Nha Trang...back to where it all began!

Our journey to Hoi An took a lot longer than expected on account of the bus being late (just what you want when you've had to get up at 3.30am!) which meant that we missed a connecting bus for the 2nd leg. For some reason, the driver took all of our 'tickets' as well, which caused a lot of confusion at the other end with the bus company trying to work out everything out. We ended up with an unexpected 4 hour stopover in Hue, so we left our big bags at the bus c...

So we decided to get the hard seats (more like benches) on the train up to Dong Hoi for Phong Nha, a) they were cheaper, but b) it was only for a few hours, so perfect for a more 'local' experience. Before we even got on the train though, one of the locals leaned out of the window trying to tell us we were queuing for the wrong carriage! I guess not many travellers slum it with the locals?! They were ok for a few hours, but certainly couldn't do any longer than...

We arrived in Hue at 9am relatively refreshed after a proper night's sleep, it makes such a difference to arriving before 6am when it's still dark and you know you've got at least 6 hours before you can check in. A swift coffee fuelled us into town to find somewhere to stay, which took a while on account of the random lane numbering system they have. But, by 11am, we were breakfasted and checked in for a few nights. We were feeling a bit lazy (ok, so not quite ...

We had a lovely few days back in Hanoi, enjoying the hustle and bustle of a city again. Hanoi seems to be such a diverse city with the hectic and busy Old Quarter to the quiet wide streets of the French Quarter. Our hostel was almost in the middle of the market in the Old Quarter and it was fun to sit on the steps and watch the world go by. Our journey back from Cat Ba was painless, we just booked one of the bus and boat combination tickets which worked out abo...