Rebak Island, Langkawi, Malayia

'Tis the night before Christmas and I can't believe that I have been here for almost three weeks. This is a very different pace and climate from London. My time has been spent doing boat chores, reading and watching re-runs of a favorite TV series called Deadwood.
Callisto was in fair shape when I got here and the major problem was dead batteries and failure of the 30 Amp charger probably due to the fact that the battery bank was seriously depleted. The fellow I thought was charging the batteries on a monthly basis did not, in fact, do so. Hence this problem.
Not the end of the world really as the batteries are due to switched out in March anyway and the charger is under warrantee. The batteries  came up quite nicely with the 100 amp charger and will do fine for the next few months.
The air conditioner in the main salon is fixed and not before time as the weather has been quite warm. The rains have stopped and the skies are mostly clear.
I found lots of things didn't work after 6 months of disuse and I have been gainfully employed fixing everything. The domestic water pump has been rebuilt and is now better than new.
The Admiral has given me a long list of jobs and I have been dutifully wading through it. The vast majority have been completed and I look forward to the holidays and the arrival of the Admiral in time for the New Year.
Three weeks of  the single life is not all that  it is cracked up to be but at least I do have some cruising pals here to keep me company over the upcoming festivities.
The Admiral and I wish all our readers a very Happy Holidays and healthy and prosperous New Year

Hampstead, London, UK

Another eventful week in cloudy and cool London. Cousin Benny arrived for a brief visit last weekend and we had an enjoyable couple of days with him, wandering around the street fair in Hampstead and the Freemason's Arms and then an amusing play at the Haymarket. I went to the Little Ship Club on Tuesday for their club night featuring Sea Shanties with Roger and Ted who will be my crew for the cruise from Singapore to South Africa next year. An enjoyable evening was had by all.

We met with some old medical schools pals on Wednesday for dinner and Thursday again to the theater to see the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night, which was very well done.

The weekend was spent with Jessica and Ben and little Sydney in Kent and Jennifer joined us after completing her cookery course on Friday. We had a combined Thanksgiving and Hannuka celebration on Saturday and the time passed quickly playing with the baby.

We are now back in Hampstead getting me packed up  for the trip back to Malaysia tomorrow.

Thanksgiving in Kent

Sydney with the Admiral's boots

Sydney making gingerbread men

Princess Sydney with tutu enjoying a tea party with her dolls

Lighting the candles

Cousin Benny and the Admiral in the pub

The Little Ship Club with a view of the river at Southwark Bridge

Hampstead, London, UK

We got back to London last Thursday and then spent the weekend in Kent with Ben and Jessica and Sydney. We went to a local farm with a small petting zoo and a playground and Sydney ran around enjoying feeding the creatures. We met with Phil and Sandra, Ben's Mum and Dad at the farm and then went back to Jessica's house for lunch.
Evenings were spent on an epic Downton Abbey binge viewing and we watched the entire recent season almost back to back. We await the Christmas special.
Back to London on Monday and a huge curry dinner with my brother and his girlfriend. Out to Ealing on Tuesday to visit with cousin Ann over a very pleasant pub lunch.
I went to Royal Academy on Wednesday to see an exhibition of Australian Art and a Daumier exhibit and had lunch with yet another cousin, Steven.
Yesterday, we went to the Thai Embassy to get our visas for our time in Thailand in January, February and March and then spent a pleasant afternoon in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

sydney driving

sydney and goats

sydney feeding the lambs 

swinging sydney

chihuly lights at the V & A

Rochester, Kent,UK.

We have had a weekend of doting.

Here are some wedding photos. We will get some professional ones in due course

London,UK.

In many ways it was difficult to leave the comforts and  beautiful weather of San Diego but it was time to get going again. Our flight to London was quite good as the plane was half empty and we were able to get three seats each and I managed to get a few hours of snoozing.
The London gloom was a bit of a shock but to be expected at this time of year. Jennifer and Josette arrived on the following day and then it was full on preparation for the wedding of my niece Lisa.
I'm not usually mad keen on huge gatherings but it was great to get all dressed up and have three of the kids in one place at the same time. Ann, Jessica, Jennifer and Josette all looked beautiful and the wedding itself was meticulously planned and most enjoyable.
I don't know how much jet lag was involved but I managed to stay awake until the wee hours of the morning.
On the following morning, we got to see baby Sydney in the flesh for the first time in six months. Even though we see and talk to her on Skype almost on a daily basis, face to face interaction was much better. I think she knew who we were but she seemed a bit confused as to why we weren't talking to her via an electronic device.
We went to Amersham on Tuesday to visit with the Admiral's mum and dad and also had  a very pleasant visit with Helen Southwood, one of our good cruising friends at her new home in Chorleywood .
Photos to follow

