Week 8 – Sunday 8th February – Saturday 14th February 2026

Last week was a week of history, learning more about the Vietnam War and the atrocities that went on here. A visit to the coastal town of Vung Tau and some more good eating. This week we are going to have some ‘fun’ with a visit to Phu Quoc, riding cable cars, theme park rides and visiting a local hospital!

Sunday 8th February

We are starting week 8, and today we are getting the high-speed boat back to Saigon, which is very busy. Vung Tau seems to be a weekend retreat for some of the residents of Saigon, as we all pile onto the boat.

The trip passes quickly, though, and we are soon back into the mayhem and noise of Saigon and on our way to check into a hotel we have been to a few times on past visits. It’s a tiny boutique hotel in District 1; they even remembered us by name when we popped in for a drink last week, the week we stayed in a bigger 5-star hotel here in Saigon because it had a pool, but in reality, it was too busy, and we really do prefer our little TripleE Hotel.

It’s in a charming local area with good, basic local eateries nearby. They also have a little bar with a small terrace that faces the street. We love to sit here and watch life go by; it really is an education just sitting here, people watching.

They do make the most amazing cocktails at this hotel, probably the best we have had, and we have had a few of those in our time! They really are quite delicious, and the price is very reasonable. They are so good that we have one before we go out.

We take a walk to the busy local market, followed by dinner in a back street, where we have delicious meatballs and a Vietnamese pork pancake. We take a rather warm walk from there to the famous ‘walking street’, which is the party area of Saigon.

It’s quite a place, so much colour and noise. We’ve never been to this area before, it’s a bit mad. Noisy neon-lit bars with women dancers (and men, or at least one that we saw) with live music. This place is set up for thousands of people and reminds us of some areas of Bangkok. 

Back at the hotel, we just have to have one more cocktail and then turn in quite early. It’s hot and noisy, but we quite like it

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Monday 9th February

We are flying to Phu Quoc Island today. It’s a Vietnamese island just south of Cambodia and known for its beautiful sunsets, a rarity in the mainly east-facing Vietnam mainland. We have a steak and eggs breakfast at our favourite place, Bo Ne Ba Nui. It’s very busy with people queuing up, but we time it just right and get a (miniature) seat and table inside. 

Dining here is done on miniature tables and chairs. They like to squat, so when in Rome…

Our cab is whisking us off to the airport, T1 domestic, for our flight; the only problem is that we are at the wrong terminal. Vietnam Airways moved all of its operations to T3, similar to BA moving to T5. This is not on any of the paperwork, but when you ask to go to ‘domestic’ to the cab driver, even they don’t know that Vietnam Airways moved in May. We have to quickly find another cab to get us sharply from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3, which ends up having to navigate around the busy Saigon traffic, as the terminal is nowhere near the rest of the airport.

We make check in with less than an hour to our departure, only to then find out that the flight is delayed. 1 hour 30 minutes later than our scheduled time, we touch down at Phu Quoc airport.

We are staying in Sunset Town. We have booked a small hotel with a sea view (and a cable car view!). This was a change that we made to our plans last month, sacrificing 2 days in Saigon for an extra 2 days at Phu Quoc.

Sunset Town is a strange place. It’s like a theme park, everything is new and manicured and themed with an Italian style, with all of the buildings, roads and bridges all looking like something from Rome or Milan, there is not a scrap of litter anywhere.

If you’ve ever been to Rome or Milan, however, then you will know how wrong they have got it here! It’s all a bit weird.

The cable car station is in a mock-up of the Colosseum in Rome.

They’ve gone mad spending money building in this place, which includes a huge bridge called the Kiss Bridge. It’s a huge walking bridge that curves out into the sea and has a gap where it meets. The gap is approximately 30cm, enough to lean over and kiss your partner! Of course, you each have to walk on one side to meet in the middle, though there may be some who think that they can both walk up one side and climb over the gap.

There are two shows here that perform every night. We have bought tickets for both, which we think are expensive at a total of £68; we shall see. We grab a quick snacky dinner and head to the bridge to watch the first show, ‘Symphony of the Sea’. It is a spectacle on water with jet skis, flyboarders, lasers and fireworks. It’s jaw-droppingly impressive, well worth the ticket price. All the performers wear LED suits and body-mounted fireworks.

H is most impressed with the flyboarders. A flyboard is a water jet platform powered by a jet of water fed via a long, flexible, thick hose, which is connected to a jet ski! You stand on the platform and can raise yourself out of the water by up to 14 metres (45 ft). There are 5 of these performers, and they are incredible to watch, doing backflips and dives; it’s an amazing show. It all ends with a spectacular fireworks display. This would be impressive even if it were just once a year, but they put this on every night.

The next show is nearby in the world’s largest water projection theatre, which is made up of lights, lasers, dancers, fire and of course water projection effects! The show is called Kiss of the Sea. This, too, is unbelievably spectacular. What the heck is going on in Vietnam? Every show we have seen is the best of its type and shockingly good. It has to be said that when Vietnam decide to build something, they do so on an immense scale. We are just amazed at the effects and vision of the whole thing. This show ends with another, even better, fireworks display.  Wow. Del has proclaimed after 40+ years in the business, the best shows he has seen are both in Vietnam, this one, Kiss of the Sea and the amazing Hoi An Memories. The scale and visual presentation are second to none.

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Tuesday 10th February

The hotel we are in is unusual in that we have to walk to the hotel-owned restaurant a couple of blocks away. The hotel is good, but a bit odd in this respect. However, after the short walk, we arrive at the restaurant and have a delicious à la carte breakfast underneath the cable cars.

It’s all very pleasant. Today we are going on the cable car, the 8km (5miles) to Hon Thom Island. The ticket includes a water park, so we will have to give that a go too. 

We have been a bit dubious about cable cars for a while now, after hearing of recent accidents and fatalities. We did do the terrifying Mont Blanc cable routes, one of which is almost a vertical pull. We then did the route over Mont Blanc, which runs between France and Italy directly above the Mont Blanc tunnel.

We decide that we can’t miss this cable car. It’s the longest over-sea cable car in the world, and the views are amazing – from the manicured European-looking Sunset Town over the hundreds of fishing boats and then the cramped fisherman’s towns, over forests and sea and different islands.

The view of the immense concrete towers supporting the cables, and the catenary of the long stretches of cable hanging down under the weight of the cabins, is truly an amazing piece of engineering, but it’s one that we don’t hear enough of. It’s beautifully engineered and smooth, being built, of course, by the Austrians, Dopplemayr, for fellow nerds like H. 

Aquatopia, the water park and amusement park at the other end of the cable car trip, is lovely, well-manicured, very green, and very well maintained. There’s a big wooden roller coaster here, but it’s shut just for today, so H misses out on it, and so does Del, doing his duties of bag carrying. Whew!

We do get to go on some other rides and then head to the water area. We’re not very well prepared for this, but there’s a shop here, so we get some water shoes and rash/UV tops that will be handy back home on the kayaks. We start off with some small slides sitting together in a double inflatable and then have a float down the very calming lazy river. H has spotted some bigger slides, so has to try some out. It’s all very good and well designed.

Our ticket includes a free beer, so we take a rest and get it down us! Buoyed on by the rush of alcohol, H decides she will try the huge funnel slide, followed by the terrifying vertical drop slide.

She’s seen these on the internet and thought, Who would do this? After slowly staggering up the stairs to the top of the tower, she is queuing up when the operator asks, “does anyone want to go on the extreme vertical slide?’ There have been no takers for this thus far, as everyone is opting for the more gentle of the two. H shoots her hand up in the air, which elicits a round of applause from the rest of the queue. She is ushered to the front to stand in a vertical cabinet, which, inside, has a trapdoor. The cabinet door is closed, the operator asks for a thumbs up, then…

The floor disappears, and she free-falls down and into the long deceleration area. Del is watching this with other spectators who give up a spontaneous gasp and cheer as she is released and kind of gracefully deposited below the slide. H is grinning from ear to ear, but a bit shaky. The terror of standing on an opening trapdoor hasn’t put her off, and she’s back up for another go. It’s amazing what courage a litre of free beer does. What an idiot. 

After spending a good day at the water park, we get changed and join the queue for the return cable car.

Once back in Sunset Town, we can access the Kiss Bridge with our ticket, so we each walk on the separate walkways to meet in the middle for a kiss over the gap.

It’s full of Instagrammers and drones, of course, but we get our chance. While we are doing this, another water show is starting, and the flyboarders are back doing amazing tricks. One raises himself up to the bridge and gives us a high five!

The skill and control of these guys is impressive, and apparently, 5 of them are world champions from Canada, the UK and other countries. 

After all this excitement, we have a quiet dinner out at our hotel’s restaurant on the terrace, which is fabulous, despite the Italian music on a loop… After dinner and a few ‘buona nottes’ to the confused Vietnamese staff, we take a gentle walk around the night market before heading back to the hotel. It wears you out with this fun stuff..! We make it back to the hotel just in time to watch the fireworks from our balcony. 

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Wednesday 11th February

H had a bad sleep; she was bitten all over by mosquitoes in the night despite spraying herself with repellent. That will teach us to leave the balcony door open while watching fireworks.

We spend the morning looking around the town and having a coffee before moving off in a cab for the 1-hour drive north to the Vinpearl Resort and Spa Hotel, for some more fun…

The hotel is a luxury resort connected to Vietnam’s biggest theme park, run by Vinwonders. Unlike the last one, which was run by Sun World, this one is run by a huge corporation here in Vietnam, going by the very creative name Vin Group, who own hotels, theme parks, schools, hospitals and car manufacturing. They are huge…

We get a lovely ocean view room and sort our bags out now that we have plenty of space.

After a drink on the beach, we visit Grand World, which is part of the complex and is a mock-up of Venice, complete this time with gondolas. (What is it with the Island of Phu Quoc and the Vietnamese and Italy…?)

We have a Vietnamese dinner and wander around the town. It’s all rather odd, all very Italian, all done rather too well! Back to the hotel and a walk around the lanterns. Which are Vietnamese…

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Thursday 12th February

We are up early to get the most out of the Vinwonders theme park today. Del has had a good sleep and is limbering up, preparing to carry the bag while H goes stupid on some coasters! The park is huge and has a touch of the Disneyworld look about it, but done with a Vietnamese twist, with a few Italian buildings amongst the Disney-style castle.

This place also has a water park inside. H has plans to go on a couple of roller coaster rides first, however.

Joking aside, this place is done very well and is a popular ticket, which, for what you get, is very well priced. There is the theme park, a water park, a safari park and what is probably the best aquarium in the world, housed inside a huge building in the shape of a giant turtle. It is just amazing what they have done here.

It’s a pretty empty start to the day; it’s like we have the park to ourselves, which sort of makes up for some incredibly slow operations. The two main coasters are very good for their type. Del performs his duties very well, and as a reward for his good standing is given time off to go on the big wheel, which is 120m high, but H draws the line there and won’t go on. She’s scared…!!!

It’s getting hot, so it’s time to cool down in the water park. We have all the right gear with us now, and soon we’re floating about in the wave pool, bobbing alone on the lazy river. H goes on a few slides, but none as scary as the ones earlier in the week at Sun World. Is it the lack of a small libation? We visit the amazing aquarium, which on the outside is incredible, but inside it’s something else! The scale of the place is jaw-dropping, with a huge collection of fish and vast spans of glass and water, all very clean and first-rate. We have never seen anything quite like it.

Dinner is on the beach tonight at the hotel with a glass of wine. It’s a very nice evening.

We are both exhausted, having walked miles and worn ourselves out in the heat, having so much fun…!

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Friday 13th February

Today we are visiting a safari park which is connected to the theme park and is part of our fun-filled ticket price! They also have an enormous zoo there. All the animal enclosures are huge and nicely presented. The animals all seem to be well cared for. Some offer feeding opportunities for the animals. We get the chance to feed giraffes and capybaras (our favourites), and there’s even a place where you can feed and stroke Binturongs.

Binturongs (otherwise known as bearcats) are native to SE Asia and famous for smelling of popcorn. They are extremely cute, docile and friendly. We take the opportunity to feed them. We are given a cup each of fruit with a stick. They love it, walking along their enclosure fence, sitting in front of you while you feed them fruit from a stick. The Binturong that H is feeding gets a little too excited and reaches out to her, scratching her arm and drawing a little blood, nothing major, but a scratch all the same, which we clean up and wash thoroughly.

We carry on looking around the park and enjoying the animals, then realise that H probably needs to get a rabies shot. Rabies is very common here, and you can’t take any chances, as once symptoms develop, it’s 100% fatal. If the shots are given soon after the bite or scratch, it’s not a problem. So it’s off to the hospital with H…

We drop everything at the hotel and set off for the short drive to the Vin Group-owned hospital.

We see a nurse and a doctor, and straight away she is on the course of 5 precisely timed shots. The second of which falls on the national holiday of Tet, so we will be back at 8am to see a doctor that day; the first two shots are the most critical for timing. The follow-up shots will be in Hanoi and Thailand, with the final one in the UK. We notice that it’s Friday the 13th!!! Unlucky for some. Once she has had the first jab and is monitored for 30 minutes for any adverse reactions, she’s released. 

We have time to revisit the theme park, and we head to the aquarium again, which is excellent. Del says the best he’s ever seen. 

H squeezes in a couple of more coaster rides and gets her bravery up to go on the big wheel, the one she is scared of…! It’s a fantastic view of the current park and an abandoned park that shut down 3 years ago, complete with abandoned rides and a castle. 

We watch the impressive evening show from the park lake only to then end up in a scrum to get the shuttle bus to the hotel.

There are no chances of taxis. Once back at the hotel, we relax at the beach bar with a drink, listening to a three-piece acoustic band playing a few relaxing tunes to bring to a close another fun-filled day…!

We are ready to move on now… We’ve had enough fun…!

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Saturday 14th February

It’s Valentine’s Day today, so we exchange cards. We both thought the other had forgotten. After breakfast, we finish packing and take a last walk along the beach. It’s certainly a beautiful setting here. 

The beach is fantastic, and the water is properly aqua blue.

We take a 15-minute taxi to our next place. It’s a boutique hotel in the more ‘normal’ non-Italian-influenced part of the island. It’s easy to forget where you are in a luxury resort and theme park. We are back to the good, family-owned restaurants and busy backstreets. We are early, so we have to wait for our room to be ready.

When it is finally ready, and we go in, we are surprised.

What we paid for, and what we are expecting, is a wooden-roofed, glass enclosure shower with a rainfall head, all part of a garden view wooden villa. All very nice. What we get is a bath with a handheld shower mounted 3ft off the floor, with previously abandoned mounting holes and a tin roof through which the mosquitoes can fly under. It’s a shack; the bathroom is a lean-to.

We complain to the front desk about the blatant misrepresentation, and show them the pictures of what it should be and what we are being given. Del insists on seeing the manager, but we have to wait, and wait we shall… We explain the situation; however, she is in a tricky position, it’s the Tet holiday and therefore busy.

H did our booking to stay here way in advance in May 2025, but it looks like they have palmed us off with the bottom of the barrel. Eventually, she puts us in an ‘upgraded’ room. Which is smart-looking but on closer inspection is all style and no substance, complete with no shower again and a leaking bath. It is brand new and hasn’t been finished. We go out for a beer, miserable, to consider our options.

The only accommodation left for this week on the island seems to be villas for £6k plus or hostels for £15 a night, oh, and our old room dishonestly re-advertised with the nice bathroom with the rainfall shower again. We will have to stay, we guess. We also need to be not too far from the hospital for H’s next crucial jab that has to happen on Monday. 

