Day 27 - Tuesday 26th September

Today we would be flying home from Singapore to Sydney. The flight with Singapore Airlines was due to leave Changi Airport at 9:35am. So I set my alarm for 5:20am and we caught a taxi from the hotel at 6:45am. There was no time for breakfast - especially because the hotel breakfast did not start until 6:30am.

Traffic was light and the taxi driver was quite aggressive and so we reached the airport at about 7:10am. As we drove along the various motorways, the sun was rising and the clouds were a pretty pink colour.

There was no queue at the check-in. When we asked about an upgrade from economy class, he just laughed because the flight was very full.

Next we had  to find somewhere for breakfast. There were lots of shops selling Asian food but we settled for Burger King.

Security was at the departure gate. For some reason, you had to show your boarding pass three or four times to different people as you worked your way through the process.

The plane pulled back from the terminal right on time and it was indeed full. I didn't see any spare seats. We'd organised to have aisle seats to make it easier for us to get up and to avoid being confined by other passengers.

About two hours after take-off, they served us brunch. About two hours before we landed, they served another light meal. In both cases, I had a couple of glasses of red wine. The food was obviously not as good as business class but it was OK.

Service from the staff was OK but not particularly friendly. I think the attendant who looked after our aisle had a cold and so she seemed a little gruff and impatient.

The flight was only 7 hours and during that time they turned on the fasten seat-belts sign several times because of turbulence. Eventually people started ignoring the message and would get up to stretch their legs or go to the toilet.

We landed at about 6:45pm - more than half an hour earlier than the scheduled time. This time the electronics at customs clearance worked and so it was very quick. Suzy had declared wooden items but the lady we spoke to wasn't worried about the goods she'd bought and let us through.

The taxi got us home soon after 8pm. Milo and Herbie were waiting at the back door and they were very exciting to see us. Our adventure in South-East Asia was over.

Day 26 - Monday 25th September

Today was my birthday and what better place to celebrate it than here on Sentosa Island in Singapore. I woke to a variety of messages from people wishing me a happy birthday.

We went to the hotel restaurant for the buffet breakfast after 9am and sat on the terrace to admire the view. There was a good choice of hot and cold food. However we concluded that some of the breakfasts in Vietnam and Cambodia had been better. For a start, they do pastries better in Vietnam and Cambodia.

As we sat on the terrace, we noticed some peacocks nearby. Then they started walking past the tables. Next they started jumping up on tables where people had left and they helped themselves to the left-overs. We also saw people feeding them by hand despite the nearby sign telling you not to.

I'd left my Orange Airbox mini WiFi with the Singtel SIM back in the room so we could test out the Sofitel WiFi. It was pretty poor - less than 1Mb/s in both directions. My device gives me up to 50Mb/s download and 20Mb/s upload in this hotel.

Suzy couldn't find her bag of medicines this morning and concluded that she must have left them at the other Sofitel Hotel in the city. Reception at our current Sofitel called the Sofitel SO and, after a few phone calls, they found the medicines.

To cut a long story short, we caught a taxi back to the Sofitel SO to pick up the medicines. The concierge staff were surprised to see us again and we joked about the fact that they had asked us yesterday whether we were sure we had everything from our room.

Initially, we'd thought of asking the taxi to wait for us when we went inside the hotel but I changed my mind. One reason was that it might take a while - which it did. The main reason was that I didn't like the way he drove. It was a rough, bumpy ride and too fast.

At one stage, a car changed lanes in front of us to make a left turn and our driver blasted him with his horn. It was quite a contrast to driving in Cambodia and Vietnam where the traffic is chaotic and nobody objects if someone does something outrageous - perhaps because such things happen all the time.

Singapore traffic is very orderly. For a start, the roads are wide, well-marked, well-signed and well designed. There are very few motor bikes and cars travel in their lanes.

Also, taxi drivers in Singapore don't seem to be as polite and helpful as in Vietnam and Cambodia. The same could possibly be said about hotel staff - with a few exceptions at both Sofitel hotels - particularly Angela here at Sentosa who is wonderful.

