Adventure in south east asia trip report

[austraveler]

Attached is the link to our SE Asia ABD. We are at the airport now waiting to fly down to Melbourne for our international flight so the true ABD part won't get going for a couple of days.


http://starretttravel.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/the-adventure-begins-again.html?spref=fb

 

[sayhello]

Cool! I look forward to following your trip! Be sure and post a link to your report in the Trip Report Sticky when you get back!

Sayhello

 

[austraveler]

http://starretttravel.blogspot.com/2014/04/boating-on-mekong.html


Next instalment

 

[Cousin Orville]

Thanks for your trip report! I look forward to reading your next entry.

 

[austraveler]

http://starretttravel.blogspot.com/2014/04/history-lesson.html Last day in Ho Chi Min

 

[sayhello]

Looks like a great start to your trip! Looking forward to more!

Sayhello

 

[Cousin Orville]

Very cool. My son and I played some ping pong on that table. I'm glad to hear they added an actual sit down lunch. We had to eat sandwiches on the way to the SGN airport.

 

[austraveler]

Our guide Drew said they had made a number of changes with the meals. We have pre chosen selections from most menus to speed up service as well.

 

[Cousin Orville]

Our guide Drew said they had made a number of changes with the meals. We have pre chosen selections from most menus to speed up service as well.

We had to make our choices ahead of time for several of the meals. However, the first nights in Hoi An and Hanoi we were able to choose our restaurant and order off the menu. I hope they kept that the same. I appreciated that.

 

[sayhello]

We had to make our choices ahead of time for several of the meals. However, the first nights in Hoi An and Hanoi we were able to choose our restaurant and order off the menu. I hope they kept that the same. I appreciated that.

They did that at our resort in Crete (allowing us to choose which of the resort's 3 restaurants we wanted to eat at, and then letting us order off the menu). I really liked it, also. It would be nice if that's a new policy.

Sayhello

 

[austraveler]

http://starretttravel.blogspot.com/2014/04/marble-mountain.html

Marble mountain

 

[Cousin Orville]

austraveler,

I noticed you forgot to link your first day in Hoi An. Looks like you had a great time in Hoi An. We ate at the Cargo Club, too. They sat us outside on the balcony to eat overlooking the river. Hoi An was one of my favorite stops on the trip. I had never heard of it prior to ABD.

 

[austraveler]

Thanks Cousin Orville. I am diligent in writing the blog but posting the link via the ipad is a bit fiddly so I forget. Below is the link to day 1 in Hanoi

http://starretttravel.blogspot.com/2014/04/hello-hanoi.html

 

[sayhello]

Sorry about the hotel room snafu in Hanoi. Did you tell the Adventure Guides? If nothing else, they would know to make *sure* that it did not happen to you in any of the other hotels!

I'm really surprised they didn't provide you with smocks at the mask painting. I can't imagine your group was the first with kids who got paint on themselves. I know when I did Southwest Splendors, they were sure we were aware of the times we would want to wear stuff we didn't mind ruining, because they'd get covered in red dirt...

And the logistics handling really is one of the areas where the ABD Guides excel, and one of the things that draws me to their trips!

Sayhello

 

[deckes]

When we went on this trip last year there were no connecting rooms available at any of the hotels. We were a little shocked especially after doing South Africa and China where we had connecting rooms at all hotels. I ended up staying with my daughter and my husband with my son so it was not easy but there was nothing we could so about it. We were constantly running down the hall to meet them. It is a shame but they said connecting rooms are not standard in Asia.

 

[Cousin Orville]

Thinking back about our trip, the mask making was prob our least favorite activity. We didn't get paint on our clothes, although I think your suggestion is very good. It was just a bit boring. It only loosely applied to what we were seeing that day, and the best masks in the group really didn't look that great. The lantern making in Hoi An made more sense, and the final product turned out much better.

 

[austraveler]

Our lanterns were so professional, and one famiLy in our group had made masks in Venice that they said were equally professional. I think we were expecting that level of active rather than school craft. Today has started off better already though. We loved the tai chi in the park!

 

[austraveler]

When we went on this trip last year there were no connecting rooms available at any of the hotels. We were a little shocked especially after doing South Africa and China where we had connecting rooms at all hotels. I ended up staying with my daughter and my husband with my son so it was not easy but there was nothing we could so about it. We were constantly running down the hall to meet them. It is a shame but they said connecting rooms are not standard in Asia.

The other two families have connecting rooms but I guess there were not enough available. It is quite a busy time here in Hanoi. In any event, I spoke to the guides about confirming our rooms for the next few hotels.

 

[austraveler]

Great day today!

http://starretttravel.blogspot.com/2014/04/saying-hi-to-ho.html

 

[austraveler]

Laos post
http://starretttravel.blogspot.com/2014/04/laos-with-mouse.html