This is the last entry on my travelling blog and so I have done a little summary on our trip at the end of this entry. We are now in Bangkok having spent the last few days in Ko Chang on the beach. As such, it’s been a fairly quiet affair. After seeing the temples, we were in a bit of a predicament. We’d achieved our objectives in Cambodia, namely to see the temples, and our next plan was to grab some sun and sea for a few days before we headed home. However, we hit a snag. We didn’t know [View Full Entry]

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We finished our stay in Vietnam in Chau Doc, and set sail on a beautifully scenic river trip to Phnom Penh, passing through the heart of rural Vietnam. The Mekong Delta was a perfect end to our stay in Vietnam; friendly people and beatiful scenery. Such a sharp contrast to Phnom Penh. Cambodia is a beautiful country but the poverty here is very real and the lack of money apparent, from dirty streets to young kids begging for money (those as young as four). The armed services hire out rocket launchers and grenades for you to be able to blow up [View Full Entry]

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Our last foray in Vietnam took us to the Mekong Delta, the very southern part of Vietnam which is also the draining region for the might Mekong River, which means low lands and lots of water! It was a very convenient trip because of the proximity to our next destination, Cambodia. Our first day was spent travelling the very short trip from Saigon to My Tho, although we didn't see much of it, as we hopped right away onto a ferry to Ben Tre, then onto a rowing boat into some very narrow canals. This was a beautiful experience, something right [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Saigon from Dalat after a long bus journey that saw us wind down the mountains and into a whole new world of humidity. On the approach road into Saigon, we saw at first hand the sheer numbers that make up the traffic here; thousands of cars; millions of bikes. We arrived late afternoon, which saw us check into a capsule room with heavenly air-con, and we set about our itinerary. In the heart of backpacker land lie countless shops, tour companies, eateries and slimy go-go bars; a a great hive of activity. Rather than detail Saigon on a [View Full Entry]

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We headed to Dalat, deep in the mountains for a bit of refreshing cold. Below Hoi An, everywhere is so god-damn warm; it's evidently hot season and it can get very uncomfortable! Dalat is a place that came highly recommended but in the end I think we were disappointed with it. We were there for 2 nights and we actually planned to stay longer, but decided against it whilst we were here. The first day there was spent wandering around the old city and the old classical buildings are very hard to find on a walking tour. In truth, it seemed [View Full Entry]

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A whistle stop tour of Nha Trang was on the cards after Hoi An, largely because it sits on the open tour bus route before Dalat. As we were there a day and a night, it's a very short blog. Our time here was rather unincidental, although we managed to see the beach which looked absolutely world-class. It seemed a bit weird - I never knew Vietnam had such a big beach scene, but back from the Vietnam War, the yanks were using China Beach up in Danang , so it's always been around. And that's it. We saw the sights [View Full Entry]

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Hoi An is a fantastic little place. The amount of Westerners here is testament to that fact. From what I've seen, there are two main things that make Hoi An a drawcard for tourists: the world-famous tailoring and the beautiful World Heritage listed Old Town. We have sampled both in our time here, and it's left a very nice taste in our mouths. Hoi An, is, by and large, very much like Luang Prabang in Laos. It's very chilled, very relaxed, there are hardly any motorbikes and there is quaint charm that emanates from the ancient houses here. The people are [View Full Entry]

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I sit here now in Hoi An with a stinking cold. I find this incredible; it's bloody scorching here in Hoi An, which is markedly more warmer than the north of Vietnam due its central location. One suspects the locals on the train on the way to Sapa passed many germs to me, which isn't hard given that you constantly hear the hocking up of spit and coughing without covering the mouth... Anyway, rant over - since my last blog we have visited the city of Hue, which is a couple of hours north of Hoi An. Hue's got a fantastic [View Full Entry]

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We visited the DMZ on our way to Hue from Hanoi. The DMZ is the site of the border between North and South Vietnam during the war, so it was a good place to visit given the interest in the war. We visited a lot of sites on our day in the area, which began with a trip to the American Firebase. Now I thought this would be still identifiable as a base with huge old fences and the like but in fact the only remnant is a bunker which has views over the whole landscape. This in itself is a [View Full Entry]

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We have spent the last two days here in Sapa, one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. It's an overnight train journey from Hanoi, and it's markedly colder here as it's high in the mountains. Sapa is the town which sits on the face of the mountain, and it's populated by all of the hill-tribes who live in the surrounding area. As such, the town is awash with vibrant colours from the dresses of the different tribes. It truly is a fascinating place. Our first day was spent simply wandering and taking in the scenery, with views over [View Full Entry]

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