On the morning of our trip to Halong Bay we checked out nice and early. As we paid we were told about the free breakfast that the hotel offers every morning. Not quite sure why that useful snippet of information wasn't passed on to us as we checked in, rather than when we checked out but better later than never I guess. After breakfast we were picked up and driven to Halong Bay in a minibus with 'Halong Bay Party Cruise - No Fun No Pay!' emblazoned across the sid...

Forget Kuala Lumpur, Phuket and Bangkok; the world's craziest traffic surely has to be in Hanoi. There are literally no gaps in between the cars, motorbikes and cyclists so you could easily spend 15 minutes waiting to cross the road if you're going to be all British and health and safety about it. After watching the Vietnamese we have learned that the best way is to inch forwards into the oncoming onslaught of traffic slooowly - giving it a chance to split in two...