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Wrap up and Reflections

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Wendy did not enjoy this tour as much as she did the Bangkok to Saigon in 2016. Maybe it was because she had to take four days off due to illness? She found it to be too fast with not enough thought given to stopping for scenery photos, although the guide did say to yell out if anyone wanted to stop. It was a bit hard when cycling along at 25km/hr though. The one feature of the previous tour was that there was a lot more emphasis on scenery, tourist attractions, and riding more km/day (less bus time). She found Halong Bay a little disappointing as it looked nothing like it does in the glossy magazines and travel shows/docos. Far too many tourists for what was once a pristine environment. Even though the seat/bed on the Reunification Express was not very comfortable, Wendy was happy it was included in the itinerary and that she got to ride on it.  Making hotel bookings for the others seemed like a good idea at the time as Wendy was able to get better deals using her Booking.com ID b...
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Day 25: Sat 23 Nov - Singapore to Brisbane to Home

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28-19 deg C We made up about 15 minutes of the one hour delay, and landed at Brisbane at 6:15am and Immigration was not very busy as were were the only plane to land at that time, and the process has become more streamlined so it wasn't long before we were waiting for our luggage that seemed to take forever to come out. We breezed through Customs and were outside the airport waiting for the Andrews Airport bus to collect us by 6:55am. We were in the Cruiser and on the road home by 7:30am. We stopped three times - coffee at MacDonalds Caboolture, emergency stopping lane on the Gympie By-pass to change drivers, and United servo at Gunalda for a pit stop, and were still home by 10:30am. Our babies were lined up along the driveway to welcome us home. The place looks a lot greener after 77.5mm of rain in the 25 days we have been away. And, the ducks and kangaroos had a party on the patio every day.  We were mostly unpacked by midday, so had lunch then a long nana nap. As it is Saturday ...
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Day 24: Fri 22 Nov - Hanoi to Singapore

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17 - 35 deg C We were up at 4pm for a 4:50am departure. The hotel had arranged a packed breakfast that was a lot more than we would eat breakfast. We left ours for the bus driver. It only took us 40 minutes to get to the airport as there was very little traffic. We were checked in and in the Lotus Club about 6am’ish. Had a bit of drama with Mark being taken off to a concrete bunker - they had left a battery pack in their checked luggage.  We had coffee, yoghurt and some fruit, chatted, then made our way to Gate 21. Unfortunately, the plane was not ready for a 7:10 boarding so we stood around, waited and eventually boarded at 7:35am. We were airborne by 8:10am and landed at Singapore a few minutes early.  We took our time making our way to T1 and the QANTAS ticket counter to get our boarding passes. We found the QANTAS Club, made sure it wasn’t open, then went for a slow wander until we found Starbucks where we joust had to have a coffee and something small to eat. We lingered ...
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Day 23: Thu 21 Nov - Hanoi

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18-27 deg C, a little windy so it was cooler today, especially around the lake Walk: 12km (G); 6km (W) We slept in a bit this morning which was a nice change. After a hearty breakfast, we retreated to our room to clean a few items and do an interim pack. It was then off to the Hanoi Opera House for a visit.  Unfortunately, not much of it can be seen as they are setting up for a youth concert/festival on 24 Nov. We walked around the side and back and took a few photos, but the most interesting sight was two tortoises that were wandering the back street, together with a dog and their owner. The funny little dog was sort of playing with the tortoises!  We wandered some more and found a few other things to photograph before bumping into Glen and Carmel. We all sat on the edge of the lake for about 10 minutes before making our way to Maccas for a pre-arranged mornos meet. The coffee was good, as was the banana muffin Wendy had. Glen and Carmel then took us to see The Note Coffee bu...
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Day 22: Wed 20 Nov - Hanoi

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19-28 deg C, an even milder day than yesterday Walk: 7.5km We started the day with coffee in the room using one of the 3-in-1 sachets we have saved; not the best coffee, but is OK when you have nothing else. Breakfast was had with the gang, before heading off at 9am for the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum. Most of the really early art is quite dark and morbid, with the pottery and figurines making up for the lack of colour. The Contemporary Art section was more colourful. Greg left us early as he is still not feeling 100%, but did well to get out of bed and see most of the displays. Wendy had coffee at Lé Art with the others before heading home. She accompanied Sue to the shopping mall, Myers/DJs/Westfield equivalent then to the bakery for some Portuguese tarts for lunch. Back in the room, Wendy ate hers while Greg slept. She then downloaded and sorted photos, and caught up on some other travel admin. After Greg woke, he had his 'lunch' then went for a walk to the Old Quarter. We met ...
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