Michael Russell

Beautiful Ha Long Bay

Michael Russell — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Halong Bay

So we have reached one of the stand out highlights of the trip! Ever since the infamous Top Gear moment of drinking G&T's from a floating village while the sun was setting; we have been looking forward to this! Halong bay is a gorgeous area off the north east coast of Vietnam, it consists of around 1000 limestone islands which protrude out of the sea. It seemed fitting for such a location to treat ourselves and splash out on a gorgeous boat for sailing the ocean seas. I have to say we were not disappointed!

After lots of internet searches and shopping around, we settled on the Columbus Cruise, we even received a nice free upgrade Surprise. Our boat consisted of 3 levels, rooms on the lower deck, restaurant on the middle and an amazing open air top deck complete with beds and sun loungers! This is definitely an occasion where pictures paint a thousand words. The bay itself is amazing, we had perfect sunny weather which helps. There were lots of picturesque scenes, including, caves, floating fishing villages and kayaking around the islands.

Before finishing off this entry I have to mention the food! We spent 3 days gorging ourselves! Each meal was like an endless procession of dishes! I think the average was about 10. One night we even had a FREE birthday Surprise cake for Mr Michael Russell and some champagne thrown in for good measure!Hurrah!

Shameless Birthday Plug - Hue

Michael Russell — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Hue was the last stop before Hanoi on our Vietnam trip and also the town in which I celebrated my quarter century b'day.

Hue was the capital of the Vietnamese royal family in the 19th Century and as such has a royal citadel within another citadel in the town.

Our 2 days spent in Hue involved lots of walking in and out of the citadel in blistering heat, no change from the norm here.... The b'day meal was a lovely French restaurant where we both indulged in steak and Vietnamese red wine... very tasty..

Next stop Hanoi and a nasty overnight bus ride.

Bakers and Tailors and CandleStick Makers - Hoi An

Michael Russell — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Finally Some Shopping!!

What Russ has been waiting for the whole trip, a place to flex his shopping muscles! Hoi An is a lovely little coastal town situated north of Na Trang, it has a lot of Chinese and French influences but is mostly famed for it's over night tailors.
Our first and most important stop was picking the right tailor, this ended up being a bit of a stab in the dark, there are about a million to chose from. As fate would have it we met a lovely young gentleman when we first arrived off the bus while having coffee, he ended up helping us order coffee, find a guest house and a tailor, a job well done.

Having a suit made in Vietnam is a bit of different experience from that one might expect in Saville Rowe, they firstly give you several different versions of the Next catalog to sift through, they then just repeatedly state that they know what you want even before you have told them. This ensured we had to make at least 4 repeat visits for adjustments. All in all I wish we had some empty suitcases to fill with tailor made attire!
Hoi An itself, is a lovely little town complete with quaint streets and buildings, a real highlight was finding the local bakery, which we frequented each day filling up on toasty warm fresh out of the oven bread. mmmmmm

Adventures of Captain Haddock

Michael Russell — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

[[Vietnam/Nha-Trang]]

The seaside city of [[Vietnam/Nha-Trang]] is arguably Vietnam's most popular resort, the beach is long, sandy but sadly not is great condition.. lots of rubbish and fag butts.. I managed to find a house brick and a broom during a recky in the sea.

The highlight of [[Vietnam/Nha-Trang]] was the fishing/snorkeling day trip that we booked, the boat was sadly not the vessel that we were expecting.. apparently a Mr Abrahmovic had made a late minute booking on our little lady, so instead an alternate was sent. The boat was semi decent but didn't stop me feeling a tad queezy.. happily 2 Saigon Exports before 9am soon had me sound and settled.

The plan was to spend the day alternately fishing and snorkeling, the snorkeling was pretty poor compared to what we had both done before (Thai Islands and Great Barrier Reef) - so the fishing took on extra importance. By midday is wasn't looking good, the plan to have caught our own lunch had failed.. as we glumly tucked into our chicken baguettes (good bread though) we thought positive and the fish duly arrived. Final tally was 4 to Emilia (including 1 poisonous fish, either a plus/minus point depends on which way you look at it) and 2 for Russ. A fun day was had by all!

Another excursion was to a natural mud-bath/hot Spring which was fairly decent.. worth it for observing the antics of Vietnamese tourists.. a funny bunch.

