What an incredible way to end our trip. Four hours drive out from Hanoi is Halong Bay, where we spent two days and one night on a boat. The landscape was spectacular - 1600 islands (I wasn't expecting there to be so many!) emerging from the sea everywhere you see. The islands are limestone stacks with loads of natural features such as caves and arches, and on the first day we got the chance to kayak around one island and have a little explore.The traditional expl...

We've just returned from a hectic few days in Sa Pa. It's right in the north west of the country and as we were picked up at the train station, the bus driver pointed to a mountain in the distance and that was China! Sa Pa is located high up in the mountains, so it was a very welcome break from the busy cities, and the intense heat as it was much cooler up there. We arrived by night train on Thursday morning after a surprisingly comfortable sleep! Breakfast and...

We had a very whistlestop tour of Hue. It was only 3 hours by bus from Hoi An and when we arrived at our hotel we were presented with a delicious fruit juice, that was much more fruit than drink. The next day we booked onto a city tour, we were only there for one day so thought this was the best way to see everything and actually know what we were looking at. On the bus we met a lovely mum and her little boy who were from Germany but had been travelling around As...

It was finally time to experience the night train. The train was scheduled to leave Nha Trang at 8:30pm and arrive in Danang, where we were to meet a taxi to take us to the hotel in Hoi An at 6:45am. The only way to access the platform was to walk across the tracks - a bit different to back home! We had opted for the soft sleeper cabin, which is the most 'luxurious' option. It was a tiny tiny cabin with 2 bunk beds squeezed in. While we were trying to work out ho...

We saved ourselves from an 10 hour bus or train ride to from Ho Chi Minh city to Nha Trang, and instead caught a £20 flight that lasted only an hour. Well worth the extra pennies. When we landed, the captain announced the outside temperature was 36 degrees - probably time to change out of my trousers then! We were taken to our hotel, and after a quick freshen up we were off out to see a new side of Vietnam. Compared to HCMC, Nha Trang is somewhat peaceful! It ...