HK Disneyland TR - inc. Vietnam & Africa

[zanzibar138]

Strange....I thought I had made a post regarding your cooking update but it seems to have gone into the ethernet.

I was just remarking about how the rice paper rolls look good and wondering if you were considering making them at home.


Anyway....I hope you enjoyed Halong Bay. Everyone seems to rave about it so I hope it ended up being worth it for you and DH. Pity about the hotel lack of service.

Yep, we're planning to utilise our newly found cooking skills. The rice paper rolls were very easy to make and we thought they'd be good for work lunches. We have the rice paper sitting in the pantry, but just haven't got around to doing anything with it yet lol!

I would certainly say that Halong Bay was worth seeing. The scenery was incredible, but the experience as a whole didn't live up to my expectations, which was a bit disappointing. Everything was just so difficult and uncomfortable. I would recommend going if you're in Vietnam, but I wouldn't go again.

 

[ehsmum]

Loving you TR so far! Vietnam looks amazing, I'd love to visit there one day . I know exactly what you mean about the hotel staff swarming on arrival - that was really disconcerting! Sometimes I would have liked to have gotten something out of a bag before heading out for the day, but our luggage was confiscated the minute we got to the hotel lobby!

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of you trip

 

[zanzibar138]

Loving you TR so far! Vietnam looks amazing, I'd love to visit there one day . I know exactly what you mean about the hotel staff swarming on arrival - that was really disconcerting! Sometimes I would have liked to have gotten something out of a bag before heading out for the day, but our luggage was confiscated the minute we got to the hotel lobby!

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of you trip

Welcome aboard! I would definitely recommend Vietnam - we really had a great time there and saw some amazing things.

 

[zanzibar138]

As we were finishing our lunch, we could start to see some of the rock formations that make up the bay. So we all went outside to get a better look and take some photos. Most of us made our way to the top deck first, which had sunlounges around the edges (which didn't get used much at all on this particular trip).

Then we went down to the lower deck to take in the view directly in front.

We didn't know it at the time, but we were to climb to the top of that island behind the boat the next day.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Super cool limestones!

 

[zanzibar138]

After a while of sailing along, we came to an area that was crowded with boats, and stopped. We were told to gather anything that we wanted to take as we were going to see some caves.

We all got into the little boat again and headed off towards the island.

The entrance to the caves was half way up the hill, and there was a section to the side that was like a lookout. It was VERY crowded and I struggled to find my way to the edge of the lookout to take a photo.

The caves were massive inside, and lit up with different coloured lights. Access was pretty good and people were allowed to touch the rocks, unlike caves in Australia.

Although you could touch the rock formations, you were not allowed to draw or write on them...

More caves - they were really quite large.

This rock was shaped like a turtle and people dropped money in as, in Vietnamese culture, turtles are supposed to bring good fortune.

When we exited the caves there was another lookout point. This one was also extremely crowded, so I thought I would take photos from a point just below it.

As it was, I did end up getting to the lookout here.

This was a cool rock formation that looked like someone was sitting above us.

We made our way down to the jetty to get back on our little boat. On our way we saw a monkey. It was quite amazing the way it just made its way along the cliff face.

 

[zanzibar138]

Back on the junk, we sailed a little further around and anchored a bit around the corner. On the way we were told that we would have the chance to go kayaking.

Only 4 of us chose to go. We were to go through a little cave and into a pool on the other side. It was the closest thing to tranquil we experienced in the bay, and we saw heaps more monkeys. Unfortunately though I was unable to take very good photos. DH and I realised that we weren't that great at kayaking together lol!

After the kayaking it was time for dinner. More seafood, accompanied by some pretty nifty looking veggies!

After dinner it was time for bed, and time for us to realise exactly how uncomfortable we would be for the night lol! We also had a couple of boats around us that seemed to be doing karaoke or something.

Breakfast was early, and was mainly western style. It was a nice break from the seafood!

After breakfast we made our way back to the island from the previous post, where there was a lookout at the top.

There was a beach at the bottom of the hill. We were offered a swim, but it really was too cold!

When we got back to the junk it was wedged between 2 others.

