Getting to Beijing required two flights with China Southern Airways with only 25 minutes transit time in a Chinese airport between, in which we were labelled and had to scuttle round the airport through scary immigration, passport control, customs, bag scanning and infection & quarantine in record time! When we finally arrived in Beijing, wearing flipflops and shorts we were greeted by an icy blast of wind. Beijing had experienced a dramatic change of weathe...

Halong Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is made up of over 3000 limestone 'karsts' or islands. It is a truly stunning place and we spent 3 days cruising around the Bay in a lovely Chinese Junk. We kayaked through tranquil caves, swam in the turquoise ocean, ate amazing sea food (including whole crabs, platters of king prawns, clams and whole Sea Bass) and enjoyed cocktails at sunset! We spent the first night onboard in our lovely sea view cabin and the sec...

Never travel by camel! Well, Camel Travel sleeper buses to be precise. Worst sleeper bus to date - Mark had so little leg room he couldn't stretch out at all and spent 12 hours in a contorted position that any Yoga Instructor would be proud of. The bus was overbooked to start with and two passengers were ejected for 'apparent' problems with their tickets. We then stopped every half hour to pick up more passengers who were given blankets and made to sleep sardin...

On arrival in Hue we checked into the pinkest hotel we have ever seen. Bonus - it had a pool!!!! Other travellers had told us the river trips to see Hue's main attraction (tombs) were not worth doing so we booked a motorcycle tour of the city instead. Our moped drivers spoke very little English but we quickly established a rapport of knowing nods and smiles. The traffic in Vietnam is truly chaotic but our drivers demonstrated their skills avoiding a moped driver...

Hoi An is a real gem. Scenic river; narrow streets strung with chinese lanterns; gorgeous food; crumbling brightly coloured houses. We spent a lovely couple of days exploring the lanes and markets, cruising the river to see the fisherman at work in their traditional cone-shaped hats and indulging in a few cocktails in the bars overlooking the river (the Big Bamboo is highly recommended). We also repeatedly bumped into an Aussie couple we had met in the Mekong Del...