We spend the rest of the afternoon doing this blog for you, dear reader, before setting off for some dinner. The area is very nice, as is the hotel. H carefully vets every hotel, and every hotel so far has been very good. Today they have just given us the worst of all the rooms left. We shall see how we go tomorrow and the rest of the week. Del is not letting it end here…

We forget the room issue and set out for dinner. Most of the restaurants here are what are called family restaurants. They are called this because the business is literally run by the family. The one we go to has three generations working there. We are served by an 11-year-old, a 30-year-old and what we guess is the grandad, but daren’t put an age to him! It was a nice end to a shaky start.

We shall see how our room issue will be resolved tomorrow.

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Week 7 – Sunday 1st Febuary – Saturday 7th Febuary 2026

Finally back together this week after Del spent a week in Portugal working, and Hayley moved around Vietnam all on her own. We are now here in Vietnam for the next three weeks. This week sees the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam. Which will be nice...? We intend to do some history this week…

Sunday 1st Febuary

It’s February already! H has breakfast in the huge hotel restaurant; in fact, it’s so big that she has trouble locating the table where she left her coffee! Del is currently on his way back to Asia from Portugal and will be back tonight. 

H has a wander around the local streets of Saigon, which is more nerve-racking than it sounds due to having to cross the mad, crazy roads here. She has put together for our dear reader this cut out and keep, step-by-step guide to crossing the road in Saigon. This can be applied to almost anywhere in Vietnam.

Beginner’s guide to crossing the road in Saigon…

1. Find a crossing (This is optional, as all road users completely ignore them).
2. Keep scanning the roads and look for a 2-second gap in the torrent of mopeds, cars, scooters and buses, but mainly mopeds.
3. Step out into the traffic (Pay attention, looking in ALL directions for riders on the wrong side of the road). 
4. Keep walking at a constant speed while maintaining eye contact with the moped riders. Do not stop, or you will be run over, as they predict your progress and flow around you like water.
5. Pray!
6. Once you get on the other side of the road, take a deep breath and go on your way. Congratulations.

You can spot the newcomers to Vietnam; they stand by the crossings looking nervous and hoping the traffic will stop. It won’t. It’s terrifying the first time you do it, and it still makes us nervous after 4 trips here, but it all seems to work, and we’ve never seen an accident yet, apart from a couple of years ago when a guy with a fridge/freezer on the back of his moped overbalanced going around a corner. 

She can’t find her first choice of restaurant for dinner, so she goes to one that looks and reads nice on a busy corner. She is the only westerner in here, and she peruses the menu of brains, chicken cartilage and ‘fake dog’(?), eventually opting for a pork and aubergine clay pot minus the brains, cartilage and dog! It’s very tasty. 

Del finally arrives from his 20-hour slog, and we have a glass of wine in the hotel rooftop bar overlooking the city of Siagon. Very nice. 

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Monday 2nd Febuary

Del has slept very well considering and is rested and ready for the day. After breakfast, he unpacks properly and dishes out some of the goodies he’s brought from home. 

We have been to Saigon a few times, but we decide to visit the Independence Palace again. It’s a very famous building, and it’s where Saigon finally fell in April 1975 when the tanks of the North Vietnamese army (No. 843 and 390) stormed through the gates, ending the Vietnam War.

The building is preserved in its original state inside and has a very 1960s feel about it, and it serves as an excellent piece of history.

It’s hot here today, though, and we are feeling the heat walking around. We fancy a bit of lunch and jump in a cab to go to one of H’s favourite places to eat. Bo Ne Ba Nui. It’s a very basic local street cafe on a busy street corner with stainless steel tables and miniature plastic chairs. They specialise in Vietnamese steak and eggs served sizzling on a hot plate.

The sauce is delicious and rich, and it’s served with the best Vietnamese baguettes ever. The inside of the bread is light and fluffy with a delicate, crispy exterior. It’s fabulous, and it is just as we remember. Nothing has changed, not even the chaos and noise of the entertaining junction.

Del is desperate for a haircut, not having had one since mid-December, so we find a barber, and soon he is looking much neater, and according to the barber, 10 years younger. Ok, 5 years. Alright… A couple of years younger with his £4 haircut. 

Time is getting on, and so is the heat, so we jump in a cab and head back to the hotel for a freshen up and a rest. We spend the afternoon sorting out the blog and pictures. 

Very soon, it’s 7 pm, so we head up to the rooftop bar for a cocktail. The view is great up here. Saigon is immense and sprawls in every direction. 

For dinner tonight, we will visit the street food market that H passed 2 nights ago.

It’s a short cab ride. When we arrive, we take our time and walk around the stalls trying to decide.

H goes for a local dish of crispy fried rice cakes with a pork and mushroom filling, while Del has barbecued chicken with a side of spring rolls. Del has chosen wisely; his dinner is delicious; however, H isn’t happy with hers as it’s all a bit tasteless.

Next, we opt for a dessert each. Del has coconut with pandan jelly, and H has a Thai sweet soup. Again, Del’s is a winner, H’s includes a stealthy bit of Durian purée hiding on top. Oh dear, she still hasn’t grown to like durian, no matter how many times she tries. Del has a taste and pulls a disgusted face, saying it tastes like propane. Which isn’t far from the truth. 

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Tuesday 3rd Febuary

Today we spend the morning at the hotel, visiting the gym and sitting by the pool. The infinity pool on the roof is huge, and it takes H 10 minutes to explore how vast it is. It goes on forever. “All that weight”, she says when she gets out, she’s always concerned about engineering logistics.

While we are lying in the sun, enjoying the heat and the light music, we are interrupted by a huge swarm of insects that has appeared and lingers for a while before they fly over us and away. The staff are out and looking concerned; we’re not sure what they are, but glad they have gone. Asian Hornets are here, and they are deadly! Just saying.

We get showered, dressed and freshened up and head to the Landmark 81 building, which is the 2nd tallest building in SE Asia (after the Merdeka 118 in KL) and the tallest observation deck currently open.

The ticket is only £10, and we get access to the observation deck, which is deserted, a tethered walk outside, a VR experience and 2 photos. It’s a great value ticket and a fantastic view of the sprawling city. We can’t figure out why there is no one here.

Back at the hotel, Del has a work call that lasts for an hour or so. We get freshened up again and set off for dinner. H has found a nice French restaurant very near the hotel. The entrance off the street is a little quirky, but once in, we are welcomed by a very professional and courteous staff. We start with a salad, then duck with orange sauce, dauphinoise and a lovely cheese board, all helped along with a delicious French red. Remember, the French once colonised and held onto Vietnam until 1954, so there is some good French stuff still to find.

We finish off with a tea and coffee, and Del has a superbly smooth Remy Martin brandy. It has been a delicious dinner and for Vietnam, expensive at £80, but it has made a nice change and is the first western food that H has eaten in 6 weeks, so it was well worth it.

When we checked into the hotel, we were given a $25 voucher to use in the casino here, but only on the slot machines. We are not visitors to casinos, so we thought that the slot machines might be a nice, easy way to lose the credit that we were given!

However, the machines don’t resemble anything we have seen before. Gone are the familiar BAR, CHERRIES, ACE OF SPADES pictures and a simple Play and Hold button; we could just about deal with that. No. Now they are replaced with noisy, confusing graphics of dragons, turtles, fireworks, and noises that resemble a toilet emptying or a cat being sick! We have absolutely no idea what is going on, or what we are pressing or why, the two large displays just keep flashing and bleeping and gurgling as we just randomly touch the bright colourful displays and buttons.

5 minutes later, we cash out, and are staggered when a ticket is spat out of a slot announcing that our payout is $153…!! Surely not, we don’t believe it even when the cashier is counting out the money.

We leave, but we leave quickly, waiting for a hand on the shoulder and to be escorted back in! We can’t quite believe it…! But here it is below… 153 US dollars. That’s paid for the expensive French dinner and some!

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Wednesday 4th Febuary

It’s another hot day, and we head out to visit the memorial of the monk Thich Quang Duc. We saw his famous car when we were in Hue about a week or so ago, and it was here in Saigon at the memorial where he set fire to himself.

It’s a large, impressive memorial with pictures showing that terrible day. It’s a very sobering moment. What we found out later was that despite setting himself on fire, the only part of his body that was not damaged was his heart. Strangely enough, there were copycat events by other monks, where again their hearts were the only undamaged remains from their self-emoliation. Time for an iced salted coffee to cool down.

Our next historical stop is the War Remnants Museum. We’ve done all the war museums here and in Hanoi before, but we’ve learnt a lot more about the Vietnam War since our last visits, so we have a look around.

The outside area is full of old US helicopters and tanks, and a prison area dedicated to the South’s torture and capture of the North Vietnamese soldiers. There are no niceties here; the photos and descriptions are brutal and probably the worst we have seen.

The photo displays carry on inside the main building, but are not the same intensity of the prison area. Still, they are very disturbing, showing war crimes and the effects of Agent Orange and Napalm, which were both widely used in their millions of litres. Some areas of Vietnam will take 100 years to recover from the deforestation effects of Agent Orange. 

The museum is heavy-going and is also very hot; it does not have AC. We are worn out now and return to the hotel.

Dinner tonight is in town, and a traditional Vietnamese pancake for Del and beef wrapped in betel leaves for H. Both are wrapped in rice paper with an abundance of herbs and dipped in a tasty sauce. 

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Thursday 5th Febuary

Today we are catching the high-speed ferry down the river to Vung Tao, a coastal town. The ferry takes 1hr 45, the alternative is a 3-hour trip in a limousine van, but the traffic in Saigon is terrible at the moment. We nearly miss the ferry as the hotel cancels our cab to the ferry pier so they can get their driver to take us after we had a bit of a moan about smelly AC and a far too busy breakfast. Here in Vietnam, especially in Saigon, they are mortified by any bad reviews on the internet, and they are taken very seriously, so much so that establishments have been known to ‘rugby tackle‘ customers to change or even delete anything that might be close to a bad review… Del was asked to delete his Google review, but refused. They still provided the car and gave us some very nice cakes…! The review was a good review apart from the AC and the breakfast crush…!

As a note. The ‘review thing’ these days is becoming the new ‘currency’. It’s a slippery slope, and one that we should all be watching out for. Everybody wants you to review them. The day will come when you will be denied service if your review is not liked by whoever you have bought a product or service from. Don’t say it can’t happen…! It’s not long now. If you want a taster, have a look at an excellent Black Mirror episode called Nosedive. Anyway, we digress…

This free car and cake goes well until we get stuck in traffic, and then the driver takes us to the wrong pier. He doesn’t understand us, and it takes a while to get him to take us to the correct jetty. We are 25 mins late for check-in, and we just make the boat with just 5 minutes to spare!

After about 2 hours, and a very bumpy end to the boat journey in the bay, we disembark and go to our next hotel. We have a deluxe sea view room, and it’s lovely, lots of room, a massive balcony with a spectacular view of the bay of Vung Tau. It’s a refreshing change from Saigon as it’s quiet and coastal. Nice.

It’s so quiet at our end of the town that there’s not a huge choice of eateries, but we find a nice BBQ place nearby and eat well.

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Friday 6th Febuary

Del has some work paperwork to do today, lots coming up in the new year, and opts to stay at the hotel on the rooftop cafe/bar, where he will be hard at work. Yeah right. Look at his view…

H walks down the beach and sets out exploring some of Vung Tau. The front here is relatively new, and they have spent a lot of money on it. Clearly, they are expecting a prosperous future.

It’s all beautifully manicured and has art installations all the way along the stretch of beach. It’s all very impressive. After an hour of walking, she gets a cab to the older part of town and has a delicious bahn mi for lunch and attempts to walk it partway back to the hotel, but enough is enough, the sun is too hot with no shade. She gets a cab.

After a beer in the rooftop bar with Del, he suddenly declares he wants a pizza tonight! H is ok with that as it will make a nice change, and she knows just the place, she passed it on her walk about earlier today… Handy.

The pizza place is oddly enough called David’s Pizza. It’s a wonderful place, full of locals and served by locals. The pizzas come in three sizes; the medium is more than enough for us. We start with a shared salad and a glass of chilled red each. It is all delicious and comes in at a rather expensive 25 quid for a salad, two pizzas and two glasses of red…! Outrageous… Kidding. For vietnam it is ever so slightly expensive, but for us, it’s still good value.

We take a short cab ride back towards the hotel, but we stop on the beach and walk back, taking in the “LED art fest” that’s on the beach. The locals set up karaoke machines that anyone can have a go at, as well as ice-cream carts and drinks. It’s all very nice, and all very community spirited.

A very nice end to the day.

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Saturday 7th Febuary

This morning we have woken up to another bright, warm day. There is a prevailing wind here in this part of Vung Tau, which is quite refreshing and pleasant.

Del wants to see the town, which he missed because of yesterday’s work, so we set off in a cab and have a look around the beach and busy town area. We are keen on finding a salt coffee, which we find in a very basic-looking, rustic place.

As usual, it is delicious. You look at some eating and drinking establishments here, and you do wonder about how they look and what the level of cleanliness is, but we are surprised at how hygienic they really are. They are very good. Most are family businesses and news travels very fast now if things are bad. We have found the quality of all the food and drink here excellent, despite some appearances.

We have wanted to try “Com Ga“, chicken and rice, a famous Vietnamese dish. During our long walk about, we find one. Run by a couple, he cooks the rice, she looks after the chicken.

There’s no English menu, but we have Google Translate to help us. It’s so cheap at £1.20 each, made in front of you on a gas burner in the street, and it is maybe the most delicious chicken ever. The skin is crisp and marinated with a crispy sugar, soy sauce and five spice mix. Wow!

The place is supposed to be closing, but there’s an endless stream of Grab delivery bikes and people turning up, but not a westerner in sight. We are it!

Tet is coming soon, and many shops are decorated in red and gold, and are selling drinks and food at discounted rates.

The Tet holiday is a big deal here; we now know what it is, but we have no idea what it will be like. We will find out on the 17th February when it all starts…

It’s our last night in Vung Tau, but instead of traditional local food, H has found a very local restaurant that specialises in Western food called D’Lisa & Lida, so we think that we will give it a go. It’s an unusual place, an ex-library which has been converted to a restaurant, a “book coffee shop” and a wine gallery. The wine gallery alone is quite impressive, with a good collection of world wines, brandies and whiskies.

It doesn’t disappoint. We start with excellent calamari to share, followed by Fuji steak, rare, served with a beetroot mash and French fries. To go with it, we have a Chilean red. The food is very well-cooked and well presented.

We are both a bit tired tonight, so we leave it there and take the short walk back to the hotel for showers and bed.

We have enjoyed our three-night stay in Vung Tau. It has a lot to offer and is very popular with the Vietnamese. Would we come again…? Yes, we would. It doesn’t have a lot of attractions or things to ‘to see‘, but it does offer a nice change from the madness of the major cities. It’s calm, peaceful, the people are nice, and the beaches and the beach walks are lovely.

Tomorrow we are taking the ferry back to Saigon for a 1-night stay, and the start of week 8. Many thanks to our reader for following us this week. It has been a busy week, but one we have enjoyed.

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Week 7 – Sunday 25th January – Saturday 31st January 2026

Last week saw an excellent trip on a bus to Hue, an overnight stay and the train back. Del set off to do some work in Portugal (yes, we still need to keep the pennies coming in), leaving Hayley behind in Vietnam. His trip started ok but he ended up with a touch of food poisoning and recovered just in time to start work. In Hoi An, Hayley spent time on the beach, visiting the beautiful town of Hoi An.