In Vietnam and Cambodia, people are polite and friendly. All hotel staff say hello and they go out of their way to serve you. It reminded me of that Avis motto - "we try harder". Perhaps in Singapore they are so well off now that some of them have decided that they don't have to try as hard as they used to.

From the Sofitel SO, we caught a taxi to the Vivo Centre which is a shopping centre on the southern shore of the Singapore main island. A few blocks after we left the hotel, we noticed half a dozen police carrying sub-machine guns. It looked quite scary but our taxi driver assured us it was quite normal.

From there, we walked along the boardwalk back to Sentosa Island. Part of the boardwalk is out in the open and part is undercover - which makes sense for bad weather or just to get some shade to escape from the heat. The views of the harbour and foreshores made it worth the trip.

At the other end, there is a variety of tourist attractions. We found our way to the monorail and caught it back to the Vivo Centre. It turned out that the monorail trip was free. It's very modern and highly organised.

We walked through the Vivo Centre and then into the next door building called HarbourFront. By now it was after 1pm and we found a little restaurant for lunch. Initially we planned to catch the shuttle bus back to the hotel but we couldn't find where it stopped and so we got a taxi back.

The taxi hadn't gone very far when the shuttle bus overtook us and we told the driver to "follow that car" - just like in the movies which is probably apt because were close to the Universal Studios theme park.

When housekeeping came to do our room, we decided to go to the bar. On the way, we spotted a male peacock with its feathers fully on display. It was strutting around looking beautiful but unfortunately for him there didn't seem to be any females around - just a female human gardener trimming the lawns and she was ignoring the peacock display.

Soon after we got back to our room, Angela turned up with a birthday cake for me. Not only was it a chocolate cake (the best type) but it had birthday wishes written on the plate in chocolate icing. She also gave me a handwritten birthday card and a Sofitel travel pillow as a gift.

We took photos of the occasion and she stood chatting with us for a while. As I've said before, Angela is wonderful.

At about 5pm, we decided to go down to sit by the side of the pool and at about 5:30pm, we ordered  a beer and another Singapore Sling. This time Suzy's drink didn't look so pink because it was in a blue glass.

We were sitting there having our pre-dinner drinks when Suzy noticed a male peacock strutting towards us. As I grabbed my camera, it walked straight past us and then circled around to come between our lounges.

There was a cherry on the swizzle stick in Suzy's drink and the peacock decided he wanted it. After plucking it from her drink, he walked around the other side of my seat to gobble it down.

Then he decided he wanted to have a drink out of the swimming pool. Having had food and drink at our place, we wandered off to visit other people. He jumped (or flew) on top of the roof and looked down on us as I took more photos.

Our booking for dinner was 7pm at the Italian restaurant near the pool (il Lido at the Cliff). They gave us a table on the terrace overlooking the harbour. When we arrived, the sky over the harbour was a pretty pink before going very dark except for the lights of the harbour and the ships.

Because it was my birthday, we decided to splurge on a bottle of Italian Cabernet Sauvignon red wine. It must have been Italian because it was labelled Giuseppe & Luigi. It was a nice wine - not as heavy as you might expect for some Cabernet Sauvignon wines.

For entree, we shared prawns. For main course I had sea bass and Suzy had pork - but she wondered whether it was chicken rather than pork. As for other expensive restaurants, the more you pay, the smaller the servings.

Angela arrived to give Suzy a Sofitel travel pillow just like the one she had given me this afternoon. Suzy commented that Angela seemed to think that she had met us before - perhaps when she'd been working at a different hotel.

Just as we were starting our coffee, Philip rang me on Facetime and so I had a chat to him and Oscar, Charlie and Sarah. They were just leaving Felpham after the funeral for Sarah's dad on Friday and they were driving north towards London.

It was good timing because the waiter approached the table with another chocolate cake for my birthday - just like the one Angela had brought to our room this afternoon. It had a candle on top. I was able to point my iPhone at the cake with the candle so my grandsons could see it. They joined in a chorus of happy birthday as I blew out the candle.

