God Save the Queen & God Bless America (Update 4/4: June 1 to July 15)

Hi All,

Hope all is well. This is our last installment of travel news as we are now well and truly entrenched back in Melbourne. Warning: this is a mammoth post - but last one for a long while.

The last time we wrote we were about to leave Paris. As I recall it was also the last time we were cold, until we arrived home that is.
Our send off from Paris was a wonderful night out at the Moulin Rouge. They really know how to put on a show (or was it the bottle of champagne that comes included with the cover?) and we were truly impressed. Rob was a little disappointed though, when part way through the show he discovered that not all the girls had bare breasts ;) but thankfully the show impressed him enough (read: there were enough boobies) to keep him interested for the rest of the night.

Then off to London! Those rumours you hear about how bad the weather is in London simply didn't ring true for us. We were greeted with lovely sunny skies and warm weather which persisted through our two weeks there. Greeted at the train station by Justine we collected our money, keys and map to her & Dylan's place and headed off to negotiate the Tube.
Negotiating the tube was the easy bit, what Justine & Dylan had neglected to tell us was they'd moved house. So after a few passes around the local streets and a few phone calls later we found their apartment - on Abbey Road. What was most impressive was their "local" was practically underneath their apartment not too far to stumble for a beer!

Oxfordshire & the Cotswolds was our first side trip. Which went something like Stratford-upon-Avon (Foster's stop), Warwick Castle ('cos you haven't really done England without seeing a castle), Oxford (Foster's stop, dinner bed). Sunday saw us do a walking tour around Oxford and then off to the Slaughters for a bit more of a look and some scones with jam & cream (once again you haven't really done England...). Unfortunately for Rob the scones had sultanas, and unbeknownst to him he would never try scones in the UK =(

Our next side trip would be to Hexam in the north of England to visit Susan and her new husband Ian. Once again the weather was kind (except for the fog along the coast) and so were our hosts. We visited the remains of a roman fort and Hadrian's wall - we even got to walk on top of it - and saw the oak tree from Robin Hood Prince of Thieves. Next time we'll give ourselves a couple of weeks and do the full walk along the wall. More castles - one on the coast which was very dramatic, more of a ruin sitting atop cliffs, and then the Harry Potter castle (only glimpses of this as they wanted £15 to enter the grounds!).

From the north country to the south we found ourselves in Brighton visiting Lucy & Dave, the South of England show, Brighton "where's the sand?" beach and the famous pier. We watched our first World Cup "football" match on a big screen at the South of England show which was lots of fun - more so because there was beer (alas no Foster's this time).

Between jaunts around the countryside we managed to do a bit of sight seeing: the Tower(s) of London (it's not really just one tower, is it?), Madame Tussaud's, the Eye, Tate Modern, the London Dungeon, a West End show and the list goes on. Did someone mention the World Cup? We managed to squeeze into the Walkabout in Covent Garden and watch the Australia v Japan match. What a ripper of a match, and nice not to have to get up at 3am to watch it! We also caught up with some friends from Adelaide Ellie, Paul, Michelle & Chris to celebrate a milestone birthday for Ellie on the Queen Mary. Happy Birthday Ellie!

Our last stop in Europe was Ireland - Cork and County Kerry. It was very green, we drank a lot of beer, black pudding isn't as bad as it sounds, and we managed to find a pub to watch the Australia v Brazil match and we kissed the Blarney stone.
Did someone mention the pub? I lost count but I think we managed to visit our fair share of pubs and drank enough Foster's to keep me in a job for at least another 6 months (which is good as I'll need to the next six month's to pay off the loan we took out to buy these beers).

Start spreading the news... we hit New York, New York for the final leg of our trip. We tried not to look up but resigned ourselves to the fact that we would always look like tourists, especially as we were sitting on the red hop-on, hop-off bus. Our hostel was right in Times Square so no need to walk far for action. We did the best we could to fit NYC into 4 days but did not succeed - my second time there and I've still not been up the Empire State Building - but we did get our name & picture up in lights in Times Square!

Viva Las Vegas baby! This is a town that really defies description and is much more exotic by night. Unfortunately our timetable did not allow us enough time to find Elvis Herselvis (lesbian Elvis impersonator) to renew our vows, much to my disappointment, but enough time to walk the strip, win some money, catch a David Copperfield show, lose some money and make it back to our hotel for a bit of a sleep before our Road Trip!