Next stop the village of Hoi An and time for tailored suits and dresses.
x

Dalat - A taste of the mountains

Michael Russell — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Dalat

As with any country in SE Asia anywhere up in the mountains will usually attract a fair crowd of travelers purely on the basis that it lacks humidity and has nice and cool evenings, Dalat certainly has this and more...

Dalat is reminiscent of a quiet town in the Alps and is the centre of Vietnam's wine/fruit/jam industry. Emilia and I eventually sampled a tipple of the local red and white wines and have to say that for an amateurs palate it wasnee half bad, ie.. if it was 2 for a fiver down the local off-license then I would quite easily neck the 2 bottles prior to a uni night out (cough, cough .. not looking at you Ben!)

The couple of days in Dalat mostly involved cycling around the local countryside and flying kites! We had coffee with some nice Vietnamese construction workers who didn't speak a word of English.. times were so desperate I even considered cracking out some old-skool Francais.

Next stop the seaside city of [[Vietnam/Nha-Trang]]
x

Dalat - A taste of the mountains

Michael Russell — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Dalat

As with any country in SE Asia anywhere up in the mountains will usually attract a fair crowd of travellers purely on the basis that it lacks humidity and has nice and cool evenings, Dalat certainly has this and more...

The couple of days in Dalat mostly involved cycling around the local countryside and flying kites! We had coffee with some nice Vietnamese construction workers who didnt speak a word of English.. I even threatened to bring out some old-skool Francais.

Next stop the seaside city of [[Vietnam/Nha-Trang]]
x

Saigon Story

Michael Russell — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Saigon

Woo hoo! We are finally in Vietnam ! Although we have enjoyed both Laos and Cambodia there was always the sense of the adventure begins in Vietnam . Saigon or HCMC or Ho Chi Minh City is far more built up and advanced than you would imagine given its history. It is much more akin to Bangkok than to its neighboring capitals of Phnom Penh and Vientienne. Think lots of people, big buildings, flashing lights and even more motos. The city definitely has a buzz about it.

We spent much of our time here firstly finding out about all the gruesome aspects of the war and waiting for a Chinese Visas. The definite highlight would have to be our day visiting the Cu Chi Tunnels. For those not in the know, these were tunnels built by the Viet Con during the Vietnam/American War in a town outside Saigon called Cu Chi. They were used as an under ground network for living and fighting the Americans. We had a wee wander in one of the tunnels that the Viet Cong used to live in and it was cramped to say the least & also inhabited by the odd bat or 2. Included in the package of the tunnels was a trip to a shooting range where, for about US$25 we got the chance to share a clip of an AK47.. pics are on facebook and I will try and upload the video with sound of Em firing hers.

Next stop is the jam making/wine making mountain town of Dalat

Totally Templed out...

Michael Russell — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Siem Reap is the setting for Cambodia most famous monument.. Angkor Wat, the series of temples build in the 14th century. The town has dveloped into a nice spot much in the way of Luang Prabang in Laos. There are nice coffee houses and patisseries as well as a nice vibe in the town itself with locals mixing in with tourists, however as it attracts budget tourists and those on package tours it is quite a bit more expensive than LP.

In order to visit the temples you must pay a slightly steep charge of $20 for 1 day or $40 for 3 days, Em and I decided early on that the best plan was 3 days of cycling round the temples and ruins. Our hostel was roughly 6 km outside of the temples and then arriving in the area was roughly a 15 km cycle around, so we managed to clock up 60odd kms for our 3 days. The 2 most famous temples of the area are Angkor Wat and Angkor Prohm (the 1 where the trees have grown in/around the temple). We decided to take our 3 days very easily and did 3-4 hours of sightseeing in the morning for the first 2 days and then a Sunrise on our final day, sadly the Sunrise was cloudy so was a bit of waste of time really.

That takes us back up to date now, we are curently back in Phnom Penh, we have our Vietnamese visas ready and will be booking a bus for Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City for Monday morning. We have 1 month in Vietnam moving from HCMC up along the coast through Na Trang,then a couple of days in Ha Long Bay finishing up in Hanoi before heading across to South-West China.

Hope everyone is well... we will try and update Facebook with some photos of Laos and Cambodia

Phnom Penh and pyjama'd grown-ups

Michael Russell — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Following our departure from 4000 Islands we had the border crossing with Cambodia to negotiate involving the usual bribing of border police for entry/exit fees for stamps your passport.. Em and I both managed to avoid paying their fees following our pleads of poverty.

