After a brief stop in Hanoi we decided to travel with Tony and Phil to Ha Long Bay as their visas ran out before ours. We thought it would be more fun to go with a couple of others we got on with and then see the sites of Hanoi just before we leave for Laos. Most tourists book 3 day tours in Hanoi for Ha Long Bay but we decided to travel to Cat Ba island, a surrounding island with easy links to the wild scenery around the bay. It turned out to be a great decision...

Moving north from the beach-based city of Nha Trang we arrived in Hoi An, a far less developed city which almost felt like a town. Driving into the centre was interesting as we passed lots of local people working in the rice fields, a very stereotypical image of Vietnam as a whole. After finding some accommodation we first set off to a tailor we were recommended to get our custom made suits started. We selected our materials from the lovely lady who ran the place...

After the relative chaos of Saigon it was refreshing to experience a far less hectic city in Nha Trang. I was not expecting such a beautiful city and being by one of the prettiest beaches possible was an added bonus. When we arrived off the bus at 6am it was monsooning-down and we had to take shelter in a random bar while we tried to work out where we could find somewhere decent to stay! We settled on an area near the beach and found a ridiculously cheap hotel ne...

After a short flight from Bangkok we arrived at our first stop in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon still to the locals). Unlike Bangkok the airport is right in the centre of the city so we were straight into the thick of the traffic which is the most frantic, unorganised and busy you are ever likely to see. There are thousands of motorbikes teeming around the streets and there is literally no lane system, they just swarm around like bees. Crossing the roads is q...