A North Indian Fairytale

We arrived in Udaipur at the beginning of April, after our last few relaxing months in South India; we prepared ourselves for the hustle and bustle of the Indian city and for the new found sights of Rajasthan. How pleasantly surprised we were when we arrived and found a different world to what we had prepared for and imagined, the city felt calm with an air of beauty around it. We arrived in the evening and came into the city with the sound of beautiful prayers and Indian music being played, I instantly felt I was in an Indian fairytale and could see why Rajasthan was described as the land of the kings and a place where maharajas once settled. We had planned two weeks for exploring Rajasthan, as mentioned in a previous post the weather was starting to bake during the day and between 12-5pm you really have to hide inside as its too hot to do anything, therefore we felt longer than two weeks maybe silly as we didn’t want to spend every afternoon inside when in beautiful India.  We worked out where we both wanted to explore, due to Rajasthan being new to both of us and what we wanted out of this part of the trip. Rajasthan is full of forts, deserts, palaces and lakes and we knew our next few weeks would be filled with wonder and beauty.
Udaipur was our first stop in royal Rajasthan, we arrived at our guesthouse and secured a beautiful room looking out onto lake Pichola, (giving its name by the flooding of Pichola Village to make the lake, when thinking of a village at the bottom of a lake it always feels a bit fairy tale esk, as to think of hidden homes and another world once lived before the lake was made). Lake Pichola is the main attraction in Udaipur, all the hotels are centered around it and everywhere has roof top restaurants with the most magnificent views, luckily our new abode being one of these. We enjoyed our first fine feast on top of our guesthouse and felt very satisfied, taking in the sounds and sights before us preparing us for our next few days in this magical city. We secured three days in Udaipur and spent them mainly wandering around the streets purchasing lovely miniature Rajasthan art, buying beautiful home wares and generally just talking with locals and learning more about how the city works, we made friends with a little boy who was crying one morning as he wanted a banana and not an orange, Sam kindly went and purchased a banana for him and from this he and his family waved and smiled every morning at us when heading into the cities walls. We found an amazing spot for watching sunset with the locals and although the ever persistent ‘dress up as a prince photo’ was demanded we managed to enjoy the beauty of the sun setting over the land of fairytale dreams. We enjoyed wandering around the city palace and relaxing in the bathing room under the heat of the morning sun, sadly the palace is one of the main tourist hot spots so a number of tour operators work the floors with their translation and audio tapes, we jumped onto a couple of English tours but overall made up our own stories of the Maharaja that once lived there and took what we saw from the beauty of the Palace. My favorite room was the peacock room where magnificent tiled mosaics of peacocks stood strong on the walls making the room glisten and gleam from the vibrant colorful tiles. One afternoon we took some time out and went and lazed at a lovely hotel using the pool facilities, which was ever needed in the 40 degree heat. We used our second last evening to attend a cooking course that had been recommended to us by both our brothers and good friends, Shashi cooking class. We searched for where we thought she was based but found a derelict building with a haggard sign up, after speaking with a local business man he informed us she had moved and called her son who arranged the class for us. On arrival at Shashi home she informed us she had moved due to renovating works and was now renting this new flat (very different to the ‘typical’ Indian kitchen I had seen in family and friends photos) this place was a new build well to do spacious living area, we assumed the classes were paying off! I must admit I was a little nervous at the start of the class as didn’t really know what to expect but it turned out perfect and for the £6 we paid we definitely got our money’s worth. The class was made up of Sam and I and a group of others, we learnt how to cook so many different dishes but in the most simplest and basic form, it was great to be part of such a basic class but feeling that you were learning something new and exciting. We cooked nans, parathas and my favorite panner dishes, even being told how to make panner when home, (yes please), the energy was brilliant and it was such an experience to be part of. Shashi herself is an incredible woman and up to a number of years ago she couldn’t even speak English, after the death of her husband she started the cooking classes and now is one of the most recommended activities in Udaipur, her beauty is outstanding and her passion shines through as she teaches. When we finished the 5hrs of kitchen time we all sat down and embraced the feast we had just prepared, there was so much food it was a kings and queens feast and it was enjoyed just as much as cooking it had been.
With our time coming to an end we spent the following day walking the city and indulging in the splendor that had been given to us in our few days exploring Udaipur.

