Hi all So, we arrived in Hue late afternoon, and were obviously dropped at a hotel owned by the driver's brother or whatever, but decided it was a bit out of the way. So off we set in the rain to find one closer to where the action was. This was the first time I'd carried my rucksack for anything that could even remotely be considerd a distance. Somewhere along the way I must have inadvertently packed a baby elephant by mistake. Note to self - Ditch some of ...

Hi all So, our overnight bus to Hue turned out to be spot on, which is a bit gutting in a way. But hey, who am I to complain? For some reason though, no-one got much sleep. Don't know why, just one of those things. Like why nothing ever costs exactly a pound. Or a multiple thereof. I genuinely believe that a party could tip a general election in their favour, just by agreeing to introduce a 99p piece, and so relieve half the country from the obligatory spare...

Hi all Now for a quick lesson in modern history. Well, probably not that quick, but for a long time I've really wondered what the mechanics were behind the US getting involved in Vietnam. Obviously it was all part of anti-communism, 'reds under the bed' and all that but I really wanted to know the full extent of what happened. If you don't, then seriously, move down the page til you see a big sign saying OK SO YOU CAN OPEN YOUR EYES NOW. Let's start wit...

Hi all It's my birthday. Woo hoo! Now I normally love my birthday. But for some reason I woke up with a head like Fred West, and wanted a body to match. The fact we were woken by our guide ringing the room and telling us we had to get up didn't help. Maybe it was one too many beers the night before, maybe a little bit of homesickness, maybe it was the bloke we were forced to eat dinner with still riling me. Maybe a little of all of it. But i was not a h...

Hi all Ok, so another early morning start (7 am), a quick breakfast and the 3 of us were loaded onto a minibus for the jouney to Halong Bay. Thankfully, everyone wanted to go there, so we made the journey in normal time, with our guide wittering on about what we were going to be doing. This guy thought he was on some kind of Disney tour. Pseudo-american cliches pouring out of his big cheesy grin. I liked him. A lot. Just for his poor misplaced enthusiasm. ...