We made our way into the capital city Phnom Penh over the course of 3 days stopping in the Riverside towns of Stung Treng and Kratie... bizarrely the Cambodians seem to love wearing their pyjamas around town and on bus... there was even a kid 7-8 years old with no trousers on.. so his circumcised penis was on display for the whole of the bus to see..

Phnom Penh itself is a somewhat manic city, lots of tuk-tuk drivers everywhere and lots of motor bikes on the roads. Em and I made the usual tourist trips to the markets and interesting to the former prision of S-21 where the Khmer Rouge tortured & murdered unwanted elements during their rule in the 1970s, this was pretty chilling as the holding cells have been left exactly as they were found in 1979 including some of the crude instruments of torture that we used. We decided to skip out a visit to the Killing Fields were most of the dead were buried.

Next stop is 3 days of temple visiting in Siem Reap.

Don Det

Michael Russell — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Following Vang Vieng we had 1 nights stay in Vientiane in which we visited COPE, a centre dedicated to providing prosthetic limbs for Laotians who lost limbs during the secret bombing of Laos during the Vietnam war. From Vientiane was a sleeper bus overnight to 4000 Islands in Southern Laos, next to the Cambodian border.

The 3 main islands are Don Khong, Don Khon and Don Det.. Em and I choose to stay on the quieter island of Don Det which has electricity from only 6pm - 10pm... the 5 days that we spent on DD were recuperation for Emilia, still suffering from the knee injury sustained on the Gibbon experience. Highlight of the days were watching the FA Cup final with some local chaps and a day of biking riding around Don Khon including a visit to a waterfall and a swim in the river.

Cambodia is next on the hit list.

Tubing in the Vang Vieng

Michael Russell — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Tubing in the Vang Vieng was something that everyone in Laos talks about and buys that flipping awful t-shirt.. anyone that has spent 1/2 a day in Bangkok will know the one... so VV was something that had to be done.

Em and I werent exactly sure what to expect, the rough outline that we could gather was that you hired a tubing ring from the town and then you were carted via tuk-tuk some 4 kms up the Mekong River where there were plenty of bars serving all sorts of booze (buckets, beers, 'happy' shakes) etc, much like a Ko Pha Ngan of Laos.

We hired our rings and set off just after lunch and meet a couple of chaps on the way up who like us had never done it before. The first bar that you come to can best be described as a playground for 18-19 year old British kids playing the generic dance music that plagues the Thai Islands. There are ropes and slides and zip-lines and all sorts of shenangines going on, there would only have been a couple 100 people in this bar as it is low season so god knows would peak season with a couple of 1000 people would be like.

The first bar had a very high trapeeze line running over the river which looked kinda fun to do... so I manned up and gave it a go. I got to the top and suddenly realised just how high it was, I let go at the top of the arch of the line and realised just how high I was.. I kicked my legs Jackie Chan style and hit the water a couple of seconds after I thought I should have done.. ie was a lot higher than I thought. I got back to our table and an Argentine girl fancied a go so I went with her to the top.. she managed to face plant off the line and reckoned she cracked a few ribs...

The next 4 hours involved more tubing and sliding and a beer or 2 on the way down... next stop 4000 Islands and Don Det

Another Crepe please ....

Michael Russell — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

No stop on the trip following a nasty bus ride was Luang Prabang. LP is a lovely little town perched it a couple of thousand metres above see level, thus it avoids the high humidity that the low lying areas of Laos are subject to.

As with all tourist destinations in Laos it sits next to the Mekong River and there are some lovely views to be had of the said river.

Laos was colonised by the French before independence in the 1950s and they have left a legacy of crepes, baguettes but sadly they were rubbish conoloisers as they forget to sort out roads. LP was probably the highlight of Laos for both of us as the vibe was very laid back and the scenary very beautiful. We had probably our best meal so far in LP which consisted of a BBQ fish on a stick for $2!We also invested in our best travelling purchase so far... a chess board.. Sadly Emilia is up 2-0 in our series but there is enough time for me to stage a come back.. any chess moves/tips please send them to my email as I need some help!

