Some people think we are here on holiday! We are not!! It's just that we like to enjoy ourselves at the weekends after a hard week at work!!! We ventured back into Saigon on a very wet Friday afternoon. The roads were flooded and it was chaos. It normally takes around 2 hours on a Friday but this time it took 3. We had decided to go slightly posh as we had seen a special offer in a new hotel. At $50 a room we were happy but we couldn't imagine anyone ever feeling content paying $100 a room at the Nhat Ha 3. It was ok and definitely a cut above the usual backpacker haunts we stay in, but that's as far as it goes. Their website doesn't even work! The rain hadn't abated after ... read more

Our first weekend venture into Ho Chi Minh City was fabulous. We stayed in the An An 2 Hotel in the heart of the backpacker district. You get accustomed to being tall at the Uni as the students are general quite short, but once you're rubbing shoulders with Aussie and American giants on their way around South East Asia, you soon get a different perspective!! The hotel was good, clean and comfortable, and not too badly priced either at US$36 for a double room. We were well located to nip out for a good curry and explore some of the bars frequented by mostly English speaking tourists. It was loud and tacky at times, but we found a lovely little bar which was friendly and not very busy. Bread and Butter is owned by an ex-pat ... read more

Ho Chi Minh City (or is it Saigon???) is less than an hour away by bus - close enough even for a day trip. From TDM the 616 bus takes you right into the centre. Sadly for us, one never appeared and we took a small minibus instead which took us to the outskirts of the city. We then had a short taxi ride in. Our first stop was not cultural! The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf was a pit stop for coffee. Vietnamese coffee is nice enough, and we are acquiring the taste for their iced coffee, but a good strong Americano really hits the spot occasionally!! It's something we missed a lot in Tunisia and living out in Binh Duong we won't be able to get our caffeine fix this way unless we venture ... read more

It all happened so suddenly! One day we were sat in our apartment in Tunisia when we saw a job advertised in Vietnam. Within 12 hours we had been offered the job. Yes, we deliberated a bit and did a lot of research, but eventually we accepted and here we are! It's all very, VERY different!!! We decided to travel in relative comfort with Qatar Airways and can thoroughly recommend them if you need to travel for 17 hours! Immigration wasn't a huge problem despite one of us packing the required photos into checked in baggage. Luckily they are used to stupid travellers doing stupid things and have a digital camera at hand for just such emergencies!! We had pre-arranged a transfer to our hotel via Viator which worked out much smoother than we expected. They ... read more

Our final trip to the North of Tunisia! We rented a car and ventured back to Tabarka. It was strange to see that all of the storks we have seen on previous visits have flown their nests and the rooftops were empty. Once again we stayed at Les Mimosas where half of the town seemed to gather around the pool for a crafty cigarette or a coffee during Ramadan! There had been rumours that some Islamists had tried to burn the hotel down because of this but we saw no evidence other than a burnt patch in the lower gardens. We had a great time and even drove out towards the Algerian border. The mountains were beautiful and the rugged coastline was resplendant in the summer sun. From Tabarka we drove over the mountains to the ... read more