We decided to leave Daniel at the hotel today. He was a bit knackered from all the walking we've been doing and visiting the various old buildings wasn't his cup of tea. Sue wanted a coffee so we went next door and asked for a hot coffee with milk. She got an iced coffee in a tall glass with ice. It was hot today and we got a bit sunburned. Its the first day of our trip that we didn't get a drop of rain. The streets were unusually quiet and even the hawkers seem...

The My Son temple ruins is from the Champa people (pronounced sharmpa or sharm) and is thousands of years old. Our guide explained that the Cham people still exist in about 7 settlements in Vietnam. They are cut off from most modern things and continue to use their own dialect and writing system. They are a very peaceful people whose main activities in life are "to work, sleep and pray". They do not compete in any manner of sports or games and hold women very hig...

Got in very late to Hoi An but there were still lots of foreigners walking around the streets. We hadn't seen any Aussies for a while but it appears they were all bunked in at the Hoi An Historic Hotel. The lobby seemed full of them. The swimming pool looked promising and boasted a Western-style bar overlooking it. Actually this is somewhat of a rarity over here. Back home there's almost a pub or club on every block but they're few and far between in Vietnam. Sue...

As we crossed the road for brekkie today, an elderly lady was shuffling along the footpath. She stared at Steve and when he smiled, she immediately smiled back. We've found this is almost always the case over here - Lonely Planet says a smile will go a long way in Vietnam and they're right. For some reason there was something about Daniel that appealed to her. She was staring and pointing which threw him a little bit so we were not really sure what it was all abo...

The plan was to go to the Elephant Waterfalls but the weather was less than favourable. Our driver suggested a few destinations and we worked out a rough plan. As we drove past the cathedral up the road, he pointed out the rooster on the very top of the cross on the spire. The locals call it "the chicken church". We saw no less than 6 weddings there the day before when we were on our travels. First stop was Bao Dai's Summer Palace. Bao Dai was the last feudal em...