Friday 9 October

You can certainly get your steps up going from one terminal to the next and then finding your gate!Back on board our plane for Vietnam and I'm in pod 17A again but on a smaller plane. Farewell Singapore.

Breakfast was an unusal offering and thank goodness I like chillies just not usually for breakfast.

We have a 3 hour flight which passes without incident.

Business Class only half full. Once we arrive I opted for the Fast Track assistance through Immigration which meant it was a seamless existing and fast and well with the extra cost. We then are very happy to see our suitcases again. Once outside the terminal we are met by our 'guide' Bobby who refers to himself in the third person. There are now 4 of us so we introduce ourselves to Roy and Bev from northern Qld (some 500km from Brisbane) from a place Roy related twice that I've never heard of and he seemed miffed that I had no idea the place existed.I just told him I was from S.A. Bev clearly isn't too well travelled as she complained to me that when they arrived in Singapore from their Brisbane flight, she was starving and couldn't believe that the food places wouldn't take her Australian, Vietnamese or Cambodian money! They expected her to use her credit card. She went hungry!I'm thinking at this very early stage she may be a front runner to get voted off the island... However some 30 minutes later another couple show up and Bobby says that he will get a driver to take the 6 of us to our hotel, as he has another 5 or so to wait for. The six of us head off with said driver and about half an hour later arrive at our hotel for the next 3 nights, the Grand Mercure. Traffic was not as heavy as I thought it would be but there were plenty of car horns and motor bikes to keep it interesting. We chrck into the hotel and as we approach the lefts to go to our room, the couple who made up numbers 5 and 6 got out of the lift wanting to know how to find out what floor they are on. I ask them their room number and they say 12 something or other so figure they must be on the 12th floor. She says that lift doesnt go to that floor. We all get in the lift and can easily see from the buttons that there are more than 12 floors. I go to get my key card to tap it and push 4 button for our floor when she realises that she didnt tap the key card on the reader, claiming that it didn't have one of those in the other lift they were in. I'm now thinking that Bev may not be the first culled from the herd! Our room is spacious and we are very happy with it, other than the fact that the shower has a clear glass wall that looks straight into the rear of the room so that whoever is in the showeris 100% visible in the rest of the room! Who comes up with this madness? Brings back memories of the bizarre room set up with no wall and lots of mirrors and the walls for the shower in Morocco.

Time for a cuppa, some cheese and crackers I packed, and to put our feet up while we get the lay of the land. Its happy hour after 4pm at the roof top bar so we may need to check that out! Time to head to the concierge to check out where and how we get to the hop on hop off bus stop tomorrow. I think we might just follow out noises rather than the convoluted explanation he gave. As it is now juston 4pm, we head to the rooftop. We are the only ones there apart from the lass behind the bar! Great views but definite pollution which makes the skyline grey.

We enjoy a glas of Chardonnay as our 2 for one. We settle in nicely and then Roy and Bev come up to the bar and decide to sit with us. We have a laugh over lots of silly things. Roy tells us that Lindsay (partner of the woman who didnt know what floor their room was on) who we had seen in the hotel foyer, but not properly met, was hit by a motor cycle as he attempted to cross the road on a walk from the hotel! He apparently is okay but clearly not a great start to his holiday. B and R are not well travelled, but have been to Bali and most of Qld. They have not been to SA and I told them that SA is Australia's best kept secret and we want to keep it that way. Time for dinner. J and I had booked the restaurant for the Friday night buffet and Roy and Bev asked to join us. The food wasn't that flash but it sufficed. Again, we found plenty to laugh about but we all agreed that an early night was required so back to our respective rooms. I was in bed by 8.30, asleep soon after and slept solid till about 4am. Finally got up about 7 andwith a cup of tea in hand can do the blog and get ready for our first full day in Hanoi.

Thursday 8 October

Vietnam here we come. It's a 6.35pm flight so plenty of time in the morning for last minute chores. The driver was running late to pick me up but still at the airport to meet J in plenty of time. Easy check in which was just as well as the earlier process to get the actual Vietnamese visa was a nightmare, plus we then had to do an online pre entry application!Simple enough through Customs and into the Premium lounge. Wine o'clock. Eventually it is boarding time and pod 17A is my home for the next 6 1/2 hours until we arrive in Singapore. Goodbye Adelaide.

The food was good and the beef the best I can remember.

Watched some tv and then tried for some sleep, arriving in Singapore about 11pm their time. We headed to the Silver Kris lounge for a cuppa and then to the Transit hotel where I had booked a room for 6 hours as our next flight isn't for another 9 hours and we both wanted to get some sleep. Finding the hotel was easy enough but checking in wasn't. I don't know if the staff were brand new or just hopeless. We were asked to wait 5 minutes as our room hadn't been allocated. What the? This made no sense as 4 more bookings were successful after us. Anyway, 15 minutes later when we went and stood at the counter again,we were finally booked in but it was now well past midnight our booked for time. The room was basic but certainly sufficient for our needs. Got a few hours sleep, nice hot shower and back to the Silverkris lounge for a cuppa and breakfast. Our flight to Vietnam isn't for another 2 1/2 hours so onrush, but we will have to change terminal. So that's it for our first day of travel.

Wednesday 22 April Flights home

Not much sleep last night but that's the usual before flights for me. We are out of our room with bags packed and downstairs in the lobby at 6.50am with our car expected for 7am. But no show, until 7.10. The driver was very apologetic but he went to the wrong Prince hotel! Gave us a mini panic in case he didn't show at all! Anyway we got to the airport in good time and with help from staff, managed to check in and book in our luggage. Easy enough to get through Customs and Immigration. Then find the lounge where e had quite a wait until it was time to head to our gate. And then more waiting as the flight was 35 minutes late boarding due to maintenance and refuelling.