After our expedition on the island we headed back to shore. Lunch was more seafood lol!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Despite your initial posts about how challenging it was to get to Halong Bay, from my comfy chair perspective, it looks great. Hope you had a good time there.

 

[zanzibar138]

Despite your initial posts about how challenging it was to get to Halong Bay, from my comfy chair perspective, it looks great. Hope you had a good time there.

We definitely enjoyed it most of the time. I think I had such high expectations and it just wasn't what I expected.


When we disembarked from our junk, the other passengers all waited in a restaurant type thing for their bus to take them back to Hanoi. DH and I had plans to get to a nearby town where we thought we could catch the train.

We found a tourist information centre nearby where we eventually managed to get our plans across to the lady there. When she finally understood that we were planning to catch a train she just shook her head and said 'no train, you catch bus'. Turns out there was no train at all.

We went back to where the other passengers had been waiting, hoping that we would be able to get on their bus. Nope, not enough room. So we called the tour place again and ended up organising to get onto another bus, that would be another half an hour or so. Our guide from the junk was still with us, and ended up being a great help through all this.

When the bus arrived, the guide got on to tell the driver where to take us (as the driver didn't speak any English). Then we got on and started the long and tiresome journey back to Hanoi. We assumed we would be picking up other passengers along the way, but it ended up just being us the whole time. I also assumed that we would be making a pit stop halfway as we had on the way to Halong Bay, but that didn't happen either. We ended up managing to get the driver to understand that we needed a bathroom break and he stopped at a petrol station for us.

We finally got to our destination, the Sunway Hotel Hanoi. I did have a few pictures, but they all got lost. It was a nice hotel, and the service was good. We enjoyed our night there, and our dinner at the restaurant.

It was an early morning to get our flight to HK. And pretty soon we were on our way to Disney!

As I have already done the Disney part of the TR, the next post will skip ahead to Africa.

 

[zanzibar138]

By the time we left HK, the stress of the last couple of months had begun to catch up with me, and I found myself struggling to stay well enough to travel. We flew to Johannesburg with South African Airways. It was a 12 hour flight leaving at midnight. The plane was comfortable, and the entertainment was great - plenty of good movies to choose from. Unfortunately I spent the entire flight with my head spinning thinking I was going to throw up. I tried to sleep it off, but when I closed my eyes the spinning got worse. I tried to take my mind of it with a movie, but whenever I tried to watch the screen the nausea got worse. All I wanted was to lay down and make myself more comfortable. I ended up swapping seats with DH as I was getting up to the toilet so much, and DH was quite prepared to have to call for medical assistance when we arrived.

Fortunately, as the sun came up and we got closer to our destination, I started to feel better. One of the flight attendants brought me some dry ginger ale, which I think helped, and I even managed to eat a tiny bit of the breakfast.

After we got off the plane, we went straight to the international transfers station, as we were going straight from Johannesburg to Zimbabwe. Good thing I was feeling better, and that we had a couple of hours until our connecting flight, as we were in that line for about an hour. We finally came out into the international departures area and tried to find somewhere to have some proper breakfast now that I felt up to eating. It was a futile effort that ended up with us getting some pastries and me feeling sick again

Anyway, soon enough we were back in the air and I was feeling better again. It was a short flight to Vic Falls - only about an hour - and the plane was a small one. Unfortunately we didn't see any wildlife on the way, but I did get to see the mist from the falls.

 

[zanzibar138]

We arrived just after lunch time, and it was early afternoon by the time we got through passport control and got to our hotel.

We stayed at the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge, which is all built in a crescent shape around a waterhole. You can pretty much see the waterhole from anywhere at the lodge, and every room had a balcony overlooking it. Our room was on the top floor and had awesome high ceilings.

This is the view from our balcony.

After we got settled we went to check out the activities desk. We decided to do a sunset cruise that evening, and the next day do a walking tour of the falls, followed by horse riding. The lady at the desk was very busy, and we were slightly late for the sunset cruise, but she managed to fit us in. While we were there we had a look at the hotel facilities. There was a bar around the corner from the activities desk, and a pool a bit further along. And upstairs was a restaurant. And they all looked out onto the waterhole. There were beautiful native flower arrangements everywhere too.

