9th May 2009 BANGKOK After breakfast we checked out of our room and took a small walk about around the markets again. By the time we get to the airport a raging storm has covered the city, it’s a little spooky because when we first arrived in Saigon we arrived in a serious storm that flooded the streets and now as we leave the same thing happens, weird!! At the check in another nightmare unravelled before our eyes. Because of Pili’s deliberately damaged passport the girl at the desk questioned what had happened to the detached documents. We faked innocence; we didn’t think it was a good idea to say about our run in with the bitter manager in Ninh Binh, thankfully the woman in charge glued the passport back together and told us not to ... read more

6th May 2009 We arrived in the costal town of Nhu Trang at 6:00am. The 12hr journey had been horrendous, the bucks were to small and the road (I use that word cautiously) was one long series of pot holes we felt every jump, roll, jerk and bottoming out, we slept for maybe an hour so we were wrung out when we arrived at the 62 Tran Phu Hotel. Pili headed straight fro the shower and bed. I decided to walk the street and find some breakfast which I did. I then walked down to the long beach front and sat by the sea for a while. On the way into town, looking through the windows we saw what seems most of the locals meet at the beach at 6:00am for Tia Chi, badminton and just ... read more

30th April 2009 Bach Ma National Park The minibus collects us at 8:15am from our hotel, National Park here we come, ha, ha, no way. We’re dropped just two minutes later around the corner from the hotel at a travel agent to wait in the street for a bus!! This really is getting boring; it would be easier finding Elvis than getting the service that you actually pay for here in Vietnam. We were specifically told we’d have a direct transport straight to the Park with arrival to be about 10:30am. We spent the time talking to an Australian policeman called Nigel who’s on vacation. He’s had very similar negative experiences to us and is also at the end of his tether. We have a very similar sense of humour and hit it off immediately. ... read more

26th April 2009 We all met for breakfast in the hotel at 7:30am, followed by the hiring of two automatic mopeds for our planned day out in Tam Coc. All fingers were crossed that the storms wouldn’t continue and ruin the day. Pili took first turn with driving the bike through the crazy traffic as I wanted to take photos while clinging onto the back. We stopped to top up on petrol and Jonathan and Lucy were approached by an old Vietnamese guy in pale blue pyjamas; they had know idea what he wanted and I don’t think he really had a clue either, anyway I got a cheeky photo out of it. We were surprised that we didn’t encounter more tourists when we arrived in Tam Coc’s market square after purchasing our National Park entrance ... read more

16 - 17th April 2009 In the morning we were picked up by the same little old guy with his Xich Lo (bicycle and carriage) who had collected us from the boat yesterday on our arrival. He took us to the bus station for our ride to Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon. This poor little guy struggled with both of us and our entire luggage; I happily gave him a couple of dollars for his effort. Our bus journey again was overcrowded, hot and uncomfortable. We had another 6hr journey, which to be honest I’m surprised we survived, we had several near accidents because of the recklessness of our psychopathic driver who was speeding and watching very loud game shows on TV at the same time. Nobody talked for the whole journey, even ... read more