We traveled south from Denang to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) on Tuesday and have been pleasantly surprised, it's just as busy as Hanoi if not busier but the town is far more modern and the streets much wider. We had a bit of a shock when we first arrived because as we were driving into the city a storm struck with torrential rain that flooded many of the streets. The locals were riding their scooters through water up to their knees. Many of the city roads were ...

We had a great day today, we visited Cua Dai Beach, to the East of Hoi An. We hired a moped from a lady across the street from the Hotel. When I say hired, we gave her 70,000 Dong (£2) and she gave us the keys to a moped, a litre of petrol in a plastic bottle and two helmets! Thankfully the roads around Hui An are much quieter than Hanoi so we both jumped on the moped and hit the beach! The top of the beach was shaded by palm trees which was just the trick as ...

This morning we flew from Hanoi to Denang then headed 20 miles south to Hoi An, another town that is a world heritage site. We arrived at the hotel at 2pm and it was 38°C and still very humid so we sat by and in the pool until 5pm. Just before sunset we took a walk into the town which isn't very big but very pretty (in an architectural interest kind of way) down by the river. We found a few bars, had some dinner and headed back to our hotel. Tonight with six ...

For the last 3 days we have been in Halong Bay and Cat Ba Island. On Sunday we got a junk boat from Halong City into Halong Bay which is a bay made up of 2000 islands only 2 of which are habited (one being Cat Ba Island). We spent the day aboard the junk taking in the sights and eating amazing seafood. We went cave walking amongst stalagmaites and stalactites and had a swim in the warmest sea water before eating more seafood and spending the night aboard the boat...

First impressions, if we're honest, after only 24 hours in Hanoi, dirty, busy, loud, smelly and a reminds me of a phrase often used if Africa - Kak! There are one or two areas that are OK and we've found a great Bar that does the coldest beer in Hanoi and great food. I think we'll head off to Halong Bay tomorrow and to the island of Cat Ba.