Attempting to get to Cat Ba Island without a packaged tour was near on impossible. Cat Ba island is close to the Vietnam mainland, next to the world renowned Halong Bay. We originally wanted to get a bus to Halong Bay where we would find our own way to the island, but the tour guide on our bus convinced us that it would be too hard and that we should go with his group for a day tour of the bay which would drop us on the island at the end of the day. It turned ou...

Hoi An is a beautiful little city surrounded by beaches and waterways. We thought it was well worth the visit for its markets, old town area, water front restaurants, farms and river life. It also seems to be the place to get shoes and clothes tailor made for you, we even had women ride up next to us on their motor bike and try and take us to their shop before we made it to the town where the competition was too high. We explored the area around the city centre o...

Nha Trang is a fun city on the coast of Vietnam where you can easily organize a wide range of outdoor activities for good prices, generally cheaper than in Thailand at least. It is also completely packed with Russian tourists and almost all of the billboards, advertisements, menus and travel agencies include the Russian language - Nha Trang is to Russia what Bali is to Australia. Talk to a number of people around town and it seems the Russians, as a group, aren'...

Da Lat is a smallish city in the mountains where the local produce seems to specialize in strawberries, avocados, artichokes, flowers, dried fruit and amazing coffee. We have no idea why the locally grown coffee isn't exported all over the world, it's really top notch. In the centre of town there is a large market selling all of the above, with the usual array of vegetables and tropical fruits. The dried fruit stalls have fruits and vegetables that we couldn't ...

We spent a couple of days in Saigon where we explored the city, checked out the nightlife, visited the Mekong Delta, walked through fruit plantations and saw a few produce workshops. Saigon is large and bustling, with very busy traffic, most people ride motorbikes around so there doesn't seem to be any lanes - everyone just crams in at traffic lights wherever they can fit. Having said that, they seem to follow most road rules here which is more than can be said ...