San Diego, CA

I am very happy to have finished my 4 1/2 weeks of radiation and I feel so lucky to have avoided chemotherapy, my only side effects being somewhat tired and localized itchy skin! I have now started anastrozole, a daily oral medication for the next 10 years ,as long as there are no serious side effects....fingers crossed. Lifestyle wise I have decided to change my vegetarian diet slightly and I have cut out ALL dairy products! And a max of 3 drinks per WEEK ( this is stated as the safe amount) as studies show that drinking 2-3 glasses of alcohol per day can increase the risk of breast cancer by 20%! We have continued to visit new sites around San Diego, and have been twice to my favorite ,this being the Salk Institute in La Jolla,this is a private research institute, began by Jonas Salk ,who along with Louis Kahn envisioned in the 1960's an exceptional environment for laboratory discovery.Using 5 components ,concrete, steel, travertine ,teak and glass this wondrous piece of architecture is maintenance free and ever evolving. It is located on the cliff side overlooking the Pacific Ocean .Walking through these serene surroundings where many Nobel prize winners have pondered is very calming and inspiring. Last weekend was also very inspiring for me ,it was the American Cancer association Breast Cancer walk, there were 30,000 walkers! Mostly dressed in pink.827 teams.Our team was called " Keep Calm and think pink " ranked 33 rd in fund raising with a total of $3990 ! Thank you everybody who sponsored me, and walked by my side,I felt truly loved. We had a lovely weekend with James and Katie from San Francisco, Josie from Portland and (10 days )with my sister Sue from England.Other activities have included The captain having his obligatory infrequent haircut,in preparation for his nieces wedding, Saturday walks at the local farmers market and trying some local restaurants. In 10 days we will travel to London and slowly kick start our journey again...with family visits and then back to the boat in Langawi ( Malaysia) in December.

Salk Institute

Salk Institute

Breast Cancer Walk Our Team

The admiral with all of her regalia

Ringing the bell at the end of treatment at UCSD

Bubbles at the Prado

San Diego, CA

All done with treatment!
Yesterday was the last radiation therapy treatment and today the Admiral visited with her oncologist and was given her next appointment for six months. All went well with the radiation therapy thus far but she may suffer from some ill effects over the next two to four weeks. We will have to wait and see. Also, she will start an estrogen blocking drug tomorrow and we hope that there will be no problems with it, as it is recommended she take this medication for 5- 10 years.
She is most relieved to have finished treatment and is now involved with much retail therapy with her sister, Susan who is visiting from England.
We have not been idle since my last post. We had a very pleasant celebratory lunch at the Prado restaurant in Balboa Park yesterday and last weekend was the walk for Breast Cancer.
A four mile stroll with about five thousand of our new best friends. Lots of noise and rah-rah but a very uplifting and emotional experience. We had Josette and James and Katie down for the weekend and we spent some quality family time together
The Admiral did well to raise more than $2500 for the ACS and again we would like to thank all those who contributed.
Photos to follow.

San Diego, CA

Nearly Half Way There

I am now  2 weeks into my radiation, so far so good.

When I am lying in the machine( called a linear accelerator) each day it seems so

 surreal, as if this is happening to someone else and I'm a spectator .The only bad

 thing last week was a couple of episodes of vertigo which is unlikely to be related.

We have been busy exploring San Diego each day after my treatments, trying to 

incorporate some nice long walks and new sites. Every Tuesday rotating museums

 are free for residents, luckily for the Captain it was the automotive and air and space museums this week, hopefully it will be art and the Zen gardens next.

Last week was also the opening of the new downtown SD 8 floor library complex ,lots of space to lounge and good fast wifi.

