After an unpleasant overnight train we arrived at the historical city of Hue. The city was quite attractive and enjoys a pleasant position along the perfume river. The main purpose of this visit was to see the imperial citadel which was built in the 19th century during the Ngyen dynasty. As we were tired we decided to take a sort of back to front manual tuk tuk from our hotel to the citadel. The vehicle resembles a giant push chair with a bicycle stuck to the bac...

We booked ourselves on an overnight boat trip to explore Halong bay which is a group of 2000 Limestone Islands. After a 3 hour coach trip we boarded our boat at the city of Halong which is a pretty ugly city formed in 1994. Our cabin was spacious with a modern ensuite. The staff were excellent and over the next two days we were spoilt with several course meals; the food was exceptional as was the service. We shared a long dining table with other holidays makers a...

After hearing horror stories we decided to pass on the 24 hours bus trip through Laos to the Vietnamese border and take a 50 minute plane directly to Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. We had heard great things about this city so were really looking for forward to this leg of the trip! After an elaborate attempted scam where a man posed as the Hotel owner and escorted us to the wrong hotel we eventually arrived at the Hanoi Value hotel. With a super king sized bed, c...

Luang Prabang is a picturesque French colonial city situated at the junction of the Mekong and another river. The city felt more like a village and the locals were so relaxed and laid back. So much so that it was common to see market traders sleeping on the floor! We spent the next 4 days doing not a lot more than sitting by the river in cafes and frequenting the bars and restaurants in the town centre. One lazy afternoon after a few beerlaos's (very nice local b...

we departed from Chiang Khong on a 2 day journey by slow boat (which is a long narrow boat) towards the city of Luang Prabang. Despite the boat being pretty basic it was a most pleasurable journey and allowed us to enjoy the beautiful scenery along the Melong river. The river was completely unspoiled and we saw nothing more than a few stilt huts still with bamboo roofs, the odd fisherman in traditional boats and water buffalo.