Our number one priority on arriving in HCMC was to find some decent tasting junk food! I have to be honest, Vietnamese cuisine is not nearly as good as Thai food, and the places we have been to so far, have had a very limited menu. So, after a staple diet of noodles or rice for every meal for the last few weeks, we were ready for a big fat juicy burger! Unfortunately, our hotel staff who spoke good English had never heard of Burger King or Mcdonalds. I was gutted...

We left the 40 degree heat of the coastal lowlands and moved South East to the town of Dalat at the heart of the central highlands region of Vietnam. This was a welcome relief from the hot humid conditions of the coastal lowlands, where midday temperatures were reaching 40 degrees. Dalat is in a region where temperatures were 20 - 25 degrees in the day and down to 15 - 18 degrees at night. It was bliss! I even had to put on my fleece for the first time in a ...

From Hanoi, our journey went south down the eastern side of Vietnam, visiting the towns of Hue, Hoi An and Nha Trang. The overnight sleeper train (incredible scenery in the early morning through endless rice paddies and along the coastline) brought us from Hanoi to our next destination, the former kingdom capital of Hue. Hue was pleasant enough, although a lot of the historic buildings were destroyed by the Americans during the war. Those that werent w...

The shock we had on arriving in Hanoi, Vietnams capital, was enormous. Nobody could create chaos like that which exists on Hanoi's streets if they tried. Bangkoks streets are crazy but at least junctions are controlled by traffic lights and road users stay on the right side of the road. In Hanoi, there are no rules. A Compact City of 4 million people with no decent public transport system means that there an estimated 2 million mopeds. They are supposed to...

The country of Laos is sandwiched between Thailand to the west Vietnam to the east. We have spent a week here, really just passing through on our way to Hanoi. We had heard great things about the country and were not disappointed. The place has only in the last few years opened its doors to visitors, although poor infrastructure keeps the masses away. We found a place we would imagine Thailand was like 20 years ago before it raced towards the 21st century. ...