We got up early and caught our bus to Halong City, where we would meet the boat that would take us on a tour of Halong Bay. The ticked included meals, however we had heard that the alcohol they sell on the boat is extortionately expensive so we stocked up on cheap Dalat Wine the previous night and smuggled it on with us! After waiting around for what seemed like hours in the scorching heat, watching the complete chaos of all the boats trying to push their way through to the harbour, we boarded and set off. Halong Bay is beautiful; [View Full Entry]

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Due to our tight schedule, we didn’t waste much time in Hanoi. The following day we booked up a 2 day / 1 night trip around Halong bay staying overnight on the boat with Deano, El, Rich and our new found Kiwi friends Phil and Tyla. We decided to spend the day sightseeing so organized to pay a visit to the Hoa Lo Prison Museum and the Military History Museum. No fun day in Asia would be complete without a silly hat, so myself Deano and James all bought ourselves a Vietnamese Army hat and set off on our tour. As [View Full Entry]

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No sooner had I fallen asleep, blind drunk, than I was woken by Deano in a panic as our bus was leaving in 15 minutes. Hauled myself out of bed and stumbled around the room, still pissed, trying to pack my things. Managed to catch it and proceeded to speak drunken gibberish to some poor Vietnamese guy sitting next to me. While I was ranting on about the lack of legroom and how the buses over here are built for the Vietnamese not us Westerners, he was looking at me blankly, obviously with no idea what the hell I was talking [View Full Entry]

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Needless to say that the bus from Nha Trang turned up late as usual. The journey was uncomfortable and sleepless, but the saving grace was when we stopped for a break and watched the sunrise which was beautiful. We arrived in Hoi An at around 6am, knew of a hotel that El and Doireann were staying at so checked in and due to our time wasting in Nha Trang, had to immediately book the bus out at 8am the next morning. We decided to go for a swim at the sister hotel to the one we were staying in. We spent [View Full Entry]

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This trip is shaping up to be very strange indeed! Arrived in Nha Trang at about 8.30pm. The journey was slow going but the bus was quite empty so it was a reasonably comfortable ride. We immediately set about finding a room, but due to there being a Vietnamese national holiday on everywhere was fully booked. After traipsing around for about an hour we finally found a place. Nha Trang is a lot larger than I was expecting. It is a very busy seaside town and is very popular among Westerners and Vietnamese alike. Because of this it is very touristy [View Full Entry]

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First things first, I have to apologise for a lot of these photos being blurry. Our crap camera has struck again! After yet another early start of around 7am, we boarded our bus to Da Lat, which is a small town in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. The bus was surprisingly empty so we claimed the back seat and assumed the 4 hour journey was going to be a pleasant one. After 4 hours we arrived at an unknown destination where we picked up a number of locals.....and their families......and their pets.....and their motorbikes! Nah it wasn't that bad, but still [View Full Entry]

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Woke up nice and early for the bus, but somehow still nearly missed the bloody thing! The journey really was shite. One thing that I should explain is that all of the buses over here are constructed for Asian people and me being head and shoulders above most of them means that I get zero legroom. As if this wasn't bad enough some inconsiderate little cretin sitting in front of me reclined his seat so far back that the back of the seat was literally touching my nose! I was, however immediately cheered up by the scenery once we arrived. Mui [View Full Entry]

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Arrived in Ho Chi Minh City and checked into Kim's Guesthouse. It was a bit more expensive than we had hoped at $9 for a triple room, but after walking round an Asian city for 1/2 an hour with a seriously heavy rucksack on your shoulders you're prepared to pay that little bit extra just to put your bag down! First impressions of Ho Chi Minh City were that of the legendary saying in Asia - "Same same, but different". After spending too much time in Bangkok, and also passing through Phnom Penh we had kind of seen it all before. [View Full Entry]

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We were due to continue along the south coast of Cambodia to a place called Kep, however due to the monsoon being in full swing down south we decided to call it a day and head back up to Phnom Penh, then in turn catch a boat to Vietnam. The bus journey back up to the capital was quite bearable. I think the main reason being that as we continued north the weather got progressively better until it was warm again! Checked back into Number 9 Guesthouse and found a legendary Indian Restaurant - $2 for all you can eat, and [View Full Entry]

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Arrived in a small town east of Sihanoukville called Kampot. This place until recent years was a stronghold for the Khmer Rouge; they lived up in the hills surrounding the town. In fact as recently as 1994, three backpackers were kidnapped en route from Sihanoukville by the Khmer Rouge and later executed. Nowadays it is just another quiet Cambodian town. It almost has a bit of a creepy feel to it considering its recent history. There are no ATMs, no way of getting money, no real supermarket and everything shuts up shop at about 10pm so there is zero nightlife. Walking [View Full Entry]

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