Although we enjoyed the beach and the company of other travelers in Hoi An, we were keen to step away from the tourist trail again and decided to head inland. We braced ourselves for another bumpy bus ride, and followed part of the Ho Chi Minh trail through beautiful lush valleys as we climbed towards the central highlands.

We arrived in Kon Tum in the middle of the day and decided to book into the first hotel that we stumbled upon in order to avoid sun stroke! However, the staff didn't speak much English and we found it impossible to do anything from finding out where we were on the map to hiring a motorbike. We decided that we should instead go to the typical Lonely Planet recommended hotel to ensure we could maximize our experience. This turned out to be a good move, with clean, comfy rooms, friendly staff and a beautiful shady garden to sit out the heat of the day under.

Kon Tum has been the friendliest place we've been so far. We were constantly greeted with warm smily hellos and 'peace sign' waves. As we walked through a crowd of kids breaking up after school we were asked a hundred times 'how are you?' and 'what is your name?'.. and they all would run off laughing when we replied.

On our first day, we stupidly decided to do a self-guided walking tour of the city in the heat of the day. Some friendly locals spotted us and invited us into their shed for rice paper rolls and beer! Their hospitality was excessive. After lunch, they taught us how to dance, how to say 'cheers' in vietnamese and even gave Aidan a classic chunky cross necklace (it turned out one of them was a priest...). In return we handed over a bracelet and a tacky koala bear, although they seemed happy enough!

It turns out that Kon Tum has a predominantly Catholic population, with a strong French influence. The main attractions were the Bishop's house, which is also now a school and Catholic seminary, and a beautiful big wooden church. The delicate-looking church was built in 1913 and has miraculously managed to survive the wars! Protected behind this old catholic church is one of eight Vinh Son orphanages, all run by the Catholics.

Kon Tum is surrounded by a scattering of ethnic minority villages. It wasn't very clear, but from what we gather, these people receive less government support or education. When their families become too large, they often have to get rid of the less productive member - the youngest child. As such, there are over 480 orphans in Kon Tum, most of whom have been completely deserted. We sat on the wooden steps outside a Sunday morning church service and have never seen so many children packed into a church! Listening to them all laugh and sing was really heartwarming.

The city of Kon Tum was relatively quiet, so we decided to hire a motorbike and see the country surrounds for a day. On our first attempt we were presented with a bike with two bald tyres, one of which had a large split. They said we could take it but if the tyre blew we would have to pay extra! Not really happy with this, we kept searching and found a better deal. The ride was worth the effort and we even took a few off-road tracks. On one we rode along a narrow river-side pass to find a rural village and some very wild-looking kids taking their cattle for a walk. We stopped for lunch at a nice quiet, family run shop along a main road. After some fresh noodle soup, we entertained the youngest kids with yo-yos and rested up on their hammocks! After lunch the roads were quiet, so Jess felt game enough to learn how to ride and took us home.

We are now on a bus down to Da Lat. It really is amazing how many people they are able to squeeze into a minibus! At least they supply plastic stools for people to sit in the isle. To make things worse, the conductor is forcing everyone to listen to his awful corny pop music at full volume! Bring on the peace and quiet of Da Lat, Vietnam's cool-weather mountain holiday retreat.