Sunday 25th January

Despite the promise of sunshine today, it’s cloudy again, so instead of going to the beach, H seeks out a recommended coffee shop on the river. Just 2 blocks behind the hotel is a riverside pathway with very ‘rustic’ looking restaurants. One of them has laid a lavish spread on many tables on the pathway. Must be a Vietnamese Sunday lunch thing. Amidst all this is a coffee shop tucked away; by luck, the owner approaches H to tempt her in, which is fortuitous as she might have missed a rather wonderful coffee shop.

Inside, it’s beautiful and quirky, with bonsai trees and antique furniture; there’s chilled out jazz playing in the background, with a view of the river and the local fishing boats ‘put-putting’ along it. She orders a salted coffee, which is delicious. The balance of savoury and sweet with the coffee background is truly a superb invention. It’s probably a good thing we can’t get these in the UK, as they are quite calorific with a large layer of salted cream on top! 

H wanders around the neighbourhood, the Vietnamese children all smile and wave, keen to try out their English; they are very sweet. 

The sun has finally come out, so she heads off to the beach, where it’s very quiet. Lovely. 

In need of a toilet, she asks the man who runs the beach bar and sunbed hire where she can find one. “Later, later” he says, and jumps on his moped and sets off, leaving a rather confused H. After five minutes, he returns with a key to a very basic toilet in a shed with a roof weighted down by a stone on a rope. The plumbing is equally interesting, requiring a stop cock to be turned on to flush. It’s not the most basic of toilets that H has seen, but it’s pretty close… 

Later, she’s off to find another massage followed by a delicious dinner next door in the usual family restaurant. 

Meanwhile, in Portugal, it’s day two, or is it three of the load-in? This is a nice event, it’s big, very big, so big that it requires a lot of personnel, and Del is being a bit of a social butterfly, meeting people whom he’s not seen, in some cases, for 10 years or more.

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Monday 26th January

In Hoi An the laundry is building up, and we miss having our own washing machine, but getting your washing done is cheap and easy here. There is a shop and restaurant next door that also does laundry (and airport taxi, etc., etc.). They weigh it, and you can have it back the same day if you like. There are a lot of restaurants here that are all very enterprising, offering all kinds of services for the visiting tourist.

H has just under 2.5kg, and it costs 100,000 Dong, which is a staggering £2.80. 

A lot of the laundries here hang the washing out on the street. This one has its own space at the side, fenced off, but it’s still interesting to walk past and see your underwear hanging up for all to see!

After a visit to the beach, H goes into town. They are laying new tarmac on the road, but it doesn’t stop all the mopeds weaving around the road workers, not a single traffic cone in sight.

She has a tea in a small coffee shop next to the main market, which has about 6 really friendly kittens.

She orders an orange cinnamon tea, which is homemade and delicious, and buys a small tube of cat food, and soon she has 2 kittens on her. One settles down to sleep on her knee, seemingly not bothered by the noise and beeping of mopeds that whizz by all day. 

It’s dark now, and H has dinner in a beautiful old building in the old town. She has summer rolls and barbecued beef noodle salad.

It’s amazingly tasty and so fresh. Vietnamese food is packed full of herbs and very healthy compared to Malaysian food, which is more deep-fried. 

It’s going reasonably well for Del on the work front. The set is in, the projection is working, and all the lights and sound are up and working. Now he can get on with some programming and be ready for some kind of rehearsal tomorrow.

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Tuesday 27th January

It’s raining this morning, but H still takes her favourite table outside by the pool for breakfast, but undercover. 

All done, she makes a return trip to the beautiful coffee shop by the river that she visited on Sunday for another delicious salted coffee. The interior is even more beautiful than the exterior, with a koi carp pond. 

She picks up the laundry from yesterday and irons it all. She will be packing her bag tonight, ready for the next move to Da Nang. She takes advantage of the complimentary foot massage the hotel has offered and sits for a while in the sauna. The heat is like being back in Kuala Lumpur!

A late lunch of a bahn mi is had, followed by a quick sit on the beach with the last cocktail of the week, and then into town for the last time to see the pretty lanterns in Hoi An.

Got to try and fit it all in before she leaves! The time has gone quickly here, and H will miss this place very much. She wanders around the streets of the town and enjoys a mango and a coconut pancake from the street market, and sits with a drink later listening to some live music. A lovely last night in Hoi An.

Rehearsals are finally underway for Del… This is going to be a long couple of days.

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Wednesday 28th January

Today it’s time to leave the lovely Wyndham Gardens hotel and the town of Hoi An and move on to Da Nang. It starts off as a lovely sunny day, but soon turns cloudy, so after breakfast, H sorts the rest of her packing out. We had some heavy ‘logistics’ to do last week when Del left.

We had to make sure that neither of us had too much weight or bulk of packing as we would be taking flights separately, all with different weight limits. Weight-wise, we manage fine, but the amount of stuff is too much for the suitcase that H has been left with. She loads up her backpack to the brim, which is ok for the taxi trip to Da Nang, but she will need a solution before her next flight to Ho Chi Minh City on the 31st.

Finally, she arrives and checks into her next hotel in Da Nang. The room has a spectacular sea view and has the largest bed ever – about 3 metres wide. Who makes bedding for a bed that size?

It starts to rain here, which is such a shame as the beach is quite beautiful. Da Nang is a great city/beach destination being the fourth largest city in Vietnam. The My Khe beach is beautiful with golden fine sand and palm trees. It stretches for miles.

After a while, H heads into the backstreets to a highly rated restaurant. She has pork lemongrass skewers, which you wrap in rice paper with a handful of herbs. It is delicious and bursting with flavour. She follows this with mango chicken, which sounds unusual, but is lovely.

While Hayley is zipping around Vietnam and checking into hotels with super sea views, Del has started rehearsals. So far, so good.

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Thursday 29th January

This morning, when H opens her curtains to her spectacular sea view, she finds that it’s foggy! It’s been raining again, or she has been teleported to Grimsby!

She has a healthy breakfast of Pho (Vietnamese noodle soup with a flavourful broth) and fruit, followed by a session in the gym. Today she will head to the Marble Mountains. We have visited this area a few times, but for some reason, we have never made it to the Marble Mountains. They are a cluster of five marble and limestone hills home to Buddhist and Hindu temples and considered sacred sites. They are quite beautiful.

After queuing twice and some ticket confusion, she is finally in and going up in the elevator on one of the mountains.

You can walk up, but the steps are very slippery because of the rain, and she is already clumsy enough.

Once up in the lift, she discovers that there are still lots of slippery steps to climb, and she makes her way up and into some small caves, which involves a near-vertical hike up large boulders, which she doesn’t quite like the look of; it’s a bit like pot-holing. There’s no way back, though, as there’s a queue of people climbing up behind her, so with no choice she presses on. Now she knows why a stretcher was on standby at the bottom. 

She finally makes it to the top, the way down is a different route and much easier – just your standard slippery steps!  H recovers from the hike with a well-deserved fresh coconut!

There are a few temples dotted around and one spectacular cave with shafts of light coming through the roof.

H is lucky that the sun has finally come out and she’s able to grab a few snaps.

Back in town, H has a delicious bahn mi and then walks on the beach for a couple of miles. This is a great beach for walking in the warm surf. She sits in the late afternoon sun and has a beer, the tide is coming in, but slowly, so she will be ok where she is for now.

It’s while she is researching tonight’s dinner that a rogue wave sneaks up and engulfs her, soaking everything and floating her shoes off up the beach. She has no choice but to return dripping wet to the hotel to get changed. 

After a local dinner, costing a staggering £4, H walks to the river to see the dragon bridge. It’s a pretty cool bridge which spits fire and water at the weekend. The riverfront is very vibrant, with a very impressive skyline, with some skyscrapers doing their own colourful light shows. Some of the buildings are covered in LED lights that turns them into huge video displays at night.

For Del, it’s just another day at the office…! The last day though…

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Friday 30th January

H is woken at 6:45 am, sharp…, by pounding dance music resonating through the building. It takes a while for her to work out where it’s coming from; it’s on the beach below. Someone is having an early morning promotional event. Well, why not?

It seems that it’s on for the day, so she gets up. No gym today,  everything aches after her heavy gym session yesterday and the boulder climbing at the Marble Mountains, plus she walked over 8 miles too!

Today, Del is on his way back from Portugal to the UK. She can’t wait to get him back, though there are worrying stories emerging about many airlines cancelling flights via the Middle East because of the Trump/Iran issue. Del’s flight is via Dubai on Saturday, so fingers crossed he will be ok. 

She walks down the beach for a coffee and then sits by the hotel pool. It’s much hotter today, and finally, there are clear blue skies.

The weather here in central Vietnam has been a bit hit and miss, tomorrow H moves on south to Saigon, where she will meet Del on Sunday. The weather there will be a lot hotter and more humid. 

H has a massage for an hour, which is fantastic, the best one yet. She emerges out of the spa onto a quiet road and nearly gets run over by a couple of mopeds as she’s a bit spaced out by the massage…! Good job, she doesn’t have to cross the 4 lane chaos in front of her hotel in this state. She will have to improve her ‘road crossing’ skills for Saigon tomorrow, as that’s quite another experience altogether! 

Dinner tonight is a delicious chicken in lemongrass in the backstreets and a last, for now, drink on the beach. 

Today, Del starts the long slog back to Saigon. He’s up at 4am for a 6:30 flight to London, which, despite some chaos at the airport, leaves and arrives on time. Once at Gatwick, it’s a two-hour train journey, which is delayed, followed by a 1-hour ferry to the Isle of Wight and then home. The plan is drop off some clothes, check on Jess as it’s been very cold in the UK, then head back to Gatwick tomorrow morning for the Emirates flights back to Saigon. A busy 24-plus hours…

He arrives back home and when visiting Jess the van, it’s not good news. Both the habitation and starter batteries will need replacing for our next trip in March. They were not in the best of condition in the first place, but the recent cold weather in the UK has completely rendered them useless. The weather is cold and damp as Del unwraps and re-wraps the van, disappointed. He does recover the tracker, which is also due a charge.

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Saturday 31st January

We can’t believe that it’s a month since New Year’s Eve, when we were sitting on the balcony of our apartment in Kuala Lumpur toasting in 2026…! The time is flying by. Today, H flies to Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon, as we will call it, because it’s easier!

The airport is only 10 minutes away, but it’s chaos with hundreds of people and only one baggage drop open. H has to fight and keep her place in the queue as people try to push in; it’s a very stressful and irritating 50 minutes. 

The flight is delayed, and an unbranded plane eventually turns up with a European crew. I guess Vietnam Airlines has had a bit of trouble!

Once in Saigon, she checks into her hotel, which has a casino, 3 restaurants and the best gym she’s ever seen. The room is also very good, but she is already missing the village charm of Hoi An beach and the hotel there. 

Saigon traffic is worse than she remembers. From the safety of a taxi, H watches as the mopeds weave into every last gap, somehow they manage to miss each other and the side of the taxi. The hotel is in a busy bit of town, and she finds a nice restaurant and later a street market with live music, where she stops for a drink. It’s warmer here than Da Nang. 

Del finishes off some laundry and takes Lucy, the car, for a spin and a check over… All good with her.

He completes his packing and is off on the ferry for the long trip back to Vietnam. The first leg of the trip is Gatwick to Dubai. Let’s hope that the latest fun and games by Trump in the Middle East doesn’t stop that flight from happening…

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Week 6 – Sunday 18th January – Saturday 24th January 2026

So that’s Malaysia done… We absolutely loved it, spending our Christmas and New Year in Kuala Lumpur. The people were lovely, they work really hard. They make a fantastic effort at everything they do. The only thing we noticed was that the food is not the healthiest in Asia. Largely made up of fried chicken and rice. Sure, there are other great dishes, but it is all fried. What we did discover is that life expectancy is 10 years less than the uk average due to heart related diseases. We are off now and on our way to Vietnam. Another fabulous, and totally different place. Here we go…

Sunday 18th January

We are up early today to finish our packing and leave for the airport for a midday flight. We are sad to leave our lovely apartment that has been home for nearly a month; we will really miss our fabulous view of the city of Kuala Lumpur.

The flight passes quite quickly, and we are soon landing in Danang, about 1000 miles north of KL. The queue for immigration is huge, or rather, there are 6 huge queues of hundreds of people. We get through after about 25 minutes and onto the baggage claim, but the belt is full, as everyone is still in the immigration queue and not picking up their bags.

We got through early because an immigration officer told us to go through the queue for Vietnamese citizens.

Eventually, we get out, and the driver, who our hotel in Hoi An has laid on, is waiting. It’s about an hour’s drive to the hotel. It has only been 9 months since we were last here, and nothing much has changed. Soon, we are checking in. This is our 4th time in this hotel, and it does seem like home.

We unpack and discuss “logistics” for the upcoming days. Del will be leaving in 4 days to go to Portugal to work, while H is staying here in Hoi An. 

Once unpacked, we set off for a drink on the beach. It’s such a contrast from Kuala Lumpur. Gone is the constant hum of traffic and mass air conditioning, to be replaced by the sound of crashing waves of the East Vietnam/ South China Sea, lovely.

We set off for a wander around our local beach village. Not much has changed here either. We have dinner in one of our favourite places, it’s a small restaurant run by a family. Their children are the waiters and are very good at it, too. They do the best cocktail in the world here, it’s called Pho’s Cocktail and is the “taste of Vietnam in a glass“, it has cinnamon, cardamom and star anise in it. We have a delicious dinner of lemongrass chicken and banh mi.

We end the night early as we are up early to catch the bus to Hue tomorrow at 8:45. It’s great to be back in Vietnam 

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Monday 19th January

We have an early breakfast by the pool at the hotel; it’s all very calm and peaceful here.

We are booked on a luxury bus to Hue at 8:45, so we pack a small rucksack each for the overnight stay. We get a cab to the rather ‘rustic’ looking travel agent. Del is being his usual doubting self about H’s travel arrangements and is saying, “It won’t be a luxury bus, not here. This is Vietnam!” He’s imagining the type of bus you sometimes see on ‘race across the world’, with wooden seats and chickens running up and down the aisle. H just ignores his moaning.

The bus arrives, and it is indeed luxurious. Private leather lie flat bed/seats each with blankets, AC, TV, wireless charging and mood lighting. We get a bunk in the top and opposite each other. Del is beaming ear to ear. Not bad for £8 for the 3-hour journey to Hue. Del has been on touring buses in the UK and Europe, and this bus just beats them hands down.

After a few stops to pick up more people and to get fuel, we arrive in Hue three and a half hours later.

It’s feels quite quick, though, and we’ve enjoyed the journey, which takes us past some interesting scenery. 

We make a beeline first for the imperial city, and after some complications of us not having enough cash and them not taking a card, we finally get a ticket online. A lot of places here only take cash, yet bizarrely the entrepreneurial beach ladies who sell jewellery, bookmarks and such like have a mobile card reader to take card payments.

The imperial city is very large. Hue’s Imperial City, built by the Nguyen Dynasty starting in 1804, was Vietnam’s imperial capital for over a century (1802-1945), serving as the political, cultural, and religious heart, inspired by Beijing’s Forbidden City but with unique Vietnamese elements. It’s absolutely vast. We spend a couple of hours walking around the old, but ornate buildings and the palace itself.

We are not sure what’s going on, but groups of girls are dressed in national dress and are having their photos taken. It’s a big deal as they come with wardrobe and makeup, and spend a long time getting ready for the photos.

We are staying at a hotel in town called Hotel Elegant. It’s lovely, very bright, clean and tidy and with a decent room. We booked last minute, and it was incredibly cheap at only £15 for the night…with breakfast! 

