Trip: Christmas in the Sun
There are [18] stories from my trip: Christmas in the Sun
VIETNAM | Friday, 11 Jan 2008 | Views [956]
This evening we take to the skies on a 24 hour trip home that will take us from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi for four hours, then thirteen hours airborne towards Paris, where we sit tight for another four hours waiting for our two hour trip back to the ... Read more >
Tags: planes trains & automobiles
VIETNAM | Thursday, 10 Jan 2008 | Views [1309]
First off to the Ben Thanh market - a chaotic indoor arrangement of shops and stalls. All senses take a hit here, perhaps the smells being the more noteworthy. Unable to find anything to tickle our fancy we resolved instead to hit the downtown Dong ... Read more >
Tags: Shopping
VIETNAM | Wednesday, 9 Jan 2008 | Views [1326]
It's all about the war. Well, maybe it's our obsession, but it seems that everything's about the war. Every government building has a remnant of the war at its front. Some are Vietnamese planes or weapons. More are American. Maybe they were careless, ... Read more >
Tags: Sightseeing
VIETNAM | Tuesday, 8 Jan 2008 | Views [2888]
"Saigon, ...., I love the smell of a freshly made omlette in the morning." Sitting down for breakfast, you don't think there's likely to be an apocolypse any day now, not inside the hotel walls anyhow. And not up on the rooftop pool. Maybe ... Read more >
Tags: Sightseeing
VIETNAM | Monday, 7 Jan 2008 | Views [1015]
Where's the sun? Seriously, this is a bit ridiculous. It's 30 degrees, hot and humid, but no sign of the sun, moon, stars or even the sky. You feel the smog on your skin, in your lungs. Maybe it's just down to our mild irritation, a natural consequence ... Read more >
Tags: planes trains & automobiles
AUSTRALIA | Sunday, 6 Jan 2008 | Views [2894]
Mrs Macquarie's Chair is a seat cut into a rock at the end of the Botanic Gardens at Sydney Harbour. From the spot, named for the wife of one of New South Wales' early governers, you get the most stunning views of what must be among the most famous ... Read more >
Tags: Sightseeing
AUSTRALIA | Saturday, 5 Jan 2008 | Views [929]
Ciaran with the Bear Necessities from the Jungle Book again, Ruth saved from Bohemian Rhapsody but put in a group of women to sing about Raining Men , we saw everything from the sublime to the ridiculous, but as was fitting, we finished the evening ... Read more >
Tags: Friends
AUSTRALIA | Friday, 4 Jan 2008 | Views [839]
Finally, after 4.5 years, Kathrina and Barry are man and wife. Great weather and amazing setting close to both the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. All good.
Tags: Friends
AUSTRALIA | Thursday, 3 Jan 2008 | Views [922]
The last day before the wedding and all thoughts are on preparation. Nails. Hair. All that stuff. Australia itself is preparing for the Australian Tennis Open with a whole load of tournaments, so those who didn't spend the day shopping, or doing other ... Read more >
Tags: The Planning Phase
AUSTRALIA | Wednesday, 2 Jan 2008 | Views [886]
Shopping today. All day. The Queen Victoria Building in central Sydney is enormous, and required that all shops be visited. All. Night-time then at the Opera Bar at the Opera House.
Tags: Shopping
AUSTRALIA | Tuesday, 1 Jan 2008 | Views [1010]
First day of the year and recovery is the order of the day. Luckily, the magnificent Hyde Park is no more than a few blocks away from us, and provides everything you'd need to do nothing. Grassy lawns. Bright sun. Utter quiet. Perfect. Captain Cook ... Read more >
Tags: Relaxation
AUSTRALIA | Monday, 31 Dec 2007 | Views [992]
We got to experience the earliest New Year of our lives, a full 11 hours before you folks back home in Ireland. Food, drink, friends and fireworks. What else could you ask for? Earlier, we'd part-taken in the rehearsal for Kathrina and Barry's wedding.... Read more >
Tags: Relaxation
AUSTRALIA | Sunday, 30 Dec 2007 | Views [931]
We'd seen it before, not even too long ago, but nonetheless, the Sydney Harbour Bridge makes an impression. As does the Opera House . As before, we caught some fine views of these landmarks by taking a boat trip in the harbour, this time to go to ... Read more >
Tags: Sightseeing
VIETNAM | Saturday, 29 Dec 2007 | Views [843]
Led by a tiny map we navigated through the labyrith of tiny streets and crowded alleyways of the Old Quarter in search of Bach Ma temple, the oldest of all the buildings in that quarter of Hanoi, apparently. Eventually, after much map gazing we gave ... Read more >
Tags: Sightseeing
VIETNAM | Friday, 28 Dec 2007 | Views [1278]
The Hanoi Hilton , so called by American prisoners of war, is a prison in downtown Hanoi, now serving as a museum to tell of all the ills inflicted on this country and her brave revolutionaries by the oppressive French colonialists, who built the prison ... Read more >
Tags: Sightseeing
VIETNAM | Friday, 28 Dec 2007 | Photo Gallery
These are the photographs from our trip in December 2007 and January 2008 to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, and Sydney in Australia.
See all 16 photos >>
VIETNAM | Thursday, 27 Dec 2007 | Views [884]
That was some trip - hours in the air, madness on the streets, eventually we got to the hotel and recovered with 8 or 9 hours of the deepest sleep imaginable. We woke only to explore the Old Quarter , a wonderful but chaotic assortment of narrow streets, ... Read more >
Tags: Shopping
IRELAND | Wednesday, 26 Dec 2007 | Views [848]
The madness of it all. Off we go again, this time taking in three cities rather than the monster trip of the summer. Hanoi first for a couple of days, then Sydney for Kathrina and Barry's wedding, then Ho Chi Minh city. It all starts with a 6:30am flight ... Read more >
Tags: planes trains & automobiles