Just like you haven't done England if you haven't seen a castle, you haven't done the US of A without doing a road trip, driving up the wrong side of the road, swerving across a 4 lane freeway to get to the off ramp which turns out to be the wrong one anyway, but not realising this until you'd driven 25 miles in the wrong direction!

Our road trip had all those elements but the highlight of it would have to be the Grand Canyon and the helicopter flight over the canyon (although surviving an almost head on collision with the giant ute as I drove on the wrong side of the road would come in a close second). There was a haze over the canyon due to a large bushfire past the north rim, but it was a spectacular view anyway. Another place to spend more time "next time". As it was we drove 11 hours from Vegas to the Canyon and back and only spent a total of 1 1/2hr at the Canyon itself. Amazingly this is 1hr 15mins more than the average visitor spends at the Grand Canyon. Turns out the if we'd kept on the 25mile detour in the wrong direction on the way back to Vegas we wouldn't have reached Vegas, but we would have arrived in LA before our flight!

We spent our time in LA at Universal Studios (guess who's choice that was?). At least this time we managed to get to the park before it opened and spent a full day there. The next day we did a movie stars homes tour to pass some time, but really in the end it's just LA and is just a big, sprawling concrete jungle.

From LA we travelled to San Francisco, well Sunnyvale to be exact which is in the heart of Silicone Valley an hour south of SF, where Rob's brother Gordon & his wife Lisa live. If there's one experience that is a must when you go to the states it has to be 4th of July at Santa Cruz beach. There are thousands of people on the beach each with their own private stash of fireworks. Imagine Skyshow or new year's eve fireworks but imagine they go from about sunset to 10pm. Then imagine that instead of them being lit somewhere away from you, there's a guy with a butane torch who believes that the fuse is decoration and that the firework should actually be lit at the base, bypassing the fuse.

Our last two weeks were a blur of activity as Gordon & Lisa showed us the sights of northern california. We headed up to Napa and did a bit of wine tasting and stopped in at Golden Haven Spa resort where we were shouted to a mineral mud bath and massage. It was a very relaxing experience once I got over being nuddie in the mud - Rob on the other hand was oinking all the way.

Back in SF Alcatraz was a highlight, seeing the Golden Gate Bridge without any fog, riding across the bridge to sunny sausalito and watching the fog roll in were also amazing. It's funny how fast the fog moves! We also caught up with lots of family, got invited to a wedding and managed to fit in some shopping as well. Sakari - Lisa & Gordon's blind miniature husky was also lots of fun!

And some how, before we realised, 3 months of travel were up. We were on a plane back to Melbourne. We left SF and it was 36 degrees and sunny and arrived home in Melbourne 20hrs later to 9 degrees and rain (apparently the first decent rains so far this winter - just our luck). We were getting a bit homesick towards the end of our travels, but after being home for a couple of hours wished we were back on holidays in the sun!

We've been home and back at work for a week now! It's cold, but we're getting used to it and there's only one and a half month's until spring! Hope you're all well. If you're travelling drop us a line as we'll be living vicariously through you for the next couple of years!

Cheers,
Yen and Rob

Gondolas, fondue and Disneyland! (Update 3/4: May 13 to May 30)

Aaah Florence. Italy really turned on the weather for us and we had a fantastic time in Florence. This was helped by the fact that we were staying at the rectory of St James Episcopal/Anglican Church with Rob's old pastor from Melbourne. It was a lovely house we stayed in - much like what you'd expect from a tuscan country house but in the middle of Florence.

David (the statue) was a highlight and so was the gelati and the cupola of the Duomo. We found a fantastic panini place - a hole in the wall in an alleyway near the Piazza Vecchio which we think would work fantastically in Melbourne. Rob found a vending machine room that sold hot pasta and beer - his sense of adventure extended to buying a beer thinking it would be italian, only to find that it was german. On advice from many we visited Cinque Terre - although the train trip from Florence was not so great with a hangover, the scenery more than made up for it even if we didn't walk all of the legs (not that we ever really had that intention even if we were sober).

From Florence off to Venice just for a day. Turns out that booking a hotel near the train station was a very smart move as the day we left all the vaporetti were on strike. We spent the day wandering the streets and visited the Doges Palace and Piazza San Marco. I walked around the outside of the Piazza but there were far too many "flying rats" for me to venture out to the middle - and far too many stupid people willing to feed them (not to mention allowing them to perch on them). Rob tested out his bargaining skills and we had ourselves a gondola ride around the canals. We also had a very expensive dinner canalside to top off the experience.