Julie and I have also been busy with online fundraising for the ACS breast cancer fund and organizing our team to walk on October 20 th. See the link below

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?px=34858349&pg=personal&fr_id=55649&fl=en_US&et=PvKxvZQ6Yf2y1eglg3CpWw&s_tafId=1204955

For those of you who may be wondering how the Captain has adjusted to so much 

land time,you will be pleased to hear that he has

been keeping his feet wet 'beer can racing,' every Wednesday afternoon, at CCYC.

reading room new library

Automotive museum at Balboa Park

.

San Diego, CA

Another week has slid by and we went back to UCSD today to begin Ann's radiotherapy only to be told that she would have some pre treatment scans done today and they would begin tomorrow. We have the full schedule and it will end on October 23rd.
In the meantime, we are keeping busy. A ballgame at Petco Park tonight and the museums at Balboa Park tomorrow. The weather has been outstanding and flights to London are arranged for November 5th.
Ann has been busy with the American Cancer Society walk for breast cancer on Sunday, October 20th.
and we all plan to attend on that date.

San Diego, CA

Our Next Journey

It now seems so long ago ( only a month) that we were spending balmy evenings on 
the Sun Valley green picnicking at sunset whilst listening to the sun valley summer 
symphony; planning our upcoming trip to England and the next leg of our sailing 
journey.  Little did we know then ,that this would come to a grinding halt and 
all our plans would have to be put on hold.
Our lives have become transient these last 4 years,after leaving our home (25 
years ) in Rancho Mirage we have been  traveling to new horizons always moving 
west as we sail around the world.We left behind friends and family which 
included all our support systems that we would normally have harnessed at times 
like these. All our new friends along this journey are also scattered ,so we 
rely on our blogs, Facebook,emails and Skype for all our  communication  . I 
would never  have considered this pathway before ,but now it doesn't seem 
surprising for me to be writing about this latest journey in our lives.
During  these last 3 weeks I have been extremely anxious not knowing what comes 
next.It is so hard to loose control and have patience to wait for results.It is 
truly surreal ,one moment being logical having discussions about statistics and 
outcomes and the next being an emotional wreck ,not sleeping and having 
discussions with myself all night,truly an eye opener into our vulnerability and 
how much we take life for granted.
Being diagnosed with 'cancer ' sends a tremendous jolt to your brain! Before you 
have even begun the battle this word hits you like a ton of bricks ,so that it 
is hard to logically see the wood for the trees.
We have both been avidly  reading what seems like every study ,paper,trial ever 
written on breast cancer ,yea for iPads and Internet ( in every circumstance). 
We have gained a tremendous amount of knowledge on the subject ,including all 
the advances in treatment  :)
 I have had many and multiple doctor consults,at Eisenhower medical center and 
at UCSD medical center ,with mammograms,ultra sounds ,biopsies,various kinds of 
scans ,tests and surgery and now finally all the cards are on the table ,so we 
can make the most fully informed decision as to my best option for treatment 
.The oncotype dx test came back today with a score of 13  :)
this suggests that I do NOT need chemo therapy :) :)
I will be starting  22 days of radiation therapy on Monday and then starting a 
daily oral medication for the next 5 years.
We can now plan our next  phase in the journey. It feels so good to be back in 
control again.

San Diego

The long wait is over. The Oncotype DX came back today and was favourable. It looks like Ann will not need chemotherapy and we will go to see the oncologist and the radiation therapist over the next few days to determine a treatment plan. More information tomorrow.

San Diego,CA

Change of Plan
We had some further meetings with our radiation oncologist today and we have decided to wait for the results the Oncotype DX prior to making a decision regarding the type of radiation therapy to choose. We have been told that will get a result by next Monday and if this indicates that chemotherapy is required then she will have the short, partial breast radiation delivered by a special catheter next week. If the Oncotype DX test is favourable then she will opt for whole breast radiation over 16 days. We will have to anxiously wait and see. In the mean time, the weather remains perfect and there is much to keep us occupied.