Hue is a very vibrant and very modern city, but it hasn’t lost its traditional charm and culture, which includes a busy local market. After a while, we decide to have a beer at a bar that is situated on a major junction. The bar is a normal setting here in Vietnam, of a lady selling drinks out of a cooler with a few miniature plastic chairs and tables (Vietnam loves the small plastic chair for restaurants and bars when outside. Space must be a premium).

We walk back toward the hotel and find that there’s a specialist beer place right next to our hotel. We try some tasty local craft beers; they even sell St. Bernardus here, which is from a tiny town in Belgium that we have visited in Jess many times and which is one of our favourite beers in the world.

Dinner tonight is in a local backstreet restaurant called Nina’s. We have a traditional Hue pancake to share. H has a Bun Bo Hue, a local noodle broth very famous in Vietnam. Del has clay pot chicken, which is delicious, and we finish it off by sharing a coconut tart. With water, the bill is a princely total of £8! Unbelievable.

The streets of Hue have come alive now that it’s dark. There are vibrant bars and lots of restaurants full of people, mainly youth in gangs, just eating, drinking and talking. It’s quite different here from how we imagined, but we do like it. 

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Tuesday 20th January

We have a very simple breakfast at the hotel and set out to try some local coffee in a nearby coffeehouse.

The coffee culture here in Vietnam is huge, and they do it very well. Salted coffee originated from here in Hue, so we both order an iced one. It is fabulous, strong black coffee with condensed milk at the bottom and a salted foam at the top.

H is not a fan of milk in coffee, but is blown away by this; it could become her favourite coffee in the world. We hop in a cab to go to the Thien Mu Pagoda, which is 7 story Buddhist temple built in 1601. The grounds are very tranquil and calming, and the buildings are impressive.

They also have a famous car here that appears in a very famous and troubling photograph. It is the car that drove Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức to his suicide by fire (self-immolation) in Saigon in 1963.

You can read all about him and the events that led up to that terrible day here.

The car can be seen in the background of the famous photograph. It’s rather sobering to see the car and imagine the horror of that day.

The monk was protesting about South Vietnam’s, Catholic-led, government’s persecution of Buddhists, and this was the start of a few similar protests. 

After spending about an hour here, we catch a boat back along the perfume river (named after all the blossom leaves that fall in it) to the centre.

We are the only ones on board, and they put 2 chairs out for us in what we think is normally their living room. It’s also a mobile shop, and of course, being Vietnamese, they don’t miss a chance to sell us some souvenirs, so we buy a couple of pretty pop-up cards.

Once at the station, we have a quick lunch opposite and board the train, which will take us to Da Nang (an hour’s drive from our Hoi An hotel).

The train will journey over the Hai Van Pass, which is famous for its mountain and sea views. Boarding the train involves walking along the tracks. Once inside, we find it spacious and comfy. Two women opposite us have bought a shrink-wrapped marinated whole fish and proceed to open it and eat it on the train; it’s rather pungent.

We make slow progress at about 35mph top speed and stop often to let trains pass, as most of the line is single track. There’s a carriage that sells food and drink and also has a local singer and musician entertaining people. Once on the Hai Van Pass, we slow down to about 12mph to climb up to over 100m above the South China Sea. The scenery is spectacular. 

We arrive back at Da Nang after about three and a half hours and hop in a cab back to our hotel. We have dinner next door at our favourite place, H has barbecued squid in lemongrass and chilli, and Del has a traditional bahn mi. 

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Wednesday 21st January

Today is Del’s last full day here before he flies off to Portugal. H will stay in Hoi An for another 6 days, then move on to Da Nang for 3 days, followed by a quick flight to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), where she will meet up with Del again a day later.

After a delicious breakfast, we go to the town of Hoi An. We have been here a few times before and love it. It’s a UNESCO heritage site with a well-preserved ancient town and is famous for its coloured lanterns.

Last time we were here, last April, the town was heaving with tourists, but it’s a lot quieter now and much more pleasant to walk around. We have a coffee in one of the ancient houses.

This whole town was flooded in October 2025, with a loss of 90 lives across the central Vietnam region. The coffee house has markers on the wall of the different floods over the years. It’s unimaginable to have to deal with that amount of water.

Lunch is a vegetarian bahn mi at a little stall in the backstreets, which is very tasty.

We take the 5 min cab ride back to our hotel as we plan to spend some time on the beach together, but the clouds are rolling in, and soon we have heavy rain! This lasts all afternoon. Del has a business call at 5 pm so after that we go down to the beach to see if we can get a drink. It’s all a bit blustery and deserted, so we head back to our restaurant next door to have their amazing Pho cocktail and some dinner. We have local prawn and pork herb rolls, Del has a barbecued fresh fish, and H has Cau Lau, which is a Hoi An speciality – the chewy dark noodles are supposed to be made with water from a local well, and therefore it can only be authentic if it’s from this area. 

For the last part of the night, we have a walk around and stumble on a bar where there are a few musicians jamming.

It’s a strange collection of people here, including a woman with a recorder who adds a few flat and unneeded notes every now and then. We have a glass of wine and enjoy the vibe for a while, and then head back. Del has packed his bag ready for his morning departure. 

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Thursday 22nd January

We breakfast together, and it’s all too soon that Del is off in a cab to Da Nang airport to catch the first of 4 flights to Portugal. He will fly to Saigon, Dubai, London and then to Lisbon for a regular job. He doesn’t want to go, and it’s a bit weird saying goodbye.

H is sad to see him go, but will be fine here as she knows the area well. It’s a bit cloudy today and breezy, so plans to go to the beach are off. H heads to the gym and then sets off for a back massage in a nearby spa. She follows this with a lovely lunch of grilled beef with lemongrass and a jasmine tea. Poor Del is now at Saigon airport waiting for his 7-hour flight to Dubai. 

H gets a cab and sets off to the town of Hoi An tonight. The evening is when it comes into its own. It’s famous for lanterns, and many of the shops and restaurants, especially those in the historic buildings, light lanterns. You can also take a boat (also with lanterns) and put a little floating candle lantern on the river for good luck.

When we first came here in 2018, there were hardly any boats, but now it is bonkers. It makes for a very pretty sight, though. She finds a restaurant on the river where she has ‘white rose’ (steamed Hoi An shrimp in rice paper) and a baked aubergine clay pot. It’s all very nice.

She walks around the night markets and gets a small coconut ice cream roll (they spread ice cream paper-thin, then roll it with a scraper). As she’s walking back through the pretty streets, she comes across a bar with two live acoustic guitarists who are very good at bashing out a tune or two.

She sits and has a glass of wine, listening to this in the balmy evening air. What a lovely night, such a shame Del isn’t here. 

Del’s day…

My cab to Da Nang airport gets me there with plenty of time to spare. Vietnam Airlines will take me for a 1-hour flight to Saigon, where I’ll pick up an Emirates flight to London via Dubai.

My domestic flight arrives at the domestic terminal in Saigon. Next, it’s a shortish bus ride to the International departures terminal via shuttle bus that takes you away from the airport before heading back and dropping you off at another terminal and leaving you there. Which was nice! Fortunately, it’s a short walk to the terminal and to check in.

I’ve got an Emirates partner lounge here in Saigon, so I get a small dish of chicken and rice with some fish. It’s ok, but the fish is a bit ‘iffy’. I leave the rest.

We are off to Dubai in an A350. It’s not bad. It’s their latest plane, and they are making a big noise about it. My plan is to stay awake for this leg and sleep for the Dubai / London leg. I have no choice. The part of the cabin I was in was chock full of noisy Russians, who, like some parents think it’s ok for their kids to run around and make as much noise as they like, because they are only children after all, and we all like them… Not!!

In Dubai, I get use the lounge again and have a shower there. I have a 4-hour layover here, so I make the most of it with something to eat and a glass of fizz. This next leg, I’d like to sleep. I arrive at Gatwick early in the morning, so it will be a good reset.

The Emirates 777 is much more comfortable and ‘solid’. It’s much quieter, and I get over 4 hours of sleep during the 7-hour flight. A couple of hours before landing, I wake up with horrendous stomach cramps, bad though, which soon turned into ‘regular‘ toilet visits! The crew are sympathetic, but I’m avoiding all liquids and solids. I think it was the rubbish fish back in Saigon… I will never know…

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Friday 23rd January

It’s cloudy and breezy in Hoi An again, so H won’t be going to the beach. She reads on the balcony and then goes to lunch next door for a bahn mi and a beer. Del has just landed in Gatwick. It’s 13:40 here, and he left yesterday at 9:30 in a cab. We built in some extra time for connecting domestic flights, a shower and a refresh at Dubai. He still has a flight from London to Portugal to get.  

Del’s day…

My stomach cramps are much less, but when they do come, it’s catastrophic. My next flight is a two-and-a-half-hour flight from Gatwick to Lisbon, Portugal. I’m keeping my fingers and legs crossed!

All good, all safe as I get a quick Uber to the hotel and get settled in. It has taken 36 hours door-to-door. Once settled in, I have a long bath and just relax for the rest of the day and night. The weather here is grim. Cold with heavy rain. In at 8am tomorrow…

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Saturday 24th January

Finally, at last it’s sunny in Hoi An after a few days of cloud and rain, so after visiting the gym, H sets off for the beach and rents a sunbed for the day. It’s a beautiful day, and the temperature here is very comfortable both day and night after our very hot and muggy weeks in Kuala Lumpur.

It’s an odd thing to see, but there’s a group of cows and bulls here sunbathing on the sand and looking very chilled and relaxed.

Sadly, after only an hour, a big grey cloud comes over, and it starts to rain. She tries to sit it out under her parasol, but it just gets heavier; even the cows are calling it a day and packing it up. H gives in and returns to the room.

Tonight she is heading back into Hoi An town to see the ‘Hoi An Memories’ show. We both saw this show last year and were very impressed by it. It is a cultural theme park built on a large island in the river.

It’s highly decorated with lights and traditional features and has temples, bridges, and an old Vietnamese village. But first, dinner…

There are a few pre-show scenes with dancers and actors displaying cultural stories from different times, which lead you through the park to the large auditorium.

It’s purpose-built with lots of special effects hidden in the ground and the mock-up buildings of the old town.

The show is recognised by Reuters as the ‘most beautiful show in the world’, has won world travel awards and is on the scale of an Olympic opening ceremony. It has 500 performers depicting 400 years of the city’s history. Even though we have seen it once, it’s definitely worth coming back again. 

Del’s day…

Having had 9 hours’ sleep, I have woken up feeling much better and ready to start the day. After a light breakfast, work starts at 8 am.

The day has gone well, and we are in a good position. I have also seen a couple of work friends that I’ve not seen in years, 10 plus years in fact, so I got off to a bit of a slow start, catching up on the gossip. Back at the hotel by 7 pm, in bed by 10. It’s freezing in Portugal; there was a flurry of snow early this morning. I did this same show at the same time last year, and the weather was completely different. It was warm and sunny every day. We wore T-shirts all day. That’s global warming for you.

To see many more pictures of our first week in Vietnam, have a look here

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Week 5 – Sunday 11th January – Saturday 17th January 2026

We have been away for 5 weeks, and now our stay in Kuala Lumpur is coming to an end. Our next stop is Vietnam, another regular stop for us in Asia. For most of last week, Hayley has had a difficult and stubborn cold, which required a trip to a doctor and some medication. She has been improving this week, but it’s still lingering. We are rushing around a bit now to tick off places to see and things to do.

Sunday 11th January

We have a quiet morning in, and H is feeling a little better today. It’s all go here again today. Last week, it was the world lion and dragon dancing championships. Today it’s the junior version, so more drum and cymbal banging! It’s also the finals of the cat show, festival thing.

We set out for a late lunch at our favourite place in town, the Capitol Cafe, after walking around Chinatown. It’s hot and humid and brewing for a storm. We get back home and just miss the rain and lightning.

Despite it being the end of the rainy season here, the weather has been pretty good for us with only the occasional rainstorm. They are prepared for it here and even have rental umbrellas at train stations. 

We are doing another escape room, a futuristic one, Eureka, and we get out in time, only using 2 of our 3 clues. We pick up some Japanese food on the way back to the flat. Not a bad day.

There is a video wall here in the street, which is flat, but curves around a building. Using light and shade in the content can make it look 3D. Here is H’s favourite video.

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Monday 12th January

Big day today. We are quite excited, we’ve booked an A320 simulator which is located at a small airport 30 minutes away. First, we have breakfast out. Traditional Malaysian breakfasts are usually a spicy chicken dish or kaya (a coconut spread) toast with eggs. Del has the Kaya toast, and H has the spicy chicken.

We make our way to the airport. We have a briefing before our simulation, which is in an airplane cabin mockup, and then move through to the cockpit. Del is on first. We will both do a take off, a landing and quick take off (touch and go) and then another landing.

The simulator is not a moving one, but as soon as we set off, the wrap-around screens make us feel like we’re moving.

Del goes through the many checklists of taxiing, pre-flight and take off, and soon we are rolling down the runway at 130 knots and lifting off. He flies between the small airport we are at and the main KL airport (KUL). Oh dear, Del’s first landing, it has to be said, is not going well as we bounce off the grass (‘pull up, pull up’) next to the airport. He quickly steers back to the runway and takes off again. After a quick fly past the Petronas Towers, he completes his second landing much more proficiently.

Next up, it’s H; she’s off. She brings it in ok and lands and takes off again. The instructor suggests that he throw some weather into the mix. Her next landing is in fog, and the runway isn’t seen until quite low.

This landing isn’t quite as slick as the first one, but it’s ok, despite the passenger’s coffee going all over the place. H decides that she wants to be a pilot, but maybe it’s too late now. 

It’s a great experience, and we have thoroughly enjoyed it. We have even more respect for pilots now. 

See the edited highlights here. It’s about 20 minutes long, but a good watch with a nice little gallery at the end.

We grab a cab back into the centre and visit the aquarium. We have only a few days left here and still many things to see. The aquarium is good, although a little crowded; we’re glad we didn’t go last week when it was even busier.

They have a good collection of fish and the best glass tunnel we have ever seen in an aquarium. 

We walk back to Bukit Bintang, where we catch our local monorail and go back home. Dinner tonight is a sushi delivery with a bottle of sake while we watch ‘Downfall, the case against Boeing’ now that we’re pilots and firmly in the Airbus camp.

On a serious note, though, it’s a very sad, shocking and unforgivable story. Highly recommended if you get the chance to watch it. 

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Tuesday 13th January

After a day getting some jobs done on our own, we reconvene back at the flat and visit Brickfields or ‘little India’ as it’s known. The area has a completely different feel from other parts of the city, and interesting smells waft through the air.

We visit a vegetarian restaurant for dinner. Del has a butter masala with a vegetable paratha, and H has a masala dosa; they are both delicious and very different from the usual Indian food we are used to back home.

A dessert is recommended by our friendly server (who once lived in Greenwich), which we try: ras malai, which is paneer soaked in a saffron milk sauce. It’s delicious too. We walk around the colourful streets looking at the street food, clothing, and beautiful flowers on display, while sipping a masala chai tea, which costs roughly 18p!

Rain is threatening, and the humidity has gone through the roof, so we hop on a monorail and make our way back home. 

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Wednesday 14th January

Today we visit the Kuala Lumpur Bird Park. It claims to have the biggest free-flight aviary in the world. It’s only a short cab ride away, and when we arrive, we do see that, yes, it is very, very big, with smaller areas where you can hand-feed lorikeets.

We get swamped by them when we buy the food for a couple of ringgit. They land gently on us, then fight with each other and squawk in our ears, just chaos. We love them. There are all sorts of birds here and a lot of peacocks.

We spend a couple of hours wandering around and watching a bird show. H is so hot she’s craving some quality AC and a cold drink, so we have a quick lunch in the bird park restaurant.

