Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) formally known as Saigon feels alot bigger than Hanoi, the roads are alot wider, although there are just as many motorbikes on the road making them a nightmare to cross. Unfortunately I (Lins) spent the next two days not very well (tummy and fever) waiting for the antibiotics to kick in. Ian had to soldier on without me on the trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels, and Ian was ordered to take as many photos as poss so I could see what it was like! T...

Finally we are somewhere dry-ish, a place called Hoi An, we were originally due to spend a couple more days here but because of flooding it has just been the one night and we have a plane to catch this morning at midday. As you can imagine there was not enough time here to explore the whole town, however there was just enough time to get this lovely lady tailor make my own dress. The example dress was seen at 7pm, and it was ready for collection by 10am this m...

Sin Chow 13th November 2007 Our knowledge of Vietnamese language has greatly improved over the last few days. Hello, thank you, how are you, oh my gosh, happy buddha to you, no thank you, all roll of the tongue like something that doesn't roll easily. Still, the locals appreciate (we think) the attempts! Day 1 in Hue saw us visit the Citadel. Hue used to be the capital of Vietnam, and the King and his entourage lived at the citadel. See pictures for the grand b...

A 45 minute drive from airport to hotel was $10 after being flocked by several hundred drivers. They do have driving licences here and a highway code, but you couldn't tell. The green cross code is 'When crossing roads, ignore any traffic coming, close eyes, step out and walk as slowly as possible so that HGVs, bikes and cars can avoid you'. There are six million city inhabitants and three million scooters/small motorbikes. The streets are 90% motorbikes. The h...

After joining our intrepid tour companions we headed out on a junk boat in Halong Bay, which is about 4 hours from Hanoi in Vietnam. The boat was magnificent, the company had charted it out for the eight of us and we were well looked after by the crew (hot towels, vegetarian feast, a sun promenade with sun lounges). We cruised past through 1950 island at 6 knots chilling out with a few cans. Each island has been created by gem stones spat out by dragons when the ...