View of San Diego from Cabrillo National Monument

San Diego, CA

Time has passed slowly since my last post and I must admit to a little boredom and despondency over the past week. Those of you who know me, will understand that waiting patiently is  not one of my strongest attributes so this has been a difficult time for they Admiral and I.
The days do pass and I even got some beer can racing in on Wednesday with my old pals in Coronado. Other excitement includes renting a machine and shampooing all the carpet in the apartment. What joy!
The Oncotype DX test did not get sent until after Labor Day and was only received in the lab yesterday so we will have to wait now until the 19 th.  of September to get a decision regarding chemotherapy.
There was some activity today and we went to see the radiation oncologist at UCSD who thought that  the  admiral was a good candidate for partial breast irradiation delivered  through a special catheter. The good news is that this can be given in one week only, as opposed to 6-7 weeks of external beam  whole breast radiation. Ann starts on Monday with a CT scan and  treatment beings on Tuesday.
So at least one mode of therapy will be done before we have to consider chemo.

San Diego, CA

It is a calm and beautiful San Diego Sunday morning and there is much to enjoy. We went to see the head of breast oncology at UCSD on Friday and she was quite delightful and spent ample time with us and again went through the decision making process in determining Ann's optimal treatment going forward.

She recommended an aromatase inhibitor as the most effective way to block estrogen as the tumour is hormone sensitive. This will continue for at least five years. She also mentioned an alternative to external beam radiotherapy, namely a technique called partial breast irradiation which I had not heard of before. I will have to research it further to be sure that it it is at least as effective as the standard treatment. This method has some significant advantages in that it takes only one week instead of six weeks and can be given immediately following lumpectomy instead of waiting until after chemo if indicated. 

She really did not think that the option of subcutaneous mastectomy either bilateral or on one side in order to prevent recurrence or diminish the risk of new disease was reasonable.

We also discussed the $64,000 question regarding adjuvent chemotherapy and as we surmised we will not get the answer to that for  another two weeks while the Oncotype DX gene test is being done.

This is a little frustrating as neither of is very good at waiting but there is little choice. At least,we can look into getting an opinion on partial breast irradiation and we will try to get to visit with the radiation oncologist at UCSD next week.

In the mean time we will take advantage of all that San Diego has to offer.

San Diego, CA

This has been a difficult week. Ann is recovering very nicely from her lumpectomy and sentinel lymph node biopsy. She has very little discomfort and the wounds are healing well.The staff at Eisenhower Medical Centre were all excellent as expected.
We have  the pathology reports most of which are favourable. and suggest good prognosis. The big question is the need for adjuvent chemotherapy and we are going to see the chief of breast oncology at UCSD on Friday to get an expert opinion on this. One further genetic test, Oncotype DX,  is cooking as we speak but we will not get the result for another  two weeks from now.
We certainly hope that chemotherapy will not be necessary for obvious reasons but will have to wait and see.

Rancho Mirage, California

Some good news and some bad news

We have had an eventful week. We left Sun Valley a day early due to the massive Beaver Creek wild fire that destroyed more than a hundred square miles to the south and west of Sun Valley and Ketchum. Up to 2300 homes were evacuated and we were next on the list. The smoke was so thick it reminded me of the London fogs I remember from the late 50's and early 60's. Most activities were cancelled including the famous Sun Valley Symphony and the writer's conference.

There didn't seem to be much point waiting for a mandatory evacuation order so we left a bit early. Even so, the only route out of town, highway 75 was jammed solid and it took almost two hours to go eleven miles to get south of Hailey. This usually takes about twenty minutes. We saw the smoke and flames in the distance and the fire camp where more than a thousand firemen were assembled to fight the fire.

We are pleased that their efforts were successful and no significant fire damage happened in Sun Valley and Ketchum. Tourism, however, suffered greatly.

And now for the bad news. Ann has noted some skin tethering over the right breast for the past two months and despite having had normal screening mammograms for the past ten years, we thought it would be best to have some further testing done.

A diagnostic mammogram, ultrasound and a core needle biopsy done on a suspicious area on the right side on Monday was positive for breast cancer.

Fortunately, an MRI scan did not show any spread to lymph nodes but confirmed the mass on the right side.

We are currently back in Rancho Mirage and tomorrow Ann will undergo lumpectomy and sentinel lymph node biopsy with one of my former associates.

We expect to return to San Diego on Saturday to await the results of the biopsy, the various tumour markers and the lymph node status which should be available by Tuesday. We should then have a better handle on prognosis and be able to make some decisions about adjuvant treatment. We hope that Ann will not need chemo but we will have to wait and see.

We had planned to leave for London on September 10 and go back to SE Asia in November but all plans are on hold right now until we have further information.

We both hope this turns out well.

