Hi Friends and Family, Today, we visited Hoa Lu (the capital under the 10th Dynasty) and went to Cuc Phong. Cuc Phong is Vietnam’s oldest national park where we did a very basic trek up to the caves to find evidence of pre-historic man! With torches, we climbed up the steep slippery hill. The caves were dark and interesting with traces of fossils and natural elements. The park is also a tropical rain forest which contains rare hardwoods and an amazing wildlife. We visited the Cuc Phuong Primate Rescue Centre which is sponsored by the Frankfurt Zoo in Germany. We were guided around various species of primates and met one of the German sponsors from an Animal Wildlife Organization. We were also guided around various species of primates and met one of the German staff members ... read more

Hi Friends and Family, Meet up time 07:00. Set off 08:00 Today, we set off in a convoy of 14 motorbikes and drivers. I picked a red motorbike ‘cos I liked the bright colour and the driver turned out to be Ngon, the Hue local guide and the Team Leader for the day! Ngon was funny, knowledgeable, and not bad looking. I was lucky to have him nearby ‘cos I also got private sessions while we were on the bikes! Ngon even got a little flirty, but I kept it all in perspective! We visited the stately Thien Mu Pagoda and the Museum of Fine Art. We learnt the history and philosophy behind Buddhism ands the symbols of honouring and worshipping the dead and or royalty. Yesterday, I enclosed a video of lots of carp fish ... read more

Good Morning People! Today, we took our time and again had a bit of a lie in and a lazy day. Ladies and Gents, today we did nought! Actually, my companion went swimming in the pool while I dangled my legs, drank orange juice, ate melons, and updated my diary. Hoi An closes early so its difficult to complete my blog at the moment. We lazed in the hotel pool just below our room, which is pretty cool. My companion has been in and out there since we've been here. The night before, we had booked our cookery class which became a private class for two. The name of our cookery school was the "Red Bridge Restaurant and Cookery School". We attempted to pick up my companion's shoes but they were not as we expected and ... read more

Hi Friends and Family, Breakfast was a wonderful buffet of noodles, French bread, toast, fried or scrambled eggs, local delicacies, 100 day old eggs, rice and various stews and sauces, salted herring in tomato sauce, a variety of pates and jams, melon, banana, dragon fruit which is a black and white dotted fruit on the inside and a bright purple on the outside, pineapple and lots of yummy cake. Tea / coffee, orange, lemon, strawberry and pinapple juices. We went back and forth a few times! Today was a long but scenic drive to Hoi An. We sat on the front seat of the bus this time, so we could experience the drive more fully! Today was enormously humid and all day I felt hot, bothered and in a faint. Even getting out of our bus ... read more

Hi Friends and Family, Breakfast was a huge buffet of bread, jams, noodles, spicy meat balls, bacon (Yum), pate, ham, a very strange sort of boiled egg, fried eggs, tea / coffee, pineapple, melon, cake and various juices - orange, lemon and pineapple. Today, we went on a boat trip to the sea amongst the islands. Our boat was a typical snorkelling boat with wooden seats that was later converted to a long dinning table. We did have life jackets on board but fishermen believe that life-jackets bring bad luck!There was a lot of jollification on the boat as we practised being Kate and Jack from "The Titanic" with the "I'm the King of the World" pose! The sea was the best I've seen yet. Emeraled green and lovely with a wonderful smell. We sailed for ... read more