Next stop tubing in the Vang Vieng

Ziplines & General Monkey Business

Michael Russell — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Houay Xai

We managed to get across the Thai/Laos border without much fan fare, just the usual falang (foreigner) prices applying!
Houay Xai is a sleepy small town, well really it just had one street, so it is a town in the loosest of terms. We were staying here as we were heading off the much anticipated Gibbon Experience!

Gibbon Experience

The idea of the Gibbon experience is an all adventure 3 days and two nights of trekking, staying in tree houses, zipping across the tree canopies on cables and as the name suggests Gibbon Monkey spotting. We managed about 2 and a half of these and had a lot of Leeches thrown in for good measure. The trekking was pretty strenuous in the heat and humidity, the zip lining was lots of fun, queue some Attenborough worthy jungle shots. Some bad luck and bad breaking skills led Emilia to jar her leg on the first day while zip lining into a tree house. The guides version of medical assistance was to create a stick out of bamboo, then proceed to trek for a further 3 hours.
All in all, it was good fun but we still carry the scars from the experience with some leech bites and Emilia still a cripple! We also failed in the main aim and didn’t see any gibbons!!

Pagoda, Pagoda, Pagoda - Bagan

Michael Russell — Sun, 03 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The final destination on the Burma voyage was a 3 day trip to the 12th Century ruins of Bagan, think Angkor Wat but without so much of the tourist parafinala.

The ruins were plentiful & very beautiful.. sadly the only down side was the weather... with temperatures at 42C in the shade getting around by the preferred course (bicycle) was pretty tiring, hard still were the bikes themselves, as I had 3 flat tires out of 4 bikes.

The pagodas were extremely beautiful and almost untouched by tourists, there were too many to pick a favourite but a favourite moment was messing around with local kids on the top of one of the more famous pagodas during sunset. One of the plus points of Bagan was interaction with local kids... they are always looking to practise their English and very keen to flog an array of postcards and paintings.

After 2 half-days of sightseeing Mark and I decided to chill-ax by our hotel swimming pool all day as we felt we had earnt our break, that evening we bumped into a local we had met at one of the pagodas the previous day and were invited to a local coffee house to watch some English football, it was certainly a good way to finish the Burmese trip....

For anyone that is thinking of visiting Burma I would say go for it as the beer is ridiculously cheap, we mananged to buy a beer for 25 US cents and the sights to see are top notch.

Coming up next is Laos, where we currently are, Emilia will be joint-blogging to ease the burden for me.. woo hoo!

Teakbridges & Burma's Next Top Make-Up Artist - Mandalay Madness

Michael Russell — Fri, 01 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Mandalay - the former capital of Burma was reached following another horrible bumpy journey from Inle Lake..

The stay in Mandalay was only 2 days which included a trip to Mandalay Hill where we meet a Burmese chap rather keen to practice his English, topics included the political movement in Burma and the promiscuity of Burmese women. The view was breathtaking from the top and included a view of the State prison which was quite sobering.

The 2nd day included a visit to the worlds longest teak bridge where Mark and I got 'made-up' Burmese style by a talented young local girl - the teak bridge was up there with the best of the things I have seen so far..

Next stop the 12th Century ruins of Bagan...

Inle Lake - Home to Aung San Suu Kyi

Michael Russell — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

I forget to mention during the last blog entry that I had meet up with an English lad whilst applying for my visa in Bangkok and luckily our flight dates matched up so we decided to hit the sights of Burmese together...

The Lake was slightly dissapointing, especially as it took 17 hours on a nasty bus to get there.. as it was low season there were very few tourists and we ended up being hearded round market stalls and shops on our day on the lake.

Highlights included visiting a monestry where the monks have taught cats to jump through hoops in the air & fisherman rowing with their legs

Burmese Days - Yangon

Michael Russell — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Its been a while since the last update, so im just gunna update the blog with the places I've been with a snapshot of scenes that were generated there

[[Myanmar-(Burma)/Yangon]] - colonial capital of Burma/Myanmar - when we rocked out in the 1960s the Burmese decided not to bother with maintanence of the city and as such the city is a wonderful city of old buildings and rundown streets. It appears however that the junta has plenty of bunce to spend on nice pagodas.. the Sole pagoda is the heart of the city centre and the Shwedagon pagoda overlooks the city and is truly beautiful at night.. (see facebook) - The Shwedagon has a 76 carat diamond at the top of the umbrella!Impressive stuff!

