Geo: 16.4635, 107.585What a fabulous day in an amazing city. Have to say we are lucky to be alive. Started the day with a cyclo ride in peak hour traffic to drop off the laundry and have look at the outer wall and the moat of the Imperial City.Loaded up into the cyclo in single file and tried to stick together. When the lead driver stuck his arm out to complete the left hand turn, starting from the wrong side of the white line, against the red light, into the oncoming stream of traffic and the turning traffic we all thought we may need to detour back to the laundry to make a second drop off. It was truly, truly scary. I heard Loraine say from behind me incredulously, "How did we do that!" I have ... read more

Geo: 20.9063, 107.082Halong Bay was hidden this morning by the dark "mist" of industrial Vietnam. The morning greeted us with a water surface that was completely still but without a single ray of sunshine. Although I was on the top deck of "Violet", enjoying the unfurling of the giant junk sails, it was impossible to get even a hint of where the sun was rising. Hope the Captain is not navigating by celestial queues because none were visible.I was the only passenger on deck this morning for the 5.30 unfurling of the sails (surprise, surprise.) All the boats have the brown "junk" sails which are hoisted each morning "just for show." Was able to team this up with a chat with Anh, one of the dining room  staff, who shared his story of leaving the land ... read more

Geo: 20.25, 105.98The music played in the corridor and the train attendant tapped on the door to wake the train travellers. It was an uneventful night although in comparison with the ride up there was certainly much more revelry from the young back packers on board and the train seemed to be hurtling at a faster speed with a more exaggerated sway. But the important news of the morning was that the combination of the tablets and the bands had made a significant difference for Loraine.Did get a surprise when I opened the curtains of our cabin and there was Way at our window, with the wide grin, waving vigorously to let us know that he was there.And all debts have been paid in the "saving the life" category. The wheels of my luggage were caught ... read more

Geo: 22.3945, 104.056Started the day with a trip to Fansipan. At the height of 3,143m, Fansipan is the highest mountain in Vietnam and "the Roof of Indochina". Actually, that intro may be misleading. Might imply that we skipped breakfast and that certainly was not the case. The Victoria had the biggest breakfast pastry selection to date and served them all up in bite size pieces. Mac selected eight of the delicious pastries to round out his morning repaste.Right on queue we loaded into Chin's minibus together with all our belongings. It was just a short stay because after the day's adventures we will continue onto the The Ecolodge.Of course no adventure is complete without a bit of mountain road driving dodging other vehicles, water buffalo, scooters and children. And we did do this for the first ... read more

Geo: 21.0243, 105.855Mac was at his best today. We were reeling in laughter after his lead performance in his very own puppet show and have relived his oh too obvious statement "$hit, that's a train" statement so many times. But more on that later.Breakfast checkin in the dining room saw us all alive and well after the food tour of the night before and with scores ranging between 7 and 10 the group was definitely feeling rock solid although a little weary. Again, Way was in the foyer right on time ready for the first item on the itinerary - our visit to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum.This wasn't part of our tour yesterday because the venue is closed on a Friday. The historic Mausoleum is an imposing monument, lavishly built using marble and granite, and ... read more