Tour Managers Tales

Greetings from a snowy and cold Stafford,  this weather is not good after the nice warm and sunny days we had in Cambodia, an uneventful flight home, early arrival at Heathrow was good, picked up a rental car and was home by 10.15, turned the heating up, done some laundry and had a nice cuppa. Ventured out in the afternoon to do some shopping, the roads were starting to ice up so didn't go far, and then it was back in for some dinner,  typical comfort food - Pie, beans and chips. Well that is me now officially off until February, looking forward to the break, have the Tour Managers AGM on the 13th will be good to see everyone again, I have not been at a meeting for a few years, as I have always been on tour, wonder if that was done intentionally !!! It is going to be quiet here for a while so I would like to wish everyone an very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, hope you will all join me here in 2011 for another great year of  TM Tales ... bye for now.

Hello again from Siem Reap, our last day here, coming to the end of a fabulous 3 weeks... the weather is so nice and warm here .. not looking forward to heading back to the UK on Monday .. so cold ...brrr.  The last day of Temples today, but saved the best until last, Banteay Srei and Ta Prohm. Neither as large as Angkor Wat, but still as important.  Banteay Srei   is a 10th century   Cambodian temple   dedicated to the   Hindu god Shiva .   Banteay Srei   located in the area of   Angkor in Cambodia , it lies near the hill of Phnom Dei, 25 km (15 miles) north-east of the main group of temples that once belonged to the medieval capitals of   Yasodharapura  and Angkor Thom .   Banteay Srei   is built largely of red sandstone, a medium that lends itself to the elaborate decorative wall carvings which are still observable today. The   Banteay Srei  buildings themselves are miniature in scale, unusually so when measured by the standards of   Angkorian Construction . These factors have

Hello, a great day visiting Angkor Wat, this is one of the great wonders of the world, a lot of walking and climbing .... "The whole Angkor period spans for more than VI centuries, and more precisely from IX till XV century. During this period the Khmer empire reached its maximum splendor as one of the most powerful southeast asian kingdoms. In this period the whole area of Angkor was buit. We can consider Jayavarman II  as the man that started everything. He define himself Devaraja (good king) and he established the Khmer empire in 802.  After him, Indravarman, a king considered by many of its time an usurper: we prefer to remember him for starting building the Baray, a complex irrigation system to bring waters in the area of Angkor. He also started to build the Bakong and the Preah Ko temples. His son Yasovarman went further in his father's project: he built the Phnom Bakheng and the Lolei temples, and with him, Angkor become the new capital of the kingdom. These two king f

After a short flight we arrived in Siem Reap to start the wonderful visits to the many magnificent temples that are found in this region. From the airport we transferred to the Borei Angkor Hotel, where we started with lunch, very nice it was too.... then it was to our rooms for a freshen up before the afternoon tour. The Temple that we visited today was Angkor Thom .. for an indepth read please have a look at   www.theangkorguide.com  it has all the fascinating history of all the area and all the famous monuments. It was then back to the Hotel to relax enjoy happy hour (4-8) hic hic .... and then dinner in the Hotel restaurant. Busy day tomorrow the famous Angkor Watt awaits us ..... can feel my legs aching already !!!  Entrance to Angkor Thom  Angkor Thom  Monkey - cute !! Elephant Terrace 

Hello, from a beautiful sunny day here in Phnom Penh, we started the day with a visit to the Royal Palace, a walk around the grounds viewing a fantastic colourful array of building, the Silver Pagoda in amazing the amount of gold and silver ... it was then onto the National Museum for a guided visit, showing works from all periods of time. A climb to the top to Wat Phnom, to view the temple, then it was onto the highlight of the day for some .. the Central Market ... mainly clothes, electronics and watches, jewellery .. I managed to find a lovely RADO watch (original) for $20 !!!! .. back to the hotel for lunch and a short break. This afternoon we visited the "Killing Fields"  for more have a look at the  www.killingfieldsmuseum.com. this is a very moving place, but it was nice to see a group of school children going around doing a project on the area and its history. Leaving here we headed back to the city and visited another very moving museum the Genocide Museum, where the

Hello from Phnom Penh, the Capital City of Cambodia we have arrived here on a very sad day for this city, last night (Monday) over 300 people died in a stampede at the end of the local Water Festival, our thoughts are with all those families. The day strarted in Chau Doc, Vietnam, with a boat ride (yet again) to see a Cham fishing community and village, the fish farm was first ... and then onto the village. Once back at the hotel we boarded the bus for a short drive to see a temple ... this temple is special, if you ask the god to make your "dreams come true" then you offer a roasted pig to the gods !! ... back to the hotel for some free time and lunch, before we joined the speedy cruiser that would take us to Phnom Penh, the journey lasts about four and a half hours, that is on a good day, depends on how long the border crossings take ... the Vietnamese make us get out of the boat, wait in a room, for as long as it takes for them to do nothing ... and then re-board.. no pa

Cabbage Pineapple The day started with a boat journey to see the floating market in Can Tho, lots of boats selling their fruit and vegetables, trading and bartering with each other ... fisherman stocking up for a day on the river....after back on land we had a visit to the central market in Can Tho, lots of fish, meat and vegetables. After a nice lunch at the Victoria Hotel Can Tho, we departed for our last destination in Vietnam, Chau Doc, it is from here that we take the boat trip to Cambodia. Central Market Chillies and Lime  Chillies - very hot !!!  Tuyen and Richard 

Hello, we have now left the big city behind, leaving HCMC this morning we travelled towards the Mekong region and of course its famous river. We boarded our boat, and first journeyed past a small floating market area, boats selling, turnips, pumpkins, water melons etc .. .. we stopped and visited a small island where the local were making sweets from rice, first they place the rice in a very hot wok, where it "puffs" up (just like popcorn), it is then taken and mixed with coconut milk, ginger and condensed milk, rolled out and left to cool and then cut into strips, packed and ready for selling... and very nice they taste too..!!!  they also make coconut candy. Had some green jasmine tea, and a few little tasters of the goods ... back to the boat and off to another island for our lunch stop.. speciality today was Elephant Ear fish !!!  and very nice it was. This afternoon we continued our boat cruise, and rejoined our coach for the journey to Can Tho and our overnight at the l

Hello, sorry there has been no updates for a few days ... have been in Ho Chi Minh City, stayed at the 5* Renaissance Riverside, and unfortunately there internet provider would not allow me to access the blog !!!  and actually is the only Hotel on this tour that charges for internet .... and they know how to do that US$14 a day... daylight robbery .. and I told them so (that is over a weeks wages for a fisherman or farmer). The journey from Dalat was nice, we started off with a visit to the market, it was amazing to see all the local fresh produce from vegetables to fish, chicken (dead and alive), bakery everything was available. We arrived into HCMC late afternoon missed a lot of the traffic which was good and arrived at the hotel at about 17.30... this was good usually it is about 18.30. Quiet night in ..well except for the thunderstorm that  lasted for about an hour and half, with torrential rain and sheet lightning.... a quick decision, stay in or go out ... stay in won and room