We booked our train ticket for Sapa for $10 each and the taxi was picking us up at 5am for a 6am departure. The guy said taxi would cost $4 from the hotel to the train station, we said fine. The taxi came at 5.10am and we were at the station at 5.14am. The meter on the taxi was running and came to about 1$. Mmm .... Sold down the river again. So we get our train tickets out to board the train and I see the price on the ticket that we paid $10 for, $6, the ticket cost $6. [View Full Entry]

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Ok, brace your self for this entry. Vietnam is a amazing place, one thing that spoils it are the companies and people who constantly lie to you. They promise you the world and are your best friend until they have your cash in their pocket. Amazing then they seem to develop amnesia and also forget how to speak English. Let me elaborate. Ok, we are in Hanoi, we have been here for the last 5 days. We took a sleeper bus from Hue. We bought our bus tickets and were told that the bus will pick us up from our hotel [View Full Entry]

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Today we have booked a boat trip to go see some tombs of some kings from days gone by and a pagoda. Surprise surprise, pouring down with rain but the show must go one. There was 3 of us, Linda, Marina from Holland and I. We decided to hire a boat for the day instead of going on another tour. We met up in the morning and made our way to the dock to board our boat. Lucky for us the boat was pretty solid and had a roof with walls so we could relax on plastic chairs dry instead of [View Full Entry]

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After a solid morning of shopping with a hangover, I was more than happy to be leaving Hoi An, Linda on the other hand could have lived there. After posting our goods back to Sweden, fingers crossed that they make it, we packed our bags and waited for the bus to take us to Hue. The ride was a short 4 hours so was not to bad. As with every place you arive, the Vultures are waiting for you to step off the bus so they can eat you alive. Offering you taxies, places to stay, etc. We just walked throug [View Full Entry]

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Today we hired a motorbike. We decided to visit Marble Mountain and China Beach. It took about an hour to get there from Hoi An. The mountains, consisting of 5 marble outcrops that were once islands. It has caves which houses Buddha and Hindu statues. The one cave is pretty huge, in the ceiling they made some holes so the light can shine through and at a certain time of the day, the sun shines straight onto a statue of Buddha which was carved into the mountain in the the cave. It was pretty hot and humid on the mountain and [View Full Entry]

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We had booked a day trip to My Son. My Son is 45km West of Hoi An and is one of Vietnams most antient monuments. It was a 1 hour bus ride but took 2 because we had to stop at all the hotels picking people up. Our guide took his job very seriously, the way he told us about the history, he was ranting and raving as the history unfolded. As with a lot of South East Asia so far, no place is complete without there being bomb craters and some of the buildings being smashed to pieces compliments of [View Full Entry]

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As usuall, the bus trip is pretty much like playing Roulette. You win some and lose more! We were on a sleeper bus to Hoi An, a 11 hour bus ride. So we get in the bus and were told to take any seat/bed, so we did. A few minutes later we were told to move to the back, so we did, then we were told to get to the back on the top section. This sux, the whole bus had individual sleeping seats but the back is 5 beds next to each other so you end up sleaping next to [View Full Entry]

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Siting out side Romy's Italian Ice Cream in Nha Trang, one wonders, how many hawkers could there be in town selling books, cigarettes, snacks, paintings,etc. Well, I will tell you. I have worked it out, on average 1 per minute. That's 60 'no thank you, I don't need anymore!' that's a lot of no thank you's in a day. God, they never end. Anyway, we have been here for 4 days, in 4 days we have done absolutely nothing. Not seen one site, one trip, nothing. Wake up, eat, tv, eat, tv, eat then tv and sleep. We planed to go [View Full Entry]

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Linda is taking a break, so I, Chris, will be continuing with the blog. The night before we booked a tour of Dalat, so we woke up early today to eat and get ready for the day ahead. The car picked us up at 8.30am from the hotel. There were 3 other people on the tour with us, a Israeli couple from Telavive and a Canadian from Montreal. So first stop was a cable car ride, 2.7km long across a valley to Truc Lam Meditation Centre. It is a centre for Zen Buddhists so the whole building and garden was designed [View Full Entry]

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We left early for the city of Dalat, 6 h away. We were lucky as the bus was the 'night bus' with a small bunk bed for each person, very comfy.. As usual the bus driver was flying on the road, hooting at every vehicle and cows on the road and at the same time, smoking and talking on the phone.. Otherwise it was a really nice and scenic ride, alongside the sea with the mountains in the background. Later we had to change bus and from there it went uphill. Dalat is situated at a height of 1500 meters and [View Full Entry]

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