Arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon) 4 hours ago and have already taken 2 "coffee" breaks - simply to get something cool to drink and to be able to sit inside somewhere in airconditioned comfort! Man, this place is hot as hell! Motorbikes weaving in and out and roundabout. We thought we'd take a walk to the Ben Thanh Market to have a look but you need to have a serious, death-defying desire to shop or be a complete masochist. At the first stall, th...

Cycled again to Cua Dai beach again today for some R&R. Gorgeous sunny day with a fresh sea breeze keeping us cool. Swam, ate and started learning Spanish. Ate dinner at Morning Glory restaurant (same place I did the cooking lesson). It's our favourite restaurant in Hoi An. We leave (reluctantly) for Ho Chi Minh tomorrow.

Started the day with an early morning swim @ 6:30am, followed by a brisk walk to the Morning Glory Cooking School in the Old Town. This is by far the best cooking course I have ever done and I couldn't believe how amazingly good and easy it was to make! Firstly, we were guided through the local Hoi An Market where we were shown many typical local ingredients and encouraged to try fresh fruit, herbs, spices and vegetables - most of which I had passed by before b...

The train from Hue to Danang passed through spectacular seaside scenery. The carriages wound their way slowly up the mountain pass and then went tobogganing downhill towards the coastal plains. We took a cab to Hoi An from the train station so we wouldn't waste any time. Wow, what a postcard perfect little town. It was love at first sight - you know, that tingling, all over feeling you get about a person? Well, it's possible to get it about a place! All the buil...

Tonight we ate at Khong Gian Xua restaurant http://khonggianxuahue.com.vn/. Mmmmm, what a treat! We tried the warm fig salad with pork and shrimp, followed by cockle salad, sautéed garlic King prawns, grilled aubergine and clay pot rice. Most of the foods are specialties from the area and we were the only foreigners in the restaurant the whole evening. The whole spread only set us back £12 - incl beers and a delicious fruit salad platter. We walked back to the ...