Dien Bien Phu is the last town in Vietnam as you head towards Laos using the most northerly crossing! Lonely planet doesn't recommend it but after considering my options, It was possibly faster, I got to spend the nights in beds instead of on the bus and it was significantly cheaper so I decided to take a chance and head for the border this way. The mini-bus from Sapa was pretty uncomfortable and packed but it was fine! After a couple of hours we did have to st...

The bus to Sapa was an experience (and that's just a polite way of saying crap). It was cold, it was bumpy and there were people sleeping in the aisles! Luckily I did have a decent seat/bed (in that I had one to myself). I arrived into Sapa early in the morning and went and found some accommodation. Sapa is famous for it's beautiful rolling hills covered in fantastic green rice paddies. Unfortunately in Jan/Feb Sapa is covered in cloud and so these Rice Padd...

Ninh Binh to Hanoi was a short bus ride, but a dangerous bus ride. My life seemed to flash in front of my eyes a few times. Sometimes, even now, when I close my eyes I see us overtaking another bus and 2 busses coming towards us on what was barely a 2 lane road! Anyway, we reached Hanoi unscathed (well physically anyway). We had already booked into a hostel so headed to the backpacker district of Hanoi. Our first point of business in Hanoi was to organise a tou...

Ninh Binh is a small town a couple of hours south of Hanoi. The selling point is the scenery, it is often compared to a small Halong bay because there is a river which flows between fantastic limestone karsts and caves! We arrived into Ninh Binh at 5 in the morning after a terrible night bus journey. And through nobody's fault (it was Ben's) we ended up with a plan to meet Walt but without the address of where we were going to meet him. So after standing on the...

Ben and I caught the bus to Hoi An and when we got there we met up with Anastasia and Alana who we'd met on the booze cruise and went to a really nice hotel - some of the best value for money accommodation I've ever had. For $8 each we had and awesome room, free decent breakfast, there was a massive pool and it was a really nice hotel! Hoi An is the home of cheap tailoring in Vietnam - so over the course of my time there I had a suit tailored, a winter coat mad...