After a fairly pleasant 6 hour bus journey we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City a.k.a. Saigon. The city is fairly nice with some good restaurants and quite a lot to see. Our hotel was situated in a long alleyway off one of the main roads in the city centre and so although we were within walking distance of most things, it was quite calm and quiet. Walking down that alleyway we saw locals eating, drinking tea, chatting, cooking, having their hair cut and cutting their toe nails. Real Vietnam. Motorbikes are the main mode of transport in Vietnam and there are literally millions of bikes zooming around, dodging and weaving. There is no let up in the traffic. The best way to cross the road is to just start walking across the road, merge with the traffic and allow the bikes to swerve around you and pray.

During our time in Ho Chi Minh we visited the War Remnants Museum, the Revolution Museum and the Independence Palace. The War Remnants Museum was all about the Vietnam War - the lead up to it, the protests globally, the fighting, eye witness accounts and photos, and most memorably the effects of Agent Orange. It was such a fascinating museum and really brought home the horrors of war. The saddest thing about the war was that even though it finished over 30 years ago, people are still being affected by the Agent Orange chemicals. Not only did it burn the land and innocent people, it stayed in the soil infecting the crops and water. This caused a number of hideous diseases that are genetic and so are passed down through the generations. Grandchildren of people who came into contact with Agent Orange are to this day being stillborn or born with missing limbs or disabilities. The museum isn't all doom and gloom and instead shows how towns have been rebuilt and how people are coping with their disabilities. It was actually very positive. Compared to this museum, the Revolution Museum wasn't very good and we soon saw everything it had to offer. The Independence Palace was quite good as for some reason we had a free private tour around all the offices, state rooms, secret bunkers and the roof top helipad.

One evening we went to see the famous water puppet show. Neither of us knew what to expect but it seemed to be the thing to do. It was very different. The show was in a theatre but instead of a stage there was a big pool with a backdrop and 3 musicians/ voice actors either side. The puppets popped out of the water and moved around through the water in various ways while the voice actors conversed in Vietnamese. I don't know what the story was about but there were dragons squirting water at each other and people in boats floating around. It was all very impressive though. I spent most of the show trying to work out how it was all done, where the puppeteers were and what sort of mechanisms were being used. I think it could be a class project when I get back to work next year.

We did 2 trips out of Ho Chi Mi. The first was to Cao Dai temple and to the Cu Chi tunnels. The temple was fascinating. It was a relatively new building and was incredibly garish inside. The colours and decoration looked as though it was a religion theme park with luminous pinks and yellows everywhere and big statues. We saw part of a service where worshippers all assembled in rows in the big main hall got on their knees and prayed while music was playing and a choir was singing. The singing, music and praying all seemed to be out of sync with each other. The temple was like no other religious place I'd seen before. That's because it wasn't. The religion, building and customs at Cao Dai is actually a mixture of several religions - Christianity, Confuscianism, Taoism, Laoism and Buddhism. Combining religions seems to be very popular in Asia. Certainly solves a lot of problems and avoids a lot of wars! We then traveled to Cu Chi to see the tunnels where the Vietcong hid and lived during the War. The place was a jungle. Apparently during the war the area was destroyed by Agent Orange but it has since been cleaned up and replanted so it is now back to how it was. We saw the original tunnels that were used, death traps that were constructed and mines and bombs that were used. The tunnels were tiny but went on for miles. We only saw the top level entrances however many of the tunnels actually went down three levels. We went in one tunnel which had been made bigger so non-Asians can fit in. Although we were only in there for a couple of minutes it felt like an eternity. Both of us said afterwards that we would never go in tunnels like that again. It must have been horrible during the war. Confined spaces. Little air. Bombs going off. Frightening! The other tour we did from Ho Chi Minh was to the Mekong Delta. We were put on a boat, taken to an island and then people tried to sell us stuff. We then sat through a terrible musical performance of hits such as Auld Lang Sine where they asked for money. Then went on another boat where they asked for money. Then they tried to sell us more stuff we didn't want.Then we were taken home. Everyone looked miserable. Having been travelling for 7 months I can quite legitimately say it was one of the worst trips in the world.