Sun Valley, ID

The Admiral and I have been enjoying the quiet life in the mountains and the days pass quickly. All the new painting and decorating has been done and we will put the condo up for rental again when we leave on Saturday. There have been some devastating forest fires in the surrounding areas and our usually glorious mountain views have been marred by heavy smoke and ash.
We have been enjoying the Sun Valley Symphony, which is an annual feature here. Mozart tonight, followed by martinis at the Sun Valley Inn.
On a much sadder note, we received the news yesterday that one of our fellow cruisers had lost his battle with a very rare and aggressive CNS lymphoma and passed away at the tender age of 48. We will miss him very much and we must learn to live our own lives to the fullest.
We leave for San Diego on Saturday via Las Vegas and Rancho Mirage.

Sun Valley, Idaho

I have been slow in posting over the past month for no good reason. It just doesn't seem the same when we are ashore. Much has happened, however. We had a great time over the July 4th holiday with our friends, Len and Kathy and wandered all over San Diego, saw some ball games at Petco Park, visited wineries and spent time with Julie and Josette.
We have been in Sun Valley for the past couple of weeks and the weather has been delightful. The Admiral is currently in Portland getting Josette settled in her new apartment and her new job and will return tomorrow. I have been painting the first floor of our condo in Sun Valley as the interior was looking a little tired.
 We look forward to some hiking and the Sun Valley symphony which has just started.

Len and me at the Cabrillo National Monument at Point Loma

a new calling

July 4th fireworks from our apartment

Wine tasting with Julie and Josette at the Orfila Vineyard

San Diego, CA, USA

We are now back in San Diego enjoying the view from our apartment and the weather, although I must admit that for the few days before we left there was some improvement. We spent about five weeks in London and the Home Counties but I'm still not sure where all the time went. It must mean that we had a very good time visiting with family and old friends and even some new ones.
We split our time between my siblings in Hampstead, and my in-laws in Amersham and Jessica in Kent and all went well.Baby Sydney, now 18 months is a joy.
I took a quick visit to New York in early June to visit with my cousin George for the last time before he unfortunately passed away last week.
We joined the Little Ship Sailing Club in central London and I am sure we will enjoy it on our return in September.
We look forward to celebrating America's birthday in delightful surroundings. Happy July 4th to you all.

London, UK

Much has happened since our arrival in London, ten days ago. The weather was 
barely fifty degrees and quite a change from what we have become accustomed to.
One of our first events was the Chelsea Flower Show which was very crowded but 
excellent. I have never seen such orchids and huge blooms as were exhibited 
there.
After that, were the preparations for our niece's wedding at the St. Pancras 
Hotel and the event itself. The ceremony and subsequent party were excellent and 
we were fortunate to have gathered four out of five of the kids to celebrate the 
joyous occasion.
On the following day, we went out to Chesham to visit with Steve and Helen, old 
cruising friends of ours from our time in the South Pacific. We had an enjoyable 
evening over a curry talking about our experiences. 
We spent a day or two with the Admiral's mum and dad who both remain 
exceptionally spry.
I went to the Natural History Museum with Jessica, Sydney, James and Katie on 
Friday and visited with friends and family over the weekend. The days are 
passing quickly.
Over the past two days the weather has improved and although the temperature is 
still cool we have had quite a bit of sunshine. We took a very nice walk over 
Hampstead Heath today followed by a pub lunch. England is transformed when the 
sun comes out!

James, Katie, Julie and Sydney

Amazing orchids at the Chelsea Flower Show

begonias and delphiniums

sweet peas

Sydney at 16 months another sweet pea

Us and four out of five at the St. Pancras Hotel, all dressed up

Sydney and me  and the Lion King

some more wedding photos

Admirals summary of Vietnam

We felt extremely welcome and everyone was very friendly and full of smiles, not what I had imagined in this Communist country. People here are very enterprising ,entrepreneurial and extremely hard working. Always negotiate any service or price of an object prior to the event or purchase ,they will try to profit anyway they can,but they keep to their word once a number has been agreed upon.Never use a meter on a taxi, prefix the price before you set off.

People live and work on the streets and rivers ,the pavements and waterways are alive with activities as you will have seen in the photographs.

