This blog isn't so much about the city of Vinh, where we spent just 12 hours, but is more a general reflection on my 16 days in Vietnam. Yesterday we crossed the border over in Laos, where I'll be spending the next 10 days and the final part of my South East Asia group tour. Last I updated I was about to go and watch Andy Murray lose the Australian Open final to Roger Federer. It wasn't a great contest but annoying I had to leave it at the best bit (the 3rd set ...

Hello from Vietnam's capital city, Hanoi. We've spent two full days here either side of an overnight trip to Halong Bay (which I'll cover in another blog) and although neither day was especially thrilling, as ever I have plenty to write about! The last time I updated was ahead of our Australia Day night out in Hue. Despite the occassion there were surprisingly few Australians out on the town in the evening, with our group making up the majority of the bar. With ...

OK well there's rain in Melbourne so the Australian Open final has been briefly delayed, allowing me to come back down and get fully updated on my blog! We departed Hanoi on Friday morning on our 3.5 hour prviate bus journey east to Vietnam's natural treasure, Halong Bay. This was the place I was most excited about visiting in the whole country, so I was a tad disappointed to wake up in the morning to find another grey and overcast day. The drive there was not es...

I'm now in Hue (pronounced Hway), which was Vietnam's capital city and home of the Royal Family until 1945, when Ho Chi Minh declared independance from France. At this time the last King surrendered his powers and soon after moved abroad, thereby ending Vietnam's royal dynasty forever. I'm taking the time to update tonight because it may be a few days before I get the chance to get online again. Tomorrow morning we are visiting the Imperial Citadel, before we tak...

Good morning from the small town of Hoi An, where I've spent the last 3 full days - the longest stop of my South East Asia tour. We depart this afternoon on a private bus up to Hue, crossing on the way the Hai Van Pass, which looked amazing when Top Gear came here! The weather is nice and hopefully it'll be the same at the top of the pass. It'll be nice not to have to use a night train for a journey. The one to Hoi An was much worse than our first one, which much...