'Are you going to Halong Bay' is the question on every tourist and tour operators lips when you arrive in Hanoi. The most visited site in all of Vietnam has, like most beautiful areas in the country, been subject to 'tour overkill' and with reports of "disco lighted" caves and dodgy boat trips we decided to go to Cat Ba Island and Lan Ha Bay instead. It was an efficient service to Cat Ba via a Bus-Boat-Bus combination and meant we arrived on the island four hours after departure. Cat Ba island lies further south of Halong Bay and sits within paddling reach of the beautiful Lan Ha Bay. The island had the added advantage of numerous beaches, a national park and plenty of Bia Hoi stalls. It was the perfect place to base ourselves for ... read more

Still wiping the sleep from our eyes we stepped off the overnight bus from Hue and were greeted by Mr. Xuan. He showed us to his hotel which was imaginitively named, Mr. Xuan's. The hotel was, depsite the five floors of stairs to our room and the noisy construction work outside, just what we needed after a long trip. Since leaving Saigon we had travelled 1,600 kilometres and now came to the quietly emerging area of Ninh Binh around 90 kilometers south of Hanoi. The town itself is nothing more than an urban sprawl of shops and non-descript buildings but it is the countryside that is the main draw. After a nap and some breakfast we hired a moped and hit the road like everyone else in Ninh Binh it seemed. The main road that runs ... read more

Trawling through the Lonely Planet book I announced in my best Irish accent that I had found a "Phuoc An Hotel". With a name like this there was no question where we were going to stay in Hoi An. It turned out to be a Phuoc An good one too. Tired after our sleeper bus from Nha Trang the hotel was the perfect remedy. The room had air con, opened onto a swimming pool and included buffet breakfast, bicycle rental and wifi for $15. Another feather in the Phuoc An bow (sorry I'll stop soon) was that it was next door to 'Cafe 43' where our love affair for vietnamese cooking began. Not only did the friendly family serve delicious southern Vietnamese food but also a stronger Bia Hoi than we had previously experienced for 3000 ... read more

It feels good to arrive in a new country, go to the ATM and become instant millionaires. The only downside was that we were dealing in Vietnamese Dong and there are 28,000 of them to the pound. Nonetheless, being millionaires felt nice and helped with the inflated room rates in comparison to Thailand. In Saigon the going rate for a half decent room was around $10-$20, which is a lot of Dong, but with that you get air conditioning, beds that don't break your back and in some cases a swimming pool. So we were quite pleased when we checked in to Lien Ha Hotel in the heart of Saigon to find all of the above were true. The city was busy with motorbikes whizzing around at all angles, turning a blind eye to any traffic ... read more

Ranong is a small town which people seem to dash through either on route to the islands of Koh Chang and Koh Phayam, or before skipping across the water to Burma. And to be honest it didn't appear to be somewhere with much individual appeal. However before we sailed off for another slice of island life, we decided to visit Ranong's nearby geothermal springs. A popular spot with Thai tourists the scolding hot pools are said to have healing properties. Harri and I could hardly bare to dip our toes into the near boiling water and weren't convinced of it's power to heal. But Lewi the masochist loves hot water and so enjoyed the pain involved in soaking his feet in the scorching tub of water. But even he couldn't compete with the madwoman who was ... read more