While in Ho Chi Minh we booked our transport for the rest of our time in Vietnam with an open bus ticket. For £30 we would be able to get from Ho Chi Minh to Hanoi in the north and stop off at all the main towns along the way. Having been on buses in Cambodia and much of South America we thought Vietnam would have good buses. We asked if they had toilets and the travel agent said yes. We asked if they had water and the travel agent said yes. She said it was very good and easy. I know what you're thinking and yes, it was too good to be true. Our first journey was from Ho Chi Minh to Mui Ne - about 5 hours. We were on a sleeper bus. This is a bus which is a single deck and has 3 bunk beds per row. You have to slot into the bunk beds as they are essentially a plastic box. One box is on the floor and the other is up a small ladder. The box is suitable for people who are less than 5' 3" tall. I am 6'1" and Charlene is 5'5". It was uncomfortable. Our legs didn't fit into the length of the box and we couldn't bend our legs because it was a hard plastic box. There was a toilet on board but it was padlocked. They never open the toilets because since the buses go on long journeys they don't want them to smell. The journey was terrible and the thought of longer journeys on similar buses was too bad to think of. We were glad when we arrived at Mui Ne.

Mui Ne is a small town that was originally just a fishing village. Tourism is now the number 1 business so there are lots of hotels, restaurants, resorts and tourist shops. We didn't see many tourists during our stay there. It was a nice place to stay and chill out after the mayhem of Ho Chi Minh. During our 3 night stay we had 1 day of activity - the rest of the time we strolled, ate and rested.

It was our anniversary on our 3rd day in Mui Ne and it was a very memorable day. After a relaxing morning we went on the tour in the afternoon. I say "the" tour as there is just one tour your do in Mui Ne (although tourism is a big industry, they're not really that well set up.) Our driver took us in his jeep to the first stop - the Fairy Stream. He just pulled up to the side of the road and pointed down a small lane. He told us to be back in 40 minutes. Not knowing what was in store we walked down the lane and reached a house with a dirty looking stream at the back. Two Vietnamese boys were there and told us to take our shoes off and get into the stream. After a bit of hesitation we saw some other Westerners walking up the stream in the inch deep water, and so decided it was safe to get in. We walked up the stream. Some young boys offered to guide us but the way was fairly obvious. It was a strange place. Lots of strange rock formations and lots of pretty scenery. We both really enjoyed strolling up that river. It was peaceful. After our allotted time we returned to the jeep and were taken to our next stop - the fishing port. The driver stopped at the side of the road, pointed at some boats and huts and said we'd stop for a few minutes for a photo. So we did. It was very picturesque. We were then taken to the White Dunes. The dunes were huge and were really cool shapes. As we climbed the dune it got very windy and the fine sand sand-blasted our legs. Ouch. There was a lake called the Lotus Lake next to the dunes which had lots of flowers growing in it. It was a really nice place. Our last stop was the Red Dunes. These weren't as impressive as the White Dunes but we still had fun running down them! That evening we went out for a really nice meal to a restaurant called Sankara. It was a beautiful setting. After our meal I prosposed to Charlene and she said yes. It had been a good day.

After Mui Ne we had a 4 hour minibus journey to Dalat. Dalat is located up in the hills so it was much cooler - a welcome relief to the humidity of the past couple of months. The town was planned and built by the French and you can see this in the architecture and the number of cafes. There is a lovely boating lake in the centre of town and a reproduction of the Eiffel Tower that was just opposite our hotel. We didn't go on any tours in Dalat as we were only there for a couple of nights. We looked online to find some good places to eat and came across two places which stood out. The first one we visited was billed as a poet's cafe. When we arrived it looked like a normal house with a garden and we weren't sure we were in the right place. An old man with a beard and beret welcomed us into his living room which was covered with poetry and photos of himself (usually smoking) He gave us a couple of books of his work to read through while he prepared the tea and cakes. He then showed us some international magazines in which he had been featured. It turns out Mr Viet had been visited by lots of famous people from Kennedys to ambassadors from all over. It was very impressive and very very random. The other eatery that stood out online was called the V Cafe. According to the Lonely Planet website it was the number 2 place to visit in all of Asia, just ahead of the Taj Mahal and Angkor Wat. As it turns out the food was good with live jazz and blues music and a great menu. I think the Taj was more impressive though!

