The sleeper bus last night wasn't particulary comfortable and the driver was a bit crazy but I arrived in Hanoi at 8am which was quite reasonable. Quite coincidently the Irish couple I met in HCMC were also on the bus, but I only managed a quick hello as we were getting off before they disappeared in the crowd rushing to get their luggage. My flight out of Hanoi is booked for Thursday morning which means I have 4 full days in Hanoi. I thought this might be too m...

I got picked up at 6am this morning from Hue for a day trip of the DMZ (De-Militarised Zone). This is the area which surrounded the dividing line between North and South Vietnam and contrary to its name was probably the most militarised area during the war. We were first taken for breakfast and then spent 2 hours driving to Dong Ha and along Highway 1 where we stopped by a monument for people who are missing in action. From there we crossed Ben Hai River which w...

I left Danang this morning about 10am (despite the fact that the train was scheduled to depart at 8.59am) and set off on what I thought was going to be a two hour train journey through the mountains and along the coast to Hue. I did get to see all the lovely scenery I was promised, but my train took over 4 hours and kept randomly stopping in the middle of nowhere. Of course this meant that by the time I'd found a guesthouse and went out sightseeing I didn't have...

The bus from Hoi An this morning only took half an hour so I got here by 10am. I had three places to see; the Museum of Cham Sculpture, the Cathedral and Cao Dai Temple. The museum was a little hard to get to as a pedestrian and involved crossing some major roads, but I am a bit of a pro at crossing roads in Vietnam now so it was all in a day's work. It was definitely worth it though and the museum was a lot more interesting than merely going to an old Cham Temp...

On Monday I got the train from Quang Ngai to Danang as planned, and once there, an opportunity to rectify my travel plans landed neatly in my lap. Normally outside train and bus stations there is a mob of moto drivers wanting to take you wherever you wish to you, and as luck would have it the first question I was asked when I came out of the train station was whether I wanted a moto to Hoi An. The driver wanted a very reasonable sum so he drove me the hour to Hoi...