We’ve had better lunches, but it’s ok, satay, nasi goreng and a fresh coconut each. 

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Thursday 15th January

H is feeling much better today, so tries some time in the gym and has a swim in the pool, it’s great to be getting back to normal. 

We have been away for a month now, so H’s hair needs a bit of tending. We find a hairdresser who speaks English. 30 mins later, and after some miscommunication about hair length, H is out and has a shorter haircut than expected. Never mind, at least it will last longer.

Tonight we are taking an organised tour to see fireflies and ‘blue tears’ (a bioluminescent display in the water) in Selangor, which is about an hour and a quarter away. Our driver picks us up at 4 pm. He’s a local chap, very knowledgeable and friendly. He even takes us on a detour to see the royal palace on the way.

Once in Selangor, we are taken up to a lighthouse for a view of the Malacca Strait, very impressive.  There are lots of monkeys here (long-tailed macaques to be exact), and some brave tourists are feeding them.

One woman has 3 of them climbing on her. We have a distrust of monkeys, so this is not for us. Sri, our driver, tells us we’ll be ok as long as we don’t have food or put our hands in our pockets. The monkeys are all over the car by now. We get out, and he’s right, they do leave us alone.

Next, he takes us to a Chinese seafood restaurant by the river, where we have an included meal.

We have prawns, spicy fish, sweet and sour chicken, veg and rice, and it’s all very nice as the sun sets over the riverbank. 

As darkness falls, we board a boat full of Koreans and are taken up the river at very high speed. This is a thrill in itself, and there’s a lot of screaming and dramatics coming from our fellow travellers; however, we love it.

A few miles up the river in the middle of nowhere, we stop where the fireflies are in the bushes at the side. They are all flashing and look like LED Christmas lights! Nature can be very strange but beautiful. Next, it’s out to sea (at high speed again). When we stop, we are given nets to agitate the water to make the bioluminescence glow. It leaves pretty blue trails in the water.

We are now in the Strait of Malacca, it’s warm and dead calm, like a lake. The stars look spectacular here, too. Back at the dock, our driver takes us back for the 1-hour drive to the city and home. All in all, an interesting and enjoyable afternoon/evening out. 

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Friday 16th January

After a few chores at the flat, we head to a recommended restaurant in the city, but find it’s closed for Friday prayers. Nice timing! So we hop in a cab and go to the Capitol Cafe for the last time. Del has a delicious Bali chicken curry, and H has a Nasi Lemak, which is also delicious; their claim here at the Capitol is to be the best Nasi Lemak in Malaysia. It may well be true. 

After a pleasant 30 mins on some massage chairs in a mall, we return to the flat, where H does some research and manages to shoehorn an extra trip into our upcoming Vietnam schedule. We will now spend a night in the ancient citadel city of Hue. We will take a luxury bus to get there and will be travelling back on the train, which is supposed to be one of the world’s most scenic train trips.

We are having our last Japanese takeaway feast tonight outside on our balcony.

A massive pile of sushi and a bottle of good sake. The city is lit up and looks beautiful. We will miss this view. As cities go, KL is one of the best!

It’s a lovely dinner. H has ordered some jellyfish (she hates them; they might as well make themselves useful). We had jellyfish at our dining in the dark experience two weeks ago, but we didn’t know it when we were eating it. After dinner, we make a spontaneous decision to go for a night swim on the 35th floor pool deck, with the infinity pool and the best view of the city. Fabulous…

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Saturday 17th January

H goes to the gym this morning, finally being able to go and do a proper workout now that she appears to be clear of the cold, which seemed to last forever. Later we set off and go out for a brunch at one of our local favourite coffee shops.

Del has his favourite kaya toast and half-boiled egg, and H has a vegetarian laksa which she manages to splash on herself over her new, freshly laundered top.

Today is our penultimate day, so we are doing all our laundry and ironing, ready for leaving tomorrow. We have been lucky here in that we have had our own washing machine and have been able to easily dry our clothes, but from now on, we are going to be in hotels and using local laundries, so it’s a full reset of our clothes. We take turns keeping our eye on the washing machine, drying stuff and doing the ironing.

While we have been here, we have been taking advantage of the Rest N Go full-body massage chairs.

They are very popular here and can be found in all of the malls and airports. We have the app (there’s an app for everything now), and we have been getting good use of it.

With not much time and not much more to do, we set off for a Korean ice cream. There is a very popular brand that we like, and a stall has been set up promoting it. Simply scan one of their social media QR codes, follow them, and they will give you a free ice cream. Very nice. Very nice indeed.

We head back home to finalise the packing and clean down the flat. A sad time.

Tonight, our final dinner in Malaysia will be a Korean BBQ. We get a cab straight there and get a table for two. We are having a set menu. For some reason, because it’s a set menu, they cook the BBQ at the table for us rather than leaving us alone to do it.

Probably a good thing if they value their fire insurance. It’s all very delicious, with 3 different meats, chicken, mushrooms, and lots of dips and some kimchi of course. It’s quite a feast.

As a final closing to our last night here, we take a look at the Saloma bridge, which has a great view of the twin towers on the other side.

The bridge is listed as an attraction to see while in KL. The bridge spans one of the main arterial roads in and out of KL, very “arty’ and it changes colour!

Our walk continues right up to the towers for one last look before getting on the train and the monorail, which we end up paying three times for because of ticket confusion (that’s a whole 80p we’re out of pocket!).

Back at the flat, we are almost packed, the rest can wait until morning, for now it’s time to finish off the rest of last night’s fizz with a toast on the balcony to the night sky of Kuala Lumpur.

That was Malaysia. Next stop, Hoi An in Vietnam.

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Week 4 – Saturday 3rd January – Saturday 10th January 2026

Temperatures back home in the UK are below freezing this week, with snow, wind, and rain, but it’s in the low to mid 30s here in Kuala Lumpur. However, that didn’t stop us both from getting nasty colds this week! There’s justice for you…!

Saturday 3rd January 2026

Today we are going to the jungle for a couple of nights. We have booked into a small place called The Sticks, which is just over an hour from the city, where we have booked a cabin by the river.

The one and a quarter hour taxi ride actually takes two and a quarter hours with terrible traffic jams and a motorway closure with no warning or diversion. The poor cab driver doesn’t know what to do. 

We eventually find the place and send the taxi driver off on his merry way with a hefty tip. To get to reception, it’s a 7-minute walk through the forest, which includes crossing a rope bridge over the river.

The reception is a lovely, open-air place with a dining room which has a relaxing atmosphere. We sign in and have a refreshing homemade barley drink. We are taken to our ‘tendok’, a cross between a tent and a cabin.

It’s a wooden frame with canvas sides, it has a very comfy, large bed and a small bathroom with toilet and shower. In this tendok, we also have direct private access to the river.

There are a few other cabins here, all nestled in the forest away from each other, but only 2 of them are occupied, one by a French family and one by a Chinese family, so it’s not very busy here. We explore the pathways and meet the friendly pets here, two dogs and two cats. 

Tonight is a ‘steamboat’ dinner, we have heard of these but never tried one. On our table in the dining room, there is a large pot on a burner with a tasty broth in it. We are brought many plates of raw chicken, fish, prawns, tofu, mushrooms, noodles and greens. The idea is to put a little at a time of the various ingredients, let it cook and eat, then repeat.

The broth gets richer and richer as you go on. You are given eggs to whisk in to thicken it. It’s a lot tastier than we thought it would be, and we enjoy a glass of red wine with it.

Afterwards, we play chess on the world’s most mismatched chess set. It’s a collection from about 5 sets with some pieces missing.

We manage with some difficulty (“Is that your pawn or mine?’). H wins twice. Del is complaining of a sore throat and we are both coughing.

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Sunday 4th January 2026

The river outside is very noisy here, but luckily, H brought plenty of earplugs for the night. We have a decent sleep. H sees a firefly fluttering around on its own in the dark room, its green glow slowly dancing around the room before gently disappearing.

We are up bright and reasonably early and set off for breakfast at 9. Del has a cooked breakfast, and H has continental. The food is included (as there are no restaurants nearby), and they provide lunch, afternoon tea and dinner too. So we will be well fed.

There are a couple of treks available in the nearby jungle. We don’t have good walking shoes, so we opt for the short 45-minute hike. The guide warns us what trees not to touch and confirms there are dangerous venomous snakes and scorpions (but they’re probably asleep).

He then gives us a walkie-talkie and asks us to radio in at 4 different checkpoints to make sure we’re ok.

Off we set, at first it’s easy, but soon it changes to steep banks, big plants and streams. It’s good fun, and we manage ok with only one fright when H  sees a snake head complete with a forked tongue, only to be relieved when it runs off on four legs; thankfully, it’s just a large gecko. 

Lunch is delicious with many dishes of tasty food, prawn curry, papaya salad with chicken and chilli, many vegetables and much more. A short nap back at the tendok (are you paying attention? What’s a tendok?) is needed after all that.

We are up and about, refreshed, and ready to go tubing on the river. You basically sit in an inflated truck inner tube, walk upriver a hundred metres, get in it and float down to the small waterfall near our hut. The river is very clear and fast-running. Del has checked with the staff that there are no leeches or other nasties. We’re informed there are crocodiles in the nearby lake, but they don’t like the river. Right.

The tubing is fun, we do the walk upstream and then float back, stopping just before a weir of rocks. We spend an hour doing this and nearly miss our next feeding opportunity. Besides, there is only so much excitement one can handle floating about in an old truck inner tube.

It’s afternoon tea, which means a banana fritter and French toast with coconut sauce. It’s only 2 hours until dinner! 

It’s a BBQ night tonight, and we are served an array of grilled meats, fish, and vegetables served on a huge banana leaf on our table. It’s fabulous, the food here is really quite good.

We finish off our wine from yesterday and then have a game of mismatched chess before an early night.

At around midnight, we hear a short loud noise like fireworks or gunshots very near our cabin, followed by another short burst 10 mins later. We don’t know what it is; it’s too short for fireworks. Could the electrics have shorted and exploded? H imagines all scenarios as she lies awake, while Del goes back to sleep.

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Monday 5th January 2026

We wake and make our way to breakfast. More strange noises are coming from outside; this time, machete chopping and chainsaws can be heard. During the night, a neighbour’s tree, a huge one, has fallen and snapped the nearby bamboo and damaged the roof of an unoccupied cabin near us just before the bridge crossing. Ah, that explains the noises in the night. The staff are hacking away at the bamboo to get to the fallen tree.

It’s quite a mess; it also blocks the only road out, so it needs to be cleared and the damaged day cabin repaired quickly.

We’re told this has never happened before. The neighbour doesn’t look after his boundary and has a lot of very tall trees on a steep bank, so they are not very happy.

We have breakfast and arrange transport to the nearest town with a station for 11am. We set off in a Toyota Hilux to ford the river that we tubed on yesterday, and then swap to a car for the trip to the station. 

We will get the train back today. It’s no quicker on paper, but at least it won’t be subject to traffic jams, and we’ll get to see more stuff along the way. The train takes just over an hour, and we are soon on the monorail home. 

We decide to try a GRAB delivery. Grab is very much like Uber Eats; we have never used Uber Eats at home, so we thought it might be a wheeze to give it a go. We find our favourite Japanese restaurant- the one with the train that serves the food to your table from last week, does Grab delivery, so it’s a Japanese dinner in.

To add to the authenticity of the dining experience, we have purchased a bottle of Sake from the supermarket to go with it. Delicious. We are both feeling a little under the weather tonight, with a lingering cough, and Del’s sore throat seems to be getting worse. 

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Tuesday 6th January 2026

We are both coughing this morning, and H feels very tired and a bit yuck. Del goes out on his own to Chinatown for a walk and to explore. He has a sneaky beef roti while he’s out and buys H some ‘treats’. 

Back at the ranch, H has been doing the ironing with a view of the Petronas Towers. Del comes back with her treats: 2 bags of dried spicy squid and a bag of Hawthorne flavoured sweets, yummy?

It’s back to normal on the work front. Del does a little bit of homework for some jobs coming up very soon, the first of which is in Portugal in a couple of weeks. H is still feeling a bit tired and just a bit not quite right.

Dinner tonight is in a nearby and popular coffee shop where we have some chicken curry and rice, helped along with a natural fruit juice or two, very nice.

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Wednesday 7th January 2026

Today, H wakes up feeling less tired and a bit more with it, so we go out to have a walk around the Pavilion Mall, now that the chaos of Christmas crowds has gone. It’s been stripped of its Christmas decorations, but now they are being replaced by Chinese New Year decorations.

This is still with about 5 weeks to go. As a reminder, Malls here in Malaysia are a big deal. They are nothing like the malls back home. They are centres not just for shopping and eating but for events. They have themed sections and are known as lifestyle malls.

It is nice to wander around without the big crowds, and we stumble into a nice Japanese restaurant in ‘Tokyo Street’ in the mall. We have a delicious set lunch. 

We have heard that it’s possible to walk from this mall along a covered air-conditioned walkway all the way to the Petronas Towers, which is 1.2 km away. It takes us a while to find the entrance to this, but once we do, it’s a good walk and leads us straight into the Suria Mall right under the Towers.

KL is a great city, but sometimes awkward to walk about due to ‘rustic’ pavements and infrequent road crossing opportunities; this walkway is just perfect. At the Petronas Towers, we see if we can go up them, but all the tickets are sold out for today. We buy them for tomorrow instead.

Once back in our local area, we try another escape room. We intend to try them all; one day, we might even become good at them. This one, Patient 13, is very creepy with a jump scare in it, which catches H unaware. We get out just in time with an extra hint from our game master.

No dinner tonight as we are still full from our Japanese lunch, just a glass of wine at the flat and a bit of Netflix, watching the sunset on the towers.

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Thursday 8th January 2026

We have our booked tickets for the Petronas Towers for 1 pm today, so we do the laundry, and Del goes to the gym, and then we hop in a cab to the towers.

We’ve been up them before, but we love the building, so we really enjoy it. While we are there, the windows are getting cleaned…

There are some new bits that have been added since our last visit, including a smart cafe where we share a slice of cake with some drinks, looking at the view before us. Fantastic…

Next, we visit the eco park, which is a forest in the middle of the city with canopy rope bridges and towers. There’s a warning sign of dangerous insects and animals, which, for some reason, worries H despite just having hiked through an actual jungle a few days ago.

It’s a nice walk, but the only creature we see is a squirrel. Del gets bitten all over his legs, though; the insects usually prefer H. 

We decide to eat in again tonight. We will get a takeaway as H is coughing a lot now, as is Del. We have a kitchen here, but it’s a bit basic for cookware, and we would need to buy too many storage cupboard ingredients to cook anything decent, so we only use the kitchen for breakfast. The food here is so cheap and so good, we’d be mad to try to cook dinner. Tonight it’s an Indian, while we watch a movie. Tonight we are watching the first of the Knives Out franchise. A good old-fashioned whodunit thriller.

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Friday 9th January 2026

H stays in this morning; she is not feeling great at all. A cough and lots of conjestion. Del still has a hard cough, but the sore throat has gone, so he manages to get out and explore the city. In our local mall, there is now a ‘meow fiesta’ setting up, which finishes on Sunday. There is always something going on in the malls..!

It’s a cat show and rehoming event, so we have to pop over to have a look. There are about 50 gorgeous cats and kittens all looking for homes. Dinner tonight is at a local dim sum place, which is delicious. 

