Went on an organised tour on our last day at the caves. The guys convinced me to do it even though I didn't know exactly what was involved -apparently 'what happens in the dark cave, stays in the dark cave!' First stop was Phong Nha national park - lots of karst mountains. Heavily bombed during the US war as was one of the only routes to the south. The Vietnamese people created a road through the park named Highway 20 - because this was the average age of the peo...

Had my first experience on an overnight bus from Hanoi to Dong Hoi a few days ago - learnt that I'm too big for Asia! It was a pretty uncomfortable 12hour ride as my legs didn't fit in the footwell so had to hag them over the edge in some poor Vietnamese person's face! The bus reminded me of the bus in Harry potter - swerving oncoming scooters, trucks and buses. I just shut my eyes and hoped for the best! We were dropped in the middle of nowhere at about 5.30am a...