Never say never! The Sapa tour couldn't have started any worse; I was ready and waiting at the hotel at 7pm, but after both 8pm and then 9pm passed I was worried. The staff tried calling the office to no avail, and after sitting with them as they picked their noses and explored their hair for foreign bodies I was getting a little fed up of their company. They finally got through to some sort of tour guide at 9.15, when a woman shouted in very bad English to get ...

Well an eventful two days in Halong Bay were had - off to a bad start when the bus due at 7.30am arrived at 8.40. Great. The little man who picked me up failed to apologise for his timing, and didn't even hold the door as I struggled with my bags. I sat down on one of the aisle seats on an already packed bus, and was promptly told to 'move back, more people', to which I replied I would when the bus wasn't moving around and I could stand without instantly falling ...

An alarm call at 6.30am to attack the Reunification Palace before my flight to Hanoi, but by the time I'd hit snooze a few times and had breakfast I figured I may as well wait until eight to collect my washing. He wouldn't give it to me a minute before eight though, even if it was sitting behind his desk packed and ready. I decided to walk to the palace, but after looking lost at the huge roundabout a cyclo driver said he'd take me for 150,000VND, to which I agr...

Gran's 88th today! Hope her birthday card arrived on time. Up at 6.30am ready for my trip to the Mekong Delta, had a free breakfast of fruit, watermelon shake, tempura stuff, and optional chips. Popped back to my room for five minutes and ended up nearly missing the collection bloke because of it. I sat in the air-conditioned bus for two hours and slept pretty much the whole way, struggling to pay attention to the guide whenever he spoke about the many, many ri...

After three hours sleep I woke up to a phone call from Thea stating I needed to be up in twenty minutes to go to the police station. I took my bags down to reception, thinking I'd be going on my trip to the Mekong Delta after the station, and went with Thea to the restaurant from last night. I told one of the waiters there what had happened and where, as he had agreed to translate for me at the station. The police station turned out to be directly opposite the ba...