The Vietnamese are of a small  stature,but they make up for it with strength and determination ,they are very proud of being Vietnamese .I imagine it is probably difficult for tall ,larger tourists (,as most seem to be) to use the seating and transportation comfortably, the reclining bus for example was 7 iPads long by 2 iPads wide , fine for the likes of the Captain and myself .( I didn't have a tape measure!)

The country is 80% Buddhist ,and the influence is felt everywhere.especially with the smell of incense burning in every shop and restaurant,and on the pavements.Such a contrast when you return to Malaysia which is predominantly muslim, and not as friendly.

A Very nice place for a vegetarian also ,lots of choices as all the Buddhist monks are vegetarian. 

The French influence is throughout the country,with the architecture especially,the faded yellow color of the paint on the walls and the muted green wooden shutters on the windows ,iron filigree work in the fencing etc. Wide tree lined streets giving shade when it is most needed,street vendors with baguettes and delicious pastries and cake shops.

We have travelled by foot,bicycle,scooter ,motorcycle,car ,bus train and plane so we have been able to get a real feel for the country and the way people live here. On the streets the scooter/motorcycle gives you the best feel for your surroundings,immersed with the sights ,smells and being part of the  swarm of cycles as you go through the towns.

When crossing the roads ,nobody follows any real road rules as we know them in the west ,they do move at a slower pace though, so look at your first step off the curb ,then do NOT look at the traffic just face your destination and walk in an aggressive forthright manner across the road, do NOT hesitate , the cars and bikes will go around you ,scary at first ,but we got used to walking in front of moving vehicles!

The currency here has many zeros so it can be hard to work out prices some of the time, there are 20,000 dong  to 1 dollar, also they have paper notes for 1000 dong (5 cents!) on upwards, this means carrying around wads of paper.Advice for travelers ,if you use the Citi bank ATMs you can take out up to 6,000,000 dong with only one fee for the transaction. Most other ATMs only give 2,000,000.

Hoi An was an extremely interesting and charming town, home of 200 tailors,and shoemakers,service in 24 hours. The captain had a new white tuxedo shirt made and I had a silk traditional Ao dai made for me to wear at the upcoming wedding of our niece in London at the end of May.It is worth coming with an empty suitcase and having clothes tailor made for you.

Dalat in the central highlands was a welcome change from the heat and frenetic chaos of Saigon. Our first cool evenings for months. It is known as le petit Paris,and is one of vietnams honeymoon destinations.

There are fields of greenhouses growing the majority of flowers to be sent all around the country.The soil is too good to grow rice ,instead they grow every vegetable and fruit  you can imagine ,and were in abundance in the local markets,avocados,mulberries,bananas, asparagus,strawberries,artichokes,pineapples,guavas, etc etc. Nearby waterfalls and lakes lie amongst the pine trees.Very peaceful indeed.No wonder the French latched on to this town.

Our train journey from Hue to Hanoi was an experience, we were on the 1st class equivalent of a sleeper compartment run by vietnamese rail,supposedly soft beds,well the beds were hard and narrow , 2.1/3 ipads wide and 7.1/2 long. They say lock the door as people try to come in , we had one lady at 4 am ,but this was legit as the conductor unlocked the door. The train was extremely noisy and not very clean, but it was on time. The breakfast trolley had corn on the cob, rice buns ,coca cola and Vietnamese coffee, I had only coffee which was much needed and good, very dark and strong.

Hanoi is a buzzing city and staying in the heart of the old quarter was a  great experience. We felt part of the city.We were awoken at 7 in the morning with the loud propaganda messages and music from the speakers in the streets, messages such as clean the streets and use your birth control....so we were told.

The restaurants have been excellent, and the tiny stools at night on the streets outside make -shift restaurants drinking with the locals ( beer 25 cents a glass )has been a fun adventure. They like to practice their english,ask about soccer and want to share their favorite English teams ,welcome us to their country and wish us well on our travels.

We walked  miles and miles through all these beautiful cities,thank goodness for the enormous shady trees.

Sapa high up in the mountains has been so reminiscent of sun valley ,pine trees ,intense sun ,fast moving clouds and lovely cool breezes, we had ,as already mentioned our only and worst hotel on this trip here, my reviews on Trip advisor and agoda shall reflect this! 

Schooling is only free through primary age and then they have to pay, in the hilly areas only 40 % attend through primary  ,most have no schooling. How we in the west take this for granted, actually feel entitled to a free education.There is no free medicine,so there are many illnesses and birth defects walking around with difficulty, textbook pictures are on the streets! There is no income tax.

