The train from Hanoi was, to put it mildly, very good. A little noisy and bumpy sometimes but really one of the best sleepers I have ever been in. When we arrived at the town nearest to Sapa things started to go wrong. The driver was reluctant to leave and eventually the Germans on board started to get irate and we left. Within minutes my name was held up and I said that’s me. A phone was handed to me and I was told it was the office in Hanoi. They explained t...

This an ordinary street for most of the day - motorbikes, walkers and bikes except when the train is due - then it is full of tourists trying to kill themselves!! I had a lovely time chatting to a Canadian couple who had no idea that they had arrived at the right time for a train. I then watched a couple of Vietnamese men desperately trying to get the Chinese tourists to believe a train was coming and it was bigger and harder than they were!!

Da Lat  is a lovely little city in the highlands so is cooler and well worth a visit. I enjoyed just walking around the city. The crazy house and the flower park are very well named and both are worth a visit. However this blog is going to be about breakfast in a hotel. This morning over breakfast I met, an American retired teacher travelling by himself for the first time (actually met him yesterday and had dinner with him) also met 2 chiropractors here to supp...

Woke early to see the sun rise over the lake - it is supposed to be magnificent. So there I was at 5.45am with all the other tourists (5) waiting for the magical moment- it was cloudy!! never mind I went for a walk instead and saw the town wake up - the market was busy with local people buying that days food. Elephants also wake up early. As with all the days, the journey was beautiful but today was special in that we went through the snow of the highlands. Thi...

OMG it has been good. WE started with a visit to a noodle village where we visited 4 houses that made noodles but in different ways. We also visited a mushroom farm - beautiful mushrooms growing in plastic bags full of sawdust. Visit to a market to buy a couple of chickens, veg and fruit. The chickens had to be killed and plucked so we went for a wander through the market. The journey to the waterfalls was nice but the waterfalls themselves were great . I was fi...