Our next stop on our Rajasthan trail was Pushkar, a good friend of mine had told me about the beauty Pushkar had to hold and my vision of this Aladdin like world with bazaars, lakes and religion was embraced into my mind, on reading up about Pushkar I read descriptions and similarities to that of Varanasi (another part of India in which we visited in 2011), Varanasi is a very religious part of India and my experience had been slightly surreal and daunting, the difference I read about Pushkar was that it was smaller and the element of death was not so prevalent as in Varanasi (people go here to die and are carried through the streets and burnt at the Ghats, meaning you see a lot of dead bodies, which is very moving but also for one who isn’t comfortable with death, it’s hard to cope with). We arrived in Pushkar in the evening, which I realized over the next two days is the best time to be in Pushkar, we headed to the lake and sat listening to the evening prayers, the sound was beautiful and so enchanting I felt I had just arrived in a land of an Indian fairy tale. We sat watching sunset around the lake for over an hour and the beauty of people bathing, believing and embracing one another was a very special moment, one I felt privileged to be able to watch and share. Our first full day in Pushkar we spent wandering the streets, looking at the local market stalls and hiding from the midday sun drinking cold coffees, the town is busy with tourists, shoppers and sellers during the day and has a completely different feel to that of an evening, it was great to be part of the hustle but with Pushkar being so small by the afternoon we were ready to head back to the lake as we had seen the sights of the town and enjoyed our bumble around. The lake again was as magical as the day before, this time we walked further around and enjoyed watching the scene from another lakeside angle.

The following day we decided to hire a scooter and head out around Pushkar, something we are delighted we did as we had the most enjoyable day getting lost in the Pushkar desert. We had been told to head to two Shiva temples and through a few local villages, we attempted to do this but got completely lost and managed to clock up around 40miles on the scooter, luckily we found petrol, as always in India it’s just a man in a village with a two litre plastic bottle full for £2, score.  Getting lost however was not a bad thing as we managed to see peacocks roaming around in the wild, we talked with a group of men at their chai stall for over an hour (bearing in mind they spoke little English and us no Hindi) in the end we decided to leave when conversations became so mixed up they thought Sam played in the IPL (we were trying to explain we are going to watch a game of the IPL). We basked in the sunshine of the roadside and met a man and his camel along the way, we drove through villages with children that became so excited at two white people one attempted to pull me off the scooter in excitement and enjoyed the open desert roads with amazing plants growing wild. At the end of the day we were so tired, we treated ourselves to a nice meal at a swanky hotel and listened to the evening prayers from the rooftop, that evening as we headed for our night bus we felt blessed at our time in Pushkar and felt a special something at the beauty it beholds.

Our next stop was Jaisalmer and we arrived in the early morning to a hoard of camel safari sellers and hotel pushers, Sam and I had only just woken so were still a bit dreamy when we jumped into a 4x4 stating they would take us to our hotel, luckily for us they did but after a few minutes of ‘no I don’t want your hotel’ we escaped to our exquisite hotel, after waking the owner up we got our room and rolled into shower, we decided we would head out and explore that morning as we knew by afternoon the desert heat of 40+ would not be our friend and sleep could be welcomed nicely at this point. We spoke with the owner and booked our camel safari for the following day so used this day to enjoy the walls of the Jaisalmer fort, Jaisalmer is renowned for its camel safaris, it’s basically where everyone comes to head out for that unique experience, Jaisalmer is also centered around an old fort, where in which people now live inside the walls of the fort with home, shops and business. We visited the fort both in the morning and afternoon and found the inside of the fort so different to how I had imagined, I wanted their to be more of a magic about it but sadly the structure had been damaged with homes being made and the sewerage system was so bad the whole place stunk of toilet, which for me was not how the inside of a castle fort would have smelt! We did however stop and talk to a man who owned a bookshop inside the fort and after taking up a chair and chatting for around an hour, the smell subsided and the interest of watching people live inside the walls took over and an understanding of how people lived became apparent. One of the main challenges with being in India is the puzzlement and attempted understanding of how people live, and not just the people with no money but the ones who do have money, no one seems to care where they rest their head and sense of living seems to be just something that happens rather than embracing the beauty of living. I challenge my thoughts with this, as is it just because I am now in a place where I lead a comfortable life and can have the things I need that make me ‘comfortable and content’, maybe for some Indian people they can’t imagine this therefore live with what they have, whereas for me being comfortable is more than one room in a cramped living environment. It then leads me to the question of how I believe I am not materialistic but are we all materialistic in a modern day society where things essentially do make us happy?! It’s a question I think I will ask throughout my whole time away, and hopefully I can find an answer I become more comfortable with, allowing me to carry on learning and developing as a 30yr old women.