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Saturday 10th January 2026

Despite having a good sleep, Hayley has woken up feeling much worse. It has been decided that she should really see a doctor, as none of the usual over the counter stuff is working. Del goes to the gym, cleans up, and we set off for the nearest doctor. There are a few dotted around the city, which are walk-in doctors and dispensaries. We find one just 10 minutes walk away and set off. There is no waiting. Hayley shows her passport, and she is seen 2 minutes later by a young doctor who listens to her chest and prescribes some antibiotics, some meds for clearing up the phlegm, and a bottle of cough mixture that Del might have a swig of. Total bill 13 quid.

The rest of the day is spent indoors, H nursing her cold, Del doing homework, and looking after H. We manage a short walk to the shops via the cat show in the mall, which now appears to be in full swing. It’s another warm day, and the humidity is building.

This month is the 270th birthday of Mozart, one of our favourite composers. There is an HD showing of the original film, Amadeus, screening at the Philharmonic concert hall under the Petrona Towers, where the soundtrack is being played by a full orchestra and choir. It’s expensive, but it’s an opportunity we cannot miss.

The film, starring Tom Hulce, is now 42 years old…! That is scary…! We leave just before 7 pm, H is drugged up and feeling a little better as the drugs start to soothe her symptoms.

The concert hall is directly under the wonderful Petronas towers and is beautiful inside.

We have some good seats, and we get settled in. The film is long, three hours. The lights go down, and the orchestra strikes up. Wow! This is not a new thing: orchestras playing the soundtrack live to a movie. It is very clever how it’s done.

The conductor has a monitor that shows the film as we watch it, but overlayed on his version is a timecode, a series of coloured bars that sweep across, counting him in and out of each section of music, along with a series of white flashes that give him the time signature. It’s an incredibly tricky thing to coordinate, especially in a film like Amadeus, which has dancing and close-ups of instruments. Here is a link to a 4-minute video that provides a better explanation of how it’s done. The video is for the film Raiders of the Lost Ark.

It is a truly wonderful night. The whole thing is so smooth and well done; hearing it live gives us goosebumps. It’s amazing.

As we exit the concert hall at ground level to the outside world, Del looks up and sees the towers, immense and lit up white; the sight is jaw-dropping.

As we walk further, the towers look more and more imposing, lit up in pure white, making them look like glass towers.

In all, an unforgettable evening. H’s drugs are wearing off as we get back home to have a small snack, more drugs and bed. Del is still humming tunes from the film.

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Well, that’s another Christmas over and done with. Was it really worth all the fuss…? We are settled into our new home in Kuala Lumpur, where we celebrated Christmas with a mix of the traditional and the local Malay way. We are a day early this week with our blog as we are off to “the jungle” for two nights, where we are told there is no decent mobile or wifi connection to the outside world. Blimey, how will we manage?

Sunday 28th December 2025

After a relaxed morning, we go out for a walk and try find some food. We are planning to have a very early dinner today and visit a nearby coffee shop. Coffee shops here in Malaysia are nothing like home; they serve coffee but also a full selection of meals. We have a Thai tofu starter. Del has a Laksa (coconut noodle soup), and H has squid and noodles!

After our feast, we take a walk to the grassed rooftop of our local mall that has a small concert stage with lighting and sound, etc. There is always something going on here, and today is no exception, as we watch a very strange show of young Japanese girls singing and dancing, watched by nearly all adult men who know all the dance moves. Very odd. Even Del knew them!!

We walk back to the flat only to stumble across 3 large yellow Pikachus marching along to a guy with a whistle.

Pikachu is very popular here in Asia, and he is everywhere. All the kids have t-shirts and bags with him on them. There is always something going on here, but sometimes, to us, some of it just seems so random. It’s an interesting place, this Asia. 

Once it gets dark, we get a cab to the river that winds its way through the city. They pump mist onto it and light it up at night.

It looks eerily impressive. We then hop over to the Petronas Towers and KLCC park on the metro and arrive in time to see a colourful fountain display. The two towers look impressive behind a huge Christmas tree, gleaming silver against the black sky.

It’s gone 9 pm, and the mall is still mega busy; we are dodging people trying to walk in a straight line. This place just never seems to stop.

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Monday 29th December 2025

We go to the gym this morning and then have a swim in the other pool here, which is lovely. Once changed, we visit the butterfly park, a large, lush, and beautifully landscaped area where butterflies flutter around. A nice place to get away from the noise of the city.

They’re not as brightly coloured as we thought they would be. Asian butterflies are mostly brown with dashes of colour on them. They have an interesting indoor display here, complete with a tank of many nasty-looking native scorpions. 

There is a Middle Eastern restaurant in town that is famous for its shawarma kebabs, not something H has ever really fancied, but the reviews are good, and there is always a queue of about 1.5 hours at night. We decide at 3 pm to have an early dinner and beat the queues; however, when we arrive we still have to queue for 15 mins. This is madness; it better be good!

Once inside the pretty dining room (there are 4 floors of dining areas here). We have the famous shawarma and a traditional dessert. The food is tasty, but we really can’t see what all the fuss is about. We should know better, as we would normally disregard any restaurant with a queue as just hype. 

We’ve booked another escape game at a different place, this one involves a prison cell (again), crawling through tunnels and an electric chair. It’s very good, and we manage to escape with only a couple of hints needed. In fact, it’s so good we will come back and do another one tomorrow.

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Tuesday 30th December 2025

We enjoyed yesterday’s escape room so much that we start the day with another one, and why not, as they are a fraction of the cost of UK ones. This next one is a bit harder, and we have to sign a waiver for the physical aspects(!?). It is based around a serial killer’s barber shop. We think we’ve cracked it, only to find out there’s another room to go and we’ve run out of time. Oh dear.

We go for lunch at the Capitol cafe again and have their Nasi Lemak, which is delicious. Del tries a cup of local ‘cham’, which is a mix of tea and coffee with condensed milk.

An odd mix, but Del thinks it’s quite nice. Whilst we are enjoying this, it has started to rain heavily, so next we jump on the metro and go to another immense mall – the TRX. It’s staggeringly big with a whole floor of just designer and high-end shops. They also have a very impressive Apple shop. How can there be this many malls, and who is spending all this money?

We get back, and it’s Hayley’s turn to do the ironing with a view of the Towers…

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Wednesday 31st December 2025

We get up late and set off for the gym. H has decided it’s time to try out the rollercoaster near our flat, so we walk over to the mall opposite and pay the small amount to get into the theme park.

It’s amazing how they’ve squeezed so much stuff into part of a shopping mall. H goes on the coaster twice; it’s a good layout, but a bit rough and twice is all she can do. It’s not a bad coaster at all and certainly one of the better indoor coasters.

By now we are both hungry and go to a sushi restaurant, a chain, which we’ve been to before on past trips to Japan. The food is ordered on your phone and delivered on a ‘train’, which makes us grin.

We go mad and have a massive sushi feast, we eat half the sea… It’s delicious, though.

We head back. The mall below us is ramping up for the new year with live bands on the roof. We walk down there and check it out. It’s very good, but we leave as it starts to get very crowded; besides, we have our own view and goodies to bring in the new year, and we will see and hear the bands playing below us anyway.

We walk back through a games arcade. There are games in here that we don’t even understand. One looks like a washing machine, but it’s a music video game called Maimai. Watching the kids play is mesmerising.

We feel a bit old, or rather, we’ve been dropped 50 years into the future. Some of these games require super-fast reactions and attention, whilst having your brain bombarded with sound and colour. Crazy.

Back in the flat, we open our Laurent Perrier champagne that we have bought for tonight. The Petronas towers and other buildings are all lit up, and we await midnight.

Just before the big hour, a mist descends, and visibility drops, but the fireworks are all around us. We can see Merdeka 118, the second-tallest building in the world, clearly, as it is right next to our apartment block, and it looks fantastic. There’s even a drone show that we can just about see. It’s fabulous, we love it.

Happy New Year to all of you!

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Thursday 1st January 2026

After going to bed late, past 2 am at least, we get up quite late and have a relaxed day in. Here’s something for breakfast. A dragon fruit with rambutans. Very nice.

Tonight we have booked into a very special restaurant nearby, but first there is the matter of the ‘world dragon and lion dance extravaganza’ happening just below us on the roof of the mall. There are 40 lion dance troupes with associated noisy drums and cymbals.

We go down and watch them for a while. It’s busy and hard to see what’s going on, but the heat and humidity beat us, and we return to the flat to get ready for dinner. 

Tonight we have booked at ‘dining in the dark’, a restaurant where the dining room is pitch black. The concept has been around for a while – by having no vision, it enhances your other senses and enjoyment of the food. We arrive at 6:30pm, have a welcome drink and are blindfolded and given a wooden shapes puzzle to get us ready for the experience, already this is harder than we imagined.

After this, we have our phones and any light-emitting devices locked up and place our hands on the shoulders of the blind waiter who leads us into the dining room. It is indeed pitch black, and we are guided into our seats and told where our drinks and cutlery are. It is rare to be in an absolute blackout, there is usually a chink of light somewhere. The darkness here is very unnerving.

Del has a bit of a panic and feels a little overwhelmed and nauseous, but this soon passes. It is the weirdest and strangest experience. Our waiter, AK, is visually impaired, as are all of the waiters here. How he manages to move around in the dark and serve us food and drink so efficiently and professionally staggers us! The food is placed before us, 4 courses, each of multiple dishes, and we are left to work out what we are eating. It’s all delicious, and we will find out what we have eaten afterwards. We think we have identified quite a few flavours.

We make it through the evening without knocking anything over or spilling our meals down us. Outside, we have the menu revealed to us, we are for the most part right, but one of the starters that we thought was definitely seaweed was actually jellyfish!

We highly recommend the experience if you ever get the chance to do a ‘dine in the dark’ evening, an unforgettable night and most enjoyable. 

We walk to the nearby Bukit Bintang Centre, where it’s chaos. This is the centre of Kuala Lumpur nightlife, it’s noisy, bright, and the smell of all the different foods is just incredible.

There are a few buskers, but it’s not just someone with a guitar going “la la la…”, but full band set-ups on a street corner. We found a heavy metal band, led by a muslim lady, they really rocked. What a din…, they drew quite a crowd. Great fun to watch.

There were ladies dressed in traditional Chinese dress doing a ‘thing‘, promptly followed by a marching band with bagpipes. Well, why not…? There is something for everyone here… and not a policeman or ‘official‘ in a hi-viz vest in sight. Who needs them? Leave us alone.

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Friday 2nd January 2026

Today, we are visiting a place called Immersify, which is described as a “multimedia art gallery, and it just so happens to be in the building next door. It’s made up of 14 rooms of projections, props and clever lighting, but on a massive scale. Some make us a bit giddy, and there are some beautiful landscapes. There is one attraction where you can decorate your own animal on a piece of paper, scan it and have it appear within seconds, swimming or walking past you on a huge screen.

It’s very interesting and entertaining, and takes about an hour. We can’t help but notice the contrast between last night’s dinner with no vision and today’s feast of colour for the eyes.

 We have a light lunch in the mall at a Chinese restaurant recommended in the Michelin guide. The lunch is 3 courses with dim sum and water for £8 for two! It’s not bad, but we both agree to having had better.

We head back to the flat, and later on, we’re going to yet another escape room. This time, we are going for an easier one, after failing so badly on the last one. This one involves creepy clowns (are there any other types?) It’s a wonder we don’t have nightmares. 

We do quite well at this game and escape with 5 mins to spare! Proud of ourselves, we go for a beer nearby. This is a craft beer bar run by an Irishman. H has an IPA, and Del has a chocolate orange tiramisu stout (really), which tastes just like it sounds and is a bit odd. We try a Malaysian IPA and share a bagel as we are peckish now. It’s a nice location with an unobstructed view of the second-tallest building in the world, the Merdeka 118.

It turns out to be a rather expensive evening. Malaysia has the second-highest alcohol tax in the world, which they call a sin tax, and every penny goes to the health service. You can go to a hospital here, and all you have to pay is 1 ringgit or 20p! or so we are told.

We call it a night as H is getting bitten by mosquitoes. Don’t know how she’s going to cope tomorrow in the jungle. 

Happy New Year to all of you!

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Our first week away got off to a great start, with cantilevered swimming pools, death-defying walks around the tops of buildings, and more: one week down, 11 to go. We should start settling into a bit of a routine now…?

This week we are flying to Kuala Lumpur, where we begin a 4 week stay.

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Week 2 – Sunday 21st December – Saturday 27th December 2025

Sunday 21st December 2025

After a bad night’s sleep, H wakes up with a cold. A couple of days before, Del had been fighting one off for a few days, but now H has fallen victim to it. She stays in bed and tries to sleep while Del goes out for breakfast. He goes to the coffee shop around the corner, one we have already been to, and he has another Sandos.

By lunchtime, H is feeling a little less tired, so we go to a nearby Nasi Kandar vendor. Nasi Kandar is a local dish of fried chicken on rice with okra and lashings of spicy sauce on top. There is a big queue of locals, A good sign, and we can see why. It’s delicious.

We take it easy today and sit by the pool, reading. For dinner tonight, we start with some satay chicken near our hotel, which is the best ever; a fantastic peanut sauce with big chunks of onion. We move on to a street food area to have a highly rated Char Kway Teow, a stir-fry dish of noodles and prawns.

We walk around the dozens of pretty streets afterwards, looking at all the cute art galleries and bars. 

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Monday 22nd December 2025

Today it’s Del’s birthday. To save weight, he had his gifts before we left, so he just has his cards to open. (Thanks to all of you for your cards and best wishes…). We go out for breakfast to a place recommended by the hotel and have a light breakfast of kaya, a rich coconut-flavour spread popular in Malaysia, toast and eggs.

While walking around after breakfast number 1, we find a place that does roti, we’ve been trying to find this for a while, so we decide to go in.

Del goes a bit mad and has roti and chicken curry, H just has roti with an egg. The place is full of locals, we are the only ‘westerners’, and it’s a bit rustic, shall we say, but the food is delicious. The indian guy who runs it is always grinning. He spends a bit of time with us, grinning and chatting away. Nice chap.

After breakfast number 2, we wander around taking in the sights and the street art that the area is famous for. Georgetown is a lovely place, and somewhere we’d like to return to. The food here is some of the best we have had. 

On our walk we pass a Mosque that encourages visits, so we go in. Today is swelteringly hot and Del is given a shawl to cover his legs and H is gven a full length robe with hood.

It’s very interesting as we are taken around the different areas and have everything explained by the friendly guide. It’s not long though until H starts feeling light headed due to the heat and has to sit down and be given water. She recovers and after half an hour we leave, our guide has failed to convert us but we have learnt things and it’s all very friendly with Del getting a hug off our guide before we leave.

Tonight we will visit Batu Ferrenghi, which is a popular beach area north of us, about 45 minutes away in a cab (which costs £4.50).

First, we have a cocktail on the roof at our hotel to toast Del’s birthday. There is a house on fire down below, and huge flames are coming from the roof. 5 fire engines rush to it, but not before the top floor has been destroyed. We hope everyone is ok…

Batu Ferrenghi is very, very busy, a complete contrast to Georgetown, with beach bars playing loud music. We walk to the end of the beach, where we are trying to find a Middle Eastern restaurant that is highly recommended. The only spot left is on bean bags on the beach with a small table, so we take them. A fire show starts right in front of us, and we can feel the heat from the flames as we eat, as a dozen young guys juggle with fire and spit flames out of their mouths. You know what they say about playing with fire…!

The food is delicious. Dinner done, we walk around the night market and have a last drink on the beach, before catching a cab back to our hotel. A good day.

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Tuesday 23rd December 2025

We are leaving today to fly to Kuala Lumpur. Somehow our packing has expanded. How does it do that? We bought a bigger bag a couple of days ago, and we manage to fill that very quickly and very easily. We had been travelling with a very small second bag, so it was needed. We will leave the small bag behind; someone will use it.

