Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) Having just crosssed the border into Cambodia, it is time to reflect on Saigon and Vietnam. Saigon is different from Hanoi, there is much more big business going on and this has an impact on the look and feel of the city. Lots of big new posh buildings. It's cleaner by far. although there are  even more motor bikes there are also a higher proportion of cars. Its capitalist past seems to have given it a head start in the race to moderni...

Hoi An There are 400 Taylor shops in Hoi An. There must be similar numbers of French cafes (fab cheese cake), Chinese lamp shops (bought one), art galleries and restaurants. The old part of town is closed to traffic from the early evening making it a wonderful place to stroll and browse in the shops. Like luang Prabang, it has a really nice relaxed atmosphere and is the sort of place that you could easily spend more time.  We took another cooking class, once a...

Whee in Hue (whey) It is probably best to draw a veil over our night train from Hanoi to Hue. It left on time and arrived on time but we would rather have been on a Thai train and been 2 hours late. Hue is a lovely little city which was a little too close to the DMZ during the war. Consequently, many of it's centuries old sites were bombed flat by either side. Only a few buildings are left of the Imperial City were the Kings of Vietnam held their courts and con...

Frantic Hanoi , Vietnam  Hanoi is a massive assault on all of the senses. There are 6 M people and 4 M  scooters and motorbikes in the city and all of them want to be in the same street as you. They all blow their horns simultaneously so the noise goes straight through you. I found myself eyeball to eyeball with a guy on a scooter who as blowing his horn at me and I was shouting "toot,toot,toot,toot,toot,toot!"  His face was a picture. It made me feel better....