We enjoyed that evening on the roof of our hotel, looking over at the fort with its stature and beauty. The next morning we woke early to head out onto our camel safari, now as blogged earlier I was unsure about doing this but after a lot of reading, speaking with like minded friends and questions to the man at our hotel I decided to go for it. It was an experience I will never forget but one that left me with uncertainty afterwards whether I agreed with camel riding. We were luckily in our group to only have three people (Sam and I being two of those three), we took a 2hr trip through the desert and it was just magical, the silence, the antelopes/spring bok prancing around, the passing goats, the stature and beauty of the camels and the prettiness of the open desert was just a sight I couldn’t have imagined or wished for, I felt so happy inside it was pure joy to be experiencing. My camel was six and was a male named babalou, he was the smallest of the camels and was definitely a bit uncertain at taking instruction, he looked after me well though and enjoyed taking his own journey whilst trotting through the desert (he also enjoyed licking Sam’s camel, which to our child like amusement was hilarious). We took shade from the blazing sun and enjoyed chai and a tasty (spicy) lunch, read our books and snoozed, the camels enjoyed a roll around in the sand and eating a bush (that we were told was like chocolate for them). After our rest we took back to our camels, the gormless beauties that they were and rode for another hour or so onto the Sam Sand dunes, I could have yelped with happiness when I saw them, I have never experienced sand dunes like it and felt in awe at the clear untouched sand lying in front of us. The camels plodded onto the dunes and with a humpty bumbty ride we arrived at our evening rest spot, we were told that five more people were joining us for the evening, which although I had enjoyed the day alone it felt safer knowing more people would be camping out with us.

Sam and I went to do the obvious in sand dunes and attempted to play in front of the setting sun, me unsuccessfully falling on my face, Sam managing a few pristine hand stands and of course the camera was capturing all the fun. It felt surreal being out on the Thar desert (the Thar desert borders India and Pakistan), my insides were so excited and I just felt I was definitely having one of those experiences that I couldn’t have at home. We enjoyed our evening meal and chatted with the others, getting handy travelling tips from a lady that lived in Indonesia and talking with others about their experiences of volunteering in India. We sneaked into our beds at around 10pm and Sam and I smiled gleefully at the magnificence of camping in the desert, under the stars in India, I fell asleep fully aware of why I had wanted to go traveling, for days and nights like this.

We awoke the next morning early, ate an interesting breakfast and started making our way back, we were on the camels for another hour, before arriving back at our 4x4 to take us back to our hotel. I was so ready to get off by the end, my bum was sore, my ribs felt like they had been on a workout and my thighs, let’s just say ouch. I also wondered at this point how the camels felt, the main man told me they would be back out this afternoon as had another safari and from talking with him it seemed over busy season it was daily safaris that occurred. I understand camels are used like horses for transporting goods but something inside of me felt uneasy at how much these camels were used and how tired they must get at the daily carrying of tourists and all the equipment/food needed for the safari. I decided that because I was asking these questions I obviously wasn’t comfortable with the camels being over worked and therefore decided that although the experience was out of this world I would think twice about riding a camel as a tourist attraction. 

What was weird after coming to this was the overwhelming sense of sadness I felt that the experience was over, I felt like what I feel like after an amazing holiday/festival and that it really was a once in a lifetime experience, so although I felt sad about the camels I was pleased I had done it (yes, contradictory I know) but this blog is about honesty and that’s how I felt. We enjoyed our last evening on the rooftop again, enjoying our last evening in this magical city, sleep took us well that night and we woke up early ready for our next stop, Punjab. 

Photos for those who are not on facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152159453141716.1073741836.513626715&type=1&l=c1765b2faa

South India cont..

As the midday sun comes out and the temperature becomes uncomfortable I thought I would hide away and update you all on a new blog entry, and our travels since my last writing. 

