Hanoi Saturday 22nd December - Thursday 27th December Tired from our broken sleep, we arrive at a guesthouse we'd booked over the internet, being worried that everywhere would be full over Christmas… the owners of the guesthouse say that they haven't received our reservation and are fully booked - but offer to take us around to a sister guesthouse nearby.We trudge, bag laden, through a lively market street, full of flapping fish and mattress shops, throug...

Hue (pronounced Hoo-ey) Thursday 20th December - Saturday 22nd December We check into a friendly guesthouse, with a balcony in our room overlooking a makeshift open air billiards hall.Its dark, so we have a quick reconnaissance of the nearby area and head for a bar called 'Why Not?' for dinner. Hue's main attraction is a citadel, which makes up most of the town.We walk down to it the following morning, getting plenty more hassle from moto and cyclo drivers on ...

Hoi An Sunday 16th December -Wednesday 19th December We clambered onto our first sleeper bus - it had room to sleep about 35 people in two deckers, with three columns in each layer.We settled in and had a more comfortable night than if we'd been on a normal bus, although it didn't compare to a hotel bed, and we didn't get much sleep as the drivers kept pottering around the bus poking us and playing loud love songs. After twelve hours, we arrive in Hoi An at 6....

Nha Trang 13/12/07 - 15/12/07 Another bus journey another town… this time only a short hop of six hours, but again a pretty decent coach and apart from the winding roads getting over the mountains and some good views of beaches and rice paddies, it was a pretty uneventful journey. We arrived at Nha Trang at about lunch time and were, as usual, dropped off outside a hotel tied in with the coach company. I assume this must be by agreement, but unlike the ...

Dalat Dec 11th - 13th 2007 We arrived at Dalat after another 8 hour coach journey but unlike the coaches of Laos and Thailand, the Vietnam coaches appeared to be newer, faster, air conditioned and didn't leak when it rained. So, apart from the odd dodgy bathroom at the rest stops it was a pretty comfortable journey. In the Lonely Planet, Dalat is described as "quite different from anywhere else you will visit in Vietnam".At first view, as the coach ...