We were back in our hotel room by 9:30pm after a most enjoyable and memorable birthday. Our task was now to pack our bags ready for our departure from Singapore tomorrow morning heading home to Sydney.

It had been a memorable birthday on Sentosa Island.

Day 25 - Sunday 24th September

Today we would be transferring from the Sofitel SO in Singapore city to the Sofitel Hotel on Sentosa Island. We needed to check out from our hotel by noon but couldn't check into the Sentosa hotel until 2pm.

So there was no rush this morning and we slept in until 8am - another good night's sleep. Then again, I'd had a sore throat overnight and so I bought some Strepsils this morning from the 7-Eleven next door. Hopefully this will fix the problem.

We checked out at 11:30am and caught a taxi to Sentosa. It was only a short trip. When you enter Sentosa Island, there are toll gates where you need to pay a $6 fee unless you have an accommodation booking. I held up the printout of our booking and she waved us through.

The entrance to the Sofitel Hotel is very impressive. As expected, our room wasn't ready and they promised to have it ready for us by 2pm. Angela, the lady at reception, then took us on a guided tour of the hotel. This was very special service.

She took us along walkways lined with columns with grassed areas, pools, fountains and statues on either side. We ended up at the Italian restaurant near the swimming pool. The grounds are well laid out and tastefully designed.

On her recommendation, we walked down the timber stairs to the beachfront and walked along the covered walkway to Tanjong Beach. This was obviously a very popular beach - probably more so because it was Sunday.

There were people swimming in the water, sun-baking on the beach and relaxing on banana chairs. The beach bar was popular. We walked along the beach to a nearby headland to admire the view from different perspectives.

When we were heading back through the car park towards the hotel, we noticed a sign warning people about wild peacocks. Apparently the peacocks often mistake reflections in shiny cars as being another peacock and end up scratching the cars. We're told the problem is worse now because it's currently mating season for peacocks.

Near the pool bar, we noticed a pool where you can dangle your feet and have fish clean them for you. Suzy tried it first and then somehow convinced me to give it a go. I didn't last very long because it was very ticklish. The fish were only small and it was strange seeing them crawling all over your feet.

For lunch we found a small table outside the bar overlooking artificial pools and the swimming pool. We had chicken skewers, a meat and cheese platter, a G&T and a Tiger draft beer. By this time it was almost 2pm.

Our room was ready and they'd changed us from the room we'd originally been allocated. Initially we were to be in the Tranquility Wing and now we were in the Peace Wing. There seems to be theme here.

Our room was great - spacious, comfortable and nicely designed. There was no fancy technology like the Sofitel SO Hotel in Singapore City but that didn't matter. The bathroom has a separate shower, separate bath and separate toilet. It has a desk for my laptop and plenty of power points.

The coffee area is intriguing. It's in a cylindrical piece of furniture outside the bathroom. There is fliptop that exposes the coffee machine etc and below is the mini bar and other cupboards. Cute.

After a while, we ended up turning off the air conditioning because it was too cool. Angela rang to check that everything was Ok.

We decided to do an outing this afternoon to go on the cable car to Faber Peak. After some confusion about the shuttle bus, we got a taxi which took us to Beach Station. Then we walked up the hill past the Merlion statue to find our way to the cable car.

The whole area (Merlion Plaza)  is a busy tourist area with plenty of attractions. The information booth sold us our tickets and told us where to go. We went up four flights of escalators to get to the top of the hill. There was a different cable car heading past us that went to a different location, Imbiah Lookout. On the other side was a large building housing the Madame Tussauds Singapore exhibition.

Naturally the entrance and exit for the cable-way was via the gift shop. There was a queue but it wasn't too long. The sign said that the capacity of each car was eight people but they gave us a car all to ourselves (except for a staff member who was probably finishing her shift and going home).

The cable car goes high up over the harbour giving great views of Singapore and Sentosa Island. There is an intermediate station but we continued to the final destination at Faber Peak. Here there are restaurants and a gift shop. We didn't stay long and caught the cableway back to the Merlion Plaza.