We ended up staying twelve days in Gokarna, Kudle beach really is a dream and the beach is so pristine and idilic it just seemed silly to head elsewhere, with our basic hut and our adopted puppies we felt right at home and did nothing more then bask in the sun, eat, read and enjoy having the restaurants dogs around us. It felt nice to be based somewhere and not be on the move but also somewhere that doesn’t have that over the top traveler feel. Om beach seems to pull more of this crowd in and we did venture there for a day but soon left as was craving the quietness of Kudle and the comforts of our hut. We celebrated the Indian festival of colour, Holi festival when on Kudle and were covered like rainbows in vibrant colours, it was nice to enjoy the energy from others and smile and celebrate in the jovial way a festival of such beauty should. 

We eventually packed our bags and moved from Gokarna, heading to Goa, we felt it was time to move on and experience another part of India rather then getting too settled at Sunset Café beach huts. We got the train up to Goa and decided our first stop would be Palolem, we arrived at Palolem and sadly it was totally different to what my view of this idyllic peaceful beach would be, I knew Goa was a tourist spot for package holidays but had been told Palolem was different to the more popular beaches, my first thought was the opposite to this, the beach was lined with bars and restaurants and everywhere was offers of buy one get one free and nasty music. We managed to find a coco hut in budget that was set back from the beach, the room was clean with a comfy bed and suited us both, we spent our first few days on the beach and tried to soak into the palm lined beach, sadly I started to really dislike the place though and the general vibe was just so different to what was in my head, we decided that the following day we take a trip to old Goa to get away from the beach and the general feeling of drinkdrinkdrink. That afternoon though we decided to take a stroll to the right side of the beach and came across a treat of a stay, the cozynook www.cozynookgoa.com, stood nestled in the corner at the very end of the beach, its general feel was of beauty and its rooms were gorgeous, it reminded me of Mango Bay in Vietnam mangobayphuquoc.com, the rooms were basic but stood strong and just looked a dream to stay in, we decided to enquire but on our budget we just felt we couldn’t splash out so agreed we would enjoy the rest of the afternoon there and come hang out here for the remainder of our Palolem stay. The rest of the afternoon was blissful with good sounds, cocktails and comfort. Whilst lazing we noticed across the tide a bar on the far corner, we couldn’t work out how to get across as the tide was high, we watched throughout the day as people took the venture across and then vanished, we decided at about 5pm to take our chances, like a magical night time Glastonbury stroll we ventured across and with water up to our waist we came across the Sundowner, it was amazing, one coconut tree bar selling beers and cocktails and the most serene sunset views. My vision of Palolem was suddenly coming into view and I was feeling very very happy. 
The next day we still decided to head to old Goa, heading out on the bus we enjoyed the bangra music and windy streets on our journey there and a bus ride is India is always an experience you wont forget, when we reached old Goa it was a totally different atmosphere from the hustle and bustle of the left side of the beach, there was a relaxed sense with a real European vibe, we bumbled around the streets and basked in the midday sun, visiting the churches and really soaking in the bliss and beauty. 
The following day we headed back to cozynook and after a delightful morning took the plunge and decided to move in, we booked three nights to start off with, but with the enjoyment of the place and the smiles on our faces we ended up staying four, it was a treat and a half, we ate good food, drank amazing drinks and just generally buzzed around totally chuffed at finding this dream haven. Were already planning our next trip and definitely staying in one of the deluxe rooms. 

Our next stop was to Arambol where I was doing a five day yoga course with Himalayan Iyengor Yoga Centre www.hiyogacentre.com, the course was a real self journey and was 4hrs over 5 days, yoga started at 7.30am each morning and was a different yoga to the usual Ashtanga yoga I practice, it was a overwhelming experience and definitely allowed me to learn certain aspects of the yoga I would bring into my own practice. The group was really nice and my northern bonds brought me to a new friend from Glasgow, it always helps having someone you can talk over the class with and we enjoyed our daily discussion of what we had learnt and what we will take away. The course brought up a range of emotions as certain asanas were really moving and took me to a new place in my yoga practice, the inner quietness I felt was really powerful and something I defiantly a feeling I still felt after the course completed. Iynegor Yoga uses a lot of props which is something I sadly won’t use as much of but did enjoy learning more around grounding oneself and trying out something that challenged me to another level, I even managed a full wheel unassisted, which is something I have been practicing and unsuccessfully failing at, so yeah to me. I was really proud of being part of something like this and felt experiencing it in India just made the time more special. 

