TEMPLES AND TUK TUKS
A short tour of Cambodia and Viet Nam
Prologue
Sunday 4th February, 2024
Saturday 18th May, 2024
Sunday 23rd June, 2024
Sunday 4th February, 2024
e're planning again!
espite a resolution at the end of our last trip, that it would be our last overseas, my feet are getting itchy again! I don't really want to go as far as Europe again but started looking a bit closer to home. So last week we went back to Helloworld (with a new consultant, our reliable Deanna having resigned) to look into, and book, the APT "Spiritual Cambodia and Viet Nam" cruise up the Mekong River. I have wanted to see Angkor Wat since I was fourteen and read about its discovery and excavation by French archaeologists. So that is where we will start, in Cambodia at Angkor. Three days to see the temples and hopefully not kill myself, then ten days or so of cruising the Mekong down to Viet Nam. Because I was asking them if they thought I could cope with the trip with my arthritis and the rest, they wanted me to fill out a statement of mobility and whether I would need carers, walkers or wheelchairs, warning me that these would not be available, and that the terrain was steep, broken, slippery and difficult. Mac and I filled it out more or less accurately and I hope I will be able to cope with the climate and the rough walking.
(The dire warnings of the APT preparation document worried me so much that I was seriously considering cancelling, getting more and more jittery as the departure day approached. As it happened, I was able to cope and feel that APT is not doing itself any favours. I know that the demographic is mostly ours and the possibilities of real damage to passengers must be a consideration but...)
nyway we have booked and paid a deposit so now it is travel insurance, doctors' visits, new passports etc etc. We go in July, from 17th to 29th. Not too long!
More when there is more to tell.
APT Brochure
Saturday 18th May, 2024
ime is passing and we now have only two months to go! Despite ongoing doubts about my fitness we are now fully paid, just need e-visas and some currency. We have had multiple vaccinations and Dr. Rowe has given me a script for a major painkiller, in case. I will also have steroids in my shoulders before we go.
ecause the airline schedules are not very helpful we have to have a night in an airport hotel in Ho Chi Minh City and fly to Siem Reap next day. We will fly Vietnam Airlines to HCM City Business Class, then a little Cambodian plane to Siem Reap. We had booked this flight around the middle of the day but it has just been cancelled and replaced by one much earlier. Oh well, we will have plenty of time to settle in to the hotel in Cambodia and relax before the off.
know the climate is tropical (hot and wet) but weather reports lately have been saying that Cambodia has been experiencing unusually high temperatures lately. Oh well, the hotel and the boat will be airconditioned.
e leave home on 17th July, have a night at Rydges and fly out about 10:15 next day, arrive HCM about 16:30, have a night at the hotel (Ibis Saigon Airport Hotel) and leave early next morning.
So far, so good.
Sunday 23rd June, 2024
ess than a month to go! We have picked up all our documents, just waiting for e-visas and a new Cambodian Border Entry Card. We have literally millions of Vietnamese dong and thousands of Cambodian real. I hope we will be able to change the large currency notes. Among the documents is an "Introduction" to touring in the area and I am getting less and less confident every day. From the warnings about climate, insects, hard walking etc I am seriously wondering if I will cope. I am saying things like "If I survive, I will see you later", which is no way to start a holiday. I know I should probably not have committed to it but I still really want to go! Oh well,
che sara sara!
etween now and 17th July we have to produce one and a half Newsletters, get haircuts, take Cadfael to the vet, get my shoulders scanned and hopefully steroided, see the doctor for letters about conditions and meds, check my clothes still fit (the ones I have earmarked for packing) see Anne and Chris, make sure we have enough meds for the trip, return library books, attend GPs committee meetings (Mac) etc etc. I still haven't decided what to wear for travel. We will be going from quite cold to very hot and vice versa!
As at 17th July all these have been achieved except Cadfael to the vet as they don't have enough vaccines at the moment.