Hiking around and talking to other Vietnamese tourists ,which there are plenty of ,plus having some good conversations with our different tour guides Ta and Buddah have given us an interesting perspective on Vietnamese life and culture not just the propaganda that you read in the museums. The locals welcome all nations and seem to bear no grudges except for the Chinese of whom they are wary and just don't trust!

Recommendations if going to Vietnam:

The wifi has been excellent throughout the country, we did not need to buy a data chip as every hotel and restaurant had free wireless wifi, and a computer in the lobby for use.We were easily able to use Skype, viber and magic jack for all our phone calls.

Firstly the visa,it is not necessary to go to an embassy unless one is close by, you can go onto the Internet to

Vietnamvisa.org.vn

and pre book an introductory letter ( which you need to make copies of)at a 17 dollar fee  per person,then on arrival (we were in Saigon which had an excellent new airport and facilities,) follow the signs for a visa and have a passport photo of yourself and 45 US dollars each, this gave us 30 days and only took 10 minutes.

One of the best sites for information about the trains is,

Seat61.com

The trains in Vietnam have privately owned carriages that are pulled by the state run railway,so it is important to read this seat 61 website for information,

You cannot pre -book the trains online yourself ,you have to go through an agent,we used....Vietnam impressive travel and events 

vietnamimpressive.com 

They were excellent, for a private sleeper carriage he sent us email vouchers which we were able to exchange at the station for actual tickets and for the state railway he sent the actual tickets to our first hotel address. Very efficient and timely indeed.

Travel light there are laundries everywhere ,back the same day and averaging 1 dollar a kilo! Plus there are plenty of clothes to buy :)

Go to Hoi an and have some clothes made.

If you go to SaPa use Vietnam nomad trails travel, the director Duong Thanh Tan was very knowledgeable , spoke English and French Vietnamnomadtrails.com

When you go to Hue use le family riders, (we took a local motor cycle tour,)

Lefamilyriders.com

especially if you want to go by motorcycle from Hue to Hoi an, the route that was taken by Jeremy Clarkson etc in 'Topgear'

I recommend going to Saigon,Dalat,Hoi an,Hue,Hanoi and Sapa, as we did.They were all different .

Take a fold up umbrella and buy one of the cheap rain capes  from any town street vendor,the rain can down pour ,but you don't want to cart a large Mac around.

The weather is hot ,so early mornings are best for exploring ,all our hotels had air conditioning so take a nap and explore in the evenings when the sun has gone down,(except in the mountains).

All the towns and cities are alive at night with many families out  promenading as in Europe.

 We used agoda to book our hotels and paid between 30-70 dollars a night,they were all good EXCEPT for the Grand View in Sapa, which did have a great view but not much else.

Rebak Marina, Langkawi, malaysia

We have been back for a day or two and are now getting ready to leave for London on Tuesday. I got my repaired dinghy back yesterday and the weather is very hot here.
Here are many photos of Sa Pa and Loa Cai near the Chinese border.

Sa Pa

other nasty things in jars at the drugstore

pickled snakes in the drugstore

Sa Pa

Add caption

H'mong child

Sa Pa

Vietnamese tourists from Ha Noi

Admiral and friend

Sa Pa lake

More Sa Pa

Lady from the Dao tribe counting the day's takings 

Boy and his buffalo

Boy riding his buffalo

child from H'mong tribe

another H'mong child. they were very attractive but not so clean

waterfall at Cat Cat village

SaPa

bridge over the river to Cat Cat

Two of my H'mong ladies entourage

Rice paddies Sa Pa

The hills are alive with the sound of........ Sa Pa

Looking toward China

The view from the patio at the hotel in Sa Pa. For some reason  they had left the laundry on the tables and chairs. Great views but the hotel was a disaster

Sa Pa views

Mobile motorcycle barber shop

Water tank. All around are pieces of broken asbestos roofing material 

mountain village

kids

tea pickers

Fuel

Market Lao Cai Fish and frogs for sale

Family from the Nung tribe

The Admiral and Ta, our guide

Baby seat. this was one of the safer ones

miles and miles of pineapples

Lao Cai looking across into China

A final view of Sa Pa