs. We were 1km from the river so the water levels at the river were much higher. The hotel owners told us that we should probably leave if we could. They sent us a "rescue boat" that was actually just a small dingy. We put our belongings in the dingy and had to walk/swim out of the hotel. Thankfully only 150m away the water was much less and we were able to get to a roadside and get a ride into the closest town. I have never seen anything like this. It rained so hard it was crazy. I felt so badly for the town and their businesses and homes. We managed to get to the next town and get to a hotel. We were stuck in this town for 2 days as the roads were closed but at least we were dry. The best part is that the next day we were able to take a taxi back into Hoi An and pick up the clothes we had made at a tailor! We didn't think we would get back to the town but it is amazing how quickly the water rose, and how quickly it went down. It was quite the experience seeing the floods first hand. Us Canadians should be glad we get snow!

Floods in Hoi An

Well Adam and I have had great luck with weather for the past 4 months, so I suppose it is time we experienced the other side of things. We got news last week that a typhoon was suppose to hit the central/south coast of Vietnam. It got downgraded to a tropical depression, so we decided to continue on with our journey south. We are currently in a town called Hoi An. Yesterday we were able to easily browse the stores along the streets, walk over bridges and occasionally had to step over puddles. Today we woke up to a downpour, and it really hasn't stopped. Hoi An is situated right on a river and by 10am the street parralel to the river was flooded. We went to the central market and actually watched the water levels rise. By noon the majority of streets within 50m of the river were flooded. It stopped us in our tracks, but not the vietnamese. They were prepared, all in ponchos and sandles, for the weather. It is amazing how their day went on. They just moved their stalls further up in the market, continued socializing and definately did not take detours around flooded streets. This clearly happens often as the bicycle rickshaws were conviniently replaced with boats wanting to take tourists on tours. We saw people just hop off motorbikes, walk them through knee deep water, and hop back on. At home, this would be a catastrophe but in Vietnam, it is life. I am actually glad we are experiencing it. (but still hope our bus can depart tomorrow.......)

Tam Coc

So Adam and I have been totally following the tourist trail in Vietnam so far and decided to do some more touristy things and head to Nimh Binh to go to a place called Tam Coc. This tour first took us to some temples, and to be honest, we are templed out. So, that was the downside of the tour. After the temples we got to ride bikes for an hour to our lunch spot, and the place where we got to get a boat to tour the Tam Coc region. The bike riding was hilarious. The bikes are very unlike bikes at home. Think very dorky with big seats and baskets.....

After lunch we got in a boat with one man rowing, and one woman that was his "helper". It was just the two of us in the boat. The scenery was amazing. They say this place is the "Halong Bay of the rice fields". We went through 3 caves and at the end of the last cave there are people in boats trying to sell you food and drinks. Of course you feel pressured to buy things, and apparently you are suppose to buy things for your rowers as well. It is a total scam, but we new this going in. On the ride back the purpose of the female rower becomes apparent as she whips out all her embroidery and wants you to buy it. We didn't buy any. We do feel badly though as there are so many people in the region wanting to take tourists out, that each person only works 2 days a month. No wonder they try to sell things! All in all, it was worth the cheeziness to see the scenery!

Halong Bay

Adam and I decided to do some trips in and around Hanoi, basically to escape the motorbikes and honking....

We headed to Halong Bay for 2 days, 1 night. We stayed one night on a "junk" boat. The first day we set out with our group from Hanoi. There was 13 of us. We boarded the boat, that was really nice, and sailed around the karsts, which are the landmasses jutting out of the water. That day we also got to go kayaking through a few caves. It was great. The next day we woke up early to climb up to the top of a lookout (thankfully this was not like a climb in Nepal........it only took 10 minutes). The views were amazing. Halong Bay was actually more beautiful than I thought it was going to be. After the lookout we went to another cave, that was rather touristy (I know, we are tourists......) and not that great compared to other caves we have been in. We spent the rest of the morning cruising around and reading on the deck of the boat. It was very relaxing and great!