After our heavy negotiating and our too good to be true price we figured that today would be a bit of a let down. How wrong can two people be?!? We were picked up from our hotel in a brand new saloon car with a climate akin to Siberia in January and whisked into the Saigon rush hour. The ride was smooth and we had a little snooze as we drove through the suburbs and south towards the Mekong delta. We drove for around two hours before pulling up next to a bus full of tourists at a dock where various boats were moored. I don't mind telling you my heart sunk a little when we saw some of the same people we toured the cu chi tunnels with yesterday clamber off the bus. We waited ... read more

I am writing yesterday's blog sat on a vietjet aeroplane somewhere between Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City. I'd like to set the scene if I may... A boy of about 18months is sat on his mothers knee next to me. His hobbies include kicking me in the legs and waving around a wet wipe his mother used to wipe his nose making sure to rub it on my arm with every wave. Behind Eireann is a boy of about 5, his hobbies include kicking the back of Eireann's seat and shouting loudly. The elderly man in front's claim to fame is that his phone went off as we were taking off and he couldn't work out how to answer it. All in all it makes Ryanair look like a high class organisation with pure ... read more

After the most amazing night of sleep in the most amazingly gorgeous hotel (all for a mere $15 a night) we were picked up nice and early by Trung and Mr Tien. I don't mind telling you, I was pretty nervous about the whole motorbike thing. But these weren't mopeds nor were they sports bikes they were just quite roomy motorbikes. After all of our bags were strapped to the side of the bikes and were were put into our very attractive helmets we set off into the Hue morning rush hour. Hue is the biggest city in central Vietnam (and I believe it was pretty heavily damaged in the war) but the rush hour was fine. I was on Mr tien's bike and his English wasn't the best but he kept checking I was okay ... read more

The plan was to wake up at 7, have a leisurely breakfast and shower and then catch a bus to our Halong bay tour at 8am. What actually happened was was Eireann shouting "f*%k is five to eight" in my ear and us scrambling about like headless chickens, packing, washing, dressing and trying to figure out why on earth Eireanns alarm still thought we were in Manchester. We got on an air conditioned mini bus and headed out through the Hanoi rush hour. Our guide, Tyen, is fabulous and spent the first hour of our 3 hour journey (before the roads got too bumpy) telling us all about Hanoi and things about the Vietnamese in general. Apparently there are more mopeds than people in Vietnam and Ha Noi means ascending dragon. The journey was pretty uneventful ... read more

Hello from a very very wet Bangkok! After my blog yesterday we took a taxi back to Kho San Road to get something to eat and have a drink or two... Buddha day meant that most of the bars and shops were closed or closing early and most of the ones which stayed open didn't serve alcohol. We figured if we went where the majority of the western world go when they are in bangkok its likely we will find a beverage! The streets were busy but less so than in the day. It had cooled down a little too, which made everything feel more comfortable. We strolled around the streets for an hour or so getting aproached by old ladies with all sorts of junk and old men with trays of big, black, deep fried ... read more