However we eventually take off and settle in for our almost 7 hours flight to Singapore. Nice views of Mt Fuji soon after we are in the air.

Nice meal and a couple of wines, and I'm set for the duration.

Watch a couple of movies and read to pass the time. As we were late departing we find ourselves in a holding pattern waiting to land so more delay. We finally arrive and are off the plane at 5.30pm local time Singapore. Our next flight is in a different terminal, boarding in just over an hour so thankfully time to get to the lounge for a cuppa and catch our breath. Just hope my luggage makes it in the next flight too. Due to the heavy rain and lightning, or next flight is also delayed but not for too long. We get on board and settle in for the next 7 hour flight. I am almost all food and drink 'out' so don't eat much and cancel my main meal order. I watched a bit of TV shows and decide that it is about 11pm Tokyo time which makes it a very long day, so try and sleep for the remainder of the journey. We arrive into Melbourne about 4.40 am local time. I've changed my watch so many times I give up on working out time differences. We get through immigration easily enough and are pleased to see our bags arrive, although I don't know why my bag weighs more now than it did in Tokyo... unless someone has slipped something in it! However I go through the nothing to declare lane of Customs and aren't stopped so maybe no one has slipped anything in the suitcase. We then head for the domestic terminal which is under the one roof and book in for our Virgin flight home. Was not a nice feeling having to go through the security check, in the Economy line... Just over an hour wait now till the flight. Am looking forward to getting home and going to bed even though it will only be about 8am when we arrive. We then have our one hour flight home to Adelaide which was uneventful and on time! Our driver was there to meet us at the airport and our luggage arrived quickly so we were home in no time. Suitcase unlocked, load of washing underway, coffee enjoyed, showered and all clean again! Time for a late morning nap and put away everything tomorrow. Will keep the passport near the top of the drawerthough as it won't have time to get dusty before our next adventure in October. Japan has been a real treat. Do I need to go again? Probably not, but enjoyed everything about it. Hope you did too.

Tuesday 21 April Tokyo

Restless night, not because of earthquakes or tremors but a very uncomfortable bed and possibly getting a cold so will have to nip that in the bud quick smart. My pink Disney Princess medical kit has some cold and flu tabs so will give them a try. Temperature today expected to get to about 25, but rain possible this morning so in other words,a bit humid! Breakfast at the hotel in the basement restaurant and then time to meet the group for our morning tour. Samy is our guide and is very good at explaining what we are doing and seeing. Our first stop is at the Meiji-jinu shrine which is dedicated to the deified spirit of Emporer Meiji. He is the great, great grandfather of the current Emporer. The site was funded by donations and initially some 100,000 trees were planted. About 35,000 remain due to natural selection as many of them are not suitable for the area.

It really was a lovely place to wander. Next we head to the Imperial Palace, located on the former site of Edo castle, in a large park area on the centre of Tokyo. It is the residence of Japan's current royal family. You don't see any of the the palace, but there is a lovely photo spot of the 2 bridges that go into the grounds.

Next up we head to Asakusa, which is a historic neighbourhood which is home to Tokyo's old town. Traffic is heavy everywhere and we continue to pass so many tall buildings.

We see Sensoji temple but there are far too many people going inside so I just admire from outside. It is Tokyo's oldest temple, built in 628AD.In fact there are so many people everywhere that it is a bit claustrophobic in places, especially in any of the little shops.

We want to do our last chance for souvenir shopping as I haven't been able to find a wall tile depicting Japan anywhere so far. The Nakamise-dori is lined with historic shops that have provided visitors with a variety of traditional local snacks and souvenirs for centuries, but it is wall to wall people moving in different directions or not moving at all. So trying to find what we want is not at all enjoyable. First off though we go to a pharmacy where no one speaks much English and all the packaging is in Japanese characters. Eventually with the aid of Google translate, J1 gets cough lozenges and I get some sinus tablets.

We decide that we need sustenance and opt out of the local sweets that many of the shops offer.In a side lane I spot a coffee sign so we go in and are able to order simple sandwiches that fill the need. Suitably fortified, we brave a couple of shops and I buy the one and only tile I've seen anywhere in Japan! It isn't exactly what I wanted but it will suffice. Time to head back to the coach and then back to the hotel where we have a couple of hours to ourselves, before we all meet up for our farewell dinner at a local restaurant. Back in our room it is time for a much needed cuppa. Messed about for some time trying to do on line checking for our flights tomorrow but was only limited success due to first flight with Nippon Airlines and second with Singapore. At least our final Melbourne to Adelaide flight was ready to check in for. And then the moment we have been dreading, it is time to pack our suitcases in readiness for the flights home. I have bought very little so everything is going to fit, but we have an early start in the morning so have to get ourselves sorted now. Packing done and another cuppa consumed so now it is time to head downstairs to the lobby to head out to dinner at the Prince hotel, Table 9, for our group farewell dinner.

The restaurant is on the 39th floorso great views in every direction, especially at sunset.

Dinner is a very swish affair. I didn't eat the pate as no animal ever needs to give up its life to provide me with its liver or any intestines and offal!

Dessert was a bit special to celebrate my birthday even though it was yesterday!

The views at night were spectacular. You can see Mt Fuji in the background of the next photo.

But all good things must come to an end, so we bid farewell to our fellow travellers and head back to the hotel to put ourselves to bed, having set the alarm for 6am which should be enough time to ready ourselves for our car pick up to the airport. Japan you have been wonderful!