Arambol itself was quite interesting, the same as Ajuna which is where we ventured after Arambol, because everything was starting to close down it really felt as if our time in South India was coming to an end, like there was no need to stay, as there wasn’t much to be staying for, with the closing of season soon approaching we enjoyed our last few days on the beach and prepared for our beast of a train journey up to North India.

We arrived in Rajasthan last night, sadly we didn’t plan this part of the trip as well as we hoped, its turning into Summer time in India meaning throughout the day its blazing and not the best for ambling around the dreamy streets and bazaars, we have managed to get an adorable room with lake view so have decided to use this as our hideaway and then spend the mornings and afternoons exploring, the city has such a beautiful feeling and I am so excited for the next three days here and the next few weeks in fairytale Rajasthan.

Link to photos - i have added more to the old album so scroll down to the new ones:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152079324491716.1073741835.513626715&type=1&l=5257e9689a

A brief hello - India time.

I have realised it's been a few weeks since I have blogged and thought this morning it will be a few weeks more before I get a proper one uploaded as wanna do the first month of our trip justice with a nice juicy post. Therefore I felt I would just do a quick update and a few phone photos I have taken. We decided not to bring a computer away (which now being away we have realised could have had its plus's with the ease of uploading pictures) but heyho Internet cafés it is! 

We arrived with a smooth journey and actually the first two weeks has been really easy (I say easy for India, them words don't normally work together from my last experience of travelling in India). We have moved around a few places and are enjoying a week at the beach this week, moving on Tuesday to see some elephants in one of India's beautiful national parks. 

I promise a big blog soon but for now enjoy a few simple shots. 

One step closer

The last month has been pretty crazy in the curly Austin household, with our moving date impending we knew we needed to make a start on packing and clearing out our beloved flat and taking the next steps towards our travel and move North.

After much deliberation we managed to get my family to store our worldy belongings in their loft space, we knew we didn’t want to pay for storage as it would cost so much and obviously when away the last thing we want to be doing is pay for our stuff to be stored in a locked cupboard, for me it felt right for everything to go North, we know our plan is to head back there at some point so seemed right for the move to start now especially if we can store our life possessions without a ridiculous cost. It’s made me excited knowing our things will be stored there as it just feels one step closer to being home.

Lately life in London has become more and more distant and I don’t feel a connection to where I am, yes I have an enjoyable job, lovely Austin family and a few close friends around but the sense of living somewhere I feel I don’t belong resides in me so strongly. I did an exercise in a course I was doing last week where we made a paper alter, the alter included a page of things that I enjoyed and made me feel at peace, when complete I realised no part of it contained London, it was all about the country and the coast.

Our plan is still uncertain in a sense but we know that when we do know when we come back in 2015 Sam will still have his work in London whereas I will be jobless, the plan is we will stay in Ldn with Sam’s job but I will look for full time work back North, with the eventual plan of Sam moving as soon as he has work, hopefully within 6-8 months. People keep asking how it will be being apart but sadly I know its part of what probably has to happen as we both won’t get jobs at the exact same time – it would be beautiful if we could but I just think it will be difficult. I have no fear about us both getting jobs it’s just getting the right ones that suit us. I know my eventual plan is to set up my own female counselling service but feel I would like to be in other employment before taking this risk and new challenge.

So with our boxes packed and moving day tomorrow were nearly out of our Brixton abode, we will be living with our lovely friends Stef and James until end of January then its home for a week and then travel time. Its never felt more real than it does now and I can’t actually believe were doing it, it’s going to be an adventure of a life time and the experience can only strengthen Sam and I to another level and allow new experiences of adventure and exploration.  

Vietnam

I always knew I wanted to go away when I turned 30, I felt to celebrate the event with a holiday to a somewhere new and an experience I had not been part of before would make the occasion memorable and special, South India was my first calling as last time we visited India we mainly stayed North and I am told the South is beyond beautiful. With being a May baby though India is far too hot therefore another destination had to be chosen, Sam had mentioned Vietnam before and with a bit of research I decided this South East Asian country was definitely somewhere I wanted to explore and wow did it deliver. 