Next stop Zurich where we stayed with Lisa & Sandro and had fun catching up (turns out that gondola rides are a sore point with Lisa, and Sandro's one bit of advice for any man going to venice with a girlfriend/partner/spouse is DO THE GONDOLA RIDE). Sandro was quite happy as he had someone to share cheese and bratwurst with. Rob was happy sampling all the different beers. We did a day hike in the Alps with stunning views of the Jungfrau & the Eiger which was finished of with beer, fondue and (much to Sandro's embarrassment) rosti and red wine. Turns out when you have fondue it's only in the winter, only with bread and swiss white wine (which is not so great) so when we ordered the rosti all the restaurant staff came out to have a gander at us and our waitress double checked that we had ordered correctly.

And then France. So much for summer, the weather here has been only marginally warmer than Melbourne. Rob's wish to go to Disneyland was fulfilled although our alarm didn't go off and we didn't get there just as the park opened and had to leave just as the fireworks started to catch the last train. Rob had our day planned out so there was nothing left for me to do but follow him around - did I mention he was as happy as a pig in mud? His other highlight was visiting the Star Wars exhibition with props and models from the movies. We have managed to fit in a few of the other "minor" sights on Rob's list like the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame etc.

And now (well in a couple of days) we are off to England!

Cheers,
Yen

Ciao! from the newly weds (Update 2/4: April 25 to May 12)

Ciao!

A quick update on our travels as we have been a bit slack! (gosh-damn european keyboards, the apostrophe isn't in the right spot!).

We've been having a great time lately - hard to believe that it's already been almost 4 weeks since we left Melbourne. The wedding went off without a hitch although it porbably wasn't the best idea to have drinks at little creatures the night before but thankfully we didn't pull up too badly. We don't have very many photos as yet, but we'll let you know when we do.

Our flight to Manila from Perth was great - Rob was rather excited about the in-flight entertainment system that Singapore Airlines had (much more excited flying from Manila to Saigon, where he met the "newer" version of the entertainment system which I know know is called the Wiseman 3000 - he even took a photo of it!). The hostesses gave us a little chocolate mousse cake and some champagne for our honeymoon, which was a surprise. Rob proceded to put a bit of dry ice (which they'd had in a separate glass with water for the mist effect) in his champagne, which kind of has a volcanic effect.

Boracay was gorgeous, if a little out of the way to get to for Rob. My favourite quote of his has been "I don't think I'll ever go to one of these out of the way places again, it's just too stressful to get to" or something of the sort. Only to hear him say the next day as we're having drinks at the beach at sunset: "I think I could get used to doing this" ;)
We mostly relaxed at the beach and did nothing much - the water was clear and blue and just the right temperature that you didn't freeze up every time you went in for a dip.
The resort we had was relaxing, and they did "upgrade" our room on finding out we were newly weds. I'm not convinced it really was an upgrade though. Sure the room was bigger and the bar fridge was slightly cooler than room temperature, but the shower didn't work (until they fixed it the next day) and the view to the sea from the balcony was if you stood up (the view from the other room was of the pool). But the staff were great and the pool had a swim up bar so one can't really complain. After a week in paradise it was time to go and visit the rellies in Vietnam.

As usual it was a bit of a whirlwind tour catching up with rellies etc. We did manage to get a 3 day tour in to the very tip of Vietnam where we saw a prawn farm (owned by a relative) our driver was charged with speeding and bribery of a police officer. Mostly we just drove and for about 3hours per day (usually at the end) we stopped of at a town/tourist spot and stopped for dinner or visited a relative.
Back in Saigon (and thankfully still in once piece) it was time for the last of the wedding celebrations. However, what was supposed to be a quiet family dinner of about 50 people turned out to be "Second Wedding" à la Vietnam. Unbeknownst to us my second uncle's wife had organised a full blown chinese wedding for us for about 260 of our closest relatives and 40 family friends.
We were whisked away to hire clothes (a suit for Rob & his dad Bryan, and a wedding dress for me) and then I had my hair and makeup done. I felt like I was on extreme makeover as i felt my eyebrows being shaved, lots of blue eyeshadow being put on, did I mention fake eyelashes? and lots of pink lipstick! mental note: don't give my cousin free reign next time.
When the "reveal" occurred I didn't recognise myself, and I know Rob didn't recognise me until I opened my mouth and english came out!
Then off to the reception for a tea ceremony. Thankfully this was only a small reception by chinese standard, but still there were a lot of people to get around. My aunty had also organised for a 4 tier wedding cake (sponge with LOTS of cream) and a champagne glass tower, photographer and videographer. We have some very generous relatives (uncle who paid for the catering, cake, dress, entertainment etc, and another uncle who owned the reception venue and donated that). And yes, we will have a set of wedding photos from Vietnam and our own asian wedding dvd complete with corny phrases, transitions and love songs!

