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Saigon is one crazy place! It has a population of around eight million and can boast around five million motorbikes on its roads. Pedestrians are treated as the lowest of the low and pavements are used as parking spaces. Like everywhere in Vietnam, business is high on the agenda, adding to the stresses of navigating the city. Luckily we met up with Kris, one of Jimmy's old friends from Oldham who was able to take us on a whistle stop tour of the city, often riding at break neck speed dodging between the chaotic traffic. Unfortunately for us, we had to 'share' a helmet and after a minor collision with another bike after we had jumped a red light, Kris declares 'hold on, this could get hairy'. As a film scout, it is Kris's job to find westerners to appear as extras in Vietnamese movies and after hearing that none other than the 'legendary' Dustin Nguyen would be starring in ours, we just couldn't resist. (I must point out that we have never actually come across anyone who has ever heard of this man!) We paid a visit to the Cu Chi tunnels, part of the 200 mile network of underground tunnel system that the Viet Cong (communists) built and lived in while fighting and defeating the Americans in the war. The war museum also brought to light some of the atrocities of the Americans, where they dropped more bombs (a lot of which were bio-chemical and now banned) than throughout WWII.

After relaxing like gentlemen in a mud bath in Nha Trang (where Rob was able to get over the loss of having his iPod stolen from the hotel in Saigon) we took up the offer from two Vietnamese locals who would take us on a five day bike tour through the Central Highlands, travel on the Ho Chi Minh trail and drop us off in Hoi An. The bike tour with Boo and 'The Boss' was the best $300 we could ever spend. We ate like kings enjoying all that is Vietnamese cuisine (pig womb being a real delight!). The chillis were hotter than the sun and the crates of Saigon beer went down a treat. We drank 'happy water' (homemade rice wine) with minorities, took an elephant ride through a lake and swam in deserted lagoons. We were taken to villages who had never seen western people before (they found us highly amusing!) and found ourselves constantly waving back to the countless number of people who wanted to say hello as we drove past. It was an amazing experience, but before we knew it we were in Hoi An and being measured up for a couple of tailor made suits - very nice!

The 500km local bus up to Nimh Binh was truly horrendous. 'The Boss' had waved it down for us on the highway and we climbed aboard. Needless to say it was full of curious Vietnamese people who were probably wondering why two white people would pay to travel on a bus with no leg room, would stop every fifteen minutes to drop and pick people/food parcels/motorbikes/metal girders, had no air-con, was blaring out some of the most soppy Asian pop known to man, at a level so loud it would later send us into delirium! Somehow we made the nineteen hour journey and arrived in Nimh Binh where we met up with Gavin. We hired a couple of motorbikes to explore Nimh Binh's breathtaking limestone peaks set in rice paddies and enjoyed driving around and exploring its many temples. We also discovered the delights of 'Beer Hoi'. Home brewed 3% beer served on street corners, costing 20p a glass.

Combining our visit to Hanoi, Vietnam's French influenced capital city where we paid a visit to 'Uncle Ho' (Ho Chi Minh) in his mausoleum and a heavily oriented Communist museum, we took an overnight boat tour around Halong Bay where huge limestone peaks rise out of the sea resembling something similar to Jurassic Park. It was an awe inspiring site, and being given the opportunity to kayak and banana boat there will take some beating! On our return to Hanoi, before our sleeper train to Sapa we enjoyed an Indian meal in a restaurant recommended by Gavo, tucking into a good curry while at the same time spot a rat whizz across the restaurant floor (that beats the cockroach in Phuket!)

The scenery of mountainous Sapa is breathtaking. In what is an amazing piece of engineering, rice paddies cling to mountains in steps and we spent the morning exploring the steep valley down to a large waterfall and mixing with the minorities (whose attire somewhat resembled Christmas elves.) By the end of our exploration mission, we were well and truly pyloned so some apple wine - homemade, manufactured out of an empty water bottle, and with a nasty looking sediment in the bottom soon sorted us out. We hired bikes driving to a waterfall, where Robbo was chatted up by a raving homosexual from Iceland or somewhere equally as weird. The weather turned something biblical and we were almost swept off a road into a chasm below, but chasing the sunset back as it ducked behind the mountains of Sapa was spectacular. Each turn of the road was a new photo opportunity. The amazing paddies, stunning scenery and warm locals made Sapa a real treat to visit. Magic!