We decided we would start the trip in the North of Vietnam and work our way down to the south, we had 3 weeks to explore meaning we couldn’t adventure around the whole of Vietnam but felt we could cover a fair amount. We flew into Hanoi and as we left the airport my instincts made me feel unaware and prepared for the chaos I thought would be waiting for us outside, as my main experience of SE Asia being India the airport was manic, the hustle and bustle took over and was hard to digest when just arriving off a long flight. How different I found this to be in Vietnam, the airport was deserted and we nicely walked up to the taxi queue without any stress or uncertainty we were being ripped off or tricked into an unknown cab. We met a really nice man on the plane who asked us to share a taxi, the journey’s from airport to the first hotel excite me so much, the feel of fun in my stomach and the sites of a new country and how it works always make me look wide eyed and a sense of need to soak in every minute thing. The sound of horns, the madness of the scooters and the happy faces on the sidewalks hard at work, I knew we had left London and were about to indulge on an adventure that would stay in my heart forever. 

Our stay in Hanoi was short and sweet but was so memorable and for me one of the highlights of the trip. I am not a city girl, as I have got older I prefer the beach and although I live in London I thrive for the day I can move North and be back by Northumberland coastal areas. I always fear that when I land in a main city my sense of relaxedness will go and the bustle of the city will consume my manic mind. I found Hanoi different, I enjoyed the chaos and street side boi hoi drinking, and I loved the side shops that were filled with vibrant colours and eager sellers. The food we ate in Hanoi was amazing, some of the best eats, Sam and I filled our stomachs with some of the tastiest dishes and spring rolls became our main treat. Since becoming vegetarian I have not felt many challenges where meat has been something I have wanted to go back too, my health has improved and physically I don’t feel lethargic or ‘heavy’ anymore, I did fear the newness of a different country would challenge my vegetarianism but Hanoi restaurants catered well and the tastes were sublime. We spent a few days wandering and exploring, finding pagoda’s and lovers lakes to stroll around and take in the busy air but the joyful feeling of a city that was full of riveting life. 

Our next part of the trip was to Ha Long Bay, we decided to take a 2 day, 1 night trip, I was unaware of what Ha Long would be like and even after looking at pictures and reading lonely planet I still couldn’t foresee how the trip would be and how blown away I would be.  The trip started by getting a bus from Hanoi to Ha Long, on route we managed to get a puncture and like all good drivers he didn’t have the equipment to change the tyre, the boys on the bus all get involved and after an hour of sweating, stress and laughs another coach pulled over the help us out. We arrived at a busy Ha Long Bay early afternoon and boarded our small boat to get to our junk boat, the group we were with seemed nice and everyone talked together about where they had been before or were headed after. We were given our room keys and already I could feel the sense of excitement building at the thought of staying on a boat for the night, my nautical side started to feel embraced and I knew the trip was to be a an experience like no other. Ha Long Bay is a UNESCO site and as our junk boat left its sea position and we ventured into the lime stone rocks I sat on deck mouth opened at the beauty that surrounded me, after lunch our guide told us we were going kayaking, I was excited but also somewhat scared at the thought of my rubbishes when it comes to any form of exercise, especially open sea sports, thank goodness for Sam being in the back! The kayaking turned out to be the highlight of the trip and as corny as it sounds I really feel we experience a moment that could have been captured in a guide book as a ‘must do experience’. The company we went through have been carrying out tours for some years and have excellent extensive knowledge of the area. As we went out in our kayaks it turned out the earlier puncture had helped us as most people were back on board there boats ready for an evening meal. We went out in the kayaks round 4pm and spent 2.5hrs kayaking through a cave into a wondrous lagoon; it was a picturesque moment with monkeys swinging in the surrounding nature and the sound of tropical wildlife basking in the evening sun. We ventured out of our kayak and went swimming, being left to see the lagoon in its natural form. It was breath taking and I didn’t want to leave, sadly the evening sun came down and we had to head back to the boat for our evening meal. The trip showed me of the adventure that can be done when you allow yourself to be free of day to day stress, already I was planning my next trip back and when we could relive the beauty of Ha Long Bay. 

We arrived back from Ha Long Bay and took a night bus to Hoi An, where we would spend the next 5 days in heaven, after a long bus ride we arrived in a different place to what my imagination had. I was taken over by the serene pleasure of Hoi an and how relaxed and beautiful it was, I had in my mind a busy stay; instead I find a doll like town with beaches of beauty. We spent my birthday in Hoi An and I was so pleased at Sam planning this as I couldn’t think of anywhere else I would have wanted to be. The next 5 days were spent doing sunrise Hoi An yoga, An Bang beach time, beach cycles, clothes making, more delicious food, cocktails, beautiful colours, toy town buildings and joyful smiling faces. Our villa was beautiful and was pool facing, the villa was set in a tropical like garden with birds of paradise flowers growing wildly and the sound of tweeting birds surrounding our time there. Before leaving I knew our stay in Hoi An would be revisited as it truly was the most perfect way to spend my 30^th and a relaxed 5 days of sheer heavenly delights. 

