Phong Nha Farmstay Day 1 (03.07.2012): Wow this place is incredible and more than worth the horrendous journey we endured to get here. We left my very own Jade Hotel at 9:30 and headed for the bus station to get a local bus to Phong Nha Farmstay. The bus is the only bus of the day. It was supposed to leave at 10:30 but left an hour later for no apparent reason. It was a 24 seater red minibus which was packed to the max. No air-con, the door was open most of the j...

Hue (02.07.2012): With only one full day in Hue we made ourselves get out of bed early, had breakfast and were on the road by 8am. We hired some bikes and were off to the Citadel. The Citadel is 10km by 10km, inside lies the Imperial Enclosure: a citadel-within-a-citadel. The Enclosure houses the Emperor's residence and is divided into several walled enclosures with the Forbidden Purple City at its centre. After checking out the Imperial Enclosure we cycled a...

Hoi An - Hue (01.07.2012): Today we spent the morning in Hoi An. First of all we made some purchases. After visiting the Handicraft Museum, we couldn't leave Hoi An without buying a lantern. Thankfully it folds up! It cost only 60,000 dong (£2.00, we are millionaires here - it is strange drawing out 4 million dong). We also ended up buying two Hammocks (Andy you are in luck this time). There was also a wood carving man making 'lucky' faces out of Bamboo which A...

Hoi An Day 2 (30.06.2012): Wow I can't believe it is the end of June. We have been travelling just over one month. Actually it does seem like we have been away ages. We have done so much. Today we awoke refreshed and headed out to properly explore Hoi An. We both really like it here. The Ancient Town of Hoi An is a World Heritage site - it's easy to see why. This morning we bought a pass to go to see some of the town's sites including the Japanese Bridge, the...

Hoi An Day 1 (29.06.2012): Our sleeper train pulled into Da Nang train station an hour behind schedule at around 12:45pm. We had been on the train since 18:15 yesterday evening. The journey was ok. We had soft beds in a 4 berth cabin. The train was very loud and jerky though + the locals were very noisy. Not much sleep to be had on the sleeper trains but it was an experience in itself. Vietnam is much less set up for tourists than in Thailand. We struggled to g...