We left HCM City early in the morning and headed towards the Mekong Delta - the rice bowl of Vietnam. The journey was largely uneventful, our bus was full of multi-national travellers and we drove through countryside that was changing in nature as we moved west. The fields had become very green and sunken Paddy fields along with raised houses became the common feature. Occasionally, we stopped and spent time in local villages looking at their particular craft -...

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...