From Hoi An we took another night bus to Dalat, our stop in Dalat was to break the journey to Ho Chi Minh City, we wanted to visit Elephant Falls and the giant happy Buddha whilst in Dalat so planned a two night stay to venture around the hills. We decided to get a moped and join in with the chaotic driving around us, with my trust left in Sam we headed off on our own adventure to find the mystical waterfall and smiling Buddha. We were informed beforehand about the easy rider tours but when looking on the map we felt the journey was easy enough for us to do alone and also I wanted to stop at some of the flower farms on route. How pleased I was we did the journey alone, we spent the whole day out in the hills and visited many flower farms with dahlias and birds of paradise growing in vast amounts. When we arrived at the falls it was different to how I imagined, I hadn’t imagined it being so touristy and expected a short walk with the waterfall just coming before us, instead the waterfall was waiting as we pulled up and the walk was a small treacherous one through wet rocks and tumbling vines. We made it to the waterfall though and embraced the rainbow colours coming from its fall and powerful sound of rushing water. It was amazing to be underneath it and feel the power of it, sadly it was so busy there was only a small time alone to listen to its sounds before the easy rider tours came upon us. From here we walked up to the sunshine and sat for some time drying out. We then took a walk to the giant happy Buddha and wow what a beautiful sight of gold structure, Sam bought me a book about Buddhism for my birthday and sitting here in front of this symbolic image the meaning of Buddha came into me, I felt fully ‘awakened’ by the statue and felt a sense of peace sitting restfully in front of it. Sam and I decided to spend the afternoon relaxing in the presence of the Buddha as the silence was beautiful and it felt a wasted opportunity to not indulge in the peacefulness around us. 

From Dalat we travelled to Ho Chi Minh City, we only spent one night in HCMC as we were using the time as a stop off before flying to Pho Quoc. My fear of big cities came flowing back as we arrived into HCMC, we spent the evening venturing into the abyss of markets, drinking beer in the local restaurants and playing shuttle cock in the local park. We fell into bed sleepy and exhausted from our travels and intake of the maze of streets, ready for our flight tomorrow to Mango Bay. 

We flew out to Pho Quoc island the following day, we both knew we wanted to spend our final week in paradise and be away from the city streets and relaxing on a beach, reading and drinking cocktails. We found exactly that and more at Mango Bay resort, Pho Quoc, Mango Bay is set along one kilometer of beach, amid twenty hectares of largely endemic forest and gardens. There are 40 bungalows in total that are all eco based lodges, the bungalows are situated along the beach and in the forest and each are beautiful in there design and layout. 

After a short drive and a long dusty road we arrived at Mango Bay, my first thoughts were of heaven, we entered the beach restaurant and sat in front of the wavy sea with chilled music playing and a serving of delightful fruit juice, our host explained some of the Mango Bay way’s and where we could find the wellbeing centre for massages and beauty treatments. We were then walked to our lodges with huge beaming smiles on our faces I wasn’t ready for the next installment of mango bay beauty. Our bungalow was set in a row of 4 and I couldn’t have been happier at how perfect the lodge was, our bathroom had an open top window which had a blind we could pull down, although the sound of nature was so serene I knew the blind would be staying where it was. We woke to find frogs in our open shower and gecko’s paying evening visits to us through the huge window space. We spent our days on the sandy beaches reading, being massaged and dining in the beach bar, serving delicious cocktails and tasty treats. Our evenings were spent playing scrabble, drinking tasty wine and enjoying the array of sea food in the restaurant. Mango Bay was so peaceful and relaxing it did exactly what we hoped for and allowed us to relax fully from our previous 2 weeks of traveling the Vietnam world. 

The three weeks we spent in Vietnam was such an experience that I have already planned our trip back there, with the hope of my parents visiting us when out there also. I could see so much from the trip they would enjoy and feel it’s an experience everyone should have.