Category: Asia

Türkiye – First Impressions

I’ve been feeling a bit like a spoiled brat.

A little sullen because we are not yet in any of the countries I had my heart set on. Our plans were so grand, then along came COVID and everything changed. We were, no are, determined not to let it stop us though. Not that we had a great deal of choice given that a 1 year career break had been arranged, notice had been given to our landlord to quit our rented property, and the contract on our leased cars had expired.

We did however have to concede we just can’t go everywhere we originally wanted to, though as the eternal optimist, I remain hopeful that many of the countries we wish to visit will re-open their borders before the year’s out.

In years of talks whilst planning for our travels, Turkey had not been mentioned. Not even once.

And yet here we are.

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Visiting the The Great Wall of China on a Beijing Stopover

If you want to head for somewhere in South East Asia, there’s a good chance your cheapest route will take you through Beijing, or to be more precise Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK). For some reason, our experience here is that arrival isn’t very well coordinated with your onward flight. We’ve been through this airport a number of times, with delays before the next flight of between 5 and 15 hours.  So what to do in these circumstances? Just wait it out, or make time to squeeze in another adventure in your limited travel opportunities?

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Spending 72 hours in Bangkok

We had travelled through Bangkok a few times en route to other places including Cambodia and Phuket but never actually spent any time there.  Our schedule did allow for a few days on our return leg so we thought why not! We left Ho Chi Minh City and travelled with Air Asia back to DMK Airport (Don Mueang).  This was the most uncomfortable journey thus far with a very cramped plane.  Upon arrival, we were unable to book a transfer to the accommodation with them directly and therefore used the Taxify App to book a transfer from the airport.

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Things to Do in Ho Chi Minh City – Vietnam

Our Vietjet flight was quite pleasant, ran on time and the transfer organised by the accommodation was there upon arrival (which is always a relief!).  We got to our accommodation Cozy House and checked in.  The location was down an alleyway and despite outside appearances, it was, well, cosy!

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Things to Do in Da Nang – Vietnam

Our travel to Da Nang went as planned; the flights to Bangkok ran to schedule with a decent stopover in Beijing, and our accommodation in Thailand was just the job for a night’s rest before heading to Da Nang.  We did realise that we arrived in one Bangkok airport and departed from another (arrived at Suvarnabhumi – BKK and departed from Don Mueang – DMK), but were able to get a taxi to take us to DMK for our Air Asia flight in plenty of time.  Despite a slightly delayed departure for our flight, we arrived in Da Nang just before 7 pm.  It is a small airport and was pretty painless collecting our bags and getting through passport control. We told them we intended to stay for a week, and they gave us a visa for 10 days.

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Planning a Visit to Vietnam, Thailand and China

Da Nang is somewhere we had never heard of let alone thought of visiting; however given the fact Nigel’s daughter had moved there between Christmas and New Year we wanted to take the opportunity to visit her, check out where she was living and experience some Vietnamese culture.  We hadn’t had the chance to visit Vietnam whilst in nearby Cambodia previously and with a couple of weeks off work, we took to researching the best and most affordable way to get there. Continue reading “Planning a Visit to Vietnam, Thailand and China”

Spending 72 hours in Dubai

Our long awaited Honeymoon was finally here! We set off to Heathrow Terminal 3 for our 20:40 flight to Dubai.  Although we had booked through Qantas this flight was serviced by Emirates and we were very impressed; the flight left on time and had great meals, in flight entertainment and even webcams to watch take off and landing from the nose of the plane! The food was the best I had had on any plane so far (slow braised beef yum) and the service was really good. Continue reading “Spending 72 hours in Dubai”

Second stop Thailand (and a little bit of China!)

Arriving at 5pm we were collected by the transfer driver we had pre-booked to our accommodation Manora Garden.  It was a 45-minute drive which cost us 700 thb (approximately £16).  The property had excellent reviews and we hoped that it would live up to our expectations.  We were not disappointed. Continue reading “Second stop Thailand (and a little bit of China!)”

A Week in Cambodia – Siem Reap and Phnom Penh

Our accommodation offered free transport from the airport to the villa which we readily accepted.  It was a relief to see my name on the sign and we exited to the airport. Looking for our transport; we expected a car or a van and therefore were surprised to say the least when a tuk tuk showed up.  How were our 6 cases going to fit on there? To our surprise this was no problem to the driver who tied on our cases and put them all around us!  All secured and ready to go and laughing at how bizarre this situation was we headed off to our accommodation.

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Destination South East Asia – Beijing, Phuket, Bangkok,Cambodia!

Finally it was time to embark on our long awaited trip.  We headed off to Heathrow T2 to catch our Air China flight to Beijing.  The check in process went with a few hiccups; we hadn’t managed to check in online and when we arrived the electronic system was not working in the airport.  After manually being checked in we did manage to get seated together on the first leg of our flight and said goodbye to our luggage in the hope that we may see it again soon…. Continue reading “Destination South East Asia – Beijing, Phuket, Bangkok,Cambodia!”