We arrived in Hanoi train station about 4.20am and got on a bus for 3 hours to Halong Bay. The bus was freezing and the there were so many bumps in the road it made it impossible to sleep, so when I got to the hotel I had to have a little nap to prepare me for the day. We all met up and headed to the harbor to get on our boat which would take us around Halong Bay for the day. The boat was lovely and it had been rented privately for our group so we had so much sp...

After leaving Hoi An we set off on a 3 hour bus journey to Hue in the north of Vietnam, on lots of bendy roads, high up with big drops and a really fast driver!! On route we stopped at what was once the boarder to take photos of the amazing scenery and the bunkers which still remain. Arrived at the hotel and the electricity was out, as there was no air con we headed out for lunch with Dara our group leader to a local place and had chicken, rice and vegetables, f...

Arrived at our hotel, which was really nice and even had a swimming pool for a change, had a quick shower and headed out for lunch with the whole of the group. Had a really tasty lunch in a small restaurant and tried lots of local specialities (the diet is really not going well, with all this lovely food). We walked around the old town which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it was so quiet (as they ban motorbikes from the town for most of the day) in comparison t...

After arriving by train we took a short bus journey to our hotel. As it was so early the rooms were not ready for us and we waited around in reception, I felt so dirty and all I wanted was a shower and some sleep. While we were waiting for the rooms Dara took us to get breakfast, we found a little street kitchen where the lady cooked for us eggs, beef, onion and tomato on a griddle with lovely fresh bread, all for just under 1 pound!! We did have to sit at a mina...

I boarded the flight to Ho Chi Minh City and once again I got a whole row to myself, which meant I could spread out! I was one of only a few westerners on the flight and was just hoping that the transfer I arranged from the airport was there to meet me. Once in arrivals I found a lady with a piece of paper with my name on it and she pointed me in the direction of the car we would be using. Looking around I appeared to be the only westerner and it was quite a stra...