Day 22 Hanoi.

Today is another transfer day, our last internal flight north from Hue International airport to Hanoi. Now Hue international airport is unique in that it does not have any international flights only internal flights. Our guide tels us that the name justifies charging higher parking charges, which were raised when they added the 'international' bit to the name, without adding any international flights.

There will be a shock to our systems when we travel north as I believe Hanoi is suffering from the influence of a cold front from China (not the first time they have suffered an influence from China) and temperatures will plummet to 20 degrees.

Temperatures have consistently been 30 degrees and above since we arrived. We have seen no rain since we left Luang Prababg. Temperatures have peaked in Cambodia at around 38, cooled to a chilly 30 degrees in Hue so 20 degrees will be positively arctic, and has left us burrowing into our suitcases for our one and only pullover/cardigan. I expect your hearts bleed for us!

As we are not scheduled to tour this afternoon I am expecting a quieter day with little to relate, although there always seems to be an adventure that pops up even on the quietest of days.

STOPPRESS...I shouldn't have spoken!! Something did pop up and it has turned out to be our biggest problem yet! Despite having confirmed our flights and having turned up early, it transpired they had overbooked the flight and we had been bumped off!! This happened just after we had dismissed our guide because nothing ever goes wrong adter we arrive at check in - yeah right!!

We were ushered away to a customer service area where 'battle commenced' - the English war. After a long conversation, where I was careful not to lose my temper (viewed as a personal insult in Vietnam, although that was how I felt towards the airline) but with sufficient emotion to convey my feelings, it was clear that there really were no seats, even in business class. Our options were to fly south to Saigon (the opposite way to where we wanted to fly), change and fly north to Hanoi. This was a non starter as it was a round trip of probably 4 hours for what should have been a 1 hour flight. Our second option was to take the 3.25pm flight. They would taxi us to a hotel, provide us with lunch, then pick us up again for our flight. This was the only realistic option, but I decided to push further and negotiated an upgrade to business class. This is quite ironic as business class on internal flights only involves bigger seats. There is no champagne, or caviar, but if there was you would have to 'neck' it, on such a short flight. Still they did provide a further 60000 dong (about $30) as compensation - about the average weekly wage for a Vietnamese labourer. Our conclusion? We now know why there are no international flights at Hue - they can't be trusted!

So we are transferred back to Hue, to a hotel just around the corner from where we stayed originally and only a stones throw from where we dined last night. When we arrive at reception, we and our bags are wheeled through the welcoming committee for one of those weddings we have told you about. At first, it appears that as further compensation, lunch is at the wedding breakfast with the bride and groom. I hurriedly ask Julie for an envelope where we can put some dong in as a present, with visions of the happy couple opening our envelope and asking each other 'who the Tonkin's were, as they weren't from their side of the family!' ! But no, we are escorted upstairs to our room for 2 hours. Not even enough time for an executive shower, Pete.

Fair play to our travel company, the message that Vietnam airlines conveyed to our waiting guide in Hanoi about our late arrival also got back to our guide here in Hue and he comes to our hotel to check we are ok and to take us back to the airport. We even have a visit from the customer service manager for Selective Asia, who also offers a free lunch, even though it is not his company's fault but we decline as 2 full vietnamese lunches are even too much for me.

So we sit in our room, immediately above the wedding venue, where we listen to the rattle of every glass surface in our room, due to a very heavy bass from the music in the wedding room below and to the voice of Uncle Ho as he serenades his favourite nephew/ niece. It would seem that there is one wedding custom that we knew nothing about - it would seem that it is custom to 'strangle a cat at a wedding here in Vietnam!'...to be continued tomorrow!

Anyway, onto what I was going to tell you...So I thought I would tell you about the nightlife in Laos/Cambodia/Vietnam.

Now, those of you expecting a review of the 'banging hotspots' we had frequented on our trip then you will be disappointed! After all, we were generally tucked up in bed by ten!

No, this is a review of the 'nightlife' we have observed scurrying around in the shadows.

Now before I do I would hastened to say up front that we have not suffered any Ill effects from anything we have eaten (and we have been quite adventurous) and therefore anything I am about to relate is more a reflection on the fact that we are visiting third world countries, with tropical temperatures, where most food is freshly prepared (and discarded) without the infrastructure to clear up.

So the number one hotspot for nightlife was Sisowarth quay in Phnom Penh, a promenade along the river, where families walk and picnic at night. Here we observed a number of rats skulking in the low level shrubs, including one particularly talented rat who overlapped on the right wing of a football match, waiting for a 'through ball' that never came!

Second in the charts was Siem Reap, where mice could be seen skirting along the edge of some shops, completely at ease with the passing tourists, who were blissfully unaware of their presence.

In third place, were the cockroaches who were milling around the drains outside the Bo Thanh night market in Saigon. These were so big that you wouldn't get many to the pound.

Climbing (literally) to just outside the top 3 are the geckos that bring a very 'Hemmingway' like feel to many of the smaller restaurants and cafes we have visited. In particular the two geckos in Ha Nhi's restaurant that chirped to each other, like nocturnal sparrows. I have named them Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton because Lady Hamilton seemed to chirp 'How about it then, Nelson?' To which Nelson chirped back 'Not tonight, Josephine!' as he made no move towards her!

...and finally my tip for the top, bubbling under (or should I say bubbling over) was the 3 foot snake that dropped from a tree no more than ten feet in front of us, in Cambodia. Although not nightlife or vermine, it deserves a mention as a tip for the top.