Last Day in Cambodia

Hi,

Today, Friday, is our last day in Cambodia, and it has been a good one. The group went to visit 2 more temples, Bayon and Ta Prohm, and also went on an Elephant ride. Apologies that we don't have any photos at the moment, as the camera was in the wrong place ! Martina joined the culture vultures and I opted for an extra round of golf at the Angkor Glof Club .. and unfortunately, the camera didn't make it to the temples.

Ta Prohm is unique amongst temples in that it has been left in the same state as it was found -covered in parts by thick jungle, with trees and invasive roots enveloping parts from the roof right down to the huge stone blocks on the floor, and lifting them up in places.These trees are called 'crocodile trees' shady and the group of us felt gave the whole temple a sinsister atmosphere. It's where Indiana Jones and the Temple of doom was filmed and it looked every bit as scary. The temple is approached by a long quiet, shady avenue, where a band was playing melodic local music. The band was made up of land mine victims, many of whom were severely disabled, with limbs missing and blind. They were very dignified and didn't beg, but nevertheless no one could passs by without making a contribution. A similar band played on the exit avenue from the temple. The site is close to the Thai border and was heavily mined in the late 1970's, so it was largely off limits to tourists until fairly recently.

Bayon is the famous temple with the faces carved on it's columns and is many people's favourite, even ahead of Angkor Wat.

Back at the Faldo golf course, I had another wonderful day's golf with Brenda and Tony. Here we are with the caddies after the round. My caddy today was Magera (That's her beside me in the photo). She spoke good English, which she learned at the golf club. She went to caddy school at the Angkor club for about a year, where she was taught all about golf and how to caddy for clients and she's met Nick Faldo when he was over at the club.

After the golf and temple tour, we had some time to relax and for last minute shopping and then off to the Lotus Hotel for our Farewell dinner. We dined very well on local fare and then it was down to the serious business of prize giving. Martina was the star of the show, having been on the winning team on 3 different days. Mind you, on one of the days, she was with our esteemed Tour Leader Mickey Walker, the former Solheim Cup captain, who lined her up for some deadly puts along the way. Here she is with some of her co-stars. That's Mickey beside Martina. In addition to the team prizes, there was a hidden prize for the highest individual points score, which Martina also scooped ! Well Done indeed to the bandit. She's back to normal handicap now and we'll be expecting great things in the coming games back at base !

We're off home tomorrow, via Bangkok, where we might just squeeze in some more last minute shopping at the airport ! We'll be very sad to leave this amazing part of the world and we thoroughly enjoyed our golf and culture adventure in Vietnam and Cambodia.

We're off to bed now. Will soon be time to get up !

Until next time ....

Martina & Kate

A Busy Day !

Today was a very busy day. We left at 7.30 am for the new Nick Faldo Angkor Golf club. We arrived to be greeted by our caddies, perfectly turned out and lined up on either side of the walkway to the club house to meet us. The course looked magnificent .. tons of water and of course miles of bunkers ! I played today with Mickey, our Tour Leader, Marianne and Roddy and we had a great game. Here we are after the round. The course was every bit as spectacular as we thought when we drove in. Imaculately cared for with every green and fairway manicured. It was a real pleasure to play here today. Just in case we were in any doubt, the FALDO name is spelled out in the hedges beside the 16th green !! A fantastic place .. in fact so good that a few of us are going back tomorrow ! After golf today, we had lunch in a local restaurant, complete with (very) fresh coconut juice ! and then off on our helicoptor tour over Angkor Wat .. fantastic (some photos in previous post).

When we got back from that trip, we had another treat in store. Som brought us to a temple where there are monks living. We were there for prayers and we made offerings and the monks blessed us .. here we are, receiving our blessing, and here's the monk's altar. After the ceremony, we were treated to some drinks and some flat rice. This is the end of the rainy season and begining of the harvest, so the people celebrate the flat rice as thanksgiving for the harvest. Martina had a go at grinding the rice ..Have a look below. I think I'd advise to stick to the day job !! We continued our busy day at a really local restaurant in Siem Reap. We had many and varied dishes and rode home by 'Tuc-Tuc', a motorised rikshaw.. the only way to travel. Wonderful.

Tomorrow is temples and elephant rides for the cultured, but I'm afraid the Faldo golf course is calling me back and I'll be on the fairways tomorrow for the last game before we go home on Saturday.

