We have spent the last two days just walking around District 1 and we are very good at crossing the road without been ran over. Although we have found it much easier to deal with traffic here than in Ha Noi. The cool thing here is that they have these people in green uniforms that are Tourist security guys, and they help you cross the road if it is too busy or they think you may not survive the crossing lol. We head to the Mekong delta tomorrow to start our trip up to Cambodia. We spend the next three nights on a junk travelling up the river to Chau Doc. From there we catch a fast boat to the capital of Cambodia spend one night there then onto Seam Reap and Angkor Wat. We will ... read more

Well after a short SIX HOUR car ride we arrived at the Cham Villas, well it is like paradise, there are 18 villas all set amongst lush gardens and palm trees. We look out directly onto the beach. Its so good Deb is up at 6am and in the water by 6.30. We claimed our spot on the beach lounges and then headed off to breakfast. So we were sitting in the sun reaading our books by 8am. Well Deb was sitting in the sun I was hiding away from it and slip slop slapping every 15 mins. We are both reading two very good books, I am reading "The girl with the Dragon Tatoo" and Deb is reading "Committed" written by the eat pray love lady. Deb very impressed as the first pages start with ... read more

Yesterday in Hue visited some stunning mausoleums and pagoda's (in the rain lol). I must say I think we have both seen enough Pagodas to last a life time. Reminds us a little of all the churches you see when in Europe lol. We had lunch at this absolutely devine restaurant called the King. Was a little of the tourist track but very nice. The service was basically silver service and I lost count as to how many times she said thank you to us. The citidal and forbidden city were very good but at 10 square kilometres is a bloody long way to walk from the South gate to the North gate. We could have ridden an elephant as there were two just cruising in their enclosure. Found that out a bit to late to ... read more

Just landed in Hue about 3.30 Vietnam time to light rain and 21 degrees. The Camillia hotel is lovely (bout 4 star on NZ standards) and they had Oreo biscuits in the mini bar - nice! We spent this morning in Ha Noi visiting the Hoa Lo Prison when Senator McCain stayed for a while lol Better know as the "Ha Noi Hilton!" Interesting walking through seeing the original prison and cells. Very well set up for visitors and really cool memorial carved in a huge marble wall for the Vietnamese who were imprisoned during the resistance. Then for something completely different hunted out the Paris Deli (recommended in Rough Guide Vietnam) and had a beautiful chocolate pastry and mocachino - now that's what I call a cafe! We had a nice view of the Opera ... read more

Arrived at Lai Cao train station at 5am yesterday morning after 8 hrs on the train. Good thing we both slept really well and the noise and swaying was kinda soothing in a way lol. Huey is our guide while we are in Sapa and he took us to a local restaurant in Lai Cao for breakfast (western style which was nice to test my tummy out on food that tasted familiar - all good!) Boarded a four wheel drive for the day. Went to Bac Ha town which is a more traditional Sunday market than Sapa. Mixed and mingled with the local flower Hmong ladies who were doing their monthly shopping and looked spectacula (will load some photo's tonight). Brought a lovely silver braclet and silk scarf. We were asked if we wanted to buy ... read more