Sunday is market day and I had read wonderful things about the Bac Ha Markets where eight different minority tribes gather in traditional dress to sell their wares. We had to leave at 7.30am and the three hour drive caused me considerable discomfort as it wound its way up, down, around and through many mountains. Luckily I wasn't bus sick but when we arrived we plunged straight into market business. The heat was stiffling and I could feel myself getting more and more grumpy. Poor Sylvia had to put up with my bad temper and I finally realised I needed a break from the heat, smells and closeness to the millions of people there. After a diet coke and some delicious spring rolls I was a different person. By this time the crowd had thinned and ... read more

Our trek to Fansipan began at the decent hour of 9am on Wednesday morning. On my arrival at the travel agent I found out that another 2 people had joined our group and had therefore lowered the cost for everyone. Feeling very pleased with the bonus cash in my pocket we headed off to the national park entrance. The first few hours were leisurely. We chatted and made sure we stopped often to enjoy the spectacular vistas. By mid afternoon one of the guys in the group was struggling with bad leg cramps which slowed us down. We were late getting into camp that night but we arrived in good spirits. The 'base camp' is unfortunately incredibly dirty, piles of burnt garbage littered the camp. Many of the once protective trees have been cleared and the ... read more

I decided to go to Ninh Binh as several back to back public holidays meant that room prices and train/bus tickets doubled or tripled in price. Being a dot on the map town Ninh Binh accomodated me for $6 night which included hot water, TV and privacy. I wanted to go to Ninh Binh as it is the place to stay if you want to go to the National Park (Cuc Phoung). I had oringinally intended to stay overnight in the National Park but it simply wasn't in my budget. Instead I took the 120km round trip on the back of a motor bike for $12. My back pocket thanked me while my butt screamed in agony from the bumpy roads and confined space. It was definately worth the pain though as the views were spectacular. ... read more

We knew leaving Kratie was going to have a twist, we could tell it in the tone of our ticket-seller's voice. Of course, it was the middle of KNY and everyone was trying to get home for the final celebrations but we didn't expect that they would happily sell us a bus ticket when really there were no seats available. We crammed in anyway and I sat on a kiddy chair in the aisle for the next 8 hours (actually, that is a bit of a lie because a few hours into the journey some people got off and I zipped into the spare chair). We arrived in Banlung about 8.30 that night and after a bit of aimless meandering we checked into a very well appointed guesthouse called Tribal. We were keen to explore some ... read more

Yesterday we took the 6 hour bus journey to Siem Reap. Mike was expecting the worst so he was pleasantly surprised at the amount of leg room and general comfort of the $5 bus ride. We arrived mid afternoon and as happened last time our guesthouse's promised tuk tuk transport was not there. We phoned and half an hour later we were being welcomed to the most gorgeous gh in a quiet street about a 15 minutes stroll from the town centre. I say it is the lovliest gh ever because all of the staff greeted us at the front gate, it was like being welcomed home by your family. We immediately forgot the lack of transport annoyance and heartily welcomed the a/c. Our gh owner enthusastically showed us the weather report on the (free) internet, ... read more