Spent a very pleasant morning strolling about the Nguyen imperial palaces, built between 1803 - 1844 or thereabouts. It is not old by any means but they lived according to Confucian rules and hierarchies which meant that the emporer was entirely removed from his subjects, with his mandarins to take care of affairs of state and his many wives and concubines to keep him happy. They could easily have been living a thousand years earlier such was the dress and ceremony and the rules and regulations covering every aspect of government and every day life. Hue is a very elegant city, with the Song Huang, or Perfume river, running through the centre. They have really nice tree-lined parks running the length of the river as it winds through the city, and with mountains in the distance ... read more

Took a cycle tour in the morning with Mr Cu, an excellent guide and a font of local knowledge. We were joined by a Belgian family of 6. If clicking through 21 gears on your racing cycle, travelling at enormous speeds is your thing then this tour is definitely not for you. It was more of a gentle amble through the countryside. First stop was in a rice paddy to plough a bit of field with a water buffalo, then plant a bit of rice then ride the water buffalo. They have an odd gait which makes staying on the beast a bit more difficult than it looks. Our next stop was at a fishing village where we took Coracle type boats out fishing for crabs among the water coconuts. Then it was back to Mr ... read more

Decided that today would be another Sunday with a bit of a stroll in the park, a bit of sightseeing and a wander through one or two of the shopping malls. Grabbed a couple of croissants and headed to the park to have a quiet breakfast but was accosted by a couple of guys who wanted to practice English, an Irish junky who wanted to know where to get heroine and wouldn't leave even when I told him I didn't have a clue. Then the touts descended selling sunglasses and all manner of useless crap and the last straw was the hookers who wondered if I wanted a massage with a happy ending. The only bloody happy ending I wanted was to left in peace so I abandoned the park and headed for a shopping mall ... read more

The 10 hour bus trip from Kratie to Ho Chi Minh city via Phnom Penh turned into a 14 hour trip. Crossing the border was straightforward, we all piled off the bus at Cambodian immigration and got our exit stamps then walked about 25 metres to Vietnamese immigration where they checked our visas gave us an entry stamp and it was back on the bus. We were treated to a spectacular lightning display as we approached HCMC and then it bucketed down but stopped just as we entered the city. What a crazy place this is, so many people and so many motorbikes nearly all of them little 100cc or 125cc Honda scooters. I gotta buy shares in Honda. Got seen off by the taxi driver that took me to the hotel but even so I ... read more

Kratie lies on the banks of the mighty Mekong river in the north east of Cambodia around 250km from Phnom Penh. The reason I decided to come here was to kayak with the Irrawaddy dolphins. There are only 3 rivers in which these dolphins still exist although they are still found in some coastal areas. In the stretch of the Mekong just north of Kratie the remaining population of Irrawaddy dolphins is between 70 -80 individuals. This was to be one of the highlights of the trip but as Von Moltke said " no plan survives first contact with the enemy". Bloody Prussian. Sadly he was right and I received an email from Pete, the owner of Sorya kayak adventures a couple of days back very apologetically telling me that the Mekong was now too big ... read more