Author archive
12 August 2012
On our second day diving at Perhentian Islands, we did two dives again, but this time with Arwana Perhentian Dive Centre. Initially we were booked with Alu Alu Divers. The morning began with dark clouds and white caps in the sea. We delayed our 0900 start till 1000 and pushed off then. After collecting extra […]
11 August 2012
Today, we did two dives with Alu Alu Divers: Our first dive at the Sugar Wreck had only 5m of visibility. We could hardly see the ship; only the bit that was immediately in front of us. We were told to expect certain barracudas and also to look into the Captain’s bridge for red snappers. […]
11 August 2012
We did two days of diving while staying on Perhentian Besar. The two days are the perfect illustration that one’s choice of dive operators and dive sites can make or break one’s experience of diving at a destination. Today, we did two dives with Alu Alu Divers: Our first dive at the Sugar Wreck had […]
10 August 2012
Going snorkelling Due to not being able to go diving today, we went snorkelling with two Italian girls. We left at 1000 by speedboat and went to five spots: Blue Lagoon, Tanjung Genting, Turtle Point, Fish Garden and Shark Point. The water was crystal clear in all places except Shark Point (which was still quite […]
9 August 2012
With the Tune Hotel’s checkout extended from 1000 till 1100, we thought we’d have a leisurely morning having breakfast and repacking so we’d bring just the minimum to Pulau Perhentian Besar (literally Big “Stop” Island). After checking out, we were to taxi to Kuala Besut. Kim didn’t want to take a first or second generation […]
8 August 2012
Above: Dedicated queues for men, women and families at the supermarket. It was an early start with a 0545 wake up. The hotel kindly offered us breakfast before their normal serving time and despite us having eaten our entitlement yesterday. We can certainly recommend the Hanoi Holiday Diamond Hotel; the staff are amazing. They bend […]
7 August 2012
Above: Typical Hanoi street in the old area near our hotel. We arrived in Hanoi around 0430 and taxied to the hotel where we camped in the lobby briefly. I did a lot of errands on the internet so time flew and soon breakfast was served. As we have an early departure tomorrow, I asked […]
6 August 2012
Above: On the road from Sapa to Lao Cai. We had a late departure at 2015 on the night train from Sapa back to Hanoi. We had considered doing a walk or a motorbike ride to another village but the weather wasn’t conducive. We did our morning in slow motion and checked out at midday. […]
5 August 2012
Sunday is market day at Bac Ha. It is meant to be the most colourful market n Vietnam so we decided it couldn’t be missed. With a 0730 pick-up, we were up around 0630 to catch breakfast at 0700. We got to Bac Ha (via Lao Cai) at 1030. The actual driving time was around […]
4 August 2012
We woke to a modern arrangement of Fur Elise piped in through the PA around 0530. There are worse ways to be woken up. Our arrival into Lao Cai (next to the Chinese border) was uneventful. We found the shuttle desk for Sapa easily and bought our tickets. We waited briefly for the van to […]