We boarded the sleeper bus in Da Lat around 11pm and were soon on the way to Saigon. Once in our narrow beds up the back of the bus, we got off to sleep and didn't wake up until we were in Saigon, a bit earlier than we had hoped at around 4:30 am. As usual, we were dumped outside some random shop at an unkown location in town. We consulted our guide book and picked an area which was described as the main backpacker area, and seemed to have a lot of hotels, then...

We got up early to catch our bus from Nha Trang at 7:30. Conveniently, it picked us up at the end of the alleyway our hotel was in, and was a spacious and air conditioned large minibus. We set off and after leaving Nha Trang soon began climbing into the hills as we moved inland. We stopped for breakfast at a nice little cafe place above a river, where we immediately noticed the slightly cooler, fresher air thanks to the increase in altitude. After breakfast ...

The night bus from Hoi An to Nha Trang was much more comfortable than the one from Haiphong to Hue, with beds big enough to fit in and air conditioning that the driver actually used. Also, unlike the Haiphong to Hue bus, we arrived on time rather than 7 hours later than expected. Thus we found ourselves on a main street in Nha Trang early in the morning, and on the search for a hotel. We walked a short distance in a direction we knew would take us to the sea...

It was still raining when we left Hue on the bus, bound for Hoi An. We'd heard that there was both a normal and a scenic route between the towns, with the latter available if you took a private car. We opted for the bus as it was cheaper and we didn't think the views would be that great with the constant rain and overcast skies. However, despite the dismal weather the view from the 'normal' route was lovely, what we could see of it through the rain anyway. W...

After being dropped at Haiphong bus station after leaving Cat Ba island, we had a few hours to kill until our connecting night bus to Hue. With our big bags on our backs, we wandered up the main street of the city, alongside a long lake or canal which seemed to run the length of the street. We kept our eyes out for a cafe which might be a nice place to sit for a while, and would hopefully have wifi. We tried one place but the staff spoke no English and they ...