Like most men my age, I've watched a whole raft of films about Vietnam: the boot-camp brutality of Full Metal Jacket; the intensity of Apocalypse Now; the aftermath of Born On The Fourth Of July and The Deer Hunter. None of these movies shy away from the demonstrating the desperate futility of the conflict, but all have a focus firmly on the American victims.Despite having studied the war at school, it took a trip to the War Remnants Museum of Saigon (or Ho Chi M...

This morning began with a legover and a small Vietnamese man between my thighs as I saddled up behind my tour guide for a trip into the central highlands (you can insert your own helmet-polishing joke as you see fit). First stop, a cricket farm. Here, breakfast consisted of deep fried grasshoppers in a rice flour batter. Not the world's most interesting foodstuff, but tasty enough when smothered with chilli sauce. And definitely more palatable than the cow's eye...

This morning began with a legover and a small Vietnamese man between my thighs as I saddled up behind my tour guide for a trip into the central highlands (you can insert your own helmet-polishing joke as you see fit). First stop, a cricket farm. Here, breakfast consisted of deep fried grasshoppers in a rice flour batter. Not the world's most interesting foodstuff, but tasty enough when smothered with chilli sauce. And definitely more palatable than the cow's eye...

As we've moved south through Vietnam there have been notable changes. The weather has improved enormously. The jacket I bought has already been consigned to the bottom of my backpack - temperatures here rarely fall below thirty degrees and my tan has been topped up. Food, too, has changed dramatically. Having been disappointed with the relatively bland cuisine in the north, we have feasted on fantastic fodder in central Vietnam. Regional variations are pronounc...

Visiting Sapa is like stepping back in time. The hill tribes of the Black H’mong and Red Dzao have changed little in the few hundred years since they arrived from China. High in the mountains of northern Vietnam, life and agriculture have adapted to the cold and hilly conditions so adeptly that there has been little cause to modernise. Hillsides have been converted into paddy fields designed to maximise the available space. From the top down enormous steps hav...