It’s a short flight to Kuala Lumpur; in fact, the taxi ride from the airport to the city centre of Kuala Lumpur is longer, even though our cab driver drives like a maniac. 140km/h in a 90, tailgating, stomping on the brakes hard, all that kind of thing. We meet with our Airbnb host and get the keys for the flat we are renting for 4 weeks.

The flat is fantastic, modern and well designed with a balcony and a view of the Petronas Towers, and the whole of the city from our 21st floor apartment. Amazing.

The whole building staggers us with large, beautiful public areas, 2 pools and 2 gyms. There’s even a grand piano, drum kit and guitar room you can reserve. It’s quite a place built above a huge modern shopping mall.

We have dinner in one of the restaurants in the mall as it’s raining heavily. They are offering a birthday week free cake, so H arranges it.

They play happy birthday and bring the cake over with a candle. Sweet. We shop for some basics for the flat and then go back and admire the view as the city starts to light up. We watch Jurassic Park tonight. Turns out Del has never seen it, and after seeing the dinosaur attraction last week at The Top in Penang, he’s keen now.

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Wednesday 24th December 2025

Today we are going to explore some malls. In Malaysia, malls are a big thing, more so at Christmas when they put on some amazing displays at the entrances. The Pavilion Mall is a high-end designer mall with spectacular Christmas displays. It’s Christmas Eve, so it’s very busy. There are more people just looking at the displays than actually buying things, though.

We have lunch in a nearby local place, the Capitol Cafe. They do the best Nasi Lemak in Malaysia, so we give it a go. It’s true, it is very good. For 2 meals and 2 drinks, the bill is £4.50.

Next, we move on to Berjaya Times Square, a huge mall with 9 floors, and it has a theme park inside it, complete with Malaysia’s biggest coaster. We can actually see it from our balcony, which makes H beam… We will come back another day when we’re not so full of Malaysian food.

We make our way to our local mall, where we do a bit of grocery shopping and buy some Christmas treats. We’re not too hungry, so we get a takeaway of noodles and eat it on our balcony with a glass of wine, admiring the Kuala Lumpur skyline. Excellent

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Thursday 25th December 2025

Happy Christmas, everyone. We did our Christmas presents back home before we left, so we just exchange christmas cards and then go to the gym. To cool off, we go to our swimming pool 35 floors up, which has amazing views with a see-through section in the shape of a circle allowing you to look down all 35 floors!. 

We have a nice, relaxed day. H pops to the shops and gets caught in a rainstorm, while Del does the ironing (on Christmas Day!). Later, we enjoy a very nice glass of fizz on the balcony and watch the city light up. Then, we go out for a delicious Japanese dinner at a restaurant next door to us.

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Friday 26th December 2025

We slept very well last night, finally. Today is very humid, and our windows all have condensation on them, but on the outside!

Today, we are heading out to Chinatown and the markets. This is the place to get all your fake watches, bags and clothes. There are also lots of very good and interesting food stalls.

H has lost her sunglasses in Penang, so she needs to get another pair but just a basic pair; the markets are full of the usual fake designer goods; it’s a big thing in Asia, and no one ever seems to crack down on it.

We walk around for a while, but it’s very hot and humid, so we try a local sweet dish called Cendol, which is shaved ice coated with coconut juice served with red beans, sweetcorn and pandan jelly. We’re not sure about the beans and corn taste; it’s rather weird. At least we’ve tried it.

We move on to the KLCC mall and outdoor park right next to the Petronas Towers. The towers are huge when you get close up. Inside the mall, it’s crazy busy. It’s too much for us, so we grab a sushi lunch from a rather good supermarket and some exotic fruits that H wants to try. We find a place to sit outside to eat our sushi and watch the world go by.

Back at the flat, H tries her fruits, mangosteens and rambutans, both delicious. The rambutans are like firmer lychees, and the mangosteens are sweet and tropical.

For dinner, we go to a local mall and have a Malaysian curry. As we have said already, malls are a big thing here for the locals. They are nothing like malls in the UK or the US; they are a way of life here in Malaysia. The locals do like to shop and eat, and these malls are just vibrant and alive, full of colour and sound. Have you ever been in a US mall…? They are like libraries! People just shuffling around, sucking on king-sized fizzy drinks or shakes.

The food courts are not full of chain stores selling the same old stuff, there are local resturants and the one we are heading for is cheap, clean and highly rated. It doesn’t disappoint…!

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Saturday 27th December 2025

After a session at the gym, we head over to a nearby escape room that we have booked. We’ve done a few of these in different countries, and the ones here are very good value. We are deposited into a prison cell and given 45 minutes to escape. We do ok, we miss a couple of things and need a couple of hints, but we work through the 3 rooms and eventually figure it out. It’s good fun, and we will definitely do another one; there are quite a few available within walking distance of the flat.

Del has spotted a mall nearby that has 7 floors of tech stuff, computers, phones, all that kind of stuff. H leaves him to it and goes back to the flat.

By now it’s getting on for dinner time, and we try an Indian restaurant called the Indian Empire that has excellent reviews. It doesn’t disappoint, we have pani poori, little pastry balls of spice and chick peas that you pour a spicy sauce into and pop in your mouth (H gets reprimanded for cutting one up!). This is followed by butter chicken and chicken tikka masala, which are both delicious; we soak up every last drop with our chapatis.

After an excellent dinner, we visit one of the famous food streets on Jalan Alor, which is absolute chaos, hordes of people and food stalls, people eating whole fish, crabs, squid, skewers of meat, durian fruit, ice cream and everything in-between.

The street is just crammed packed with colour, smells and noise like nothing else. Some of the smells are unusual, and some are a bit challenging, like durian. Durian is a spiky-looking fruit that is very common in Asia; most hotels and public transport ban you from having it as the smell is so pungent.

H has tasted it before and couldn’t cope with more than one mouthful. The smell is described as gym socks, onions and sewage, but the taste for some people is a pleasant custard, vanilla and caramel. H thought it tasted worse than it smelled. 

We walk around the madness for a while and make our way to the hub of Bukit Bintang, which is just as crazy…! We are worn out, time to head back…

Another great week of new experiences and discoveries, which, as usual, has included food and drink. Kuala Lumpur is a vibrant, busy place which never seems to stop.

No, we are not on Jess. She is wrapped up for the winter. However, we have decided to log and blog our other, non-van trips away, not only for our own memories in the future, but also to share our experiences with our friends and family.

Winter is fast upon us, so we have decided to escape the cold and the grey and get away to Southeast Asia. We have been to the region a few times before; in fact, on this trip, it will be the 5th time that we have been to Vietnam.

So away we go…

Join us on our travels through Asia without Jess (she is wrapped up at home waiting for spring). We are away until March 2026 and will travel via Dubai to Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand, visiting multiple places in each country. For Del, it’s been a long, and sometimes hard, couple of months at work, most of the time away from home, so for him, this trip can’t come quick enough.

Week 1 – Sunday 14th December – Saturday 20th December 2025

Sunday 14th December 2025

Today we are off to the Gatwick Travelodge, our usual hotel before a flight out of London Gatwick. It’s reliable, good value and handy. We toast the start of our trip with the usual glass of Prosecco in the bar, as is customary.

We are flying to Dubai for 2 nights first and then onto Kuala Lumpur to spend 5 weeks in Malaysia. We like to break the trip halfway in Dubai instead of the 14-hour slog of a direct flight.

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Monday 15th December 2025

We are up at 6 am sharp, and on the Hoppa bus to the airport, north terminal, where we check in easily and quickly. Soon we are on our favourite plane to travel on – the magnificent Emirates A380, the biggest passenger aircraft in the world. This plane is amazing. We are on the lower floor, and it’s hard to get a scale of the thing. She’s a very comfy plane, solid and very quiet. We have the only really ill person on the plane directly behind us. We think she has the flu, which is currently circulating in the UK. She coughs violently for a full 7 hours, so we blast the cabin air on us in an attempt to deflect it. We’d rather freeze than get ill…

Once landed, we collect our bags and are soon at our hotel, The Pavilion at the Jaddaf Waterfront.

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Tuesday 16th December 2025

After a good night’s sleep, we get breakfast and hit the gym. The camel racing is on TV, which is, let’s say, interesting.

They run without jockeys, and having ridden a walking camel in the past, we can understand why. You wouldn’t want to ride a running one.

We grab a cab and walk around the Al Seef area, which has lots of shops in an old-style souk.  After a nice walk down the creek, we hire a private Abra boat for a 30-minute cruise. The old wooden boat looks very weathered, but we love it.

Next, we head to the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. Last time we were here, we went up it. It’s an amazing construction, especially considering it’s built on sand. There’s a huge mall and a huge fountain area around it, and they are well and truly geared up for Christmas, with lots of lights and decorations.

We are going to eat early and go to bed early tonight, but first we have a tea and delicious Baklava. The mall here is quite something, but it’s only the 30th biggest in the world; most of the largest malls are in Asia. Still, this mall has an ice rink and a huge aquarium with a massive tank on view in the mall with an immense HD video screen above it. It’s quite something.

We eat outside in the warm evening air and have a Lebanese feast. By now it’s dark, and the Burj Khalifa is showing off its full height video screen (clouds are passing through the top of it), and there is an impressive fountain display.

We head back to the hotel for an early night. However, at nearly 11 pm, we are woken, rather abruptly, by fireworks very close to the hotel. It sounds like a war zone. It’s for the festival of shopping, apparently. 

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Wednesday 17th December

Today we are flying to Kuala Lumpur, another 7-hour flight on another A380. 

We end up arriving quite late at our destination after sitting on the plane at the stand for 1.5hours in Dubai waiting to push back. The delay is because of a sandstorm. We are finally glad to arrive at our next hotel, the Ibis Styles, at 2 am after a lot of queuing here and there and walking for miles at the airport. 

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Thursday 18th December 2025

At 7:30 am, we are up once again and back at the airport to fly this time to Penang, where we will stay for 5 days. We are staying in the historic town of Georgetown (named after King George III). 

We have a suite in a nice hotel, The Granite Luxury Hotel, which has the highest cantilevered see-through swimming pool and the highest automatic stacking car park in Malaysia. We shall have to check these out. 

After a sushi lunch, we explore the area for a while, then rest. We are very tired; the jet lag is now starting to catch up with us. For dinner, we stay local and visit a highly recommended Bahn Mi street food cart. The Bahn Mi is the king of sandwiches, soft yet crusty Vietnamese bread, tasty sauces and herbs, pickled vegetables and usually a choice of meat, although these are vegetarian. They are delicious, maybe the best we’ve had. 

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Friday 19th December 2025

H couldn’t get to sleep last night until the early hours, and Del doesn’t sleep great either. We are up quite late at 9 am and hit the gym. Afterwards, we try the pool. It’s a long infinity pool with see-through Perspex sides, and one end hangs over the building with a see-through Perspex floor! You can look 14 floors down to the ground. It takes H a while to get the bravery to swim and walk over it, but it doesn’t bother Del.  No fear that boy! (Not!)

Once changed, we head into the old town and have lunch at a recommended tandoori place. It’s delicious, and we can watch them cook the chicken in the tandoor in their almost open kitchen and make the naan breads while we eat. We are aware that we haven’t actually had a Malaysian meal yet (having had so far Japanese, Vietnamese and Indian since we arrived), we are working on it. Penang is known as the foodie capital of Malaysia because of a melting pot of cultures, made up of Chinese, Indian and Malay, each bringing their own delicious foods with them, so there are many different styles of food here in Penang.

The town is very nice with interesting street art and some ‘floating ‘ jetties with houses and stalls over the water on stilts. We plan to go out and find some local food tonight, but after a rest at the hotel, the weather changes, and it pours down; it is the end of the rainy season here in Malaysia, so it is expected. It doesn’t let up, so we have dinner at the rooftop bar at the hotel, but they don’t have any Malaysian food! 

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Saturday 20th December 2025

We start the day with a couple of breakfast sandwiches called a sandos. It’s a Japanese sandwich, which is served in a Chinese coffee shop in Malaysia! H’s is a delicious spicy Thai one.

After taking in the sights of a nearby food market, we head over to the Komtar tower, which is directly opposite our hotel. It’s 249m tall and at the top is an observation deck. We buy tickets and get the lift to the penultimate floor, where there is an outside ‘skybridge’ walk. We have seen these before, but normally they are an expensive upcharge and something we would not normally do, but our ticket includes it, so we feel we should try it.

We get harnessed up. H is a little nervous as she’s scared of heights, but is still up for the challenge. We are in a group of 4 with a guide, and we clip on and step outside. After a moment of gripping onto anything she can find, including Del, H gets her confidence as we slowly walk around the edge of the building, walking on see-through grating. It takes 10 minutes, and we are back in. H is very proud of herself. There’s also a glass floor here, and on the top floor, there is an outside glass-bottomed walkway. The ticket also includes the aquarium and the “Jurassic research centre“, which are quite good. 

It’s very hot today with high humidity and around 39 degrees C, so we go back to the hotel to recover before dinner. Dinner is in a simple local place. and is finally Malaysian. Del has Chicken Nasi Lemak (coconut rice with fried chicken and dried anchovies), and H has Char Kuey Teow, a popular local dish similar to a pad Thai. 

There’s a Christmas parade on tonight, so we get in position near the start and have some chilled coconut jelly to cool down. It is oppressively hot as we watch the fabulous parade of marching bands, dragon dancers and men who balance 10m flag poles on their chins and foreheads. Why? The Penang Christmas Parade is returning after 25 years.

So not a bad first week. A couple of flights on the world’s biggest passenger plane, a hotel with Malaysia’s highest cantilevered swimming pool, a tethered walk around a 249m building, the return of a Christmas parade, lovely hot weather, and lots of delicious food! Not bad. Not bad at all.

Here are more pictures from our first week

See you next week.

Week 8. 18th to 24th July. Tønder, Denmark to Home – 817 miles

Saturday, 19th July 2025. Tønder, Denmark to Rotenburg, Germany – 170 miles

Our ferry home is on Thursday, so we don’t have much time left, but a lot of miles to cover. Today we are leaving Denmark and heading home on our last week. We will go through Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France, but quite quickly.

A very nice breakfast this morning, outside in the sun. Very nice. We get packed up, do a service and off we go. We don’t know where we will be later, but we would like to get as far south as Bremen in Germany. Jess is filthy, but really bad, so we have another go at finding a jet wash, but fall short. There is nothing to be had. It is going to be a potentially long day today. To get to Bremen, we have to skim past Hamburg, which has the worst road works, according to reports.

Del is set to do most of the driving today. He loves it, says he can just drive for miles… Hayley is happy for him to do it as she researches the route, where to stop and what and where to eat. The border between Denmark and Germany is just a few kilometres away. Hayley does the first bit of driving. We stop at a filling station. Once we cross the border, the roads are very different. Gone are the smooth, bright roads of Denmark; now we have the patchy, bumpy roads of Northern Germany. Who’d have thought? We are sure they will get better.

It’s a lovely day, hot, almost 25 degrees. We are soon on the motorway and heading towards Hamburg. Sure enough, after about 45 minutes, the northbound A7, is at a standstill for a good few miles because of roadworks and the discovery of a bridge with bad workmanship that needs urgent attention. Going south, we have a good, clear road. Today Jess clocks up 35000 miles after seven and a half years…!