Before long it was time for our cruise. We met at the lobby, and were shuttled with a few others from our hotel, and one across the road. The dock wasn't far away.

These dancers were at all the touristy places. They posed for photos if you put some money in their bowl, but I misunderstood and thought they were telling me no photos, so this one didn't turn out very well!

The boat was fairly basic, open sided with a roof. There were tables and chairs set up along the sides, and because we were last on, we missed out on a 'window' seat. You could get up and wander around whenever you liked though so it didn't really matter. We didn't go anywhere near the falls, but we got to see a bit of wildlife. Apparently we were lucky to see the giraffes.

It was an open bar on the cruise, and we also got served some basic finger food.

When we got back to the hotel we went to the restaurant to have an early dinner. The food was great and the waiters were awesome! They brought the food out with a silver lid, and removed the lid with a grand gesture. While we were eating we saw some elephants at the waterhole. I tried to take some photos, but as it was getting fairly dark by that stage and the waterhole was quite far away, my camera was not cooperating.

After dinner, I went straight to bed, hoping to ward off any sickness that was creeping in.

 

[ehsmum]

Sorry to hear you were sick . Great first day in Africa though! We thought the Night Safari in Singapore was awesome but I think you've topped that! :lol:

 

[zanzibar138]

Sorry to hear you were sick . Great first day in Africa though! We thought the Night Safari in Singapore was awesome but I think you've topped that! :lol:

You ain't seen nothing yet!

 

[zanzibar138]

We were up fairly early the next morning to have our brekky and meet for our walking tour of the falls at the lobby. The falls were a 5 minute drive away. There was a free shuttle from our hotel, but we never really bothered with it.

There were more of the dancers when we arrived at the entrance to the falls. There were also a few stalls selling ponchos. We had our own jackets, and our guide also had umbrellas, so we didn't bother with the ponchos, but apparently they were very pushy.

We waited while our guide organised our entry to the park. There was an information centre and a shop at the entrance.

On the way to our starting point there was a collection of animal skulls, and we spent a few minutes there with our guide telling us a bit about them.

Further along was our first opportunity to view the falls.

We passed this statue of David Livingstone, the main pioneering explorer in the area.

Here's where we started, overlooking the rapids before the falls. It's really something you need to see in person to get an idea of the speed of the water here.

It started to get damp a bit further along.

A rainforest has developed in the surrounding area due to the mist from the falls.

A bit further along it got VERY wet! It was like a rainstorm out here!

We ended our tour at the bridge - Zambia is on the other side. This is the bridge where they do all the bungee jumping etc. There is also a scenic train line that goes over, we didn't get to do that as it was on different nights than when we were there.

We saw a little bit of wildlife around. There was a monkey, and then we came across a group of mongooses on the way out.

We stopped at the gift shop for some of the members of our group to do some shopping. Then back onto the bus to go back to the hotel. On the way back we stopped at this massive baobab tree.

 

[zanzibar138]

Back at the hotel we had a bit of lunch and watched the waterhole for a while. I went down to watch the hotel staff feed the vultures. Nothing much happened while I was there - apparently it was a pretty slow day.

After a bit of relaxing it was time to go for our horse riding. We go on a bus with a family from Germany who were fully kitted out in jodhpurs and chaps... Turns out they were doing a riding holiday around Zimbabwe and that was a warm-up ride for them. They had done riding holidays in at least a dozen countries!

The riding place was just down the road. We arrived and were given helmets and chaps, and signed our waiver forms. The lady in charge assigned us to our horses. Mine was called Tamar. Then she took off! We were escorted by a couple of local guides.

While we were getting on our horses, we saw a herd of impalas in the arena.

We headed off across the road and across the train tracks into the National Park.

We saw some more impalas.

Then we rode over towards the river.

And saw some warthogs.

We were also lucky enough to see some buffalo on the ride.

Here's DH and I on our horses at the end of the ride.

And oen of the cute little doggies at the horse riding place.

We rode back to the hotel on the back of a ute!

We had an early dinner again, and saw the elephants come back to the waterhole.

