By now familiar with the north vietnamese attitude towards pricing (somewhat less than transparent!) we (Billy,Ellen, Steve, Sharon and I) decide to organise own own tour up into the mountains and avoid not only the "western markup" that tour operators liberally apply but the feeling we are being shifted around like cattle with useless tour guides such as morning breath in tow! The journey to the train station brings with it our first challenge (well mo...

We arrive in Hanoi and go for brekkie with our new crew from the bus and then check into a dorm room in a backpacker hostel - proper backpackers we are now! We check out a few city sites - a pagoda in a lake and a little temple where the temple goers wanted us to help them out with their silver leafing duties. The temple was being set up for a wedding it seemed as there were loads of little gifts wrapped up. We've seen a few weddings in Asia where people line the...

It rained, it rained, it poured! and as our next stop was the beach resort of Nha Trang it was less than ideal so we opted to tick off the few tourist sites in the area and head for the other activity that Nha Trang is renowned for.............drinking! Braving the rain and doning our multi-coloured poncho's (clearly looking immensly attractive!) we dodged and dived the locals trying to sell us postcards (at one point Sharon even ran away from a boy to make her...

Sharon: After Steve's unsuccessful hunt around Ho Chi Minh City for the Cookie lady, we set out for our 2 day trip along the Mekong Delta. Our tour guide was Vu, but his nickname was JJ - 'Junior Jim' - as he was tought by Slim Jim and tried his best at all the rhyming slang. Full of it over here they are; not a day goes by without someone shouting 'Luvvly Jubbly' at us! We meet Anne and Phil a lovely couple from Ireland and Dina from Sweden who, bless her, was g...

Carrie: Welcome to Vietnam! Our first impressions were great - very french inspired so some beautiful buildings, happy smiley locals and absolutely millions of moto's buzzing around (the riders wearing colourful helmets,apparently only introduced and made legal last year but quite the fashion accessory already!). After a read of our trusty guide books we quickly realised that the 12 days we had left on our visa (due to our re-routing thanks to the wonderful STA...