Good catch Hawk. Let's do some numbers. I do not have dental cover in Australia. And I'll convert everything to USD to make things easy.

Australia quote for repairing my front incisor (big upper front tooth) $2,900 USD
Quote for other three molar (1 upper, 2 lower) implants. $2,900 (x3)

So that's $11,600 USD ($15,325 AUD).

Costs of this trip:
All the above dental work: $3,240 USD
Flights (for two) $1,160 USD
3.5 star Accommodation (14 days) $750 USD
Total: $5,150 USD

So then, the entire two weeks away for both of us is less than half the quoted dental costs in Australia. Dental facilities are streets ahead of Australia, with western trained doctors. I had two CAT scans for goodness sake. An Aussie dentist cant spell CAT let alone have one IN THEIR SURGERY!!

No brainer really, especially with my love of Vietnam.



Cheers, SB

 

[QUOTE=No brainer really,
Cheers, SB[/QUOTE]



Is that what the CAT scans found?

 

This is the actual CAT scan, I'll let you decide Hamlin.....







Cheers, SB

 

Holy smokes, we're twins!!!!

 

This thread's too good not to show up on.

Congrats on the future arrival! No children of my own but Mrs. Woof can't get enough of her two grandsons and is always always wishing for another.

Sort of like men and bikes

New incisor and 3 molars, 'bout the amount I'm shy right now. I know people who vacation in Mexico for the same benefits you enjoyed in Vietnam.

As always, great pics

 

Cheaper to get all your teeth knocked out, get falsies and the money saved could buy another bike!

 

Ok, so the travel reporting this time has not been as detailed as previously, for that I apologise. But, we have had a fantastic time, and unfortunatey at 4pm this afternoon it ends and the journey home begins.

Ho hum....

So a few final photos. I very much am in love with Vietnam as a country and the Vietnamese as a people. If you are even remotely forming an idea that you'd like to visit this country, do it. Do it now as it is changing so rapidly. The difference of five visits ago in 2012 to now is mind numbing, not only the building frenzy, but vehicles on the road.

Safety still takes a back seat though....In my mind I imagined the consequences of a car knocking the trolley onto the worker in the pit.



WE had a night out at the water puppets. Highly entertaining and even though we couldn't understand the song lyrics, the puppeteers skill ensured we got the gags. Very clever indeed.



A scooter park outside the puppet theatre!



Walking around the next day we found the block and tackle shop. I did end up buying a few tools, a gasket punch set and a pair of digital calipers. Lovely quality.



The morning markets are fantastic. We worked out that each 'area' has at least three uses during the day. Food market in the morning, then possibly a lunch place and finally different people running the dinner shops.



As there is very little home refrigeration, ice is used to keep everything fresh. So there is quite a little industry supplying ice in all configurations.



We did spend a bit of time at the rooftop bar at our pub after the busy days we had been leading. A nice beer, G&T and cigar set off the day quite well. It also allowed up to see the approaching monsoonal weather.



On Monday we decided to do a two day trip to Mui Ne - about 5 - 6 hours north east of Saigon on the coast. We travelled by sleeper bus which was quite a clever way of stacking people comfortably for a long time/distance.



Just after we boarded Mrs SB wailed that there was a yellow thing flying around her. Well when it landed on her lotus like legs I saw it was a leaf beetle, but unlike I had ever seen before. Now I've had an interest in insects all my life and officially have been an entomologist for 30 plus years and this was THE most beutiful insect I have ever seen. It looked exactly like gold.



to be continued....after a cigar and G&T

 

It was a very big day. We were on the bus early for the journey to Mui Ne. When we arrived, we booked into our hotel and were picked up by a jeep driver for the big afternoon out. First stop, the Fairy Stream. A shallow, warm stream tricked over a sand bed making it just dandy to walk on.



And then were cows............very inquisitive cows.



Then it was off to a fishing village. Traditional boat being readied for the off..



Others that had returned were having the catches sorted by the ladies ashore.



Still life with coracle...



This be our jeep which performed flawlessly all day........until it didn't. It failed (fuel blockage) on the way home and we got transferred to another.



Next on the itinerary was the 'white' sand dunes where we had the opportunity to flog a Polaris up and down the dunes. Fun it was. Mrs SB screaming like a girl on one of the steeper descents...



Hammond, izzat you????



And then there were more cows. This was now cow-go-home time which I got to know so very well when I lived in the Vietnamese Highlands in 2014.



Walking around the next day we found a hotel with a line up of older non-Japanese bikes. Soviet, Italian and Czech mainly with a smattering of British as well.



Including a model I have great affection for..... Rasputin? Where are you????



And so that's about it. I'll sign off with a picture Mrs SB diddled with to represent the new fangs in my melon...



Cheers, SB

 

Excellent journal SB, I'm green with envy, served in the Far East in the army and found the people there to be very welcoming, the heat and humidity is another thing though

 

Great, interesting pictures, as always Seb.

Have a safe journey home.