All the best for now,

Martina & Kate

Amazing Angkor Wat

Hi again,

We arrived here in Siem Reap yesterday afternoon, went to our hotel for lunch and then set off on a tour of the Angkor Wat Temple, with our new guide Som. The whole setting is amazing - the temple dates from the 12th century and had been buried in the Jungle until about 150 years ago when it was discovered by the French. The scale is phenominal. It's hard to appreciate how big the site is. It's surrounded by a moat. Here are some views from our walking tour of Angkor Wat. Today, we had a short helicoptor trip over the site and the views were fantastic. Here are some of them. It really is a majestic experience to see this remarkable site from above as you can really see the scale and marvel at the ingenuity of the early engineers. Check out the video clip below, taken from the helicopter. We were told that 22,000 elephants were used in it's construction ..

Vietnam Golf and Country Club & Cruising the Saigon River

Today, Tuesday, we played at the Vietnam Golf and Country Club. It was a really great course, and very enjoyable. This was my favourite so far. We played the East Course and I played with Brenda and Tor. Here we are after our round. We played well together - unfortunately not well enough and Martina yet again emerged on the winning team. She's off scratch for the next game !!!

Tonight, we went on a dinner cruise on the Saigon River, on a boat called the Bonsai. It was wonderful - good food, great entertainment and the ambience of the water .. terrific. Here's some photo evidence ! There was plenty of oppportunity to try out the Vietnamese dancing , and many of us had a go ! Good fun. And here's Hung showing us how it's done with the local food, although I think he may have tried some Uk and Irish favourites like Potatoes and Bread and Butter pudding.

When went back to the hotel, we had a try of a rickshaw, and porter obliged with some pedal power !! A great night for our last one in Vietnam. It's off to the airport in the morning and to Siem Reap, for a few days near Angkor Wat, with some serious sight seeing, and a game on the new Nick Faldo Angor Golf Club.

Song Be Golf Club & Shopping in Saigon

Hi Again - We set off at about 6.45 am on Monday for the Song Be Golf Club, through what Marjory very graphically described as the 'Human Soup' of the Saigon Scooter trail ! The traffic was very heavy and there was all sorts of activity going on, on the pavement .. people having their noodles, sitting on tiny plastic chairs ; others buying and selling everything from fruit and fish to scooters, and everything in between .. at 6.45 am !!

We played the Desert and the Palm course. I played with Chris and Sue and we dovetailed well together and emerged as the winning team ! Here's Martina putting out on the 18th, and her team of Marjory and Marianne. We headed back home to Saigon and then went on a shopping trip to Saigon's 'Bond Street'. We had great fun and got some good bargains too. The shops were very welcoming. Most had reasonable English and looked after us very well. We met up with the group again at the rooftop bar at the Rex Hotel for cocktails . .wonderful setting overlooking the city. Here we are with our purchases .. note Martina's posh Khaisilk bag !!!

Then it was on to dinner at the Vietnam House restaurant (almost next door to Khaisilk actually !). We had a lovely meal .. wonderful local food and tons of it ! Very enjoyable. Then back to the hotel for another early start for the Vietnam Golf and Country Club tomorrow.

Back to Saigon

We set off today, Sunday, early, to drive back to Saigon. We stopped off to see the local fish market, near Phan Thiet. It really is a pity you can't smell the blog .. it was VERY fishy ! The fishing boats were parked just behind the stalls. There was also fruit and veg at the market and live chicks ! There was a lady selling the tiniest shell fish you've ever seen (pictured). You'd need a dozen of them to cover your finger nail. She assured us they were delicious .. and we took her word for it !

We arrived back to Saigon to our hotel and had lunch. Then we went on a city tour and saw the Independence Palace and Notre Dame Cathederal, the largest in Vietnam, built by the French in 1886. We visited a facinating covered market. It was almost life threathening ! There was no way past some of the traders ! but we enjoyed it and emerged with some good bargains.

Tonight's meal was in the Indochine Restaurant in downtown Saigon, another lovely meal, with waiting staff in traditional dress, with gramaphone in the corner and vintage Citroen outside (handy as the prop for the last song of the evening - pictured).





Have to scoot now, as we have a mega early start tomorrow - leaving at 6.45 am for golf at the Song Be Golf Club.

Bye for now,

Martina & Kate.

Sea Links Golf Club & Vietnamese Karaoke !!!

Hi again,

Well the Sea Links course was certainly challenging ! We had great fun - massive bunkers everywhere. There was no competition today, so we just played a friendly .. here's our 3 ball, Martina, Marianne and me. And here's a par 5 with a massive lake in the middle of the fairway ! That's Martina on the other side ready to launch a 300 yard approach shot to the elevated green. The greens, many the size of a football pitch, were fun too. We were reliably informed that there has never been a Hole in One at the Sea Links (we tried - honest !!). So for pro tournaments they draw a dustbin lid around the pin and a ball inside this represents a Hole in One for the sponsors prize. It was really hot today but we survived well with a caddy and a buggy each and tons of iced water. It was a great experience and we really enoyed it. The complex is huge with hundreds of villas, and the course and bunkers (about a million of them !) were in great condition.