Hayley has found a place that will allow up to 10 campervans to park. It’s a hotel/restaurant and we fancy a schnitzel… We like them a lot. The hotel is the hotel restaurant Heidejäger in the town of Rotenberg, just east of Bremen. We have made good progress today, 170 miles. Once we arrive and get settled in, we sit outside and have a nice cold German beer, which is a third of the price of a Norwegian one! It’s hot, 28 degrees… nice though. We just relax. Del does some homework for his next work outing while Hayley plots up the last few days of the trip. Just by chance (yeah right!), she has found a spare day so we are going to the Walibi Holland amusement park for her to do some roller coastering and for Del to hold the bag. He’s not done that in a while, can’t wait…

Dinner tonight is at the hotel where we are parked for the night. We are looked after by the staff who are very nice and serve us an excellent dinner.

They have a robotic cat that moves around the dining room and delivers your order to your table. An unusual thing to have in a traditional German restaurant.

All fed with schnitzel and salad, we go back to Jess and have a cold Jagermeister followed by a couple of games of chess…

Lately, Del has been beating Hayley, but tonight it was one all. Before turning in for the night, we stick our 4 new country flags on the back of Jess to join the others.

Just as we are putting them on, the local storks turn up. They are quite popular here, by all accounts. The hotel has built them a nesting stand; no idea where they go all day, but both of them flew back, clattered their beaks and preened themselves before settling down. Just as we did the same… All in all, a good day.

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Sunday, 20th July 2025. Rotenburg, Germany to Elburg, The Netherlands -181 miles

Another warm, balmy night last night, cloudy but still warm this morning. Today we are going to be in the Netherlands. We need to get a bit of a move on, so it’s a quick breakfast and off we go. We have checked on the nesting storks from last night, but they have gone. They will return tonight, as they do. It has been a lovely stay here at the Heidejäger hotel/restaurant. It’s warmed up some more for us, and the sun is out. There are a couple of things we need to do today. Jess has not had a wash in weeks. The last time was at the start of Norway, where we paid £10.00 for 2 minutes!! She is looking a bit sorry for herself. We also need some diesel.

Hayley has been on the Google machine and found both. First, the car wash.

What a place. Several large booths to drive into, where you can pamper your vehicle to within an inch of its life. On the other side of the large forecourt, there are rows of vacuum cleaners and a vending machine selling all kinds of potions for your car and bags of Haribo. 30 minutes later and 15 euros lighter (£12.00), Jess is back to looking like she was fresh out of the showroom. Finally.

Next, we fill up with diesel, and we are done. Hayley has done a good hour driving, but she gets bored very quickly, so Del is soon in the hot seat, loving it and driving us to a campsite in Elburg, Holland. The German roads, for the most part, are shocking, which surprises us; they used to be ok. You get patches of motorway goodness, but by and large, they are a bit of a disappointment. As soon as we cross the border into the Netherlands, it is bliss. Lovely, clean, wide, smooth roads.

We get checked into the campsite in Elburg, Veluwe Strandbad Camping. We are given a fabulous pitch near to all the facilities. Del spends half an hour spot cleaning Jess, who just looks fabulous. (The van. Not Del!)

Now that Hayley is feeling better, and we’ve not done it in a while, we finally, at last, get the bikes off the back and set off for a bike ride into the town of Elburg itself.

We are pleasantly surprised. This is a beautiful town with cobbled streets, lovely houses, shops and restaurants. We take our time cycling through it and soaking it all up. There is a small canal running through it with a crossroads on a bridge full of little cosy restaurants. We are tempted to have a drink or an early dinner, but we do need to get some exercise done, as we have let it slide badly over the past few weeks.

Sadly, there is heavy and prolonged rain forecast. We get another couple of kilometres under our belt and head back to the campsite. Just as we are putting the cover back on the bikes, it rains, and Jess has just been cleaned! No matter she needed a clean all the same.

We get settled in for the night. Time has flown by. A nice, simple dinner with some music and red wine. Smashing. Tomorrow, Hayley is off to Walibi Holland. Great….!

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Monday, 21st July 2025. Elburg, Holland to Heibaart, Belgium -104 miles

We are up early, have breakfast, clean up and get away, fast… This morning we are going to Walibi Holland so Del can carry and hold a bag for half a day while Hayley does coasters! She has never moved so fast to get out of a campsite…!

It was a very nice stay last night, but today we are moving on. The plan is that after visiting Walibi Holland, we will then drive south towards the border with Belgium. The drive to the park is 10 minutes. We arrive just as the park is opening, so Hayley is in pole position.

It’s a good day. The park is fabulous, not full even though it’s summer. There are lots of rides and things to see, and Hayley has a great day ticking off her bucket list of rides.

By 2:30, we have had enough and get back to Jess to set off south. There is heavy rain threatening. It is motorway for most of the drive, lots of it, and most of it has terrible traffic jams, not because of accidents, but because there is a huge concentration of motorways all interconnecting with each other and all in a small land mass. It’s chaotic in parts. We have had another incident with Jess; this time, we have lost the bike cover.

There was a small tear in it a few days ago, which has grown on the drive today, which now has to be shredded to get it off. There’s another expense to add to the list for when we get back.

Hayley has found us a place not far from the border. It has space for 10 to 15 vans or tents, but when we arrive, there is no one to help to get a space. Del has a walk around. There are hens all over the place, and in the back space where you camp, it already looks full, with people in large tents outside doing barbeques. As soon as they see Del, it is a bit like one of those cowboy films where everyone goes quiet and looks at you… Stranger…! Needless to say, we didn’t hang about too long, reversed and left. Very soon, Hayley has found another place.

With knowing or noticing, we had crossed the border into Belgium. We are going to a cow farm called Het boerenijsje, or in English, “The farmers’ Ice-cream”. For a staggering 4 euros you can stay the night, for another 4 you can have electricity, so for 8 euros you get to stay on a working dairy farm which has a fantastic little restaurant attached to it specialising in ice cream, pancakes and waffles.

Just as we arrive, the skies open up to what we think is the worst rain we have ever seen.

Unbelievable rain and hail that lasts for about 10 minutes, which later reveals a lovely summer evening. We have dinner on board, then go off to watch the cows for their 8 pm milking. It is fascinating watching the cows being herded into a large shed, and as if they knew where to go, they line themselves up for milking for 10 minutes before a barrier rises and they all leave to go back to their pens.

The owners allow you to go anywhere on the site, so you get to see the days-old calves, the teenagers and then fully grown dairy cows. A fascinating place, and we enjoyed looking around.

Back at Jess, the rain is back on, not so fierce this time. We are a day ahead of our planned schedule, and we didn’t expect to be in Belgium tonight. Tomorrow, the plan is to stay in one of our regular stops in the lovely Belgian area of Westvleteren.

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Tuesday, 22nd July 2025. Heibaart to Poperinge -114 miles

We are now nearing the end of our 7 and half week Scandinavian trip. We have two nights left, the second of which will be in Calais. Our night on the cow farm has been a pleasant one. We have a good hearty breakfast, courtesy of Del. After we get cleaned up and ready to go, we have a look around the cow farm again. The whole thing is quite fascinating. There is a lot of work that goes into getting a pint of milk on the table, and this place is at the cutting edge of technology to do that as cheaply and as efficiently as possible. It’s all open to public scrutiny as they let you wander freely around the place.

Time to move on. It will be a long drive again today. We are heading for a place that has been a regular start and end point for our trips into Europe on Jess. It’s a small farm that welcomes campers. Situated in West Flanders. They always find a space for us, so we should be ok tonight. The drive is long. The motorways are just stuffed with traffic, most of which is made up of trucks, lots of them. They stretch for miles, and there are so many exits and interconnections in this part of Europe connecting Holland to Germany and France.

We are finally on the home stretch. The traffic has thinned out, and we are soon on local roads again and trundling through the Belgian countryside. That’s better… We have arrived in the town of Poperinge in Belgium and in a supermarket stocking up with some fine Belgian beers to take home. Our next stop is the farm campsite, Stal ‘t Bardehof. This was the first stop we made in Europe when we bought Jess… We like it, it’s a bit rustic but nice.

Today we are going to have dinner at the Sixtus Abbey. The abbey is famous for producing what is considered to be the world’s best beer. They also have a nice restaurant called In de Vrede, which we fancy trying for dinner. It’s now 5 pm, and once we get settled in we are on our bikes making our way to the abbey for an early dinner.

We have a Westvleteren 12 beer, which is just superb, and we order dinner. The beer is going down well while we wait for dinner, which is excellent and reasonably priced.

It’s filling up just as we finish, so it’s back on the bikes to the campsite. We secure them back on Jess and have a cold beer at the campsite, again another excellent Belgian beer, a Rochefort and a  Karmeliet. We have them outside next to the goats that have been here a while. They are very tame and like to be fussed over, which suits us.

Back at Jess, we settle in for the night after a shower and a couple of games of chess. Tonight Hayley wins… Twice…

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Wednesday 23rd July 2025. Poperinge, Belgium to Calais, France -50 miles

Our last full day in Europe today, and it will be a busy one. We are up and about for breakfast at our normal time, which is always late! A full Jess service, so fresh water in, grey out, and a toilet change.

Today we are going to the St Bernadus Brewery in the town of Watou. St Bernardus beer is one of our favourite Belgian beers, so it will be worth the 10-minute drive.

There, they do a guided tour, you can see the beer being made, there is a restaurant and of course a shop. Unfortunately, they don’t have a car park suitable for us, but we do find one that requires us to cycle a 5-mile round trip. Let’s hope it doesn’t rain.

To get to the carpark requires Hayley to drive some very narrow roads. The area around here in Westvleteren is very agricultural and the local road network is just wide enough for a tractor, that’s it…

The car park is empty, so we secure our van and get the bikes off the back, helmets on and off we go… The 2.5-mile cycle is a bit up and down hill, but nothing too taxing. We are able to lock our bikes up at the brewery. We are given a gizmo for the guided tour, which we find very interesting. There’s a lot to see and discover, and we really enjoy the story, seeing the beer being made and the high-tech bottling process. Fascinating stuff.

They have a beautiful restaurant here with a fantastic high view of the fields stretching out across the region, with their own field of hops below us.

We have a platter to share. Included in the entry fee of 17 euros, you get two tokens each to sample any of the beers they offer, as well as a 5 euro discount on anything in the shop. The platter and the samples were excellent.

While we were loving the whole thing and tucking into a cheese and meat platter, it had started to rain. We have to cycle back to Jess for 2 miles… In the rain… It has to be done. Fortunately, it’s not too heavy, and the cycle back isn’t too bad. Bikes secured, we are back on the road via the brewery to pick up some goodies from the shop. We buy a six-pack variety box, some pate, and Del gets himself a 4 pack of Watou Triple, one of his many favourites…

All loaded up, we are now heading for Calais to a stop where we are in place for the ferry tomorrow at 7 am. Without knowing, we have crossed the border into France on the narrow of narrowest roads. Soon we are back on the motorway and Calais is about 40 minutes away. We do a quick pit stop at a wine warehouse for a couple of cases of wine. We are sounding more like a milk float than a camper van with all the beer and wine jingling about…

Tonight we are eating out. Despite all the bad news, Calais is actually a nice town. There are some lovely eateries, and the promenade has recently been redeveloped and is lovely to walk along. For our last night, we are eating at a Michelin-rated restaurant that we have dined at before on a past visit.

We get showered in the van and put our finest clothes on (well, a pair of long trousers on and a clean shirt), then take the pleasant walk along the prom to the town.

Summer is in full swing here. It’s a lovely evening and everyone is out. Our dinner is at the Histoire Ancienne, Bib Gourmand with an excellent menu.

We have an aperitif, starter, main, dessert and a half bottle of red all for about 70 quid…! Try getting that at a Harvester!

We have eaten out in a lot in a lot of countries, some countries do excellent food, some… well, not so good, but you can always trust the French to do a good dinner and a glass of wine, if you know where to go. A fabulous night out as we walk back through the local summer fairground and back to a rather hot Jess.

Tomorrow we are up at 6 am for the ferry home.

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Thursday 24th July 2025. Calais, France to Home! -182 miles

We are up at 5:45 am today, and the alarm really hurts this early. We do a quick service before leaving. The Ferry port is just a 10-minute drive away, giving us an hour and a bit before departure. We get through the French passport check quickly enough, but at the UK border (which is on the French side), we are delayed. A few cars up, there is a German-registered car that seems to be getting the third degree, but instead of pulling him to one side and getting everybody else on the ferry, we wait and wait. The time that we did have spare has all gone, and there is no doubt that in the long line of cars behind us, some if not all, will have missed that ferry.

We drive straight on and cast off almost immediately. The crossing goes quickly, as the grey cliffs of Dover are almost upon us. It’s the usual routine for disembarkation. Traffic going the other way to leave the UK is packed; in fact, the trucks have been lined up on the outside lane, and it stretches for miles. We are not exaggerating; there are hundreds of trucks for miles, all waiting to get into Dover. If it’s bad now, wait until the ETIAS arrives, which is soon, you’ll need to get to Dover three days before… It doesn’t bear thinking about how chaotic that will be. We will all need one if we want to go to Europe. Can’t wait.

The drive from Dover to Portsmouth is thankfully uneventful, with Del doing the whole run. Once in Portsmouth, we find a jet wash for a final van clean. We are early, and fortunately, we are able to get on an earlier ferry for home.

30 minutes later, we are on our 15-minute drive home, where we unpack, clean down Jess on the inside, take her to her lock-up and get the cover on her. It will probably be a while before she gets out again; we shall see. Sometimes we get the odd occasion to do a few campsites on the Isle of Wight, some of which are excellent.

Thoughts…

Our trip, which we called the ‘Scandi Loop‘, has been a good one, if maybe a little rushed. We took a different route from the usual. Most people get to Denmark and go straight to Norway and return via the bridges, but we thought we’d go east and do some of Poland, which was not bad. We probably need to see more of Poland. We found the campsites a little on the expensive side, supermarkets in short supply, and the weather awful at times!

Sweden, we loved. Very calm and laid back, very relaxed about camping, where you can park for the night wherever you like as long as there are no signs clearly saying that camping is not allowed and you are 150m away from private property, and of course, you don’t leave all your rubbish behind. The scenery was very nice, and we stayed at some very nice places. Food and fuel were a little more expensive than in the UK, not as scary as we were led to believe, but alcohol is strictly controlled. You can only buy wine and spirits from state-owned off-licences, beer is sold in supermarkets, which are brilliant by the way, but no more than 3.2% alcohol, and it’s expensive.

Norway was the best. The scenery was just stunning, and the driving was interesting. You needed a mortgage for alcohol, which, again, is only available through state-run off-licences, and food and fuel were expensive. Car/van washes, forget it, extortion comes to mind. The most you can get out of a chemist is paracetemol, anything else has to be prescribed by a doctor, and even then it’s herbal and stuff you can get from a corner shop in the UK, as we found out when poor Hayley became ill… In Norway, of all places. Saying that we really liked it, although Hayley may have a slight, but only slight reservation…

Denmark, again, is a lovely, laid-back place, but deserved more time from us. We were in and out in the blink of an eye, but what we did see, we really liked and will go back. Prices were roughly the same as in Sweden, slightly cheaper than in Norway.

There is no doubt, having been to Scandinavia for the short time that we were there, that they do a lot of stuff right; they also do a few questionable things, but when you think about the oddities, they do make sense (but you may need some time to be convinced). The countries are clean and well-maintained. The people are laid back, polite and helpful, although we did note that Norwegian drivers, particularly truck drivers, can be impatient and on two occasions, we were ‘bullied’ to get out of the way.

Miles covered: 3724

Diesel cost: £730 (so 19p per mile)

Total nights away: 53 nights

Here is a small collection of Dels’ photos taken during some of our stops in Scandinavia. Again, thanks to our family and friends for following us on our journey. We wish you all good health and happiness. Until the next one…

Del, ‘H’ & Jess