Halong Bay, Vietnam (2nd Dec 2007) Another early morning and disappointing breakfast later we checked out of our current hotel and headed to our next hotel where we dropped our backpacks off and set off with our overnight bags for Halong Bay. We were unable to get on the same trip at the Intrepid group so we were out on our own again but we managed to book ourselves on a 2 day 1 night tour of the bay on a luxury junk boat, all meals included. The bus journey t...

Hanoi, Vietnam (1st Dec 2007) Surprisingly, finding our hotel was relatively easy but upon speaking to the receptionist we soon realised all wasn't well as she had never heard of either of us and had no record of our reservation. So off we went backpacks and all to wonder the streets of Hanoi in the hope of finding another hotel room only to be turned away from place after place. There was a glimmer of hope when one hotel offered us a room for relatively cheap...

Hue, Vietnam (29th Nov 2007) Our journey to Hue was about 4 hours on a tourist coach and instead of taking 8 hours on the High Van Pass Tour we decided it would be quicker and cheaper to just go through the big tunnel in the middle of the mountain rather than climb it for hours on end just to get a photo or two for up high. When we arrived, the usual touts appeared from various hotels and taxi companies, but again we had booked one night already and weren't go...

Hoi An, Vietnam (27th Nov 2007) Hoi An is a great little river town and is an exceptionally well preserved example of a 15th to 19th century trading port and has stayed so nice because it is one of the areas that managed to avoid being heavily bombed in the war. "Hoi An's buildings and its street pattern reflect the influences, both indigenous and foreign, that combined to produce a really unique heritage site" or so our city guide says... and to be ...

Ho Chi Minh City / Saigon, Vietnam (24th Nov 2007) Our first few days in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) was just a little hot! 37 degrees...lovely! We arrived into HCMC at around dinner time and the closer we got to the city the more fun, or scary, depending on how you look at it, the driving became; the journey through town was a little hairy as there aren't any traffic lights but thousands of motorbikes driving along where they please and there appears to by absolu...