Ko Lipe is a tiny island in the Adang archipeligo, down in the deep south of Thailand. We are particularly glad to be here, as it is well off the beaten track and still relatively unspoilt by tourism. We have found the best beach yet, soft white sand and emerald green water. The swimming is excellent as you are neck deep in water within a few metres of the shore, unlike the other beaches we have encountered where you have to wade out quite far before attaining e...

We arrived back in Bangkok in the evening from Siem Reap. One more night was enough to arrange a night train south to Surat Thani. The train journey was fun, much cleaner in Thai 2nd class than in Vietnams 1st class! The seats were in pairs facing each other on either side of a central aisle for the evening part of the journey. There was hostess style service as we rumbled through the Bangkok suburbs and into the night. Later they came to make up the beds. The ...

We took the short (40 min) flight from Saigon to Siem Reap in Cambodia. This town is famous for the legendary temple ruins of Angkor. We were forced by the hot weather to book into a hotel with a pool. It really has been hot too. 35 degrees which is enough to cook anyone's goose! Unfortunately, this is not the secret backpackers hangout it used to be. The world of package tours has arrived with a thump. Masses of Japanese people in tour groups following flag ...

This blog actually starts in Hue which is half way down the coast of Vietnam. The maps didn't recognise this so we're having to include it in this Saigon chapter. Anyway, we only had a day in Hue, but it is only a small town and was easily covered in that time. Firstly we saw the forbidden purple city, the residence of the old Vietnamese monarchy. I guess it is modelled on the Beijing equivallent, but was is a significant state of ruin. Never the less it stil...

We've only just arrived but I can tell you that Hanoi is mental. Simply mental. There is congestion, pollution, car horns constantly, motorbikes, near misses and apparently no road rules! I thought I would be ahead of the game by speaking French, but they seem to speak English more readily! We arrived safely if not hairily! It took us some five minutes to get across the road to the only food place that still seemed open, but had a nice simple meal and a welcome c...