We got up early and enjoyed a great complimentary breakfast at the hotel. The sun was attempting to shine and though it was a little breezy, the wind was warm and comfortable. We set out on a self-guided tour of the Old Quarter, enjoying the Tran Family's Chapel, the Japanese Covered Bridge, the Museum of Trade Ceramics, Quan Cong's Temple, the Central Market, and the Hoi An Handicraft Workshop. Along the way, we stopped in at Phuong Hoang's Cloth Shop. We poi...

Although this soft sleeper wasn't quite as nice as our first train trip in China, it was still lovely and it was nice to have the room to ourselves. We all slept through the night and in the morning, opened the blinds to…water, water, water! Of course it was rice paddies, but the water was right up to the track so we were a little concerned. As we travelled further, the landscape transitioned to jungle-covered hills spilling down to the ocean. The largest w...

Barry had promised the kids early morning kayak trips, so we got up extra early and they paddled around the bay before breakfast. After we ate, we were back on board our boat and slowly heading back. The kids were a little sad that we couldn't stay longer with their new friends, but we have a lot of ground to cover in the next 10 days so we'd deliberately decided on only one night instead of two. The boat ride went quickly and though we'd left one British famil...

Our alarm shocked us out of a sound sleep, but we were packed and at the Golden Sun hotel by 8:00 am where we met up with several other travellers. Our overnight tour to Halong Bay awaited and we were full of high hopes. The minibus was comfortable and we'd only taken small backpacks for this short excursion, so everyone had room to enjoy the lush Vietnam landscape. The trip took about 4 hours with a bathroom / shopping break included at a craft market, where we...

5:30 am!! Ahhh!! The train staff switched on the lights very abruptly to wake everyone up, but we dozed for a few more minutes and then got ready to leave. When we got off the train, we hooked up with the South Africans (Claudia and David) and then met up with some Vancouverites. Together, we decided to take an organized bus transfer to Hanoi. It seemed more reasonable than the alternative of a do-it-yourself hodgepodge of multiple trains and taxis which was che...