After golf we came back to our resort and relaxed by the pool and the beach, before our feature dinner. Because there had been a tropical downpour, we couldn't eat in the open air restaurant and we moved instead to 2 floating pagodas .. much better ! We had a wonderful meal and then joined in the fun with the locals in the Karaoke. Chris strutted her stuff with a great impression of a Vietnamese number complete with lyrics from the screen and was rewarded with a prize !!!!!!!! and a hug from the MC.


Despite our best efforts and plans to perform as a group at the Karaoke, for some strange reason, they closed it down before we got a chance to sing !!!!, but undeterred, we persevered and turned our pagoda into a sing song session. We were regaled by Tony's masterpiece, Delilah, with expert backing from Mickey, Jane, Marianne and Jean. We had various first class Glasgow stories from Marjory and a few bars from Martina and me too .. a really great evening to finish off our stay at the Blue Ocean resport .. magnifique.

Next stop - back to Saigon .. more news tomorrow,

M & K xx.

Ho Chi Minh City

Hi again,

Thursday was travel day and we flew from Hanoi to Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh City as it's called here. We arrived in rush hour and if we thought there were lots of scooters in Hanoi, it's only in the ha'penny place compared with Saigon. The traffic is amazing. You look down a side street and it looks like the biggest scooter race in the world is about to start, with millions of scooters on the blocks, but in fact , its just the locals on their way home from work !! The little video clip above will give you a flavour of the sights and sounds.

We drove about 5 hours east to Phan Thiet to the Blue Ocean Beach resort, which is lovely - on the ocean, the South China Sea. We stopped off on the way last night for dinner at the Forrest Restaurant - very interesting menu ; lots of seafood.

Here we are making short work of dinner,

with Martina particularly enjoying the crabs !!

We got back at about midnight and had a very welcome sleep, before setting off this morning to the Nick Faldo Ocean Dunes Club. Lovely course with lots of water and some very interesting bunkers. It's a lot hotter down here in the South and we had finished our round before the afternoon rain came. Then we went for a walk on the beach and a dip in the South China Sea.

Here's my team of Marianne from Austria and Marjory from Scotland, complete with local caddies, overlooking the China Sea.

Martina finished on the winning team again ! Stewarts enquiry underway and a definite handicap cut for tomorrow !! Well done again to the bandit !!

Dinner tonight was in the Ngoc Suong seaside restaurant, a wonderful setting on the ocean. We had lots of seafood with some very interesting dishes .. here's the flambeed prawns ; and Roddy making the fish stew, with Hung covering some of the finer points of Asian Cuisine with Martina!

Tomorrow, we're off to the Sea Links, which we're told is a bit more challenging. It's billed as 'The most Challenging Links Style Golf Course in Asia' .. mm .. should be fun. Will check in to report on it tomorrow night.

Bye for now,

Martina & Kate.

Halong Bay & Tai Chi on deck !

Tuesday saw the first of our tourist / culture days. We set off from Hanoi (in rain and very heavy traffic) to drive for about 3 hours north to Halong Bay. Halong Bay is Vietnam's UNESCO World Heritage site, a facinating collection of limestone islands (1169 altogether and only 2 inhabited). We boarded the Emeraude, a replica steam cruiser for the cruise and to stay overnight .We had a terrific cruise through magnificent scenery, including some wonderful floating villages. The video clip shows one of them. We had lunch on board and then continued around the bay in blissful sunshine. We boarded a small launch to take us to the Surprise Caves .. where ancient Vietnamese had lived centuries beforehand but was formally 'discovered' by the French in the early 1900's.

We both took advantage of the on board Spa and had Thai massages .. very interesting ! We're hoping to feel the advantage for the rest of the trip ! We had dinner on board and watched a movie, and then headed off to our cabins, ready for an early start for Coffee and Tai Chi on deck at 6.30 !! a great start to the day.

We docked at about 9.30 and then drove back to Hanoi for some more sight seeing, around the city, including the Temple of Literature, featuring Confuscious, the One Pillar Pagoda and the Tomb of Ho Chi Minh, the first President and Father of modern Vietnam.

Tomorrow, we have a leisurely start at about 11am, to fly to Saigon and then drive to Phan Thiet, where we play the Nick Faldo Ocean Dunes Club on Friday. We're really looking forward to that. Will check in again when we can.

Best Regards,

Martina & Kate.