It was hard to figure out the bus arrangements, so we caught a taxi again back to our hotel.

Suzy had vouchers for free drinks for both of us and so we went to the hotel bar at 7am. I had a glass of the house red whereas Suzy had something much more interesting - the Singapore Sling which was a potent pink drink.

Our dinner booking was for the buffet dinner in the Kwee Zeen restaurant near the hotel foyer. There were plenty of great options to choose from including prawns. We had more red wine to accompany the meal (despite the price). Suzy's Accor Plus card gives us half price for the food and 15% discount for drinks.

Day 24 - Saturday 23rd September

Today we had no commitments during the day and so there was no need to set alarms. It was after 8:30am before we went down to the restaurant on the ground floor of the hotel for a buffet breakfast. There was an excellent range of options available. However, the service was slow - I waited ages for my omelette to arrive.

During breakfast we noticed that it was raining heavily outside. The forecast was for thunderstorms clearing with a maximum of 32C. Currently it was only 23C.

Mid-morning we set out to go to Chinatown. We'd only gone a few blocks when we came across a religious ceremony in the street. One lane of the two-lane road was cordoned off for the ceremony. There were several men in religious clothing singing and a small group of people standing behind him in civilian clothing.

On closer examination, they were outside a temple complex that stretched for the full depth of the block. A sign indicated that it was a Taoist centre.

A few blocks further on, we came across the entrance to Chinatown. As we walked through the streets and stalls, a man came out of a photographic shop and tied to sell me a fancy new lens for my camera. Initially the price was $480 and by the time we walked away, it had come down to $290. I didn't feel the need to add the weight of another lens in my camera bag.

Suzy was busy looking for things to buy and so I left her to shop in peace and set off to go back to the hotel. I hadn't gone very far when I stumbled across a magnificent Buddhist temple. I joined the throng that was going inside.

Apart from tour groups and individual tourists like me, there were devotees praying. There were large rooms with Buddha statues and very ornate and elegant decor. Like me, there were plenty of people taking photos inside and outside the building.

For lunch, we initially looked at the building across the road from the hotel that had dozens of food shops selling Asian food. Suzy decided that we'd had enough Asian food and would prefer to eat in air conditioning rather in the hear and humidity. So we went to Costas Cafe next to the hotel - it was pretty ordinary.

Mid-afternoon we decided to go to the Skyway in the Gardens by the Bay. We caught a taxi there rather than trying Uber again. It took less than ten minutes and we were there soon after 4pm.

People had told us about Gardens by the Bay but I hadn't realised how big it was and how much there was to see there. We were only there for a short time but I'm sure you could easily spend all day there.

One of the features in this area is a set of about a dozen "trees". Each tree is a concrete tower surrounded by a steel frame that resembles sinews or vines - it's probably designed to look like bark. The structure fans out at the top like the branches of a tree. At the top of one of these structures, there is a circular restaurant.

The skyway is a walkway that is suspended on steel cables between some of these trees. Once you buy your ticket, you get an elevator up to the walkway. As you get out of the lift, there is a sign warning you not to go any further if you have heart problems, high blood pressure, scared of heights, feeling dizzy and a number of other issues.

As you walk along the walkway it bounced slightly and it's a long way down. One little boy was all bravado at first but later was begging his parents to go back. On the other hand, the view is great and well worth the trip.

Apart from the view of the city, you get a great view of the triple towers of the nearby Marina Bay Sands complex with the "boat" on top. Below you see the gardens and in the other direction you see the big ships off shore.

Down the elevator at the other end and back on terra firma, we went for a walk through the gardens. The highlight was the river and the big artificial water lilies. There were plenty of photo opportunities on the skyway and on the ground.

After walking through a grand subway under the roadway, we found ourselves outside the towers and caught a taxi back to our hotel.

Along the way, our driver was telling us that Singapore was a third world country 20 years ago and is now a first world country. He said taxes are high but there is no corruption and the money is well spent on making the city clean and well maintained.

