We leave our Nha Trang Hotel at stupid O'Clock to catch a flight to Hoi An. The flight leaves at 7.45am and after a short hours flights we arrive at Danang airport, here we are picked up and take a hour’s drive to our new hotel in the Old Quarter of this really interesting old city. Its like being in Paris, Rome and China The ancient town of Hoi An, 30 km south of Danang, lies on the banks of the Thu Bon River. Occupied by early western traders, Hoi An was one of the major trading centres of Southeast Asia in the 16th century. Hoi An has a distinct Chinese atmosphere with low, tile-roofed houses and narrow streets; the original structure of some of these streets still remains almost intact. All the houses were made ... read more

Leaving the hassle & bustle behind for the gentle pace of the south We leave Ho Minh City at 8am to travel the 3 hours south of the busy city to enjoy 2 days and a night in the Mekong Delta. During the drive we notice that the motorbike madness turns into the gentle pace of the bicycle, well almost gentle as there are still thousands of bikes everywhere. We reach our destination and we change from Mini Bus to water taxi for a tour of the Mekong Delta by water. The Mekong Delta often referred to as the "Rice bowl", is at the south end of Vietnam is a vast and low plain, divided by the "Nine Dragons", the arms of the mighty Mekong River. The country most fertile soil is formed by alluvions ... read more

So after another long drive in a convoy of Mini Buses the group arrived at the ferry port to board the boat to Koh Samet. Koh Samet is a national park of great natural beauty in the Rayong province, not so far from Pattaya and Bangkok. But the close distance is probably the only thing this island has in common with the other two. Ko Samet has fabulous beaches but a minimum of night life, bars and discotheques. The island is located about seven kilometres from main land and the Samet beaches are among the best. The ferry across took us about 30 minute and we were soon in the back of green open backed taxi jeeps taking us the short 10 minutes to our hotel on the beach front. More like a Public toilet than ... read more

From one camp to another After breakfast and repacking again it was time for Jane and me to leave the Lemon House for two weeks and make the 3 hour drive to our new home. We climbed aboard the open top jeep with our two tour guides Kim & Eg at the front. The express ways in Thailand are for more advanced than those of India and this made our journey a lot more enjoyable. We made a couple of comfort stops as well as a stop for lunch which consisted of more Thai delights. We arrived at our new camp in the town of Wong Tong at around 4pm after a long drive through vast green hills full of Banana Trees, Bamboo and over large rivers. We turned off a rural road onto a ... read more

When l was in the UK with 6 weeks to plan for my trip l had sorted out my visa for India, Vietnam and Australia. For some reason l had it in my head that l was in Thailand for a month’s so no visa was needed as you are granted a 30 day visitor’s visa on arrival. But l was to be in Thailand for two months not one so once l had arrived in Bangkok after a fantastic Christmas and New Year l had to work out how l was to extend my visa to stay in this great Kingdom. Just like the UK over the holiday period trying to find out from immigration what to do was a no win situation so instead l booked a day trip to Singapore and hoped that ... read more