Day 19 - 22 Hoi AnWe spent a total of four days in Hoi An in a nice little hotel with traditional furnishings overlooking a rice paddy.This was lucky because for the first two days we were almost stranded in the hotel due to torrential non-stop rain.At one stage it was impossible to cross the road in front of the hotel as it had become a river a foot deep.I think we are pretty relaxed now as we were happy to chill out in our room reading and watching cheesy US mo...

Day 16 - 18 Halong Bay We booked on to a 2 day 1 night package tour on the "Pinta" cruiser around Halong Bay which is three and half hour drive from Hanoi with the obligatory stop at a ceramics factory where you can see the slave labour at work and the prices are inflated by four times. Although the boat, which is a reconstruction of an old vietnamese junk, can accommodate 16, we are in fact only a group of four for this trip so we basically have th...

Day 16 - 18 Halong Bay We booked on to a 2 day 1 night package tour on the "Pinta" cruiser around Halong Bay which is three and half hour drive from Hanoi with the obligatory stop at a ceramics factory where you can see the slave labour at work and the prices are inflated by four times. Although the boat, which is a reconstruction of an old vietnamese junk, can accommodate 16, we are in fact only a group of four for this trip so we basically have th...

Day 14 Hanoi Hanoi feels so dynamic but friendly and very different to China.There are a lot less cars but many more mopeds and cyclos.The French influence is still obvious through the cafes, baguettes, the colonial architecture, and an old Vietnamese man who asked if we were lost and gave directions in French.The local people are friendly and gentle, although the police appeared from nowhere when I was being hassled by some street vendors and arrested them with...