Suzy's Accor Plus card gave us two free drinks and so we went upstairs to the roof-top pool bar at 6:30pm to have our drinks. She'd booked a special promotion dinner in the hotel's restaurant on the ground floor for 7pm.

Earlier in the day, I'd gone downstairs to ask about the conditions on the promotion that qualified for a free bottle of wine. When we arrived at dinner, he told us he'd got it wrong and offered us us each a free glass of wine instead. It was a very good meal.

Day 23 - Friday 22nd September

This morning we would be leaving Siem Reap and flying to Singapore. The hotel had organised a car to pick us up at 8:15am.

After breakfast in the hotel restaurant again, we finished packing and went down to the hotel lobby soon after 8am. The supervisor asked us to fill in a survey form about our stay and we naturally gave them high marks. We told the supervisor that their staff are great.

When the car arrived, one of the reception staff helped us with our bags and then, to our amazement, jumped in the front passenger seat to come with us to the airport. This was extraordinary. I've never had this experience before and probably never will again.

The trip to the airport took only 20 minutes. We'd been wondering how modern the airport would be and we were pleasantly surprised. It wasn't shiny and modern like many international airports. Instead its architecture was consistent with Cambodian heritage.

At the check-in counter, we bumped into two other groups who'd been on the Scenic Spirit river cruise with us. There was no queue at the check-in counter and no queue at customs or at  the security check. We were sitting in the lounge at the departure gate before 9am - plenty of time for a scheduled departure of 10:40am.

Suzy made a couple of trips to the duty free shops. In one of her visits, she came across the New Zealanders who'd been on the river cruise and then we noticed two of the Scenic guides.

Initially a turbo-prop plane arrived at the gate. This surprised us because we were expecting a jet. It would have been like catching a Qantaslink flight in rural NSW. However, our jet aircraft arrived at about 10am.

The plane was labelled Silkair which is part of the Singapore Airlines group. There were plenty of spare seats and we'd managed to organise a window seat and an aisle seat with an empty seat between us. During the flight, I saw several people spread out over three seats having a snooze.

Although it was only a two hour flight, they served us a hot meal soon after we took off. We'd already had breakfast at the hotel and it was too early for lunch. They were serving alcohol and so we both had a small bottle of French red wine.

Singapore's Changi airport is huge and well organised. There was almost no queue at immigration and the queue for taxis was short. The journey to our hotel was along a wide motorway decorated with flowers on both sides.

Our hotel is called Sofitel SO and it's well located near the centre of the city. This hotel has style, elegance and class. Our room is in the Heritage Wing and there is a newer wing adjacent to it called the Hip Wing.

We were totally blown away by our room. For a start it's spacious and has a big bed - bigger than I've ever seen before - bigger than king size. To could sleep a whole family in this bed. There is a separate room for the toilet and in the bathroom, there is a separate shower and a separate bathtub.

Then there's the technology. The room phone is an iPhone sitting in a docking station beside the bed. On the other side of the bed is an iPad Mini that controls everything in the room including the lights, the TV, the curtains, air conditioning, etc.

Our first outing for the day was to buy a local SIM card for my mini WiFi device. At the airport, I'd noticed an advertisement from Singtel for a SIM card with 100Gb of data with a 7-day limit for only $15.

The hotel concierge suggested we go to the Chinatown markets where there are numerous telecommunication shops. We set out on foot to walk to the market which was only about 15 minutes away.

When we got close, we pulled out the map the hotel had given us when a old man came up to us and asked if he could help. Initial I thought he might be about to take us to his bother's tailor shop or his cousin's jewelry shop but it turned out that he genuinely wanted to help us. He then walked with us into the shopping centre to show us where to go.

After trying several little shops, we eventually found a Singtel shop where we bought the SIM card we wanted. It worked and we were in business.

Next we planned to go to Marina Bay Sands. At first we lined up at the taxi rank but gave up waiting and organised a Uber ride. With hindsight, the taxi would have been quicker because the driver had trouble finding us.

