The (almost 24 hour) bus from Hoi An to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) via Na Trang fortunately dropped us within 100 metres of our backpackers shortly after sunset. The city appeared more glitzy than Hanoi, with more high rise buildings and more lavish looking streets, bars and housing. The weather switched rapidly between swealtering heat and rain, but we enjoyed our time there. The street food was predictably good, especially in the market area and we managed to buy...

Spent a couple of days in Hue, exploring some of the historical sights including the royal palace (inside a giant walled city) and a rather strange parking lot of gathered US military equipment from the Vietnamese War - including numerous tanks, guns and choppers. Caught a rather sweaty bus (Open Ticket Bus Co) to Hoi An. This was probably our favourite city to date. Our hostel was centrally located (with AC) and we spent a few wonderful days wandering through t...

Hanoi is an amazing place! The people were friendly and not at all pushy or aggressive as we had been informed by fellow travellers. The Old Quarter, where we stayed, was full of character, hectic streets and street vendors. We were fortunate enough to catch up with my former colleague, Chris Short, for a few drinks whilst we were there. We took in some of the sights, including the embalmed body of revered leader Ho Chi Minh at the mausoleum, and the pretty Hoan...

The bus from Den Bien Phu was a bit of an ordeal. The roads were better than Laos but unfortunately, we managed to run into some engine trouble in a remote village. After the driver had phones for a replacement vehicle to collect us, we assumed we would have to wait an hour or so.....3 hours later, after sitting on the edge of a busy lane with trucks whizzing by in the intense heat, we were finally rescued. We arrived into the beautiful hill town of Sapa, north e...

After leaving Luang Prabang, we headed along the very uncomfortable roads towards the Vietnamese border. The roads were paved in some areas and were no more than gravel in others, where rains and flooding had eaten them away. We arrived at Nong Khiaw in the afternoon and stayed in a basic hostel overlooking the river with limestone peaks as a backdrop. It was great to see the kids enjoying the water, using crude bamboo rafts as floats. In the evening, Gen and I h...