Saraburi- Land of Tesco Ladyboys and Heart-throb Westerners

Michael Russell — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

So following a dirt cheap flight from Penang, courtesy of Air Asia .. I have had a week to chillax with my older brother Jon, his girlfriend Ana and her family and of course the latest addition to the Russell family tree, Tobias Napat ... known as Platong (pronounced Batong) to all!

JR i stationed 50 or so clicks north of Bangkok in a town called Saraburi, its roughly 1 hour by bus from BKK. The vibe is very much a relaxing one, despite the presence of a 5 month old baby! It is obligatory to take a nap at some point in the day, which is fine by me, and there is also an abundance of quality thai food due to the family running a restaurant/snack bar at the end of the drive-way!

Highlights of this week include being served buns by a ladyboy, aged 50 odd, in Tesco Lotus; a 2 day trip to Bangkok to sample the Khao San Road and the Grand Palace; and most importantly my new found fame as the Nick Berry of Saraburi, I feel obliged to discuss the last point in detail. As Saraburi isn't on the tourist trail so farangs are a novelty item. When I arrived there was a welcoming party of a few local young ladies, one of whom, Nue, has taken a bit of a fancy to me and has brought me rice cakes, offered to teach me Thai and has said that I am 'very handsome' - to be fair to Nue, she fancied my brother when he turned up and also some other doctors that were in town but she clearly has immaculate taste in men.

So the plan is to chill out until Wednesday as my parents have just arrived for a fortnight stay, then meeting up with Rob in Bangkok followed by some Full Moon fun on Ko Pha Ngan until 12th April.

Tea, Hiking and Banana Bread

Michael Russell — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Hi All,

Cameron-Highlands is the famous of the Malay hill stations and was founded by the British in the 1930s, it produces the apparently 'famous' Boh Tea, which I'm led to believe you can buy in Harrods/posh foody shops in London.

As is the case with hill stations the temperature is a lot cooler during the day and gets a bit nippy at night, I met a good lad from Northern Ireland on the bus up and we trekked around the town for 2 days happy as larry's. Sadly the weather wasn't so good for the time we were there so activities were limited to a walk in the morning-ish and watching DVDs at the hostel in the avo as the rain came down.

The first day we went for a walk round the main tea factory in CH and went for a hike amongst the tea Plantation, this was then finished off with a cup of afternoon tea and a smuggled-in loaf of excellent banana bread. The 2nd day was slightly more energetic as we went for a walk up to the top of the mountain (1663m ASL) and back through a village of indigenous people.

Next on the itinerary is a quick bus to Penang before my flight to Bangkok on Wednesday. I will upload the Borneo, Singapore and Peninsula Malay photos sometime over the weekend/early next week for you all to see.

The bright lights of KL

Michael Russell — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Hi All,

Had 2 days in which to explore KL and this was probably just about right, as with most of Malaysia, KL is very Westernised and hi-tech.

A visit to KL wouldn't be complete without a trip to the Petronas Towers and the KL Tower, the Petronas Towers are set amongst a fancy shopping mall with all of your favourite designer boutiques and Starbucks a plenty. In fairness to KL it seems to do top-notch shopping malls better than we can. The KL tower boasts wonderful views of the city so a trip at sunset was a must, sadly the dirty glass on the outside of the viewing deck made good pictures almost impossible.

A trip to Chinatown followed the next day & having done Singapore Chinatown the day before there are only so many fake Rolexs and knock off Premier League jerseys that you can stomach before everything becomes much of a muchness. I did however purchase a garish pair of swimming shorts that may go see-through when wet.. you (the loyal reader) will have to wait until Rob gets out before they can be snapped on the islands!

I thought I would end with a quick observation of Malaysia, from what I have seen so far in both Western and Borneo, Malaysian are obsessed with 2 Western products; firstly Premier League football; it seems to cross genders, women as much as men can be seen in football colours and there isn't the macho image of football that we have over here. Secondly, and most bizzarely, is their love of KFC.. the Colonel is cleaning up here! There are the standard MacDs and the occasional BK but the Malays love their KFC, so much so that this was our 'packed lunch' following the rafting in Borneo. In fact Kenny Rogers has his own Rooster joint in KL Chinatown in an attempt to muscle in on the Colonel's territory.

Next stop is Cameron-Highlands for a wee bit of trekking and walking round tea plantations/strawberry farms and apparently Butterfly Gardens!!woo hoo