By this time it was almost 6pm and the Friday evening traffic in the middle of the city was very heavy. Unlike other places we've been to recently, there were almost no motor bikes - just cars, vans and buses - including double-decker buses. Eventually the Uber driver dropped us off at the entrance to Tower 1.

The building at Marina Bay Sands consists of three tall modern towers and on top of the towers there is a "boat". Our plan was to go to the top to admire the view. It turned out that the Sky Bar was in Tower 3 and there was a long queue of people waiting to buy tickets to go up to the top.

With tickets in hand, we caught the lift to level 57. Our red tickets qualified us for entry to the bar on the deck overlooking the city. If we'd gone for the cheaper white tickets we would have been able to go onto the outer observation desk to get a better view.

Wine in the bar area was pretty pricey. We paid $27 for each glass of a McLaren Vale red wine. However we got a $20 credit on each glass for our red tickets. What they often don't tell you as that they then add on tax and a service charge.

As we sipped on our wine, the sun set gradually over the tall city buildings lighting up the clouds with an attractive pink glow. It wasn't easy to take photos because the bar area was so crowded.

Yolanda had told Suzy that we needed to check out the Gardens by the Bay and so we caught the lift down and crossed a footbridge in search of this area. We ended up in a large shopping mall before going outside onto the large promenade next to the bay.

There were hundreds of people standing or sitting around looking towards the river and so we figured they must have been here for a reason. Sure enough there was a 15-minute light show on the river that started soon afterwards at 8pm.

By this time, we were tired and hungry and didn't want to walk too far. We eventually found a restaurant for dinner. Although this restaurant specialised in tea, we didn't order any tea. The wine was too expensive and so we just had water. Both of us ordered a wagyu beef burger.

The taxi rank outside the building was busy but very well organised. The line of taxis waiting was even longer than the line of people waiting. We were back in our hotel by about 9:30pm. The street next to the hotel was closed off and had become an open-air eatery. At the end of the street there was a band who had a German theme but had ocker Australian accents.

There is good WiFi reception throughout the Sofitel SO Hotel giving about 5Mb/s speeds in both directions. By comparison, my mini WiFi with the Singtel SIM gives me between 30Mb/s and 45Mb/s download speeds and about 20Mb/s upload.

Day 22 - Thursday 21st September

This morning's excursion was to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat. The guide had told us last night that we were to leave the hotel at 4:35am and so we'd set our alarms for 3:45am. Peter was still unwell and so there was only the four of us again.

After about 20 minutes, we reached the parking area near the temple. There were already others in the carpark who had the same plans as us. We left the van to walk to the spot near the temple where we'd view the sunrise. Along the way we'd passed a checkpoint where they checked our tickets.

Angkor Wat is surrounded by a wide moat and you cross it on a floating bridge. This bridge is about 200m long and 10m wide. I'm not sure what the surface is made of but it's soft and rubbery under foot.

After following the path on the other side, it was about 5:20am by the time we reached the reflection pool where we would watch the sunrise. There were already dozens of people lined up on the edge of the lake. Everyone had cameras and some had set up tripods. The temple was about 200m away.

Although it was still dark, we could see the reflection of the temple in the water in front of us. The official time for sunset was 5:53am but it was about 6:10am before the sun appeared over the temple. While waiting, we'd taken lots of photos as the light gradually improved.

By this time, there were hundreds of people watching the sunrise. Surprisingly, most people started to drift away soon after the sun first appeared - rather than waiting to see the full outline of the sun. We'd been lucky that there were no clouds obscuring the spectacle.

Our hotel had provided us with breakfast boxes and our guide took us to a nearby outdoor restaurant where we found a table to eat our breakfast. We ordered coffee to go with our supplied breakfast. As usual, there were people approaching us all the time to buy scarves, books and postcards.

Yolanda's injured leg was giving her a lot of trouble and so she decided to go back to the hotel. Our guide organised for our driver to take her back.

After breakfast, our guide took us towards the temple complex. Initially he took us around the exterior of the site stopping at certain locations that were ideal for photographs. Then we headed into the site.

