Vietnam. A country America put on the map and in many cases, also blew it of it. With the stunning islands of Halong Bay, maybe the freshest food available on the entire planet and the country's amazing heritage, this is the place I've been looking forward to visiting for many years.

We had two options for how to get from Laos to Vietnam. Road or Air. The road journey is known on the backpacker trail as being gruesome, long and uncomfortable - in many cases lasting 28 hours. Travelling by air is easy, quick, comfortable, but expensive. Weighing the two options up, we decided £100 for the hour flight was the better option.

Leaving the comfort of our hotel like accommodation behind, we drove the 4km to the airport via taxi. A taxi full of mosquitos. A journey how I'm still unsure I managed to avoid being bitten when I've lost count of how many times my chicken-pox like legs have been bitten since landing in Bangkok 3 weeks ago.

We arrived at the airport a bit before check-in opened so hung around before getting rid of the bags and heading to the restaurant to kill an hour or so before we could board the 'bus. Thankfully, an Airbus.

The flight was pretty smooth and uneventful. I tried to be good and drink Diet Coke, but they didn't have any so I was forced to drink a cold Beer Lao... Cold due to the ice that accompanied it. The South East Asia way.

We got a bus to downtown Hanoi and the first thing that hit us was the huge amount of scooters on the road, shortly followed by the sound of constant beeping. It's something you need to actual experience to imagine how bad it is. All hours of the day (and night) and for no evident reason.

Guesthouse found, bags thrown on the spare bed, we attempted to leave our room and head for some food, drink and football. The only problem was, our door wouldn't shut. Then it wouldn't lock. I guess you don't actually get everything for $10 in Vietnam.

Eventually, door fixed, we were back on track to watch Chelsea hammer Man City in the league and Bradford beat Swansea in the cup. Unfortunately it seemed neither of them got the message as they lost 2-0 and 5-0 respectably.

One of the main problems from a travellers point of view (and of course a locals) is, like in Laos, a curfew is now enforced, meaning the bars are supposed to shut before midnight. I think we managed to get to 1am and 1 person being sick all down themselves before the police gate crashed and closed down the bar.