Friday 4th and Saturday 5th October 2013 Very crowded bus of we tourists from many hotels arrived at the train station. We assemble around our guide and he hands our our tickets. Some confusion over wether Mark and I were in the same sleeping cabin, but we were assured we were. Train station bedlam. People everywhere, locals selling every type of food you can imagine to have on the train, tourists with guides, locals getting frustrated with tourists. Overall I felt very overwhelmed. We arrive between two trains and us and a Polish couple were told to "stay there", which was on the tracks between two trains, while our guide took all the others off. We had many helpful people coming to try and help us, but our guide said to stay here so that is ... read more

Wednesday 2nd October 2013 Checked out of our lovely Le Joile Hotel and off to the domestic airport. I always feel a little intimidated at airports when I can't understand the language. Found our way ok with the help of the friendly staff. Wrote most of yesterdays happenings while sitting in the lounge waiting. I wanted to get some photos flying out of Ho Chi Minh as there was so much water when we flew in. Unfortunately it was very cloudy and we got up in the clouds very quickly.Managed to get a couple coming into Hanoi though. We were picked up ok, quite a long drive from the airport. We are staying in the old quarter of the city, and our travel agent is in the basement of the hotel, Hidden Charm Travel. The hotel ... read more

Monday 30th September 2013 Breakfast on top floor of hotel looking out over Can Tho, the rain looks like it has gone away for the morning at least. Caught our $1 taxi to the other hotel where the rest of the group was staying. A short walk to the jetty where we caught a boat to take us to the Cai Rang floating markets. The markets are a wholesale market and they show what they are selling by tying it to a bamboo pole and having it at the back of the boat. Being on a boat is being a captive audience as there are small boats that pull up alongside you and try and sell you soft drink, coffee, coconuts, bananas or pineapples. We shared a coconut freshly cut with a couple of straws for ... read more

28th September 2013 Day 2 Mark up early to go for a run and do stair repeats?! Breakfast was a foodies heaven, fresh fruit, asian fair, french fair, whatever you want really. Picked up at 7.30 to go to Cao Dai Temple and Cu Chi tunnels. Two and a half hour drive to start with, maximum speed 60km, average around 40kmph, number of horn beeps - mmmm about 10,000, and I'm sure the horn sounded louder inside the bus than out. Arrived at the Great Holy See Temple about 11.30am. Just in time for a quick walk around and then up in the galleries to watch some of the midday prayer ceremony. The Cao Dai sect is a mixture of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and Roman Catholic, formed in 1927 in response to the government restricting some ... read more

Wow, 1 more sleep and we are off toVietnam. I will be so glad to get on the plane. I've had a national Aromatherapy conference I was co-organising, 2 weekends ago (that was 18 months of organising), Mark had a pacemaker inserted a week before that, and then hosted and co-organised a high tea for 100 of our volunteers at work on Sunday. Came down with a bad cold a week ago and am really struggling to shake it, so now on antibiotics and all the over the counter stuff I can put down my throat as well as all my aromatherapy suff I can rub on. Finally started to feel well enough to concentrate on the trip last night so gathering things together and couldn't find my passport! Searched high and low. Tears, panic, and ... read more