Overnight train from Danang to Nha Trang and two nights stopover in a beach resort to break the journey to HCM City (Saigon) - Good idea but it relentlessly poured rain and we sat in a bar/restaurant watching the street water level rise to about knee high - boats and fishing rods started to appear and all hopes of the beach dissolved (although it did look amazing). That concludes the weather ….now for the news. Another train ride (8 hours this time) and we...

Left Hanoi by overnight train, in a shared compartment - This time we shared with two young Irish guys from Belfast. A couple we met in Halong Bay (Lin and Ian) were also on the same train and joined us - the 6 of us had the "craic" aided by a few beers until the trolley service ran out ….. Train travel is growing on us. Arrived in Hue (pronounced Whey) and spent a couple of days exploring, including parts of the Ho Chi MinhTrail, the DMZ (De-Militarised Zone)...

29/10/12 set off for Vietnam by bus, actually luxury coach with 6 passengers, 3 crew, movies, breakfast and dinner - All for £14. Arrived in Hanoi feeling fresh and went out to explore - What a crazy city, traffic intense and no stopping …cars, motor bikes, bicycles, cyclos, tuk-tuks and pedestrians all interweaving and somehow not colliding. It takes a while to realise that no-one will stop - the technique is to just walk across the road and trust that the t...

YangShuo and the areas around Guilin were like the China of our imagination - Rice Terraces, misty Karst mountains, slow rivers and sunken farmlands - The stuff of dreams and fantasy films. We spent several days in this area walking or cycling through the countryside along narrow pathways through rural areas, returning on one occasion by bamboo raft negotiating several weirs. We hired Tuk-Tuks to explore the town and surrounding villages. The hotel itself was st...

Chengdu is Panda City - Every possible product has a picture of a Panda, even cigarettes have a Panda brand. Yet another huge city, masses of people and an enormous statue of Mao, in the main square. The hostel (called Mr Panda) was located centrally and guess what, our ubiquitous Frenchman (Medhi) turned up for the fourth time on our trip (he may be a stalker) We went to see the Pandas, which was good but perhaps not worth travelling through half of China for....