He showed us corridors where the inscriptions tell the story about the construction of the site. Mostly this takes the form of carvings in the stone walls showing people, carts, elephants, etc. There is also some text in ancient languages.

Eventually we reached the main towers in the centre of the site. Elsewhere they've built timber stairs and walkways to protect the stonework from tourist traffic. Here they had a steep set of timber stairs that led up the side of the tower.

They only allow a limited number of people onto the top level to avoid collapse of the structure caused by excess weight. So there was a queue waiting at the bottom of the stairs.

It was worth the effort to go up there because there was so much to see. There were several courtyards and towers. We walked along corridors along the perimeter to see the courtyards, statues, carvings, etc on one side and to look out at the view below on the other side.

It's incredible that they managed to build such a massive construction all those years ago and it's incredible that it is still standing. In quite a few places, you can see where they are currently working to restore parts of the structure.

Maria had decided not to climb the tower and waited at the bottom with our guide. Suzy and I spent about 30 minutes up there.

Next we went to a different part of the complex containing statues. There were saw several monks in their saffron robes.

From there, we walked back through the grounds and across the floating bridge to reach the carpark. By this time, there were large crowds of people heading in the opposite direction coming to visit the site. The return trip through the grounds was much easier than the earlier journey in the dark.

We then drove for about 20 minutes to reach the outskirts of the next site, Angkor Thom. There is an ancient bridge across the river outside the wall of the site. This would have been a great photo site by itself but it was even better because they were offering elephant rides that took people across the bridge and into the site.

Back in the van, we drove about 2km to reach the temple. Our guide told us that one million people used to live within the walls of this site many years ago but now there are none.

The significant feature of this site is the dozens of faces of Buddha carved into the stonework. Once again there is an elevated area in the centre of the site. This time Suzy and Maria stayed at ground level while the guide escorting me up the staircases to the top.

He guided me to the best vantage points to take photos. I lost count of the number of Buddha faces. At one spot, there were three lined up in a single photo shot.

Back on ground level, there was a very large golden Buddha statue nearby.

The van took us to a different gate to leave the site. Along the way we passed by a wall that was more than 300m long with elephants carved into the entire length of the wall.

At the gate we stopped for photos. On each side of the gate, there are carvings of triple-headed elephants. This time we included the driver and guide in our photos. About 2km further on, we passed through a modern replica of this gate.

Originally the hotel had organised to send a lunch for us out to one of the temples so we could have a picnic lunch at about midday. However, with Yolanda and Peter back at the hotel, we decided that it would be better to have the lunch back there instead.

We were back at the hotel by about 10:45am. Although this was much sooner than originally planned, it suited us just fine because we were very tired after such an early start. What's more, the walking over rough ground and climbing of structures had been hard on our legs.

Peter was feeling well enough to join us for lunch but didn't eat much. Once again, we were the only people in the restaurant when we had lunch at 12:30pm - we were outnumbered by the staff looking after us leading us to wonder how they make money.

Suzy and I had booked to have our complementary full body massage at the hotel at 2:20pm. It was quite different from the one we'd had last week in Hoy An and we decided we preferred the one in Vietnam.

When we left the spa area behind reception, a thunderstorm had arrived. There was lightning, thunder and heavy rain.

About an hour later, the rain was easing and the girls caught a tuk tuk back to the old market and naturally they came back with more scarves. Peter and I opted not to go this time.

We decided to take advantage of the happy hour at the hotel again. Because of the wet weather, they had set up under cover next to the pool rather than on the terrace overlooking the pool. Suzy and I got there first and the other three joined us a few minutes later at about 6:30pm.

As always, the staff were very attentive and only too happy to keep topping up our glasses - all for free.

Peter was there but did not feel well enough to join us for dinner and so the rest of us caught a tuk tuk to take us to Malis Restaurant where we had a booking for 7:30pm. It was only a short ride. This restaurant is next door to where we stopped for lunch with Scenic a couple of days ago.

This is a a high class restaurant with great food and service. We caught a tuk tuk back to our hotel.