Then after a day or two in Saigon with Rob's folks, off to Rome. We are on our last day - and thoroughly walked out. Our apartment is right near the colosseum so a very handy spot. Wednesday we arrived and had a slight hitch with checking in early so found a great little cafe/pasticcheria that serves the best hot chocolates (we've been back each day since and now know how to order our breakfast, kind of). We've done the major sights but it seems that there is so much to see and do in Rome we really won't get to see half of it, perhaps next time. We did find out on our first day, that the touriste information offices here are really quite useless unless you want a map, to book a hotel or buy a roma pass. There is a great little place called Enjoy Rome, which puts out a little information book that we found invaluable. It had some great tips on crossing the road, translating restaurant dishes, and lots of other hints and tips.
We're particularly pround of the fact that we have yet to "pay to pee". After my previous foray some 18 odd years ago and stories from friends and family, we have some how managed to find all the free toilets there may be in Rome. Perhaps our luck will change when we leave for Florence tomorrow?
We are yet to really navigate the italian rail system, but as I said we're off to Florence tomorrow and who knows what will happen.

Anyway, Rob's started a blog which I think has a few photos too www.aroundtheworldin80daysandthensome.blogspot.com

If I've left anyone off the email (you won't know until you've spoken to people because of the bcc) please forward or let me know and I'll send them the email. Likewise if you don't want to hear about our adventures let me know and I'll take you off the list.

Cheers,
Yen (& Rob)

PS The weather has been absolutely fantastic except for the small shower that we had yesterday - thanks for the advice on the rain jacket em! =)

It's a nice day for a white wedding (Update 1/4: April 14 to April 24)

Hi Guys,

Last day in Oz before we leave, just thought I'd say hi! Hope you all enjoyed you're Easter weekend and this weekend gone. The wedding went off without a hitch - although we were still a little unorganised on Saturday morning, but thankfully had some great friends over here who were able to help us out.

The photographer turned up just before I got back from lunch so I was obviously not ready for her - photos will be those poxy posed photos (Judy got her way in the end) and we'll eventually get our album when our friends come and visit us in August after we get back. All was not quite as Judy had planned - we didn't get the flowers in time for the first lot of photos as Stew (Rob's brother) was caught in traffic. Judy almost sent him back to the church but we kinda needed him to drive me to the church.

I wasn't a fashionably late bride - right on time. No tears during the ceremony, although Rob almost started crying but I managed to give him the giggles instead (thankfully otherwise would have been a bit of a chain reaction!!). Ceremony was great although I don't remember much - and yet more photos afterwards. I think Judy was aiming for about 300 in all (a bit more than the 10-20 photos that I'd had in mind!!)

The reception went off without a hitch - stubby holders worked a treat, although Em I did forgt to put the tuille (from the veil) on them as I'd left it back in melbourne. Only one mate got really drunk, but my (pseudo) grandma was perhaps a bit tipsy too ;) Some fantastic speeches - I'll see if Rob can't put them on the website.
There happened to be a manhunt in the park as we were leaving (6 guys apparently running around and attacking people) so we were stopped a couple of times by the cops in their search (2 were caught but the others still outstanding).

No wedding night fireworks - i fell asleep as soon as we got to the hotel =D rob stayed up previewing the porn channels and trying to get the internet working and had himself a glass of complimentary champers. next morning in the spa - very nice - rob quite enjoyed it. He ordered some pizza and sat in the spa eating that - a few bits of topping fell in but he didn't seem to mind!

No photos from the wedding as yet - but we'll let you know as soon as we post the up on the website.

Cheers,
Yen & Rob (Vuong ;) - not quite but we'll get there!)