We took the bus from Hoi An to Nha Trang - a 12hr+ journey. They informed us at the beginning that there would only be one toilet stop, so we promptly stopped drinking our water! As it happened, the bus was in need of water, and we seemed to stop every 30mins for this to be replenished!We settled down to read our books, but they were trying to conserve energy or something and turned the lights out at 8.30pm putting an end to that. Well apart from Rob, forever the boy scout who had his head torch and managed to read a whole book! I don't think we will be doing another 12hr bus journey in a hurry! The only positive to the journey was that we were able to watch a fantastic sunrise. Nha Trang ... read more

We spent a few days in Hue, visiting the Citadel, doing a full day DMZ tour (far too much time on a bus), and actually finding some time to relax and enjoy our surroundings! I was attacked by some mean biting animal, that took a fancy to my leg - This became beautifully swollen, but thankfully now it has returned to its usual size. As usual, they didn't fancy a bite of Rob! From Hue we took a bus to Hoi An, the place in Vietnam to get some tailoring from. When we arrived in Hoi An, Rob decided that it was high time for his first hair cut of our travels. We located a small barbers on the corner of a street. Rob bargained with the man and got his fee down to 20,000d (about ... read more

We have just finished a run of busy, but very enjoyable days. On our last day in Hanoi we took a day trip to the perfume pagoda. This involved a 2hr minibus journey there, then an hour in a piece of metal they called a boat, rowed by a tiny lady for an hour. All we had to sit on was a small plank of wood. The first 20 mins was fine as we were taking in the views, but then we really did have numb bums! You could't even shift your weight as this caused the boat to rock! Once back on dry land we then had a 4km walk up to a grotto - this was quite hard going in the heat as it was basically just a series of steps. We couldn't complain ... read more

We have survived our second day, dodging the motorbikes - our skill is improving! Took a cyclo to see the sights this morning - this meant being cycled along in front of the cycle amidst all of the motorbikes jossling for position - scary especially when you consider that they keep changing which side of the road they would like to drive on! Our driver took as to see Ho chi minhs masoleum - it looks like a big lego building. He also took us to other sight seeing places, but we still don't know what they were - no english signage, and we didn't understand his english! We also went to another vast lake. It dawned on us that despite all of this water there are no birds there - this could be because all ... read more

This is just a very brief message to let everyone know that we got here safe and sound. We flew from london at 11am on Wednesday after getting up extra early to make sure that we were one of the first to check-in. Was quite amusing seeing people going on holiday for 2 weeks being told that they needed to lighten their bags or pay the excess, rumours were that the excess was 30 pound per kilo over the 20kg limit. Both of us gloating that we only had 13kg each! However being that we bearly have any clothes i'm now not so sure that was the best thing to be proud of! (We have also considerably added to the weight with books at the airport!) The 12.40 hr flight to Singapore passed smoothly with no ... read more

Only 2 more sleeps and then we fly to Vietnam! All has gone through with the house, and we have left our jobs. As the time to leave gets closer, our excitement:anxiety ratio is in a steady state of flux. We intend to spend the next month working our way through Vietnam, and then on into Cambodia for a couple of weeks. From there we will be seeking some beaches in Thailand, and will travel through Malaysia into Singapore. We then fly into Sydney, and onto New Zealand, followed by Fiji. The grand tour is rounded up with a couple of weeks making our way from LA to San Fransisco. We are in the process of saying our goodbyes - We have had a full blown Christmas dinner this weekend complete with crackers, and a 'Boxing ... read more

So much for us not having much stuff! The full extent of the number of possessions we own has hit us hard - Our living room is a sea of boxes. Things have finally (fingers crossed so not to jinx things!) come together and we are in the process of packing the house up, and getting ready to hand over the keys. We have only got another 3 weeks at work, and we are counting down the days! With luck on our side the next blog should come from somewhere a little more exotic than Ponders End! ... read more