The next stop on our tour of Vietnam was Nha Trang. This is a very popular tourist place and has lots of great restaurants and shops as well as a beautiful beach. We stayed there for 3 nights and enjoyed the beach and the weather. Nha Trang is the perfect place to relax.

At this stage we had gone about a quarter of the way up Vietnam and every bus journey had been terrible. Even though we had paid for all our bus journeys in advance we couldn't bear the thought of an overnight bus journey. We decided to get the train for our 14 hour journey from Nha Trang to Hoi An. It was marginally better as at least there was a toilet available however neither of us got much sleep. I remember finally nodding off at about 2.30am only to be woken by someone shouting at me asking if I wanted a coffee. At every stop traders would get on, barge past and talk loudly. We were shattered by the time we got to Hoi An.

Hoi An is fantastic. It is a small town full of tailors and great restaurants. On our first full day there we went shopping. At 11am we were in a tailors and got measured up for some clothes by two hyperactive Vietnamese ladies. They were so welcoming, friendly, helpful and hilarious. We soon felt like old friends. I had a suit and two shirts made and Charlene had a coat and a dress made. We returned to the shop 8 hours later to find all our clothes had been made. The coat was finished and perfect, the suit just needed some minor finishing and one shirt was perfect while the other needed some slight adjusting. The dress needed some extra work to be as Charlene wanted it but it was all done by the end of the following day. It is incredible how they make them so quickly! We were very pleased with our new clothes. Hoi An also has a very nice beach with crystal clear water and a river on which they have a full moon festival every month. We love Hoi An and definitely want to go back there in the future.

It was a short 2 hour journey to Hue, our penultimate stop. Hue is in the middle of Vietnam and is a major city. We only stayed there a couple of nights as there isn't a lot to do there other than visit the Citadel in the old part of town. It was about 45 minutes walk to the Citadel from our hotel and the heat was incredible. Hue is known for its high temperatures and I could see why. It was so humid! We followed the map to the huge square Citadel and didn't know how to get in. We chose to go right which as it turns out was wrong. We walked all the way around it until we realised the entrance was about 30 seconds from where we started. It was a fantastic place though. There were so many individual buildings and columned terraces and still large parts of the Citadel were being rebuilt and restored. Large parts had been destroyed in the War however the reconstruction work so far is brilliant. We wandered around the vast Citadel for as long as we could bear the heat and got a very welcomed air conditioned taxi back to the hotel.

We had another equally long, equally hideous train journey overnight to the capital Hanoi. Charlene was also feeling ill on the train so the journey was twice as bad for her. We were so pleased that it was our last journey in Vietnam. It is such a wonderful country but their transport and infrastructure is terrible.

Our original plan for Hanoi was to stay for a couple of nights, go to visit Ha Long Bay for a couple of days then get back to Hanoi for our flight to China. In the end we stayed in Hanoi for the rest of our time in Vietnam. A typhoon hit Ha Long Bay and so all tours to the area were cancelled. Also Charlene's illness developed into tonsillitis and so she needed time to recover. We looked into reviews of Ha Long Bay and found out that some tourists had terrible experiences there. Apart from the boats being old and prone to sinking, people said they were herded around very touristy places and they didn't have a good time. I would like to visit Ha Long Bay in the future but I think it will be better in the future when they offer a better experience for tourists. What we saw of Hanoi we didn't particularly enjoy. The food was nowhere near as good as in other parts of Vietnam and it was practically impossible to just wander around the city on foot - a lack of pavements and millions of motorbikes make it a very harrassing experience.

We left Vietnam a day later than planned due to overbooking by Vietnam Airlines however they paid for us to stay in a very nice hotel with swimming pool and gave us some extra money.

Vietnam has been our favourite country on our travels so far. It is an amazing country. We have already planned our next visit there. Hopefully they will have sorted out their transport by then!

D