This group did a bit of singing at the restaurant while we were eating. They had some CDs for sale, but we didn't have any cash with us so were unable to get one unfortunately.

These cute little keyrings were left on our bed as a goodbye present.

Another early night for me trying my hardest to keep away that cold!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Sorry to read that you were developing a cold.

Those pictures of Victoria Falls and the animals are sooooo cool! I'm so glad that I get to see it through your pictures.

 

[zanzibar138]

Unfortunately it was at this point when I stopped uploading my photos to facebook, and was too far back for the recovery software to work on my memory cards, so for the next couple of days, I have no photos. But I will press on.

We had an involved transfer to our safari lodge in Botswana. Someone came to collect us from the Vic Falls hotel, and took us to the border. There we went through passport control, and someone else transferred us to the airport. It was there that we were picked up by someone from the lodge and taken the rest of the way.

I was very sniffly this day, and after the transfer I was starting to feel quite awful.

We were welcomed on arrival, our bags taken directly to our cabin, and warned about the possibility of coming across elephants and baboons during our stay, and told to ensure we kept our door locked whenever we were away or asleep to stop the baboons getting in.

Lunch was daily at 12:30pm, and they had someone beat the drums when lunch was served. It was always a buffet, and we all sat at one or two big tables, with the managers, our guides, and the other guests. After lunch one of the managers raided their medicine cabinet for me and found something not unlike lemsip that I could have.

There was an afternoon game drive scheduled to depart at 3:30pm. By that stage I was feeling so rotten I opted to stay in and have a nap, but DH went on his own. He got some really good photos of some elephants, giraffes and buffalo - too bad they all got lost...

Dinner was at 7:30pm and I managed to drag myself out of bed to have a small bite. DH hung around socialising a bit, but I went straight back to bed.

The morning game drive left at 5:30am, and I decided to give that one a miss too. DH again went without me, and was lucky enough to see a lion!

Breakfast was always at 8:30am after the morning game drives got back, and we ended up being late because I was still in bed when DH got back. They were actually about to send me some room service lol!

After all my rest I was starting to feel a bit better, and I vowed I would go on that afternoon's game drive no matter what!

When 3:30pm came I was at the front with DH waiting for our guide. It was just us with our guide, Nick. We sat in the first row so we would be able to talk to Nick easily and we were off! We had to stop at the entrance to the park to register - we always had to take our passports with us. And before long we were driving along the bumpy roads of the park.

On that first game drive we saw elephants, giraffes and buffalo, and were lucky enough to see a herd of zebras with a baby (they were supposed to have migrated by then), and a jackal. I'm pretty upset that we lost our photos of the zebras as we didn't see them again.

Then back at the lodge we had some dinner and went to bed, ready for our full day safari the following day.

 

[ehsmum]

What a shame about your photos . I'm glad to hear that you started to feel better after some rest though!

 

[zanzibar138]

The good thing about Chobe National Park is that you are able to do a river safari as well as a land one.

We left the lodge shortly after breakfast in our safari vehicle, and made our way through the park to get to the boat dock on the other side. Along the way we lots of interesting animals, and some nice birds. We stopped at a point overlooking the Zambezi River to have some lunch. After lunch we pretty much headed directly for the road, then to the boat dock.

We met a couple of other safari groups there, and ended up with a pretty full boat! We travelled upstream first, and this is the point in the trip when we managed to start recovering photos from (apart from the very first photos I took from the boat, which was a very cute tiny bright red bird).

Believe it or not, there is a crocodile under the log in this photo.

We came across a small herd of buffalo cooling off in the water.

There was a large group of hippos. This is when I felt a bit of deja-vu from the Jungle Cruise

Then we came across a group of elephants who were also cooling off in the water.

We came across this bird, and the day lillies were out.

Continued in next post...

 

[zanzibar138]

Further up the river we came across this pair of young male elephants having a bit of a play fight.

On the way back to the dock we had a bit of a rain shower, which left this nice rainbow. We very nearly reached the pot of gold this time.

And for anyone curious, this was our little boat.

We went back to the lodge along the main road, and came across this family of warthogs waiting to cross.