It would be hard to classify Phu Quoc Island as an 'undiscovered' beach paradise but it was not so long ago, that it really was that. Now there is a fair amount of development taking place but its still a long way away from comparisons with Hawaii- just what we were looking for as a place to rest before leaving Vietnam and tackling Cambodia. We are not beach people (apologies to Christine L) but we've been traveling hard the last couple of weeks and t...

This was really just a pit-stop for us as we waited for the boat ferry to Phu Quoc Island and as a result we're only taking away five mixed memories:1- We had to pay twice for our hotel room. I had been using Agoda to book some of our rooms as they have a strong presence in Southeast Asia (they do require the payment up front which is different from most booking sites and a big negative). Unfortunately they also have a reputation for non-existent customer ser...

For the devoted followers of the Wandering Wows (both of you), you might recall that we had spent a couple of days floating along the Upper Mekong River (Thailand & Laos) and now we were going to spend a couple of days exploring the Mekong Delta- the point at which this mighty river meets the sea. The Delta is the proverbial food basket of Vietnam, and the dams the Chinese are proposing to build further upstream has the country very worried for the future of this...

The Viet Cong tunnels at Cu Chi are something of a must-do if you're anywhere near Saigon. We grabbed a cheapie bus and on the way to the tunnels stopped at the Cao Dai Great Divine Temple and were lucky enough to observe a noontime ceremony. Although we were restricted to the galleries above the main temple floor, I still felt like we were intruding on almost cult-like worship. Dramatic devotion like this has always amazed and puzzled me- on the one hand, it...

Ho Chi Minh City was almost a letdown given the warnings- we were expecting Hanoi on steroids and not in a good way. The population of Saigon is nearing 8 million and there are apparently close to 4 million motorbikes and scooters (and none of the 8 million is able to operate any of the 4 million within any commonly accepted rules of the road) and this should result in a chaos far greater than that of Hanoi... but it doesn't. One of the more positive reminder...