Today we had the morning to ourselves for a spot of retail therapy in the old town. Some of the others were considering getting our bikes early and cycling the 5 kms to the beach. Me? I had my heart set on a lie in with a leisurely breakfast, followed by a gentle mooch round the shops.  My lie in hopes died at about 8.30 along with the chambermaids cleaning the room next door. So up I got and trotted over to the restaurant for my brekkie. Some of the buffet ite...

So today we are off to Hoi An. A short plane trip to Da Nang, followed by a shortish trip to the hotel.The bags had to be packed and ready for 8.45, we were leaving at 9am.. I wasn't sad to leave Hanoi really, it was just so noisy and choc full of people. The beeping horns were incessant and crossing the road required nerves of steel!Nam promised us that Hoi An would be completely different. There were traffic free times when just bicycles were allowed, so it...

CAPTAIN SLOG STARDATE 342.16Well yes, it was a good sleep despite the AC, I woke around 6am and peering through the curtain, I could see that morning was being announced.  On opening my door I noticed four supine crew members curled up under duvets. I tried to tiptoe, I honestly did but they still all grunted and turned over. Sorry chaps!Then I realised why. I was the fourth person to try and tiptoe through and clonk up the steep stairs to the top deck.   Ce...

I got up early today for a shower before quite an early breakfast. The buffet breakfast room was heaving with Germans, who were also vacating today. This resulted in a huge line for fresh omelettes, toast, coffee and anything else that was on offer. So I just had toast, after its third trip on that stupid circular toast rollercoaster thing, and coffee.Paula, Suzanne and Lynette were already there but no sign of the others. We were only taking one night's clot...

Not a great night's zzzzzz, the bed was rock hard and I couldn't sort out a decent pillow, or combination of pillows, maybe I should be like Wendy and take my own!  As we were leaving at 9am, breakfast was around 8ish. We were offered quite a spread at the buffet. Continental cheeses and meats, fresh fruit, pastries and a stupid toaster that I had to use three times to get my toast browned. We can send space vehicles to land on Mars but seem to be un...