I have been quite looking forward to visiting Ho Chi Minh City since my arrival in Vietnam, simply because it was the first big city that I would visit. The size and scale of the city became apparent to me as I was on the bus, sitting in rush hour traffic for an hour before getting anywhere near the city centre. The journey from Dalat had taken roughly eight hours, though it would have been a lot quicker had we not had stopped every hour or so (which really infur...

I am starting to think that I could write a separate blog about my bus experiences! I am starting to feel that I am spending half my time moaning about the journey in some way! (However I suppose that this is all part of the experience so I should just should embrace everything that comes my way, especially as I'm a world away from home.) Of course this journey was no different! The journey from Nha Trang to Dalat was only supposed to last five hours, but instead...

From Hoi An to Nha Trang was a twelve hour overnight bus journey. Unlike the journey to Hue, this time I was travelling on the sleeper bus, which initially I was quite happy about. Unfortunately this turned out to be the worst experience I've had on a bus so far! What made it so bad was the fact that the beds had been specifically designed for the Vietnamese (therefore if you were over the height of 5'5" then it was a struggle to fit in the bed!). Basicall...

I travelled from Hue down to Hoi An with Jenny and Liz (whom I had met in Hue), which was only four hours on the bus, arriving there at midday. This was by far the best journey I've had as I was able to relax and read my book for the entire time. We made only one stop, which was right next to a bay. It was a beautiful day (only the second during my time in Vietnam) so the sunlight glistened off the surface of the water. Unfortunately there was a lot of trash th...

After returning from Halong Bay, I spent in Hanoi a few more days. However, it turned out that I was there longer than expected as I became really ill and pretty much bed-ridden for a couple of days (I even had to cancel by bus ticket, but fortunately when I explained it to the staff at the hostel they said that I didn't have to pay extra). I was told that the bus would take 12 hours to get from Hanoi to Hue, so I would be travelling on the night bus. I was at th...